1.
Iraqi people
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For The Iraqis political party, refer to The Iraqis The Iraqi people are the citizens of the modern country of Iraq. Arabs have had a presence in Mesopotamia since the Sasanian Empire. Arabic was spoken by the majority in the Kingdom of Araba in the first and second centuries, Arabs were common in Mesopotamia at the time of the Seleucid Empire. The first Arab kingdom outside of Arabia was established in Iraqs Al-Hirah in the third century, Kurds who are Iraqi citizens live in the Zagros Mountains of northeast Iraq to the east of the upper Tigris. Arabic and Kurdish are Iraqs national languages, in ancient and medieval times Mesopotamia was the political and cultural centre of many great empires, such as the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, and Babylonia. The ancient Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer is the oldest known civilization in the world, Iraq remained an important centre of civilization for millennia, up until the Abbasid Caliphate, which was the most advanced empire of the medieval world. One study found that Haplogroup J-M172 originated in northern Iraq, Iraqi mitochondrial DNA haplogroup distribution is similar to that of Iran, Turkey, Georgia, and Armenia, whereas it substantially differs from that observed in Yemen. Iraqi Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup distribution is similar to that of Kuwait, Lebanon, Turkey, no significant differences in Y-DNA variation were observed among Iraqi Arabs, Assyrians, or Kurds in the study because of very small sample sizes for Kurds and Assyrians. Modern genetic studies indicate that Iraqi Arabs and Iraqi Kurds are distantly related, the Assyrian Christian population is fairly related to other Iraqis, and also to Jordanians, yet due to religious endogamy have a distinct genetic profile that distinguishes their population. The Assyrians are a homogeneous group of people, believed to originate from the land of old Assyria in northern Iraq they are Christians and are bona fide descendants of their namesakes. Most North-West and Central Iraqis who today speak Arabic are originally of Assyrian roots, studies have reported that most Irish and Britons have ancestry to Neolithic farmers who left modern day Iraq, Jordan and Syria 10,000 years ago. Genetic researchers say they have found compelling evidence that, on average, in another study, scientists analysed DNA from the 8, 000-year-old remains of early farmers found at an ancient graveyard in Germany. They compared the signatures to those of modern populations and found similarities with the DNA of people living in todays Turkey. Iraqis have historically been a multilingual, multiethnic people, conversant in several languages, Iraqi identity transcends ethnic and language boundaries, and is more associated with geography, the Tigris–Euphrates alluvial plain and its environs. The shared identity and culture of Iraqi people is most commonly seen in the Iraqi cuisine, nowadays, the demonym Iraqi includes all ethnic minorities in the country, such as the Assyrians, Kurds and Iraqi Turkmen. Iraqis trace their ancestry back to the ancient people of the land, and are proud of their ancient Mesopotamian roots and legacy, Iraqs national languages are Arabic and the Kurdish languages. Arabic is spoken as a first language by around 79 percent of Iraqi people, the two main regional dialects of Arabic spoken by the Iraqi people are Mesopotamian Arabic and North Mesopotamian Arabic. The two main dialects of Kurdish spoken by Kurdish Iraqis are Central Kurdish and Northern Kurdish, in addition to Arabic, most Assyrians and Mandaeans speak Neo-Aramaic languages
2.
Demographic
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Demography is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. As a very general science, it can analyse any kind of dynamic living population, Demography encompasses the study of the size, structure, and distribution of these populations, and spatial or temporal changes in them in response to birth, migration, ageing, and death. Based on the research of the earth, earths population up to the year 2050 and 2100 can be estimated by demographers. Demographics are quantifiable characteristics of a given population, demographic analysis can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as education, nationality, religion, and ethnicity. Educational institutions usually treat demography as a field of sociology, though there are a number of independent demography departments, demographic thoughts can be traced back to antiquity, and were present in many civilizations and cultures, like Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, India and China. In ancient Greece, this can be found in the writings of Herodotus, Thucidides, Hippocrates, Epicurus, Protagoras, Polus, Plato and Aristotle. In Rome, writers and philosophers like Cicero, Seneca, Pliny the elder, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Cato, in the Middle ages, Christian thinkers devoted much time in refuting the Classical ideas on demography. Important contributors to the field were William of Conches, Bartholomew of Lucca, William of Auvergne, William of Pagula, and Ibn Khaldun. One of the earliest demographic studies in the period was Natural and Political Observations Made upon the Bills of Mortality by John Graunt. Among the studys findings were that one third of the children in London died before their sixteenth birthday, mathematicians, such as Edmond Halley, developed the life table as the basis for life insurance mathematics. Richard Price was credited with the first textbook on life contingencies published in 1771, followed later by Augustus de Morgan, at the end of the 18th century, Thomas Robert Malthus concluded that, if unchecked, populations would be subject to exponential growth. He feared that population growth would tend to outstrip growth in production, leading to ever-increasing famine. He is seen as the father of ideas of overpopulation. Later, more sophisticated and realistic models were presented by Benjamin Gompertz, the period 1860-1910 can be characterized as a period of transition wherein demography emerged from statistics as a separate field of interest. There are two types of data collection—direct and indirect—with several different methods of each type, direct data comes from vital statistics registries that track all births and deaths as well as certain changes in legal status such as marriage, divorce, and migration. In developed countries with good registration systems, registry statistics are the best method for estimating the number of births and deaths, a census is the other common direct method of collecting demographic data. A census is conducted by a national government and attempts to enumerate every person in a country. Analyses are conducted after a census to estimate how much over or undercounting took place and these compare the sex ratios from the census data to those estimated from natural values and mortality data
3.
Iraq
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The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations
4.
Population density
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Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume, it is a quantity of type number density. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and most of the time to humans and it is a key geographical term. Population density is population divided by land area or water volume. Low densities may cause a vortex and lead to further reduced fertility. This is called the Allee effect after the scientist who identified it, commonly this may be calculated for a county, city, country, another territory, or the entire world. The worlds population is around 7,000,000,000, therefore, the worldwide human population density is around 7,000,000,000 ÷510,000,000 =13.7 per km2. If only the Earths land area of 150,000,000 km2 is taken into account and this includes all continental and island land area, including Antarctica. If Antarctica is also excluded, then population density rises to over 50 people per km2, thus, this number by itself does not give any helpful measurement of human population density. Several of the most densely populated territories in the world are city-states, microstates, cities with high population densities are, by some, considered to be overpopulated, though this will depend on factors like quality of housing and infrastructure and access to resources. Most of the most densely populated cities are in Southeast Asia, though Cairo, for instance, Milwaukee has a greater population density when just the inner city is measured, and the surrounding suburbs excluded. Arithmetic density, The total number of people / area of land, physiological density, The total population / area of arable land. Agricultural density, The total rural population / area of arable land, residential density, The number of people living in an urban area / area of residential land. Urban density, The number of people inhabiting an urban area / total area of urban land, ecological optimum, The density of population that can be supported by the natural resources. S. States by population density Selected Current and Historic City, Ward & Neighborhood Density
5.
Ethnic group
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An ethnic group or ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities, such as common ancestral, language, social, cultural or national experiences. Unlike other social groups, ethnicity is often an inherited status based on the society in which one lives, in some cases, it can be adopted if a person moves into another society. Ethnic groups, derived from the historical founder population, often continue to speak related languages. By way of language shift, acculturation, adoption and religious conversion, it is possible for individuals or groups to leave one ethnic group. Ethnicity is often used synonymously with terms such as nation or people. In English, it can also have the connotation of something exotic, generally related to cultures of more recent immigrants, the largest ethnic groups in modern times comprise hundreds of millions of individuals, while the smallest are limited to a few dozen individuals. Conversely, formerly separate ethnicities can merge to form a pan-ethnicity, whether through division or amalgamation, the formation of a separate ethnic identity is referred to as ethnogenesis. The term ethnic is derived from the Greek word ἔθνος ethnos, the inherited English language term for this concept is folk, used alongside the latinate people since the late Middle English period. In Early Modern English and until the mid-19th century, ethnic was used to mean heathen or pagan, as the Septuagint used ta ethne to translate the Hebrew goyim the nations, non-Hebrews, non-Jews. The Greek term in antiquity could refer to any large group, a host of men. In the 19th century, the term came to be used in the sense of peculiar to a race, people or nation, the abstract ethnicity had been used for paganism in the 18th century, but now came to express the meaning of an ethnic character. The term ethnic group was first recorded in 1935 and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972, depending on the context that is used, the term nationality may either be used synonymously with ethnicity, or synonymously with citizenship. The process that results in the emergence of an ethnicity is called ethnogenesis, the Greeks at this time did not describe foreign nations but had also developed a concept of their own ethnicity, which they grouped under the name of Hellenes. Herodotus gave an account of what defined Greek ethnic identity in his day, enumerating shared descent. Whether ethnicity qualifies as a universal is to some extent dependent on the exact definition used. Many social scientists, such as anthropologists Fredrik Barth and Eric Wolf and they regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to human groups. According to Thomas Hylland Eriksen, the study of ethnicity was dominated by two distinct debates until recently, one is between primordialism and instrumentalism. In the primordialist view, the participant perceives ethnic ties collectively, as a given, even coercive
6.
History of Iraq
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The territory of the modern state of Iraq was defined in 1920 as Mandatory Iraq. It is centered on Lower Mesopotamia but also part of Upper Mesopotamia and of the Syrian Desert. After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, Mesopotamia fell under Persian, by the 3rd century, when it was once again under Persian control, the earlier population was increasingly displaced by Arabs, and the Arabic name al-ʿIrāq dates to about this time. The Sassanid Empire was destroyed by the Islamic conquests and displaced by the Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century, Baghdad became the center of the Islamic Golden Age under the Abbasid Caliphate during the 9th century. Baghdads rapid growth stagnated in the 10th century due to the Buwayhid and Seljuq invasions, after this, Iraq became a province of the Turco-Mongol Ilkhanate and declined in importance. Ottoman rule ended with World War I, and Iraq came to be administered by the British Empire as Mandatory Iraq until the establishment of the Kingdom of Iraq in 1933, a republic was established in 1958 following a coup détat. It was controlled by Saddam Hussein from 1979 to 2003, into which period falls the Iran–Iraq War, Saddam Hussein was deposed following the 2003 US-led invasion of the country. Over the following years, Iraq came to the brink of war. A tenth individual was discovered by M. Zeder during examination of a faunal assemblage from the site at the Smithsonian Institution. The remains seemed to Zeder to suggest that Neandertals had funeral ceremonies, burying their dead with flowers, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Sumer emerged as the civilization of Lower Mesopotamia out of the prehistoric Ubaid period in the Early Bronze Age Classical Sumer ends with the rise of the Akkadian Empire in the 24th century BC. Following the Gutian period, there is a brief Sumerian renaissance in the 21st century, the Amorite dynasty of Isin persisted until c.1600 BC, when southern Mesopotamia was united under Kassite Babylonian rule. The north of Mesopotamia had become the Akkadian speaking state of Assyria by the late 25th century BC, along with the rest of Mesopotamia it was ruled by Akkadian kings from the late 24th to mid 22nd centuries BC, after which it once again became independent. Babylonia was a state Lower Mesopotamia with Babylon as its capital and it was founded as an independent state by an Amorite king named Sumuabum in 1894 BC. During the 3rd millennium BCE, there developed an intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism. Babylonia emerged from the Amorite dynasties when Hammurabi, unified the territories of the kingdoms of Sumer. Assyria was an Akkadian kingdom in Upper Mesopotamia, that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history and it was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur. Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria, little is positively known, in the Assyrian King List, the earliest king recorded was Tudiya
7.
Islamic world
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The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, comprising all those who adhere to the religion of Islam, or to societies where Islam is practiced. In a modern sense, these terms refer to countries where Islam is widespread. In the modern era, most of the Muslim world came under influence or colonial domination of European powers. The nation states emerged in the post-colonial era have adopted a variety of political and economic models. As of 2015, over 1.7 billion or about 23% of the population are Muslims including the 4% who live as minorities. Muslim history involves the history of the Islamic faith as a religion, the history of Islam began in Arabia with the Islamic prophet Muhammads first recitations of the Quran in the 7th century in the month of Ramadan. However, Islam under the Rashidun Caliphate grew rapidly, a century after the death of last Islamic prophet Muhammad, the Islamic empire extended from Spain in the west to Indus in the east. The Islamic Golden Age coincided with the Middle Ages in the Muslim world, starting with the rise of Islam and establishment of the first Islamic state in 622. The end of the age is given as 1258 with the Mongolian Sack of Baghdad, or 1492 with the completion of the Christian Reconquista of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus. The Abbasids were influenced by the Quranic injunctions and hadiths, such as the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr, that stressed the value of knowledge. The major Islamic capital cities of Baghdad, Cairo, and Córdoba became the intellectual centers for science, philosophy, medicine. Between the 8th and 18th centuries, the use of glaze was prevalent in Islamic art. Tin-opacified glazing was one of the earliest new technologies developed by the Islamic potters, the first Islamic opaque glazes can be found as blue-painted ware in Basra, dating to around the 8th century. Another contribution was the development of fritware, originating from 9th century Iraq, other centers for innovative ceramic pottery in the Old world included Fustat, Damascus and Tabriz. The original concept is derived from a pre-Islamic Persian prototype Hezār Afsān that relied on particular Indian elements and it reached its final form by the 14th century, the number and type of tales have varied from one manuscript to another. All Arabian fantasy tales tend to be called Arabian Nights stories when translated into English, regardless of whether they appear in The Book of One Thousand and this work has been very influential in the West since it was translated in the 18th century, first by Antoine Galland. Imitations were written, especially in France, various characters from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor and Ali Baba. A famous example of Arabic poetry and Persian poetry on romance is Layla and Majnun and it is a tragic story of undying love much like the later Romeo and Juliet, which was itself said to have been inspired by a Latin version of Layla and Majnun to an extent
8.
Mesopotamia
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In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires. The Sumerians and Akkadians dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of history to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with parts of Mesopotamia coming under ephemeral Roman control. In AD226, eastern part of it fell to the Sassanid Persians, division of Mesopotamia between Roman and Sassanid Empires lasted until the 7th century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and Muslim conquest of the Levant from Byzantines. A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. The regional toponym Mesopotamia comes from the ancient Greek root words μέσος middle and ποταμός river and it is used throughout the Greek Septuagint to translate the Hebrew equivalent Naharaim. In the Anabasis, Mesopotamia was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria, the Aramaic term biritum/birit narim corresponded to a similar geographical concept. The neighbouring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the part of the Zagros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia. A further distinction is made between Northern or Upper Mesopotamia and Southern or Lower Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jazira, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad, Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf and includes Kuwait and parts of western Iran. In modern academic usage, the term Mesopotamia often also has a chronological connotation and it is usually used to designate the area until the Muslim conquests, with names like Syria, Jazirah, and Iraq being used to describe the region after that date. It has been argued that these later euphemisms are Eurocentric terms attributed to the region in the midst of various 19th-century Western encroachments, Mesopotamia encompasses the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, both of which have their headwaters in the Armenian Highlands. Both rivers are fed by tributaries, and the entire river system drains a vast mountainous region. Overland routes in Mesopotamia usually follow the Euphrates because the banks of the Tigris are frequently steep and difficult. The climate of the region is semi-arid with a vast desert expanse in the north which gives way to a 15,000 square kilometres region of marshes, lagoons, mud flats, in the extreme south, the Euphrates and the Tigris unite and empty into the Persian Gulf. In the marshlands to the south of the area, a complex water-borne fishing culture has existed since prehistoric times, periodic breakdowns in the cultural system have occurred for a number of reasons. Alternatively, military vulnerability to invasion from marginal hill tribes or nomadic pastoralists has led to periods of trade collapse and these trends have continued to the present day in Iraq
9.
Ur
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Ur was an important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in south Iraqs Dhi Qar Governorate. The city dates from the Ubaid period circa 3800 BC, and is recorded in history as a City State from the 26th century BC. The site is marked by the restored ruins of the Ziggurat of Ur. The temple was built in the 21st century BC, during the reign of Ur-Nammu and was reconstructed in the 6th century BC by Nabonidus, the Assyrian born last king of Babylon. The ruins cover an area of 1,200 metres northwest to southeast by 800 metres northeast to southwest, archaeologists have discovered the evidence of an early occupation at Ur during the Ubaid period. These early levels were sealed off with a deposit of soil that was interpreted by excavators of the 1920s as evidence for the Great Flood of the Book of Genesis. The further occupation of Ur only becomes clear during its emergence in the third millennium BC, the third millennium BC is generally described as the Early Bronze Age of Mesopotamia, which ends approximately after the demise of the Third Dynasty of Ur in the 21st century BC. There are two sources which inform scholars about the importance of Ur during the Early Bronze Age. The first is a body of cuneiform documents, mostly from the empire of the so-called Third Dynasty of Ur. This was the most centralized bureaucratic state the world had yet known, concerning the earlier centuries, the Sumerian King List provides a tentative political history of ancient Sumer. The second source of information is archaeological work in modern Iraq, although the early centuries are still poorly understood, the archaeological discoveries have shown unequivocally that Ur was a major urban center on the Mesopotamian plain. Especially the discovery of the Royal Tombs have confirmed its splendour and this wealth, unparalleled up to then, is a testimony of Urs economic importance during the Early Bronze Age. Archaeological research of the region has contributed greatly to our understanding of the landscape. Imports to Ur came from parts of the world. The imported objects include precious metals such as gold and silver and we know that Ur was the most important port on the Persian Gulf, which extended much further inland than it does today. All the wealth came to Mesopotamia by sea had to pass through Ur. So far evidence for the earliest periods of the Early Bronze Age in Mesopotamia is very limited, Mesh-Ane-pada is the first king mentioned in the Sumerian King List, and appears to have lived in the 26th century BC. That Ur was an important urban centre already then seems to be indicated by a type of cylinder seal called the City Seals and these seals contain a set of proto-cuneiform signs which appear to be writings or symbols of the name of city-states in ancient Sumer
10.
Babylon
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Babylon was a major city of ancient Mesopotamia in the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The city was built upon the Euphrates and divided in parts along its left and right banks. Babylon was originally a small Semitic Akkadian city dating from the period of the Akkadian Empire c.2300 BC, the town attained independence as part of a small city-state with the rise of the First Amorite Babylonian Dynasty in 1894 BC. Babylon grew and South Mesopotamia came to be known as Babylonia, the empire quickly dissolved after Hammurabis death and Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination. After being destroyed and then rebuilt by the Assyrians, Babylon became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 609 to 539 BC, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rule of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman, and Sassanid empires. It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world from c.1770 to 1670 BC and it was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000. Estimates for the extent of its area range from 890 to 900 hectares. The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometres south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings, the English Babylon comes from Greek Babylṓn, a transliteration of the Akkadian Babili. The Babylonian name in the early 2nd millennium BC had been Babilli or Babilla, by the 1st millennium BC, it had changed to Babili under the influence of the folk etymology which traced it to bāb-ili. The Gate of God or Gate of El being from the Aramaic Hebrew Bab for Gate and El for God and this being similar to the Hebrew word for confusion Balal. In the Bible, the name appears as Babel, interpreted in the Hebrew Scriptures Book of Genesis to mean confusion, the modern English verb, to babble, or to speak meaningless words, is popularly thought to derive from this name, but there is no direct connection. The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris. The site at Babylon consists of a number of mounds covering an area of about 2 by 1 kilometer, oriented north to south, along the Euphrates to the west. Originally, the river roughly bisected the city, but the course of the river has since shifted so that most of the remains of the western part of the city are now inundated. Some portions of the city wall to the west of the river also remain, remains of the city include, Kasr—also called Palace or Castle, it is the location of the Neo-Babylonian ziggurat Etemenanki and lies in the center of the site. Amran Ibn Ali—the highest of the mounds at 25 meters, to the south and it is the site of Esagila, a temple of Marduk which also contained shrines to Ea and Nabu. Homera—a reddish colored mound on the west side, most of the Hellenistic remains are here
11.
Garden of Eden
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The Garden of Eden or often Paradise is the biblical garden of God, described most notably in the Book of Genesis chapters 2 and 3, and also in the Book of Ezekiel. The garden of God, not called Eden, is mentioned in Genesis 13, the Book of Zechariah and the Book of Psalms also refer to trees and water in relation to the temple without explicitly mentioning Eden. Traditionally, the derivation of the name Eden was from the Akkadian edinnu. Eden is now believed to be closely related to an Aramaic root word meaning fruitful. The Hebrew term is translated pleasure in Sarahs secret saying in Genesis 18,12, in the Hebrew Bible, Adam and Eve are depicted as walking around the Garden of Eden naked due to their innocence. Eden and its rivers may signify the real Jerusalem, the Temple of Solomon and it may also represent the divine garden on Zion, and the mountain of God, which was also Jerusalem. The imagery of the Garden, with its serpent and cherubs, has compared to the images of the Solomonic Temple with its copper serpent. The second part of the Genesis creation narrative, Genesis, opens with Adonai Elohim creating the first man, the man was free to eat from any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Last of all, the God made a woman from a rib of the man to be a companion the man, cherubim were placed east of the garden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep him away from the tree of life. Genesis lists four rivers in association with the garden of Eden, Pishon, Gihon, the Tigris, and it also refers to the land of Cush - translated/interpreted as Ethiopia, but thought by some to equate to Cossaea, a Greek name for the land of the Kassites. These lands lie north of Elam, immediately to the east of ancient Babylon, in Antiquities of the Jews, the first-century Jewish historian Josephus identifies the Pishon as what the Greeks called Ganges and the Geon as the Nile. According to Terje Stordalen, the Eden in Ezekiel appears to be located in Lebanon. According to the Bible, the location of Eden is described in the Book of Genesis, chapter 2, verse 10-14, A river flowed from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided to make four streams. The first is named the Pishon, and this winds all through the land of Havilah where there is gold, the gold of this country is pure, bdellium and cornelian stone are found there. The second river is named the Gihon, and this winds all through the land of Cush, the third river is named the Tigris, and this flows to the east of Ashur. The fourth river is the Euphrates, the city of Dilmun in the Sumerian mythological story of Enki and Ninhursag is a paradisaical abode of the immortals, where sickness and death were unknown. In this painting, only the action takes place there identifies the setting as distinct from the Garden of the Hesperides. The Persian term paradise, meaning a garden or hunting-park
12.
Persian Gulf
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The Persian Gulf is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Hormuz, the Shatt al-Arab river delta forms the northwest shoreline. The Persian Gulf was a battlefield of the 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq War and it is the namesake of the 1991 Gulf War, the largely air- and land-based conflict that followed Iraqs invasion of Kuwait. The gulf has many fishing grounds, extensive coral reefs, and abundant pearl oysters, the body of water is historically and internationally known as the Persian Gulf. Some Arab governments refer to it as the Arabian Gulf or The Gulf, the name Gulf of Iran is used by the International Hydrographic Organization. The Persian Gulf is geologically young, having been formed around 15,000 years ago. Its length is 989 kilometres, with Iran covering most of the northern coast, the Persian Gulf is about 56 km wide at its narrowest, in the Strait of Hormuz. The waters are very shallow, with a maximum depth of 90 metres. Various small islands lie within the Persian Gulf, some of which are the subject of territorial disputes between the states of the region. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the Persian Gulfs southern limit as The Northwestern limit of Gulf of Oman and this limit is defined as A line joining Ràs Limah on the coast of Arabia and Ràs al Kuh on the coast of Iran. The Persian Gulf and its areas are the worlds largest single source of crude oil. Safaniya Oil Field, the worlds largest offshore oilfield, is located in the Persian Gulf, large gas finds have also been made, with Qatar and Iran sharing a giant field across the territorial median line. Using this gas, Qatar has built up a substantial liquefied natural gas, the oil-rich countries that have a coastline on the Persian Gulf are referred to as the Persian Gulf States. In 550 BC, the Achaemenid Empire established the first ancient empire in Persis, consequently, in the Greek sources, the body of water that bordered this province came to be known as the Persian Gulf. In the travel account of Pythagoras, several chapters are related to description of his travels accompanied by the Achaemenid king Darius the Great, to Susa and Persepolis, and the area is described. This water channel separates the Iran Plateau from the Arabia Plate, has enjoyed an Iranian Identity since at least 2200 years ago. Before being given its present name, the Persian Gulf was called many different names, the classical Greek writers, like Herodotus, called it the Red Sea. In Babylonian texts, it was known as the sea above Akkad, the name of the gulf, historically and internationally known as the Persian Gulf after the land of Persia, has been disputed by some Arab countries since the 1960s
13.
Tigris
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The Tigris is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq, the Tigris is 1,850 km long, rising in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey about 25 km southeast of the city of Elazig and about 30 km from the headwaters of the Euphrates. The river then flows for 400 km through Turkish territory before becoming the border between Syria and Turkey and this stretch of 44 km is the only part of the river that is located in Syria. Close to its confluence with the Euphrates, the Tigris splits into several channels, First, the artificial Shatt al-Hayy branches off, to join the Euphrates near Nasiriyah. Second, the Shatt al-Muminah and Majar-al-Kabir branch off to feed the Central Marshes, further downstream, two other distributary channels branch off, which feed the Hawizeh Marshes. The main channel continues southwards and is joined by the Al-Kassarah, finally, the Tigris joins the Euphrates near al-Qurnah to form the Shatt-al-Arab. According to Pliny and other ancient historians, the Euphrates originally had its outlet into the sea separate from that of the Tigris, Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, stands on the banks of the Tigris. The port city of Basra straddles the Shatt al-Arab, in ancient times, many of the great cities of Mesopotamia stood on or near the Tigris, drawing water from it to irrigate the civilization of the Sumerians. Notable Tigris-side cities included Nineveh, Ctesiphon, and Seleucia, while the city of Lagash was irrigated by the Tigris via a canal dug around 2400 B. C, the Tigris has long been an important transport route in a largely desert country. Shallow-draft vessels can go as far as Baghdad, but rafts are needed for transport upstream to Mosul, General Francis Rawdon Chesney hauled two steamers overland through Syria in 1836 to explore the possibility of an overland and river route to India. One steamer, the Tigris, was wrecked in a storm which sank, Chesney proved the river navigable to powered craft. Later, the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company was established in 1861 by the Lynch Brothers trading company and they had 2 steamers in service. By 1908 ten steamers were on the river, tourists boarded steam yachts to venture inland as this was the first age of archaeological tourism, and the sites of Ur and Ctesiphon became popular to European travelers. In the First World War, during the British conquest of Ottoman Mesopotamia, Indian, see Siege of Kut and the Fall of Baghdad. The Tigris Flotilla included vessels Clio, Espiegle, Lawrence, Odin, armed tug Comet, armed launches Lewis Pelly, Miner, Shaitan, Sumana, and stern wheelers Muzaffari/Mozaffir. These were joined by Royal Navy Fly-class gunboats Butterfly, Cranefly, Dragonfly, Mayfly, Sawfly, Snakefly, and Mantis, Moth, the Ancient Greek form Tigris was borrowed from Old Persian Tigrā, itself from Elamite Tigra, itself from Sumerian Idigna. The Sumerian form was borrowed into Akkadian as Idiqlat, and from there into the other Semitic languages, another name for the Tigris used in Middle Persian was Arvand Rud, literally swift river. Today, however, Arvand Rud refers to the confluence of the Euphrates, in Kurdish, it is also known as Ava Mezin, the Great Water
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Euphrates
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The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia, originating in eastern Turkey, the Euphrates flows through Syria and Iraq to join the Tigris in the Shatt al-Arab, which empties into the Persian Gulf. The Ancient Greek form Euphrátēs was borrowed from Old Persian Ufrātu, the Elamite name is ultimately derived from the Sumerian Buranuna, possibly through the Akkadian name. In Akkadian the river was similarly called Purattu, which has been perpetuated in Semitic languages, the Elamite, Akkadian, and possibly Sumerian forms are suggested to be from an unrecorded substrate language. The earliest references to the Euphrates come from texts found in Shuruppak and pre-Sargonic Nippur in southern Iraq. In these texts, written in Sumerian, the Euphrates is called Buranuna, the name could also be written KIB. NUN. or dKIB. NUN, with the prefix d indicating that the river was a divinity. In Sumerian, the name of the city of Sippar in modern-day Iraq was also a written UD. KIB. NUN, the Euphrates is the longest river of Western Asia. It emerges from the confluence of the Kara Su or Western Euphrates, the same figures are given by Isaev and Mikhailova. The length of the Shatt al-Arab, which connects the Euphrates, both the Kara Su and the Murat Su rise northwest from Lake Van at elevations of 3,290 metres and 3,520 metres amsl, respectively. At the location of the Keban Dam, the two rivers, now combined into the Euphrates, have dropped to an elevation of 693 metres amsl, from Keban to the Syrian–Turkish border, the river drops another 368 metres over a distance of less than 600 kilometres. The Euphrates receives most of its water in the form of rainfall and melting snow, discharge in these two months accounts for 36 percent of the total annual discharge of the Euphrates, or even 60–70 percent according to one source, while low runoff occurs in summer and autumn. The discharge regime of the Euphrates has changed dramatically since the construction of the first dams in the 1970s, data on Euphrates discharge collected after 1990 show the impact of the construction of the numerous dams in the Euphrates and of the increased withdrawal of water for irrigation. Average discharge at Hīt after 1990 has dropped to 356 cubic metres per second, the seasonal variability has equally changed. The pre-1990 peak volume recorded at Hīt was 7,510 cubic metres per second, the minimum volume at Hīt remained relatively unchanged, rising from 55 cubic metres per second before 1990 to 58 cubic metres per second afterward. In Syria, three rivers add their water to the Euphrates, the Sajur, the Balikh and the Khabur and these rivers rise in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains along the Syro–Turkish border and add comparatively little water to the Euphrates. The Sajur is the smallest of these tributaries, emerging from two streams near Gaziantep and draining the plain around Manbij before emptying into the reservoir of the Tishrin Dam. The Balikh receives most of its water from a spring near Ayn al-Arus. In terms of length, drainage basin and discharge, the Khabur is the largest of these three and its main karstic springs are located around Ras al-Ayn, from where the Khabur flows southeast past Al-Hasakah, where the river turns south and drains into the Euphrates near Busayrah
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Minorities in Iraq
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Minorities in Iraq include various ethnic and religious groups. Kurds are an Indo-European people of the Iranian branch, ethnically and linguistically they are most closely related to Iranians and have existed in Iraq since before the Arab-Islamic conquest. They are possibly descended from the ancient Corduene, the majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslims, with Shia and Alevi Muslim minorities. There are also a significant number of adherents to native Kurdish/Iranian religions like Yarsanism, there are also minorities of Christians and Jews. Some Kurdish Communists and Socialists are Atheist, under the Kingdom of Iraq, Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani led a rebellion against the central government in Baghdad in 1945. After the failure of the uprising Barzānī and his followers fled to the Soviet Union, in the 1960s, when Iraqi Brigadier Abdul-Karim Qassem distanced himself from Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, he faced growing opposition from pro-Egypt officers in the Iraqi army. When the garrison in Mosul rebelled against Qassems policies, he allowed Barzānī to return from exile to help suppress the pro-Nasser rebels, by 1961, Barzānī and the Kurds began a full-scale rebellion. When the Baath Party took power in Iraq, the new government, in order to end the Kurdish revolt, from March 29,1987 until April 23,1989, the infamous Al-Anfal campaign, a systematic genocide of the Kurdish people in Iraq, was launched. After the Persian Gulf War, the Kurds began another uprising against the Baathists, the revolt was violently put down. During the same year, Turkey, fighting Kurds on its on territory, bombed Kurdish areas in Northern Iraq, however, the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam, brought renewed hope to the Kurds. The newly elected Iraqi government agreed to re-establish the Kurdistan Regional Government in Northern Iraq, the Kurds have since been working towards developing the area and pushing for democracy in the country. However, most Kurds overwhelmingly favor becoming an independent nation, in the January 2005 Iraqi elections,98.7 percent of Kurds voted for full independence rather than reconciliation with Arab Iraq. Almost no other political or social group in the region is agreeable to the idea of Kurdish independence, malikis Arab Shiite-led government was locked in a dispute with the autonomous Kurdish regional government, which has banned the use of the Iraqi state flag on public buildings. The prime minister issued a blunt statement on Sunday saying, The Iraqi flag is the flag that should be raised over any square inch of Iraq. The dispute exposes a widening rift between Arabs and Kurds, the great threat to Iraqs survival as a state after the growing sectarian conflict between Arab Sunnis and Shiites. The Aramaic-speaking Assyrians are the people of Iraq and descendants of those who ruled ancient Akkad. More generally speaking, the Assyrians are descendants of the ancient Mesopotamians and they speak dialects of the Aramaic of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and have their own written script. They began to convert to Christianity in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD formerly having followed the ancient Sumerian-Akkadian religion, there are believed to be no more than 500,000 Assyrians remaining in Iraq, with a large concentration in the diaspora
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Shia Islam
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Shia is a branch of Islam which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor. Shia Islam primarily contrasts with Sunni Islam, whose adherents believe that Muhammad did not appoint a successor, instead they consider Abu Bakr to be the correct Caliph. Adherents of Shia Islam are called Shias of Ali, Shias or the Shia as a collective or Shii individually, Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam, in 2009, Shia Muslims constituted 10–13% of the worlds Muslim population. Twelver Shia is the largest branch of Shia Islam, in 2012 it was estimated that perhaps 85 percent of Shias were Twelvers. Shia Islam is based on the Quran and the message of Muhammad attested in hadith, Shia consider Ali to have been divinely appointed as the successor to Muhammad, and as the first Imam. The word Shia means follower and is the form of the historic phrase shīʻatu ʻAlī, meaning followers of Ali, faction of Ali. Shia and Shiism are forms used in English, while Shiite or Shiite, as well as Shia, the term for the first time was used at the time of Muhammad. At present, the word refers to the Muslims who believe that the leadership of the community after Muhammad belongs to Ali, nawbakhti states that the term Shia refers to a group of Muslims that at the time of Muhammad and after him regarded Ali as the Imam and Caliph. Al-Shahrastani expresses that the term Shia refers to those who believe that Ali is designated as the Heir, Imam and caliph by Muhammad, for the Shia, this conviction is implicit in the Quran and history of Islam. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing, Shia search for the true meaning of the revelation to get the purpose of the life blood and the human destiny. Shia Muslims believe that just as a prophet is appointed by God alone and they believe God chose Ali to be Muhammads successor, infallible, the first caliph of Islam. The Shias believe that Muhammad designated Ali as his successor by Gods command, Ali was Muhammads first cousin and closest living male relative as well as his son-in-law, having married Muhammads daughter Fatimah. Ali would eventually become the fourth Muslim caliph, after the Farewell Pilgrimage, Muhammad ordered the gathering of Muslims at the pond of Khumm and it was there that Shia Muslims believe Muhammad nominated Ali to be his successor. The hadith of the pond of Khumm was narrated on 18th of Dhu al-Hijjah of 10 AH in the Islamic calendar at a place called Ghadir Khumm, located near the city of al-Juhfah, Saudi Arabia. Muhammad there stated, Shia Muslims believe this to be Muhammads appointment of Ali as his successor, when Muhammad died in 632 CE, Ali and Muhammads closest relatives made the funeral arrangements. While they were preparing his body, Abu Bakr, Umar, Ali and his family accepted the appointment for the sake of unity in the early Muslim community. Alis rule over the early Muslim community was often contested, as a result, he had to struggle to maintain his power against the groups who betrayed him after giving allegiance to his succession, or those who wished to take his position. This dispute eventually led to the First Fitna, which was the first major civil war within the Islamic Caliphate, the Fitna began as a series of revolts fought against Ali ibn Abi Talib, caused by the assassination of his political predecessor, Uthman ibn Affan
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Arab Muslims
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Arab Muslims are adherents of Islam who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Arabs. Arab Muslims greatly outnumber other ethnic groups in the Middle East, Muslims who are not Arabs are called mawali by Arab Muslims. Historian Hugh Seton-Watson has argued that solidarity has historically been stronger between Arab Muslims than between all Muslims because many believe that only Arab Muslims are true Muslims, Arab Christians Arab Jews Ishmaelites Ankerl, Guy. Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations, Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western
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Sunni Islam
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Sunni Islam is the largest group of Islam. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the behavior of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. According to Sunni tradition, Muhammad did not clearly designate a successor and this contrasts with the Shia view, which holds that Muhammad intended his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib to succeed him. Political tensions between Sunnis and Shias continued with varying intensity throughout Islamic history and they have been exacerbated in recent times by ethnic conflicts, as of 2009, Sunni Muslims constituted 87–90% of the worlds Muslim population. Sunni Islam is the worlds largest religious denomination, followed by Catholicism and its adherents are referred to in Arabic as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah or ahl as-sunnah for short. In English, its doctrines and practices are sometimes called Sunnism, while adherents are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, Sunnites, Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as orthodox Islam. The Quran, together with hadith and binding juristic consensus form the basis of all traditional jurisprudence within Sunni Islam, sunnī, also commonly referred to as Sunnīism, is a term derived from sunnah meaning habit, usual practice, custom, tradition. The Muslim use of this term refers to the sayings and living habits of the prophet Muhammad, in Arabic, this branch of Islam is referred to as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah, the people of the sunnah and the community, which is commonly shortened to ahl as-sunnah. One common mistake is to assume that Sunni Islam represents a normative Islam that emerged during the period after Muhammads death, and that Sufism and Shiism developed out of Sunni Islam. This perception is due to the reliance on highly ideological sources that have been accepted as reliable historical works. Both Sunnism and Shiaism are the end products of centuries of competition between ideologies. Both sects used each other to further cement their own identities and doctrines, the first four caliphs are known among Sunnis as the Rashidun or Rightly-Guided Ones. Sunni recognition includes the aforementioned Abu Bakr as the first, Umar who established the Islamic calendar as the second, Uthman as the third, Sunnis believe that the companions of Muhammad were the best of Muslims. Support for this view is found in the Quran, according to Sunnis. Sunnis also believe that the companions were true believers since it was the companions who were given the task of compiling the Quran, furthermore, narrations that were narrated by the companions are considered by Sunnis to be a second source of knowledge of the Muslim faith. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2010 and released January 2011 found that there are 1.62 billion Muslims around the world, Islam does not have a formal hierarchy or clergy. Leaders are informal, and gain influence through study to become a scholar of Islamic law, according to the Islamic Center of Columbia, South Carolina, anyone with the intelligence and the will can become an Islamic scholar. During Midday Mosque services on Fridays, the congregation will choose a person to lead the service
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Kurds in Iraq
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Kurds in Iraq are people born in or residing in Iraq who are of Kurdish origin. The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Iraq, comprising between 10% and 15% of the population according to the CIA World Factbook. The Kurdish people within Iraq have grappled with various political statuses over their history, once assumed to receive full independence via the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraqi Kurds have experienced a recent and troubled history of betrayal, oppression, and genocide. After the fall of Saddam Husseins regime in 2003, Iraqi Kurds, now governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government, the Kurdish people are an ethnic group whose origins are in the Middle East. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in the world that do not have a state of their own. The region of Kurdistan, the geographic region of the Kurdish people and the home to the majority of Kurds today, covers contemporary Turkey, Iran, Iraq. This geo-cultural region means Land of the Kurds, Iraqi Kurdistan is an autonomous region in northern Iraq, covering 40,643 square kilometres and has a population of approximately 4 million people. Kurdish populations occupy the territory in and around the Zagros mountains and these arid unwelcoming mountains have been a geographic buffer to cultural and political dominance from neighboring empires. Persians, Arabs, and Ottomans were kept away, and a space was carved out to develop Kurdish culture, language, and identity. According to Michael M. Gunter, the Kurds are thought by scholars to be the descendants of various Indo-European tribes that arrived the region about 4,000 years ago. Arabs applied the name Kurds to the people of the mountains after they had conquered and Islamicized the region, in the 1500s most Kurds fell under Ottoman Rule. Iraqi Kurds developed as a subgroup of the Kurdish peoples when Great Britain created the state of Iraq out of the Sykes–Picot Agreement of World War I, the Kurdish Democratic Party was founded in 1946 by Mulla Mustafa Barzani and pushed for Kurdish autonomy under the Iraqi government. In 1975, another political party emerged in Iraqi Kurdistan, led by Jalal Talabani—the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, since the PUK was established, it lacked cooperation and engaged in violent conflict with the KDP over differing philosophies, demographics, and goals. After the Gulf War and unsuccessful Kurdish uprising in 1991, Kurds fled back to the mountains to seek refuge from the Hussein regime. The United States established a safe-haven and no fly zone initiative in Iraqi Kurdistan for the Kurds in order for them to develop an asylum away from the Hussein regime, United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 in 1991 condemned and forbade the repression of the Iraqi civilian population. After many bloody encounters, a balance of power was reached between the Iraqi forces and Kurdish troops, ultimately allowing Iraqi Kurdistan to function independently. The region continued to be ruled by the KDP and PUK and began to establish a stable economy, Iraqi Kurdistan built a socioeconomic infrastructure from scratch, completely independent from the centralized framework for the Baath regime. When the US invaded to oust the Hussein regime in 2003 and this gave Kurds more access to water and oil resources, therefore increasing priorities within the region to establish steady relations with the Kurds
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Iraqi Turkmens
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The Iraqi Turkmens, Iraqi Turks, or Turks of Iraq are a Turkic ethnic group who mostly adhere to a Turkish heritage and identity. They form the third largest ethnic group in Iraq, after Arabs, Iraqi Turkmen mainly reside in northern Iraq and share close cultural ties with Turkey, particularly the Anatolian region. The term Turkmen seems to be a political terminology because it was first used by the British to isolate the Iraqi Turks from Turkey during the Mosul Question during the 1930s. The Iraqi Turkmens are the descendants of various waves of Turkic migration to Mesopotamia beginning from the 7th century until Ottoman rule. With the conquest of Iraq by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1534, followed by Sultan Murad IVs capture of Baghdad in 1638, a large influx of Turks settled down in the region. Most of todays Iraqi Turkmen are the descendants of the Ottoman soldiers, traders, following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the Iraqi Turkmen wanted Turkey to annex the Mosul Vilayet and for them to become part of an expanded Turkish state. Although they were recognized as an entity of Iraq in the constitution of 1925. Claims of their population have ranged between 500,000 and 3 million, Iraqi Turkmens are considered to be the third largest ethnic group in Iraq. According to data from the Iraqi Ministry of Planning there was 3 million Iraqi Turkmen living in the country in 2013, the Iraqi Turkmens predominantly live in the north of Iraq, especially in Tal Afar, Mosul, Arbil, Altunkupri, Kirkuk, and Baghdad. Turkmen primarily inhabit a region stretching from northwestern Iraq to the Iraq–Iran border on the southeast, which is rich in resources. The presence of Turkic peoples in what is today Iraq first began in the 7th century when approximately 2 and they arrived in 674 with the Umayyud conquest of Basra. More Turkic troops settled during the 8th century, from Bukhara to Basra, however, it was the wider migration of the Oghuz Turks towards Anatolia which took place at the end of the ninth century that established a substantial Iraqi Turkmen presence. Successive waves of immigration continued under the rule of the Seljuk Turks who assumed positions of military, the second wave of Turkmen to descend on Iraq were the Turks of the Great Seljuq Empire. Large scale migration of the Turkmen in Iraq occurred in 1055 with the invasion of Sultan Tuğrul Bey, the ruler of the Seljuk dynasty. The third wave, and largest, arose during the Ottoman Empire, by the first half of the sixteenth century the Ottomans had begun their expansion into Iraq, waging wars against their arch rival, the Persian Safavids. The Ottomans encouraged migration from Anatolia and the settlement of immigrant Turkmen along northern Iraq, with loyal Turkmen inhabiting the area, the Ottomans were able to maintain a safe route through to the southern provinces of Mesopotamia. Once the new governor was appointed, the town was to be composed of 1,000 foot soldiers, however, war broke out after 89 years of peace and the city was besieged and finally conquered by Abbas the Great in 1624. The Persians ruled the city until 1638 when a massive Ottoman force, led by Sultan Murad IV, in 1639, the Treaty of Zuhab was signed that gave the Ottomans control over Iraq and ended the military conflict between the two empires
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Iraqis
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For The Iraqis political party, refer to The Iraqis The Iraqi people are the citizens of the modern country of Iraq. Arabs have had a presence in Mesopotamia since the Sasanian Empire. Arabic was spoken by the majority in the Kingdom of Araba in the first and second centuries, Arabs were common in Mesopotamia at the time of the Seleucid Empire. The first Arab kingdom outside of Arabia was established in Iraqs Al-Hirah in the third century, Kurds who are Iraqi citizens live in the Zagros Mountains of northeast Iraq to the east of the upper Tigris. Arabic and Kurdish are Iraqs national languages, in ancient and medieval times Mesopotamia was the political and cultural centre of many great empires, such as the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, and Babylonia. The ancient Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer is the oldest known civilization in the world, Iraq remained an important centre of civilization for millennia, up until the Abbasid Caliphate, which was the most advanced empire of the medieval world. One study found that Haplogroup J-M172 originated in northern Iraq, Iraqi mitochondrial DNA haplogroup distribution is similar to that of Iran, Turkey, Georgia, and Armenia, whereas it substantially differs from that observed in Yemen. Iraqi Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup distribution is similar to that of Kuwait, Lebanon, Turkey, no significant differences in Y-DNA variation were observed among Iraqi Arabs, Assyrians, or Kurds in the study because of very small sample sizes for Kurds and Assyrians. Modern genetic studies indicate that Iraqi Arabs and Iraqi Kurds are distantly related, the Assyrian Christian population is fairly related to other Iraqis, and also to Jordanians, yet due to religious endogamy have a distinct genetic profile that distinguishes their population. The Assyrians are a homogeneous group of people, believed to originate from the land of old Assyria in northern Iraq they are Christians and are bona fide descendants of their namesakes. Most North-West and Central Iraqis who today speak Arabic are originally of Assyrian roots, studies have reported that most Irish and Britons have ancestry to Neolithic farmers who left modern day Iraq, Jordan and Syria 10,000 years ago. Genetic researchers say they have found compelling evidence that, on average, in another study, scientists analysed DNA from the 8, 000-year-old remains of early farmers found at an ancient graveyard in Germany. They compared the signatures to those of modern populations and found similarities with the DNA of people living in todays Turkey. Iraqis have historically been a multilingual, multiethnic people, conversant in several languages, Iraqi identity transcends ethnic and language boundaries, and is more associated with geography, the Tigris–Euphrates alluvial plain and its environs. The shared identity and culture of Iraqi people is most commonly seen in the Iraqi cuisine, nowadays, the demonym Iraqi includes all ethnic minorities in the country, such as the Assyrians, Kurds and Iraqi Turkmen. Iraqis trace their ancestry back to the ancient people of the land, and are proud of their ancient Mesopotamian roots and legacy, Iraqs national languages are Arabic and the Kurdish languages. Arabic is spoken as a first language by around 79 percent of Iraqi people, the two main regional dialects of Arabic spoken by the Iraqi people are Mesopotamian Arabic and North Mesopotamian Arabic. The two main dialects of Kurdish spoken by Kurdish Iraqis are Central Kurdish and Northern Kurdish, in addition to Arabic, most Assyrians and Mandaeans speak Neo-Aramaic languages
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Yazidis
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The Yazidis are an ethnically Kurdish religious community or an ethno-religious group indigenous to northern Mesopotamia who are strictly endogamous. Their religion, Yazidism is linked to ancient Mesopotamian religions and combines aspects of Zoroastrianism, Islam, Christianity, Yazidis who marry non-Yazidis are automatically considered to be converted to the religion of their spouse and therefore are not permitted to call themselves Yazidis. They live primarily in the Nineveh Province of Iraq, additional communities in Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, Iran, and Syria have been in decline since the 1990s as a result of significant migration to Europe, especially to Germany. The Yazidis cultural practices are observably Kurdish, and almost all speak Kurmanji. The Yazidis are monotheists, believing in God as creator of the world, which he has placed under the care of seven holy beings or angels, the chief of whom is Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel. This belief has been linked by some people to Sufi mystical reflections on Iblis, persecution of Yazidis has continued in their home communities within the borders of modern Iraq, under fundamentalist Sunni Muslim revolutionaries. On 7 April 2007 a crowd of up to 2000 Yazidi stoned 17-year-old Iraqi of the Yazidi faith Dua Khalil Aswad to death, rumors that the stoning was connected to her alleged conversion to Islam prompted reprisals against Yazidis by Sunnis, including the 2007 Mosul massacre. Beginning in August 2014, the Yazidis were targeted by the Islamic State of Iraq, historically, the Yazidis lived primarily in communities in locales that are in present-day Iraq, Turkey, and Syria, and also had significant numbers in Armenia, Georgia and Iran. However, events since the 20th century have resulted in considerable demographic shift in these areas as well as mass emigration, as a result, population estimates are unclear in many regions, and estimates of the size of the total population vary. The bulk of the Yazidi population lives in Iraq, where make up an important minority community. Estimates of the size of these vary significantly, between 70,000 and 500,000. They are particularly concentrated in northern Iraq in the Nineveh Province, the two biggest communities are in Shekhan, northeast of Mosul, and in Sinjar, at the Syrian border 80 kilometres west of Mosul. In Shekhan is the shrine of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir at Lalish, during the 20th century, the Shekhan community struggled for dominance with the more conservative Sinjar community. The demographic profile has changed considerably since the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003. Yazidis in Syria live primarily in two communities, one in the Al-Jazira area and the other in the Kurd-Dagh, population numbers for the Syrian Yazidi community are unclear. In 1963, the community was estimated at about 10,000, according to the national census, there may be between about 12,000 and 15,000 Yazidis in Syria today, though more than half of the community may have emigrated from Syria since the 1980s. Estimates are further complicated by the arrival of as many as 50,000 Yazidi refugees from Iraq during the Iraq War, the Kurdish Yazidi community of Turkey declined precipitously during the 20th century. By 1982, the community had decreased to about 30,000, most of them have immigrated to Europe, particularly Germany, those who remain reside primarily in their former heartland of Tur Abdin
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Mesopotamian Arabic
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Mesopotamia, all of modern day Iraq, is the region where the Arabic language originated thus has the most native speakers. Aramaic was the lingua franca in Mesopotamia from the early 1st millennium BCE until the late 1st millennium CE, the Gelet and the Judeo-Iraqi varieties have retained features of Babylonian Aramaic. Due to Iraqs inherent multiculturalism as well as history, Iraqi Arabic in turn bears extensive borrowings in its lexicon from Aramaic, Akkadian, Persian, Mesopotamian Arabic has two major varieties. A distinction is recognised between Gelet Mesopotamian Arabic and Qeltu Mesopotamian Arabic, the names deriving from the form of the word for I said. The southern group includes a Tigris dialect cluster, of which the form is Baghdadi Arabic. The Gelet variety is spoken in the Khuzestan Province of Iran. The northern group includes the north Tigris dialect cluster, also known as North Mesopotamian Arabic or Maslawi, cypriot Arabic shares a large number of common features with Mesopotamian Arabic, particularly the northern variety, and has been reckoned as belonging to this dialect area
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Arab people
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Arabs are an ethnic group inhabiting the Arab world. They primarily live in the Arab states in Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Arabs are first mentioned in the mid-ninth century BCE as a tribal people dwelling in the central Arabian Peninsula. The Arabs appear to have been under the vassalage of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, tradition holds that Arabs descend from Ishmael, the son of Abraham. The Arabian Desert is the birthplace of Arab, there are other Arab groups as well that spread in the land and existed for millennia. Before the expansion of the Caliphate, Arab referred to any of the largely nomadic Semitic people from the northern to the central Arabian Peninsula and Syrian Desert. Presently, Arab refers to a number of people whose native regions form the Arab world due to spread of Arabs throughout the region during the early Arab conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries. The Arabs forged the Rashidun, Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphates, whose borders reached southern France in the west, China in the east, Anatolia in the north, and this was one of the largest land empires in history. The Great Arab Revolt has had as big an impact on the modern Middle East as the World War I, the war signaled the end of the Ottoman Empire. They are modern states and became significant as distinct political entities after the fall and defeat, following adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944, the Arab League was founded on 22 March 1945. The Charter of the Arab League endorsed the principle of an Arab homeland whilst respecting the sovereignty of its member states. Beyond the boundaries of the League of Arab States, Arabs can also be found in the global diaspora, the ties that bind Arabs are ethnic, linguistic, cultural, historical, identical, nationalist, geographical and political. The Arabs have their own customs, language, architecture, art, literature, music, dance, media, cuisine, dress, society, sports, the total number of Arabs are an estimated 450 million. This makes them the second largest ethnic group after the Han Chinese. Arabs are a group in terms of religious affiliations and practices. In the pre-Islamic era, most Arabs followed polytheistic religions, some tribes had adopted Christianity or Judaism, and a few individuals, the hanifs, apparently observed monotheism. Today, Arabs are mainly adherents of Islam, with sizable Christian minorities, Arab Muslims primarily belong to the Sunni, Shiite, Ibadi, Alawite, Druze and Ismaili denominations. Arab Christians generally follow one of the Eastern Christian Churches, such as the Maronite, Coptic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, or Chaldean churches. Listed among the booty captured by the army of king Shalmaneser III of Assyria in the Battle of Qarqar are 1000 camels of Gi-in-di-buu the ar-ba-a-a or Gindibu belonging to the Arab
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Palestinians in Iraq
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Palestinians in Iraq are people of Palestinian ancestry, most of whom have been residing in Iraq after they were expelled from their homeland in 1948. Before 2003, there were approximately 34,000 Palestinians thought to be living in Iraq, however, since the 2003 Iraq war, the figure lies between 10, 000–13,000, although a precise figures has been hard to determine. The situation of Palestinians in Iraq deteriorated after the fall of Saddam Hussein, currently, several hundred Palestinians from Iraq are living in border camps, after being refused entry to neighbouring Jordan and Syria. Others have been resettled to third countries, in addition, some Palestinian villagers had been forcibly drafted by the invading Iraqi army, and they and their families were allowed to resettle in Iraq. Following the 1967 War with Israel, a larger wave of Palestinians sought refuge in Iraq. The third and final wave occurred in 1991 after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, over the years, there were also many Palestinians who came to Iraq in search of work. Prior to 2003, there were approximately 25,000 registered Palestinian refugees living in Iraq, in December 2010, approximately 10,000 Palestinians remained in Iraq, the majority of whom were living in and around Baghdad. Iraq is not a signatory of the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the protection of refugees, during Saddam Hussein’s rule, Palestinians received by and large equitable treatment. They were granted residency permits, full access to government services including healthcare and education, the government also issued special travel documents for Palestinian refugees, allowing them to travel freely around Iraq but making it extremely difficult to leave the country. Some political and sectarian entities claim that Palestinians were treated favourably under the Ba’thist regime, the government built special housing complexes, and provided heavily subsidized accommodation for Palestinians. Palestinians were also exempt from service, and scholarships were also awarded to Palestinian students. During the years of sanctions in the 1990s, the Iraqi government froze rent prices. This was also a cause of resentment among those few Iraqis toward Palestinians. The Palestinians suffered very much as a result of the UN sanctions on Iraq, Saddam Husseins Revolution Command Council decided that Palestinians must not be allowed to invest in companies and not be allowed to invest into any kind of entrepreneurial businesses. They had to obtain special permissions to marry Iraqis and Palestinians who had Iraqi mothers could not inherit their mothers, Palestinians were not allowed to live in areas close to international boundaries and were not allowed to work in security sensitive areas. Palestinians were also allowed to join the regime-backed the Baath Party and were not allowed to join the traditional Palestinian political organisations. Palestinian neighborhoods such as al-Doura, al-Hurriyya and al-Baladiyyat in Baghdad were also bombarded and attacked, under the newly elected Iraqi government, Palestinians were stripped of their residency permits and made to register at the Ministry of the Interior each month. This has proven extremely dangerous, and the fear of being shot upon entering or leaving the ministry has deterred many Palestinians from obtaining their right to residency in Iraq
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Marsh Arabs
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Many of the marshes inhabitants were displaced when the wetlands were drained during and after the 1991 uprisings in Iraq. The society of the Marsh Arabs was divided into two groups by occupation. One group bred and raised water buffalo while others cultivated crops such as rice, barley, wheat and pearl millet, they kept some sheep. Rice cultivation was important, it was carried out in small plots cleared in April. Cultivation seasons were marked by the rising and setting of stars, such as the Pleiades. Some branches of the Maʻdān were nomadic pastoralists, erecting temporary dwellings, by the early 1990s, however, up to 60% of the total amount of fish caught in Iraqs inland waters came from the marshes. In the later twentieth century a main occupation entered Marsh Arab life. The majority of Marsh Arabs are Twelver Shiʿi Muslims, though in the small communities of Mandaic-speaking Mandaeans lived alongside them. The inhabitants long association with tribes within Persia may have influenced the spread of the Shī‘ī denomination within the marshes, as with most tribes of southern Iraq, the main authority was the tribal shaikh. The mudhif is used as a place to settle disputes, to carry out diplomacy with other tribes and as a point for religious. It is also the place where visitors are offered hospitality, although the tribal shaykh was the principal figure, each Maʻdān village would also follow the authority of the hereditary qalit headman of a tribes particular section. Blood feuds, which could only be settled by the qalit, were a feature of Marsh Arab life, many of the Marsh Arabs codes of behaviour were similar to those of the desert tribes. Most Marsh Arabs lived in arched reed houses considerably smaller than a mudhif, houses had entrances at both ends and a screen in the middle, one end was used as a dwelling and the other end was used to shelter animals in bad weather. A raba was a dwelling, distinguished by a north-facing entrance. The marsh environment meant that certain diseases, such as schistosomiasis and malaria, were endemic, Maʻdānī agriculture and homes were also vulnerable to periodic droughts, the origins of the Maʻdān are still a matter of some interest. British colonial ethnographers found it difficult to some of the Maʻdāns social customs. Many scholars have proposed historical and genetic links between the Marsh Arabs and the ancient Sumerians based on shared agricultural practices and methods of house-building. There is, however, no record of the marsh tribes until the ninth century
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Bedouin
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The term contrasts against Hathar which refers to the city or town dwellers in the Arabic language. Bedouin means Badiyah dwellers in the Arabic language, as Badyah means literally the visible land, the Bedouins identify themselves as Arabs or by the names of their tribes. City dwellers in Arabia who descended from known tribes refer to themselves as Bedouins to recognize their origin to Arabia. Bedouin territory stretches from the vast deserts of North Africa to the sands of the Middle East. They are traditionally divided into tribes, or clans and share a culture of herding camels. The Bedouin form a part of, but are not synonymous with, Bedouins have been referred to by various names throughout history, including Qedarites in the Old Testament and Arabaa by the Assyrians. They are referred to as the Araab in the Koran, traditions like camel riding and camping in the deserts are also popular leisure activities for urbanised Bedouins who live within close proximity to deserts or other wilderness areas. The term Bedouin derives from a form of the Arabic word badu. The Arabic term badu literally translates in Arabic as Badiyah dwellers, the word bādiyah means visible land such as plain or desert. The term Bedouin therefore means those in bādiyah or those in the desert, in English usage, however, the form Bedouin is commonly used for the singular term, the plural being Bedouins, as indicated by the Oxford English Dictionary, second edition. The term Bedouin also uses the root word as the Arabic noun for the beginning, بداية. The Arabs believe the Bedouins to be the predecessors to the settled Arabs, disputes are settled, interests are pursued, and justice and order are maintained by means of this frame, according to an ethic of self-help and collective responsibility. The individual family unit typically consisted of three or four adults and any number of children, when resources were plentiful, several tents would travel together as a goum. These groups were linked by patriarchal lineage, but were just as likely linked by marriage, acquaintance, or no clearly defined relation. The next scale of interaction within groups was the ibn ʿamm or descent group, whilst the phrase descent group suggests purely a lineage-based arrangement, in reality these groups were fluid and adapted their genealogies to take in new members. The largest scale of tribal interactions is the tribe as a whole, the tribe often claims descent from one common ancestor—as mentioned above. The tribal level is the level that mediated between the Bedouin and the governments and organizations. Distinct structure of the Bedouin society leads to lasting rivalries between different clans
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Kurds
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The Kurds are culturally and linguistically closely related to the Iranian peoples and, as a result, are often themselves classified as an Iranian people. A recent Kurdish diaspora has also developed in Western countries, primarily in Germany, the Kurdish language refers collectively to the related dialects spoken by the Kurds. It is mainly spoken in parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria. Kurdish holds official status in Iraq as a national language alongside Arabic, is recognized in Iran as a regional language, the Kurdish languages belong to the northwestern sub‑group of the Iranian languages, which in turn belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family. According to Mackenzie, there are few features that all Kurdish dialects have in common. And the fact that this reflects the sense of ethnic identity and unity of the Kurds. The number of Kurds living in Southwest Asia is estimated at close to 30 million, Kurds comprise anywhere from 18% to 20% of the population in Turkey, possibly as high as 25%,15 to 20% in Iraq, 10% in Iran, and 9% in Syria. Kurds form regional majorities in all four of these countries, viz. in Turkish Kurdistan, the Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in West Asia after the Arabs, Persians, and Turks. The total number of Kurds in 1991 was placed at 22.5 million, with 48% of this number living in Turkey, 18% in Iraq, 24% in Iran, and 4% in Syria. Recent emigration accounts for a population of close to 1.5 million in Western countries and this groups population was estimated at close to 0.4 million in 1990. The land of Karda is mentioned on a Sumerian clay-tablet dated to the 3rd millennium B. C. This land was inhabited by the people of Su who dwelt in the regions of Lake Van. Other Sumerian clay-tables referred to the people, who lived in the land of Karda, as the Qarduchi and the Qurti. Many Kurds consider themselves descended from the Medes, an ancient Iranian people, the claimed Median descent is reflected in the words of the Kurdish national anthem, We are the children of the Medes and Kai Khosrow. The Kurdish languages form a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian languages like Median, some researchers consider the independent Kardouchoi as the ancestors of the Kurds. The term Kurd, however, is first encountered in Arabic sources of the seventh century, the Kurds have ethnically diverse origins. During the Sassanid era, in Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan, after initially sustaining a heavy defeat, Ardashir I was successful in subjugating the Kurds. In a letter Ardashir I received from his foe, Ardavan V, the usage of the term Kurd during this time period most likely was a social term, designating Northwestern Iranian nomads, rather than a concrete ethnic group
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Shabak people
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The Shabak people are an ethno-religious group. They speak Shabaki, a Northwestern Iranian language of the Zaza–Gorani group, in addition to the Shabaks, there are three other taifs, or sects, which make up the Bajalan, Dawoody and Zengana groups. About 90 percent of Shabaks follow Shabakism and the rest of the population are Yarsani or shia, a 1925 survey estimated Shabak numbers at 10,000. In the 1970s, their population was estimated to be around 15,000, modern estimates of Shabak population range from 130,000 to 500,000. Shabak are composed of three tribes, the Hariri, the Gergeri, and the Mawsilî, the origins of the word Shabak are not clear. One view maintains that Shabak is an Arabic word شبك meaning intertwine, the name Shabekan occurs among tribes in Tunceli, Turkey and Shabakanlu in Khorasan, which is located in the northeast region of Iran. Austin Henry Layard considered Shabak to be descendants of Persian Kurds, other theories suggested that Shabak originated from Anatolian Turkomans, who were forced to resettle in the Mosul area after the defeat of Ismail I at the battle of Chaldiran. The geographical range of the Shabak people was drastically changed by massive deportations during the Al-Anfal Campaign in 1988, many Shabaks along with Zengana and Hawrami were relocated to concentration camps located in the Harir area of Iraqi Kurdistan. An estimated 1,160 Shabaks were killed during this period, in addition, the Iraqi governments efforts of forced assimilation, Arabization and religious persecution put the Shabaks under increasing threat. As one Shabak told a researcher, The government said we are Arabs, not Kurds, even though the Sunni Shabak community identifies as Kurds, Shia Shabaks consider themselves a unique ethno-religious group. Salim al-Shabaki, a representative of Shabaks in the Iraqi parliament - The Shabaks are part of the Kurdish nation, in the Bashiqa sub district of the Mosul region, where Shabaks comprise 60 percent of the population, half of the city council members are of Kurdish origin. On 15 August 2005, Shabaks organized a demonstration under the slogan We are the Shabak, NOT Kurds and NOT Arabs, the demonstration came under fire from Kurdistan Democratic Party militia. 711 Assyrian and Shabak policemen were sent to Mosul while their positions in their communities were filled with Kurds. On 20 December 2006, ten Shabak representatives unanimously voted for the non-inclusion of Shabak inhabited areas of the Mosul region into the Kurdish Regional Government, a number of Shabak village aldermans noted that they were threatened into signing the incorporation petition by Kurdish authorities. On 13 July 2008, a group of unidentified armed men assassinated Abbas Kadhim, at the time of his murder, Kadhim was a member of the Democratic Shabak Assembly and an outspoken critic of the undergoing Kurdification process of the Shabak people. According to Shabak officials, Kadhim had received death threats from members of the Peshmerga. On 30 June 2011, the Nineveh provincial council distributed 6,000 lots of land to state employees, according to the head of the Shabak Advisory Board Salem Khudr al-Shabaki, the majority of those lots were deliberately given to Arabs. In 2009, Shabak lawmaker al-Qaddo survived an attempt in the Nineveh Plains. The attackers were wearing Kurdish security uniforms
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Assyrian people
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Assyrian people, or Syriacs, are an ethnic group indigenous to the Middle East. Some of them self-identify as Chaldeans, or as Arameans and they speak modern Aramaic, whose subdivisions include Northeastern, Central, and Western Neo-Aramaic, as well as another language, dependent on the country of residence. The Assyrians are typically Syriac-speaking Christians who claim descent from Assyria, one of the oldest civilizations in the world, the areas that form the Assyrian homeland are parts of present-day northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran and northeastern Syria. The majority have migrated to regions of the world, including North America, the Levant, Australia, Europe, Russia. Assyrians are predominantly Christian, mostly adhering to the East and West Syrian liturgical rites of Christianity, whereas the churches of the West Syrian rite, the Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church, mostly speak the Central and Western branches. According to a 2013 report by a Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council official, in prehistoric times, the region that was to become known as Assyria was home to Neanderthals such as the remains of those which have been found at the Shanidar Cave. The earliest Neolithic sites in Assyria belonged to the Jarmo culture c.7100 BC and Tell Hassuna, the history of Assyria begins with the formation of the city of Assur perhaps as early as the 25th century BC. The Assyrian king list records kings dating from the 25th century BC onwards, the earliest being Tudiya, who was a contemporary of Ibrium of Ebla. However, many of early kings would have been local rulers. In the traditions of the Assyrian Church of the East, they are descended from Abrahams grandson, however, there is no historical basis for the biblical assertion whatsoever, there is no mention in Assyrian records. The Assyrian people, after the fall of their empire, fell under foreign domination ever since, the Persian Empire was founded, which consumed the entire Neo-Babylonian or Chaldean Empire in 539 BC. Assyrians became front line soldiers for the Persian Empire under Xerxes I, the Assyrian army accounted for three legions of the Roman army, defending the Parthian border. In the 1st century, it was the Assyrian army that enabled Vespasians coup, from the later 2nd century, the Roman Senate included several notable Assyrians, including Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus and Avidius Cassius. From the 1st century BC, Assyria was the theatre of the protracted Roman–Persian Wars and it would become a Roman province from 116 to 363 AD. Despite the influx of foreign elements, the presence of Assyrians is confirmed by the worship of the god Ashur, the Greeks, Parthians, and Romans had a rather low-level of integration with the local population in Mesopotamia, which allowed their cultures to survive. The Assyrians were Christianized in the first to third centuries in Roman Syria, the population of the Sasanian province of Asōristān was a mixed one, composed of Assyrians, Arameans in the far south and the western deserts, and Persians. The Greek element in the cities, still strong during the Parthian Empire, the majority of the population were Eastern Aramaic speakers. Along with the Arameans, Armenians, Greeks, and Nabataeans, the Council of Seleucia of ca.325 dealt with jurisdictional conflicts among the leading bishops
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Armenians in Iraq
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The history of Armenians in Iraq is documented since late Babylonian times. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers both have their sources in the Armenian Highland, hence, the land of Iraq and the land of Armenia have always been connected. Today it is estimated there are around 10, 000-15,000 Armenians living in Iraq, with communities in Baghdad, Mosul, Basrah, Kirkuk and Dohuk, Zakho. They make up the second largest solely Christian ethnicity in the country, the history of Armenians in Iraq is documented since late Babylonian times. A further 25,000 Armenians arrived in Iraq during the twentieth century as they fled the persecution of the Armenian Genocide. They established schools, athletic and cultural clubs, and political, Saddam retained many Armenians among his personal entourage, his nanny was Iraqi-Armenian, along with one of his body guards, his jeweler, tailor, and housestaff. One of his mistresses was Juliet N. Gurjian, the Armenians benefited under the secularist rule of the Baath party, which strongly suppressed the Islamist forces especially the Shiite Iraqi elements that would later rise against Saddam. The Armenians also did not support anyone in the opposition so the Hussein regime count on their loyalty, during Christmas, Saddam Hussein would order large amount of flowers to be taken to the Baghdad Armenian church. After the launch of the second Iraqi campaign, more than 3,000 Armenians left the country, “Four years have passed since the launch of military campaign in Iraq by Coalition forces. And I confirm with certainty that the number of Armenians who have immigrated abroad does not exceed this mark, mr. Hakopian said four years ago there were 18,000 Armenians in Iraq and now only 15,000 of them live in the country. Generally during the past 4 years 1,500 Armenians immigrated to Syria, about 1,000 arrived in Armenia and about 500 departed for Jordan, many Armenians served in the military during Iraqs eight-year war with Iran and the Persian Gulf War. More than 130 from Zakho were killed in the conflict with Iran while three others, also from Zakho, were killed in air strikes in Kuwait, Basra. Civilian casualties in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, following the rebellion by the Kurds, with the invasion of Iraq, the situation for Armenians in Iraq worsened considerably. Armenians have been subject to killings and kidnappings for ransom, many Armenians have immigrated to other Middle Eastern countries, Europe, the US, Canada, and Australia. Armenian churches have also been target of bombings by paramilitary groups, in October 2007, two Armenian women in Iraq were killed by the Australian private security contractors, Unity Resources Group, in Almasbah district in Baghdad. The Armenian winner of the Miss Iraq competition went into hiding out of fear of being targeted by Islamic militants. Armenia took part in the efforts of the US-led Coalition by sending a group of 46 non-military personnel, including 30 truck drivers,10 bomb detonation experts and they served the under Polish command in the city of Karbala and the nearby town of Hillah. Armenians in Iraq are mostly members of the Armenian Apostolic Church or Armenian Catholic Church, St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church is the main church for the Armenians of Iraq
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Circassians in Iraq
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Circassians in Iraq are people of North Caucasian origin in Iraq, including Adyghes, Chechens and Dagestanis. Iraqis of North Caucasus origin mainly originate from Circassia, Chechnya, North Caucasian tribes which settled in Iraq include, Abkhaz, Adyghes, Kabardin, Shapsugs, Ingush, Chechens, Avars, Lezgins, and Kumyks. The migration of North Caucasians to Iraq goes back centuries, peaking during the Caucasian War. Adyghes came to Iraq in two waves, directly from Circassia, and later from the Balkans, Chechens and Dagestanis also settled in Iraq throughout the Ottoman era. Circassians also settled in numbers in other neighbouring countries including Turkey, Syria, Jordan. Like all Iraqis, Circassians in Iraq faced various hardships in the era, as Iraq suffered wars, sanctions, oppressive regimes. The overall number of Circassians or people of North Caucasus origin in Iraq is estimated to be between 30,000 and 50,000, however the number is unknown. It has been reported there are 30,000 Adyghe families in Baghdad alone. It is understood that many North Caucasians have ethnically assimilated into the Iraqi population, Chechens may comprise up to three-quarters of Iraqis of North Caucasian origin. Surnames such as Al-Daghestani, Al-Shishani, and Al-Sharkas are common among Iraqis of North Caucasian descent, North Caucasians have settled in all parts of Iraq, from Dohuk in the north to Basrah in the south. There are also several Circassian villages throughout Iraq, including a Chechen neighbourhood in Baghdad, North Caucasians in Iraq have integrated into Iraqi society while preserving their traditional North Caucasian culture and customs, such as the Khabze culture. They continue to preserve certain North Caucasian traditions in wedding ceremonies, birth ceremonies, and other special occasions, in 2004, the Al-Tadamun Society of Iraqi, Chechen, Dagestani and Circassian Tribes was formed in Kirkuk. This cultural organization seeks to bring together Iraqis of North Caucasian heritage, Al-Tadamun can be translated as Solidarity. North Caucasians in Iraq are predominantly Sunni Muslims like their counterparts in other countries. It is possible that a minority may also identify with Shia Islam, North Caucasians in Iraq speak a number of languages, including their native languages of either Adyghe, Chechen, or Lezgin, as well as Mesopotamian Arabic, Kurdish, or Turkmen. The native languages are spoken by the elder generations, with younger people usually speaking only Arabic or Kurdish. Many peoples of South Caucasus origin have settled in Iraq, including Armenians. Ethnic Georgians also settled in Iraq historically, and actually ruled the country through the 18th, the Georgians who settled in Iraq were Muslim and ultimately assimilated into the Iraqi population, as a Georgian-speaking community no longer exists in the country
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Dom people
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The Dom, of the Middle East, North Africa, Caucasus, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group. Some authors relate them to the Domba people of India, the Dom have an oral tradition and express their culture and history through music, poetry and dance. The world-wide used name for Gypsies to identify themselves is the term Htom, the words Rom, Dom and Lom are used to describe Romani peoples who diverged in the 6th century. Several tribes moved as far as Western Europe and are called Rom, while the ones who remained in Persia, among the various Domari subgroups, the Ghawazi are the most famous for their dancing and music. The Ghawazi dancers have been associated with the development of the Egyptian raqs sharqi style, the majority of the estimated population of 2.2 million live in Turkey, Egypt and Iran with significant numbers in Iraq. Smaller populations are found in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Jordan, Syria and other countries of the Middle East, the actual population is unknown as some Dom are excluded from national censuses and others label themselves in national terms rather than as Dom. Nowadays, they speak the dominant languages of their larger societies, iranians called them gurbati or kouli, both meaning foreigners. There is a concentration of Dom/Gypsies in Jordan. Researchers claim that, they accommodate Arab racism by hiding their ethnic identity, another group of Dom origin in Iran are the Lori, who are found in the Baloch regions of southeast Iran. There is also a small community with some colonial Romanichal ancestors in Malta. That community is called the Maltese Romanichal, the Iranian singer Googoosh wrote a song Koeli, in which she mentions the Dom people, the gypsies of Iran
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Iraqi Kurdistan
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Iraqi Kurdistan, officially called the Kurdistan Region by the Iraqi constitution, is located in the north of Iraq and constitutes the countrys only autonomous region. The region is governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government, with the capital being Erbil. Kurdistan is a democracy with its own regional Parliament that consists of 111 seats. Masoud Barzani, who was elected as president in 2005, was re-elected in 2009. In August 2013 the parliament extended his presidency for two years. His presidency concluded on 19 August 2015 after the parties failed to reach an agreement over extending his term. The new Constitution of Iraq defines the Kurdistan Region as an entity of Iraq. The four governorates of Duhok, Hawler, Silemani, and Halabja comprise around 41,710 square kilometres and have a population of 5.5 million. In 2014, during the 2014 Iraq Crisis, Iraqi Kurdistans forces also took much of the disputed territories of Northern Iraq. The establishment of the Kurdistan Region dates back to the March 1970 autonomy agreement between the Kurdish opposition and the Iraqi government after years of heavy fighting, further, the 1980–88 Iran–Iraq War, especially the Iraqi Armys Al-Anfal Campaign, devastated the population and environment of Iraqi Kurdistan. As Kurds continued to fight government troops, Iraqi forces finally left Kurdistan in October 1991, in 1992, the major political parties in the region, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, established the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government. The 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent political changes led to the ratification of a new constitution in 2005, the name Kurdistan literally means Land of the Kurds. The suffix -stan is Iranian for place of or country, in English translations of the Constitution of Iraq, it is called Kurdistan, four times in the phrase region of Kurdistan and once in the phrase Kurdistan region. The regional government calls it the Kurdistan Region, the full name of the government is the Kurdistan Regional Government, abbreviated KRG. Kurds also refer to the region as Başûrê Kurdistanê or Başûrî Kurdistan, during the Baath Party administration in the 1970s and 1980s, the region was called the Kurdish Autonomous Region. The Kurdistan Region is largely mountainous, with the highest point being a 3,611 m point known locally as Cheekha Dar, the mountains are part of the larger Zagros mountain range which also extends into Iran. There are many rivers running through the region, which is distinguished by its fertile lands, plentiful water, the Great Zab and the Little Zab flow from the east to the west in the region. The Tigris river enters Iraqi Kurdistan from Turkish Kurdistan, the mountainous nature of Iraqi Kurdistan, the difference of temperatures in its various parts, and its wealth of waters make it a land of agriculture and tourism
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Languages of the Caucasus
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Linguistic comparison allows these languages to be classified into several language families, with little or no discernible affinity to each other. However, the languages of the Caucasus are sometimes referred to as a family of languages. Three of these families have no current members outside the Caucasus, the term Caucasian languages is generally restricted to these families, which are spoken by about 11.2 million people. Kartvelian language family with a total of about 5.2 million speakers, includes Georgian, the official language of Georgia, with four million speakers, Svan, Mingrelian and Laz. Northeast Caucasian, also called the Nakho-Dagestanian or Caspian family, with a total of about 3.8 million speakers. Includes the Chechen language with 1.5 million speakers, the Avar language with 1 million speakers, the Ingush language with 500,000 speakers, the Lezgian language with 800,000 speakers, and others. Northwest Caucasian, also called the Abkhazo-Adyghean or Pontic family, with a total of about 2.5 million speakers, includes the Kabardian language, with one million speakers. It is commonly believed that all Caucasian languages have a number of consonants. Many of these features are shared with languages that have been in the Caucasus for a long time. The most promising proposals are connections between the Northeast and Northwest Caucasian families and each other or with languages spoken in Anatolia. Linguists such as Sergei Starostin see the Northeast and Northwest families as related and propose uniting them in a single North Caucasian family and this theory excludes the South Caucasian languages, thereby proposing two indigenous language families. There are no known affinities between the South Caucasian and North Caucasian families, nevertheless, some scholars have proposed the single name Ibero-Caucasian for all the Caucasian language families, North and South, in an attempt to unify the Caucasian languages under one family. Some linguists have claimed affinities between the Northwest Caucasian family and the extinct Hattic language of central Anatolia, see the article on Northwest Caucasian languages for details. Alarodian is a connection between Northeast Caucasian and the extinct Hurro-Urartian languages of Anatolia. Linguists such as Sergei Starostin have proposed a Dené–Caucasian macrofamily, which includes the North Caucasian languages together with Basque, Burushaski, Na-Dené, Sino-Tibetan and this proposal is rejected by most linguists. Other languages historically and currently spoken in the Caucasus area can be placed into families with a wider geographical distribution. The predominant Indo-European language in the Caucasus is Armenian, spoken by the Armenians, the Ossetians, speaking the Ossetian language, form another group of around 700,000 speakers. Two dialects of Neo-Aramaic are spoken in the Caucasus, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, with around 30,000 speakers, both of these were brought to the Caucasus by ethnic Assyrians fleeing Assyrian Genocide during World War One
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Religion in Iraq
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The major religion in Iraq is Islam, followed by about 95% of Iraqis. Christianity once constituted well over 20% of the population in Iraq, due to war many have fled. The other 5% consist of those following Christianity, Yazdanism, Shabakism, Judaism, many cities throughout Iraq have been areas of historical prominence for both Shia and Sunni Muslims, including Najaf, Karbala, Baghdad and Samarra. Iraqs Muslims follow two traditions, Shia and Sunni Islam. According to the 2016 CIA Factbook, Iraq is 99% Muslim, 60-65% Shia, a 2011 Pew Research Center Survey found that Iraqi Muslims are 51% Shia, 42% Sunni, and 5% described themselves as Just a Muslim. Iraq is home to religious sites important for both Shia and Sunni Muslims. Baghdad was a hub of Islamic learning and scholarship for centuries, the city of Karbala has substantial prominence in Shia Islam as a result of the Battle of Karbala, fought on the site of the modern city on October 10,680. Similarly, Najaf is renowned as the site of the tomb of Alī ibn Abī Tālib, the city is now a great center of pilgrimage from throughout the Shia Islamic world and it is estimated that only Mecca and Medina receive more Muslim pilgrims. The city of Kufa was home to the famed Sunni scholar Abu Hanifah and this has made it an important pilgrimage centre for Jafarī Shia Muslims. In addition, some relatives of the Prophet Mohammad are buried in Samarra, making the city one of the most significant sites of worship for Shia. Smaller sects of Islam exist in the country, such as the small Shia Shaykhist community concentrated in Basra, the Muslim population of Iraq is approximately 60–65 percent Shia, 15–20 percent Arab Sunni and 17 percent Kurdish. Iraqi Kurds are mainly secular Sunnis, with a sizeable Shia Feyli population, most Kurds are located in the northern areas of the country, with most following the Shafi school of Islamic law. With some being members of either the Qadiri or the Naqshbandi Sufi tariqah, Christianity was brought to Iraq in the first century by the Apostle Thomas, Addai and his pupils Aggagi and Mari. Thomas and Thaddeus belonged to the twelve Apostles, iraqs Chaldean minority represents roughly 3% of the population, mostly living in Northern Iraq, concentrated in the Ninewa and Dahuk governorates. There are no statistics, and estimates vary greatly. In 1950 Christians may have numbered 10-12% of the population of 5.0 million and they were 8% in a population of 16.3 million in 1987 and 1.5 million in 2003 of 23 million. An ongoing conflict in 2014 due to ISIS makes any population estimate uncertain, however, sources estimate that there are between 200, 000–300,000. It was a part of the Babylonian Captivity, after the 6 Day War in Israel, rioting caused the majority of Jews to flee
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Islam in Iraq
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The history of Islam in Iraq goes back almost 1,400 years to the lifetime of Muhammad. Iraqs Muslims follow two traditions, Shia and Sunni Islam. Arabic-speaking Shias are known as Iraqiyyuns, and Arabic-speaking Sunnis are known as Jaziran Arabs, Iraq is home to many religious cities important for both Shia and Sunni Muslims. Baghdad was a hub of Islamic learning and scholarship for centuries, the city of Karbala has substantial prominence in Shia Islam as a result of the Battle of Karbala, fought in October 10,680. Similarly, Najaf is renowned as the site of the tomb of Alī ibn Abī Tālib, the city is now a great center of pilgrimage from throughout the Shia Islamic world and it is estimated that only Mecca and Medina receive more Muslim pilgrims. The city of Kufa was home to the famed scholar Abu Hanifah and this has made it an important pilgrimage centre for Jafarī Shia Muslims. In addition, some relatives of Muhammad are buried in Samarra, making the city one of the most significant sites of worship for Shia. Smaller sects of Islam exist in the country, such as the small Shaykhist community concentrated in Basra, the Muslim population of Iraq is approximately Shia 60%-65% and Sunni 32%-37%. Iraqi Kurds are mostly Sunni, with about 10% being Shia Faili Kurds, most Kurds are located in the northern areas of the country, with most following the Shafi school of Islamic law but with some being members of either the Qadiri or the Naqshbandi Sufi tariqah. List of mosques in Baghdad Shia Islam in Iraq
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Christianity in Iraq
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The Christians of Iraq are considered to be one of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world. The vast majority are indigenous Eastern Aramaic-speaking ethnic Assyrians, Christians live primarily in Baghdad, Basra, Arbil and Kirkuk and in Assyrian towns and regions such as the Nineveh Plains in the north. Christians in Iraq are not allowed to proselytise, especially to Muslims, Muslims who change their faith to Christianity, are subject to societal and official pressure, which may lead to the death penalty. In Iraqi Kurdistan, Christians are allowed to proselytise, thomas and Thaddeus belonged to the twelve Apostles. Iraqs Eastern Aramaic-speaking Assyrian communities are believed to be among the oldest in the world, Christianity initially lived alongside Mesopotamian religion among the Assyrians, until the latter began to die out during the 4th century. However, from the late 13th century through to the present time, the Assyrian Church of the East has its origin in what is now South East Turkey and Assuristan. By the end of the 13th century there were twelve Nestorian dioceses in a strip from Peking to Samarkand, when the 14th-century Muslim warlord of Turco-Mongol descent, Timur, conquered Persia, Mesopotamia and Syria, the civilian population was decimated. Timur had 70,000 Assyrian Christians beheaded in Tikrit, and 90,000 more in Baghdad, a new epoch began in the 17th century when Emir Afrasiyab of Basra allowed the Portuguese to build a church outside of the city. In the year of Iraq´s formal independence,1933, the Iraqi military carried out massacres against the Assyrians which had supported the British colonial administration before. In the early 1930s, the Iraqi Arab ministries disseminated leaflets among the Kurds calling them to them to massacre Assyrians. This call appealed to Islamic convictions and united Arabs and Kurds against the infidel Christians, shortly before the August 11 Simmele massacre in 1933, Kurds began a campaign of looting against Assyrian settlements. The Assyrians fled to Simele, where they were also persecuted, according to some studies, there were many accounts by witnesses of numerous atrocities perpetrated by Arabs and Kurds on Assyrian women. In 1987, the last Iraqi census counted 1.4 million Christians and they were tolerated under the secular regime of Saddam Hussein, who even made one of them, Tariq Aziz, his deputy. However, persecution by Saddam Hussein continued against the Christians on an ethnic, cultural and racial level, over 2,000 Iraqi Christians were ethnically cleansed from their towns and villages under the al Anfal Campaign of 1988. Prior to the Gulf War in 1991, Christians numbered one million in Iraq, the Baathist rule under Saddam Hussein kept anti-Christian violence under control but subjected some to relocation programmes. Under this regime, the ethnically and linguistically distinct Assyrians were pressured to identify as Arabs. The Christian population fell to an estimated 800,000 during the 2003 Iraq War, just under 1,500,000 Christians were alleged in the region prior to August 2014. Despite that, persecution against the Christian population in Iraq had never been as brutal as it has been in the 13 years since the 2003 Iraq war, some of those refugees and IDPs were Christians
