The largest city in Africa is Cairo, which is the capital of Egypt. Cairo stands on the east bank of the Nile River near the head of the many-channeled delta. There was no city on the spot in the times of the pharaohs or in later Greek or Roman days. It came into existence in the 7th century AD after the Byzantine power in Egypt had crumbled before the Muslim armies advancing from Arabia. The great city of Alexandria, at the western end of the Nile Delta, surrendered without a battle. The victorious general Amribn al-As wanted to make this seaport the Muslim capital. "Behold," he said, "a city ready made for us!" However, Umar I, the Muslim caliph, realized that the Nile floods would cut off Alexandria from the Arabian homeland. He therefore asked Amru to establish a new city east of the Nile River. Amru selected a site on the right bank of the Nile above the delta. In the centuries that followed, the Muslims warred among themselves with the result that the settlement was destroyed and rebuilt several times. The present city was founded in 968 by the Fatimids near the earlier site. It was called El Qahira (The Victorious), a name that was subsequently altered to Cairo. In the 12th century the great Muslim ruler Saladin built a citadel at Cairo and began to wall in the quarters of the many different peoples who had settled there. The city grew and prospered. In the later Middle Ages it became the center of trade between Europe and the East and one of the chief seats of Muslim culture. By about 1340 nearly 500,000 people lived in an area five times greater than the original Fatimid walled city. Cairo had become greater than any city in Africa, Europe, or Asia Minor. In 1517 it fell to the Turks, who reduced it to a provincial capital. In 1798 it was seized by Napoleon, but British and Turkish forces drove out the French three years later and the city was handed back to the Turks. The British, however, retained special interests in Cairo. A modern European city grew up in the 19th century between the Oriental quarters and the river. The later history of Cairo is merged with that of Egypt. Cairo spreads eastward from the Nile to the low Mokattam hills, which separate it from the brown wastes of the desert. The citadel of Saladin still stands on a spur of these hills in the southeastern corner of the city. From this height one can look across the island-studded Nile to the Great Pyramids of Giza. Above the flat-roofed houses of Cairo rise the domes and minarets of hundreds of mosques. From the minarets the muezzins call the faithful to prayer five times a day. Many minarets are wired for sound.
Two distinct cities, the new and the old, make up Cairo. Modern Cairo faces the Nile. Its wide avenues are lined with blocks of modern apartment houses, skyscraper office buildings, government buildings, theaters, and smart shops. The chief hotels are the Shepheard's on the Nile, completed in 1957, the Nile-Hilton, and the Semiramis. On the two large islands in the Nile are foreign embassies (including the American), clubs, hotels, and palatial villas. Modern Cairo extends eastward from the Nile to the Place Ezbekieh, which adjoins the 20-acre Ezbekieh Gardens. On the place stands the opera house, built for the celebrations that attended the completion of the Suez Canal. Here also stood the first Shepheard's, a world-famous Swiss hotel that catered to foreigners. Egyptian mobs burned Shepheard's and destroyed many other buildings when they rioted against the Europeans in 1952.
Although old Cairo has many fine examples of Arab architecture, most of it is a slum of crumbling mud-brick tenements. Many streets are narrow and unpaved. Transportation is by donkey or camel. From the Place Ezbekieh, Muski Street runs eastward into the oldest section. On Muski is Cairo's most famous bazaar, where one can buy almost anything. Narrow alleys are lined with tiny shops that are open to the street. In the shops craftsmen sit cross-legged, tooling leather, weaving rugs, or working metal. Passersby are besieged by peddlers selling sweets and souvenirs and by beggars the crippled, the blind, and the very poor.
El Azhar University in old Cairo has been a center of Muslim learning since Cairo was founded. The chief subjects taught are still Muslim theology and law and the Arabic language. The students come from many Arab lands. They sit on mats in open courtyards around their ulemas (teachers), taking notes or chanting passages from the Koran, which they are trying to memorize. The University of Cairo is located in Giza. Its faculties include liberal arts, science, medicine, engineering, and agriculture. The Egyptian Museum has a magnificent collection of art objects unearthed from the tombs of ancient Egypt. Whole rooms are given over to treasures recovered from the tomb of Tutankhamen. The Arab Museum has a collection of early Arabic art.
Cairo has long been an important trading center because the Nile Valley is the only overland route linking Asia with Africa. The city has few industrial plants, chiefly cotton mills, sugar refineries, paper mills, and cigarette factories. The British and French formerly owned many of the large enterprises in Cairo. Smaller businesses were usually carried on by Syrians, Greeks, Armenians, and Jews. During the Suez crisis of 1956-57 the government "Egyptianized" French and British banks and many businesses. It forced thousands of Europeans to leave the country. Population (1981 estimate), 5,650,000.