New Valley Governorate is the largest governorate in Egypt in terms of area and the third in Africa after Tamanrasset and Adrar in Algeria and the second least populated governorate after South Sinai.
Its name goes back to the announcement of the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1958 AD to start establishing a valley parallel to the Nile Valley that crosses the Western Desert to develop and cultivate it with water from springs and wells with the aim of reducing population congestion in the Nile Valley. Before that, it was called the Southern Governorate.