Thursday, January 05, 2012

In 1914 there was a "striking variety" of people in Baghdad

Written by an American journalist and published by National Geographic in Dec. 1914:

'Americans in Bagdad are as yet an unknown quantity. For a year I lived there, the sole specimen of my kind. Yet the 180,000 inhabitants show a striking variety, almost justifying the tradition which locates the "Tower of Babel" near Bagdad. Certainly the mixed races in Bagdad produce even now a striking "confusion of tongues":

Sunni Moslems.......... 120,000
Shia Moslems............ 15,000
Jews.......................... 40,000
Chaldeans................. 1,600
Syrians..................... 1,200
Greeks....................... 150
Hindus....................... 75
Europeans.................. 40

The mixture preserves a peace balance, undoubtedly, and saves Bagdad from the race wars and massacres common in Asia Minor, where Moslem meets Christian.'

Interesting that in 1914 there were more Jews in Baghdad than Shia! Also I found this photo of wealthy Jewish homes in Baghdad very interesting:


Thanks Haydar for sharing!

4 comments :

Ghadeer said...

This is really sad. Now we're hardly that diverse but still can't live peacefully with each other.

Anonymous said...

for that Baghdad now live the best days only when shia muslim go to Karbala in Muharam ..
there is no thief no problems in streets, only Christians & sunni go to gardens and party so its very butifull

Anonymous said...

حينها لم يكن في بغداد قرود
http://www.wijhatnadhar.com/2012/01/blog-post_357.html

Anonymous said...

حينها لم يكن في بغداد قرود
http://www.wijhatnadhar.com/2012/01/blog-post_357.html