Capital and largest city of Iraq; located on the Tigris River; Also called: Bagdad, capital of Iraq.
Historic city and capital of Iraq, on the river Tigris; Industries include oil refining, distilling, tanning, tobacco processing, and the manufacture of textiles and cement. Founded 762, it became Iraq's capital 1921. During the Gulf War 1991, the UN coalition forces bombed it in repeated air raids and destroyed much of the city.
To the SE, on the river Tigris, are the ruins of Ctesiphon, capital of Parthia about 250 BC–AD 226 and of the Sassanian Empire about 226–641; the remains of the Great Palace include the world’s largest single-span brick arch 26 m/85 ft wide and 29 m/95 ft high. A transportation hub from the earliest times, it was developed by the 8th-century caliph Harun al-Rashid, although little of the Arabian Nights city remains.
It was overrun 1258 by the Mongols, who destroyed the irrigation system. In 1639 it was taken by the Turks. During World War I it was part of the Turkish Empire until it was captured March 1917 by General Sir Frederick Maude (1864–1917).