Roda Island (orRawdah Island, Arabic: جزيرة الروضة, Jazīrat ar-Rawdah[ɡɪˈziːɾɪteɾˈɾoːdɑ]) is an island neighbourhood in the Nile in central Cairo, alternatively or partially known as Manial al-Roda, or al-Manial,[1] in reference to the main village that existed on the island before it was urbanised,[2] and is part of the Misr al-Qadima district.
During the reign of caliph Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik of the Umayyad dynasty, a nilometer was built on the southern tip of the island opposite the mouth of the Khalij canal in AD 715 to measure the annual Nile flood.[4][5] The structure was replaced in AD 861, during the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil,[6] overseen by the astronomer Alfraganus, and despite a number of modifications, is still extant today and known as the Roda Island Nilometer.[7]
The Ayyubid Sultan as-Salih Ayyub (Reigned 1240 to 1249, great-nephew of Saladin) built a palace at the southern tip of the island near the nilometer.[8][9]
The mamlukBahri dynasty originally settled on Roda Island at the palace.[9] The name of the dynasty, "Bahriyya", means 'of the river', referring to their original settlement on the island on the Nile.
The Bostan al-Kebir (Great Gardens) started to be planned and grown on the island in 1829 by Viceroy Ibrahim Pasha, of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty.[10] In 1851 the Manasterly Palace, also known as the Kiosk was built on the island's southern tip on the ruins of the Ayyubid palace for Hassan Fouad Pasha Al-Manasterly, Katkhoda of Egypt during the reign of Abbas I.[8] Later in the early 20th Century the Prince Muhammad Ali Palace was built in the island's mid-north.[11]
Today, the island is a bustling neighbourhood of Cairo.[1]
Media related to Rhoda Island at Wikimedia Commons
