Unsurprisingly, for a city that has been a political, economic, and cultural center for over a millennium, Cairo has a fortunate location. Sited where the Nile opens up into the branches that flow into the Mediterranean, one of the most naturally fertile regions in the world, for most of its history Cairo's significance was founded on the enormous agricultural output of the Nile valley and delta that was amassed, processed and distributed in the city. As well as being the key to the natural wealth of Egypt, Cairo was also an intermediary in long-distance trade networks. The Nile gave Cairo easy access to Africa and the Mediterranean; Cairo was also a short desert crossing from the Red Sea, and a terminus of the trans-Saharan caravan trade. Goods from Africa, Arabia, and India passed through Cairo on their way to the markets of the Mediterranean and northern Europe, until the Suez Canal allowed long-distance trade to circumvent the city. Cairo was, and still is, one of the great cultural centers of Islam and the Muslim world. The famous mosque-university of al-Azhar attracted scholars and students from all corners of the Muslim world. Before the carbon age, Cairo was the assembly point for one of the two major caravans to Mecca for the annual pilgrimage, which saw Muslims of all backgrounds passing through the city. Meanwhile, Cairo's graveyards are filled with the tombs of illustrious figures from Islam's past, many of which became pilgrimage sites in their own right.

Books on the history of Cairo tend to dismiss the Ottoman era prior to 1798, claiming that in addition to being marginalized politically, economic and cultural life in the city stagnated. But the list of assets outlined above meant that although, after the Ottoman conquest of 1517, Cairo found itself in the unusual position of being provincial, it lost little of its global significance and quickly became one of the most important cities in the Ottoman Empire. While Vasco de Gama's discovery of the Cape route to the Indies created competition in trade routes to western Europe, the traditional sea and land routes through the Middle East remained vital and healthy under Ottoman rule.