Jump to content
 







Main menu
   


Navigation  



Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
 




Contribute  



Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
 








Search  

































Create account

Log in
 









Create account
 Log in
 




Pages for logged out editors learn more  



Contributions
Talk
 



















Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 Name  





2 Overview  





3 History  





4 Places of worship  



4.1  Mosques  





4.2  Churches and monasteries  







5 Climate  





6 See also  





7 References  





8 External links  














Girga






العربية
تۆرکجه
Български
Català
Cebuano
Deutsch
Ελληνικά
Español
Esperanto
Euskara
فارسی
Français
Հայերեն
Bahasa Indonesia
IsiZulu
Italiano

Қазақша
Malagasy
مصرى
Norsk bokmål
Polski
Русский
Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Svenska
Türkçe
Українська
اردو

 

Edit links
 









Article
Talk
 

















Read
Edit
View history
 








Tools
   


Actions  



Read
Edit
View history
 




General  



What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Cite this page
Get shortened URL
Download QR code
Wikidata item
 




Print/export  



Download as PDF
Printable version
 




In other projects  



Wikimedia Commons
 
















Appearance
   

 





Coordinates: 26°20N 31°54E / 26.333°N 31.900°E / 26.333; 31.900
 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 


Girga
ⲑⲁⲣϫⲉ
جرجا

Uthman Bey Mosque Entrance (top) - Suq Market (left) - Mitwalli Mosque Entrance (right)
Girga is located in Egypt
Girga

Girga

Location in Egypt

Coordinates: 26°20′N 31°54′E / 26.333°N 31.900°E / 26.333; 31.900
Country Egypt
GovernorateSohag
Area
 • Total5.42 sq mi (14.05 km2)
Elevation 230 ft (70 m)
Population
 (2021)[1]
 • Total162,165
 • Density30,000/sq mi (12,000/km2)
Time zoneUTC+2 (EST)

Girga (Egyptian Arabic: جرجا [ˈɡeɾɡæ]), alternatively DigirgaorDigurga[2] is a city in the Sohag GovernorateofUpper Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile River. It is the metropolitan see of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and is the oldest continuously-inhabited city on the African continent.

Name

[edit]
U17O49
grg[3][4]
inhieroglyphs

The name of the city comes from Ancient Egyptian: (tꜣ)-grg.t, lit.'the settlement', which is also preserved in possibly corrupted Coptic: ⲑⲁⲣϫⲉ, romanized: tarje and its alternative name Digirga.[2]

Some Egyptologists such as Brugsch believe that the name of the city derives from the ancient Egyptian word grg miri-amoun Ramessou which means "The establishment of Ramesses II",[5] although Daressy and Budge identify the name with Coptic Balyana near Abydos.[3][4]

Through folk etymology the city became associated with St. George and a now non-existent monastery dedicated to him nearby, hence Leo Africanus calls it Giorgia and Pest suggests an older vocalisation Gurga.[2]

Overview

[edit]

Girga was the capital of the Girga Governorate until 1960, when the capital was moved to Sohag and the name of the governorate changed accordingly.[6] Girga has an estimated population of 71,564 (as of 1986) and has various economic industries which include cane sugar manufacturing and pottery.

History

[edit]
Girga in 1890

The city might have been the location of ancient city of Thinis (Greek name; also spelled This) - the first capital city of unified Egypt under Narmer - as of 2023, it remains inconclusive whether Girga or nearby village of Birba is the site of Thinis (Birba was confirmed to be the site of the capital of Egypt during the 1st and 2nd dynasties[citation needed]).

There are ancient sites located on the territory of Girga including Beit Khallaf, a necropolis with mudbrick tombs dating back to the 3rd dynasty.

Girga was the capital of Upper Egypt during Ottoman rule.

In 1791, Saint Yousab El Abah (also Joseph el-Abbah) was the bishop of the city.

In 1907 Girga had a population of 19,893, of whom about one-third were Copts.

As lately as the middle of the 18th century the town stood about 0.4 km from the river, but in the beginning of the 20th century it stood on the bank, the intervening space having been washed away, together with a large part of the town, by the stream continually encroaching on its left bank.[7]

Places of worship

[edit]

Mosques

[edit]
Chinese Mosque

The mosque was presumably built in about 1150 AH (= 1737) in the historical district of al-Qaysariyya by Muhammad bey al-Faqari who became a governor in 1117 AH (= 1705/1706) in Ottoman times. Although it is called Chinese, no materials imported from China were used in its construction, and it got its name after porcelain used in its decoration.

Churches and monasteries

[edit]

Situated on the right bank of the Nile opposite of Girga. Since 1910 this site has been celebrated among archaeologists, because the discoveries made there have shed light on the region's prehistory.[8]

Climate

[edit]

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh).

Climate data for Girga
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 22.3
(72.1)
24.3
(75.7)
28.1
(82.6)
33.5
(92.3)
36.9
(98.4)
38.3
(100.9)
37.9
(100.2)
38.1
(100.6)
34.9
(94.8)
32.4
(90.3)
28.8
(83.8)
23.8
(74.8)
31.6
(88.9)
Daily mean °C (°F) 13.7
(56.7)
15.3
(59.5)
18.7
(65.7)
23.9
(75.0)
27.8
(82.0)
29.5
(85.1)
29.5
(85.1)
29.9
(85.8)
27.7
(81.9)
25.1
(77.2)
20.4
(68.7)
15.5
(59.9)
23.1
(73.6)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 5.1
(41.2)
6.1
(43.0)
9.4
(48.9)
14.3
(57.7)
18.7
(65.7)
20.8
(69.4)
21.2
(70.2)
21.8
(71.2)
20.5
(68.9)
17.9
(64.2)
12.2
(54.0)
7.3
(45.1)
14.6
(58.3)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
1
(0.0)
1
(0)
Source: Climate-Data.org[9]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Jirjā (Kism (urban and rural parts), Egypt) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map and Location". citypopulation.de. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  • ^ a b c Peust, Carsten. "Die Toponyme vorarabischen Ursprungs im modernen Ägypten" (PDF). p. 43.
  • ^ a b Wallis Budge, E. A. (1920). An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary: with an index of English words, king list and geological list with indexes, list of hieroglyphic characters, coptic and semitic alphabets, etc. Vol II. John Murray. p. 1049.
  • ^ a b Gauthier, Henri (1928). Dictionnaire des Noms Géographiques Contenus dans les Textes Hiéroglyphiques Dictionnaire des Noms Géographiques Contenus dans les Textes Hiéroglyphiques Dictionnaire des Noms Géographiques Contenus dans les Textes Hiéroglyphiques Vol. 5. pp. 217, 218.
  • ^ Brugsch, Heinrich (1879). Dictionnaire géographique de l'ancienne Egypte: contenant par ordre alphabétique la nomenclature comparée des noms propres géographiques qui se rencontrent sur les monuments et dans les papyrus. J. C. Hinrichs. pp. 853–854.
  • ^ Law, Gwillim (1999). Administrative Subdivisions of Countries: A Comprehensive World Reference, 1900 through 1998 (snippet view). Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-7864-0729-3. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
  • ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Girga". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 48.
  • ^ "Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia".
  • ^ "Climate: Girga - Climate graph, Temperature graph, Climate table". Climate-Data.org. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
  • [edit]
    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Girga&oldid=1214618240"

    Categories: 
    Populated places in Sohag Governorate
    Cities in Egypt
    Hidden categories: 
    Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
    Pages using the WikiHiero extension
    Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference
    Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
    Articles with short description
    Short description is different from Wikidata
    Articles containing Coptic-language text
    Articles containing Arabic-language text
    Coordinates on Wikidata
    Articles containing Egyptian Arabic-language text
    Pages with Egyptian Arabic IPA
    Articles containing Ancient Egyptian-language text
    All articles with unsourced statements
    Articles with unsourced statements from June 2023
    Commons category link from Wikidata
    Articles with German-language sources (de)
     



    This page was last edited on 20 March 2024, at 02:02 (UTC).

    Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.



    Privacy policy

    About Wikipedia

    Disclaimers

    Contact Wikipedia

    Code of Conduct

    Developers

    Statistics

    Cookie statement

    Mobile view



    Wikimedia Foundation
    Powered by MediaWiki