Girga

Girga is a city in the Sohag Governorate of Upper Egypt, on the west bank of the Nile. It is the metropolitan see of the Coptic Orthodox Church and is described as the oldest continuously inhabited city on the African continent, dating to the late fourth millennium BC. Its name comes from the Ancient Egyptian word for the settlement; some Egyptologists such as Brugsch derive it from a phrase meaning the establishment of Ramesses II, while through folk etymology the city became associated with Saint George and a now vanished monastery dedicated to him nearby, so that Leo Africanus calls it Giorgia. Girga was the capital of the Girga Governorate until 1960, when the capital was moved to Sohag and the name of the governorate was changed accordingly.