Cairo: Long at the Cultural Crossroads

With as many as 18 million residents, metropolitan Cairo brims with a population that is more than twice the size of New York City’s. Traffic jams the streets of Egypt’s historic capital on the Nile, drivers honking all the way to their destinations. Pedestrians crowd downtown sidewalks shared with street vendors hawking their wares. Mostly male riders push their way on and off the subway, whose cars on hot, sweaty days carry a definite whiff of the locker room.

It’s enough to make a New Yorker’s pulse quicken. Cairo resembles that American city in another way that may surprise first-time visitors—its multicultural diversity.

Egypt is the most populous country in the Arab world and is usually identified as being in the Middle East, most of which is in West Asia. But Egypt is in Africa. Europe lies just a short distance across the Mediterranean Sea or around a longer loop overland through Turkey.

As a crossroads between three continents—Africa, Asia and Europe—Egypt through the ages has been a magnet for invaders. They came in waves: the Assyrians (Iraqis), Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks, French and British. And they all stayed a while, each leaving a genetic imprint on the indigenous Nubian population.

So the face of Cairo today can be black like a Nubian’s, with nappy hair. Or it can be white like a European’s, with green or blue eyes, and even blond hair. Most Cairenes, given the predominant Arab strain, are one shade of tan or another, or olive, with dark eyes and black hair. Mixed descent shows up in Arab-looking residents who have dark skin and curly hair, or light-skinned Nubians with straight hair.

The diversity of the city’s people struck me on my first trip to Cairo four years ago. I was sitting with my wife, who is of East Indian and Afro-Caribbean descent, at an outdoor restaurant at the Marriott Hotel people-watching on a cool spring night. We saw the kaleidoscope that is Egypt there at the Marriott, whose main building was once a palace.

Living in Cairo for five months this year deepened my awareness of its diversity and the mix of cultural forces at play in the city.

It was all there in the elevator in the high-rise where we lived in Garden City on the Nile Corniche, a busy riverfront boulevard. Most of the building’s residents are Egyptians, but a few are foreigners.

One day not long after our arrival, an elderly woman with chalky white skin and light hair joined us waiting for the elevator. A European ex-pat, I thought to myself. Then she started bantering in Arabic with one of the building’s porters. Wrong.

We shared elevator rides with many Arab Egyptians. But there was also a dark-skinned black man with an athletic build, business dress and purposeful demeanor. An African immigrant, I figured. Wrong again—he too speaks fluent Arabic.

Cairo was founded by Arabs, who endowed the country with its official language, stylish architecture and dominant religion, Islam. Technically, it is the Arab Republic of Egypt. The Muslim call to prayer reverberates through the city five times a day. Al Azhar University is the world’s center of learning for the Sunni branch of Islam.

The Coptic Christianity, which was founded by St. Mark the Apostle, is also centered in Cairo. An ancient Jewish presence has dwindled since the Arab-Israeli conflict started 60 years ago. 

Our 30-floor building was next to the Italian Embassy, which also occupies the lower floors. Italy has a lot of cultural influence on the city. It makes sense, because Italy is just to the North, but who knew Egyptians like pasta and pizza? Or that the prime evening out for prosperous Cairenes is at the modern Cairo Opera House? Opera in Cairo? Yes.

Pasta forms a big part of koshari, whose Cairene version has 16 ingredients, including rice and beans—a major carbohydrate overload. Food critics believe the dish is an adaptation of kicchari, a traditional Indian concoction brought to the country by migrant workers on the Suez Canal in the late 1800s. 

The British colonial influence is evident in the formal gardens and English-speaking elite. The legacy of a brief French occupation echoes every time a delivery man utters a “monsieur” or “merci.”

From our 14th-floor apartment with stunning views of the Nile, we had easy access to Cairo’s gifts. On clear days, we could see the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the world’s ancient wonders, rising in a suburb. We strolled along the Corniche, where you can hire a felucca for a relaxing sail on the Nile. Within walking distance is the Egyptian Museum stuffed with relics from the time of the pharaohs. Teens may get a kick of the real (but not live) mummies on display.

A short walk away is the Felfela Restaurant, which offers good Egyptian food with atmosphere. Jimmy Carter dined once dined there, and his autograph graces the menu.

Near downtown is Khan Khallili, an outdoor market where just about every kind of good is sold. The traditional souk is more than 1,000 years old. Across the street, Sufi dancers or “whirling dervishes” perform for free every Wednesday and Saturday night.

If you visit Aswan in southern Egypt, the Nubia Museum is worth touring. It documents the southern homeland of black Egyptians from prehistoric times until today. On exhibit are statues of the Nubian pharaohs Taharka, Shabaka and Aspelta.

One of my lasting memories is from our building’s elevator. A driver I knew, describing me to another Egyptian, called me an “Indian American” and then, correcting himself, an “American Indian.”

I was amazed at his perception. In the States, everyone sees me as an African American, and that’s how I identify myself. But my family’s oral history says I also have Native American ancestry. How could he tell that?  Later, I explained to him I am both. As a resident of multicultural Cairo, he readily understood the concept of mixed heritage.