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Coordinates: 31°16′N 32°12′E / 31.267°N 32.200°E / 31.267; 32.200
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{{Short description|Lake in Egypt}}
{{Infobox lake
{{Infobox body of water
| lake_name = Lake Manzala
| name = Lake Manzala
| image_lake = Lake Manzala, image from space shuttle - crop.JPG
| image = Niledelta 33.svg
| caption_lake =
| caption = The Nile Delta
| image_bathymetry =
| caption_bathymetry =
| image_bathymetry =
| location =
| caption_bathymetry =
| location =
| coords = {{coord|31|16|N|32|12|E|region:EG_type:waterbody_source:GNS-enwiki|display=inline,title}}
| coords = {{coord|31|16|N|32|12|E|region:EG_type:waterbody_source:GNS-enwiki|display=inline,title}}
| type = brackish
| type = Brackish
| inflow =
| outflow =
| inflow =
| catchment =
| outflow =
| catchment =
| basin_countries = Egypt
| basin_countries = Egypt
| length =
| width =
| length =
| area =
| width =
| depth =
| area =
| max-depth =
| depth =
| volume =
| max-depth =
| residence_time =
| volume =
| shore =
| residence_time =
| elevation =
| shore =
| islands =
| elevation =
| cities =
| islands =
| cities =
<!-- Map -->
| pushpin_map = Egypt
| pushpin_label_position =
| pushpin_map_alt = Location of Lake Manzala in Egypt.
| pushpin_map_caption =
<!-- Below -->
| website =
| reference =
}}
}}


'''Lake Manzala''' (also '''Manzaleh''') is a brackish lake, sometimes called a lagoon, in northeastern [[Egypt]] on the [[Nile Delta]] near [[Port Said]] and a few miles from the ancient ruins at [[Tanis, Egypt|Tanis]].<ref name="DINAR">Dinar, p.51</ref><ref name="drower">{{cite book |accessdate=2009-04-10|url=http://books.google.com/?id=7TCLb4DJRLwC&pg=PA72&dq=Lake+Manzala+Suez+Canal|author= Margaret S. Drower|title= Flinders Petrie: a life in archaeology (Second edition)|publisher=ASCE Publications|year=1995| pages=72 |isbn=978-0-299-14624-5}}</ref> It is the largest of the northern deltaic lakes of Egypt.<ref name="ZAHRAN" /> As of 2008 it is 47&nbsp;km long and 30&nbsp;km wide.<ref name="ZAHRAN">Zahran, p.283</ref>
'''Lake Manzala''' ({{langx|ar|بحيرة المنزلة}} ''baḥīrat manzala''), also Manzaleh, is a brackish lake, sometimes called a lagoon, in northeastern Egypt on the [[Nile Delta]] near [[Port Said]] and a few miles from the ancient ruins at [[Tanis, Egypt|Tanis]].<ref name="DINAR">Dinar, p.51</ref><ref name="drower">{{cite book |access-date=2009-04-10|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7TCLb4DJRLwC&dq=Lake+Manzala+Suez+Canal&pg=PA72|author= Margaret S. Drower|title= Flinders Petrie: a life in archaeology|publisher=ASCE Publications|year=1995| pages=72 |isbn=978-0-299-14624-5| edition=Second }}</ref> It is the largest of the northern deltaic lakes of Egypt.<ref name="ZAHRAN" /> As of 2008 it is {{Convert|47|km|abbr=on}} long and {{Convert|30|km|abbr=on}} wide.<ref name="ZAHRAN">Zahran, p.283</ref>

== Etymology ==
The lake's name derives from {{Langx|ar|نزل|lit=descend, stop, settle down|translit=nazala}}. In [[Middle Ages]] it was also known as '''pi-Manjōili''' ({{Langx|cop|ⲡⲓⲙⲁⲛϫⲱⲓⲗⲓ|lit=inn, lodging}}), translated into Greek as '''Xenedokhou''' ({{Langx|grc|Ξενεδόχου}}), thus making the modern Arabic name a translation of a Coptic one, where phonetic resemblance is only coincidental.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Peust |first=Carsten |title=Die Toponyme vorarabischen Ursprungs im modernen Ägypten |url=http://www.peust.de/ortsnamen_original.pdf |page=60}}</ref>


==Geography==
==Geography==
Lake Manzala is long but quite shallow. Though Lake Manzala's unaltered depth is only four to five feet, alterations to the depth were made during the construction of the Suez Canal to allow the Canal to extend 29 miles lengthwise along the lake.<ref name="rogers">{{cite book |accessdate=2009-04-10|url=http://books.google.com/?id=jFGHnqSKENIC&pg=PA124&dq=Lake+Timsah|author=Jerry R. Rogers, Glenn Owen|title=Water Resources and Environmental History|publisher=ASCE Publications|year=2004| pages=124 |isbn=978-0-7844-0738-7}}</ref> Its bed is soft clay.<ref name="rogers" /> Before construction of the Suez Canal, Lake Manzala was separated from the [[Mediterranean Sea]] by a strip of sand 200 to 300 yards wide.
Lake Manzala is long but quite shallow. Though Lake Manzala's unaltered depth is only {{Convert|4 to 5|ft|spell=in}}, alterations to the depth were made during the construction of the Suez Canal to allow the Canal to extend {{Convert|29|mi}} lengthwise along the lake. Its bed is soft clay.<ref name="rogers">{{cite book |access-date=2009-04-10|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jFGHnqSKENIC&dq=Lake+Timsah&pg=PA124|author=Rogers, J. R. and G. Owen |title=Water Resources and Environmental History |publisher=ASCE Publications |year=2004| pages=124 |isbn=978-0-7844-0738-7}}</ref> Before construction of the Suez Canal, Lake Manzala was separated from the [[Mediterranean Sea]] by a strip of sand {{Convert|200 to 300|yd}} wide.


Port Said was established adjacent to Lake Manzala during the nineteenth century to support canal construction and related travel.<ref name="melady">{{cite book |accessdate=2009-04-10|url=http://books.google.com/?id=YwSR4FsUOdMC&pg=PA116&dq=Lake+Manzala+Suez+Canal|author= John Melady|title= Pearson's prize: Canada and the Suez Crisispublisher= Dundurn Press Ltd.|year=2206| pages=116 |isbn=978-1-55002-611-5}}</ref> The lake's location directly south of the [[Port Said Airport]] restricts the city's capacity for urban growth.<ref name="melady" />
Port Said was established adjacent to Lake Manzala during the nineteenth century to support canal construction and related travel. The lake's location directly south of the [[Port Said Airport]] restricts the city's capacity for growth.<ref name="melady">{{cite book |access-date=2009-04-10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YwSR4FsUOdMC&dq=Lake+Manzala+Suez+Canal&pg=PA116 |author= Melady, J. |title=Pearson's prize: Canada and the Suez Crisis |publisher=Dundurn Press Ltd. |year=2006|location=Toronto, Lancaster, New York |pages=207 |isbn=978-1-55002-611-5}}</ref>


==Suez Canal==
==Suez Canal==
Line 36: Line 48:


==Ecology==
==Ecology==
[[File:Fishermen in Egypt.jpg|thumb|Fishermen at Lake Manzala]]
⚫
Lake Manzala served as a significant source of inexpensive fish for human consumption in Egypt, but pollution and lake drainage have reduced the lake's productivity. In 1985, the lakes fishery was an open area of 89,000 [[Hectare|ha]] and employed roughly 17,000 workers.<ref name="DINAR"/> The government of Egypt drained substantial portions of the lake in an effort to convert its rich Nile deposits to farmland. The project was unprofitable: crops did not grow well in the salty soil and the value of resulting produce was less than the market value of the fish that the reclaimed land had formerly yielded. By 2001, Lake Manzala had lost approximately 80 percent of its former area through the effects of drainage efforts.<ref>Ibrahim, p.145</ref>

⚫
Lake Manzala served as a significant source of inexpensive fish for human consumption in Egypt, but pollution and lake drainage have reduced the lake's productivity. In 1985, the lakes fishery was an open area of {{Convert|89,000|ha|abbr=on}} and employed roughly 17,000 workers.<ref name="DINAR"/> The government of Egypt drained substantial portions of the lake in an effort to convert its rich Nile deposits to farmland. The project was unprofitable: crops did not grow well in the salty soil and the value of resulting produce was less than the market value of the fish that the reclaimed land had formerly yielded. By 2001, Lake Manzala had lost approximately 80 percent of its former area through the effects of drainage efforts.<ref>Ibrahim, p.145</ref>


==Notes==
==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}
{{Reflist}}


==References==
==References==
* {{cite book|last=Dinar|first=Ariel|authorlink=|title=Restoring and protecting the world's lakes and reservoirs|edition=|publisher=World Bank Publications|year=1995|isbn=0-8213-3321-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Dinar|first=Ariel|title=Restoring and protecting the world's lakes and reservoirs|publisher=World Bank Publications|year=1995|isbn=0-8213-3321-6}}
* {{cite book|title=Egypt: an economic geography|first=Barbara|last=Ibrahim|publisher=I.B.Tauris|year=2003|isbn=1-86064-548-8}}
* {{cite book|title=Egypt: an economic geography|first=Barbara|last=Ibrahim|publisher=I.B.Tauris|year=2003|isbn=1-86064-548-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Penn|first=James R.|authorlink=|title=Rivers of the world|edition=|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2001|isbn=1-57607-042-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Penn|first=James R.|title=Rivers of the world|url=https://archive.org/details/riversofworldsoc00penn|url-access=registration|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2001|isbn=1-57607-042-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Zahran|first=M.A.|authorlink=|title=The Vegetation of Egypt|edition=|publisher=Springer|year=2008|isbn=1-4020-8755-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Zahran|first=M.A.|title=The Vegetation of Egypt|publisher=Springer|year=2008|isbn=978-1-4020-8755-4}}

{{Suez Canal}}
{{Egypt topics}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:Lakes of Egypt|Manzala]]
[[Category:Lakes of Egypt|Manzala]]
[[Category:Nile River Delta]]
[[Category:Nile Delta]]
[[Category:Port Said]]
[[Category:Port Said]]

Latest revision as of 16:50, 28 October 2024

Lake Manzala
The Nile Delta
Location of Lake Manzala in Egypt.
Location of Lake Manzala in Egypt.
Lake Manzala
Coordinates31°16′N 32°12′E / 31.267°N 32.200°E / 31.267; 32.200
TypeBrackish
Basin countriesEgypt

Lake Manzala (Arabic: بحيرة المنزلة baḥīrat manzala), also Manzaleh, is a brackish lake, sometimes called a lagoon, in northeastern Egypt on the Nile Delta near Port Said and a few miles from the ancient ruins at Tanis.[1][2] It is the largest of the northern deltaic lakes of Egypt.[3] As of 2008 it is 47 km (29 mi) long and 30 km (19 mi) wide.[3]

Etymology

[edit]

The lake's name derives from Arabic: نزل, romanized: nazala, lit. 'descend, stop, settle down'. In Middle Ages it was also known as pi-Manjōili (Coptic: ⲡⲓⲙⲁⲛϫⲱⲓⲗⲓ, lit. 'inn, lodging'), translated into Greek as Xenedokhou (Ancient Greek: Ξενεδόχου), thus making the modern Arabic name a translation of a Coptic one, where phonetic resemblance is only coincidental.[4]

Geography

[edit]

Lake Manzala is long but quite shallow. Though Lake Manzala's unaltered depth is only four to five feet (1.2 to 1.5 m), alterations to the depth were made during the construction of the Suez Canal to allow the Canal to extend 29 miles (47 km) lengthwise along the lake. Its bed is soft clay.[5] Before construction of the Suez Canal, Lake Manzala was separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a strip of sand 200 to 300 yards (180 to 270 m) wide.

Port Said was established adjacent to Lake Manzala during the nineteenth century to support canal construction and related travel. The lake's location directly south of the Port Said Airport restricts the city's capacity for growth.[6]

Suez Canal

[edit]

Lake Manzala is the northernmost of three natural lakes intersected by the Suez Canal, the other two being Lake Timsah and the Great Bitter Lake. Construction of the canal proceeded from north to south, reaching Manzala first. Due to the lake's shallowness, it was necessary to dig a banked channel for ships to pass.

Ecology

[edit]
Fishermen at Lake Manzala

Lake Manzala served as a significant source of inexpensive fish for human consumption in Egypt, but pollution and lake drainage have reduced the lake's productivity. In 1985, the lakes fishery was an open area of 89,000 ha (220,000 acres) and employed roughly 17,000 workers.[1] The government of Egypt drained substantial portions of the lake in an effort to convert its rich Nile deposits to farmland. The project was unprofitable: crops did not grow well in the salty soil and the value of resulting produce was less than the market value of the fish that the reclaimed land had formerly yielded. By 2001, Lake Manzala had lost approximately 80 percent of its former area through the effects of drainage efforts.[7]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Dinar, p.51
  2. ^ Margaret S. Drower (1995). Flinders Petrie: a life in archaeology (Second ed.). ASCE Publications. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-299-14624-5. Retrieved 2009-04-10.
  3. ^ a b Zahran, p.283
  4. ^ Peust, Carsten. "Die Toponyme vorarabischen Ursprungs im modernen Ägypten" (PDF). p. 60.
  5. ^ Rogers, J. R. and G. Owen (2004). Water Resources and Environmental History. ASCE Publications. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-7844-0738-7. Retrieved 2009-04-10.
  6. ^ Melady, J. (2006). Pearson's prize: Canada and the Suez Crisis. Toronto, Lancaster, New York: Dundurn Press Ltd. p. 207. ISBN 978-1-55002-611-5. Retrieved 2009-04-10.
  7. ^ Ibrahim, p.145

References

[edit]
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