Which city served as the Abbasid capital?

Which city served as the Abbasid capital?

• A. Damascus
• B. Cordoba
• C. Baghdad
• D. Cairo

Answer: (C)

Baghdad became the Abbasid capital, showing how the dynasty centralized power in Mesopotamia and built a thriving imperial center that could support administration, trade, and learning. Al-Mansur founded a purpose-built city on the Tigris, and by around 762 CE it stood as the political and cultural heart of the empire, home to institutions like the House of Wisdom that drew scholars from across the Islamic world. Damascus was the seat of the preceding Umayyad caliphate, so it isn’t the Abbasids’ capital. Cordoba was the western capital of the Umayyads in Iberia, not the Abbasid center. Cairo rose later as a major city under the Fatimid caliphate and its successors, not as the Abbasid capital. Therefore, Baghdad is the city that served as the Abbasid capital.

Baghdad became the Abbasid capital, showing how the dynasty centralized power in Mesopotamia and built a thriving imperial center that could support administration, trade, and learning. Al-Mansur founded a purpose-built city on the Tigris, and by around 762 CE it stood as the political and cultural heart of the empire, home to institutions like the House of Wisdom that drew scholars from across the Islamic world.

Damascus was the seat of the preceding Umayyad caliphate, so it isn’t the Abbasids’ capital. Cordoba was the western capital of the Umayyads in Iberia, not the Abbasid center. Cairo rose later as a major city under the Fatimid caliphate and its successors, not as the Abbasid capital. Therefore, Baghdad is the city that served as the Abbasid capital.