Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة ), is the capital city of Egypt, and is the largest city in Africa, and the Arab World. It is the largest metropolitan area in Egypt, and is one of the most populous in the world. Cairo has long been the center of the region's cultural and artistic life, and has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab World, earning it the name of the "Hollywood of the East". While Al-Qahirah is the official name of the city in Arabic, Egyptians often refer to it simply as Misr (the Arabic name for Egypt itself). Cairo was founded by the Fatimid Caliphate, replacing Fustat as the seat of the government, and serving as the capital of Egypt ever since. Cairo has a population of about 8 million people, according to the 2008 population census. The number of inhabitants was about a million higher at the time of the census, but this was adjusted downwards on the 17th of April 2008 when the new government of Helwan was created from parts of the old Cairo government. Cairo's metropolitan area has a population of about 17.0 million people. Cairo is the sixteenth most populous metropolitan area in the world. It is also the most populous metropolitan area in Africa. Cairo has a mix of historical and modern cultural sights. This includes the Pyramids, the Hanging Church, Saladin's Citadel, the Virgin Mary's Tree, the Sphinx, and Heliopolis, Al-Azhar, the Mosque of Amr ibn al-A'as, Saqqara, the Cairo Tower, and the Old City. Cairo is nicknamed "The City of A Thousand Minarets". (via Wikipedia)