Abbasid capital of Baghdad

Timeline

1. 762–800Baghdad (al-Mansur's Round City) · BaghdadCaliph al-Mansur built a round capital on the west bank of the Tigris, with four gates opening onto roads in all directions, replacing Damascus as the new capital of the Abbasid empire and establishing the layout of one of the largest cities in the Islamic world.
2. c. 800–950Baghdad · BaghdadThe House of Wisdom gathered translations of Greek, Persian, and Indian texts; markets and Tigris shipping connected Indian Ocean and Mediterranean trade, making Baghdad the medieval world's crossroads of knowledge, commerce, and religious law.
3. c. 1171–1180Baghdad · BaghdadAbbasid caliphs such as al-Nasir still resided in Baghdad, but real military and political power was constrained by the Seljuk sultans; the city sustained its Islamic cultural authority through mosques, madrasas, and markets, remaining the symbolic capital of the Muslim world.