There is a website in China called Taobao, whose holding company is Alibaba Group, and the origin of this name comes from the story of Alibaba and the Forty Thieves in the collection of Arabic folk tales: "One Thousand and One Nights".
The One Thousand and One Nights was well known orally in Arabia for a long time, with early manuscripts appearing around the turn of the eighth and ninth centuries AD. The major influence on this process was Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid dynasty at the time, and even the real Caliph Harun al-Rashid appeared in the story of "One Thousand and One Nights".
Reading: The image of Rashid in "One Thousand and One Nights".
Think: What does the origin of One Thousand and One Nights indicate?
This collection of stories was gradually compiled over hundreds of years of dissemination in India, Persia, Iraq, Egypt and other places. This speaks volumes about Baghdad's close ties with surrounding civilizations.
Reading: Five Seas and Three Continents.
Think: Baghdad's location advantages.
Although Baghdad is located in an area with little precipitation, it is close to the Euphrates and Digris rivers, can be engaged in agricultural production, and is located on the plain, with smooth land communication with the surrounding areas, and can directly reach the Persian Gulf from the waterway, so it has witnessed the footsteps of civilizations.
Read the table: Civilizations/dynasties experienced in Baghdad.
| The footsteps of civilization |
| Two Rivers Civilization |
| Persia-Achaemenid |
| Alexander's Empire |
| Seleucid dynasty |
| Rest in peace with the empire |
| Persian-Sassanid dynasty |
| Arab Empire |
| Mongol Empire |
| Ottoman Empire |
| British Empire |
| Iraq |
The earliest civilization of mankind, the Mesopotamian civilization, was born between the Tigris River of the Euphrates.
Read the map: Distribution of ancient civilizations in the Two Rivers region.
Sumerian, Akkadian, Guti, your, Assyria, Babylon, Elam, Mitanni, Persian Empire (Achaemenid dynasty)... These early civilizations radiated to the Baghdad area;
During the Alexandrian Empire, the Seleucid Dynasty, the Dormition Empire, and the subsequent Persian-Sassanid period, the twin cities of Ctesiphon-Seleucia, 32 kilometers south of Baghdad, became the political center;
During the Abbasid dynasty of the Arab Empire, Baghdad was officially the capital. Caliph al-Mansour personally designed the city.
Reading: Baghdad Tuan City.
At the center of the Imperial City, 4 miles away, huge brick walls rise from the banks of the Tigris River and become an iconic feature of Mansur's "Round City". There are four equally spaced gates on the city wall, each connected by four straight streets, from which the city gates pass through the city and extend to the center of the city.
Read: Map of Baghdad Tuancheng.
Think: how to adapt urban construction to the geographical environment.
1. Site Selection:
Baghdad is located on the Tigris River, near the Euphrates River on one side and the confluence of other rivers on the other, and has a certain height that takes advantage of the convenience of the river and avoids the effects of flooding.
2. Building materials:
Due to the long-term flooding of the Mesopotamian plains and the absence of quarries, they used sun-dried and fired bricks as the main building material, brick after brick to build this fortress-like wall.
3. Transportation:
Using river water, Baghdad has built a developed network of waterways that connect the entire city; The canal is in a key position, and it is through the canal that the water of the Euphrates flows into the Tigris; The boats are tied together with ropes and fixed at each end to the banks of the Tigris River
| Exercise 1: Choosing a water plant site. Due to urban development, Baghdad will build a new waterworks. Read: Baghdad city map. (Red Line: Major Highway; Pink: Residential & Commercial; Green: green space; Blue: River; ） Think: What principles are needed for site selection? Where do you think is appropriate? Tip: The principle can be considered from the distance from the urban area, the distance from the road, the distance from the water source, the land use, etc. |
The boat bridge is also one of the most eye-catching symbols of the city of Baghdad.
Soon after its completion, Baghdad's population reached 1 million, making Baghdad an international metropolis that was on par with Chang'an during the Tang Dynasty.
The Palace of Wisdom was a large academic institution founded by Rashid in Baghdad, which was one of the most important academic research centers in the world at that time and one of the most important carriers of ancient knowledge in the Islamic world.
Baghdad is located in the Middle East, but from the perspective of ancient transportation, it is not far from China.
In addition to the eastern gate of the regimental city leading to the overland Silk Road, Mansour also spoke of distant China after the completion of Baghdad: "This place is a good military camp. The Tigris River keeps us without any barrier to China. Anything brought from the sea can reach me via the Tigris River. ”
Reflections: Baghdad's Water Transport and the Silk Road.
Baghdad's pier on the Tigris River stretches for miles, mooring thousands of boats, including giant ships, yachts, Mumao, cowhide boats and Chinese sailing ships.
Northern goods were loaded and transported on rafts by Asia Minor and Armenia on rafts at Amida (present-day Diabek, Turkey) on the upper Tigris River.
Precious goods from East and South Asia from the sea landed or reloaded in Basra via the Persian Gulf, and lightly loaded ships sailing on the Persian Gulf could even sail all the way to Baghdad.
| Exercise 2: Location in Basra. Basra is located at the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, close to the Persian Gulf in the early days, why is it now 55 kilometers from the Persian Gulf? Tip: Consider geographic changes. |
Mediterranean goods traveled overland via Antakya, in present-day Turkey, via Aleppo, Syria, to Raqqa on the Euphrates River, where boats sailed down the river, at Anbar, into the Isa Canal. It was a navigable canal that led the waters of the Euphrates River southeast and emptied into the Tigris River via West Baghdad. Goods from the West were carried to Karch via this canal.
Read: Basra and Persian Gulf ports.
Basra, located south of Baghdad and near the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, is known as the "Chinese commercial port" by Arab historians because it has become a transit point for a large number of Chinese goods to the Mesopotamian Plain. As the main outlet to the sea of the Mesopotamian plain in the Middle Ages, "One Thousand and One Nights" is full of stories about Basra, from which Sinbad traveled the world, and it is also the end of the Guangzhou route to the Persian Gulf recorded in "Guangzhou Tonghaiyi Road".
After the rise of the Mongol Empire, in 1258 and 1401, the Mongol army sacked Baghdad twice, destroying a large number of architectural monuments and cultural relics, and destroying the cultural classics of Baghdad, which has been ruled by the Mongols ever since.
It was occupied by the Turks in 1534 and Persians in 1558, and was long under Ottoman rule after 1638.
It was occupied by British colonial forces in 1917.
In 1921, Iraq declared its independence and its capital was Baghdad, and at the end of the 20th century, it had developed into a modern city and the political, economic, commercial, transportation and cultural center of the country.
The ancient Arabic proverb says, "Even if knowledge is far away in China, let it be sought!" ”
Chinese said: "Within the four seas, all brothers"