Ezbet El Borg (Arabic: عزبة البرج, IPA:[ˈʕezbetelˈboɾɡ]; also transliteratedʻIzbat al-Burj, lit. Village of the Tower) is a coastal city with a large fishing industry in Damietta Governorate, Egypt. It is 15 km (9 mi) northeast of Damietta, and 210 km (130 mi) from Cairo. Its population is approximately 70,000.[1]
The city was named in reference to the defensive tower that once stood there ("Burj" in Arabic means tower). In 1869, a 180-foot (55 m) minaret was built to guide ships in the Mediterranean Sea, but this location is now just a shallow spot in the Nile riverbed.[citation needed] The town was historically granted to the Syrian Kahil family by Muhammad Ali of Egypt.[2]
The city is home to approximately 10,000 fishermen (1% of Egypt's total), and the base of Egypt's largest fishing boat fleet, including boats of the traditional felucca type. The city is also home to a sardine-canning factory operated by the Edfina Company.[3] The fishing sector provides the main source of income for the locals.[4] Many of the fishing boats venture far along the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea. It is also a center for ship and yacht-building in Egypt.[5] In 2014 and 2015, the fishermen of Ezbet El Borg were involved in a dispute with the Egyptian Authority for Maritime Safety regarding compliance with maritime safety standards.[6]
^United States. Foreign Broadcast Information Service; United States. Joint Publications Research Service (1983). Near East/South Asia report. Foreign Broadcast Information Service. Retrieved 13 July 2012.