Travel guideHistorySightsNightlifeMap

Baghdad History, Iraq

The capital of Iraq is the historical city of Baghdad. It is also estimated to be the largest city of Iraq considering its municipal population of around 7000000 inhabitants. Baghdad is also the second largest city when the whole Middle East is considered. As pointed before, Baghdad is very important when it comes to historical culture and most of the population of Baghdad has been Muslim in the past and the major population of Baghdad is still Muslim.

It was during the Iraq War that Baghdad became the most talked about cities on this planet. It did suffer huge destruction due to the Iraq War which was between Iraq and United States of America plus its allies.

The city of Baghdad came into existence on July 30, 762. It was formed by Abu Ja'far Al-Mansur. It was Mansur’s belief that the land on which today Baghdad is located was the most suitable land to be called as the capital of Islamic Empire that was being run under Abbasids. This land was right in the center of all important trading routes of Middle East in those days and this helped the city grow economically.

Suitable climate and huge water resource in form of River Tigris was another reason why Mansur chose the land of Baghdad as the capital of the Muslim Empire of those days.

Mansur was responsible to collect a team of engineers and designers who were to plan the city. There were around 100000 workers who studied the plans, the location, and the project before starting work on the dream city of Mansur. In a nutshell, the basic design of Baghdad comprises two semicircles and both these circles are about 19 kilometers in diameter.

Four surrounding walls namely Syria, Basra, Khurasan, and Kufa were built around the city to protect it from intruders. These names were actually given to four gates that were the entry / exit points for people who wanted to enter the city or leave the city. These walls were around 145 feet wide and hence were secure enough against any kinds of attacks.

Baghdad soon became the center of learning during the 9th century. It was captured by Turks in 16th century and later it grew to what we know to be the modern Baghdad of today.

email to a friendAsk our travel experts a question about Baghdad