Database: Center of a World
In the ninth century, hundreds of thousands of people called Baghdad home. They worshipped many different gods, spoke many different languages and came from many different places. What attracted them was the reputation of Baghdad as a global commercial, intellectual, political, and financial hub.
The city was linked to various regions and other cities around the world through a network of maritime and land routes known as "the Silk Road". Chinese merchants would reach Baghdad's port through the Indian Ocean and the Tigris River and meet Byzantine monks, Andalusi intellectuals, and Scandinavian adventurers coming from the Mediterranean Sea through the Euphrates River. What attracted them was the splendor and fame of the Abbasid capital and its court. Fueled by the resources of the vast empire brought to the city by the centralized caliphal administration, the court could buy any exotic products brought to Baghdad and patronized the production of incredibly delicate crafts that the rich all over the world coveted.
Like other premodern empires, the Abbasids recognized and employed talents from groups irrespective of religious or ethnic background. They made sure to award positions to whoever proved the most competent no matter his or her origins, mixing Persian Muslim astronomers with Syriac Christian translators and Jewish physicians.
All this made ninth-century Baghdad the great multicultural center of its time.