Sidi Barrani
| Sidi Barrani | |
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 Sidi Barrani
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| Coordinates: 31°36′39″N 25°55′32″E / 31.61083°N 25.92556°ECoordinates: 31°36′39″N 25°55′32″E / 31.61083°N 25.92556°E | |
| Country |  Egypt |
| Governorate | Matruh |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Total | 14,393 |
| Time zone | EST (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | +3 (UTC) |
Sidi Barrani (Arabic: سيدي برّاني) is a town in Egypt, near the Mediterranean Sea, about 95 km (59 mi) east of the border with Libya, and around 240 km (150 mi) from Tobruk, Libya.
Probably named after Sidi Mohammed el Barrani, a Senussi fighter in the early 1900s, the village is mainly a Bedouin community. It has food and gasoline outlets, and one small hotel, but has virtually no tourist activity or visited historical curiosities.
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[edit] History
Located close to the Roman city of Zygra, in the Roman province of Libya Inferior, Sidi Barrani is often mentioned in historical records to mark the limit of the initial Italian invasion into Egypt from Libya. The Italian Tenth Army built a series of forts in the vicinity.
American Field Service volunteers, providing ambulance services and serving with the British 8th Army were based in the area, in June 1942, 30 miles east of Sidi Barrani.[citation needed]
Sidi Barrani was a destination during the total solar eclipse on October 3, 2005, as expeditions traveled to the best observation point, Zawiet Mahtallah, 27 km (17 mi) east of Sidi Barrani. [1]
[edit] Notes
In Kurt Vonnegut's novel Bluebeard, Sidi Barrani is the site where Dan Gregory (the tormenting magazine illustrator and Nazi sympathizer) is killed on December 7, 1940, when 30,000 British troops defeat nearly 80,000 Italian soldiers.
On a lighter note, "Did I ever tell you about the time I was in Sidi Barrani?" was a catchphrase in the BBC radio comedy show "Much Binding in the Marsh", which ran from 1944 to 1954 and was initially about life on a mythical Royal Air Force (RAF) station.
[edit] References
- ^ "Valoria La Buena annular eclipse expedition Oct. 3, 2005" (report), Solar Physics Group, Astrophysics Lab, University of Rome, January 10, 2007, webpage (mostly Italian): ICRA-solar: mentions the Sidi Barrani observation area.
[edit] External links
- Photograph of twilight Sidi Barrani solar eclipse (Oct. 2005, copyright 2005-2007 Magyar Csillagászati Egyesület): Hungarian-foto Sidi-twilight (540x345, 38 KB).
- Photograph of solar eclipse at Sidi Barrani (Oct. 2005, copyright 2005-2007 Magyar Csillagászati Egyesület): Hungarian-foto Sidi-eclipse (9 KB).
- Photograph of Sidi Barrani observers (Oct. 2005, copyright 2005-2007 Magyar Csillagászati Egyesület): Hungarian-foto Sidi-people (50 KB).
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