Cairo, is the capital city of Egypt, and is the largest city in Africa, and the Arab World. Cairo is the largest metropolitan area in Egypt, and is one of the most populous in the world. Cairo has long been the center of the region's cultural and artistic life, and has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab World, earning it the name of the "Hollywood of the East". While Al-Qahirah is the official name of the city in Arabic, Egyptians often refer to it simply as Misr (the Arabic name for Egypt itself). Cairo was founded by the Fatimid Caliphate, replacing Fustat as the seat of the government, and serving as the capital of Egypt ever since.
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 two branches into the low-lying Nile Delta region.
Cairo has a population of about 6.75 million people, according to the 2006 population census. Cairo has a mix of historical and modern cultural sights. This includes the Pyramids, the Hanging Church, Saladin's Citadel, the Virgin Mary's Tree, the Sphinx, and Heliopolis, Al-Azhar, the Mosque of Amr ibn al-A'as, Saqqara, the Cairo Tower, and the Old City. Cairo is nicknamed "The City of A Thousand Minarets".
The oldest part of the city of Cairo is east of the river. Cairo gradually spreads west, engulfing the agricultural lands next to the Nile. These western areas, built on the model of Paris by Khedive Ismail in the mid-19th century, are marked by wide boulevards, public gardens, and open spaces. The older eastern section of Cairo is very different: having grown up haphazardly over the centuries, it is filled with small lanes and crowded tenements. While western Cairo is dominated by tater government buildings and modern architecture, the eastern half is filled with hundreds of ancient mosques.
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Currency: Egyption Pound (1 USD = 5.62 EGP)
Time Difference: UTC/GMT +2 hours
