Cairo is the capital of Egypt and one of the largest cities in Africa. Cairo has stood for more than 1,000 years on the same site on the banks of the Nile River, primarily on the eastern shore
Cairo is a place of physical contrast. Along the well-irrigated shoreline, lush vegetation shares the landscape with tall skyscrapers. In the older inland quarters to the east, however, beneath the foothills of the Eastern Desert and the rocky promontories of the Muqaṭṭam Hills and the Al-Jabal al-Aḥmar (Arabic: Red Mountain), browns and ochres are the dominant hues of land and buildings.