Cairo, Egypt

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5mi/20km south of the point where the river divides into the Rosetta and Damietta arms.

On the east side of the city rise the barren reddish rock walls of the Moqattam Hills, beyond which extends the Eastern (Arabian) Desert. To the south the city reaches out by way of Old Cairo to the suburb of Maadi; to the west the newer districts spread beyond the Nile into the Western (Libyan) Desert. Cairo is the seat of government, of the Egyptian Parliament and the various Government departments and the residence of the heads of the Islamic, Coptic and Catholic Coptic religious communities. It has several universities and colleges of high academic standing.

History

From a very early period there was a town on the east bank of the Nile, opposite the Pyramids, which bore the name of Khere-oho, or "place of combat", because Horus and Seth were believed to have fought here. The Greeks called it Babylon, and the Romans preserved this name when they built up the settlement into a fortress. After the Arab Conquest in A.D. 641 the Caliphs built a new capital in the plain to the north of the Roman stronghold, naming it Fustat, and the name of Misr el-Fustat, or Misr for short, was thereafter applied both to the city and the land of Egypt.

After the fall of the Omayyads in 750 the entire town, with the exception of the Great Mosque, was destroyed by fire. A new capital was then established by the Abbasid governors in the El-Askar district, and at the end of the ninth C. the El-Oatai quarter, with the lbn Tulun Mosque, was built. When Gohar, the general of the Fatimid Caliph Muizz, conquered Egypt in 969 he built a military settlement to the north of El Gatai, naming it Misr el-Qahira (the "Victorious", after the Arabic name of the planet Mars, which was then at the meridian), and thus in effect founding the city of Cairo. In the 12th C. Saladin enclosed the two settlements of Fustat and El-Qahira within a single wall (never completed) and began to build the Citadel. Under the luxury-loving Fatimids the city was greatly enlarged and embellished, reaching its zenith in the 14th C. During this period, however, it was several times ravaged by plague, which carried off large numbers of people, and was frequently thrown into a turmoil by revolts, risings and bloody persecutions of Christians. In 1517, after the Battle of Heliopolis, the Ottoman Sultan Selim entered the city. Although Cairo suffered from plundering and oppression under Turkish rule, it still remained a busy provincial capital with an active cultural life.

During his Egyptian expedition of 1798-99 Napoleon established his headquarters in Cairo. In 1805 Mohammed (Mehemet) Ali, as Pasha of Egypt, took possession of the Citadel, where in 1811 he treacherously massacred 480 leading Mamelukes whom he had invited to Cairo. Later in the 19th C., particularly after the opening of the Suez Canal, the city enjoyed a period of rapid economic development and grew considerably in size. Present-day Cairo is now an imposing modern city with streets and squares laid out on the European pattern and a sprinkling of high-rise blocks, in striking contrast to the overpopulated Arab quarters and the bazaars, still retaining their medieval aspect. In 1981 work began on the construction of a subway (underground railroad) system (Metro). The subway system, called 'The Metro' is a fast way to get around Cairo. Note: first two train cars are reserved for women only. Cairo has an extensive road network that allows traffic to move at a relatively fluid pace.