Minyā, Al-

Al-Minyā, also spelled Menia, city and capital of Al-Minyā muḥāfaẓah (governorate), in the Nile River valley of Upper Egypt. Al-Minyā is linked to Cairo (140 miles [225 km] north-northeast) by rail; it is a trading and administrative centre on the west bank of the Nile. Besides serving as a market and financial centre for the governorate, Al-Minyā has cotton gins and flour mills, a sugar refinery, and a carpet- and rug-weaving industry. The city has a television station, a university, and an automobile ferry to the east bank of the Nile. Because of its road and rail links, it has become a transit point for tourists visiting Middle Egypt, and there are several hotels in the city. Across the Nile to the southeast, at Zāwiyat al-Amwāt, lie ruins of the ancient town Menat Khufu, from which Al-Minyā derives its name. It was the ancestral home of the pharaohs of the 4th dynasty (c. 2575–c. 2465 bce). Remains of the Gerzean prehistoric period have been found, and a small pyramid of the 3rd dynasty (c. 2650–c. 2575 bce) stands there. About half the population is Coptic Christian. Pop. (2006) 236,043.