Dalga دلجا | |
Pushpin Map: | Egypt |
Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
Pushpin Mapsize: | 300 |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Egypt |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | Egypt |
Subdivision Type1: | Governorate |
Subdivision Name1: | Minya |
Unit Pref: | Imperial |
Population As Of: | 2006 |
Population Total: | 63751 |
Utc Offset: | +2 |
Coordinates: | 27.65°N 72°W |
Dalga[1] (دلجا; Coptic: ⲧϫⲉⲗⲓ, ⲉⲧⲉⲗⲕⲉ[2]) is a town of about 120,000 people in Minya Governorate in Egypt. About 20,000 Christians live there.
In the 4th century, Dalga was the original residence of Abba Or of Nitria,[3] an Egyptian Orthodox Christian ascetic venerated as a saint.
Notably, on 3 July 2013, the day Mohamed Morsi was deposed from power by the Egyptian military, Dalga was occupied by Islamists who drove out the police and assumed power. Under Islamist rule the ancient Coptic Christian Monastery of the Virgin Mary and St. Abraam was looted and burned as were the Catholic and Anglican churches; Christians were terrorized. Two attempts by the Egyptian military to take the town during the summer of 2013 failed. Egyptian police retook the town in a pre-dawn attack September 16, 2013.[4]
Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh).[5]