El Mahmoudiyah

El Mahmoudiyah, also written El Mahmoudia, is an Egyptian city at the point where the Nile meets the Mahmoudiyah canal, in the Beheira Governorate. For centuries it was one of the important trade ports on the Nile, because ships from Upper and Lower Egypt bound for Alexandria passed through its lock and up the canal. The city grew over the village of Al-Atf, called Balhib in the Middle Ages, and took its name from the Ottoman sultan Mahmud II. It is known for a great mosque from the reign of Muhammad Ali, and it sheltered thousands of people fleeing bombing in Alexandria during the Second World War. Its infobox gives 35,898 residents for 2023 and an area of 2.74 square kilometres.