cairo is the capital of egypt, and the largest city in africa, and the arab world, as well as one of the most densely populated cities in the 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 adjacent giza.