History of Cairo

This article contains a summary of the history of the Cairo , the Capitale of the Egypt.

Foundations (642-1250)

Fustât, Al “Askar and Al-Qatâ' I” (640-969)

The history of the Cairo begins as of the conquest of the Egypt with 'Amr ibn Al 'Ace in 640. After the catch of the fortress of Babylon, 'Amr establishes a quasi permanent camp in the north of this one. Then “Amr founds there following the fall of Alexandria in 642 the new capital of Egypt: Fostat. The name would originate in the Greek word fossaton (ditch). Near old the fortress of Babylon, on Eastern bank of the the Nile, the site of Fustât makes it possible to control the delta while being located at the most convenient point of the passage to cross the river, with the junction between the High and Low-Egypt. The new city, which is built around the fortress of Babylon, occupies approximately from 600 to 800 hectares in form a rather loose conglomerate augrès of the tribal concessions ( khitta ) which form the first districts ( will hâra ). “Amr builds modest a mosque out of brick, a public baths and a fortress in the center of the city where a port takes form and with him shopping areas. A bridge of boats is thrown in direction of Gîza. One of the objectives of the Egyptian conquest being to provide out of cereals the Arabia, “Amr begins the construction of a channel between the Nile and the Red Sea which starts in extreme cases northern of its foundation. The construction of this channel was abandoned one century later under the caliphate of Al-Mansûr. In 644 'Amr is recalled by new the Caliph 'Uthmân. It leaves behind him an organized capital which counts already ten Arab thousands of combatants in a subjected country but still entirely Christian.

During its first century within the Caliphate, Fustât is transformed into true city and benefits from the decline of Alexandria. While the fortress of Babylon preserves, in the middle of the new city, its political autonomy and ethnic (it is populated by the natives), Fustât receives the contribution of many Arab populations and nonArab (soldiers, rural, servants, craftsmen) which settle in the north of the city where the church Saint-Carried out is rebuilt. Another church dedicated to Sainte-Marie is built near the mosque of 'Amr. Fustât becomes a cosmopolitan city (mixing with the populations Arab, Egyptian, Greek, coptes, Jews…) and becomes, around its port and of its shipyard, the political and economic center of the new province and the seat of a provincial court which radiates under the authority of a prefect named by the caliph. He is surrounded poets and is made build a sumptuous residence ( the gilded House ). The mosque of “Amr is regularly increased and its surface multiplies by ten until in 711. The Urbanization, rather loose at the time of the foundation, densified and extends mainly towards the east and the south. The streets narrow, irregular, seldom are paved and form a complex and anarchistic grid (one retouvé a crossroads of seven streets close to the Mosquée Abû Al-Su' ûd). The population of the city exceeds the 100.000 inhabitants.

In 751, the Abbasid prefect Abû 'Aûn, to escape the stirring up city and to mark the advent of a new caliphate, installs its residence and a military camp in the north of the original core, Al 'Askar. Around this new foundation of new residences are built and with them markets, shops and in 786 a mosque. Al 'Askar becomes the administrative and military center of the province until the arrival of the Toulounides with the prefect Ahmad ibn Tûlûn. This one, named prefect in 868 benefitted from the difficulties of the Abbasid caliphate to create an autonomous State under Abbasid suzerainty. Touloumides wanted to create their residence and chose in north east of Al “Askar, on the western slopes of the hill which was going to accommodate what will become the future citadel, a space of a little less than 300 hectares to establish their new foundation, Al-Qatâ' I”. This one earlier experienced a development similar to that of Al “Askar one century around the palate of Ahmad ibn Tûlûn and the mosque Ibn Tûlûn whose construction started in 876 was completed in 879. Ahmad ibn Tûlûn also made build a hospital and an aqueduct. Al-Qatâ' I” is clearing by the descendants of Ahmad ibn Tûlûn before being destroyed at the time of the return of the Abbasids in 905. There remains only the mosque about it.

Al- “Askar as Al-Qatâ' I” could never develop like autonomous economic centers of Fustât, nor to become extensions of this one from which they were separated by a too broad space not urbanized. At the end of the 10th century, Fustât makes the admiration of the traveller Arab; “ Fustât the Egyptian woman is today what was Baghdad at time formerly: I do not know in Islam of more imposing city. Fustât is a metropolis in all the acceptance of the term… It is the seat of the government. It is with the intersection of the the Maghreb and the territories of the Arabs… Fustât eclipsed Baghdad; it is the glory of Islam and the shopping mall of the Universe. More splendid than Baghdad it is… the place of transit of the East. Fustât astonishes by the width by its trade… It is not river port more attended by the ships than it his. ”

Two cities: Qâhira and Fustât (969-1169)

Conqueror of Egypt to the head of the troops Fatimide S, Jawhar Al-Siqilli or Es-Saqalli installs in 969 his foundation on 136 hectares, Qâhira, in the north of the old foundations. The site offers the advantage of being with the shelter of raw of the Nile and with the variation of Fustât and its Christian populations and Sunnite S. Jawhar makes build a palate (the palate of the East) to accommodate the caliph and the Mosquée Al-Azhar, center of propaganda Chiite on Egypt. The quotas of the army, of tribal origin, were installed by quarterings, which quickly became districts. The June 10th 973, all was ready to accommodate the caliph Al-Muizz Li-DIN Allah who transferred his capital to it. Qâhira was affirmed then like the administrative, cultural capital and nun of the dynasty fatimide, while Fustât remained the economic heart and concentrated the essence of the population.

The caliph Abu Mansur Nizar Al-Aziz Billah, who succeeds Al-Mu' izz made build in Qâhira for his oldest daughter a second palate, opposite the palate the east or Large palace which extends on 9 hectares, the small palace of the West which extends on 4,5 hectares. The two palates extend on both sides from the main street of Qâhira. Traced by Al-Mu' izz it crosses the city of north to the south, of the door, in its medium it forms a great place called between-the - two-palate . The palate of the vizirat (Dâr Al-Vizâra), residence of the Vizier S is built starting from 1094. The palates of Qâhira, and particularly the Large palace, make the admiration of the travellers. The palates do not form a compact structure, but consist of multiple houses, places, gardens. The district of the palates of Qâhira is the framework of the ceremonies and processions of court. Its access is strictly regulated. Around this one the storage areas of the military quotas evolve/move quickly. New populations occupy open spaces left between the establishments. Qâhira is transformed into true city. Reserved at the beginning with the caliph, his court and its army, Qâhira attracts however a many population to be used for the palates or to build them. Because of distance with Fustât the marketing activities and artisanal develop in Qâhira which starts to get along out of the limits fixed by Gawhar. In North, 'Aziz then Al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah makes build large the Mosquée Al-Hâkim, in the west, of the gardens and of the houses form a zone of appreciated walk, in the south, districts appear on the road leading to Fustât. These extensions, still modest, bring the top dog Badr Al-Gamâlî, to build entyre 1087 and 1092 a new enclosure which increases the surface of Qâhira to 160 hectares. (images doors Bâh Al-Futûh 1087 and Bâh Al-Nasr)

From dimensioned sound, Fustât benefits from the size fatimide and peace to impose themselves like a center of economic exchanges and to know its golden age. It remains the economic heart and concentrates the essence of the population. Alexandria depends from now on on Fustât which perceives the customs duties. The commercial place of Fustât radiates on all the the Mediterranean and beyond. The development of the trade, just like the satisfaction of the luxurious needs for Qâhira dope the artisanal activities which diversify and some take an industrial character (flax, paper, refinery of sugar). At the 12th century, the city occupies a surface of approximately 300 hectares for a population estimated between 100.000 and 175.000 inhabitants, which does one of the most populated cities of it Mediterranean basin. This population is varied and mixed enough with the image of a large Mediterranean port: Jewish tradesmen, craftsmen, bankers, working administrative staff with Qâhira, the poor… The habitat also very varied to him is made up mainly of apartment buildings built in height (7-8 stages) which accommodate the middle-classes and the poor. In the center of the city, one finds rich person residences on a floor. To the periphery extend from the residential districts. The poorest inhabitants live mud houses of an average surface of 35 m ². The city is organized around its activities and initially around the port. The activities are gathered geographically around a place, of a street or a market. The geographical segregation of the Jews and the Christians who benefit from the tolerance fatimide remains limited.

The period fatimide was however not without vicissitudes. The reign of the caliph Al-Mustansir Billah is marked by disorders: interior disorders with the fight between black quotas and Turkish and especially a low register Famine which begins in 1065 and which reaches its apogee in 1070. That causes a strong Jewish emigration, but especially a demographic decline. One notes the abandonment of the poorest habitats with Fustât. Al “Askar, Al-Qatâ' I”, and the zones of settlement between Fustât and Qâhira were abandoned. The rectification carried out by Badr Al-Gamâlî starting from 1073 concentrates its efforts on the califienne city of Qâhira to the detriment of Fustât. By authorizing the installation of new populations with Qâhira where are constituted Jewish and Christian districts, Badr transforms it into true city. Under the reign of the last caliph fatimide, Al-Adîd (1160 - 1171), the alliance passed with the Francs of Jerusalem causes the installation of a Franc protectorate in Qâhira which concludes in 1168 by the conquest from Egypt by Amaury Ier from Jerusalem. This conquest had disastrous consequences for Fustât which was partly burnt in 1168 and accentuated the migration of its populations towards Qâhira.

Cairo ayyoubide

The crisis of Mustansir and the franque conquest had carried a mortal blow to the dynasty fatimide, and Saladin, vizier of Al-Adîd could seize the capacity without difficulties with died of the caliph in 1171. In May 1175 it receives the nomination of the caliph of Baghdad and founds the dynasty Ayyoubide. To affirm its power, Saladin decides to establish its foundation on a advanced escarpment of the Mont Muqattam, with one kilometer in the south of Qâhira and to build there, with the example of the cities Syria a citadel in 1176, center of the military life, administrative and policy of Cairo and Egypt. Moreover, he undertakes the ambitious construction of an enclosing wall, length 20 km, which include the two towns of Qâhira and Fustât, first steps of Large Cairo: “I would make they them a single whole by a wall, and they will have need only for one army single to defend them; and I believe good to surround them by only one wall, of the shore of the Nile to the other shore. ” The enclosure, from which construction extends over all the period ayyoubide does not make it possible however to create a single agglomeration and Qâhira and Fustât continue to develop separately. This unit is however structured by new roads which are used to convey the stones necessary to the construction of the citadel and the enclosure, which come primarily from the pyramids of Gizeh.

Saladin and its successors (until in 1218) did not live the citadel completed in 1184 but the hotel of the vizirat with Qâhira located in the Large palace. The palates fatimides are refitted to be used as quartering with the troops of Saladin or to accommodate the members of the new dynasty. Part of the Large palace accommodates a hospital (1182) and the palate of Saîd Al-Suada is transformed into convent for the mystics. Saladin and its successors make build many Madrasa S in order to support the return to Islam sunnite. Except, the fortifications, the Madrasa de Salib Ayyuh built by the sultan Salih Nagm Aldine Ayyub in 1243 and its mausoleum (1250) are the only monuments ayyoubides which arrived to us. Clearing by ayyoubides, Qâhira changes middle-class and commercial downtown more and more and accommodates always more populations of various origins which mix with the dominant classes. Districts coptes and Jews constitute themselves. The district of the palates grouille people of all conditions and origins which thread between the gravers. Trade and craft industry develop, and Qâhira starts to collect the activities of international business and banking of Fustât. A port is arranged besides along the channel (khalîg). Qâhira urbanizes in direction of the west, along the channel on which bridges are thrown, then towards the Nile (district of Umm Dunayn) and in direction of the south, along the road which leads to the finally occupied citadel starting from 1218. The sacrality of the city Fatimide S is not any more, as the historian Ahmed Maqrizi will note it, a little more than one century later: “ After the fall of the dynasty fatimide, when the palates, emptied their residents, were occupied by the emirs of the ayyoubide family, and that the latter changed the provision of it, this site (the district of the Palates) was used for an ordinary market… Going settled there with all kinds of food, the varied meats, pastry makings in wedding cakes, the edible fruits and other . ”

In the south, Fustât continues to decline. Sign crisis, the layout of the enclosure of Cairo passes through abandoned districts and in ruin in the east of the city. The agricultural crisis of 1200 seriously touches Fustât which loses still a little more population. However, in spite of urban degradations and the dirtiness which shocks the visitors, Fustât remains a shopping mall and industrialist (naval constructions, refineries of sugar and soap factories) active. But, it gradually loses the artisanal activities of luxury and especially the great international business which is treated more and more with Qâhira where the Jewish community which resides, in moved 1250, as a majority with Qâhira. Moreover, the displacement of the course of the Nile towards the west causes of ensabler the port. Work is undertaken starting from 1231 to guarantee the access to the port. These new grounds offered by the Nile make it possible to modernize the harbor installations and the urban development in direction of the west. These new districts could have benefitted from the construction of a new citadel by the sultan Sâlih on the island of Rawda in 1240 if this one had not been definitively abandoned as of 1251. The decline of Fustât which one names starting from 1250, the old Cairo (Misr Al-Qadîma) is from now on inescapable.

Whereas the dynasty ayyoubide finishes, the old Cairo is not any more that one suburbs of Qâhira and plays a marginal part within the zone delimited by the enclosure of Saladin. The future of Cairo is played from now on in the space located on the one hand between the citadel and Qâhira, and on the other hand between the channel and the course of the Nile which moves towards the west.

Cairo mamelouke (1250-1517)

Expansions and embellishments (1250-1348)

The first century of the dynasty Mamelouk E constitutes for Cairo new an apogee, after that of the fatimides. It is mainly the work of the sultan Nasir Muhammed. During its long reign (1293-1340) it follows a policy of urbanization and intensive construction. Political stability and interior peace make it possible Egypt to know a strong increase in population and economic particularly sensitive to Cairo.

The Mamelukes will continue and amplify the urbanization of Cairo started under the ayyoubides. The district of the palates fatimides will be some upset. On the place between-the-two-palate (Bayn Al-Quasaryn) an immense hospital is built in 1284. It could treat free to 4.000 patients per day. A madrasa and a mausoleum are integrated there. The beauty of the mausoleum arrived to us is allowed to imagine the magnificence of the hospital. With this unit in 1304 is added the mausoleum and the Mosquée Nasir. Then in 1386, the mosque of the Barqûq sultan. The refitting of the palates fatimides develops. They are destroyed to make place with madrasas, mosques, trade and dwellings to accommodate the population mamelouke. The large avenue which crosses Cairo of north to the south becomes a very dense commercial artery. To accommodate populations increasingly more, Cairo extends. Beyond the enclosure of Saladin, in north, the Baybars mosque built in 1269 develops the popular suburb of Hasayniyya. Beyond that, along the road of Syria, of the small islands of urbanization are created around religious foundations and of the palates of holiday built by the Mamelukes.

In the west, a new channel (Khalig Al-Naziri) is dug in 1325. A zone of 600 hectares located between the two channels is offered to the urbanization. One built there houses, gardens and walks, but the urbanization remains limited to north (Maqs) and to the south (Nasiriyya) of this zone, along the roads leading to the Nile. Beyond Khalig Al-Naziri develops estival residences in Bulak on the edges of the Nile which one tries to dam up and whose course continues to move towards the east. One also builds in Bulaq the first docks of 1260 with 1277, first steps of the port which will develop under the Mamelukes.

In the south, the citadel heart of the capacity Mameluke is refitted. One built there new buildings like the Mosque year-Nasir Mohammed (1318 - 1335), the variegated palate (Qasr Al-Ablaq, 1313) and Large Iwân (1315) which make the admiration of the travellers, as well as many residences to accommodate the soldiers, the courtiers and the servants. The citadel becomes the imposing and luxurious window of the dynasty mamelouke. The development of the citadel supports the dynamism of the urbanization to the foot of this one. The establishment in 1291 of the Gone Suwayqat Al-Izzi, the Mosque Ibn Tûlûm rehabilitated 1294 with 1296, the construction of splendid a madrasa as well as a mausoleum give the signal of the urban development of one of the easy districts of Cairo. The Nasir sultan encourages his emirs to build there luxurious mosques and residences which attract the population. In the same way, the road which carries out of Cairo to the citadel, prolongation of the Large avenue, attracts trade and residences and is the subject of a continuous urbanization.

In 1348, imposing and thrives, Cairo counts approximately 200.000 inhabitants: “erudite and ignoramuses, men diligent or devoted to the trifles, soft or carried, basic extraction or of famous birth, noble or plebeian, ignored or famous. The number of its inhabitants is so considerable that their floods make it resemble an agitated sea, and little is necessary oneself of it that it is not too narrow for them, in spite of the extent of its surface and its capacity. Cairo is not a big city, but it is the paradise here low… His/her children are the angels, and his/her daughters with the large eyes, the hourris. ”.

The crisis (1348-1412)

The arrival of the Black Death in 1348 will carry a crushing argument to the dynamism of Cairo and will plunge the city in a durable and major crisis. The demographic loss is estimated between a third and two fifths of the population. The epidemic returns then while following five years an average cycle until the Othoman conquest, preventing any demographic rectification. Moreover, Egypt knows a Crue of the catastrophic Nile (1354), agricultural crises (1375, 1394, 1404), then at the 15th century political instability, revolts of the slaves, plunderings and external threats.

However, in the second part of the 14th century, the Mamelukes manage to mobilize considerable means to raise imposing monuments in the south of Cairo: the Mosque of the sultan Hassan (1356 - 1361), the Mosque of the sultan Barquq (1384 - 1386), a Caravanserai which will become the Souk Khân Al-Khalili (years 1380) and of many residences émirales like the Palais Taz (1352). The dynamism of the districts close to the citadel however hiding place a nearly general decline of the other districts of Cairo and in particular of the districts urbanized under Nasir, in the west of the channel and north. At the beginning of the 15th century, under the reign of the sultan Farag (1399 - 1412), the crisis is general. The demographic decline and the ruin of part of the artisanal activities (textile which undergoes Western competition) and commercial (falls of the trade with Syria ruined by the invasion of Tamerlan, rebalancing of the Mediterranean trade to the profit of the Egyptian coast and Alexandria) cause a retractation of the city on its historical quarters with the abandonment of the zones located beyond the channel and at north with Hasayniyya. Many buildings are not maintained any more. In the middle of the 15th century, whereas one notes a beginning of rectification and according to descriptions of Ahmad Al-Maqrîzî, built surface covers approximately 400 hectares for a population estimated at 150.000 inhabitants. Fustat on its side has a population estimated at 40.000 or 50.000 inhabitants.

The rectification (1412-1517)

After the catastrophic reign of the Farag sultan, the city will be rectified gradually mainly under the influence of sultans builders: Barsbay (1422 - 1438), Qaytbay (1468 - 1496) and Ghuri (1501 - 1516). Vast work is launched: rehabilitation of the principal public buildings and monks neglected during the crisis, improvement of the roadway system (cleaning, widening of the main arteries), bleaching of the frontages, lighting of the streets. New monuments leave ground. Among most important one counts: the Mosque of Barsbay (1425), the Wakala de Qaytbay (1480) and of Ghuri (1504), mosque-madrassa of Ghuri (1503). This last makes destroy and rebuild the Khân Al-Khalili in 1511. In the last century Mameluke, the sultans engaged the center of Cairo, old Qâhira, towards a commercial specialization equipping it with all the buildings necessary to the marketing activities pushing back the residences and the palates far from the center mainly in the south.

The south of Cairo, with the foot of the citadel profits from the most significant development. One builds mosques and madrassas. The emirs install their palates and residences there. In 1516, 60% of the residences of the emir S are located in this zone. The citadel is renovated, and accommodates new palates, view-points, houses and mausoleums. With the foot of the citadel, with the hippodrome, Ghuri makes arrange a splendid garden fed out of water by a new aqueduct. The sultan made there give sumptuous festivals.

The abandonment of the center to the trade also benefits the west from Qahira. Between the two channels, in the zone which the sultan Nasir Muhammed had started to arrange, the edges of the Azbakiyya pond accommodates the emirs. 16% as of the their residences are located there in 1516. The south of this zone remains still little urbanized. The gardens which had been arranged by Nasir are renovated and refitted and impose themselves like a place of walk privileged for the dominant class.

More in the west, Bulaq and its port experience a spectacular development. The foreign policy of the Mamelukes, increasingly directed towards the Mediterranean requires to develop in Bulaq a Shipyard to build a military fleet able there to face the Pirate S francs and with European naval forwardings. In parallel, Bulaq develops its marketing activities: materials for naval constructions, corns, spices, craft industry fill the docks built for the occasion. The outlets for trade attract in Bulaq the artisanal activities (sugar refineries, mills with grain, tanneries) where come to work a continuous flow of poor populations. The rise of the city which is essential as the maritime door of Cairo requires to build mosques there, souks, public baths.

The development of Bulaq finished relegating in the History the Cairo old man who a little less counts in 1517 than 15.000 inhabitants, modest craftsmen including one important Christian community.

The population of Cairo is estimated at approximately 200.000 inhabitants in 1517. This demographic re-establishment is partly explained by the arrival of rural populations why the crisis of 1348-1412 pushed to give up their grounds and their villages.

Cairo under Othoman domination (1517-1798)

The arrival of the Othoman the January 23rd 1517 mark an important rupture. Even if Cairo is not any more the capital of an empire, it is not less the second most important city of the Ottoman Empire and the capital of the richest province of this empire. Egypt is controlled by a Pasha installed with the citadel and named by Istanbul. Supreme authority, it is pressed on judges ( Qadi ) to exert justice and the Milice of the Janissaire S to ensure the order. However, the authority of the pasha remains relative and symbolic system, reduced with a role of representation of the Othoman sultan. Indeed, the Mamelukes and the militia exert the main part of the capacities and control the richnesses. Egypt enjoys a strong autonomy with respect to Istanbul, which is being accentuated during the Othoman period. The richnesses of the province remain in Egypt, and Cairo where resides the dominant class will benefit from it.

Urban development

The three centuries of Othoman domination will confirm the evolutions noted since Nasir. Thus, the area of Qâhira already strongly specialized in the marketing activities at the end of the time mamelouke, knows few transformations, residential spaces continuing to ebb towards the south and the west.

In the south, the area of Bab Al-Kharq is the object of an architectural immense operation. Iskandar Pasha made there build in 1556 - 1559 a large mosque, a convent and a public fountain. To finance these foundations religious and public, it develops a retail park and artisanal: investment property, shops. But the presence of many tanneries slow down the urban development in this zone. They will be finally moved outside Cairo towards Bâb Al-Lûq in 1600 to allow the construction of the Mosquée Malika Safiyya, of the Mosquée Ali Al-Amri (towards 1616), of the Mosquée of Burdayani and the Mosquée of Yusuf Aga Al-Hin (1625). The displacement of the Tannery S, the sumptuous mosques, the freshness of the pond Birkat Al-Wire and the edges of the channel attract the sumptuous residences of the leading class. Between 1650 and 1755 one estimates that 40% of the emirs have a residence there.

More in the south, the suburbs along the roads which lead to the citadel affirm their urban character. One establishes or renovates mosques to with it and to finance them the investment properties. The establishment of many public fountains in this zone attests continuous urban character between Quahira and the citadel.

The zone located at the west of the kalig guard still its discontinuous habitat. The urbanization concentrates along the roads leading to Bulaq or the Cairo old man where develop popular suburbs as well as accessible districts the minority populations (four of the five districts coptes are located at the west of the kalig). The zones of the west are still dominated by the parks, the ponds, the zones of walks and the palates of summer. The west accommodates the activities of leisures and pleasures (prostitution, houses of hachich…). The only zone of intense urbanization relates to banks of the pond of Azbakiyya occupied by the emirs and the middle-class men. Azbakiyya succeeds Birkat Al-Wire like place of residence to the mode. At the 18th century one built there fifteen mosques and twelve fountains. In 1798 half of the residences of emirs are located on the edges of the pond of Azbakiyya.

Table of Cairo at the end of the 18th century through the Description of Egypt

In 1798 and according to the Description of Egypt , the city of Cairo occupies 730 hectares for a population of 263.000 inhabitants divided as follows: Husayniyya the northern suburb counts 8.000 inhabitant, Qahira, 90.000, the southern zone, 100.000 and the western zone 65.000. The average density is approximately 400 inhabitants per hectares. It approaches even the 600 hab. /ha in Qahira

Contemporary Cairo (1798 at our days)

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