Tinnis

Tinnis stood on an island in Lake Manzala, between the Nile Delta and the Mediterranean. Its position gave ships access to river and sea, while the lake supplied rich fisheries. The city became famous for its linen textiles, including fine embroidered cloth and coverings for the Kaaba at Mecca. Its workshops produced valuable fabrics under government supervision and taxation, and some textiles were woven with gold thread.

Tinnis prospered as a fortified port in the medieval period, but attacks and the threat of crusader fleets made its exposed position increasingly dangerous. In 1227 the Ayyubid sultan al-Kamil ordered the town evacuated. Its island nevertheless continued to serve as a trading base into the fifteenth century, long after the great weaving city had been abandoned.