Cairo or Al Qahirah

In 525 BC, more than 2500 years ago, the first establishment of a Babylonian fortress was laid around the Nile River. At that time, Egypt was under Saite Dynasty or the 26th Dynasty of Egypt (664 to 525 BC), with the capital at Sais or Saise (anciently written as Sꜣw. Six centuries later, the Roman Emperor Trajan or Marcus Uplius Traianus, shifted the fortress a bit more closer to the Nile, felicitating agriculture and better protection from enemies. In the 3rd century AD, with the arrival of Christianity, the Saint Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church or popularly known as the Hanging Church, was built, making it as one of the oldest churches of Africa. Gradually, by the 5th century, churches such as the Coptic Orthodox Church of St. Barbara (Sitt Barbara) and Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church (Abu Serga) made Egypt as a strong Christian base in the Middle East. But in the year 642 AD, with the birth of a new religion of Islam, the Arab invaders from the south under Amr ibn al-As conquered Egypt, thus starting the Muslim rule in the country. He shifted the capital from the former Alexandria to a new establishment around the Babylon Fortress, calling it as Fustat - the first capital of Muslim Egypt and the origin of modern megapolis of Cairo.  

Fustat was one of the earliest cities to grow into a metropolis shortly after the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632 AD. It overpassed the neighbouring town of Babylon (not to be confused by the Babylon near Baghdad) and took a secular label by welcoming both Jewish and Christian populace. But the capital didn't stand too long when in the 8th century, the Umayyads were thrown by the Abbasids who formed a new capital close to Fustat - al-'Askar between 750 to 868 AD. This was followed by emergence of another short-lived capital of the Tulunids towards the end of the 9th century, called Qata'i, similar to the town of Samarra in Iraq. 

Finally, in the year 969 AD, Jawhar Al-Siqilli of the Fatimid Empire establishes a new settlement of Qahirat Al-Moez or Al Qahira or what got to be later modernised as - Cairo. The city later progressed and flourished and remained the unchanged capital of Egyptian empires till date. The Fatimids fortified Cairo with eight gates, the Ayyubids built a citadel (Qalaet Al-Gabal), introduced madrasas, the Mamluks expanded it like no other king had done before by building various mosques and palaces and made Cairo a major trade hub in the 15th century. The neighbourhood of Boulaq or Bulaq was established in the 1480s, expanding between a massive area between Al-Qahira and Fustat. The islands of Roda and Halima neighboured to its west in the River Nile. 

But the Ottoman era saw a major shift in the story of Cairo. In the last week of January 1517, Cairo was captured by the Ottoman Sultan, Selim I (r. 1512 - 1520), thus starting the decline of the city. The rise of Constantinople in the north made Cairo as just one of the many provincial capitals as trade route between the Black Sea, Asia Minor and Alexandria saw a handful of Christian ships sailing. The pre-Ottoman era had made Cairo as a cradle of numerous mosques and important Islamic centres such as Amr ibn Al-As, Al-Azhar, Ibn Tulun etc. but with the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a mosque by the Ottomans in 1453, it got a centrepiece of entire Islamic population in the 15th century. This was also the time of rising exploration by European powers such as the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and the Danish, and the most important landmark moment was the discovery of trade route to India via the Cape of Good Hope, in today's South Africa. This threatened the Ottoman hegemony and numerous naval battles were fought in the Arabian Sea, close to Indian coast, shifting Turkish attention towards controlling the waters. 

The next big power to eye on Cairo (and Egypt, as a whole) were the French troops under Napoleon Bonaparte, when in 1798 he decided to block British trade to India. It is also said that Napoleon had future ambitions to ally with Tipu Sultan, the ruler of the Indian princely state of Mysore, and jointly push the British out. But before he could solidify this plan, the French ultimately were defeated by an Anglo-Ottoman alliance, although Napoleon did win numerous battles of the campaign such as at Embabeh (Imbaba; battle of the Pyramids, 1798), revolt at Cairo (1798) and Abukir (1799), giving a brief French control of the country for the three years between 1798 to 1801. 

But the British control over Egypt and later, annexation of Sudan to form a territory of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1899 - 1956) transformed Egypt under the new colonial power. Buildings such as Masr el-Gedida, thhe Wust el-Balad or Downtown Cairo, the Zamalek etc. are structured in European style during the British occupation of the country. In fact, outside Egypt, there are several locations that share the name 'Cairo', mostly in the United States. Under the British, Cairo expanded towards the outskirt neighborhood of Heliopolis, which was established close to the ruins of the ancient Heliopolis, which was a major city between 305 to 30 BC. Cairo also expanded beyond the western areas of Nile in Giza, where the great Pyramids are to be seen. With the departure of colonisation, Greater Cairo came in the picture in the 1970s that spun more than 2,700 sq km area. 

Today, Cairo is the third largest city of Africa in population and 3rd by GDP ($ 7,200 mil) as per a source of 2023 data. Cairo also served as the capital of the United Arab Republic, a temporary union of Egypt and Syria between 1958 to 1961, the United Arab States, another temporary confederation between Egypt, Syria and North Yemen (1958 to 1961) and Federation of Arab Republics (an attempt of uniting Egypt, Libya and Syria between 1972 to 1977).

Below here is a map of Cairo dating 1933 by Alexander Nicholsoff.