Cairo (redirected from Shoubra)

Cairo, city, Egypt

Cairo (kī`rō), Arab. Al Qahirah, city (1996 pop. 6,789,479), capital of Egypt and the Cairo governorate, NE Egypt, a port on the Nile River near the head of its delta, at the boundary of ancient Upper and Lower Egypt. The city includes two islands in the Nile, Zamalik (Gezira) and Roda (Rawdah), which are linked to the mainland by bridges. Cairo is the largest city in the Middle East and in Africa. It is Egypt's administrative center and, along with Alexandria, the heart of its economy. Cairo's manufactures include textiles, food and tobacco products, chemicals, plastics, metals, and automobiles. Tourism is central to the local economy. The first railroad in Africa (built 1855) linked Cairo with Alexandria, and today Cairo has extensive rail facilities and is also a road and air hub.

Points of Interest

Much of Cairo is modern, with wide streets. Its famed mosques, palaces, and city gates are found mostly in the older sections. The mosques of Amur (7th cent.), Ibn Tulun (876–79), Hasan (c.1356), and Qait Bay (1475) are especially noted for their bold design. Khedive Ismail's palace on Zamalik island is a notable 19th-century structure. The Mosque of Al Azhar (970) and adjoining buildings house Al Azhar Univ., considered the world's leading center of Qur'anic studies. Cairo also is the center of Coptic Christianity.

The city is the seat of the American Univ. in Cairo, Cairo Polytechnic Institute, the Higher Institute of Finance and Commerce, the College of Fine Arts, and the Higher Institute of Theatrical Arts. The Univ. of Cairo is nearby, in Giza. Among Cairo's many museums, the Egyptian National Museum is especially noted for its holdings of ancient Egyptian art. The Nilometer, a graduated column dating from 716 and used to measure the river's water level, is on Roda island, where tradition says the infant Moses was found in the bulrushes.

History

Almost directly across the Nile from Cairo was Memphis, an ancient Egyptian capital. Babylon, a Roman fortress city, occupied what is now a SE section called Old Cairo. Cairo itself was founded in 969 by the Fatimid general Jauhar Al Rumi to replace nearby Al Qatai (established in the 9th cent. by an Abbasid governor of Egypt) as the capital of Egypt. In the 12th cent. Saladin ended Fatimid rule and established the Ayyubite dynasty (1171–1250). To defend the city against Crusaders, Saladin erected (c.1179) the citadel, which still stands, and extended the walls of the city, parts of which remain. Cairo prospered under the rule of the Mamluks, who added many buildings of artistic merit, but the city declined after it was conquered (1517) by the Ottoman Empire.

At the time of its capture (1798) by Napoleon Bonaparte's forces, the city had about 250,000 inhabitants. British and Turkish forces ousted the French in 1801, and Cairo was returned to Ottoman control. Under Muhammad Ali (ruled 1805–49), it became the capital of a virtually independent country and grew in commercial importance; many Europeans settled in the city. During World War II, Cairo was the Allied headquarters and supply center for the Middle East and the site (1943) of the Cairo Conference. The Arab League is headquartered in Cairo. In the late 20th cent. the city has been plagued by poverty and overcrowding, which has forced many Cairenes to settle in the City of the Dead, a vast expanse of cemeteries to the S and E; the area is not administered or serviced by the city.

Bibliography

See M. Rodenbeck, Cairo: The City Victorious (1998).

---

Cairo, city, United States

Cairo (kā`rō, kâ`rō), city (1990 pop. 4,846), seat of Alexander co., extreme S Ill., on a levee-protected tongue of land adjacent to the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers (spanned by several bridges); inc. 1857. It is a center for shipping by river, rail, and highway and the processing and distribution point for a fertile farm area. Cotton and grain are grown, and manufactures include polyurethene, lumber, and cleaning products. The city and its environs are popularly called "Little Egypt" because of the deltalike geographical similarity. Permanent settlement began in 1837. In the Civil War the strategic location was a crowded military camp, a Union supply depot, and General Grant's headquarters during much of his Western campaign. Fort Defiance State Park, the site of a Civil War fort, offers a magnificent view of the convergence of the Ohio and Mississippi.

---

Cairo

 Arabic Al-Qahirah

City (pop., 1996: city, 6,789,479; 1999 est.: metro. area, 10,345,000), capital of Egypt. Located on the banks of the Nile River near the site of a Roman city captured by the Arabs in 641, Old Cairo (Al-Fustat) was then built by the Arabs as a military camp. Cairo's newer section (Al-Qahirah) was built by the Fatimid dynasty (c. 968) and was made the capital in 973. From the 13th century, as the capital of the Mamluk dynasty, it reached its greatest prosperity as a trade and cultural centre. Occupied by French forces under Napoleon I in 1798, it was held by the French for three years. In World War II (1939–45) it was a base of operations for British and U.S. forces and was also the site of two conferences by the Allied Powers (see Cairo conferences). The ancient metropolis is a blend of old and new, East and West. It is the centre of the largest urban agglomeration in the Middle East and Africa, and it is the chief cultural centre of the Arab world. Its most noteworthy landmark is the pyramid complex of Giza, located at the southwestern edge of the city. A manufacturing centre, it is also the site of several important universities and colleges.

---

Cairo

A code name from Microsoft for a future operating system. The term was later used only to refer to specific features, some of which were included in Windows 2000.

---

Cairo

the capital of Egypt, on the Nile: the largest city in Africa and in the Middle East; industrial centre; site of the university and mosque of Al Azhar (founded in 972). Pop.: 11 146 000 (2005 est.)

---

Cairo - Windows NT 4