Cairo facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Cairo القاهرة
Metropolis
Clockwise from top: View of the Nile, Muizz Street, Baron Empain Palace, Cairo Citadel, Talaat Harb Square, Ibn Tulun Mosque
Flag
Nickname(s):  The City of a Thousand Minarets
Cairo Location in Egypt Show map of Egypt Cairo Location in Africa Show map of Africa
Country	Egypt
Governorate	Cairo
Founded	969 CE
Founded by	Fatimid dynasty
Area
• Metropolis	214 km2 (83 sq mi)
• Metro	17,267.6 km2 (6,667.1 sq mi)
Elevation	23 m (75 ft)
Population  (2017)
• Metropolis	19,500,000
• Density	19,376/km2 (50,180/sq mi)
• Urban	18,290,000
• Metro	20,439,541
• Demonym	Cairene
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
Area code(s)	(+20) 2
Website	www.cairo.gov.eg
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name: Historic Cairo
Type:	Cultural
Criteria:	i, iii, vi
Designated:	1979
State Party:	Egypt
Region:	Arab States

The town center of Cairo, seen from the Cairo tower.

A map of Egypt. Cairo is the light green spot.

Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة, usually transliterated as Al-Qāhirah) is the capital and largest city in Egypt. The city name can be translated as the one who won. Cairo is sometimes called "Mother of the World" (Um al Dunya).

Cairo has 7,947,121 people. About 17,290,000 people live in its urban area. This makes it the biggest city of the Arab World. It also is the city with the biggest urban area in Africa

The city is on the Nile River.

Geography

Climate

The city of Cairo has a hot desert climate (BWh), meaning it has a hot, sunny and dry climate a year long. The city, however, has more humidity than other cities with the hot desert climate (BWh).

History

The area around the city was an important focal point of Ancient Egypt.

In 968, the Fatimids entered Egypt and they made Cairo the capital of their caliphate.

The Al Azhar mosque and university was made in 972. This became the world's oldest university. It is the most widely known seminary in the Islamic world.

In 1992, Cairo was devastated by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake that caused 545 deaths, injuring 6,512, and made 50,000 people homeless, the most destructive since 1847.

Tourism

The Egyptian museum

The great pyramids of Giza and the step pyramid of Sakkara are just outside of the city.

The Egyptian Museum holds the world’s largest collection of antiquities from the time of the ancient Pharaohs. Many treasures from the tomb of King Tutankhamun are in this museum.

Famous Cairenes

People from Cairo are called 'Cairenes'.

• Abu Sa'id al-Afif - Fifteenth Century Samaritian
• Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former Secretary-General of the United Nations
• Naguib Mahfouz, novelist, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988.
• Mido, Professional soccer player with Middlesbrough F.C
• Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency 2005 Nobel Peace Prize laureate
• Naguib Sawiris, 62nd richest person on earth in a 2007 list of billionaires, reaching US$10.0 billion with his company Orascom Telecom Holding
• Farouk El Baz, a great contributor to NASA
• Sir Magdi Yacoub, leading cardiologist, knight
• Constantin Xenakis (1931) Greek artist
• Voula Zouboulaki (1931) Greek actress

• Hedges, Chris. "What's Doing in Cairo," New York Times. January 8, 1995.

• Geographic data related to Cairo at OpenStreetMap

Images for kids

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  Remains of a circular Roman tower at the Babylon Fortress (late 3rd century) in Old Cairo

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  Excavated ruins of Fustat (2004 photo)

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  The Mosque of Ibn Tulun, built by Ahmad Ibn Tulun in 876–879 AD

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  A plan of Cairo before 1200 AD, as reconstructed by Stanley Lane-Poole (1906), showing the location of Fatimid structures, Saladin's Citadel, and earlier sites (Fustat not shown)

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  The Cairo Citadel, seen above in the late 19th century, was begun by Saladin in 1176

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  Mausoleum-Madrasa-Hospital complex of Sultan Qalawun, built in 1284–1285 in the center of Cairo, over the remains of a Fatimid palace

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  Funerary complex of Sultan Qaytbay, built in 1470–1474 in the Northern Cemetery (seen in lithograph from 1848)

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  Map of Cairo in 1809, from the Description de l'Égypte.

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  Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933). On the Way between Old and New Cairo, Citadel Mosque of Mohammed Ali, and Tombs of the Mamelukes, 1872. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum

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  The river Nile flows through Cairo, here contrasting ancient customs of daily life with the modern city of today.

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  Aerial view looking south, with the Zamalek and Gezira districts on Gezira Island, surrounded by the Nile

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  Cairo seen from Spot Satellite

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  Cairo weather observations by French savants

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  View of the Nile and the Cairo skyline.

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  Cairo University is the largest university in Egypt, and is located in Giza.

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  Library building at the new campus of the American University of Cairo in New Cairo

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  The interior of Ramses Station

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  6th October Bridge in Cairo

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  Cairo International Stadium with 75,100 seats

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  Cairo Opera House, at the National Cultural Center, Zamalek district.

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  Khedivial Opera House, 1869.

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  Solomon Schechter studying documents from the Cairo Geniza, c. 1895.

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  Statue of Talaat Pasha Harb, the father of the modern Egyptian economy, in Downtown Cairo

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  The NBE towers as viewed from the Nile

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  View of Tahrir Square (in 2020)

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  Main entrance of the Egyptian Museum, located at Tahrir Square

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  Cairo Tower at night

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  The Hanging Church in Old Cairo

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  Al-Muizz Street in Islamic Cairo

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  Al-Azhar Mosque, view of Fatimid-era courtyard and Mamluk minarets

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  Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan and the al-Rifa'i Mosque, seen from the Citadel

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  The Citadel of Cairo, with the Mosque of Muhammad Ali

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  A medieval gateway in Khan al-Khalili

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  Smog in Cairo

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  Traffic in Cairo

See also

In Spanish: El Cairo para niños