Baghdad

(proper noun)

The capital of, and largest city in Iraq, situated in the center of the country on the Tigris river; an ancient city and historical center of the Muslim world.

Related Terms

Examples of Baghdad in the following topics:

  • The Abbasid Empire

    • The Abbasids moved the empire's capital from Damascus, in modern-day Syria, to Baghdad, in modern-day Iraq, in 762 CE.
    • The Abbasids, who ruled from Baghdad, had an unbroken line of caliphs for over three centuries, consolidating Islamic rule and cultivating great intellectual and cultural developments in the Middle East in the Golden Age of Islam.
    • At this point, the Abbasid dynasty had fragmented into several governorships that were mostly autonomous, although they official recognized caliphal authority from Baghdad.
    • The Abbasid dynasty ruled as caliphs from their capital in Baghdad, in modern Iraq, after taking over authority of the Muslim empire from the Umayyads in 750 CE.

  • The "Surge" in Iraq

    • Bush's 2007 increase in the number of American troops in order to provide security to Baghdad and Al Anbar Province.
    • Bush ordered the deployment of more than 20,000 soldiers into Iraq, five additional brigades, and sent the majority of them into Baghdad.
    • Put out by the Combined Intelligence Operations Center (CIOC), Baghdad, Iraq for open distribution.

  • The Effect of Low Voter Turnout

    • Voters lining up outside a Baghdad polling station during the 2005 Iraqi election.

  • Preindustrial Cities

    • By the early 19th century, London had become the largest city in the world with a population of over a million, while Paris rivaled the well-developed regional capital cities of Baghdad, Beijing, Istanbul, and Kyoto.

  • The Islamic Golden Age

    • This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (786–809) with the inauguration of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, where scholars from various parts of the world with different cultural backgrounds were mandated to gather and translate all of the world's classical knowledge into the Arabic language.
    • The end of the age is variously given as 1258 with the Mongolian Sack of Baghdad, or 1492 with the completion of the Christian Reconquista of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, Iberian Peninsula.
    • During the Golden Age, the major Islamic capital cities of Baghdad, Cairo, and Córdoba became the main intellectual centers for science, philosophy, medicine, and education.

  • Iraq

  • The War on Terrorism

    • Baghdad, Iraq's capital city, fell in April 2003 and Saddam Hussein's government quickly dissolved.

  • The War on Terror

    • Baghdad, Iraq's capital city, fell in April 2003 and Saddam Hussein's government quickly dissolved.

  • The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

    • In 2007, President Bush increased the number of American troops in Iraq in order to provide security to Baghdad and Al Anbar Province.
    • Clockwise, starting at top left: a joint patrol in Samarra; the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Firdos Square; an Iraqi Army soldier readies his rifle during an assault; a roadside bomb detonates in South Baghdad.

  • Education and the Global Perspective

    • Students from the Hala Bint Khuwaylid secondary girl's school in the Amil district of Baghdad, pictured with new school bags containing pens, pencils, notebooks, calculators, and other school supplies: USAID is funding the purchase and distribution of 1.5 million school bags through a partnership with Creative Associates International.