CAIRO, the capital of Egypt, in lat. 30° 6' N., and long. 31° 26 E., a very ancient city in the valley of the Nile, and known to the people as Misr. After the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses (B.c. 525), the Babylonians are said to have founded New Babylon, on the site now occupied by old Cairo. That city, during the Roman occupation, was the headquarters of one of the three legions stationed in Egypt. In A.D. 638 New Babylon was captured by the Arabs, and a new city gradually arose beyond it, which received the name of Fastat,' from its having grown up around the tent (fastat) of the Arab general. The modern city was built adjacent to Fastat, in the 12th century A.D., a portion of the stone used in the construction having been obtained from the ancient city of Memphis.
In A.D. 973, the new city, under the title of Misr (al Kahirah, i.e. the Victorious), was constituted the capital of Egypt. The citadel was built in 1116 by the famous Saladin (Salah-ud Din), who also erected the beautiful aqueduct seen from its walls. Within the walls are the Pasha's palace, the arsenal, mint, and public offices, a mosque, and a well :260 feet deep, known as Joseph's Well.
It was not, however, Joseph the son of Jacob who sank it, but a ruler of that name, about A.D. 1100. Under the successors of Salah-ud-Din, Cairo was greatly extended ; its magnificence culminated about 1340 A.D.
On the 26th January 1517, the Osmanli sultan, Selim 1., entered the city as its conqueror, and thenceforward its history is a blank down to the 22d July 1798, when it was occupied by the French army under Bonaparte. In 1801 the French garrison capitulated to the Turkish army. On the 3d August 1805, Muhammad All Pasha took possession of the citadel, which witnessed the massacre, 1st March 1811, of 400 Mameluke Beys, by his orders. Amir Bey alone escaped by leap ing the wall. The population is estimated at 400,000, Egyptians, blahomedans, Copts, Jews, Europeans, and other strangers from the principal oriental states, but the mass of the population consists of Egypto-Arabian townspeople, of a much snore mixed origin than the fellaheen or agricultural population.