Abbasid Caliphate · 750-800

Baghdad: the Round City of the Abbasids

In 762 caliph al-Mansur founded a round city on the Tigris. Students explore why the new Abbasid dynasty moved its capital to Iraq and how Baghdad grew into one of the largest cities in the world.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 800
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In 762 caliph al-Mansur founded a round city on the Tigris. Students explore why the new Abbasid dynasty moved its capital to Iraq and how Baghdad grew into one of the largest cities in the world.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain why the Abbasids replaced the Umayyads in 750 and moved the capital to Iraq.
  • Describe the plan of al-Mansur's Round City.
  • Use the map to explain why Baghdad was a good place for a capital.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 800

A new dynasty

Open the map in 800 and find the Abbasid Caliphate. Then look at Spain and Morocco: who rules there? Why could a caliph in Baghdad not control lands so far away?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 800

Where the rivers meet

Zoom in on Baghdad with the Cities layer on. Find the Tigris and the Euphrates. Why was a spot where the two rivers come close a good place for a capital?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 800

Roads from the gates

Turn on the Trade Routes layer. Which routes pass through Baghdad? Follow one route east over land and one down to the sea.

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Why did the Abbasids move the capital from Damascus to a new city in Iraq?
  2. The Round City had the caliph's palace and mosque at its center and four gates facing the main roads. What message did that plan send?
  3. Its official name was Madinat al-Salam, the City of Peace. Why might a ruler choose a name like that?
  4. Nothing of the Round City survives today. How do historians know what it looked like?
  5. Baghdad became one of the largest cities in the world. What problems does a fast-growing city have to solve?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Charlemagne, who ruled the Franks while Baghdad was at its height and exchanged envoys with caliph Harun al-Rashid. Discuss: how did Charlemagne's court at Aachen compare with the court in Baghdad?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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