small muḥāfaẓah (governorate), just north of Cairo at the apex of the Nile River delta, Lower Egypt. It is bounded on the northeast by Ash-Sharqīyah muḥāfaẓah and on the northwest by the Damietta Branch of the Nile. It is densely populated, and about three-fifths of its population relies on agriculture. The alluvial farmland is irrigated mainly by the At-Tawfīqī Canal, which parallels the Nile, and by the Al-Ismāʿīlīyah Canal to the east. The principal crops are corn (maize), cotton, wheat, and clover. There are also market gardens and orchards catering to the Cairo markets. The muḥāfaẓah's mineral resources are phosphates and basalt, at Abū Zaʿbal, on the eastern fringe of the cultivated zone. There is also a chemicals plant, producing fertilizer, sulfuric acid, oleum, and aerosols. The principal towns are Banhā (q.v.), capital of the muḥāfaẓah, and Qalyūb. At Musṭurud there is an oil refinery, located on the Suez-Mediterranean oil pipeline. Area 386 square miles (1,001 square km). Pop. (2006) 4,237,003.