Cairo: Difference between revisions
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[[Cairo]] is the capital of Egypt. At 20 million people in its greater metropolitan area (which includes the governorates of Giza and Qalyubiyya), it is Africa's largest urban area, and the world's second largest Muslim-majority metropolitan area (after either [[Jakarta]] or [[Karachi]], depending on who asks, and ahead of [[Istanbul]]). It also happens to sit near the middle of the Arab world, and is thus a major Arab and Muslim cultural center. When a movie is dubbed in Arabic, you can bet that everyone will suddenly be from Cairo. |
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Cairo sits next to the only extant Wonders of the Ancient World, the [[Pyramid Power|Pyramids of Giza]]. This allows many to assume that Cairo is just as ancient, but the city is only about a thousand years old.<ref>However, the area has often been the site of an Egyptian capital, including the first capital of a united Egypt, Memphis; the capital of weird monotheist pharaoh Akhenaton, Akhetaton (today called El-Amarna or Heliopolis--also the name of a preexisting city nearby that was never capital); and the Roman fort of Babylon, which was the main military garrison of the [[Byzantine Empire]] in Egypt.</ref> It has, however, been Egypt's capital for most of that time, and has shared in Arab Egypt's rising and falling fortunes. At one time, it was the largest city outside of China, but changing trade routes, the Black Death, and eventual domination by the Ottoman Empire lessened its importance. |
Cairo sits next to the only extant Wonders of the Ancient World, the [[Pyramid Power|Pyramids of Giza]]. This allows many to assume that Cairo is just as ancient, but the city is only about a thousand years old.<ref>However, the area has often been the site of an Egyptian capital, including the first capital of a united Egypt, Memphis; the capital of weird monotheist pharaoh Akhenaton, Akhetaton (today called El-Amarna or Heliopolis--also the name of a preexisting city nearby that was never capital); and the Roman fort of Babylon, which was the main military garrison of the [[Byzantine Empire]] in Egypt.</ref> It has, however, been Egypt's capital for most of that time, and has shared in Arab Egypt's rising and falling fortunes. At one time, it was the largest city outside of China, but changing trade routes, the Black Death, and eventual domination by the Ottoman Empire lessened its importance. |
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