Cairo

From Encyclopediak

Cairo, the capital of Egypt, the largest city of Africa, situated near tlie right bank of the Nile, 150 m. s.e. of Alexandria. It is divided into separate quarters named after the nationality of the inhabitants. It covers an area of 11 sq. m., and is surrounded by a low, fortified wall. In the old Arabian quarters are crooked, narrow, unpaved streets, lined with stone houses several stories high, having window lattices of wrought iron; the western part, or Ismailieh, presents a modern appearance with its electric tramways, broad, gas-lighted avenues, imposing buildings and beautiful squares. Among the structures of the city the numerous mosques of Arabic architecture are the most striking, the finest one bein the Gami-ibn-Tulun, erected about 879, and the oldest, the Gami-Amra. Other buildings are the palace of Gesireh and of Addin, the viceregal residence, the mosque in which is situated the El-Azhar, considered the oldest university in the world, various technical, missionary and Arab schools and curious shops are interesting spectacles, the vice-regal library. The bazaars and and the picturesque venders of fruit with their quaint cries add to the attractiveness of the street scenes. Bedouins from the desert make use of these bazaars; other nationalities represented are Arabs, Nubians, Italians, Greeks, French, British and Jews. Until 1877 there was a general traffic in slaves. Paper, cotton, textiles, sugar, silk goods, saltpeter, leather and gunpowder are manufactured. There is a large transit of native and European goods, which is facilitated by good railway communication with Alexandria, Suez and Upper Egypt. Amr. the conqueror of Egypt, founded Old Cairo in 640; the new city of El-Kahira, corrupted into Cairo, was established by Jauliar el-Kaid, in 968. The Crusaders unsuccessfully attacked it in 1176. The Turks conquered it in 1517, and it was captured by the French in 1798 but returned to the Turks in 1801. Through them it came to Mehemet Ali, the founder of the present dynasty. British troops have garrisoned the city since 1882. Population in 1919, including Helwan and Mataria, about 750,000.