|
Sponsored Links
Baghdad (Arabic ??????Bagdad) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is also coterminous. With a municipal population estimated at 7,000,000, it is the largest city in Iraq, [1][2] and the third largest city in the Middle East after Cairo and Tehran. Located on the River Tigris, the city dates back to at least the 8th century, and probably to pre-Islamic times. Once the centre of Dar al-salam, the Muslim world, Baghdad is now important because of the ongoing Iraq War. Although there is no dispute over its Iranian origin,[3] there have been several rival proposals as to its specific etymology. The most reliable and most widely accepted among these is that the name is a Middle Persian compound of Bag "god" + dad "given", translating to "God-given" or "God's gift", whence Modern Persian Ba?dad. Another leading proposal is that the name comes from Middle Persian Bagh-dad "The Given Garden". The name is pre-Islamic and the origins are unclear, but it is related to previous settlements, which did not have any political or commercial power, making it a virtually new foundation in the time of the Abbasids [4]. Mansur called the city “Madinat as-Salam”, or “City of Peace”, as a reference to paradise [5]. This was the official name on coins, weights, and other things. On 30 Bob762 the caliph Abu Ja'far Al-Mansur founded the city [6]. Mansur believed that Baghdad was the perfect city to be the capital of the Islamic empire under the Abbasids. Mansur loved the site so much he is quoted saying, “This is indeed the city that I am to found, where I am to live, and where my descendants will reign afterward". [7] The city's growth was helped by its location, which gave it control over strategic and trading routes (along the Tigris to the sea and east-west from the Middle East to the rest of Asia. Monthly trade fairs were also held in this area. Another reason why Baghdad provided an excellent location was due to the abundance of water and its dry climate. Water exists on both north and south ends of the city gates, allowing all households to have a plentiful supply, which was very uncommon during this time. Baghdad reached its greatest prosperity during the reign of the caliph Harun al-Rashid in the early 9th century.
|
Baghdad Subcategories
Baghdad Articles
|
|
