Egypt With Omar Sharif

The name Al-Qahirah literally means "The Subduer," though it's often translated as "The Victorious." The origin of the name is said to come from the appearance of the planet Mars during the founding of the city. The planet Mars, associated with destruction was called "Al Najm Al Qahir" in Arabic, from which the name of the city was derived. However the legacy of the name evolved into the title "Qahirat Al Adaa" meaning "subduer of the enemies". This title was given to the city as many armies were destroyed in attempts to invade Cairo or defeated elsewhere by troops sent from Cairo (Mongols, Crusaders & Ottomans are examples.)

On first impression, there is hardly a superlative too vast to capture the epic scale of this city of 12 million -- or 14, or 16; no one really knows for sure -- that sprawls in all directions. The traffic, the people, the chaotic rhythm of Cairo will all reinforce this impression, threatening to overwhelm you. In many ways Cairo is the proverbial overgrown village, full of little districts and communities that feel much smaller and more intimate than the city of which they're part.

Like so much else in Egypt, Cairo's charm is a product of its history, its network of districts and communities the physical remains of a thousand years of being conquered and reconquered by different groups. The city didn't really begin, as you might expect, with the pharaohs; they quartered themselves in nearby Memphis and Heliopolis, areas only recently overtaken by Cairo's outward urban spread. The Pyramids at Giza, on the west bank of the Nile, mislead the eye in search of Cairo's origins because this has always been an east-bank city, albeit one that moved west as siltation caused the Nile itself to move west. It's only in the past 40 years that the city has moved faster than the river, leaping the banks and drawing in the endless new suburbs on the west bank.

No, Cairo's history begins with a Roman trading outpost called Babylon -- now referred to as Old or Coptic Cairo -- at the mouth of an ancient canal that once connected the Nile to the Red Sea. But it was the 7th-century AD Arab invaders who can be said to have founded the city we know today with their encampment at Fustat, just north of Old Cairo. Under their great leader 'Amr Ibn al-As, the Arabs took over a land that had already been occupied by the Greeks, the Persians, and the Romans. And in the millennium that followed 'Amr's conquest, the city was ruled by the Fatimids (969-1171), the Mamluks (1250-1517), and the Ottomans (1517-1798), and then experienced 150 years of French and British colonial administration until the revolution of 1952 finally returned power to Egyptian hands.

But what makes Cairo unique is that each new ruler, rather than destroying what he had conquered, chose to build a new city upwind from the old one. Thus, from a bird's-eye view above the Nile, you can follow the progression of the historic center of Cairo cutting a question-mark-shape path from Old Cairo in the south, curving north through Fustat, east to Islamic Cairo, and then west to the colonial Downtown district until you reach Maydan Tahrir (Liberation Square), where it has settled for the moment. But as the city continues to expand, the heart threatens to relocate again, perhaps to Maydan Sphinx, or Boulaq, or somewhere in Giza.

Cairo's districts have changed, of course, since the time when they were founded, and with 10 million new residents having poured in since the revolution of 1952, many more new districts have grown around them. Still, each district retains a distinct identity, not only in its buildings, but also among its residents and their way of life. Pre-Islamic Babylon is, to this day, a disproportionately Christian area, with more crosses visible than crescents. And the medieval precinct of Islamic Cairo is still where families traditionally go during Ramadan to spend the night eating and smoking after a day of abstinence. Indeed, one of the joys of Cairo is that its historic areas are still vibrant, living spaces and not open-air museums. The past here is more a state of mind than a historical fact -- and that, ultimately, is the way in which the city is truly overwhelming.

In order to appreciate Cairo's deep-rooted history, one has to look back at history itself. WhenAlexander the Great conquered Egypt, Cairo was older to him than he is to us. In the fifth century BC, the great historian Herodotus visited the then 2000 year-old Pyramids as a tourist. At the time, the Ancient Egyptian civilization had generated more than thirty dynasties, each surviving, on average, longer than the Soviet Union. Later, Cairo wintnessed the rise and fall of the Greek, Persian, Roman, Arab, Ottoman, French, and British Empires. She played major roles in the history of three major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It was here that the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus rested after their long journey from Palestine, and that the first Islamic mosque in Africa was built by Amr Ibn Al-Aas. Cairo is at least twice as old as Paris, 7 times as old as Berlin, and 15 times as old as New York City.

Today, Greater Cairo encompasses various historic towns and modern districts into one of the largest metropoles in the world. A journey through Cairo is a virtual time travel: from the Pyramids, Saladin's Citadel, the Virgin Mary's Tree, the Sphinx, and Ancient Heliopolis, to Al-Azhar, the Mosque of Amr, Saqqara, the Hanging Church, and the Cairo Tower. With an estimated population of more than 15 million, she is the largest city in Africa and the Middle East. She is the capital of Egypt, and indeed her history is carefully intertwinted with that of the country. Today, her official name is Al-Qahira (Cairo), but to Egyptians, she is simply Masr : Egypt.

Pollution

Cairo is a rapidly expanding city which has lead to many environmental problems. There are over 2,000,000 cars on the streets of Cairo, 60% of which are over 10 years old so lack modern emission cutting features like catalytic converters. Cairo also has many unregistered lead and copper smelters which heavily pollute the city. The results of this has been a permanent haze over the city with particulate matter in the air reaching over three times normal levels. It is estimated that 10,000 to 25,000 people a year in Cairo die due to air pollution-related diseases. It is also estimated that the high lead content of the air can reduce a child's IQ on average by 4 points. In 1995, the first environmental acts were introduced and the situation has seen some improvement with 36 air monitoring stations and emissions tests on cars. 20,000 buses have also been commissioned to the city to improve congestion levels, which are very high.

The city also suffers from a level of land pollution. Cairo produces 10,000 tonnes of rubbish each day, 4,000 tonnes of which is not collected or managed. This once again is a huge health hazard and the Egyptian Government is looking for ways to combat this. The Cairo Cleaning and Beautification Agency was founded to collect and recycle the rubbish; however, they also work with the Zabeleen, a Christian community that has been collecting and recycling Cairo's rubbish since the turn of the 20th century .Both are working together to pick up as much rubbish as possible within the city limits, though it remains a pressing problem.

The city also suffers from water pollution as the sewer system tends to fail and overflow. On occasion, sewage has escaped onto streets once again creating a health hazard. This problem is hoped to be solved by a new sewer system, which could cope with the demand of the city.