Al-Mansur Founds Baghdad as the Abbasid Capital
A round city on the Tigris becomes the hub of the Abbasid world
Quick facts
- Founder
- Caliph al-Mansur (r. 754-775 CE)
- Founded
- 762 CE
- Location
- On the Tigris River, Iraq
- Design
- Circular city plan
What happened
The Abbasids inherited an empire but no capital of their own suited to their new center of gravity in Iraq. Caliph al-Mansur, who took power in 754 CE after his brother al-Saffah's death, commissioned a new capital on the Tigris River in 762 CE, a city that came to be called Baghdad, built on a circular plan and, according to the World History Encyclopedia, a metropolis that outstripped every European city of its time by any measure. Al-Mansur also crushed a revolt among descendants of Ali during these same years and had his rival Abu Muslim, the general who had led the Abbasid Revolution to victory, killed and his body thrown in the Tigris once his power seemed a threat.
Why it matters
Baghdad's founding relocated the seat of Islamic political power from Damascus in Syria to Iraq, positioning it at the crossroads of trade routes running to Persia, Central Asia, India, and China. Within decades the city would host the House of Wisdom and become the intellectual center of the medieval world before its destruction by the Mongols five centuries later.
How we know
The founding of Baghdad and al-Mansur's simultaneous suppression of rivals is described in the World History Encyclopedia's Abbasid Dynasty article, which also documents the harsher aspects of his rule alongside his role as the dynasty's effective founder.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Abbasid Dynasty · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- World History Encyclopedia. Abbasid Dynasty · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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