Baghdad is the capital and largest city of Iraq. The history of what is now Iraq goes far back into ancient times, while the nation of Iraq is a modern creation. But the city of Baghdad began in medieval times, as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate.
The first Caliphate of Islam was the Rashidun Caliphate, which was the first four caliphs. Their capital was first at Medina, and later at Kufa. The second Caliphate of Islam, which supplanted the Rashidun, was the Umayyad Caliphate. Their capital was the pre-existing ancient city of Damascus.
The Umayyads were supplanted by the Abbasid Caliphate, which was the third Caliphate of Islam. For their capital, the Abbasids chose to build an entirely new city. The site that was chosen was a flat area along the Tigris River. The name of the new city was Baghdad.
From their capital of Baghdad the Abbasids presided over what became known as the "Golden Age Of Islam". Europe was going through the Dark Ages at the time and it was the great library in Baghdad, known as the House of Wisdom, that did so much to keep learning alive. The Umayyad Caliphate continued on in what is now Spain and Cordoba was also a great center of learning there.
The center of knowledge at Baghdad is why so many of the stars in the sky have Arabic names. The brightest stars do not have Arabic names because they were named by the ancients. But the numerous stars of somewhat lesser brightness were named during the Golden Age Of Islam. All seven stars in the Big Dipper, for example, have Arabic names.
The ten numerals that we use, 0123456789, are known as Arabic Numerals. The idea didn't originate in Baghdad. It came from India and China is believed to have had an even earlier system. But it was during the Golden Age Of Islam, centered on Baghdad, that the numerals were brought to the West, and that is why they are called Arabic Numerals.
The Golden Age Of Islam was brought to an end, in 1258, by the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols. It was later destroyed again by Timur, or Tamerlane.
Baghdad went through being part of the successive empires that controlled the region. The Ottoman Empire ended with the First World War and, in 1932, the Kingdom of Iraq was proclaimed. It was led by King Faisal I, who had earlier and separately led neighboring Syria.
The Kingdom of Iraq lasted until 1958. In a reenactment of the French Revolution, it was actually on July 14 which is Bastille Day, the grandson of Faisal I, Faisal II, was overthrown and executed in a coup led by a military officer named Abdul Karim Qasim. This was also a repetition of what had happened in Egypt six years before, when the king was overthrown by an army officer named Gamal Nasser.
The following image, from Google Street View, is of a statue of Abdul Karim Qasim in Baghdad.
The Baath Party is an excellent example of how history repeats itself. There is also a Syrian branch of the Baath Party, to which the Assad Dynasty belonged. But there was a split between the two and the Syrian and Iraqi branches became rivals. But remember the history, described above, of the Umayyad Caliphate, based in Damascus, being supplanted by the Abbasid Caliphate, based in Baghdad. That history is the underlying reasons for the Syria-Iraq split in the party.
While Baghdad is a medieval creation, and the nation of Iraq a modern creation, Mesopotamia was one of the centers of early civilization. The name of "Mesopotamia" means "The land between the rivers", meaning the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. This area hosted first Sumer and Akkad, and later Babylon and Assyria.
The Iraq Museum is one of the greatest collections of antiquities in the world. In the following link you can "walk" around the museum using the arrows. The first three images of the Iraq Museum are from Google Street View.
There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.
Baghdad has religious origins. It was built as the capital city of the Abbasid Caliphate. This can be seen in the historic mosques of the city. The following image, from Google Street View, shows the Al-Khulafa Mosque, from the Abbasid era.
Possibly the best-known sight in Baghdad is the Haydar Khana Mosque. Image from Google Street View.
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