Kharga الخارجة ϯⲟⲩⲁϩ ⲛ̀ϩⲏⲃ,ϯⲟⲩⲁϩ ⲙ̀ⲯⲟⲓ | |
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 .jpg)     Clockwise from top: Temple of Hibis,qanat shaft near Qasr al-Labakha fortress, Deir al-Munira fortress, Umm al-Dabadib fortress, Kharga Rest-house, Kharga Mosque | |
  Kharga Location in Egypt | |
| Coordinates:25°26′56″N30°32′24″E / 25.44889°N 30.54000°E /25.44889; 30.54000 | |
| Country |  Egypt |
| Governorate | New Valley |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,017 km2 (393 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 32 m (105 ft) |
| Population (2021)[1] | |
• Total | 101,283 |
| • Density | 100/km2 (260/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EST) |
TheKharga Oasis (Arabic:الخارجةal-Ḫāriǧa,pronounced[elˈxæɾɡæ])lit. 'the outer';Coptic:(ϯ)ⲟⲩⲁϩ ⲛ̀ϩⲏⲃ(di)wah enhib, "Oasis ofHib",(ϯ)ⲟⲩⲁϩ ⲙ̀ⲯⲟⲓ(di)wah empsoi "Oasis ofPsoi") is the southernmost ofEgypt's five westernoases. It is located in theWestern Desert, about 200 km (125 miles) to the west of theNile valley. "Kharga" or "El Kharga" is also the name of a major town located in the oasis, the capital ofNew Valley Governorate.[2] The oasis, which was known as the 'Southern Oasis' to theAncient Egyptians, the 'outer' (he Exotero) to the Greeks[3] andOasis Magna to theRomans, is the largest of the oases in theLibyan desert of Egypt. It is in a depression about 160 km (100 miles) long and from 20 km (12 miles) to 80 km (50 miles) wide.[4] Its population is 67,700 (2012).
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| knm(t) "The Vineyard"[5] inhieroglyphs | |||||
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| Era:New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC) | |||||
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| wḥꜣt rswt ḥb "The Southern Oasis of Hibis"[6] inhieroglyphs | ||||||||
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Kharga is the most modernised of Egypt's western oases. The main town is highly functional with all modern facilities, and virtually nothing left of old architecture. There is extensive thornydate palm,acacia,buffalo thorn, andjujube growth in the oasis surrounding the modern town of Kharga. Many remnant wildlife species inhabit this region.
TheKöppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate ashot desert (BWh).[7] Kharga Oasis experiences extreme summers for most of the year with no precipitation and warm winters with cool nights.
| Climate data for Kharga (2000–2020) | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 36.0 (96.8) | 42.3 (108.1) | 47.5 (117.5) | 46.4 (115.5) | 49.8 (121.6) | 50.3 (122.5) | 47.5 (117.5) | 46.8 (116.2) | 45.4 (113.7) | 44.6 (112.3) | 39.8 (103.6) | 38.7 (101.7) | 50.3 (122.5) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 22.6 (72.7) | 25.2 (77.4) | 29.6 (85.3) | 34.5 (94.1) | 38.5 (101.3) | 40.6 (105.1) | 41.2 (106.2) | 41.2 (106.2) | 38.8 (101.8) | 34.6 (94.3) | 28.9 (84.0) | 24.1 (75.4) | 33.3 (92.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 7.0 (44.6) | 9.1 (48.4) | 12.7 (54.9) | 17.5 (63.5) | 22.0 (71.6) | 24.7 (76.5) | 25.0 (77.0) | 25.2 (77.4) | 23.8 (74.8) | 20.2 (68.4) | 13.9 (57.0) | 9.2 (48.6) | 17.5 (63.6) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 0.0 (32.0) | 0.2 (32.4) | 2.6 (36.7) | 6.4 (43.5) | 10.6 (51.1) | 14.8 (58.6) | 16.9 (62.4) | 16.9 (62.4) | 14.9 (58.8) | 9.9 (49.8) | 0.8 (33.4) | 0.8 (33.4) | 0.0 (32.0) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 0.1 (0.00) | 0 (0) | 0.1 (0.00) | 0 (0) | 0.1 (0.00) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0.3 (0) |
| Average precipitation days | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 52 | 45 | 38 | 29 | 27 | 28 | 30 | 31 | 36 | 41 | 47 | 51 | 37.9 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 287.8 | 274.4 | 297.8 | 307.2 | 336.8 | 361.6 | 359.9 | 364.9 | 321.1 | 313.0 | 289.7 | 276.6 | 3,790.8 |
| Source 1: Meteomanz[8] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: NOAA[9] | |||||||||||||
Atrade route calledDarb El Arba'īn ("the Way of Forty") passed through Kharga as part of a long caravan route running north–south betweenMiddle Egypt andthe Sudan. The ancient route connected theAl-Fashir area of Sudan toAsyut in Egypt, navigating through a chain of oases including Kharga,Selima Oasis andBir Natrun.[10]
At least 700 years old,[10] it was likely used from as early as theOld Kingdom of Egypt for the transport and trade of gold,ivory, spices, wheat, animals and plants.[11]
The maximum extent ofDarb El Arba'īn was northward fromKobbei inDarfur (located about 25 miles north ofal-Fashir) passing through the desert, throughBir Natrum andWadi Howar, and ending at theNile River access point of Asyut inEgypt.[12] This is a journey of approximately 1,800 km (1,100 mi). The desert route was less expensive and safer than the more visually appealing Nile route.[13]
All the oases have always been crossroads ofcaravan routes converging from the barren desert. In the case of Kharga, this is made particularly evident by the presence of a chain of fortresses that the Romans built to protect the Darb El Arba'īn route. The forts vary in size and function, some being just small outposts, some guarding large settlements complete with cultivation. Some were installed where earlier settlements already existed, while others were probably started from scratch. All of them are made of mud bricks, but some also contain small stone temples with inscriptions on the walls.
Described byHerodotus as a road "traversed…in forty days," by his time the route had already become an important land route facilitating trade betweenNubia andEgypt.[14] The length of the journey is the reason for it being called Darb El Arba`īn, the implication being "the forty-day road".[15]
After the prominent Christian theologianNestorius was condemned as a heretic in the 431Council of Ephesus, he was removed from his position asPatriarch of Constantinople and exiled to amonastery then located in the Great Oasis of Hibis (El Kharga). There he lived for the rest of his life. The monastery suffered attacks by desert bandits, and Nestorius was injured in one such raid. Nestorius seems to have survived there until at least 450 and there had composed theBazaar of Heracleides—the only one of writings to survive in full, and of importance to the ChristianNestorians who follow his teachings.
As part of a caravan proceeding toDarfur, the English explorerW.G. Browne paused for several days at Kharga, leaving with the rest of the group 7 June 1793. At the time agindi (a Turkish horseman, that performs extraordinary feats) was stationed at Kharga, "belonging to Ibrahim Bey El Kebir, to whom those villages appertain; and to [this official] is entrusted the management of what relates to the caravan during the time of its stay there."[16]
In 1930 the archaeologist,Gertrude Caton–Thompson, uncovered thepalaeolithic history of Kharga.[17]
In his diary, “Al-Hajj Al-Bari” mentioned the most important families descending of Christians and Romans in the Kharga Oasis. They are the families of “Al-Jawiya, the families of Al-Tawayh, the Al-Bahramah family, the Al-Sanadiyah family, the Al-Azayza family, the Al-Badayrah family, the Al-Mahbasiya family, the Al-Hosnieh family, and the Al-Na’imah family And the Al-Sharayra family, and there are Nubian families in the village of Baris. There are few Berber families too who are thought to be the indigenous people of Kharga but the majority today are Arab families.
Perhaps the most important of these Arab families that came to the Khargha Oasis from the beginning of the year 300 AH are the families of the Idris from Tunisia or Libya, the family of Rekabia and the family of the jewehera from the Hijaz and the family of shakawera and the family of Al-Radawana and the family from the Arabs of Mecca and the family of Al-Shawami from the Levant and there are families from the countries of the Egyptian country such as Dabatiya and Asawiya from Assiut Or Sohag and the Awlad-el-sheikh from Egypt “It is more likely to mean Cairo”, the family of Njarin from Qalamoun in Dakhla, the family of Al Shaabna from Mallawi, the family of Al-Awamir from Al-Amayem tribe and the family of Al-Alawneh from Al-Alawiya in addition to Turkish families such as Al-Dabashiya, Al-Tarakah Al-Kharja and the Bash families The Qaqamqam, Askari, Tannabur, Qitas, and Kashif.
A regular bus service connects the oasis to the other Western oases and to the rest of Egypt. In 1907, the narrow gaugeWestern Oasis Lines provided twice-weekly train services. Astandard gauge railway line Kharga →Qena (Nile Valley) →Port Safaga (Red Sea) has been in service since 1996, but has been decommissioned soon after.
TheTemple of Hibis is aSaite-era temple founded byPsamtik II, which was erected largely c. 500 BC. It is located about 2 kilometres north of modern Kharga, in a palm-grove.[18] There is a second 1st millennium BC temple in the southernmost part of the oasis atDush.[19] An ancient Christian cemetery atEl Bagawat also functioned at the Kharga Oasis from the 3rd to the 7th century AD. It is one of the earliest and best preserved Christian cemeteries in the ancient world.
The first list of sites is due toAhmad Fakhri but serious archaeological work began in 1976 withSerge Sauneron, director of theInstitut Français d'Archéologie Orientale.
In June 2016, a report emerged that attributed thedagger buried withPharaohTutankhamun to an ironmeteorite, with similar proportions of metals (iron, nickel and cobalt) to one discovered near and named after Kharga Oasis. The dagger's metal was presumably from the samemeteor shower.[20]
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25°26′18″N30°33′30″E / 25.43833°N 30.55833°E /25.43833; 30.55833
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