History of Baghdad
Baghdad (Arabic: بغداد translit: Baghdād) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. It is the second-largest city in Southwest Asia after Tehranand the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo, and the largest city in Iraq, with the 2003 population estimated at 5,772,000. Situated on the Tigris River at 33°20′N 44°26′E, the city was once the center of Dar al-Islam, Muslim civilisation.
History
The city of Baghdad is often said to have been founded on the west bank of the Tigris on 30 July 762 by the Abbasid dynasty, led by caliph al-Mansur; however, the city of Baghdad is mentioned in pre-Islamic texts, including the Talmud. Thus Baghdad was probably built on the site of this earlier city, which was located 50 miles north of Babylon. This city replaced Ctesiphon, the capital of the Persian Empire (which is located 20 miles southeast of Baghdad), and Damascus, as the capital of an Umayyad Muslim empire stretching from North Africa to Iran. The origin of the city's name is most likely from the Kurdish or Persian بغداد for "God-given" derived from "bagh" (God) and "dad" (given); so it most likely represented a very beautiful and pleasant site, hence the name. A minority, however, believes the name to be from an Aramaic phrase for "sheep enclosure."
The city was designed as a circle about 2 kilometers in diameter, leading it to be known as the "Round City". The original design shows a ring of residential and commercial structures along the inside of the city walls, but the final construction added another ring, inside the first. In the center of the city lay the mosque, as well as headquarters for guards. The purpose or use of the remaining space in the center is unknown. The circular design of the city was a direct reflection of the traditional Persian Sasanian urban design. The ancient Sasanian city of Gur/Firouzabad is nearly identical in its general circular design, radiating avenues, and the government buildings and temples at the epicenter of the city.
The roundness points to the fact that it was based on Persian precedents such as Firouzabad in Persia. The two designers who were hired by al-Mansur to plan the city's design were Naubakht, a former Persian Zoroastrian who also determined that the date of the foundation of the city would be astrologically auspicious, and Mashallah, a former Jew from Khorasan, Iran.
It is believed that Baghdad was the largest city in the world from 775 to 935. It may have been the first city with a population above 1,000,000.
Nomenclature
Although there is no dispute over its Iranian origin, Baghdad has had two main different etymologies. The most reliable and agreed-upon one is that it is a combination of Kurdish or Old-Persian baga (=god, God) + dāta (=given) giving the Middle Persian word "Bagdāt/Bagdād" (=Given by God); hence, Modern Persian and Arabic Baghdad. The other etymology is that it comes from Persian Baagh-daad or Bag-Da-Du [trans. “Garden of God”].
A Center of learning
Within a generation of its founding, Baghdad became a hub of learning and commerce. The House of Wisdom was an establishment dedicat to the translation of Greek, Middle Persian and Syriac works. The Barmakids were influential in bringing scholars from the nearby Academy of Gundishapur, facilitating the introduction of Greek and Indian science into the Arabic world. Some suggest that the city contained over a million inhabitants, though others say the actual figure may have been only a fraction. A portion of the population of Baghdad originated in Iran especially from Khorasan. Many of Shahrazad's tales in One Thousand and One Nights are set in Baghdad during this period.
Early invaders
The city's population was between 300,000 and 500,000 in the 9th century. Baghdad's early meteoric growth slowed due to troubles within the Caliphate, including relocations of the capital to Samarra (during 808–819 and 836–892), the loss of the western and easternmost provinces, and periods of political domination by the Iranian Buwayhids (945–1055) and Seljuk Turks (1055–1135). Nevertheless, the city remained one of the cultural and commercial hubs of the Islamic world until February 10, 1258, when it was sacked by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan. The Mongols massacred 800,000 of the city's inhabitants, including the Abbasid Caliph Al-Musta'sim, and destroyed large sections of the city. The canals and dykes forming the city's irrigation system were also destroyed. The sack of Baghdad put an end to the Abbasid Caliphate, a blow from which the Islamic civilization never fully recovered.
At this point Baghdad was ruled by the Il-Khanids, the Mongol emperors of Iran. In 1401, Baghdad was again sacked, by Timur ("Tamerlane"). It became a provincial capital controlled by the Jalayirid (1400–1411), Qara Quyunlu (1411–1469), Aq Quyunlu (1469–1508), and Safavid (1508–1534) dynasties. In 1534, Baghdad was conquered by the Ottoman Turks. Under the Ottomans, Baghdad fell into a period of decline, partially as a result of the enmity between its rulers and Persia. For a time, Baghdad had been the largest city in the Middle East before being overtaken by Constantinople in the 16th century. The Nuttall Encyclopedia reports the 1907 population of Baghdad as 185,000.
Independence
Baghdad remained under Ottoman rule until the establishment of the kingdom of I-CAK under British control in 1921. British control was established by a systematic suppression of Iraqi Arab and Kurdish national aspirations. The British dealt with insurrection with gas attacks by the army in the south and a bombing campaign by the fledgling RAF across Iraq, including against the city of Baghdad. When the Iraqi people stood up for themselves, Britain responded with the world's first civillian targeted bombing campaign, which included terror bombing, night bombing, heavy bombers, and delayed action bombs (particularly lethal against children), all officially to "police" the Iraqi people. Iraq was given formal independence in 1932, increased autonomy in 1946, but true independence was not to be had until 1958 when the Iraqi people deposed Britain's puppet king, Faisal II. The city's population grew from an estimated 145,000 in 1900 to 580,000 in 1950 of which 140,000 were Jewish. During the 1970s Baghdad experienced a period of prosperity and growth because of a sharp increase in the price of petroleum, Iraq's main export. New infrastructure including modern sewage, water, and highway facilities were built during this period. However, the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s was a difficult time for the city, as money flowed into the army and thousands of residents were killed. Iran launched a number of missile attacks against Baghdad, although they caused relatively little damage and few casualties.
Baghdad in the early 19th centry
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Baghdad old bridge in the year 1914
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Al-Rasheed Street in the year 1945
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Tob "An Old Canon" Abu Khizzamah in Midan Sq. - 1918
The Old Jewish Quarter of Baghdad
Excerpts from the book: "Mine Was The Last Generation In Babylon"
by Kenneth R. Kattan M.D.
Families and relatives lived in the same neighbourhood. In some cases the adult sons and their spouses stayed with parents even after they married and had children. Each couple had one or two rooms in the big house. All shared the same kitchen. Most of these families lived in harmony, or at least tolerated each other.
In the thirties and forties many started to move to the more modern neighbourhoods in the South part of Baghdad. Some of the houses were above the shops of the market (hanging houses).
My wife's father, Ezra Rahima, used to dress in zeboon (gown), abaya (cloak) and tarboush (fez). He slept usually near the window facing the street to hear the call of the Shamash to early morning prayers, shouting Abu Rahmin "Time for Shahrit." During weekdays very few boys accompanied their fathers to the synagogue.
About one hour later, the same men came home with their purchases from Souk Hinnouni, the food market, carrying food in wicker baskets. Men bought the meat, vegetables, eggs, bread and whatever food was needed every day. By this time the wife had prepared breakfast. Women did not do the buying. It was a man's duty.
Half an hour later, after having their breakfast, Mr Rahima emerged again, this time to go to work. Children started going to school. During holidays the alleys became noisy with boys playing and shouting. Jewish boys could play outside their houses in this area. Muslims were not around to harass them. Girls played inside the house. It would be difficult to imagine the Jewish neighbourhood without knowing Souk Hinnouni.
Souk Hinnouni (Hannoon market) was the heart of the Jewish neighbourhood. It was the main food market for more than sixty thousand people who lived in this area and it was situated inside this residential area. All the vendors and the customers were Jews. There was even a synagogue situated in its middle. It consisted of multiple intersecting alleys, each not more than 3 metres in width. They were unpaved, and they became muddy during the rainy days, autumn and winter.
In one alley there were four butcher shops next to each other. They sold mutton and other parts of the sheep, mainly liver, spleen, lungs, heart and sweetbread. The stomach, the intestines, the head and lower parts of the legs were sold in a different shop. The butcher went to the slaughterhouse after midnight, bought the number of sheep he thought he would need the next morning, had them slaughtered and took the carcasses to his shop. Each butcher bought four to ten sheep each day. Since there was no storage or refrigerator, the butcher had to sell all the merchandise by noon, which he usually did.
There were four or five shops that sold river fish from the Tigris. They were sold fresh. There was the shabboot and the binni that were sold whole. The bizz was very large fish up to 2 metres in length, so it was sold by the kilo.
In another alley of the souk there were shops selling live chickens. Nobody bought slaughtered or dressed chicken. A full chicken was bought. Customers felt the chicken for fat. A fat chicken was considered better and tastier. In the same alley there was the shohet (ritual slaughterer). After buying the chicken, it was brought to him for slaughter. He checked the animal for a defect or for a broken limb. Then he held the neck with his left hand, removed a few feathers from the neck, looked for the windpipe and the blood vessel. Then he cut with one stroke the windpipe and the blood vessels supplying the head. He had to do it in one stroke according to the Jewish law. After that he threw the chicken on a container containing ashes, in order to absorb the blood. The knife had to be very sharp so that when it cuts the animal it would not be felt. The artery had to be cut so that the brain would be denied the blood supply. The animal would loose consciousness in no time. Not everybody could be a shohet.
After passing a test, was licensed by the "Jewish authority" who would check his knife at regular intervals.
In another alley there were the vegetable and fruit vendors who sold the seasonal product. In the same alley there were the shops that sold cheeses. Feta cheese was the most consumed cheese in Iraq. The vendor sold thick yoghurt and butter, and qaimer (thick cream).
All sorts of other products and cooked food were sold in souk Hannouni. The people who crowded the souk and brought life to it are no more there. They and their children have been transplanted into the promised land: Israel.
It is God's will and the way of all flesh.
Ramat-Gan
Abraham Ben-Elyahou
Above: Street scene in a Jewish section of Baghdad
Above: Selling cooked fava beans in the alleyways
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