The city of Cairo is the capital of Egypt and is located on the east bank of the Nile River , about 150 km from the Mediterranean Sea. The largest city in Africa has six million and three hundred thousand inhabitants, according to the last census, with the population of its metropolitan area already exceeding eight million. The city of Cairo today began approximately two thousand years ago, when the Romans built a fort, called Babylon, right where the capital is located. Much later, exactly in the year 640, Arabs took over the place and established a military camp there, whose name was al-Fustat.
The place only ceased to have exclusively military functions when, after 970, the Fatimid family took possession of the old forts and transformed them into cities, proclaiming them the capital of their dynasty. At this time, Cairo enjoyed constant and balanced economic and political growth, gaining prestige in comparison with other European and African metropolises. Even though it was dominated a number of times during its existence and, despite the fact that most of these conflicts never managed to stop or slow down the development of the city, which, by the way, in the middle of the 14th century already had a prosperous population of half a million people. inhabitants, only a century later Cairo would decline.
After the attack by the Mongols and Turkish domination, the largest African metropolis saw its economy and political prestige suffer an apparently irrecoverable stagnation. Cairo did not progress again until the 14th century, when the current head of government, Muhammad Ali, made Egypt and, consequently, the city of Cairo, independent of the Turkish-Ottoman empire. One of Muhammad’s successors, Ismael Pasha, started a wide variety of European-style buildings, giving the capital a new look. In 1882, however, the city of Cairo returned to foreign hands, remaining under British rule until 1922, when it was returned to its country of origin, Egypt.
From that date on, Cairo began to develop rapidly and enjoyed, especially after the Second World War, a solid and relevant industrialization process. The existence of the Nile River was essential for this industrialization process to be so successful, since it served, and continues to serve, as a cheap and appropriate means of transport for the products manufactured there. In addition, the Nile is a constant provider of clean and fresh water, one of the main local needs, both in the human sphere and in agriculture, because of the dry climate of the place.
According to themotorcyclers, the city of Cairo today has eleven bridges that cross the Nile River or reach its islands, in addition to old alleys and small bazaars dating from many years ago. In the most modern part of the Egyptian capital, tall buildings, busy streets and the subway testify to the development achieved over the centuries. The metropolis is the largest commercial and industrial center in your country, producing mainly iron, steel, textile products, plastic derivatives, automobiles and metallurgical products.
But, precisely because it is such an old city and because it has picturesque buildings that do not exist anywhere else in the world, the city of Cairo contains enormous tourist potential, which collaborates in a fundamental way with the capital’s economy. Thousands of people from all over the world flock to the city to visit its famous museum, which contains the largest collection of archaeological objects from all over the planet, the result of years of excavations and the work of renowned archaeologists from all over the world and which serve to tell the story of one of the most fascinating empires that ever existed. But the biggest tourist attractions in the Egyptian capital are located just a few kilometers from the center and can be easily visited by car, bus or even camel. The pyramids of the pharaohs and the sphinx attract admirers and onlookers at all times of the year.
