Cairo, which means "The Vanquisher" or "The Triumphant", is the capital city of Egypt. It is the largest city in Egypt and Africa's most populous city.
Cairo was founded by the Fatimid caliphs as a royal enclosure, and replaced Fustat as the seat of the government.
It later came under the Mamluks, ruled by the Ottomans 1517 to 1798, briefly occupied by Napoleon. Muhammad Ali of Egypt made Cairo the capital of his independent empire from 1805 to 1882,...
more »Cairo, which means "The Vanquisher" or "The Triumphant", is the capital city of Egypt. It is the largest city in Egypt and Africa's most populous city.
Cairo was founded by the Fatimid caliphs as a royal enclosure, and replaced Fustat as the seat of the government.
It later came under the Mamluks, ruled by the Ottomans 1517 to 1798, briefly occupied by Napoleon. Muhammad Ali of Egypt made Cairo the capital of his independent empire from 1805 to 1882, after which the British took control of it until Egypt attained independence in 1922.
Cairo has a population of about 6.8 million people according to the 2006 population census. The number of inhabitants was about a million higher at the time of the census. Cairo's metropolitan area has a population of about 17.2 million people.
« less
