An 1883 illustration of early BaghdadAccording to the ninth-century Arab geographer and historian Yaqubi, author of The Book of Countries, its trade-friendly position on the Tigris close to the Euphrates gave it the potential to be “the crossroads of the universe”. This was a retrospective endorsement. By the time Yaqubi was writing, Baghdad, City of Peace, had already become the centre of the wor
![Story of cities #3: the birth of Baghdad was a landmark for world civilisation](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/9e29b6da9cc5a7cf601a3c6499b84668b14e0622/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fi.guim.co.uk%2Fimg%2Fmedia%2F982a0bda752d6b3ad3b0587aba6541f8ac6d5fac%2F533_0_3367_2022%2Fmaster%2F3367.jpg%3Fwidth%3D1200%26height%3D630%26quality%3D85%26auto%3Dformat%26fit%3Dcrop%26overlay-align%3Dbottom%252Cleft%26overlay-width%3D100p%26overlay-base64%3DL2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctYWdlLTIwMTYucG5n%26enable%3Dupscale%26s%3D0f273393fcf1e40fb3227874be666af3)