CAIRO, ki'ro (Arabic El Kahira, eThe Victorious," or Masr el Kahira), Egypt, capital of the country and largest town of Africa, situ ated on the right bank of the Nile, about nine miles above the point where it divides to form the two main branches of its delta. The town it built between the river-bank and the northwest ern end of the hills known as Jebel Mokattam, on whose most advanced spur the citadel stands in a commanding position well above the rest of the city. Within the last 50 years the town has lost much of its Oriental character, but the Arab quarters still present a maze of very narrow streets lined by curious buildings in an endless variety of style. The houses are mostly built of yellow limestone, with flat roofs; and many of them have small gardens behind. In the more modern parts of the city the streets are broader, and many of them are lined by trees and well lighted. The European quarter, known as Ismailiyeh, forms the western part of modern Cairo, and its centre is the octagonal Ezbekiyeh Garden (20y, acres), with plants from many regions and with an artificial pond. Here, too, are many cafés, concert-halls and other similar buildings. Among the more not able buildings of the European quarter are the consulates, the opera-house, open in winter, the Italian summer theatre, English and German churches, the ministerial offices and the bar racks. The chief business street of Cairo, known as Muski, runs east-southeastward from the neighborhood of the Ezbekiyeh, and the Boulevard Mehemet Ali extends from about the same place southeastward to the citadel. Cairo has more than 500 mosques, but many of them are wholly or partly in ruins. The finest of all is the Sultan Hasan Mosque, a truly noble building with a lofty minaret. Others worthy of mention are: that built in the 9th century by Ahmed ibn Tuffin in imitation of the one at Mecca; the Hakim Mosque, dating from the beginning of the Ilth century; the Hosen Mosque of the Son of Ali Mohammed's son-in-law; the Sitti-Zeynab Mosque, named after adchild of the Prophet, and the Ala baster Mosque of the citadel, with the tomb of Mehemet Ali, the finest of the modern mosques. Cairo is one of the great educational centres of the Mohammedan world, the chief of the schools being that associated with the mosque of El Azhar, attended by 8,000 students, and having behind it the history of nearly a thou sand years. The tombs in the burying-grounds outside the city, many of them in the form of mosques, are remarkably interesting, es pea ally those known as the tombs of the ca liphs. The most important gate of the city is the Bab-en-Nasr, through which large num bers of pilgrims pass every year on their way to Mecca. The mosques contain valuable li braries, but the chief library of the city is the vice-regal one, founded in 1870, and now con taining about 60,000 volumes, largely in manu script. The trade of Cairo is large and the bazaars and markets are numerous, there being special bazaars for gold- and silver-smiths, tap estry merchants, saddlers, armorers, shoemak ers etc. It has also a large cotton industry.
Beside the numerous Mohammedan places of worship Cairo contains English, French, Ger man, Coptic and other churches and Jewish synagogues, and there are European schools and hospitals. The Egyptian Institute, founded at Alexandria in 1859, is now located in Cairo.
The suburb of Bulak, in the northwest of the town, opposite the island of Bulak, forms the port of Cairo, and its narrow streets present a busy scene of Oriental life. The island of Bulak and the left bank of the Nile are reached by a great iron bridge, and there is also a railway and general traffic bridge below the island. To the southwest of the modern town and also on the Nile bank stands the suburb of Old Cairo or Masr el-Atika. On the left bank of the river, almost directly opposite Old is the suburb of Gizeh. It has government buildings, a zoological garden, etc., but its chief attraction is the great Egyptological Museum formerly in Bulak, but removed here in 1889. From Gizeh a road and a tramway lead southwest ward to the famous group of pyramids called the pyramids of Gizeh. On the island of Roda, between Gizeh and Old Cairo, the celebrated Nilometer still stands. Cairo enjoys a very mild climate, and is in consequence visited in winter by many Europeans suffering from chest and lung ailments. Many of these stay at Hel wan, a small place about 14 miles south-south east of the town. Cairo is in railway commu nication with Alexandria, Damietta, Suez, etc., and with Upper Egypt, and the Fresh-water Canal connects it with Ismailia and Suez. In 1896 electric tramways were introduced in the most important streets. Cairo is the residence of the Khedive, the seat of a Coptic and a Greek Orthodox patriarch, and it contains all the highest public offices of the country. El Fostat, uThe now Old Cairo, was founded by Amru, lieutenant of Caliph Omar, in 640 A.D. In 969, when the Fatimite dynasty gained possession of the country, the new city to the north was founded. Saladin surrounded it with walls of stone and built the citadel. He also constructed a -wooden aqueduct from the Nile to the citadel, a work afterward replaced by the still existing aqueduct of stone. Cairo was taken by the French in 1798, and passed into the hands of the Turks in 1801. The city was occupied by the British in 1882, after the battle of Tel-el-Kebir and has since remained in their hands. Pop. (1911) 654,476, including Fellahin, Copts, Turks, Arabs and other On entals, besides about 53,000 foreigners from the chief European countries, especially Italy, Greece, France, Austria, England and Ger many. Nowhere in the world do the contrast ing civilizations of East and West blend more picturesquely than in Cairo.