Tanta طنطا
City
Counter-clockwise from top: Tanta Overview, Ahmad Al-Badawi Mosque, Sheikha Sabah Mosque dome, Sabil Ali-Bek
Nickname:  Tanta
Tanta Location of Tanta within Egypt
Coordinates: 30°47′N 31°0′E / 30.783°N 31.000°E / 30.783; 31.000
Country	Egypt
Governorate	Gharbia
Area [1]
• Total	19.5 km2 (7.5 sq mi)
Elevation [1]	12 m (39 ft)
Population  (2021)[1]
• Total	576,648
• Density	30,000/km2 (77,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+02:00 (EET)
Area code	(+20) 40

Tanta (Egyptian Arabic: طنطا Ṭanṭa  pronounced [ˈtˤɑntˤɑ], Coptic: ⲧⲁⲛⲧⲁⲑⲟ) is a city in Egypt. With a population of 658,798, as of 2018, it is the country's fifth most populous city.^[2] Tanta is located between Cairo and Alexandria: 94 km (58 mi) north of Cairo and 130 km (81 mi) southeast of Alexandria. The capital of Gharbia Governorate,^[3] it is a center for the cotton-ginning industry.^[4]

One of the major railway lines goes through Tanta.^[5][6] Annual festivals are held in Tanta for one week beginning on 11 October celebrating the birthday of Ahmad al-Badawi, a revered Sufi figure of the 13th century, who founded the Badawiyya Tariqa in Egypt and is buried in Ahmad Al-Badawi Mosque, the main mosque of Tanta. Tanta is known for its sweet shops and roasted chickpeas.^[7]

Overview

The older name of the city is Tandata (Arabic: طندتا) which comes from its Coptic name.^[8]

With its large cotton plantations, in 1856, Tanta became a stop on the railway network, primarily for the benefit of exporting its cotton to European markets.^[9] The area around Tanta was mostly fields but Tanta had grown into a large crowded city.^[10]

This city is a center of celebration in late October at the end of the cotton harvest. Three million people,^[3] from around the Delta and other parts of the Arab world, come for the Moulid of Sayid Ahmed el-Badawi,^[11] which is a colorful,^[12] religious, eight-day celebration. The moulid is centered around the mosque and tomb of Sayid Ahmad al-Badawi,^[13] who founded one of Egypt's largest Sufi orders known as Ahmadiyyah or Badawiyya.^[14] He was born in Morocco, but emigrated to Arabia, and later was sent to Tanta in AD 1234 as a representative of the order from Iraq. He was granted permission to start a new order in Tanta and it soon flourished into one of Egypt's largest Sufi brotherhoods.^[11]

Tanta is famous for its sweet candy made of gelatin, coconut, sesame, peanuts, and chickpeas. Large quantities are sold during the mulid (Arabic: المولد) festivals when many Egyptians visit the city.^[15] The sweets have been considered a delicacy since the 1800s.^[16]

Tanta has many cotton processing factories and textile industries,^[11] and is also a university town with Tanta University since 1972.^[17]

The people of Tanta are called by Egyptian slang Tantawi.^[18][19]

Sites

• Montazah garden
• Tanta stadium
• Tanta sporting club
• Tanta teachers club
• Tanta University
• Virgin Mary Coptic Orthodox church, which is over 200 years old^[20]
• Saint George Cathedral
• Saint Peter Catholic basilica
• The Museum of Tanta contains items from ancient nearby sites of Sais, Naucratis, and Buto, such as pottery and statues.^[21][22]
• El Mahallah is a large industrial town near Tanta, famous for its textiles.^[11]

• 
  Tanta's city center, Elgeish street.
• 
  Tanta's railway station at night
• 
  Mosque of Elsayyed Elbadawi
• 
  Saint George Cathedral Church
• 
  Tanta Railway Station
• 
  palace in Tanta which was used as a primary school named flowers school
• 
  Tanta Montaza park
• 
  Tanta museum
• 
  Tanta university administration
• 
  Sweets from Tanta

Climate

As all of Egypt, has a hot desert climate (BWh), according to Köppen-Geiger climate classification system.

Notable people

• Magda al-Sabahi or Magda Sabbahi = Magda (1931-2020) actress
• Huda Sultan (1925-2006) singer and actress
• Kamal Amin (1923–1979), artist^[24]
• Mahmoud Zulfikar (1914-1970), Film director
• Khairy Beshara, film director
• Abdu al-Hamuli (Arabic: عبده الحامولى‎) (1836–1901), singer
• Mahmoud Khalil Al-Hussary, (1917–1980) reciter of the Qur'an^[25]
• Mohamed Fawzi (1918–1966), composer, singer, and actor^[26]
• Naima Akef (1929–1966), actress and circus player
• Doria Shafik (1908–1975), leader of the Women's Liberation Movement in the early 1950s^[27]
• Ahmed Hijazi (1936–2011), known as "Hegazy", a caricature artist^[28]
• Nasr Abu Zayd (1943–2010), thinker and liberal theologian ^[29]
• Ahmed Khaled Tawfik (1962–2018), author^[30]
• Amina Rizk (1910–2003), actress
• El-Sayed Nosseir (1905–1977), Olympic Gold medal winner in weightlifting^[31]
• Hilana Sedarous first female Egyptian doctor and first female Egyptian gynaecologist
• Maximos V Hakim, Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch^[32]
• Nabil Farouk, novelist^[33][34]