Major Cities During Islam's Golden Age

As the Islamic civilization grew, so did the number of cities under Islamic rule. Some of the most significant were Baghdad, Cordoba, Granada, and Cairo. Baghdad In 750, the Abbasid dynasty took control of the Islamic empire. In around 762, they built a new capital city along the bank of the Tigris River, in the center of Mesopotamia. It was named Baghdad, which means City of Peace. It was a cultural and economic hub for 500 years and was considered to be one of the greatest cities in the world until it was conquered in 1258. Today, Baghdad is the capital of Iraq. Cordoba and the Great Mosque, the city of Cordoba in modern-day Spain, originally flourished under Roman rule. After the Romans, it was occupied first by the Byzantines, then the Visigoths. Then, in around 711, Cordoba was invaded and captured by Muslim armies. In 756, Abd al-Rahman of the Umayyad dynasty arrived in Cordoba and proclaimed himself emir, local governor or prince, with Cordoba as his capital city. Under his leadership, the Great Mosque of Cordoba was built. The mosque was extended in the 9th and 10th centuries and is an impressive example of Islamic architecture. Cordoba itself flourished under Umayyad rule, just as it had under the Romans. By the year 1000, it was probably the most cultured city in Europe. It had many palaces and mosques and was well known for its beautiful jewelry, leather work, silks, and illuminated manuscripts. Granada and Alhambra Cordoba eventually fell to Spain in 1236, but this wasn't the end of Islam in Spain. The neighboring region, Granada, remained an independent state until 1491. It was there that the great palace and fortress of Alhambra was built. Alhambra was a city within a city. This royal city had its own mosque, public baths, water supply, workshops, houses and roads. Cairo After conquering Egypt in 640, the Muslims founded many new cities. One of these was Al-Qahira, Cairo, which was founded as a new capital city in 969 by the Fatimids. It was so vast that it took four years to build. The city was located at the junction, where the river Nile divided in two before heading north. It became an important city on the trade route between North Africa and the Levant. The city itself was built around the luxurious palace, which was home to the local caliph. Aside from the palace, one of the first buildings to be built was the Al-Azhar Mosque, which was finished in 972. Today, one of Cairo's nicknames is the city of a thousand minarets.