city of Cairo

Cairo City Information & Travel Wiki

• The name of the city of Cairo
• Why was the city of Cairo named Cairo?
• When was the city of Kario founded?
• The city of Cairo under Ottoman rule
• The city of Cairo in modern times
• Cairo under British rule until 1956
• The location and area of ​​the city of Cairo

The name of the city of Cairo

Cairo (/ˈkaɪroʊ/ KY-ROH; Arabic: القاهرة‎, Romanized: al-Qāhirah, pronounced [ælˈqɑːhɪɾɑ] Coptic: ϯⲕⲉϣⲣⲱⲙⲓ) is the capital and largest cityEgyptWith 21.3 million inhabitants, the Cairo metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan area in the Arab world, the second largest in Africa and the sixth largest in the world.

Cairo is with the oldEgyptconnected, as the famous pyramid complex of Giza and the ancient city of Memphis are located within its geographical area.

Cairo lies near the Nile Delta and was founded in 969 AD during the Fatimid dynasty. However, the land on which the modern city is built was the site of ancient national capitals, the remains of which are visible in parts of Old Cairo. Cairo has long been the center of the region's political and cultural life. It is known as "the city of a thousand minarets" due to its predominant Islamic architecture. Cairo is classified as a World City with a "Beta+" rating by GaWC.

Today, the Egyptian capital boasts the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab world, as well as the second oldest university in the world, Al-Azhar University. Furthermore, many international media outlets, companies, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city. The Arab League has been based in Cairo for most of its existence.

With over 9 million inhabitants spread over 453 km², Cairo is by far the largest city.EgyptAnother 9.5 million people live in the vicinity of the city. Like many other megacities, Cairo suffers from high levels of pollution and heavy traffic. The Cairo Metro is one of the few metro systems in Africa (the other being in Algiers, Algeria). It is among the fifteen busiest in the world, with over 1 billion passenger journeys per year. Cairo's economy ranked first in the Middle East and 43rd worldwide in Foreign Policy's 2010 Global Cities Index.

Why was the city of Cairo named Cairo?

Egyptians often refer to Cairo as Maṣr ( [mɑsˤɾ]; Egyptian Arabic: مَصر‎), the Egyptian Arabic name forEgyptitself, which underlines the city's importance to the country. Its official name al-Qāhirah (Arabic: القاهرة‎) means "the conquerors" or "the conqueror," presumably because the planet Mars, an-Najm al-Qāhir (Arabic: النجم القاهر‎, "the conquering star"), was formed at the time of the city's founding, possibly also because of the eagerly awaited arrival of the Fatimid Caliph Al-Mu'izz, who reached Cairo from Mahdia, the old Fatimid capital, in 973. It is the suburb of Ain Shams (Arabic: عين شمس‎, "eye of the sun").

There are several Coptic names for the city. (di)Kashromi (Coptic: (ϯ)ⲕⲁϣⲣⲱⲙⲓ) is attested as early as 1211 and is a calque meaning "main breaker" ("ⲕⲁϣ-" - break, "ⲣⲱⲙⲓ" - man), similar to the Arabic al-Qāhirah. Lioui (Coptic: ⲗⲓⲟⲩⲓ) or Elioui (Coptic: ⲉⲗⲓⲟⲩⲓ) is another name, a corruption of the Greek words for Heliopolis (Greek: Ήλιούπολις). Some argue that Mistram (Coptic: ⲙⲓⲥⲧⲣⲁⲙ) or Nistram (Coptic: ⲛⲓⲥⲧⲣⲁⲙ) is another Coptic name for Cairo. Others, however, think it is instead the name of an Abbasid capital, Al-Askar. ⲕⲁϩⲓⲣⲏ (Kahire) is a popular modern rendering of an Arabic name (others are ⲭⲁⲓⲣⲟⲛ [Chairon] and ⲕⲁϩⲓⲣⲁ [Kahira]), which has a folk etymology of "land of the sun". Some argue that it was the name of an Egyptian settlement on which Cairo was built, but this is rather doubtful since this name is not attested in any hieroglyphic or demotic source, although some researchers, such as Paul Casanova, consider it a legitimate theory. Cairo is also referred to as ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, which means Egypt in Coptic, just as it is in Egyptian Arabic.

Sometimes the city is informally referred to as Kayro by people from Alexandria (IPA: [ˈkæjɾo]; Egyptian Arabic: كايرو‎)

The area around present-day Cairo, especially Memphis, the old capitalEgyptCairo, due to its strategic location upstream of the Nile Delta, was for a long time a focal point of ancient Egypt, but the origins of the modern city are generally traced back to a series of settlements in the first millennium BC. Around the turn of the 4th century, the Romans built a fortified city on the east bank of the Nile. This fortress, known as Babylon, was the Roman and then the Byzantine city and is today the oldest structure in the city. It also lies at the heart of the Coptic Orthodox community, which separated from the Roman and Byzantine churches in the late 4th century. Many of Cairo's oldest Coptic churches, including the Hanging Church, are located along the fortress walls in a city known as Coptic Cairo.

Following the Muslim conquest in 640 CE, the conqueror Amr ibn As settled in northern Babylon in an area that became known as al-Fustat. Originally a tent camp (Fustat means "city of tents"), Fustat became a permanent settlement and the first capital of Islamic Egypt.

In 750 AD, after the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate by the Abbasids, the new rulers established their settlement in the northeast of Fustat, which became their capital city, known as al-Askar (the city of sections or cantons), and was laid out like a military camp.

A rebellion in 869 led by Ahmad ibn Tulun resulted in the abandonment of Al Askar and the construction of another settlement, which became the seat of government. This was al-Qatta'i ("Quarters"), located north of Fustat and closer to the river. Al-Qatta'i was centered around a palace and ceremonial mosque, now known as the Mosque of Ibn Tulun.

In 905, the Abbasids regained control of the country, and their governor returned to Fustat and destroyed al-Qatta'i to the ground.

When was the city of Kario founded?

In the year 969 AD, the Fatimid Empire ruled with an army of Kutamas overEgyptUnder Jawhar al-Saqili, the new fortified city of Cairo was built northeast of Fustat. The construction of the city, initially known as al-Mansuriyyah, took four years and served as the new capital of the Caliphate. During this time, the al-Azhar Mosque was commissioned by the Caliph, which later became the third oldest university in the world. Cairo eventually became a center of learning, with the Cairo Library containing hundreds of thousands of books. When Caliph al-Mu'izz li Din Allah arrived from the old Fatimid capital of Mahdia in Tunisia in 973, he gave the city its current name, Qāhirat al-Mu'izz ("The Conqueror of al-Mu'izz").

After the founding of Cairo, Fustat remained the administrative center of Egypt for almost 200 years. However, in 1168, the Fatimid vizier Shawar set fire to Fustat to prevent his capture by Amalric, the Crusader king of Jerusalem. Egypt's capital was permanently moved to Cairo, which eventually expanded to include the ruins of Fustat and the earlier capitals of al-Askar and al-Qatta'i. As al-Qahira expanded, these earlier settlements were incorporated and have since become part of the city of Cairo, which has developed and spread; they are now collectively known as "Old Cairo."

While the fire of Fustat successfully protected the city of Cairo, a prolonged power struggle between Shawar, King Amalric I of Jerusalem, and the Zengid general Shirkuh led to the downfall of the Fatimid establishment.

In 1169, Saladin became the new vizier.EgyptAppointed by the Fatimids. Two years later, he seized power from the family of the last Fatimid caliph, al-'Āḍid. As the first sultanEgyptSaladin founded the Ayyubid dynasty, based in Cairo, and allied Egypt with the Abbasids in Baghdad. During his reign, Saladin built the Citadel of Cairo, which served as the seat of the Egyptian government until the mid-19th century.

In 1250, slave soldiers known as Mamluks seized control of Egypt and, like many of their predecessors, established Cairo as the capital of their new dynasty. Continuing a practice begun by the Ayyubids, much of the land occupied by former Fatimid palaces was sold and replaced with newer buildings. Construction projects initiated by the Mamluks pushed the city outward while simultaneously bringing new infrastructure to the center. Meanwhile, Cairo flourished as a center of Islamic scholarship and as a crossroads on the spice trade route between Afro-European Asian civilizations. By 1340, Cairo had nearly half a million inhabitants, making it the largest city in western China.

When the traveler Ibn Battuta first arrived in Cairo in 1326, he described it as the central district of Egypt. When he passed through the area again on his return journey in 1348, the Black Death was devastating the most important cities. He cited reports of thousands of deaths per day in Cairo.

The city of Cairo under Ottoman rule

Although Cairo avoided the stagnation of Europe during the Late Middle Ages, it could not escape the Black Death, which struck the city more than fifty times between 1348 and 1517. During its first and deadliest wave, approximately 200,000 people were killed by the plague.

By the 15th century, Cairo's population had dwindled to between 150,000 and 300,000. The city's status was further diminished after Vasco da Gama discovered a sea route around the Cape of Good Hope between 1497 and 1499, allowing spice traders to bypass Cairo. Cairo's political influence declined significantly after the Ottomans replaced the Mamluks in Egypt in 1517. From Constantinople, Sultan Selim I ruled Egypt as a province with Cairo as its capital. For this reason, Cairo's history during the Ottoman period is often described as insignificant, especially compared to other eras. However, in the 16th and 17th centuries, Cairo remained an important economic and cultural center. Although no longer on the spice route, it facilitated the transport of Yemeni coffee and Indian textiles, primarily to Anatolia, North Africa, and the Balkans. Cairo merchants played a crucial role in bringing goods to the arid Hejaz, particularly during the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. During the same period, al-Azhar University achieved the preeminence among Islamic schools that it maintains to this day; pilgrims on their way to Hajj often attested to the superiority of the institution, which was associated with Egypt's elite group of Islamic scholars. In the 16th century, Cairo also saw the development of residential high-rises, where the two lower floors served as commercial and storage spaces, while the upper floors were rented out to tenants.

Under Ottoman rule, Cairo expanded south and west from its core around the Citadel. It was the second largest city in the empire after Constantinople. Although migration was not the primary source of Cairo's growth, by the end of the 18th century, religious minorities and foreigners from across the Mediterranean comprised 20 percent of the population. However, when Napoleon arrived in Cairo in 1798, the city's population, at less than 300,000, was 40 percent lower than at the height of Mamluk—and Cairo—influence in the mid-14th century.

The French occupation was short-lived, as British and Ottoman troops, including a substantial Albanian contingent, recaptured the country in 1801. Cairo itself was besieged by British and Ottoman forces, culminating in the French surrender on June 22, 1801. The British withdrew from Egypt two years later, and the Ottomans, Albanians, and the long-weakened Mamluks left to control the country. The ongoing civil war allowed an Albanian named Muhammad Ali Pasha to rise to commander and eventually, with the approval of the religious establishment, to become ruler of Egypt in 1805.

The city of Cairo in modern times

Until his death in 1848, Muhammad Ali Pasha implemented several social and economic reforms, which made him the founder of modern society.EgyptWhile Muhammad Ali initiated the construction of public buildings in the city, these reforms had minimal impact on Cairo's landscape. More significant changes occurred under Ismail Pasha (r. 1863–1879), who continued the modernization processes begun by his grandfather. Inspired by Paris, Ismail envisioned a city of maidans and wide boulevards; for financial reasons, only a few of these were realized in what is now downtown Cairo. Ismail also sought to modernize the city by merging it with neighboring settlements, establishing a Ministry of Public Works, bringing gas and lighting to the city, and opening a theater and an opera house.

The immense debts resulting from Ismail's projects provided a pretext for increasing European control, culminating in the British invasion of 1882. The city's economic center rapidly shifted westward toward the Nile, away from historic Islamic Cairo and toward the contemporary, European-style areas built by Ismail. By the end of the 19th century, Europeans comprised five percent of Cairo's population and held most government positions.

In 1905, the Heliopolis Oasis Company, under the direction of Belgian industrialist Édouard Empain and Boghos Nubar, son of Egyptian Prime Minister Nubar Pasha, built a suburb called Heliopolis ten kilometers from the center of Cairo. It was the first large-scale attempt to promote the architecture now known as the Heliopolis style.

The British occupation was intended to be temporary, but it lasted well into the 20th century. Nationalists held large demonstrations in Cairo in 1919, five years after the end of the war.Egyptwhich had been declared a British protectorate. Nevertheless, this led to independence in 1922.Egypt.

1924 Kairoer Newspaper

The King Fuad edition of the Quran was first published in Cairo on July 10, 1924, under the patronage of King Fuad. The aim of the government of the newly formed Kingdom of Egypt was not to delegitimize the other variants of the Quranic texts ("qira'at"), but to correct errors found in Quranic texts used in state schools. A committee of teachers decided to preserve only one of the canonical qira'at readings, namely the "ṣafṣ" version, an 8th-century Kufic recitation. This edition has long since become the standard for modern printings of the Quran. Its publication was hailed as a "great success," and the edition was described as "now widely regarded as the official text of the Quran," so popular among Sunnis and Shiites that the belief, prevalent among less well-informed Muslims, is "that the Quran has a single, definitive reading." Minor changes were made later in 1924 and 1936 – the "Faruq Edition" in honor of King Farouk.

Cairo under British rule until 1956

British troops remained in the country. The area was expanded to include the upscale districts of Garden City.Zamalekand Heliopolis. Between 1882 and 1937, Cairo's population tripled from 347,000 to 1.3 million, and its area increased from 10 to 163 square kilometers (4-63 square miles).

The city was devastated during the 1952 riots known as the Cairo Fires or Black Saturday, in which nearly 700 shops, cinemas, casinos, and hotels in downtown Cairo were destroyed. The British left Cairo after the 1952 Egyptian Revolution, but the city's rapid growth continued. To accommodate the expanding population, President Gamal Abdel Nasser rebuilt Maidan Tahrir Square and the Nile Corniche and improved the city's bridge and highway network. Meanwhile, additional controls on the Nile encouraged development on Gezira Island and along the city's waterfront. The metropolis began to encroach on the fertile Nile Delta, prompting the government to build desert towns and create incentives for city dwellers to relocate there.

The city of Cairo in the 1960s

Cairo's population has doubled since the 1960s, reaching almost seven million (with another ten million in the metropolitan area). At the same time, Cairo has established itself as a political and economic center for North Africa and the Arab world. Many multinational companies and organizations, including the Arab League, operate from the city.

In 1992, Cairo was hit by an earthquake that killed 545 people, injured 6,512, and left around 50,000 people homeless.

The location and area of ​​the city of Cairo

Cairo is located in the northEgyptCairo, known as Lower Egypt, is located 165 kilometers (100 miles) south of the Mediterranean Sea and 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of the Gulf of Suez and the Suez Canal. The city lies on the Nile, immediately south of where the river leaves its near-desert valley and branches off into the low-lying Nile Delta region. Although the metropolis of Cairo extends in all directions away from the Nile, the city of Cairo itself lies only on the east bank of the river and two islands within it, encompassing a total area of ​​453 square kilometers. Geologically, Cairo is situated on alluvial deposits and dunes dating back to the Quaternary period.

Until the mid-19th century, when the river was tamed by dams, dikes, and other controls, the Nile near Cairo was highly susceptible to changes in its course and surface. Over the years, the Nile gradually shifted westward, forming the area between the eastern bank of the river and the Mokattam Plateau where the city now stands. The land on which Cairo was founded in 969 (present-day Islamic Cairo) was underwater just over three hundred years earlier, when Fustat was first built.

Low periods of the Nile during the 11th century continued to shape the landscape of Cairo; a new island, known as Geziret al-Fil, first appeared in 1174 but was eventually connected to the mainland. Today, the area of ​​Geziret al-Fil is occupied by the Shubra district. The low periods created another island around the turn of the 14th century, which today encompasses Zamalek and Gezira. Land reclamation efforts by the Mamluks and Ottomans further contributed to expansion on the east bank of the river.

Due to the Nile's movement, the newer parts of the city—Garden City, Downtown Cairo, and Zamalek—are closest to the riverbank. The areas where most of Cairo's embassies are located are surrounded to the north, east, and south by the older districts. Old Cairo, south of the center, contains the remains of Fustat and the heart of Egypt's Coptic Christian community, Coptic Cairo. The Boulaq district, located in the north of the city, grew from a large 16th-century port and is now a major industrial center. The Citadel lies east of the city center, encompassing Islamic Cairo, which dates back to the Fatimid era and the founding of Cairo. While western Cairo and its modern, European-influenced architecture are dominated by wide boulevards and open spaces, the eastern half, which has grown haphazardly over the centuries, is characterized by narrow alleyways, crowded tenement buildings, and Islamic architecture.

The northern and far eastern parts of Cairo, including the satellite cities, are among the city's most recent expansions. They developed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries to accommodate the city's rapid growth. The west bank of the Nile is usually considered part of the city of Cairo, but it also includes the city of Giza and the Giza Governorate. Giza, too, has expanded considerably in recent years and, although still considered a suburb of Cairo, now has a population of 2.7 million. The Cairo Governorate lay north of the Helwan Governorate from 2008, when some of Cairo's southern districts, including Maadi and New Cairo, were separated and incorporated into the new governorate, until 2011, when the Helwan Governorate was reintegrated into the Cairo Governorate.

Cityscape of Cairo

Tahrir Square

Tahrir SquareEstablished in the mid-19th century with the construction of modern downtown Cairo, Tahrir Square was initially named Ismailia Square after the 19th-century ruler Khedive Ismail, who commissioned the design of the new city center, dubbed "Paris on the Nile." Following the Egyptian Revolution of 1919, the square became widely known as Tahrir Square (Liberation Square), although it was not officially renamed until after the 1952 revolution that abolished the monarchy. Several notable buildings surround the square, including the American University on its downtown Cairo campus, the Mogamma Government Building, the Arab League headquarters, the Nile Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and the Egyptian Museum. The square, located in the heart of Cairo, has witnessed numerous major protests over the years. However, its most notable event was the focal point of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution against former President Hosni Mubarak.

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo

The Egyptian Museum, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum, houses the world's largest collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 136,000 exhibits and hundreds of thousands more in its basement. Among the most famous collections on display are the artifacts from the tomb of Tutankhamun.

The Great Egyptian Museum

A large part of the museum's collection, including the Tutankhamun collection, is planned to be moved to the new Grand Egyptian Museum, under construction in Giza and scheduled to open by the end of 2021.

Cairo Tower

The Cairo Tower is a freestanding tower with a revolving restaurant at the top. It offers restaurant guests a bird's-eye view of Cairo. It stands in the Zamalek district on Gezira Island in the Nile, in the city center. At 187 meters (614 feet), it is 44 meters (144 feet) taller than the...the Great Pyramid of Giza, which is located approximately 15 kilometers (9 miles) southwest.

Old City Cairo

This area of ​​Cairo is so named because it contains the remains of theancient Roman fortress of BabylonIt contains and overlaps the original site of Fustat, the first Arab settlement in Egypt (7th century AD) and the predecessor of later Cairo. The area encompasses Coptic Cairo, which boasts a high concentration of ancient Christian churches such as the Hanging Church, the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George, and other Christian or Coptic buildings, most of which are situated above the site of the ancient Roman fortress. It is also the location of the Coptic Museum, which displays the history of Coptic art from the Greco-Roman to the Islamic period, and the Ben Ezra Synagogue, the oldest and most famous synagogue in Cairo, which housed the significant collection of genizah documents discovered in the 19th century. In the north of this Coptic enclave is the Amr ibn al-'As Mosque, the first mosque in Egypt and the most important religious center of Fustat, which was founded in 642 AD directly after the Arab conquest, but has been rebuilt several times since.

Cairo possesses one of the most significant concentrations of historical monuments of Islamic architecture in the world. The areas around the old city walls and the Citadel are characterized by hundreds of mosques, tombs, madrasas, mansions, caravanserais, and fortresses from the Islamic period, often referred to as "Islamic Cairo." English travel literature, in particular, highlights the location of several important religious shrines, such as the al-Hussein Mosque (whose shrine is believed to contain the head of Husayn ibn Ali), the mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi'i (founder of the Shafi'i Madhhab, one of the foundational schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence), the tomb of Sayyida Ruqayya, the mosque of Sayyida Nafisa, and others.

The first mosque in Egypt was the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As in Fustat, the first Arab-Muslim settlement. The Mosque of Ibn Tulun is the oldest mosque to have retained its original form and represents a rare example of Abbasid architecture from the classical period of Islamic civilization. It was built between 876 and 879 CE in the style of the Abbasid capital Samarra in Iraq. It is one of the largest and most beautiful mosques in Cairo. Another Abbasid structure, the Nilometer on Rhoda Island, is the oldest original building in Cairo, constructed in 862 CE. It was designed to measure the Nile's water level, which was essential for agricultural and administrative purposes.

The city officially named Cairo (Arabic: al-Qahira) was founded in 959 CE northeast of Fustat by the victorious Fatimid army. The Fatimids built it as a separate palatial city containing their palaces and government institutions. It was surrounded by a ring of fire, which was reconstructed in stone in the late 11th century CE by the vizier Badr al-Jamali and survives today at Bab Zuwayla in the south and Bab al-Futuh and Bab al-Nasr in the north.

One of the most important and enduring institutions of the Fatimid period was the al-Azhar Mosque, founded in 970 CE, which rivals the Qarawiyyin in Fez for the title of the oldest university in the world.[127] Today, al-Azhar University is the world's leading center for Islamic learning and one of Egypt's most prestigious universities, with campuses throughout the country. The mosque itself retains significant Fatimid elements but was expanded and added to in subsequent centuries, notably by the 18th-century Mamluk sultans Qaitbay and al-Ghuri, and Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda.

Other surviving monuments from the Fatimid era include the great mosque of al-Hakim, the Aqmar Mosque, the Juyushi Mosque, the Lulua Mosque, and the Al-Salih Mosque Tala'i.

However, the most significant architectural legacy of medieval Cairo dates from the Mamluk period, from 1250 to 1517 AD. The Mamluk sultans and elites were ardent patrons of religious and scholarly life and frequently built religious or burial complexes whose functions could include a mosque, a madrasa, a khanqah (for Sufis), a sabil (water pharmacy), and a mausoleum for themselves and their families. Among the most famous examples of Mamluk monuments in Cairo are the vast mosque-madrasa of Sultan Hasan, the mosque of Amir al-Maridani, the mosque of Sultan al-Mu'ayyad (whose twin minarets were built above the Bab Zuwayla gate), the Sultan al-Ghuri complex, the burial complex of Sultan Qaytbay in the Northern Cemetery, and the trio of monuments in the Bayn al-Qasrayn area, consisting of the complex of Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun, the madrasa of al-Nasir Muhammad, and the madrasa of Sultan Barquq. Some mosques incorporate spolia (often columns or capitals) from earlier buildings constructed by the Romans, Byzantines, or Copts.

The Mamluks and later the Ottomans also built wikalas, or caravanserais, to house merchants and goods, as trade and commerce played a vital role in Cairo's economy. The most famous example today is the Wikala al-Ghuri, which regularly hosts performances by the Al-Tannoura Egyptian Heritage Dance Troupe. The renowned Khan al-Khalili is a trading center that also incorporates caravanserais (also known as khans).

The Citadel of Cairo with the mosque of Muhammad Ali.

Citadel of Cairo

The Citadel is a fortified enclosure begun in 1176 AD by Saladin on a rocky outcrop of the Mokattam Hills as part of an extensive defensive system to protect Cairo to the north and Fustat to the southwest. It was the center of Egyptian government and the residence of its rulers until 1874, when Khedive Ismail moved to the 'Abdin Palace. It remains occupied by the military today. Nevertheless, it is now open as a tourist attraction, comprising the National Military Museum, the 14th-century Mosque of al-Nasir Muhammad, and the 19th-century Mosque of Muhammad Ali, which occupies a prominent position in the Cairo skyline.

Khan el-Khalili

Khan el-Khalili is an old bazaar or marketplace next to the Al-Hussein Mosque. It dates back to 1385, when Amir Jarkas el-Khalili built a large caravanserai, or khan. (A caravanserai is a hotel for traders and usually the center of the area.) This original caravanserai building was demolished by Sultan al-Ghuri, who built the present-day network of souks in the early 16th century. Many medieval features remain today, including the ornate Mamluk-style gates. Today, Khan el-Khalili is a major tourist attraction and a popular stop for tour groups.

Air pollution in Cairo

Air pollution in Cairo is a serious cause for concern. The concentration of volatile aromatic hydrocarbons in the greater Cairo area is higher than in many other similar cities. Air quality measurements in Cairo have also revealed dangerous levels of lead, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter, resulting from decades of unregulated vehicle emissions, urban industrial operations, and the burning of chaff and waste. Over 4,500,000 cars are on the roads of Cairo, 60% of which are over ten years old and therefore lack modern emission-reducing features. Cairo has a lower dispersion factor due to its lack of rainfall and its layout of tall buildings and narrow alleyways, which creates a bowl effect.

In recent years, a black smog cloud (as the Egyptians call it) has appeared over Cairo every autumn due to temperature inversion. The smog causes severe respiratory illnesses and eye irritation among the city's residents. Tourists unfamiliar with such high levels of pollution must exercise particular caution.

Cairo also has many unregistered lead and copper smelters that heavily pollute the city. The result is a persistent haze over the city, with particulate matter concentrations in the air reaching three times the normal level. It is estimated that 10,000 to 25,000 people die annually in Cairo as a result of air pollution. Lead has been shown to damage the central nervous system and cause neurotoxicity, particularly in children. The first environmental laws were enacted in 1995. With 36 air quality monitoring stations and emissions testing of vehicles, the situation has improved somewhat. In addition, the city has ordered 20,000 buses to alleviate the severe traffic congestion.

The city also suffers from severe soil pollution. Cairo produces 10,000 tons of waste daily, of which 4,000 tons are neither collected nor managed. This poses a significant health risk, and the Egyptian government is seeking ways to combat it. The Cairo Cleaning and Beautification Agency was established to collect and recycle the waste; they work with the Zabbaleen community, which has been collecting and recycling Cairo's garbage since the turn of the 20th century and lives in an area known locally as Manshiyat Nasser. Both work together to collect as much waste as possible within the city limits, although this remains a pressing problem.

Water pollution is also a serious problem in the city, as the sewage system tends to fail and overflow.