Home to the iconic Giza Pyramid complex, Cairo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It was initially founded as Fustat, a settlement created after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 640, and later grew to be superseded by al-Qāhirah as the main urban center in the 12th–16th centuries.
The city has also developed the largest and oldest cinema and music industry in the Arab world, and has been known as the “city of a thousand minarets” due to its preponderance of Islamic architecture. In 1979, its historic center was granted the prestigious title of World Heritage Site.
The city is also served by the oldest metro system in Africa, the Cairo Metro, which has the 15th highest number of passengers annually, at over 1 billion rides.
