Cairo sits at the apex of a triangular delta, just south of where the Nile splits into two primary branches. In 969 AD the city was founded as a military camp east of the River Nile. The largest city in the Middle East and Africa today, affectionately known as 'the mother of the world', Cairo encompasses the past glory of an Arab capital and the present reality of rapid growth amid scarce economic resources.

Al-Qahira (Arabic for 'the victorious') grew into a major locus of global economic activity and one of the world's largest cities by the 13th century. By the 18th century the city had lost its global economic position and lagged behind technologically. Egypt offered little resistance to European imperialism, the French occupied the country for a few short years but the British established a more permanent presence, installing their own monarch in 1882. Not until 1952 did Egypt become an independent country, adopting socialist economic policies to alleviate the economic condition of the large poor population. As the political and economic capital of Egypt, Cairo has been at the centre of these changes; a careful examination of its urban landscape reveals the imprint of history.

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