Al Qahirah
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Al Qahirah (also Cairo), the Capital of the Alif Laam Miim Emirate.
As functioning capital of the Emirate of Alif Laam Miim, Al Qahirah has served as a center of learning, culture, language, and Islam for many centuries before the Emirate. Today, it continues its historic roles, with the expansion off global markets and diplomacy. Al Qahirah also hosts many sports complexes for a variety of physical activities, primarily football and cricket. As among the largest cities in the world, Al Qahirah has blossomed into a city of prosperity, although some poverty still remains in the ghettos on the west wank of the Nile.
Contents
History
Topography
Al Qahirah is located on the banks and islands of the Nile River in the north of old Egypt, immediately south of the point where the river leaves its desert-bound valley and breaks into two branches into the low-lying Nile Delta region.
The oldest part of the city lies on the east bank of the river. There, the city gradually spreads west, engulfing the agricultural lands next to the Nile. These western areas, built on the model of Paris by Emir Ismail Pasha in the mid-19th century, are marked by wide boulevards, public gardens, and open spaces. The older eastern section of the city is very different: having grown up haphazardly over the centuries it is filled with small lanes and crowded tenaments. While the western city is dominated by the government buildings and modern architecture, the eastern half is filled with hundreds of ancient mosques that act as landmarks alongside many older artifacts of history.
Extensive water systems have also allowed the city to expand east into the desert. Bridges link the Nile islands of Gezira and Roda, where many government buildings are located and government officials live. Bridges also cross the Nile attaching the city to the suburbs of Giza and Imbabah (part of the Al Qahirah conurbation).
West of Giza, in the desert, is part of the ancient necropolis of Memphis on the Giza plateau, with its three large pyramids, including the Great Pyramid of Giza Approximately 11 miles (18 km) to the south of modern Al Qahirah is the site of the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis and adjoining necropolis of Saqqara. These cities were Al Qahirah's ancient predecessors, when Al Qahirah was still in this approximate geographical location.
[source: adapted from Wikipedia]
