Know about BAGHDAD

#)Baghdad,which is also called asBagdad, is the capital city of  of Iraq

#)Baghdad is situated in the central Iraq, and on the Tigris River and its view is seen in the image below

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#)Baghdad is the center for all modes of transport like air,road and railway, and you can see the image below of the railway station of Baghdad

 

 

#)Baghdad is the leading manufacturing city of the country, with oil refineries, food-processing plants, tanneries, and textile mills.

#)The handcrafted wares which are produced in Baghdad are, household utensils, jewelry, leather goods, felt, and rugs, and these can be purchased in the bazaars.

#)These bazaars have been a feature of this city and it consists of rows of small shops or stalls.

#)The picture below shows the busy Baghdad Market.

 

Lets know its History

#)The city of Baghdad was built by the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur in 762 on the western bank of the Tigris River, opposite an old Iranian village which is also named Baghdad.

#)The original city was in a round shape, with three concentric walls of which the innermost wall enclosed the palace of the caliph, the second wall was defined by the army quarters, and the homes of the people occupied the outermost enclosure.

#)The merchants' quarters, which is also called as bazaars, were located outside the city walls.

#)Within 50 years the city reached a peak of prosperity and influence under the rule of caliph Harun ar-Rashid, whose reign is celebrated in the famous tales of the Arabian Nights.

#)It was during this period the city expanded to the eastern bank of the Tigris, and naturally it becomes the heart of.

#)The city of  Baghdad remained an important center of trade and culture for more than four centuries.

#)It was during 1258,Hulagu, the grandson of the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan, sacked the city and it led to the  decline of Baghdad and it also put an end to the Abbasid caliphate.

#)Again in 1401 the Turkic conqueror Tamerlane sacked the city .

#)It was in 1508 Baghdad was brought under Persian control and was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1534.

#)Again the Persians recaptured the city in 1623,and they manage to hold it till 1638 for 15 years, when it was again annexed by the Ottoman Empire.

#)The Ottoman governors ruled the city thereafter for almost three centuries .

#)In 1917 it was captured from the Ottomans by British forces. In 1921 Baghdād was designated the capital of the newly created kingdom of Iraq, which became a republic in 1958.

War in Iraq

#)Baghdad city suffered heavy damage from bombing during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, and again during the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq

#)It was in mid-April 2003, as U.S.-led forces captured Baghdad and they overthrew the regime of Saddam Hussein, looters ransacked many stores, government buildings, and museums.

#)Although U.S. forces guarded the government’s Oil Ministry, they failed to intervene to prevent the looting, alienating many residents of Baghdād in the process.

#)The U.S. occupation sparked an insurgency that soon engulfed the city in violence as you can see in the righ image below

#)The largely Sunni Muslim-based insurgency clashed frequently with U.S. forces, as did some of the Shia-based militias that initially opposed the ongoing U.S. presence.

#)As a Shia-dominated government formed under the U.S. occupation, sectarian fighting between Sunnis and Shias resulted in almost daily violenceand it also cost many lives as people were killed everyday

#)Suicide bombings at first were targetted mainly at Iraqi police and military units, after that  the attacks began to target Shia businesses and communities, killing and injuring thousands of civilians.

#)These killings were against Sunnis by Shia-led death squads that reportedly operated out of the government’s Interior Ministry.

#)The sectarian fighting had become so severe,by 2007 the,that much of the city’s middle class had fled the city.

#)Entire neighborhoods where Shia and Sunni had once lived peacefully together were uprooted as militias took control of residential areas, forcing residents to move to Sunni-only or Shia-only areas.and it resluted in the daily violence

#)The infrastructure of the city  was heavily damaged in the fighting, as bridges became targets of insurgent attacks.

#)Electrical power became sporadic as the terrorist targetted power plants also.

#)The most important was that the city had electricity for only a few hours a day, unless residents organized to purchase and run their own generators.

#)Electrical power failures reflected in curtailing the operation of water-purification plants and shutting down water-pumping stations, lowering water supplies.

#)By the summer of 2007 city officials warned that water shortages in Baghdad had reached dangerous levels.

#)Water became available in most areas for only a few hours a day, and despite the summer heat some areas of the city went without water and people suffered a lot

Historical Places

#)Apart from the war Baghdad does have lots of historical places whic atttracted tourist and in this section lets discuss some of the historical monuments

#)Baghdad also known for his good educational institutions in the city include the University of Baghdad , al-Mustansiriyah University , and the University of Technology (1974).

#)The picture below shows the University of Baghdad

#)Baghdad is also known for its historical monuments and one of the famous Historical structure is  the ruins of Bab al-Wastani, which is the last remaining of the famous gates of Baghdad, and is shown in the image below

#)Apart from this the other notable buildings includes  Abbasid Palace, which probably dates from 1179, the al-Mustansiriyah, a college founded in 1232 , and both restored as museums, and the Mirjan Mosque, which was completed in 1358.

#)A few miles from the north of Baghdad is the Kazimayn, which is known for  its magnificent gold-domed mosque and it was completed in the 19th century  and the tombs of religious leaders venerated by the Shia Muslimsand it is shown in the image below

#)The beautiful gold-domed Kazimayn Mosque picture taken at night shown below,

#)The Martyr’s Monument shown in the image below is dedicated to those who died in the eight-year war that Iraq fought with Iran Conflict between the two countries erupted in 1980 and ended in 1988.