Cairo

City Introduction

Cairo is the capital city of Egypt, one of the four great ancient civilizations, is located at the mouth of the Nile River Delta. 95% of the land in Egypt is in the desert. The rich Nile River flows through it, bringing this biggest desert in the world some vitality. The green area created by the Nile River is like a leaf of the gingko, and Cairo is at the junction of its petiole and leaf surface. When the Nile River arrives in Cairo, it is like its bonded body is released suddenly and begins to flood. As the biggest city in Africa, Cairo is the most crowded one. Low-roofed houses with a yellow tone, this is what tourists’ first impression about Cairo. More than 16 million people live in this city, but you can hardly find the city center because tall buildings are so rare and scattered that you can only guess where the most prosperous place of the city is by the crowd of people. In Cairo, rich and poor, splendid and dilapidated, modern and classical religions co-exist here, presenting themselves to you without any retain. You can see populated Islamic buildings and also see the relics of ancient Egypt separated in different places of the city; you can see the mosque buildings - the minarets, which are not too high nor too low, and also see the crosses at the top of the Christian churches row upon an row of. You can hardly find an exact word to describe the city. Many stories in The Arabian Nights were set here. Then just let the city guide you to write your own Arabian Nights.

History of Cairo

The history of Cairo can be dated back to the previous Ancient Egypt period, about 3100 BC, when the Lunu (it became Heliopolis after Hellenization) which located at the place where Cairo is nowadays had become the capital of the Lower Egypt the 13th Nome Heq-At. Afterwards, although Lunu was not the capital, it still served as the center for worshipping the god of sun until the Hellenistic period. By the time of the Ptolemy's medium serv, most of the citizens had left expect for the priests. The Heliopolis was deserted soon, only the Obelisk was left to witness her history. By the time of the Old Kingdom era, Memphis, located 30 kilometers southwest of of Cairo, at the west side of the Nile river, being the capital of the Lower Egypt the first Nome of Aneb-Hetch previously, became the capital of the united Egypt kingdom. Before the Middle Kingdom moved its capital to Thebes, Memphis had been the political and religious center of the kingdom. Later, although Memphis was not the capital city, it was still an important city until the Arabians conquered Egypt in 7 BC. In 642, the Islamic army demolished the Memphis city, moving the materials to where it is today, south of Cairo, to build a military city, Misr, later renamed as Fustat. In 868, Emir of the Tulunid built another capital city named Al-Qatta'I to the north of Fustat. In 905, the Abbasid kingdom conquered Al-Qatta'I and the Tulunid had finished. In 969, the Fatimid Caliphate sent its military officer Qiao Haier to conquer Egypt under the rule of the Abbasid. In 973, it moved its capital here and called it Cairo. Later it was under the effort of the Fatimid, Ayyubid, Mameluke and some other kingdoms which also set their capital here (at the same time the architecture which was regarded as gentile architecture around Cairo was further damaged) that Cairo was developed into the central city of Egypt and even Middle East. By 1517 when the Mameluke kingdom was defeated by the Selim I of the Ottoman Empire, Cairo became the capital city of the Egyptian Province of the Ottoman Empire. Since then, it started to decline until the modern ear came. The Egyptian civilization is very ancient, all the ancient Egyptians, the Greeks, the Babylonians and the Romans have left their marks. The Muslims from the Arabian Peninsula brought Islamism to Egypt. Khedive Ismail Ali brought Egypt into modernization. Cairo can be regarded as an open-air museum with collections of historically diverse culture. The important cultural places in Cairo include the Cairo Opera House, the Royal Opera House. Besides, Cairo International Film Festival is held here regularly. Most citizens in Cairo still are Sunni Muslims and the number of mosques in the city is increasing. Most of the Christians are Copts. Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria is the pope of the orthodox.

Natural Environment

The territory of Egypt looks like a slightly irregular quadrangle. It has flat terrain, and the desert area accounts for 96% of the national territory area. According to the difference of natural conditions, Egypt is generally divided into four regions- the Nile basin, and the Nile Delta, west desert region, east desert region, and Sinai Peninsula region. Between Alexandria and Port Said lies the alluvial plain of the Nile Delta, covering about 20,000-40,000 km2. In the past, the Nile had regular inundation every year, bringing fertile alluvial deposits to the Delta. This was the birthplace of ancient Egypt culture, and also is the most important economic activity zone nationwide. Most people in Egypt live here, and this is also one of the most densely populated places in the world.

Climate

Except being cold in winter, and in the northern region in December, January and February, it is quite hot in other time. Average temperature along the Mediterranean Coast is 20°C (68°F), and average temperature in Aswan is 26°C (80°F). The highest temperature in the same region may be up to 31°C (88°F) and 50°C (122°F) respectively. In the desert, the temperature change is more obvious; It is very hot in the daytime and it is extremely cold in the nighttime. Alexandria region has the most precipitation, about 29 cm per year. Every March and April, the African hot wind blows from west desert, so that the sky turns to orange with the mixture of sandy soil, and the sand storm is frequent.