Ismāʿīliyyah, Al-

Al-Ismāʿīliyyah, muḥāfaẓah (governorate), northeastern Nile delta, Lower Egypt. It is a square-shaped territory with a long, narrow extension northward along the Suez Canal, ending just south of Port Said. Its eastern boundary is the Suez Canal, including Great Bitter Lake (Buḥayra al-Murrah al-Kubrā), a shallow, marshy salt lake forming part of the Suez Canal. The governorate consists mainly of desert, except in the northern part.

It is traversed east–west by the Al-Ismāʿīliyyah Canal, formerly called the Sweet Water Canal, built 1858–63 from the Būlāq quarter of Cairo on the Nile to the city of Ismailia on Lake Al-Timsāḥ to provide fresh water for the thousands of workmen building the Suez Canal. A branch, commencing just west of the city, runs south along the waterway to Suez city. There is extensive irrigation along the main (east–west) section, and the area, otherwise waterless desert, produces fine truck crops. Cattle raising and fish farming have been introduced. Poor, sandy soils have hindered agricultural development on the Suez Canal branch. In the northern areas of the governorate, fruit and vegetables are raised on land receiving winter rains.

Just outside Ismailia to the west is a military base, established by the British in World War I. Enlarged and improved over the years, it was evacuated by the British in 1956 under the terms of the treaty of 1954 and is now occupied by Egyptian armed forces.

Ancient ruins have been discovered at Tall al-Maskhūṭah, about 10 miles (16 km) west of Ismailia on the Al-Ismāʿīliyyah Canal. Some scholars identify them with biblical Pithom, a site of pharaonic storehouses built by the Hebrews under Egyptian bondage (Exodus 1:11). Other scholars identify the site with biblical Succoth, the Israelites’ first halt in the exodus from Egypt (Ex. 12:37). The canal itself follows the course of an ancient Red Sea–Nile canal, first built by the Saite pharaoh Necho II (610–595 bc). Area 557 square miles (1,442 square km). Pop. (2006) 942,832.