Cairo

For the American city, see Cairo, Illinois. For the peace treaty in the Worldwar series, see Peace of Cairo.

Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة‎, al-Qāhirah) is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab World. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a center of the region's political and cultural life. Even before Cairo was established in the tenth century, the land composing the present-day city was the site of national capitals whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo. Cairo is also associated with Ancient Egypt due to its proximity to the Great Sphinx and the Pyramids in nearby Giza.

Cairo in Through Darkest Europe

Cairo was home to one of the world's greatest madrasas. Khalid al-Zarzisi, a citizen of the Republican Sultanate of the Maghrib, had studied there.

In AH 1439, armed Aquinist terrorists launched an attack in a suburb of Cairo with a high European population. This attack was similar to an Aquinist attack on a shopping mall in Algiers, Republican Sultanate of the Maghrib. Unlike the Algiers attack, the Cairo incident was not well publicized.

Cairo in Worldwar

Cairo was the capital of the Kingdom of Egypt and the headquarters of the British 8th Army during World War II. Although the city had only been bombed from the air, it came under heavy attack when the Race landed in June 1942. Although the British fought hard, they were outclassed by both the Race's advanced weaponry and the arid environment that favoured the invaders. By the end of 1942, Cairo fell to the Race forcing the British to withdraw into the Middle East.

During Fleetlord Atvar's numerous trips down to the planet's surface, Cairo was chosen as his place of residence, with Shepheard's Hotel being the official building. When Atvar realized that negotiation was the only way to win the war, Cairo was chosen for the historic conference between both him and the representatives of the five major human powers which resulted in the agreement to attempt a peaceful coexistence on the planet. In the years following the peace, the city became the administrative center for the Race colonies on Tosev 3, partly due to its arid climate and location of being at the crossroads of the Race’s two largest land masses; Africa and Southern Asia. It was also a politically strategic point, as it lay between two of the Race’s rival not-Empires; the Soviet Union, and the Greater German Reich.

Islam was the dominant religion of Cairo, and many Muslims opposed the Race militantly. Nonetheless, Atvar refused to relocate his capital, fearing he would be perceived as weak.

During the Race-German War of 1965, the Reich Rocket Force fired several nuclear missiles at Cairo, but all were intercepted by the Race's missile defense systems. One detonated east of the city but far enough away not to destroy the city center.