Baghdad, from 1500 to Iraqi independence

Abstract

Baghdad, spanning the banks of the Tigris at latitude 33°26’18” N, longitude 44°23’9” E, has been an important metropolis in the Muslim world since its founding in the second/eighth century. Its history from 1500 reflects the importance of its strategic location, which often placed the city at the frontiers of imperial rivalries. In the tenth/sixteenth century, Iraq was the battleground for the rivalry between two Turco-Muslim empires, the Ottomans and the Safavids, the Twelver Shi i rulers of Iran (r. 907–1135/1501– 1722).