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The
Republic of Iraq is a Middle Eastern country in southwestern Asia
encompassing most of Mesopotamia as well as the northwestern end of the
Zagros mountain range and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert. It
shares borders with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the
west, Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, and Iran to the east.
It has a very narrow section of coastline at Umm Qasr on the Persian
Gulf.
There are several suggestions for the origin of the name of Iraq; - one
dates back to the Sumerian city of Uruk (or Erech). Another suggestion
is that Iraq comes from the Aramaic language, meaning "the land along
the banks of the rivers."
Under the Persian Sassanid dynasty, there was a region called "Erak
Arabi" referring to part of the south western region of the Persian
Empire, which now is part of southern Iraq. Al-Iraq was the name used by
the Arabs themselves for the land since the 6th century.
Iraq was historically known as Mesopotamia, which literally means
"between the rivers" in Greek. This land was home to the world's first
civilization, the Sumerian culture, followed by the Akkadian,
Babylonian, and Assyrian cultures, whose influence extended into
neighboring regions as early as 5000 BC. These civilizations produced
the earliest writing and some of the first sciences, mathematics, laws
and philosophies in the world, making the region the center of what is
commonly called the "Cradle of Civilization". Ancient Mesopotamian
civilization dominated other civilizations of its time.
In the sixth century BC, the region became a part of the Persian Empire
under the Cyrus the Great, before it was conquered by Alexander the
Great and remained under Greek rule for nearly two centuries. A Central
Asian tribe of Iranian peoples called Parthians then annexed the region,
followed by the Sassanid Persians until the 7th century.
Beginning in the seventh century AD, Islam spread to what is now Iraq.
The prophet Mohammed's cousin and son-in-law moved his capital to Kufa "fi
al-Iraq" when he became the fourth caliph. The Umayyads ruling from
Damascus in the 7th century ruled the province of Iraq.
Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, was the leading city of
the Arab and Muslim world for five centuries. In 1258, Baghdad was
devastated by the Mongols and was later occupied by the Ottoman Turks.
Ottoman rule over Iraq lasted until the Great War (World War I) when the
Ottomans sided with Germany and the Central Powers. During World War I,
the Ottomans were driven from much of the area by the United Kingdom
during the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire
At the end of World War
I, the League of Nations granted the area to the United Kingdom as a
mandate. It was formed out of three former Ottoman vilayets (regions):
Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. However, for three out of four centuries of
Ottoman Turkish rule, the vilayets of Baghdad, Mosul, and Basra were
administered from Baghdad. During the British mandate, the country was
ruled by British colonial administrators who used the British armed
forces to put down rebellions against the government. They selected the
Hashemite king, Faisal, who had been forced out of Syria by the French
to be their client ruler.
Iraq was granted independence in 1932 by the urging of King Faisal,
though the British retained military bases and transit rights for their
forces in the country. King Ghazi of Iraq ruled as a figurehead after
King Faisal died in 1932, while Iraq suffered from military
coups(dictatorships) until he died in 1939. Iraq was invaded by the
United Kingdom in 1941, for fears that the government of Rashid Ali
might cut oil supplies to Western nations and because of his strong
leanings to Nazi Germany. A military occupation followed after the
restoration of the Hashemite monarchy, and the occupation ended on
October 26, 1947.The people who would rule the country during the
occupation and the remainder of the Hashemite monarchy period were the
autocratic prime minister Nuri al-Said who also ruled from 1930-1932 and
the advisor 'Abd al-Ilah to the king Faisal II.
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