Dumyat

Dumyat (doomyät') [key]or Damietta (dămēet'u) [key], city (1986 pop. 89,069), capital of Dumyat governorate, N Egypt, on Lake Manzala near the Mediterranean Sea. It is a manufacturing and trade center. Its products include glassware; cotton, silk, and rayon textiles; and processed rice and fish. Of commercial and strategic importance in the Middle Ages, Dumyat was pillaged by the Byzantines and by the Sicilian Normans. It was captured and held by Crusaders from 1219 to 1221 and again (under Louis IX of France) from 1249 to 1250. Dimity, a sheer cotton fabric, was first made there. The city is the seat of Dumyat Institute, a branch of Al Azhar Univ.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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