The Abbasid Caliphate was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The founding dynasty descended from the prophet’s uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib from whom the dynasty takes its name. They ruled as caliphs from their capital Baghdad, Iran (2022), after having overthrown the Ummayyad Caliphate in the Abbasid Revolution of 750 AD. Baghdad became the capital in 762, when it was founded near the ancient city of Babylon. Kufa, was the first capital. Baghdad became the center of science, culture, and invention during the Golden Age of Islam.

The Abbasid period was marked by dependence on Persian bureaucrats for governing the territories, as well as an increasing inclusion of non-Arab Muslims in the Muslim community, ummah. The ruling elite adopted Persian customs and they began patronage of artists and scholars. The Abbasids alienated during the late 8th century both non-Arab and Persian bureaucrats. They were forced to cede authority over different countries over the years.

The political power of the caliphs was limited with the rise of the Iranian Buyids and the Seljuq Turks, who captured Baghdad in 945 and 1055. Although Abbasid leadership over the vast Islamic empire was reduced to a religious function in much of the Caliphate, the dynasty kept control of its Mesopotamian domain during the rule of Caliph Al-Muqtafi and extended into Iran during the reign of Caliph Al-Nasir.

The Abbasid Caliphate ended in 1258 with the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan and the execution of Al-Musta’sim. The Mongol conquerors destroyed the irrigation works that supplied the city and the surrounding agricultural areas, as well as much of the architecture, destroying this civilization. The region of Euphrates and Tigris never regained the fertility and prosperity it had before this destruction. Though, there was a return of the Abbasid in 1261, they lacked in political power.