Bashmur
Bashmur was a region in the Nile Delta in Egypt. In the early Middle Ages, it was inhabited by Copts and was the scene of a series of revolts against Arab occupation in the 8th and 9th centuries.
Name
Louis Picques, a late-17th century scholar, suggested that the name Bashmur could be derived from Psamer, which he interpreted as "at the borders or boundaries of a region," or Psamour. Thomas Edwards provided another explanation, suggesting that it could be linked to a Semitic term for "north". This word is also found in Coptic as a hapax.The name could be also an outcome of Ptimyris, the ancient name of the Delta, which could represent an elliptical Coptic expression Pčimour, for pi-Kahi Etčimour.
Location
The boundaries of Bashmur have not been constant throughout the centuries. Perhaps from the mid-eighth to the mid-ninth century, Bashmur encompassed the entire marsh region northeast of Fuwwah extending as far to the east as just north of Dekernes. Later it may have been limited to the eastern part of this area. In the 10th century, Ibn Hawqal equated the lake of Nastaruh with the lake of Bashmur. In the 14th century, Abu al-Fida located Bashmur in the northeast of the Delta between Damietta and Ashmun El Rumman.The name Bashmur survives in this region as the name of a Nile canal that breaks off about 4.5 miles east of Mansoura, Egypt by El Salamun and runs through the area between the Damietta arm of the Nile and Dekernes before emptying into the El Sirw canal some 3.5 miles south of Dakahlia.