Abbasid Caliphate الخلافة العباسية

750 CE – 1258 CE · Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa

Cosmopolitan Persian-Arab synthesis; scholarly patronage; rational theology; later Seljuk military backbone

Capitals

Baghdad, Samarra

Peak Era

786–833 CE (Harun al-Rashid to al-Ma'mun)

Historical Significance

The period of extraordinary Islamic intellectual and scientific outputic civilization. Baghdad became the world's greatest center of learning. The House of Wisdom, the translation movement, and the systematization of all four Sunni madhabs mark this as the intellectual apex of Islamic history.