Palm Beach Post (Florida) April 11, 2003
THE FACE OF BAGDAD
A sprawling city of more than 5 million people, Baghdad is divided by the snaking Tigris River and consists of several centers spread over an area of about 25 miles square. To the east, Rusafa is host to much of the city's commercial activity, while Karkh to the west is the site of major government buildings.
At its peak in antiquity, Baghdad was the world's richest city and the center of Arab culture, but internal strife and repeated invasions decimated it. After a period of growth this century, it again bears the scars of military conflicts. These images, most taken in the last weeks before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, offer a glimpse of some of Baghdad's neighborhoods.
POPULATION
Baghdad's population grew dramatically in the past 70 years, from slightly more than 350,000 in 1932 to an estimated 5.6 million in 2003. The city is the fourth largest in the Middle East.
Ethnic makeup: The majority is Arab and Muslim; there is a substantial Christian community, but much of the Jewish population emigrated when Israel was founded. Ethnic groups from inside Iraq include Kurds and Armenians; from outside Iraq, Indians, Afghans and Turkmen.
ECONOMY
For centuries, Baghdad was the richest and most economically important city in Iraq.
Employment: As the nation's capital, Baghdad has also been its bureaucratic home, and the state has been the city's largest employer.
Industries: Industrial activity has included oil refining and production of leather goods, furniture, chemicals, electrical equipment, textiles, clothing, bricks, cement, tobacco, processed food and beverages, as well as of handicrafts such as cloth, jewelry, leather, felt and carpets.
Finance: Headquarters of the Central Bank of Iraq, Baghdad has been the center of the country's financial operations and of its oil trade.
FEATURES
Baghdad is a city of mosques and monuments. While the former may date back centuries, many monuments are new and commemorate wars fought under Hussein's rule.
Monuments: The oldest, Abbasid Palace, was built in the 12th or 13th century. Hussein ordered the building of enormous war monuments, including the Shaheed Monument that features a split turquoise dome 50 meters high in an artificial lake; the Unknown Soldier Monument, with its abstract conception of a warrior's traditional shield; and the Hands of Victory monument, whose massive swords reaching 140 feet in the air are held in sculpted hands modeled on Hussein's.
Architecture: During its prosperous oil years, Baghdad experienced a construction boom, but areas of older architecture remain, mostly on the outskirts. A typical traditional house may have a wooden bay with latticed windows at the first floor and an open inner courtyard.
Education: Three major universities, established between 1957 and 1974, are located here, as well as more than 1,000 primary schools and hundreds of intermediate and secondary schools.
BAGHDAD, PAST TO PRESENT
Founded in the 8th century on the site of a Persian village also named Baghdad, the precursor of today's city existed about 70 years. Known as the "City of Peace," it also was called the "Round City" for its three concentric walls. At its peak about the year 800, the city flanked both sides of the Tigris in semi-circles 12 miles in diameter and boasted marble palaces and mosques, lavishly gilded and decorated; wide streets with kiosks, gardens and parks; colleges and hospitals. Some sources placed the population at a million or more. Many tales in "The Thousand and One Nights" are set in this period.
762: Baghdad founded as capital of Muslim empire from North Africa to Persia.
836: Capital relocated to Samarra; returns to Baghdad in 892.
945: Iranian Buyids rule after conflict that leaves much of city in ruins.
1055: Seljuk Turks conquer Baghdad after fighting that again decimates city.
1258: Mongols raze city; 800,000 inhabitants massacred; much of city destroyed.
1401: Mongols, led by Timur again sack city.
1534: Baghdad, now with population of only a few thousand, is incorporated into Ottoman Empire.
1623: City conquered by Persians.
1638: Ottomans reconquer Baghdad.
1917: Britain captures Baghdad in World War I.
1932: Iraq becomes formally independent; full independence gained in 1946.
1958: Republic established after assassination of Hashemite ruling family installed by British.
1968: Baath Party takes power in coup.
1970s: Oil profits bring population and economic growth.
1979: Saddam Hussein becomes president.
1980-88: Iran-Iraq war results in city's stagnation.
1990-91: City suffers heavy damage in Persian Gulf War.
%% THE WASHINGTON POST NEWS SERVICE
Sources: Encyclopaedia of the Orient, Columbia Encyclopedia, Columbia Journalism Review, Wikipedia, GlobalSecurity.org, Internet Medieval Source Book
NOTES:
Ran all editions.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO (9 B&W) & MAP (B&W); 1. KARIM SAHIB/Agence France-Presse A sprawling city of more than 5 million people, Baghdad is divided by the snaking Tigris River and consists of several centers spread over an area of about 25 miles square. 2. Map of Baghdad area. 3. JEROME DELAY/Associated Press KADHIMIYA The area around Kadhimiya mosque, above, built in 1515 and one of Iraq's most important Shiite shrines, normally attracts hundreds of worshipers on Fridays, but the neighborhood was nearly deserted as a family walks past a newly hung poster showing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein at Mecca. 4. PATRICK BAZ/Agence France-Presse MANSOUR Throughout Baghdad, images of Hussein dominate the cityscape. In affluent Mansour last month, his statue still stood at the entrance of the Ministry of Oil. U.S. bombs destroyed several buildings in the area on Monday based on information that Hussein was attending a meeting. 5. KARIM SAHIB/Agence France-Presse JADRIYA The home of an Iraqi merchant in a newer, wealthy residential neighborhood on the western outskirts of the city. To the east, Karada is also an upscale area; beyond it, Wahda is host to a number of embassies and to the National Theater. 6. BY JEROME DELAY-ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW BAGHDAD Despite a sandstorm and the threat of war, customers went to the vegetable market in this southern suburb in late March. Stalls throughout the city still offered imported appliances and consumer electronics as well as food. 7. JEROME DELAY/Associated Press SADDAM CITY This poverty-stricken area is home to as many as 2 million Shiite Muslims, many migrants from southern Iraq. At left, men gather for a religious feast in late March. 8. AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/Agence France-Presse Above, a 4-year-old girl waits outside her home last week for the return of her father, an Iraqi army officer. 9. JASSIM MOHAMMED/Associated Press OLD CITY The core of Baghdad lies between the line of the old city walls to the north and Tahrir Square (Liberation Square) to the south, (above). 10. KARIM SAHIB/Agence France-Presse Rashid Street, (left), running parallel to the Tigris, is the main thoroughfare for the neighborhood, home to the financial district and the copper, textile and gold bazaars, as well as a newer commercial area with expensive hotels.
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