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Situated at the crossroads of Asia and Africa, Cairo is one of the grand cities of the Islamic world, it is the largest city in the Middle East and Africa and the fifteenth largest city in the world. With a population estimated at around 20 million, swelling by another million each day with commuters and thousands of migrant workers, it is no wonder that Cairo is called a city that never sleeps. Although Cairo is younger than Alexandria, the whole city is a living breathing museum reflecting the ancient influence of Pharaonic, Persian, Greek and Roman influence. Founded 2,500 years after Memphis, the first capital of unified Egypt (upper and lower Egypt), Cairo was named Babylon by the Roman invaders and became Al Fostat (the city of tents) when the army of Islam conquered Egypt in 641. Al Fostat became a sophisticated metropolis when Europe was still in the Dark Ages. In 968 the Fatimid's called the city Al Qahira, later called Cairo by the Europeans who found the name easier to pronounce. It remained a medieval city at heart for 900 years until Mohammed Ali began the modernization of Cairo. By 1920 the city had expanded to six times the original size of medieval Cairo.