Cairo (/ˈkaɪroʊ/ KYE-roh ; Arabic: القاهرة‎; Coptic: Ⲕⲁϩⲓⲣⲏ) is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Middle-East and second-largest in Africa after Lagos. Its metropolitan area is the 13th largest in the world. Located near the Nile Delta, it was founded in AD 969. 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. Cairo was founded by Jawhar al-Siqilli "The Sicilian", of the Fatimid dynasty, in the 10th century CE, but the land composing the present-day city was the site of national capitals whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo.