Cairo

From New World Encyclopedia
Revision as of 08:50, 28 December 2005 by John Willis (talk | contribs) (preliminary editing)


File:Pyramids.jpg
Although technically in Giza, The Great Pyramids have become a symbol of Cairo internationally

Cairo ([[Arabic: al-Qāhirah) is the capital of Egypt and has a metropolitan area population of approximately 15.2 million people. Cairo is the 16th-most-populous metropolitan area in the world.

While al-Qāhirah is the official name of the city, in local speech it is typically called simply by the name of the country, Mişr, pronounced Maşr in the local dialect.

The name Al-Qahirah literally means "The Subduer," though it is often translated as "The Victorious." The origin of the name is said to come from the appearance of the planet Mars during the foundation of the city. The planet Mars, associated with destruction was called "Al Najm Al Qahir" in Arabic, from which the name of the city was derived. However, the legacy of the name evolved into the title "Qahirat Al Adaa" meaning "subduer of the enemies." This title was given to the city as many armies were destroyed in attempts to invade Cairo or defeated elsewhere by troops sent from Cairo. (Mongols, Crusaders, and Ottomans are examples.)

Egypt, with Cairo governorate highlighted.

Geography

File:ClimateCairoEgypt.PNG
Average temperature and precipitations in Cairo


A simulated-color satellite image of Cairo, Egypt, taken on NASA's Landsat 7 satellite.

Cairo is located on the banks and islands of the Nile River in the north of Egypt, immediately south of the point where the river leaves its desert-bound valley and breaks into three branches into the low-lying Nile Delta region.

The oldest part of the city is somewhat east of the river. There, the city gradually spreads west, engulfing the agricultural lands next to the Nile. These western areas, built on the model of Paris by Ismail the Magnificent in the mid-19th century, are marked by wide boulevards, public gardens, and open spaces. The older eastern section of the city is very different: having grown up haphazardly over the centuries, it is filled with small lanes and crowded tenaments. While western Cairo is dominated by government buildings and modern architecture, the eastern half is filled with hundreds of ancient mosques that act as landmarks.

Extensive water systems have also allowed the city to expand east into the desert. Bridges link the Nile islands of Gezira and Roda, where many government buildings are located and government officials live. Bridges also cross the Nile attaching the city to the suburbs of Giza and Imbabah (part of the Cairo conurbation).

West of Giza, in the desert, is part of the ancient necropolis of Memphis on the Giza plateau, with its three large pyramids, including the Great Pyramid of Giza (only surviving of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World). Approximately 11 miles (18 km) to the south of modern Cairo is the site of the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis and adjoining necropolis of Saqqara. These cities were Cairo's ancient predecessors, when Cairo was still in this approximate geographical location.

History

Founding and early history

File:Cairo3.jpg
Cairo incorporates an entire mediæval section, which is now a popular neighborhood and contains important buildings of Islamic architecture.
File:Mosque2.jpg
Al-Azhar University in the heart of Cairo's medieval Old City. Cairo has the largest concentration of medieval structures in the world.

The current location of Cairo was too far from the ancient course of the Nile to support a city. Just to the south of the modern city's location are the ruins of Memphis, which was the capital of Ancient Egypt and was founded in around 3100 B.C.E. by Menes of Tanis after he had united the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt, although the capital later moved to Heliopolis, further south to Thebes, and, under the Ptolemaic dynasty, Alexandria.

The first settlement on the location of modern Cairo was a Roman fort, known as Babylon Fort, built about 150 C.E., built near the settlement known as Babylon-in-Egypt, which lay close to an ancient Egyptian canal from the Nile to the Red Sea.

A small town mostly of Coptic Christians slowly grew around the fort. Arab invaders, led by Amr Ibn-el-As, took the fort town in 642 and also established their army in the location, rebuilding its defenses. The Arab tented camp outside the fortress, known as Al-Fustat, slowly became the permanent base of the Arab forces in Egypt under the Umayyads and Abbasids, and contains the first mosque in Africa.

Slowly, the settlement grew into a small city. The North African Shiite Fatimid Dynasty conquered Egypt in 972 and built a new capital, Al-Mansureya, north of the old settlement. Their leader, Al-Muez Ledin-Ellah, renamed the city Al-Qahirah after the planet Mars that was rising on the day the city was founded.

The Al-Azhar mosque was founded the same year, and along with its accompanying university it made Cairo a centre of learning and philosophy. The school remains a major center for Islamic study today. The Seljuks captured Cairo in the mid-1100s, and Saladin and his successors expanded the city further, including the construction of its massive citadel.

The sack of Baghdad in 1258 heightened the importance of the city, and it became the leading intellectual and artistic centre in the Middle East, and perhaps the world, for the next 250 years. But power was shifting from the Arab world north to the Turks and Europeans.

The city was taken by the Ottoman Empire under Selim I in 1517, but the ruling Mameluks quickly returned to power as nominal vassals to the Ottoman Sultan.

Era of westernization

File:Cairo.jpg
Lions guard the Kasr-el-Nil Bridge which traverses the Nile at Tahrir Square. European architecture and urban design, major infrastructural projects and intense cultural patronage were part of Khedive Ismail's vision for Cairo as "Paris on the Nile."
File:Boy.jpg
Detail from one of Cairo's many 19th-century Neoclassical buildings
File:Artdeco.jpg
Cairo's rich architectonic melange includes art deco buildings like this one in Garden City

Napoleon conquered Egypt in 1798, and Cairo was quickly surrendered to him by its Mameluk rulers. Napoleon left Egypt after his fleet was destroyed at the Battle of Aboukir Bay in August 1798, leaving General Kléber in charge. Kléber was assassinated in 1800 and the three-year French occupation had little lasting effect.

The first hints of westernization began under the successors to Mehemet Ali with the introduction of a railway connection to Alexandria in 1851. Significant change, however, did not occur until the reign of Isma'il Pasha when, in 1863, construction of the Suez Canal brought significant numbers of westerners to Egypt. A network of gas lighting was installed by a French company and the railway lines were greatly expanded.

In 1867, Isma'il visited Paris to attend the Universal Exposition of 1867. There he saw the newly redesigned city of Haussmann and, funded by a booming cotton trade, decided to rebuild Cairo on the model of a European capital. He hoped to have this done by 1869 when representatives from around the world came to Egypt for the opening of the Suez Canal.

Rather than rebuild the old city, Isma'il elected to add a new quarter to the western section along the bank of the Nile. The project was carried out by Ali Pasha Mubarak and designed by the French urban planner Pierre Grand. A new area of luxurious villas and apartments was constructed and new government ministries were erected. Grand boulevards were opened through the old town and tram lines soon followed.

The era of colonization in 1882 saw the rebuilding of Cairo continuing. A modern sewer system was installed and new suburbs such as Heliopolis were constructed in the desert. Cairo's population exploded, increasing from 374,000 in 1882 to 1,312,000 by 1937. The city was dominated by westerners, however, and city planners tended to emphasize Christian cathedrals over mosques.

Modern Cairo

Cairo remained the central city of Egypt throughout the period of British rule and afterwards. The 20th century saw massive growth in the size of the city as peasants left the farmlands in pursuit of work in the factories and commerce of the metropolis. The city was especially burdened by refugees from the various wars with Israel: much of the population of the Sinai Peninsula and the cities along the Suez Canal left for Cairo between 1967 and 1978.

Today Cairo is Africa's most populous city and the Arab world's cultural centre.

Since the 19th century, Cairo has also become a center for tourism as people from around the world have come to see the monuments and artifacts of Ancient Egypt, especially the pyramids. Laws against the export of these treasures has meant that the Egyptian Museum in Cairo is the only place in the world that many items can be seen.

Infrastructure

Health

to be added

Transport

  • Cairo International Airport
  • Cairo Metro

Utilities

to be added


Cairo in art, literature and music

Sports

Cairo has a number of sporting teams that compete in national leagues. The best-known teams are Al-Zamalek and Al-Ahly, whose annual football Local derby is perhaps the most watched sports event in Egypt as well as the Arab world. Both teams are known as the giants of Egyptian and Arabic football, and are champions in the African continent and the Arab World.
Both teams play their home games at Cairo International Stadium, which is Cairo's and Egypt's largest stadium.
The Cairo International Stadium is a multipurpose sports complex that houses the main soccer stadium, an indoor stadium, several satellite fields that held several regional, continental and global games, including the African Games, Football World Championship for U17 and is one of the stadiums schedualed to host the 2006 African Nations Cup in January.
There are several other athletic teams in the city that participate in sports, such as Al Jazeera Sporting Club, Shooting club, Heliopolis Club, and several smaller clubs.
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 was previously located in Cairo before relocating to its new headquarters in 6th October City.

Famous Cairenes

External links

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.