Al-Mansur founds Baghdad as the Abbasid capital
- Date
- 30 July 762 CE
- Category
- Politics & governance
- Region
- Mesopotamia (Iraq)
- Era
- Post-Classical / Medieval
- Significance
On 30 July 762, the second Abbasid caliph al-Mansur commissioned a new capital on the west bank of the Tigris, officially named Madinat al-Salam, the City of Peace.
Laid out as a perfectly circular fortress some 2,700 metres in diameter with three concentric walls, the famed Round City placed the caliph's palace and the great mosque at its centre. Built over roughly four years by reportedly around 100,000 workers and guided in part by the Persian Barmakid administrators, Baghdad sat astride the trade routes linking the Mediterranean, India and China. Within decades it grew into one of the largest and richest cities on earth and the intellectual heart of the Islamic Golden Age. It became home to the translation movement and the House of Wisdom, where Greek, Persian, Syriac and Indian works were rendered into Arabic, and to mathematicians, astronomers, physicians and philosophers. Baghdad remained the symbolic centre of the Sunni caliphate and a hub of commerce and learning until its catastrophic sack by the Mongols in 1258.
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Empires active in 30 July 762 CE
- Tang Dynasty618 CE – 907 CE
- Byzantine Empire330 CE – 1453 CE
- Abbasid Caliphate750 CE – 1258 CE
- Kanem-Bornu Empire700 CE – 1900 CE
- Uyghur Khaganate744 CE – 840 CE
- Tibetan Empire618 CE – 842 CE
Related politics & governance events
- Emperor Kanmu founds Heian-kyo, opening Japan's classical golden ageNovember 17, 794 CE
- Charlemagne crowned Emperor of the Romans25 December 800 CE
- Donation of Pepin establishes the Papal States754–756 CE
- The Abbasid Revolution overthrows the Umayyad Caliphate25 January 750 CE (Battle of the Zab)
- Wu Zetian Proclaims the Zhou Dynasty and Becomes China's Only Female Emperor16 October 690 CE
- Treaty of Verdun partitions the Carolingian Empire10 August 843 CE
Further reading
The wider story
When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World
Popular history of the Abbasid golden age.
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