Sherbin

Sherbin is a town and the centre of a markaz in Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt. Its etymology is not fully known, but the general view is that the name means waterways, because the town lies between the Balamun canal and the Nile. The ancient town of Smabehdet, now Tell el-Balamun, lay about nine kilometres from the modern town. Sherbin is an old town that appears in medieval Egyptian administrative lists and, in Ottoman times, belonged to the district of Gharbia. In 1826 it and the surrounding areas became a markaz named for the western rice countries, and in 1875 it took its current name, the Markaz of Sherbin, which is divided into one town, Sherbin, and a number of villages and settlements.