Fatimid Cairo at its commercial zenith

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Under the Fatimid caliphate, Cairo had become the largest city in the Islamic world, its markets thronging with merchants from India, Byzantium, and sub-Saharan Africa. The Red Sea trade brought spices, gems, and Chinese porcelain to warehouses along the Nile. Al-Fustat's pottery workshops fired lusterware that rivaled anything produced in Baghdad or Samarkand.