Cairo

Cairo
Cairo; القاهرة(in Arabic); al-Qāhira
	Ceety
	Top left:Cairo Ceety Centre;top richt:Ibn Tulun Mosque;Middle:Cairo Citadel;Bottom left:NileFelucca;Bottom middle:Cairo Touer;Bottom richt:Muizz Street
	Banner
	Eik-name(s): The Ceety o a Thoosan Minarets, Caipital o the Arab Warld
	Cairo Egyp:Steid o Cairo (top center)
	Coordinates:30°3′29″N31°13′44″E/ 30.05806°N 31.22889°ECoordinates:30°3′29″N31°13′44″E/ 30.05806°N 31.22889°E
Kintra	Egyp
Govrenorate	Cairo
Govrenment
• Govrenor	Abdel Qawi Khalifa
Area
• Ceety	453 km2(175 sq mi)
• Urban	6,640 km2(2,560 sq mi)
• Metro	86,369 km2(33,347 sq mi)
Elevation	23 m (75 ft)
Population (2006)
• Ceety	11.6 million
• Density	17190/km2(44,500/sq mi)
•Urban	17,290,000
•Metro	19,439,541
•Demonym	Cairene
Time zone	UTC+2(EET)
Area code(s)	2
Website	cairo.gov.eg

Cairo(Arabic:القاهرة‎,al-Qāhira,Egyptian Arabic:القاهره‎, literally "The Vanquisher" or "The Conqueror" ) is the caipital ceety oEgyp,the lairgest ceety inAfricaean theArab Warld,an ane o themaist densely populatit ceetiesin the warld.^[1]^[2]

Nicknamed "The Ceety o a ThoosanMinarets"for its preponderance oIslamic airchitectur,Cairo haes lang been a centre o the region's poleetical an cultural life. Even afore Cairo wis established in the 10t century, the land composin the present-day ceety wis the site o naitional caipitals whose remnants remain visible in pairts oAuld Cairo.Cairo is an aa associatit wiAuncient Egypdue tae its proximity tae theGreat Sphinxan thepyramidsin adjacentGiza.

Egyptians the day aften refer tae Cairo asMaṣr(Arabic:مصر), theArabicpronunciation o the name for Egyp itsel, emphasizin the ceety's continued role in Egyptian influence.^[3]^[4]Cairo haes the auldest an lairgest film an muisic industries in the Arab Warld, as well as the warld's seicont-auldest institution o hichter learnin,al-Azhar University.Mony internaitional media, businesses, an organisations hae regional heidquarters in the ceety, an theArab Leaguehaes haed its heidquarters in Cairo for maist o its existence.

Geography

Cairo is locatit in northrenEgyp,kent asLawer Egyp, 165 kilometers (100 mi) sooth o theMediterranean Seaan 120 kilometers (75 mi) wast o theGulf o SuezanSuez Canal.^[5]The ceety is alang theNile River,immediately sooth o the pynt whaur the river leaves its desert-bund valley an branches intae the law-lyinNile Deltaregion. Awtho the Cairo metropolis extends away frae the Nile in aw directions, the ceety o Cairo resides anerlie on the east bank o the river an twa islands athin it on a tot aurie o 453 square kilometers (175 sq mi).^[6]^[7]

Till the mid-19t century, when the river wis tamed bi dams, levees, an ither controls, the Nile in the vicinity o Cairo wis heichlie susceptible tae chynges in course an surface level. Ower the years, the Nile gradually shiftit wastward, providin the site atween the eastren edge o the river an theMokattamhielands on which the ceety nou staunds. The land on which Cairo wis established in 969 (present-dayIslamic Cairo) wis locatit unnerwater juist ower three hunder years earlier, whenFustatwis first biggit.^[8]

Law periods o the Nile durin the 11t century continued tae add tae the landscape o Cairo; a new island, kent asGeziret al-Fil,first appeared in 1174, but eventually became connectit tae the mainland. The day, the site oGeziret al-Filis occupied bi theShubradestrict. The law periods creatit anither island at the turn o the 14t century that nou composesZamalekanGezira.Land reclamationefforts bi theMamluksanOttomansfaur contributit tae expansion on the east bank o the river.^[9]

Several fowk walk doun a sma empty lane owershadaed on baith sides bi three-story biggins wi shroudit balconies an windaes o Islamic style — The streets oIslamic Cairo,adorned biIslamic architecture,are narraer an aulder than thae in the ceety centre

Acause o the Nile's movement, the newer pairts o the ceety –Garden Ceety,Cairo Ceety Centre,an Zamalek – are locatit closest tae the riverbank. The auries, which are hame tae maist o Cairo'sembassies,are surroondit on the north, east, an sooth bi the aulder pairts o the ceety.Auld Cairo,locatit sooth o the centre, haulds the remnants oFustatan the hert o Egyp'sCoptic Christiancommunity,Coptic Cairo.TheBoulaqdestrict, which lies in the northren pairt o the ceety, wis born oot o a major 16t-century port an is nou a major industrial centrer. TheCitadelis locatit east o the ceety centre aroondIslamic Cairo,which dates back tae theFatimidera an the foondation o Cairo. While wastren Cairo is dominatit bi wide boulevards, open spaces, anmodren architectureo European influence, the eastren hauf, haein grown haphazardly ower the centuries, is dominatit bi sma lanes, croudit tenements, anIslamic architecture.

Northren an extreme eastren pairts o Cairo, which includesatellite touns,are amang the maist recent additions tae the ceety, as thay developit in the late-20t an early-21st centuries tae accommodate the ceety's rapid growthe. The wastren bank o the Nile is commonly includit athin the urban aurie o Cairo, but it composes the ceety oGizaan theGiza Govrenorate.Giza haes an aa unnergane significant expansion ower recent years, an the day the ceety, awtho still asuburbo Cairo, haes a population o 2.7 million.^[7]The Cairo Govrenorate is juist north o theHelwan Govrenorate,which wis creatit in 2008 when some o Cairo's soothren destricts, includinMaadianNew Cairo,wur split aff an annexed intae the newgovrenorate.^[10]

Economy

Cairo is an aa in ivery respect the centre o Egyp, as it haes been amaist syne its foondin in 969 AD. The majority o the naition's commerce is generatit thare, or passes throu the ceety. The great majority opublishin hoosesan media ootlets an nearly awfilm studiosare thare, as are hauf o the naition's hospital beds an varsities. This haes fueled rapid construction in the ceety—ane biggin in five is less nor 15 year auld.

This astonishin growthe til recently surged well aheid oceety services.Hames, roads, electricity, telephone an sewer services wur aw suddent in short supply. Analysts tryin tae grasp the magnitude o the chynge coined terms lik "hyper-urbanization".

Cairos Automobile assembler & manufacturer

Arab American Vehicles Company^[11]
Egyptian Light Transport Manufacturing Company(Egyptian NSU pedant)
Ghabbour Group^[12](Fuso, Hyundai an Volvo)
MCV Corporate Group^[13](a pairt o theDaimler AG)
Mod Car^[14]
Seoudi Group^[15](Modren Motors: Nissan, BMW (formerly); El-Mashreq: Alfa Romeo an Fiat)
Speranza Chery^[16]^[17](DME Daewoo Motors Egyp: Chery, Daewoo)

Main sichts

For a complete leet, seeVisitor attractions in Cairo,leet o mosques

Tahrir Square

Tahrir Squarewis foondit durin the mid 19t century wi the establishment o modren doun-toun Cairo. It wis first named Ismailia Square, efter the 19t-century rulerIsma'il Pasha,who commissioned the new dountoun destrict's 'Paris on the Nile' design. Efter theEgyptian Revolution o 1919the square became widely kent as Tahrir (Liberation) Square. Several notable biggins surroond the square includin,The American University in Cairo's dountoun campus, theMogammagovrenmental admeenistrative biggin, the heidquarters o theArab League,the Nile Ritz Carlton Hotel, the heidquarters o theNaitional Democratic Pairty,an theEgyptian Museum.Bein at the hert o Cairo, the square witnessed several major protests ower the years. Housomeivver, the maist notable event in the square wis bein the focal pynt o theEgyptian Revolution o 2011against umwhile presesHosni Mubarak.

The Egyptian Museum

The Museum o Egyptian Antiquities, kent commonly as theEgyptian Museum,is hame tae the maist extensive collection oauncient Egyptianantiquities in the warld. It haes 136,000 items on display, wi mony mair hunders o thoosans in its basement storerooms.

Khan El-Khalili

Khan el-Khalili is an auncientbazaar,or mercatplace. It dates back tae 1382, when Emir Djaharks el-Khalili biggit a lairgecaravanserai,or khan. A caravanserai is a hotel for traders, an uisually the focal pynt for ony surroondin aurie. The caravanserai remains the day.

Auld Cairo

The pairt o Cairo that containsCoptic CairoanFostat,which contains theCoptic Museum,Babylon Fortress,Hangin Kirk,theGreek Kirko St. George, mony itherCoptickirks, theBen Ezra SynagogueanAmr ibn al-'As Mosque.

Cairo Touer

The Cairo Touer is a free-staundin concrete TV touer in Cairo. It staunds in the Zamalek destrict on Gezira Island in the Nile River, in the ceety centre. At 187 meters, it is 43 metres heicher than the Great Pyramid o Giza, which staunds some 15 km tae the soothwast.

Qahira Fatimid Mosque

Al-Azhar Mosque

Established in 972, Al-Azhar mosque wis historically the site o the renounedAl-Azhar University,till the varsity's muive in the late 20t century tae a new campus inNasr Ceety.