Early Muslim Libraries

 Abbassid Castle in Baghdad


 Baghdad was intended to be the very hart of the Muslim world.
The origin of the name "Baghdad" is under some dispute. Some say it comes from an Aramaic phrase that means "sheep enclosure" (not very poetic...). Others contend that the word comes from ancient Persian: "bagh" meaning God, and "dad" meaning gift. "The gift of God...." .Al-Mansur named the city Madinat al-Salam ("City of Peace").
The capital and largest city of Iraq is Baghdad. Located along historic trade routes, it has been an important city in the Middle East for thousands of years. Baghdad has historically been a center of Islamic culture, but fighting has damaged some of its landmarks.Several centuries-old mosques still stand in the city, as does the Iraq Museum, known for its archaeological collection. The al-Awqaf Library Central Library and the University of Baghdad are resource centers for Arabic history and literature.People have lived on the site of Baghdad for some4,000 years. A Persian village on the site became famous in AD 762 when the Arabs made it the capital of their empire. The population rapidly grew to 2 million, making it the largest city in the world at that time. The city became a center of learning, especially in the sciences.

In the centuries that followed, however, Baghdad slowly declined. It faced civil wars and foreign invasions. In 1258 the Mongols overran the city, massacred its inhabitants, and killed the caliph. The destruction begun by the Mongols was completed by the conquering Turks in 1534. Baghdad was part of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire until World War I, when British troops captured the city. After the war, Great Britain was granted control of Iraq. In 1921 the British created the kingdom of Iraq, and Baghdad became the capital.

Reflection:

I had fun researching Baghdad’s history, I have chosen to use more books to do this post, because my local library has great history collection. I found great books and illustrated books. In terms of posting and editing I didn’t have any troubles because I have used blogger before and I just had to remember how to do it.
Reference:
Books:


Kennedy, Hugh 2004, ‘The Court of the Caliphs: When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World’, Phoenix, London.


Hill, James, Fred & Awde Nicholas 2003, ‘A History of the Islamic World’, Hippocrene Books, New York.


Kennedy, Hugh 2007, ‘The Great Arab Conquests: How the spread of Islam changed the world we live in’, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London.


Jordan, Michael, 2002, ‘Islam: an illustrated history’, Carlton, London.


Websites


Douglas, Susan 2009,’Early Baghdad’ Calliope; Jan2009, Vol. 19 Issue 4, p6-9, 4p, 4 color, EBSCOhost, viewed 30 April, 2010.

By the 10th century, key Islamic cities such as Baghdad, Tripoli, Cairo, and Cordoba had huge libraries with between 600,000 and 3 million books, many of which were destroyed in subsequent centuries. The corpus of knowledge generated during this time exceeds the combined works of ancient Greece and Rome, and represents the first scientific works in history. Fundamental findings in optics, mechanics, physics, agriculture, chemistry, mathematics, astronomy, and thousands of other fields were achieved during this golden time in Islam history.