Iraq
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Where is Iraq located?
Iraq is in the easternmost part of the Arab world, around the same latitude as the southern United States. It shares borders with Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Syria and Jordan to the west, and Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to the south. Iraq has a small coastline of 36 miles (58 km) on the northern end of the Persian Gulf.
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What is the capital city of Iraq?
The capital of Iraq is Baghdad. Founded in 762 CE, Baghdad is located on the Tigris River in the heart of ancient Mesopotamia. For 500 years, it was a significant cultural center of Arab and Islamic civilization. Baghdad became the capital of Iraq in 1920 and has grown into a modern metropolis. The city is divided by the Tigris River, with the east bank known as Ruṣāfah and the west bank as Al-Karkh.
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Which major rivers flow through Iraq?
Iraq is drained by the Tigris and Euphrates river system. Both rivers rise in the Armenian highlands of Turkey. The Tigris flows for 881 miles (1,417 km), and the Euphrates runs for 753 miles (1,212 km) through Iraq before converging near Al-Qurnah to form the Shatt al-Arab, which flows another 68 miles (109 km) into the Persian Gulf.
The Tigris has important tributaries, including the Great Zab, the Little Zab, and the Diyālā. At Al-Qurnah, the principal channel of the Tigris joins the Euphrates to form the Shatt al-Arab.
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What ancient civilizations developed in the area now known as Iraq?
The region now known as Iraq, historically referred to as Mesopotamia, saw the rise of some of the earliest civilizations. Sumer, one of the oldest known civilizations, emerged around 4500 to 4000 BCE. They established city-states like Kish, Erech, and Ur, made advancements in agriculture and trade, and are credited with inventing cuneiform, the first writing system.
The Akkadian Empire, founded by Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BCE, united the Sumerian city-states and expanded its influence across the Middle East. Babylon, another prominent city in ancient Mesopotamia, became the capital of Babylonia in the early 2nd millennium BCE and flourished under rulers like Hammurabi, who developed one of the earliest known legal codes. Later, the Assyrian Empire also controlled the region, with cities like Ashur and Nineveh becoming important centers of power.
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What are some important natural resources of Iraq?
Iraq is rich in natural resources, most notably petroleum, of which it has some of the world's largest reserves. It was once the second-largest oil-exporting state. Iraq also has large reserves of natural gas, but their exploitation lags behind that of oil.
Additionally, Iraq possesses significant sulfur and phosphate reserves, along with smaller quantities of salt and steel. Arable land makes up about one-eighth of the country's total area, with another tenth serving as permanent pasture.
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How has recent history shaped modern Iraq?
Modern Iraq's identity has been significantly shaped by recent historical events. The country, pieced together from three Ottoman provinces after World War I, is marked by religious and ethnic diversity. Fault lines between communities grew in the 20th century because authoritarian regimes exploited sectarian and ethnic divisions.
Saddam Hussein's rise to power in the 1970s, marked by the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, delayed infrastructure projects and damaged the country. The 1990 invasion of Kuwait led to the Persian Gulf War and UN sanctions, devastating Iraq's economy. The 2003 U.S.-led invasion, aimed at disarming Iraq, resulted in the fall of Saddam's regime and the rise of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). The CPA faced challenges in rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure amid an escalating insurgency. The emergence of ISIS in 2014 further destabilized the region, leading to widespread violence and displacement.
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News •
Iraq, country of southwestern Asia.
During ancient times, lands that now constitute Iraq were known as Mesopotamia (“Land Between the Rivers”), a region whose extensive alluvial plains gave rise to some of the world’s earliest civilizations, including those of Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria. This wealthy region, comprising much of what is called the Fertile Crescent, later became a valuable part of larger imperial polities, including sundry Persian, Greek, and Roman dynasties, and after the 7th century it became a central and integral part of the Islamic world. Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate in the 8th century. The modern nation-state of Iraq was created following World War I (1914–18) from the Ottoman provinces of Baghdad, Basra, and Mosul and derives its name from the Arabic term used in the premodern period to describe a region that roughly corresponded to Mesopotamia (ʿIrāq ʿArabī, “Arabian Iraq”) and modern northwestern Iran (ʿIrāq ʿAjamī, “foreign [i.e., Persian] Iraq”).
- Head Of Government:
- Prime Minister: Ali al-Zaidi
- Capital:
- Baghdad
- Population:
- (2026 est.) 46,752,0002
- Head Of State:
- President: Nizar Amedi
- Form Of Government:
- multiparty republic with one legislative house (Council of Representatives of Iraq [3291])
- Official Languages:
- Arabic; Kurdish
- Official Religion:
- Islam
- Official Name:
- الحمهورية العراقية (Al-Jumhūriyyah al-ʿIrāqiyyah; “Republic of Iraq”)
- Total Area (Sq Km):
- 435,052
- Total Area (Sq Mi):
- 167,974
- Monetary Unit:
- Iraqi dinar (ID)
- Population Rank:
- (2026) 35
- Population Projection 2030:
- 53,036,000
- Density: Persons Per Sq Mi:
- (2026) 278.3
- Density: Persons Per Sq Km:
- (2026) 107.5
- Urban-Rural Population:
- Urban: (2022) 69.9%
- Rural: (2022) 30.1%
- Life Expectancy At Birth:
- Male: (2021) 68.9 years
- Female: (2021) 73.9 years
- Gni (U.S.$ ’000,000):
- (2024) 277,443
- Gni Per Capita (U.S.$):
- (2024) 6,030
- Includes nine seats reserved for minorities.
- Includes about a million internally displaced persons and nearly 343,000 refugees and asylum-seekers (mostly from Syria).
Iraq gained formal independence in 1932 but remained subject to British imperial influence during the next quarter century of turbulent monarchical rule. Political instability on an even greater scale followed the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958, but the installation of an Arab nationalist and socialist regime—the Baʿath Party—in a bloodless coup 10 years later brought new stability. With proven oil reserves second in the world only to those of Saudi Arabia, the regime was able to finance ambitious projects and development plans throughout the 1970s and to build one of the largest and best-equipped armed forces in the Arab world. The party’s leadership, however, was quickly assumed by Saddam Hussein, a flamboyant and ruthless autocrat who led the country into disastrous military adventures—the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) and the Persian Gulf War (1990–91). These conflicts left the country isolated from the international community and financially and socially drained, but—through unprecedented coercion directed at major sections of the population, particularly the country’s disfranchised Kurdish minority and the Shiʿi majority—Saddam himself was able to maintain a firm hold on power into the 21st century. He and his regime were toppled in 2003 during the Iraq War.
Land
Iraq is one of the easternmost countries of the Arab world, located at about the same latitude as the southern United States. It is bordered to the north by Turkey, to the east by Iran, to the west by Syria and Jordan, and to the south by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Iraq has 36 miles (58 km) of coastline along the northern end of the Persian Gulf, giving it a tiny sliver of territorial sea. Followed by Jordan, it is thus the Middle Eastern state with the least access to the sea and offshore sovereignty.
Relief
Iraq’s topography can be divided into four physiographic regions: the alluvial plains of the central and southeastern parts of the country; Al-Jazīrah (Arabic: “the Island”), an upland region in the north between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; deserts in the west and south; and the highlands in the northeast. Each of these regions extends into neighbouring countries, although the alluvial plains lie largely within Iraq.
Alluvial plains
The plains of lower Mesopotamia extend southward some 375 miles (600 km) from Balad on the Tigris and Al-Ramādī on the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf. They cover more than 51,000 square miles (132,000 square km), almost one-third of the country’s area, and are characterized by low elevation, below 300 feet (100 metres), and poor natural drainage. Large areas are subject to widespread seasonal flooding, and there are extensive marshlands, some of which dry up in the summer to become salty wastelands. Near Al-Qurnah, where the Tigris and Euphrates converge to form the Shaṭṭ al-ʿArab, there are still some inhabited marshes. The alluvial plains contain extensive lakes. The swampy Lake Al-Ḥammār (Hawr al-Ḥammār) extends 70 miles (110 km) from Basra (Al-Baṣrah) to Sūq al-Shuyūkh; its width varies from 8 to 15 miles (13 to 25 km).
Al-Jazīrah
North of the alluvial plains, between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, is the arid Al-Jazīrah plateau. Its most prominent hill range is the Sinjār Mountains, whose highest peak reaches an elevation of 4,448 feet (1,356 metres). The main watercourse is the Wadi Al-Tharthār, which runs southward for 130 miles (210 km) from the Sinjār Mountains to the Tharthār (Salt) Depression. Milḥat Ashqar is the largest of several salt flats (or sabkhahs) in the region.
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Deserts
Western and southern Iraq is a vast desert region covering some 64,900 square miles (168,000 square km), almost two-fifths of the country. The western desert, an extension of the Syrian Desert, rises to elevations above 1,600 feet (490 metres). The southern desert is known as Al-Ḥajarah in the western part and as Al-Dibdibah in the east. Al-Ḥajarah has a complex topography of rocky desert, wadis, ridges, and depressions. Al-Dibdibah is a more sandy region with a covering of scrub vegetation. Elevation in the southern desert averages between 300 and 1,200 feet (100 to 400 metres). A height of 3,119 feet (951 metres) is reached at Mount ʿUnayzah (ʿUnāzah) at the intersection of the borders of Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. The deep Wadi Al-Bāṭin runs 45 miles (75 km) in a northeast-southwest direction through Al-Dibdibah. It has been recognized since 1913 as the boundary between western Kuwait and Iraq.