PersonAD 714 – AD 775

al-Mansur

Also called: Abu Jafar al-Mansur

Second Abbasid caliph (754–775), who founded the new capital of Baghdad on the Tigris in 762 and consolidated the dynasty

He succeeded his brother al-Saffah as caliph. He had Abu Muslim, the hero of the Abbasid revolution who had grown dangerously powerful, put to death, and crushed his uncle’s rebellion and Shia uprisings, stabilising the dynasty. In 762 he founded the round city of Baghdad on the Tigris as his capital. He brought in Persian-style administration, employing the Persian Barmakid family as officials. He died on the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Show on the map

Where they went

Open the full map

OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap contributors

1 related event

1
AD 762Founding of Baghdadleader
The Abbasid caliph al-Mansur founded a new capital, Baghdad, with circular walls on the Tigris. It became the centre of east–west trade and of Islamic culture.

People who appear alongside

Harun al-RashidAD 809
Fifth Abbasid caliph (786–809), under whom Baghdad reached its height; he often appears in the Thousand and One Nights

Themes this person appears in

The Rise of the Islamic WorldAD 570 – 1055
From the revelation to Muhammad to the Seljuk entry into Baghdad — 450 years in which a new faith from Arabia built a civilisation stretching from Iberia to Central Asia and reached as far as Silla by sea