South Sinai ( ') is the least populated

governorate A governorate or governate is an administrative division headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either states or provinces, the term ''governorate'' is typically used to calque divisions ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. It is located in the east of the country, encompassing the southern half of the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Afri ...

Saint Catherine's Monastery Saint Catherine's Monastery ( , ), officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Catherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, is a Christian monastery located in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Located at the foot of Mount Sinai ...

, an

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

monastery and

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

of world renown, is located in the central part of the governorate.

Municipal divisions

The governorate is divided into the following municipal divisions for administrative purposes with a total estimated population as of January 2023 o
117,113
South Sinai municipalities

Tourism

The governorate is an attractive destination for tourism due to its amazing and fascinating nature scenes; however, it has been the site of several terrorist attacks. In 1985, a mass murder occurred in the

Ras Burqa Ras Burqa, (“head of the blessing” in Arabic) is a small bay on the Red Sea in the district of Nuwaiba, Egypt. In 1985, Suleiman Khater, a lone wolf (terrorism), lone Egyptians, Egyptian gunman, perpetrated the Ras Burqa massacre, killing e ...

resort and killed 8 people (7 Israeli tourists and 1 Egyptian policeman). The

2004 Sinai bombings The 2004 Sinai bombings were three bomb attacks targeting tourist hotels in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, on 7 October 2004. The attacks left 34 people dead and 171 injured. The bombings The explosions occurred on the night of 7 October, agains ...

that targeted tourist hotels in and around

Nuweiba Nuweiba (also spelled: Nueiba; , ) is a coastal town in the eastern part of Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, located on the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba. History Historically, it is in the Asian part of Egypt, and the area was inhabited by two different a ...

killed 34 people and wounded over 170. In 2005,

Sharm El Sheikh Sharm El Sheikh (, , literally "bay of the Sheikh"), alternatively rendered Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharm el Sheikh, or Sharm El-Sheikh, is an Egyptian city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, on the coastal strip alo ...

was hit by a terrorist attack. 88 people were killed, the majority of them Egyptians, and over 200 were wounded, at that time making it the deadliest terrorist action in the country's history (exceeding the

Luxor massacre The Luxor massacre was a terrorist attack that occurred on 17 November 1997 in Egypt. It was perpetrated by al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya and resulted in the deaths of 62 people, most of whom were tourists. It took place at Dayr al-Bahri, an archaeo ...

of 1997, which killed 62 people). 2006 saw the Dahab bombings, which killed 23 people and wounded 80. The

Sinai insurgency The Sinai insurgency was an insurgency campaign in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt launched by Islamist militants against Egyptian security forces, which also included attacks on civilians. The insurgency began during the Egyptian Crisis, duri ...

, although happening mainly in the neighboring North Sinai Governorate, occasionally spilled over to South Sinai. In February 2014, a tourist bus was attacked in Taba. The perpetrators killed the Egyptian bus driver and three South Korean tourists. After 2014, The Egyptian government and the Egyptian army took firm actions to eliminate terrorism, and city is now safe.

Demographics

According to population estimates, in 2024 the majority of residents in the governorate lived in urban areas, with an urbanization rate of 51.1%. Out of an estimated 117,113 people residing in the governorate, 59,845 people lived in urban areas as opposed to only 57,268 in rural areas. The

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

inhabit the

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai, also known as Jabal Musa (), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is one of several locations claimed to be the Mount Sinai (Bible), biblical Mount Sinai, the place where, according to the sacred scriptures of the thre ...

area. Due to poor accessibility, at times the orchards in the mountains have served to hide narcotics smugglers in the region.

Landmarks

, an

monastery and

of world renown, is located in central part of the governorate, at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of

, in the city of

Saint Catherine, Egypt Saint Catherine (, ; ; also spelled Saint Katrine) is a town located in the South Sinai Governorate of Egypt, situated at the foot of Mount Sinai. The city is the site of Saint Catherine's Monastery. The city is above sea level and is from ...

. Built between 548 and 565, the monastery is one of the oldest working Christian monasteries in the world. The site contains the world's oldest continually operating library, possessing many unique books including the

Syriac Sinaiticus The Syriac Sinaiticus or Codex Sinaiticus Syriacus (syrs), known also as the Sinaitic Palimpsest, of Saint Catherine's Monastery (Sinai, Syr. 30), or Old Syriac Gospels is a late-4th- or early-5th-century manuscript of 179 folios, containing a nea ...

and, until 1859, the

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (; Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonica ...

. Raithu Monastery is situated in El Tor. It was built on a site where some 40 monks were massacred in the 4th or 5th century.

Cities and towns

* Abu Redis * Abu Zenima *

Dahab Dahab (, , "gold") is a small town on the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, approximately northeast of Sharm el-Sheikh. Dahab can be divided into three major parts. Masbat, which includes the Bedouin village of Asalah, in the nor ...

* El Tor *

* Ras Sedr * Saint Catherine *

* Taba

Sites

Wadi Mukattab The Wadi Mukattab (Arabic for "Valley of Writing"), also known as the Valley of Inscriptions, is a wadi on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula near St Catherine's Monastery. It links the main road in the Wadi Feiran with the Wadi Maghareh's ancient turquoi ...

* Wadi Feiran

References

External links

El Wattan News of South Sinai Governorate
{{Authority control Governorates of Egypt