Baghdad is the capital of Iraq and the governorate
of the same name. With around 6.7 million inhabitants (2018), it is
one of the largest cities in the Middle East. Around 8.1 million
people (2018) live in the metropolitan region, which extends far
beyond the borders of the governorate, which corresponds to almost a
quarter of Iraq's total population.
The city is the country's
political, economic and cultural center and the seat of the Iraqi
government, parliament, all state and religious central authorities
and numerous diplomatic missions. Baghdad is Iraq's most important
transport hub and has numerous universities, colleges, theaters,
museums and monuments.
Baghdad has always played an important role in the country's cultural
life. The capital is home to writers, musicians and visual artists,
attracting the most gifted artists of classical and modern music, dance
and theater from all over the country.
One of the most important
cultural institutions is the Iraqi National Orchestra, founded in 1959.
Rehearsals and performances were briefly interrupted during the Iraq War
in 2003, but have since returned to normal. The 50-member orchestra
consists of musicians from various faiths, such as Shiites, Sunnis and
Christians.
Since 1880, theater companies from Europe have
traveled to Baghdad to play in front of primarily British audiences. In
the 20th century, Iraqi writers began writing plays. The major theaters
in Baghdad are the Rasheed, the Mansour and the People's Theater. The
Iraqi National Theater was looted during the invasion, but was able to
reopen after renovation work. The city's theaters stage plays by Iraqi,
Indian, Turkish, Syrian and Egyptian authors. The repertoires also
include the great dramas of world literature: Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe, William Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht, Jean Genet, Samuel Beckett,
Albert Camus and Federico García Lorca.
Important museums include the National Museum, which reopened in
April 2000 after a lengthy renovation period, and the only remaining
city gate in Baghdad (now a weapons museum).
Following the
conquest of Baghdad by the US forces in the Iraq War in 2003, numerous
historically valuable cultural assets in the city were destroyed or
damaged by fighting or looting; in particular, the National Library fell
victim to a fire in which archives from Saddam Hussein's reign were
destroyed and the National Museum was looted. The arriving US troops did
not intervene.
Some of the cultural assets that were initially
missing and plundered have been rediscovered since the war. The American
authorities say they have secured many manuscripts and art objects from
the National Museum in Baghdad. Other objects were hidden by the Iraqi
authorities in the basements of the National Museum or stored in other
buildings (some of them during the second Gulf War) and survived the
chaos.
The old town on the left bank of the Tigris was transformed by the
construction of many high-rise buildings. The few remaining buildings
include the ruins of Bab al-Wastani, the Abbasid Palace (built in 1179),
the Mustansirijah Madrasa (1227) and the Marjan Mosque (1356).
The Abu Hanifa Mosque is the most famous Sunni mosque in Baghdad. It was
built by the Ottomans during their more than four hundred year rule in
Iraq near the tomb of Abu Hanifa, one of the founders of the Hanafi
school of law. The al-Chadimijja Mosque in the northwestern part of the
city of Baghdad is one of the most important Shiite shrines in the
country. The mosque, completed around 1515, houses the tombs of the
seventh and ninth Imams.
The tallest building in Iraq is the
Baghdad TV Tower. It was built in 1994 using reinforced concrete and was
originally called the Saddam International Tower. From the ground to the
top of the antenna, the tower measures 205 meters (150 meters to the
roof).
The modern city center, Karch, is located on the western
side of the Tigris. Several bridges, which were rebuilt after the
bombing in 1991, connect it to the historic city center, Rusafah. In
Karch, most of the ministries and the main train station are located
between high residential buildings.
The highly secure government
district is located in the so-called "Green Zone". The coalition
transitional administration has had its headquarters here since March
2003. This was the main instrument of administrative work in Iraq, which
was occupied by coalition troops after the Iraq war. On July 28, 2004,
the newly formed Iraqi transitional government was entrusted with
carrying out these tasks. The ten square kilometer area is home to the
Iraqi parliament and several ministries, most of the embassies, palace
buildings, villas and gardens, sealed off by walls and barricades. Near
the Republican Palace are three ten-meter-high bronze sculptures of
Saddam Hussein. One kilometer from the Ministry of Information is the
Rashid Hotel, from where the news channel CNN reported the start of
Operation Desert Storm on January 17, 1991.
Monuments such as the
Al-Shahid Monument, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the "Swords of
Kadesia" triumphal arch in the shape of two crossed swords are dedicated
to the memory of the First Gulf War. The double triumphal arch is called
the "Swords of Kadesia", which is dedicated to the Battle of Kadesia,
when the Arabs defeated the Persians in around 636 AD. The 24-ton blades
were built from melted-down rifles and tanks of killed Iraqi soldiers.
The base is decorated with Iranian helmets with bullet holes. The fists
are replicas of Saddam Hussein's own hands.
A few kilometers
north of the Iraqi capital lies the suburb of Kadhimain with the Golden
Mosque. With the tombs of the fifth and sixth Imams of the Shiites, the
mosque became an important place of pilgrimage.
The zoo in Baghdad was the largest zoo in the Middle East with 650 to
700 animals until the invasion in 2003. Iraqi units and US troops had
fought heavy battles on the site. Only 35 animals survived the Allied
bombings and the looting by the population. The animals were shot,
stolen and eaten, some even died because they were left without food and
water for days. The zookeepers fled when the air raids began and left
the animals without any care.
Escaped animals were later
recaptured or bought back on the local market. Animal rights activists
and the military rebuilt the zoo. In addition to the lions, the main
attractions are rare bird species, some eagles, owls and peacocks. There
is also an artificial lake where boat trips can be taken.
Not far
from the zoo is the Lunapark. The amusement park has a small Ferris
wheel and play areas for children. The park with a lake in the Jadrija
district, near the University of Baghdad, is also popular with the
population.
Football is the most popular sport in Iraq. The first Iraqi league is
very popular. The league was introduced in 1948, but was discontinued
between 1949 and 1962. Play resumed in 1962. However, until 1973 only
teams from Baghdad took part; it was not until 1973 that this was
possible for teams from all over the country. Due to the Iraq War, the
league was suspended between 2002 and 2004.
Baghdad is home to
some of the most successful football teams in Iraq. The most successful
capital club is Al-Zawraa, with eleven national championship titles. The
team plays its home games in the Al-Zawraa Stadium (capacity: 8,000
spectators). The home stadium of the seven-time national champion
Al-Quwa al-Jawiya (air force) is the Al-Shaab Stadium, which opened in
1966. With a capacity of 45,000 spectators, it is the largest stadium in
Baghdad. Another much larger stadium is still under construction. The
five-time national champion Al-Talaba ("the students") plays its home
games in the Al-Talaba Stadium (capacity: 10,000 spectators). The home
stadium of the four-time national champion Al-Shorta (police) is also
the Al-Shaab Stadium.
The city also has a long tradition of
equestrian sports. The first horse races took place shortly after the
city was taken by the British in 1917. But there are also reports of
pressure from Islamists to end this tradition because of the gambling
associated with it. Other sports such as weightlifting, martial arts,
futsal, basketball and swimming are also popular.
Specialties of Baghdad cuisine include khouzi, a reduced version of
the traditional Arabic feast, stuffed lamb, and masgoof, a fish grilled
over an open fire. Although there are many different types of freshwater
fish in the Tigris, the most popular fish for masgoof is shabboot, but
booni and theka are also popular.
The population's diet is based
on wheat (as bread grain and especially in the form of semolina,
couscous or bulgur), millet, dates (the bread of the desert), various
types of vegetables (often stuffed, as a braised dish or pickled in
lactic acid) and pulses. Goats, sheep, chickens, and less frequently
cattle and camels cover the demand for animal foods. In addition, the
spice trade and Islamic dietary regulations in particular have had a
formative influence, even if the latter are not binding for religious
minorities.
In Baghdad, specialized areas of food production
emerged early on, which were thus outsourced from households, such as
bread and baked goods. Bread (in many forms) is an integral part of
every meal. It is almost always broken into pieces rather than cut. It
is also used to hold food or as a base for desserts such as Om Ali, a
popular sweet pastry with various layers of dates, pistachios and
raisins.
There are several versions of the origin of the name. The name
"Baghdad" was found on Assyrian cuneiform records of the 9th century BC
and on Babylonian bricks marked with the seal of King Nebuchadnezzar II
(6th century BC).
The importance of the settlement of Baghdad has
increased dramatically since its founding by Caliph Abu Ja'far
al-Mansur. The caliph chose the name Madinat al-Salaam, which means
"city of peace" in Arabic. This was the official name, and was minted on
coins and used for other official purposes, although most people
continued to use the old name. By the 11th century, the name "Baghdad"
had become almost the only name of the world-famous metropolis.
The most widespread version of the origin of the name is from the Middle
Persian language from the words bagh (Baghpahlavi.png) - "god" and dād -
"given", which translates as "God's gift" or "given by God". This, in
turn, can be traced in the ancient Persian language. A less common
version associates the name with a combination of the words bāgh -
"garden" and dād - "given", translated as "gifted garden", "given
garden".
The Iraqi capital is located roughly in the middle of the country, an
average of 40 meters above sea level. It stretches along the middle
reaches of the Tigris, which is navigable as far as Baghdad.
The
river divides the city into two halves, the eastern part Risafa and the
western part Karch. The ground is very flat and of alluvial origin due
to periodic flooding.
The Tigris River, on whose banks
Baghdad lies, is an important trade route for the city. Several trade
routes converge in Baghdad, leading through the Fertile Crescent, a
rainy winter rain area located north of the Syrian Desert and in the
north of the Arabian Peninsula.
Together with the Euphrates, the
Tigris, whose catchment area covers 375,000 square kilometers, forms the
Mesopotamia, where some of the first advanced civilizations developed.
Baghdad is divided into nine districts:
al-A'zamiyya (الأعظمية)
Baghdād al-jadīda (بغداد الجديدة, “New Baghdad”) or Tisa
Nisan (“nine Nisan”)
al-Kazimiyya (الكاظمية)
al-Karrāda (الكرادة)
al-Karch (الكرخ)
Al-Mansour (المنصور)
ar-Rashid (الرشيد)
ar-Rusāfa (الرصافة)
ath-Thaura (الثورة)
The city districts are
divided into 89 neighborhoods.
The predominantly Shiite districts
and neighborhoods in 2013 included Baghdād al-Jadīda, Habibiya, Sabaa
al-Bour, Kazimiyah, al-Shaab (three neighborhoods), Ur, Shula and Sadr
City; Jamia and Ghazaliya are predominantly Sunni.
The city has a dry subtropical climate and is one of the hottest
cities in the world in terms of maximum temperatures. In the summer
months between June and September, the average maximum temperature rises
to 41 to 49 degrees Celsius, accompanied by strong solar radiation: rain
is extremely unlikely during this time of year. Temperatures above 50
degrees Celsius are not unknown, and even at night they rarely fall
below 24 degrees Celsius.
The humidity is very low and is usually
below ten percent. Dust storms from the deserts in the west are a normal
occurrence in summer. They occur on average 20 days a year.
In
winter, between December and February, the maximum temperature is on
average 16 to 18 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature in January is
around four degrees Celsius on average, but values below zero degrees
Celsius are not uncommon at this time of year. The annual rainfall of
around 148 millimeters on average falls almost exclusively between
November and March.
Baghdad was founded on July 30, 762 as Madīnat as-Salām ("City of
Peace") by the Abbasid al-Mansur as the new capital of the Caliphate. It
was built just a few kilometers away from the old capital of the
Sassanid Empire, Seleucia-Ctesiphon. Within four years, the Caliph's
Palace (Bāb adh-dhahab or Qubbāt al-ḫaḍrā) and the main mosque were
built on the western bank of the Tigris. The city was designed in a
circle with the palace and mosque in the center and a 14-kilometer-long
city wall. The district town was divided into four quarters, each with a
city gate facing a cardinal direction. Whether the "Round City of
Baghdad" is a founding myth or historical reality is still being
debated. The Caliph's soldiers were quartered in a separate town
(al-Harbiya) northwest of Baghdad. The present-day district of Karch was
intended for the workers at the time, while the court, the guard, the
harem and the top administration lived within the circle.
Due to
its favorable location at the junction of numerous trade routes and the
fertile cultivation areas thanks to the proximity to the Tigris (Dijla),
the newly founded city flourished quickly. When al-Mansur's son al-Mahdi
ascended to the throne, Baghdad already had an area of 15 square
kilometers. It was the center of science and art; in short: it was
Baghdad's heyday.
The House of Wisdom next to the Abbasid Palace
was a type of academy founded in 825 by al-Ma'mūn. The much older
Academy of Gundischapur served as a model. In the House of Wisdom,
people worked on scientific translations, mainly from Greek into Arabic.
In addition to the translation center, the complex also included an
observatory, an academy and a rich library as well as a hospital.
In the meantime, the Caliph al-Mu'tasim bi-'llāh moved the capital to
Samarra (808–819 and 836–892) to keep his army away from the population.
But even when the Arab caliphs had lost secular power and first the
Iranian Buyid dynasty (945–1055) and later the Oghuz Turks from the
Seljuk tribe (1055–1135) ruled the Islamic caliphate, it remained one of
the most important cities in the Islamic world until it was conquered by
the Mongols under Hülegü after a short siege in 1258. The Mongols killed
the last Caliph al-Musta'sim bi-'llah in February 1258 and, according to
eyewitness accounts, committed unimaginable atrocities; sources report a
pyramid made of skulls.
Much more significant, however, was that
in connection with this conquest of Baghdad and Mesopotamia, the
country's highly complex irrigation systems were destroyed by both the
defending Mamluks and the Mongols. The consequences of this destruction
were exacerbated by the expulsion of the local population and the
associated loss of knowledge about the operation and maintenance of the
irrigation system. The desertification of Mesopotamia began, and
Baghdad, previously the second largest city in the world, sank into
insignificance along with all of Mesopotamia.
In 1401, Baghdad
was stormed again and plundered by Timur Lenk.
Since the 16th century, the rulers of Persia and Turkey have fought
over the city several times. In 1508, Baghdad came under Persian rule,
and in 1534 the city was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. In 1623,
Persian troops recaptured the city, which was then taken again by
Ottoman forces in 1638. In 1652, Baghdad only had around 15,000
inhabitants. Baghdad remained under Ottoman rule and became the capital
of the province of Baghdad, one of the three provinces that later became
Iraq.
After pashas in Basra and Baghdad had temporarily gained
independence from the Ottomans in the 17th century, Hasan Pasha
(1704–1723), appointed governor by the Ottomans, established the power
of the Mamluks in Baghdad in 1704. The Pashas of Baghdad subsequently
gained extensive autonomy, but still had to recognize the supremacy of
the Ottomans. Under Ahmad Pasha (1723–1747), an attack on Baghdad by the
Persians under Nadir Shah was repelled in 1733. After the death of Ahmad
Pasha, the Ottomans tried to regain control of Baghdad, but in 1749 they
had to recognize Sulaiman Pasha (1749–1762) as governor. Under him, the
province of Basra was united with Baghdad.
Under Büyük Süleyman
Pasha (1780–1802), the dynasty reached its peak when the country was
pacified and extensive construction work was initiated. An attack by the
Wahhabis on Iraq was also successfully repelled in 1801, although they
managed to destroy the Shiite shrines of Najaf and Kerbala. In 1831,
Baghdad was occupied by Ottoman troops and returned to central
administration after a plague epidemic had significantly weakened the
dynasty's rule. In Baghdad, only 27,000 people survived out of 80,000
inhabitants.
In 1864, the first school of the Alliance Israélite
Universelle was founded, which aimed to spread advanced knowledge within
the Jewish community. The Ottoman constitution of 1876 proclaimed Islam
as the state religion, but gave the Jewish and Christian populations
equal political rights and allowed them access to public office. At that
time, Baghdad was a cosmopolitan and multinational city. Among the
Muslims, Shiites and Sunnis were represented in almost equal numbers;
Alongside them there were many Jews, among the wealthiest merchants and
businessmen (around 1300 families with three synagogues), Christians
(Armenians, Jacobites, Nestorians, Greeks, around 300 families).
Persians and Indians were strongly represented. On June 2, 1914, the
city was connected to the Baghdad railway with the opening of the
Sumike-Baghdad section.
During World War I, British troops invaded and occupied Baghdad on
March 11, 1917, without major resistance from the Ottoman army. British
commander General Sir Frederick Stanley Maude told the people of Baghdad
in a statement on March 19, 1917:
"Our armies come to your cities
and your country not as conquerors or as enemies, but as liberators.
People of Baghdad, remember: for 26 generations you have suffered under
foreign tyrants who have done everything to set one Arab house against
another so that they could profit from your disunity. This policy is
abhorrent to Britain and its allies, for there can be neither peace nor
prosperity where there is enmity or bad government.”
After the
suppression of a nationwide anti-colonial uprising by British and Indian
soldiers under the commander-in-chief Lieutenant General Sir Aylmer
Haldane, in the course of which numerous people were killed, Great
Britain separated the provinces of Baghdad, Mosul and Basra from the
Ottoman Empire in the autumn of 1920 in accordance with the provisions
of the Treaty of Sèvres and united them to form what is now Iraq. The
League of Nations sanctioned this measure and gave Great Britain the
mandate over this newly created country.
On August 23, 1921, the
Kingdom of Iraq was established under British control with Baghdad as
its capital. On October 3, 1932, the British mandate was lifted and Iraq
gained its formal independence. However, the British secured a special
economic position for themselves and retained strong political
influence.
There was great resistance within the Iraqi population to Britain's
strong role. With the support of Germany, officers overthrew the
pro-British government in a military coup on April 1, 1941. The new
Prime Minister was Rashid Ali al-Gailani, who formed a "Government of
National Defense." Britain sent troops from Transjordan and British
India, who landed in Basra on May 2, 1941. Although the Iraqi units even
blew up the dams on the Euphrates, they were unable to stop the British
advance. On May 29, 1941, after heavy fighting with the Iraqi army, the
British troops reached the outskirts of Baghdad, and the Gailani
government fled to Iran.
On June 1 and 2, 1941, a wave of Arab
nationalist-motivated pogroms broke out against the local Jewish
population. In those two days, 179 people of Jewish faith died in
Baghdad, and numerous houses and businesses in the Jewish quarter were
destroyed. The British units remained in the outskirts and did nothing.
In 1951 and 1952, almost all of Baghdad's Jews left Iraq for Israel via
an airlift.
The city's population rose from an estimated 145,000
(1900) to 490,000 (1957), mainly due to immigrants from the Shiite south
who, when they arrived in the capital, suffered from a massive housing
shortage. It was only under the rule of Abd al-Karim Qasim that some
relief was provided with the construction of the then exemplary
satellite city of Madinat al-Thaura ("City of the Revolution"), later
Saddam City, then Sadr City.
Qasim also left the British oil
monopoly untouched. After the nationalization of the companies in the
oil sector in 1972 and the rise in oil prices from 1973 onwards, Iraqi
oil revenues were enormous. At this time, a modern infrastructure with
sewers, water pipes and highways was built. A lot of money was also
invested in social policy measures, especially in the development of the
health and education sectors.
The oil revenues were also used to
promote industry, the transport and communications sector and other
areas such as recreation, tourism, trade and all other economic sectors.
During this period, the population continued to grow rapidly. The
majority of immigrants were Shiite Arabs. They mostly moved to the
suburbs of Baghdad, where they lived in slums under the most precarious
conditions.
During the First Gulf War (1980–1988) between Iran and Iraq, the city
was the target of Iranian R-17 missile attacks, which resulted in few
casualties and minor damage. During the Second Gulf War, the city was
bombed for seven weeks by the allied forces led by the USA, starting on
January 17, 1991.
The air war was directed at military targets
such as the Iraqi Republican Guard, air defense systems, military
aircraft and airfields, and espionage systems. At the same time, it
targeted facilities that could be useful to both the military and
civilians: electricity facilities, communications technology, oil
refineries and pipelines, railways, and bridges. The capital's energy
supply was destroyed. At the end of the war, electricity production was
four percent of pre-war levels, months later it was 20 to 25 percent.
In most cases, the allies avoided attacking purely civilian targets.
However, over 300 civilians died from bombings during an air raid on an
air raid shelter in Baghdad on February 13, 1991. The US government
declared that the bunker was a legitimate military target and regretted
the loss of life.
The Iraq War began on the night of March 19-20, 2003. Two hours after
the ultimatum expired, the USA fired 40 cruise missiles at the capital.
The declared aim was to overthrow Saddam Hussein and locate weapons of
mass destruction. The subsequent bombings by the allied forces led to
considerable destruction of the military and civilian infrastructure. On
March 24, the troops were already 90 kilometers from Baghdad.
In
the early hours of April 3, 2003, the Battle of Baghdad began with an
intensive bombing of Saddam International Airport. The city's airport
was captured on April 4. On April 5, US troops advanced into the city
center for the first time. There was no house-to-house fighting, as had
been feared. The Iraqi armed forces limited themselves to a
predominantly passive approach with many defensive structures such as
trenches and paramilitary activities. From this point on, Baghdad could
nevertheless be considered an open city. The US armed forces brought the
city largely under their control within the next four days.
On
the afternoon of April 9, 2003, American M1A1 Abrams battle tanks were
stationed in Firdaus Square (Paradise Square) in front of the Palestine
Hotel. At 6:49 p.m., a US soldier covered the Saddam statue, first with
the US flag and later with an Iraqi flag. The statue was then brought
down with the help of an M88 recovery vehicle. This image symbolizes the
end of the Iraq War.
After the fighting ended, the whole of Baghdad suffered from looting
and chaos, which the US troops were unable to control. On May 1, 2003,
US President George W. Bush declared the Iraq war over. Despite this,
devastating attacks continued to occur, affecting not only the US troops
but also the Iraqi population. While at the beginning there was still
talk of a "bloody Tuesday" or a "bloody Friday", at some point there
were only bloody weeks, months and years, says the author Dunja Ramadan
in retrospect; anyone who left the house in the years up to 2023 would
have said goodbye to their loved ones as if they were leaving forever,
Ramadan continued. The more well-known events included:
An attack
on the UN headquarters in Baghdad on August 19, 2003, which left 23
people dead, including the UN special envoy Sérgio Vieira de Mello.
A
mass panic among Shiite pilgrims who were commemorating the death of
Imam Mussa Al-Kadhim on August 31, 2005. The mass panic broke out on the
Al-Aaimmah Bridge, which spans the Tigris and connects the districts of
Asamya and Kasamiya, due to the rumor that a suicide bomber was in the
crowd. The accident killed 100 people. 1011 people died and more than
800 were injured. A three-day national mourning was declared due to this
incident.
The explosion of a car bomb on September 14, 2005, which
killed 112 people looking for work and injured dozens. *An attack on the
Ministry of the Interior on August 28, 2006, which left 13 people dead.
The attack was aimed at the police chiefs of all 18 governorates of the
country, who were in the building in the Iraqi capital.
The almost
simultaneous explosion of six car bombs in the Sadr City district on
November 23, 2006, killed 202 people and injured 255.
A suicide
bomber detonated a truck loaded with explosives in the middle of a busy
market on February 3, 2007, killing 137 people and injuring more than
300.
The attack on April 12, 2007 at the parliament building in the
heavily secured "Green Zone" in Baghdad. According to initial press
reports, at least two members of parliament were killed. A few hours
earlier, an important bridge over the Tigris in Baghdad, the Al-Sarafija
Bridge, had been destroyed in a suicide attack that also claimed several
lives. A few days later, on April 18, 2007, five more attacks hit the
Iraqi capital. The detonation of a car bomb near the market square in
the Sadrija district alone cost 127 people their lives. In total, the
attacks claimed over 230 lives.
In air raids on a district of
Baghdad on July 12, 2007, 12 civilians were killed by gunners from US
Apache helicopters, including the two Reuters employees Saeed Chmagh and
Namir Noor-Eldeen.
After the official end of the Iraq War in May
2003, significantly more US soldiers died in attacks, both by resistance
groups and by Islamist terrorists, than in the war before. The attacks
also claimed numerous victims among the civilian population.
Representatives of the Iraqi government, which is supported by Shiites
and Kurds, were also repeatedly the target of attacks. The capital
Baghdad was particularly affected by the conflict. Most of the dead
there also showed signs of torture.
As early as 2003, the US Army
had begun building protective walls up to five meters high to protect
important buildings from terrorist attacks. Later, the US Army shielded
entire city districts with concrete walls. In order to bring the ongoing
violence under control, the government began planning an even larger
structure in 2006, the 100-kilometer-long Baghdad Security Belt. It was
to be built in the form of a ring of water-filled trenches secured with
barbed wire, as well as barriers, fences and reinforced checkpoints
around the capital. The construction was not built after the violence
subsided.
On June 30, 2009, US troops withdrew from Baghdad and
other cities. They were relocated to bases outside the cities. The Iraqi
government declared the day a national day of sovereignty. On August 5,
2009, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki decided to demolish all protective
walls in the capital. Since the US army withdrew from Baghdad, numerous
attacks have continued. On August 19, 2009, more than 100 people were
killed in bomb attacks on the Finance and Foreign Ministries. On October
25, 2009, 155 people were killed when two car bombs detonated at the
Justice Ministry and the Governor's Residence. On December 8, 2009, a
series of attacks on the Interior Ministry, the Labor Ministry, an art
institute and a courthouse left 127 people dead. On April 4, 2010, 50
people died in a series of attacks on foreign embassies, including the
German one.
Due to the high birth rate and the strong rural exodus, the
population of Baghdad grew very strongly, especially in the second half
of the 20th century. In 1947, only 352,000 people lived in the city, but
by 1965 there were already 1.5 million. By 1977, this number had doubled
to 2.9 million. In 2018, the city had around 6.7 million inhabitants.
Due to the narrow city boundaries, the population increase in the
city has now slowed down considerably, and is mainly taking place in the
numerous suburbs, which, with a total of around 6.4 million inhabitants,
are now more populous than the city itself. A total of 11.8 million
people live in the Baghdad metropolitan area (2010). The population in
the agglomeration is expected to be over 15 million by 2050 and over 34
million by 2100.
The vast majority of the population is of Arab
descent (this is divided into the religious groups of Sunni and Shiite),
but there is also a large Kurdish community, as well as a significant
number of Turkmen, Assyrians/Aramaeans. Some Sudanese also live in the
metropolis of millions.
The population figures in the following
overview refer to the actual city without the suburban belt.
In the capital, Iraqi Arabic is spoken, a dialect of Arabic. When
people talk about "standard Iraqi Arabic", they almost always mean the
Baghdad dialect. This can be divided into an "Arabic" (gilit) and a
"Judean" (keltu) branch based on the pronunciation of the High Arabic
qultu ("I said"). High Arabic has been a written language since the Arab
conquest in the 7th century.
Members of the Chaldean Catholic
Church celebrate the liturgy in the Syrian-Aramaic language. However,
since a large proportion of believers speak Arabic, the population's
colloquial Arabic is increasingly used when reading prayers, Bible
passages and some liturgical formulas, and Holy Mass is often held
bilingually. Religious education takes place in Arabic.
The
liturgical language of the Armenian Catholic Church is Armenian. The
church language of the Assyrian Church of the East is Syriac, which
belongs to the Aramaic group. The use of modern languages in worship
is controversial. The Syrian Orthodox Church uses the West Syrian
liturgy of Antioch. The Kurdish minority speaks Kurmanji, Sorani and
Southern Kurdish. The most common Kurdish written language is Sorani.
English is spoken as a foreign language, and French and some German are
also spoken among the upper classes of Baghdad.
The situation in the Iraqi capital after the fall of Saddam Hussein
in March 2003 is complex: the emergence of new political groups, the
revival of traditional religious movements and the birth of new
formations, the return of religious leaders living in exile and the
influence of neighboring countries have created a framework in which
political and religious authorities often overlap and within which each
group wants to secure its own place in the future Baghdad.
The
increased tensions led to terrorist attacks and expulsions of Sunnis and
Shiites against each other. Since the "ethnic cleansing" has largely
been completed, violence between the religious groups also decreased in
2007. One reason for this is that there are hardly any heterogeneous
neighborhoods left, so attacks require more complex planning. Another
reason for the decline in violence is the US army's barrier walls that
separate Shiites and Sunnis from each other.
95 percent of the
population are Muslims. Accordingly, there are many mosques in Baghdad,
the most famous of which is the Abu Hanifa Mosque. Before the invasion
in 2003, 65 percent of Muslims were Sunni and 35 percent were Shiite.
Due to the expulsion of the Sunni population, their share fell to 20 to
25 percent by 2007, while the share of Shiites rose accordingly to 75 to
80 percent.
During the rule of Saddam Hussein, religious freedom was relatively
high; the government in Baghdad also included Christian ministers such
as the Chaldean Catholic Tariq Aziz. Around half of the Christians in
Iraq live in Baghdad. Their share of the total population was around ten
percent until March 2003, but fell to around five percent by 2006 due to
the crisis in Iraq. The traditional settlement areas of Baghdad's
Christians were initially in Aqd an-Nasara ("Christian Quarter") on the
east bank of the Tigris in the ar-Rusāfa district, later in particular
in al-Karrada in the eponymous district east of the Tigris and in Dora
in the ar-Rashīd district west of the Tigris. Around the year 2000,
around 150,000 Christians lived in Dora, the majority of them members of
the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church. After
the "religious purges" by al-Qaeda, there were still around 1,500.
The political tensions between Sunnis and Shiites did not offer
Christians any secure prospects. Since the beginning of the war,
according to the auxiliary bishop in Baghdad, Andreas Abouna, around 75
percent of the Christian population has left the capital to seek
protection in the Kurdish north of Iraq or the neighboring countries of
Turkey, Syria and Jordan.
The Patriarchate of Baghdad, based in
Baghdad, is the ecclesiastical organizational form of the Chaldean
Catholic Church. It continues the ancient Catholicate of
Seleucia-Ctesiphon. The patriarchate, known until 2022 as the
Patriarchate of Babylon, represents the largest Christian church in Iraq
with around 63 percent. The seat of the patriarchate was moved from the
old Mater Dolorosa Cathedral to the new Chaldean Cathedral of St. Joseph
in 1956.
The Roman Catholic Church in the region is organized in
the Archdiocese of Baghdad. It was elevated to a diocese on September 6,
1632, and to an immediate archdiocese on August 19, 1848. Its
long-standing cathedral was St. Joseph's Church, but in 1984 the new
Cathedral of St. Joseph and St. Teresa of the Infant Jesus took over
this role. The Archeparchy of Baghdad with the Cathedral of Our Lady of
Nareg is an archdiocese of the Armenian Catholic Church united with the
Roman Catholic Church. Founded on June 29, 1954, the archeparchy has no
suffragans. The Syrian Catholic Church has the Sayidat al-Nejat
Cathedral of the Archeparchy of Baghdad in Baghdad. This was the target
of a devastating terrorist attack on October 31, 2010, but was able to
be reopened. The Melkite Greek Catholic Church in the Patriarchal
Exarchate of Iraq, with the Cathedral of Saints George and Nicholas, is
only a small community.
Baghdad is the historical seat of the
Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East. After the Assyrian schism
in 1964, the Old Church of the East consecrated its Patriarchal
Cathedral of the Virgin Mary here in 1984, while the Assyrian Church of
the East retained, among other things, the Gewargis Church in Dora. The
bishops of the Syrian Orthodox Church, formerly organized in this area
as the "Maphrianate of the East," also have their seat in Baghdad, since
1964 in the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul. Their members are often
called Aramaeans, especially in the diaspora.
The Armenians of
the Apostolic Church have had a very long presence in Baghdad. The small
Miskinta Church had a predecessor from 1639/1640 and served for
centuries as Baghdad's Armenian cathedral until the new Cathedral of
Saint Gregory the Illuminator took over this function in 1957. The Greek
Orthodox Church of Antioch has only a few hundred members and has its
archbishop's seat for Baghdad and Kuwait in St. George's Cathedral.
The Jewish population, which once played a significant economic,
cultural and political role in public life, has almost completely left
Iraq. Between 1946 and 1949 there were repeated riots against Jews. When
the government declared Zionism a capital crime on July 19, 1948, there
were 135,000 Jews living in the country, 77,000 of whom lived in Baghdad
- a quarter of the total population.
On March 3, 1950, the Jewish
population was allowed to leave the country, giving up their Iraqi
citizenship. A year later, on March 10, 1951, the government froze the
property of the emigrants and blocked their bank accounts. Until that
day, they owned almost the entire souk of Khorja, the business district
in the center of Baghdad. The Israeli government under David Ben-Gurion
took this action as an opportunity to launch Operation Ezra and
Nehemiah, whereby by 1952 around 95 percent of Iraqi Jews were airlifted
to Israel.
The 6,000 Jews who remained in Iraq were subjected to
economic restrictions. In 1958 they were stripped of their status as a
Jewish community and their community property was confiscated. In the
decades that followed, the remaining Jews also left the country. In 1968
there were still 2,500 Jews living in Iraq, in 1976 there were 400 and
in 2001 only 100. On July 25, 2003, six of the last 34 Jews were flown
out of Baghdad to Israel.
Baghdad is governed by the city council and the governor of the
governorate of the same name, who is appointed by the Iraqi president.
The governor is also the mayor of the Iraqi capital. The first city
council after the invasion of US troops was elected indirectly by all
city districts in July 2003, still under American guidance. The purely
Iraqi body has 37 council members.
Sabir al-Isawi has been mayor
and governor of Baghdad since 2005. His predecessor in office, Ali
al-Haidari, died in an assassination attempt on January 4, 2005. Al
Haidari had already been the victim of a bomb attack in September 2004,
which he survived. He was the highest-ranking official in Baghdad after
the former president of the city council, Abdel Sahraa Othman, was
assassinated in May 2004.
Baghdad is the industrial center of the country, where the textile,
wood, building materials and food industries as well as oil refining are
located. The Iraq Stock Exchange, which opened on June 24, 2004, and the
state-owned oil company Iraq National Oil, founded in 1966, are also
based in the Iraqi capital.
Agriculture in the surrounding area
mainly produces dates and vegetables.
After all foreign oil
companies were nationalized in 1972 and the oil crisis led to a rapid
increase in oil prices, there was an economic boom in Baghdad from the
mid-1970s. A large part of the population also benefited from this rapid
development. The two Gulf Wars (1980–1988 and 1990/1991) and the
consequences of the UN embargo (1991–2003) caused great damage to the
country's economy. The standard of living deteriorated drastically,
particularly as a result of the embargo in the 1990s.
The
inadequate infrastructure and the extremely large housing shortage are
problems. Several hundred thousand people lost their homes due to the
destruction in the Iraq war in 2003 and the subsequent fighting between
Shiites and Sunnis, who drove each other out of their houses and
apartments. Many homeless people in Baghdad come from the Kirkuk
governorate, where they were driven out of their homes by returning
Kurds; others became homeless because they had no money to pay the high
rents.
In the industry, which is concentrated in the capital
region, there are only inadequate disposal and cleaning capacities for
sewage, exhaust gases and waste. In addition to the numerous infectious
diseases spread by inadequate hygienic conditions, there are also
respiratory and skin diseases due to the toxic emissions from the
numerous industrial plants and car traffic.
In a study by the
consulting firm Mercer on the quality of life in 231 cities around the
world, Baghdad came last. (As of 2018).
Road
The Iraqi capital is a hub for numerous long-distance roads.
The most important routes lead from Baghdad in a northerly direction to
Kirkuk, Erbil, Nineveh and Zaxo; in a westerly direction to the
Jordanian border; in an easterly direction to Chanaqin (Iranian border);
and in a southerly direction to Hilla and Karbala as well as to Basra
and Safwan (Kuwaiti border). Motorways connect Baghdad with the capitals
of all neighboring Arab countries. The city has motorway connections to
Amman, Damascus, Kuwait and Riyadh. There are regular bus connections
between Baghdad and the larger cities in the country.
Rail
The
Baghdad West station was the connection point of the Baghdad-Basra
railway line from the south to the Baghdad railway to the north. A
direct train from Istanbul ended here between 1940 and 1972. Today, only
the route to Basra is still in use for passenger transport and is served
several times a week.
Air traffic
Of the four airports in
Baghdad and the surrounding area, only one is used for civilian
purposes, Baghdad Airport. It is the largest Iraqi airport and is
located 16 km west of the city center. In April 2003, US troops captured
the airfield, and regular flights have been taking place again since
2004. With Iraqi Airways, Iraq's national airline, long-distance flights
are possible.
Road
With the exception of the city center, the city's road
network appears to be largely planned. After the invasion of US troops,
the number of cars increased rapidly, which not only overloads Baghdad's
streets, but also makes them extremely dangerous. This is exacerbated by
the lack of public transport.
The city does not have an efficient
public transport system with high capacity, such as a subway, light rail
or tram, which would relieve the pressure on the roads. Local public
transport is provided by diesel-powered buses, private minibuses and
shared taxis, which share the lanes with private vehicles.
Rail
Horse-drawn tram
A horse-drawn tram opened in 1871. The
four-kilometer-long route to al-Kazimiyya was in operation until 1941.
It was the first such railway in the entire Ottoman Empire and the
beginning of rail transport in what is now Iraq. Today, not even the
route is recognizable.
Subway (1)
In the 1970s, Saddam
Hussein's government planned a subway for Baghdad. For this purpose, the
Baghdad Rapid Transit Authority (BRTA) was founded in 1980, which was to
be responsible for planning, construction and ultimately also for
operation. Three lines were planned:
Line 1: Taura-Aadamijja, 18
kilometers long, with 20 stations
Line 2: Mansour-Masba, 13
kilometers with 17 stations
Line 3: In the north of the Iraqi
capital
The first line, of which six kilometers with seven stations
were under construction, was originally supposed to be opened in four
stages in 1987 and 1988. Due to economic problems after the Second Gulf
War in 1991, the project was not realized.
Subway (2)
In 2009,
the city government called on foreign companies to apply to build the
Baghdad Metro. However, the project was considered unlikely to be
realized soon due to the high costs. In 2013, an agreement was signed
with Alstom to conduct a feasibility study, based on which the previous
plans, which included an underground route, were changed to an elevated
railway network, which will initially consist of a 22-kilometer-long
Y-shaped network with 14 stations. The line will run from Al-Allawi
station in the south of the city to Al-Shaab in a northerly direction,
with a branch line heading west to Kadhimiya, with a journey time of 23
minutes for the journey between Al-Allawi and Al-Shaab. The opening of
the line, which is expected to carry up to 30,000 passengers per hour at
peak times. The total cost of the project is US$ 2.5 billion and will be
implemented by Alstom and Hyundai, who were awarded the contract for its
implementation in August 2023. According to another source, the cost is
estimated at US$ 17.5 billion. A construction management and supervision
contract was awarded on July 25, 2024. The system is scheduled to go
into operation in 2029.
Iraq has had a great variety of media since the fall of Saddam
Hussein in 2003. The new Iraqi constitution guarantees freedom of the
press, but the country ranks 145th in the press freedom ranking
published by Reporters Without Borders. In general, a distinction must
be made between two types of media in Baghdad: those controlled by
parties and those independent. Every major party has its central organ,
and quite a few also have television stations.
The most important
newspapers published in Baghdad are al-Sabaah, al-Mada, al-Mashriq and
al-Dustur, as well as the Islamist al-Mujahed, al-Schahed, Thaura
Islamiyya. There are an unmanageable number of radio stations in
Baghdad. The largest radio stations based in the capital are Republic of
Iraq Radio (successor to Iraq Media Network-Radio Baghdad and founded by
the CPA), Voice of Iraq (a private medium wave station) and Radio Dijla
(a private talk and music station on FM).
Iraqi television began
broadcasting in Baghdad in 1956. In the 1990s there were only three TV
stations: Iraq TV, Al-Shabab TV (owned by Uday Hussein) and Iraq
Satellite TV. Satellite dishes were strictly prohibited. From 2003
onwards a large number of TV stations were established and stations such
as al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya are also very popular. Some of the stations
based in Baghdad are: al-Iraqia (state Iraqi television), Al-Sharqiya
(private), al-Hurra (US coalition station), al-Baghdadia (private),
al-Sumeria (private), Al-Anbar (SCIRI station) and al-Moktadia
(Islamist).
The Iraqi cities and especially Baghdad have a well-developed
education system. School education is free, but the illiteracy rate is
high. Baghdad is home to three of the country's six universities, the
University of Baghdad, Al-Mustansiriyya University and the Baghdad
Technical University.
The al-Mustansiriyya University was built
in 1233 as an Islamic university and is one of the most important
educational institutions in Iraq and the Middle East. It has been part
of the six universities in Baghdad since 1962. It primarily teaches law
and literature.
The University of Baghdad was completed in 1962
according to plans by Walter Gropius. It was intended to be a new
university for scientists, engineers and liberal arts for a total of
6,800 students. The campus was expanded in 1982 to accommodate 20,000
students. The architects Hisham N. Ashkouri and Robert Owen developed
the complete academic space organization for the entire campus.
The National Library of Baghdad fell victim to the flames during the
Iraq War on April 14, 2003. Centuries-old manuscripts and other
historical documents from the time of the Ottoman Empire were destroyed.