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Cairo
travel guide , Egypt
 The
capital of Egypt and the largest city in
Africa, the name means "the
victorious city". It is located
on both banks of the River Nile near the
head of the river's delta in northern Egypt
and has been settled for more than 6000
years, serving as the capital of numerous
Egyptian civilizations. Cairo is known
locally as "Misr",
the Arabic name for Egypt, because of its
centrality in Egyptian life.
Greater
Cairo is spread across three of Egypt's
administrative governorates. The north
eastern part is known as Kaliobia
Governorate, while the west bank is part of
the governorate of Giza, and the eastern
parts and south eastern parts are another
governorate known as Cairo, the three parts
are known together as greater Cairo. The
city is marked by the traditions and
influences of the East and the West, the
ancient and the modern. However, the city
also reflects Egypt's growing poverty, and
it struggles to cope with problems caused by
massive population growth, urban sprawl, and
a deteriorating infrastructure.
The city of
Cairo covers an area of more than 453 sq km
(more than 175 sq m), though it is difficult
to separate the city from some of its
immediate suburbs. Bracketed by the desert
to the east, south, and west and bounded by
the fertile Nile delta to the north, Cairo
sits astride the river, though it spreads
farther on the east bank than the west.
Cairo also includes several river islands,
which play an important role in the life of
the city. As the region's principal
commercial, administrative, and tourist
centre, Cairo contains many cultural
institutions, business establishments,
governmental offices, universities, and
hotels, which together create a dense
pattern of constant activity.
The centre
of downtown Cairo is Tahrir Square, located
on the east bank. A hub of tourist activity,
the vast and open square contains numerous
attractions, including the Egyptian Museum,
the Arab League headquarters, and the modern
Umar Makram Mosque. Extending from north to
south along the east bank of the Nile is the
Corniche, Cairo's main thoroughfare. Located
nearby is the narrow strip of land known as
Garden City, one of the city's newer
residential areas. In the centre of the city
is the river island of Zamalek (also called
Jezerah, meaning "the Island"), which
contains the upscale residential and
commercial neighborhood also known as
Zamalek, the Cairo Opera House (founded in
1869), and the Cairo Tower (1961). Three
bridges link the island with both banks of
the river. The island of Al-Rodah, located
to the south, is linked to the mainland by
two additional bridges, while another bridge
to the north carries road and rail traffic
across the Nile.
Outside the
city's central area on the east bank,
spanning from the northeast to the
southeast, are the neighborhoods of Islamic
Cairo. These neighborhoods are known for
their narrow streets, crowded markets
(bazaars), and hundreds of Mosques, many
dating back to the medieval period. South of
the Islamic district is Old Cairo, where
some of the city's oldest architectural
monuments can be found. Old Cairo is the
home of Cairo's Coptic Christian community,
and the site of the Coptic Museum plus a
number of Coptic churches.
The
irrigation of Cairo's desert periphery has
allowed for the development of suburbs, such
as Heliopolis, located to the northeast.
Other modern suburbs are interspersed with
recently created migrant neighborhoods that
accommodate the city's growing population.
Industrial areas further crowd the city,
restricting its growth. An international
airport serves Cairo, situated approximately
24 km (about 15 m) northeast of the city;
the Ramses railway station and the bus
terminal are located near downtown Cairo.
Cairo is
the chief commercial and industrial centre
of Egypt. Local industries manufacture
cotton textiles, food products, construction
supplies, motor vehicles, aircraft, and
chemical fertilizers. Iron and steel are
produced at the south part just outside the
city. Cairo is also a centre for government
activities and service industries. Because
of the city's warm climate and numerous
historical and cultural attractions, tourism
plays an important role in its economy.
Cairo receives goods shipped on the Nile at
the river port, located at the northern end
of the city. From Cairo, products are sent
by road, railroad, and waterway to the
Mediterranean ports of Alexandria and Port
Said. The city is connected by train service
to other major cities. Traffic congestion is
a growing problem in Cairo, but it is the
only city in the Middle East and Africa that
has a subway. A subway system opened in the
city in 1987.for the first time carrying
about 2 million passengers everyday. Lately
a second line has been opened, this linked
the old line with the western superb in the
west bank (Giza), The third line is still
under construction which will connect Cairo
airport to the city centre and finish in the
busy suburb of Imbaba.
Population
In 1998 Cairo was
estimated to have a population of 16
million. The people of Cairo are known as
Cairenes; nearly all of them are Egyptians
with small number of foreigner. The city is
an important centre of the Islamic faith,
and Cairenes are predominantly Sunni
Muslims; however, the city is also home to a
sizable Coptic community, which traces its
origins to the Christians who populated
Cairo before the arrival of Islam. Cairo's
population swells daily as workers flow into
the city from the surrounding area, clogging
roads and rail lines every morning and
evening. Many Cairenes are recent arrivals
from villages along the Nile. These rural
migrants arrive with few skills or
resources, and compound the existing
problems of unemployment and scarce housing.
Education And
Culture
The most
famous educational institution in Cairo is
the Al-Azhar University, the oldest in the
Islamic world. The institution has grown up
around the Al-Azhar Mosque, the oldest
Mosque in Cairo. The Fatimid founded both
the university and Mosque in 970. Al-Azhar
University is an authoritative voice
throughout the Islamic world, and its
positions on important issues are
influential in Egypt and the Arab world.
Other institutions of higher education
include Cairo University (Founded in1908)
and Ain Shams University (1950), which
together enrols more than 100,000 students;
and the American University in Cairo,
founded in 1919, where the children of
Egypt's elite mingle with students and
faculty from abroad. Egyptian history is
displayed and preserved in the city's
numerous Museum collections. The Egyptian
Museum (Founded in 1902) contains hundreds
of thousands of artefacts, including more
than 1700 pieces from the collection of
Tutankhamen. The Museum of Islamic Arts
(1881) contains a vast collection relating
to early Islamic civilization, and the
Coptic Museum (1910) traces the history of
the Coptic community in Egypt. Other Cairo
Museums maintain collections relating to
more modern themes; these range from the
El-Gawhara Palace Museum, built in 1811 in
the Ottoman style, to the Mahmoud Khalil
Museum, founded in 1963, which contains
works by Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin,
Peter Paul Rubens, and other European and
Egyptian painters of renown.
What To See?
The
Pyramids of Egypt, which served as tombs for
the Ancient Pharaohs
, and the statue of the
Sphinx, which dates from 2565 BC and is
probably the country's most famous monument,
are located just west of Cairo in the suburb
of Giza. Despite the desert background
usually depicted in photographs, the
Pyramids are extremely close to Cairo and
are likely to be affected by the city's
continued expansion.
Cairo
contains numerous religious and governmental
structures. The ornate architecture of the
Citadel, in eastern Cairo, enhances the
city's skyline. Begun by Saladin in 1176 and
modified and expanded by later sultans, the
Citadel is famous for its Mosques, Museums,
and fort; within the complex the Mohammad
Ali Mosque (1830) is particularly notable,
with its storied domes and twin minarets.
The Coptic Church known as Al Mu'allaqa,
located in Old Cairo, is believed to be the
earliest known site of Christian worship in
Egypt; the church was built in the 3rd
century, though it has been almost entirely
replaced through successive restorations.
Old Cairo also contains the Ben Ezra
synagogue, the central house of worship for
Cairo's small Jewish population, and the
distinctive and imposing gates of Cairo.
Once part of a wall that encircled the city,
these three gates are all that remain of the
original eight. Among Cairo's modern
buildings are the Cairo Tower, which stands
at a height of 187 m (about 614 ft) and
commands a view of the Pyramids and the
Citadel.
Here is a list of what you should
see in Cairo:
Old Islamic Cairo:
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History of Cairo
The origins
of the present-day Cairo can be traced back
to the Egyptian capital of Memphis, which is
believed to have been founded in the early
4th millennium BC near the head of the Nile
delta, south of the present city. The city
spread to the north along the east bank of
the Nile, and its location has commanded
political power ever since. It was there
that the Romans constructed their city
called Babylon. Muslim Arabs who immigrated
there from the Arabian Peninsula in AD 641
later called the site Al Fustat. When a
dissident branch of Muslims known as the
Fatimid conquered Egypt in 969, they
established their headquarters in the city
and called it Al-Qahira (Cairo). In the 12th
century Christian Crusaders attacked Cairo,
but they were defeated by a Muslim army from
Syria, led by Saladin, who founded the
Ayyubid Dynasty in the city. T
he Mamluke
established their capital in Cairo in the
13th century, and the city became renowned
throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe. Cairo
declined after the mid-14th century,
however, when the epidemic of bubonic plague
known as the Black Death struck the city,
decimating its population.
The
Ottomans conquered Cairo in 1517, and ruled
there until 1798, when the area was captured
during an expedition led by Napoleon I of
France. Ottoman rule was restored in 1801,
but by the middle of the 19th century
Egypt's foreign debt and the weakness of the
Ottoman Empire invited greater European
influence in Cairo. The Viceroy Ismail
Pasha, who ruled from 1863 to 1879, built
many European-style structures in the city
and used the occasion of the opening of the
Suez Canal northeast of Cairo in 1869 to
showcase the city for the European powers.
However, much of the development that took
place during this period was funded by
foreign loans, which led to an increase in
the national debt and left Cairo vulnerable
to control by Great Britain. The British
effectively ruled Egypt from Cairo from the
late 19th century through the period after
World War I (1914-1918), when the foreign
presence in Cairo began to diminish.
Cairo's
population grew rapidly in the in the war
years, reaching 2 million by the outbreak of
World War II in 1939. Since that time the
city has continued to boom in terms of both
population and development. Some of this
population growth has resulted from the
influx of refugees from cities along the
Suez Canal that were damaged in the
Arab-Israeli wars of the late 1960s and
early 1970s. Many new residential,
commercial, and governmental structures have
changed the city's landscape. Tourist
facilities have proven an important source
of foreign revenue for Egypt, and have thus
drawn heavy investment from the government.
Cairo has also benefited from Egypt's
growing international prominence. The
founding of the Arab League in 1945 made
Cairo a political capital, as has Egypt's
ongoing participation in the Middle East
peace process. However, in 1981 the city
witnessed a tragic event when Egyptian
President Anwar Al-Sadat was assassinated at
a military parade by Islamic fundamentalists
within the Egyptian army. In 1992 an
earthquake that killed more than 500 people
and injured about 6500 others shook the
city.
Also, Cairo
is an important centre for publishing and
other forms of media. Its newspapers, which
include Al-Ahram (founded in 1875) and Al-Akhbar
(1952), exert wide influence within the
Islamic world, as does Radio Cairo. The rich
cultural life is further enhanced by local
theatre, cinema, dance, and music, in
addition to the city's vibrant community of
journalists and fiction writers; Cairo
residents take great pride in the work of
Nobel Prize-winning author and Cairo native
Naguib Mahfouz, whose fiction has provided a
chronicle of the city.
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