Bagdad, the capital of the province of the same name in the SE. of Asiatic Turkey, is situated on both banks of the Tigris, about 500 miles from its mouth, in 33° 20' N. lat., and 44° 23' E. long., in a flat, treeless plain of considerable extent, which is dotted with the ruins of ancient buildings. The entire city is surrounded by a brick wall, 5 miles in circumference and 40 feet high, but in some places broken down, and by a deep dry ditch; the two parts are connected by a bridge of boats, 220 yards long, and the communication is guarded by a citadel. There are four gates, the finest of which, bearing date 1220, has remained closed since 1638. It has an extremely picturesque appearance from the outside, being encircled and interspersed with groves of date-trees, through which one may catch the gleam of domes and minarets; but it does not improve on closer inspection. The streets are narrow, crooked, unpaved, and dirty, full of ruts, and strewn with garbage, which, however, is for the most part removed by dogs, the only public scavengers in the East. The houses have, in general, no windows towards the front, and are built of old, yellowish-red brick; but their interior is often very gorgeously decorated. The vaulted ceilings, rich mouldings, inlaid mirrors, and massive gilding, bring back to the recollection of the traveller 'the golden prime of good Haroun Al-Raschid.' Bagdad contains upwards of 100 mosques, though barely 30 of them are in use; and a large general hospital has recently been erected. These, together with the khans, bazaars, baths, and the palace of the governor, are the only noticeable buildings in the city, whose public edifices, indeed, are meaner than those of any other oriental town of a like size. The domes and minarets, the earliest dating from 1235, are ornamented with glazed tiles and painting, in green and white.
The bazaars exhibit the produce of both Turkish and European markets; but commerce has greatly decreased since Persia began to trade with Europe by way of Trebizond on the north, and by the Persian Gulf on the south. Nevertheless, though no longer the chief emporium of merchandise between East and West Asia, Bagdad still carries on a considerable traffic with Aleppo and Damascus, and has manufactures of red and yellow leather, silks, and cotton stuffs. Of late years many European houses have settled agents in the town, and Britain, France, and Russia have also consuls there. Dates, wool, grain, and timbac (a substitute for tobacco) are exported, and a number of horses are sent into India. Of the population, variously estimated at from 60,000 to 180,000, the greatest part are Turks and Arabs; the remainder are native Christians, Jews, Armenians, Hindus, Afghans, and Persians. In summer, the heat is oppressive, ranging from 75° at sunrise to 122° F.; rain does not fall on more than twenty or thirty days throughout the whole year; but when the snows melt on the Armenian hills, the Tigris becomes a majestic, and often a destructive river. In 1831 an inundation destroyed one-half of the town, and several thousand lives. Cholera visits it periodically; in 1831, 4000 people perished daily for several days from its ravages. In 1870-71 Bagdad also suffered severely from famine. Since 1836, British steamers have plied on the Tigris between Bagdad and Basra; and here is one of the chief stations of the Anglo-Indian telegraph.
Bagdad was generally believed to have been founded by the Abbaside calif Almansur, 764 A.D., but Rawlinson, in 1848, discovered below the normal river-level walls of brickwork, each brick bearing the name and titles of Nebuchadnezzar. In the 9th century it was greatly enlarged by Haroun Al-Raschid, who erected numerous edifices on the east side of the Tigris, and connected its two banks by a bridge of boats, and under his son, Al-Mamun, it became the great seat of Arabic learning and literature. A hundred years later, Bagdad was ravaged by the Turks. In 1277 the grandson of Genghis Khan, Hulaku, put an end to the old califate; but the descendants of this Tartar conqueror were expelled by Timur, who took the city in 1393. After several vicissitudes, it remained in the possession of a Turkoman chief, whose dynasty governed until 1477. In the beginning of the 16th century, Shah Ismael, the founder of the Suffide dynasty in Persia, made himself master of it; since which period it has repeatedly been a bone of contention between Turks and Persians. After a memorably obstinate siege, it was conquered by the sultan, Murad IV., in 1638. Nadir Shah vainly essayed to retake it in the 18th century, and ever since it has been under the sway of the Porte.
The province of Bagdad, lying between Arabia and Persia, comprises the greater portion of the basin of the Lower Euphrates and Tigris, and is estimated to have a population of 4,000,000. The part between the two rivers, including ancient Mesopotamia and Babylonia, though now mostly a barren wilderness, was in ancient times luxuriantly fertile, the seat of mighty empires, and inhabited by industrious populations. The inhabitants are composed of Turkomans, Armenians, Turks, Jews, Arabs, and Kurds; the last of which races are notorious for their open and audacious depredations. For a description of the cities which in ancient times adorned this region, see ASSYRIA, BABYLON, CTESIPHON, NINEVEH, SELEUCIA.