The most famous oasis in Egypt

The most famous oasis in Egypt, that of Siwa, is located 300 km south of Matrouh, near the border with Libya. Siwa is one of the most picturesque places in Egypt, situated on the ancient trade route of the historical dates ending in Memphis. The people of Siwa speak Berber dialect and have a culture different from the rest of the country. Lush and productive, the main attraction is made up from the oasis of Siwa itself and its lakes. A small museum, said House of Siwa, contains a small exhibition of garments and traditional tools.

The territory

Siwa is the westernmost of the oases of the Egyptian desert (latitude N29 14 25 32 E longitude), located 550 km from Cairo as the crow flies (but almost 800 km on paved road), 300 km from the Mediterranean and only 50 km from the border Libya. Set in a depression between 12 and 60 feet below sea level, is easily accessible from Marsa Matrouh on the Mediterranean coast, through an asphalted road. The landscape is one of the most picturesque in the country: after miles of desert, Siwa appears as a "mirage", surrounded by its famous plantations of date palms and olive trees dotted ee large salt lakes. The oasis covers about 82 km from east and west with a width of about 9 km to the west of up to 28 km in the east. In total an area of ​​about 1200 km2. The depression of Siwa and its lakes are the remains of an ancient sea, then evaporated, which stretched up to the ى. This explains the high salinity of the soil of the oasis and the numerous appearances of fossils is the oasis in the desert environment.

The northern border of the oasis is characterized by rocky cliffs and hills through which the conical flat stony plateau that extends south from Marsa Matrouh sudden decline in depression green oasis. The southern boundary is determined by the expanse of sand dunes that stretches to the Gilf Kebir and Libya and is the beginning of the Great Sand Sea Sahara.

In addition to the town of Siwa, where he resides most of the inhabitants, there are other scattered settlements in the oasis of which the most important are Aghurmi, al-Maraqi, Khamisah, Shuruf and Abu al-Zaytuna. There are also many salt lakes of which the most important are the Siwa lake and that of al-Zaytuna, which begins near Jabal al-Dakrur and extends for more than 25 km with an average width of 5 km.

People and History

The whole of the oasis of Siwa, which is also part of the small oasis of El Gara, is a human reality, environmental and historic extremely peculiar. Known since antiquity, Siwa has experienced the presence of Egyptian, Roman, Hellenistic, Byzantine, Arab, and then fall back, more or less from the High Middle Ages, about herself, encouraged and protected by its geographic isolation. Berber groups, from the Maghreb, were imposed in the meantime in terms of population and economy were based on principles largely self-sufficient. Siwa was, however, on the route of the caravan routes that passed from the sea to the Middle Nile and continues to play an important trade and cultural links with the nearest oasis in Libya. This relative isolation has allowed the Berber tribes, who settled in the area many centuries ago to keep alive their culture and traditions, most notably language, Siwi, which is still the main language of the oasis. The permanent resident population in the Siwa amounts to about 20,000 people, including about 14,000 in Siwa town and only 350 in El Gara.

Inhabited during the Paleolithic and Neolithic, little is known of the Siwa during thousands of years that saw the development of Egyptian civilization. Some believe that Siwa was the capital of an ancient kingdom which included El Gara, Arashieh and Bahrain. There are clear evidences about the integration of Siwa in the empire in relation to the Egyptian 26th dynasty (663-525 BC) and it is believed that the construction of the temple dates back to the Oracle at the time. To this period also seems to date from the earliest tombs found at Gebel Mawta, a rocky hill near the center of Siwa perforated by various tombs from the Pharaonic period onwards. By the sixth century BC on the Oracle of Amun in Siwa acquires great reputation throughout the Mediterranean world and more and more pilgrims came to consult the oracle in the oasis. The most famous of these was that Alexander the Great in 331 BC, having conquered Egypt and founded Alexandria, undertook a journey in the Libyan desert to Siwa to visit the temple and consult the oracle from which he was proclaimed the son of Zeus Ammon .

Subsequently, Alexandria became the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt and the last descendant of the line was Cleopatra VII. After she and the Roman conquest, the Emperor Augustus used to send prisoners and enemies as in the Siwa oasis cos ى further south, turned into penal colonies. Uncertain and much discussed is the hypothesis if Christianity has spread in the oasis but there is no evidence in this regard.
Islam comes to Siwa in 708 D.C. with Ibn Mousa Noss, a general Amr Ibn El As, the Muslim conqueror of Egypt. The Siwan fiercely resisted the attempt of conquest, starting cos ى a long period of resistance and struggle. The original settlement of the population of the village of Siwa was Aghurmi, where is the temple of the oracle. However, after several raids by Arab and Bedouin tribes, the population of Siwa was reduced to a few units and it was therefore decided to abandon Aghurmi in 1203 to found a new fortified village, the current Shali (Siwa language that means "city ").

Because of its remoteness and isolation, Siwa was long a small independent republic, ruled by the heads of the tribes that lived there. The history between the thirteenth and eighteenth century A. D. was mainly characterized by internal struggles between the eastern tribes, regarded as originating in Siwa, and the western tribes, who settled in the oasis from Libya and later. Unable to integrate foreigners, Siwan have never accepted the travelers. The first European to visit the oasis was W.G. Browne at the beginning of 1792. He followed F. Hornemann (1798) and F. Cailliaud (1819), who later wrote the first scientific report on Siwa. All suspicious and met a hostile reception from the population. In 1820 Mohamed Ali, governor of the Ottoman Empire and founder of modern Egypt, began its campaign to slow the conquest of the western oases and even sent troops to Siwa, which was subdued after a short battle and forced to pay tribute to the new government. Followed, however, directed against the government representatives of Siwan, instigated by the influence of fundamentalist Islamic movement in El-Sayyid Mohammed bin Ali el Sanusi, a Muslim mystic born in Algeria. These, after a trip to Mecca had returned in the Libyan desert, had founded his order is made up numerous religious centers (zawiyahs), first in Siwa oasis and then in other western desert, coming to control most of the Western Desert.

The Siwan cos ى found themselves in a difficult situation, caught between the central government and the Egyptian Sanussi, in the western desert that represented the real power. Sanussi I continued to influence the oasis for many years and made it an important staging point for caravans that transported goods from Libya and slaves to the east. Some of these slaves were purchased from Siwan and their descendants still live in the oasis to form the black population. During World War Siwa is located between the Italians who colonized Libya, for which the Sanussi Siwan sympathized and supported the Ottoman Empire and the British who had colonized in the late nineteenth century Egypt. After several failed attempts to Sanussi, who had already occupied and Bahareya Farafra, Siwa also took in April 1916. The British then regained the various Siwa oasis and also resumed in February 1917 after a battle with Sanussi.

During this time, Siwan could not help but take refuge in the tombs of Gebel Mawta and welcome any invader from time to time impradoniva oasis. After the end of World War I, Siwa beginning to be tourist destination and the English captain Hillier built a small hotel near Gebel Mawta and begin to organize trips and safaris from Cairo and Alexandria to Siwa. Even during the Second World War Siwa play an important role in the hostilities. It was occupied for a long time by the allied troops made up of British, Australians and New Zealanders, then bombed by the Italians, who controlled Libya and occupied it for about 4 months and then taken by the Allies. During the period of Italian occupation, the Feld Marshal Rommel also visit the oasis. Since the end of the second world war, the Egyptian government has maintained Siwa closed to foreigners because of its proximity to the Libyan border, the military attach the utmost importance. E 'was only reopened in 1986 but is still very evident the presence of the military.

Other initiatives have been taken to better link Siwa in Egypt and the rest of the world: in 1985 it was paved the road from Marsa Matrouh to Siwa making it much easier and faster journeys to and from the oasis. In 1987 he was introduced to Siwa and television since 1990, a new electrical system provides electricity to the whole oasis for 24 hours a day.

Life and Culture

Social structure
The population of Siwa is organized in 11 different social groups, and 1 in the small oasis of El Gara, they belong to all those who live permanently in the area. These social groups, or tribes, as they are commonly called, are all local, except one, composed of Bedouins once settled there in the oasis. In the latter there are the foreigners who move to Siwa. The internal bond of family and social group membership is generally transmitted through the male line, the marriage can take place both inside and outside the tribe, subject to the principle that children belong to the father's social group . The tribal system of Siwa has been handed down over time by many centuries. The tribe of Aghurmi is believed to descend from the inhabitants of the oasis at the time of ancient Rome, the other tribes have been established between the eighth and the fifteenth century and in the sixteenth century they were more or less established as they are now. The main changes are occurring at the level of those sub-tribes that have been promoted to the rank of tribe as a result of the number of members of the community compared to others.

With the exception of race and tribe of El Aghourmi, the others are not localized on a specific area for the residence and cultivation. Each tribe is ruled by a sheikh, who was elected with the consent of all members of the community, whose decisions are always taken after consultation with representatives of the same social group and in harmony with the thought of the community, have a normative value for members of the tribe itself. The major function of this social structure is that relating to land management, particularly the allocation of those uncultivated. The allocation of land is made by the sheikh to members of the community. The sheikh is also responsible for debts incurred by members of his tribe, and can take action to dispose of the debtor's assets, usually portions of arable land equal to the amount of debt. Another important function performed within the social group is the settlement of disputes, for which a cost is always predictable. The office of sheikh is attributed to the individual from the time of his appointment until his death and the appointment of the new sheikh can occur only by unanimous decision of the tribes. The strong sense of belonging to the individual's social group, and the consequent desire not to arise in conflict with it, contribute to the organization s ى that still represents the nerve system of relationships between individuals inside the oasis.

Contrary to what usually happens in similar social structures, the tribes have not, oasis, an area of ​​relevance, but are distributed in space across the oasis. The only exception is the population of El Gara, representing a unique social group that shares the same well-defined space. A characteristic of the traditional society of Siwa was the prohibition to marry before a certain age imposed to the caste of have-nots (zaggala), employed as laborers work in the fields. They were forced to live segregated from the outside of the town, in the palm groves or caves, where they led a promiscuous life, spending her evenings at parties, dancing and drinking labgi, a fermented beverage extracted from the palm. These living conditions favoring the spread of homosexuality had been institutionalized so that true "homosexual marriage". Today, these practices have practically disappeared, and zaggala are best known for their songs that cheer every party and are also recorded on tape and circulated in the oasis and elsewhere.

In Siwa culture and Islamic traditions have always given very conservative women to a condition very secluded and almost reclusive. In the early centuries of Shali, Siwa when the population was living closed in the walled city, women were not allowed to leave the city to go in palm groves. Only later in the fifteenth century had been added in the walls of a special door for women cos ى could avoid passing out from the ports used by men. Even today, married women can not leave the house except to visit family and friends and attend weddings and funerals, can not go out alone but always accompanied by a male in the household (a child) often on a cart pulled the ass, and when they go out must completely cover from head to foot with a mantle called traditional or tarfottet Milay and even the face should be completely hidden by a black veil for no man other than the family can see them in the face. Because of these prohibitions, all fees and living expenses outside the home are made by man or by children. Only very young girls and adolescents enjoy greater freedom in recent years and the girls not yet married can go out alone and also work, such as teachers in schools or in craft workshops for women. Marriage for women is a very young age and is determined by the families. In the past, ceremonies and wedding celebrations lasted a week with a very precise ritual while today they are reduced to two or three days. The wife joins the family of her husband and mother-in-law who is subject to the highest authority within the home.

They are however very frequent divorces often due to conflicts that arise between the daughter and mother-in-law, the sterility of his wife or even with superstition and magic practices widespread in society Siwan. The culture is very secretive of Siwan s ى it is rare for a foreigner to be invited home, and although there is still the reception is done in a special room that has a separate entrance from the rest of the house to prevent the steps from guest 'inside the house. During the visit, the women did not show anything, if only the girls in the family. Siwan I believe that these traditions against women contribute in a fundamental way to preserve the Siwan culture from outside influences that are penetrating more and more to Siwa.

Economy

The special ecological oasis has allowed a highly specialized and reduced agricultural production, based on olive trees, date palms and alfalfa, and reduced activity as a cattle farm. Other types of vegetables and fruit are produced in small quantities and for overriding local use. The great abundance of water for the oasis presents the risk of flooding the farmland and reach the vast expanses of salt that can be found on its edges, making the fields infertile. This requires a constant drainage of water and a regular control. Apart from agricultural activities and agro-food related to the production of dates and olives, there is a scarcity of Siwa industries. The only exception is represented by the two factories that produce mineral water (one owned by an Italian / Egyptian and an army). Recently the army has opened a carpet factory that employs about 50 young women not yet married.

Tourism is a sector of great importance with the presence of some 10,000 tourists a year, of which 6,000 are foreigners, and the availability of approximately twenty hotels of different levels. There are several restaurants and shops that rent bicycles and dozens of shops selling handicrafts, local and other areas in Egypt. There are also approximately fifteen individuals or groups that offer services such as guides (including stays in the desert for several days and visits to other oases of the Western Desert).

Archaeological and historic sites

In the capital of the oasis, Siwa Town, you can visit a little museum of culture, the Siwan House, built thanks to a Canadian cooperation project and structured along the lines of traditional houses in kharshif (a mixture of mud and salt blocks) and which keeps clothes and culture as Siwan galabeya and embroidered shawls, jewelry, carpets, traditional pottery and household utensils. The city center is dominated by the ruins of the fortified village of Shali, founded in 1203 as defense structure as a result of a violent attack of the Bedouin leaving only forty survivors throughout the oasis. The houses were built in kharshif (building material more plentiful and readily available in the oasis) pressed against each other because of lack of space and the roads were really narrow alleys with little air and light, in which he could barely move an ass load at a time. For a long time Shali had only one door, on the north side, then it was added to the south near the olive press and a third for the exclusive use of women. The main gate at the tribal chiefs would meet each other and in turn elected the village head. Until 1820, the tribal chiefs had forbidden, for security reasons, to build houses outside the walls of Shali because the city had grown in height by adding a floor to housing families as they became more numerous. Some of the houses came cos ى 6 or 7 floors. After 1820, making the situation more secure because of the statement of the central Egyptian oasis, the prohibition was abolished and they began to build houses outside the old town. The sloping, winding alleyways of Shali has been gradually abandoned by its inhabitants in the late 800 and 900 until the start of the rains in 1926 attacked furiously for three days on holiday in kharshif and made permanently uninhabitable.

As he left the family home in Shali and moving into a new home took away the wooden structures of the doors and windows and beamed ceilings and this has accelerated the deterioration of old buildings in kharshif. On the hill of Aghurmi, four miles east of Siwa, the ruins of the Temple of Amon del'Oracolo, built between 663 and 525 BC the XXVI dynasty during the reign of Amasis. The temple still has interior sidewalls and with the remains of inscriptions and decorations while the roof has completely collapsed. In ancient times, many important visitors on their way to Siwa to consult the oracle of Jupiter Ammon. But the visit was Alexander the Great in 331 BC, which gave immortal fame to the oracle of the oasis. Here before him Cambyses had sent the famous army of 50,000 men with a mandate to destroy the oracle: the immense army never came, and disappeared into the sands of the desert, then, is one of the great mysteries of history and of ' archeology.

Around the temple of the oracle are also the remains of the mosque and unaantica of mud and stone houses of medieval and later periods. Aghurmi near the ruins of the temple of Umm el-Ebeid, always dedicated to Amon and built around 350 BC during the reign of Nectanebo II, which was connected to the temple of the oracle by a large stone paved road that was a single religious complex. The temple was still in good condition but in the early nineteenth century and then in ruins because of an earthquake, and especially because one of the first governors of the Siwa blew up with the explosion in order to use the stone blocks to build the house. Today the temple has been partially restored but still standing, only parts of a wall with decorations and hieroglyphs. Nearby is also the source of Cleopatra, a pool of spring water in stone called cos ى in recent times as a tourist but whose original name is the source siwano Guba. This source is also mentioned by Herodotus as the "source of the sun" and in the past was a tradition that the brides were to purify this source in the morning of the wedding day.

A kilometers north of the city lies the hill of Gebel al-Mawta, the "mountain of the dead." This perforated the limestone houses many tombs of the XXVI dynasty and the Ptolemaic and Roman period. Four of them are decorated with inscriptions and paintings, and one in particular, the tomb of Si-Amun, has kept very vivid colors and images. The other three are the tomb of Mesu-Isis, the Crocodile and the tomb of Niperpathot. In some of these mummies have been found and some tools. In the tombs of Gebel al-Mawta had found shelter the population of Siwa during the bombings of World War II. Rock-cut tombs are also present in many other areas of the oasis as Bilad El Dahab and Rum. In the oasis, there are other small villages and interesting as Abou El Shrouf Zaytuna, with natural springs, ancient ruins and abandoned villages, and Maraqi, near which were found the remains of a Doric temple and that an archaeological expedition the declaration of the Greek in 1991 to be the missing tomb of Alexander the Great. After further study and analysis of this claim was quickly denied by the Egyptian archaeological authorities.

Natural features

The variety of landscape and its wealth of water in the area (there are today about 200 springs that bring water from underground to the surface) have contributed to various different types of habitats, allowing the development of multiple animal species and vegetables. Summarize the different habitats that are found in the area are the following:
- All beaches: characteristics dunes and plains of the Great Sand Sea.
- Highlands and Plains: spacious gravel plains, where vegetation is dependent on a few winter rains.
- Precipice and "wadi" means the crests and troughs in the edges of precipices common are an ideal place for nesting of different types of birds, and a safe haven for gazelles and other mammals. The dry beds of streams (wadis), are characterized by a flora dependent on seasonal rains.
- Oasis: in depressions where water goes underground to the surface, there are human settlements and the presence of animals that can count on the availability of fresh water. Date palms and olive trees are the predominant tree species.

The area has a variety of wildlife that can be so described
- Reptiles and amphibians were identified in the Siwa region of 32 species of reptiles and two amphibians.
- Birds have been recorded in Siwa 164 species of birds, of which 26 are migratory, wintering in the area and the remaining 68 are occasional.
- Mammals: gazelle, fox, oryx

The oasis of Siwa is surrounded by Protected Area was established in 2002 as a project of the Italian Cooperation. The protected area covers a total of 7800 km2 is to the west and the north and east of Siwa and environmental characteristics, botanical and faunal characteristics. Two interesting places to visit in the western part of the protected area are Shyata, salt lake surrounded by vegetation among the rocks and sand dunes, and Bir Wahed, the source of hot water that gives life to a small oasis and a lake fresh water on the edge of the Great Western Sand Sea.

Other small uninhabited oasis of Siwa are to the east, along the road from Siwa to Bahareya. Areg is located 175 km east of Siwa in a depression surrounded by steep slopes of access. There are two sources in the Pharaonic period and was inhabited and cultivated, but later abandoned. The rock formations are interspersed with rock-cut tombs in the Christian era have been inhabited by hermits. Subsequently, the oasis has been a haven of Bedouin robbers.

Bahrain is located further east and can be reached via a track which branches off to the south after the 3rd check point of the road to Bahareya. The oasis consists of two very beautiful lakes and is surrounded by walls of rock, some palm trees and sand dunes. Even here there are rock tombs and in 2004 an Italian archaeological expedition has discovered the ruins of a temple of the XXX dynasty with remains of paintings and hieroglyphics. This is one of the most important discoveries of recent decades in the Siwa.

Other small oasis in this area is uninhabited and Sitra Nuwamisa with salt lakes and palm trees but unfortunately infested zazare in the evening and night hours.

El Gara

About 130 km north east of Siwa on the edge of the Qattara Depression is instead the oasis town of El Gara, which could be likened to a miniature of Siwa in a few decades ago. El Gara fact consists of an ancient village in kharshif built on a rocky hill and now in ruins and abandoned but very interesting to visit and where you can enjoy excellent views across the oasis. The few inhabitants of El Gara, about 400, have moved to newer houses in the plain below. The oasis also includes a variety of sources, a salt lake and gardens of palms and other crops that constitute the livelihood of the inhabitants. The oasis has been inhabited since dal'antichità and it seems that Alexander the Great passed from the ى during his trip to Siwa. El Gara is very isolated, even by the presence of military checkpoints in the area, no line or telephone at constant electrical power but only occasionally provided by a generator. None of the inhabitants of the oasis has a car or other means of transport except the carts the ass. The inhabitants are a single tribe led by an elderly sheikh who, together with the whole community welcomes the offer of tea dates and the few visitors. In addition to farming, the only other source of income of the population is the production of traditional baskets made of palm leaves, decorated with colored yarn and fabric, which are sent to Siwa to be sold in craft shops. Access oasis can be done either on a road which branches off from the road from Marsa Matrouh or dirt track from the oasis of Siwa.

Folklore and traditions

The Siwan Berbers are descended from and are closely related to the customs and language of North Africa. Some have red or light hair and blue or green eyes. Siwa is closely linked to Libya, and many families have relatives in villages and oases across the border. Others are descendants of African blacks brought the oasis in past centuries by caravans that traded slaves. The original language Siwan is a Berber dialect, very different from Arabic. Siwan I learn in the family as their first language and then studied Arabic at school. The Siwan language is only passed down orally, there is no written form.

The means of transport is the most common of Siwan cart pulled the ass. It is used daily for transportation of people and equipment, agricultural products, and goods of all kinds. It 's very common to see donkey carts carrying the whole family or a child accompanying led by married women are completely covered by tarfottet. The camel is not, however, present in Siwa and has a tradition of local transport. Was and is still used by nomadic Bedouin population that lives in the desert for long journeys and for Siwan, which are sedentary oasis, has always been more useful to the donkey.

Until the beginning of '900 most of the population lived in traditional houses in Siwa kharshif. This type of housing had the property of being warm in winter and cool in summer because they had mud walls and very large rooms and then had an insulating effect. They were not equipped with running water but only a toilet "dry". They were built according to climatic criteria to take advantage of the properties of the environment and climate siwano: small windows to limit air exchange, and then hot and cold, with the external orientation of the house from north to south with the north-facing front door to let in fresh air currents, the common room to the south and winter with a fireplace, a large room with two large side doors to the north and south of the village where men would gather to keep cool, talk and drink tea, the roof beams made of palm wood and covered with straw and mud to increase the thermal insulation.