BAGDAD (Ar. and Turk. bagh, garden + Dad, a monk whose cell was near the city; or Pers. Bag, Russ. Bog, God + dad, Lat. flatus, given). The capital of the Turkish vilayet of the same name, and formerly one of the most magnificent cities of the .Mohammedan world, situated in the centre of the vilayet on both sides of the Tigris (Map: Turkey in Asia. L 6). The modern and larger portion of the city lies on the eastern bank and is connected with the old town on the opposite side by two pontoon bridges, 650 and 715 feet respectively. Bagdad is surrounded by a bricCwall, partly ruined, and a dry moat,. and has an attractive appearance from the river. Upon closer examination, however, it proves to be a very ill built and neglected city, with but few remnants of its former splendor here and there, and on the whole possessing but few attractions. The streets are crooked, narrow, and filthy, as only streets in the Orient can be. The houses are low, and the absence of windows in the front renders them exceedingly sombre and uninviting. The interior, however, is here and there richly decorated, and the courts are some times ornamented with artistic fountains. Bag dad contains a large number of mosques (most of them ruined),which alone testify to its former splendor. Among other public buildings the most noteworthy are the Governor-General's pal ace, the citadel, and the numerous khans. Bagdad also contains a number of brick-covered bazaars, which have long been famous. In the vicinity are situated a number of tombs held in high reverence by the natives and visited annually by thousands of pilgrims. In olden times Bagdad was famous as a scat of learning and culture, but at present its high schools or are very few in num ber, and its importAce is due chiefly to its com merce. Before the opening of the Suez Canal, Bagdad was an important centre on the trade route from India to Europe. At present the traffic from India is on the decline, hut Bagdad is still a place of importance in the trade of the Orient, the mart through which pass the imports and exports of Mesopotamia, and an outlet for the products of Arabia and Persia intended for the Eastern markets. Transportation is effected
from Basra to Bagdad by the Tigris, and from there to Constantinople. Aleppo, and Damascus by caravans. The construction of the projected German railway, which is to connect Bagdad with Konieh. in Asia Minor, promises a revival of the former commercial importance of the city. The chief articles of export are wool, fruits, horses, various Oriental fabrics, skins, gum traga cauth, feathers, dates, and leather articles. Bag dad is the seat of a United States consulate. The population has been repeatedly decimated by pestilence and inundations. At present it is estimated at 150,000. It consists of Arabs, Turks, Jews, Persians, Kurds, Armenians. Syri ans, and some Hindus. The number of Christians is insignificant, and the Mohammedans are about equally divided between Sunnites and Shiites.
Bagdad was built by the Abbasside Caliph Al mansur (A.D. 762-66), out of the ruins of Ctesi phon and Seleucia. Soon after it was greatly enlarged by Harun-al-Rashid, under whose imme diate successors it attained to that. magnificent prosperity which finds its reflex in the pages of the Arabian Yights. In 1258 the grandson of Genghis Khan, Hulaku, put an end to the Abbas side Caliphate; but the descendants of the Tar tar conqueror were expelled by Timur, who took the city in 1393. In the beginning of the Six teenth Century, Shah Ismail. the founder of the Sofi dynasty in Persia, made himself master of it. Turks and Persians strove for its posses sion until Amurath 1V., in 11;38, definitely an nexed it to the Ottoman Empire, which has since retained it. Consult Le Strange. "Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate." in Royal Asiatic Society Journal (London, 1899).