The urban history of Cairo can be divided into three main periods. The first extends from the Middle Ages to Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign (1799–1801). During this time, the city developed from a military camp founded in 641 to a walled town with about 270,000 inhabitants. The city’s most important Islamic monuments were created in this era, including the Ibn Tulun Mosque (876–79), the Al-Azhar Mosque (970), the city walls and gates (1087), the citadel (1176–82, ill. 3), the large cemeteries, and the monumental structures erected under the Mamelukes (13th–15th centuries). The second period lasted from 1805 until around 1940. During this time, Egypt turned its face to modernism under Muhammad Ali (1805–48) and later as a British protectorate (1882–1954). To the west of the old town, new housing and business developments were created based on French models and occupied largely by Europeans. Towards the end of the 19th century, roughly 600,000 Egyptians and 30,000 Europeans lived in Cairo. Wolfgang Mayer