- published: 24 Jan 2010
- views: 3643
- author: FortKnox69
Vimeo results:
Youtube results:
MORE VIDEOS
Loading...
Open Collage in a new Window
Email the Collage
- Loading...
Loading suggestions ...
- Abbassid
- Abu Al-Khaseeb
- Abu Ghraib District
- Achaemenid
- Adhamiyah
- Afaq
- Afaq District
- Agatha Christie
- Ain Al-Tamur
- Ain Sifni
- Airdrop
- Ak Koyunlu
- Al Anbar Governorate
- Al Istiqlal District
- Al Rashid, Baghdad
- Al Tarmia District
- Al-Ba'aj
- Al-Ba'aj District
- Al-Chibayish
- Al-Daur
- Al-Daur District
- Al-Faw
- Al-Faw District
- Al-Hadba FC
- Al-Hai
- Al-Hai District
- Al-Hawiga
- Al-Hawiga District
- Al-Hindiya
- Al-Hindiya District
- Al-Jalili family
- Al-Ka'im
- Al-Kahla
- Al-Kahla District
- Al-Khalis
- Al-Khalis District
- Al-Khidhir
- Al-Khidhir District
- Al-Mada'in District
- Al-Mahawil
- Al-Mahawil District
- Al-Maimouna
- Al-Maimouna District
- Al-Manathera
- Al-Mejar Al-Kabi
- Al-Midaina
- Al-Midaina District
- Al-Mishraq
- Al-Muqdadiya
- Al-Musayab
- Al-Musayab District
- Al-Na'maniya
- Al-Omari
- Al-Qa'im District
- Al-Qaeda
- Al-Qurna
- Al-Qurna District
- Al-Rifa'i
- Al-Rifa'i District
- Al-Rumaitha
- Al-Rumaitha District
- Al-Rutba
- Al-Salman
- Al-Salman District
- Al-Samawa District
- Al-Shamiya
- Al-Shamiya District
- Al-Shatra
- Al-Shatra District
- Al-Shirqat
- Al-Shirqat District
- Al-Suwaira
- Al-Suwaira District
- Al-Zubair
- Al-Zubair District
- Albania
- Aleppo
- Ali Al-Gharbi
- Alqosh
- Amadiya
- Amadiya District
- Amara District
- Amarah
- Amittai
- Anabasis (Xenophon)
- Anah
- Anah District
- Anatolia
- Ansar al-Islam
- Aq Qoyunlu
- Aqrah
- Aqrah District
- Ar Rutba District
- Arab
- Arab Christians
- Arab people
- Arabic
- Arabic language
- Arabs
- Arbil
- Arbil Governorate
- Architectural
- Armenian language
- Armenians
- Armistice of Mudros
- Asenath Barzani
- Ashurbanipal
- Ashurnasirpal II
- Associated Press
- Assyria
- Assyrian people
- Assyrians
- Atabeg
- Ba'ath party
- Ba'ath Party
- Ba'quba
- Ba'quba District
- Babil Governorate
- Babylon
- Badr al-Din Lu'lu'
- Badra District
- Badra, Iraq
- Baghdad
- Baghdad Governorate
- Baiji District
- Baiji, Iraq
- Bakhdida
- Balad District
- Balad, Iraq
- Baladrooz
- Baladrooz District
- Bash Tapia Castle
- Basra
- Basra Governorate
- Basrah
- Basrah District
- Batman River
- Battle of Ain Jalut
- Benjamin of Tudela
- Bismil
- Book frontispiece
- Botan River
- Budh-Ardhashīr
- Buyid dynasty
- Cairo
- Caliph
- Castles
- Chamchamal
- Chamchamal District
- Choman District
- Christianization
- Christians
- Church (building)
- Cizre
- CNN
- Coalition
- Cush (Bible)
- Cyaxares the Great
- Damascus
- Daquq
- Daquq District
- Darbandokeh
- Darbandokeh District
- David
- Decorative
- Dhi Qar Governorate
- Districts of Iraq
- Diwaniya
- Diwaniya District
- Diyala Governorate
- Diyala River
- Diyarbakir
- Diyarbakır
- Dohuk District
- Dohuk Governorate
- Dohuk, Iraq
- Dokan District
- Dominican Order
- Exilarch
- Falluja
- Falluja District
- Fallujah
- Football (soccer)
- Galen
- Geography of Iraq
- Geography of Syria
- Geography of Turkey
- Great Seljuq Empire
- Great War
- Great Zab
- Haditha
- Haditha District
- Hajj
- Halabja
- Halabja District
- Halliburton
- Hamdanid
- Hamza
- Hamza District
- Hasankeyf
- Hashimiya
- Hashimiya District
- Hatra
- Hatra District
- Hawar Mulla Mohammed
- Hilla
- Hilla District
- Hormuzd Rassam
- Hulegu
- Hīt
- Hīt District
- Ibid.
- Ibn Battuta
- Idem
- Ignatius Zakka I
- Ilkhanid
- Iran
- Iran–Iraq War
- Iraq
- Iraqi Airways
- Iraqi Arabic
- Iraqi Kurdistan
- Iraqi Parliament
- Iraqi premier League
- Iraqi Turkmen
- Jalayrid
- Jami' al-tawarikh
- Jews
- Jonah
- Jordan
- Kadhimiya
- Kadhimyah
- Kalar District
- Kalar, Iraq
- Karadah
- Karbala Governorate
- Karkh
- Kathem Al Saher
- Kerbala
- Kerbala District
- Khabur (Tigris)
- Khanaqin
- Khanaqin District
- Kifri
- Kifri District
- King Esarhaddon
- Kirkuk
- Kirkuk District
- Kirkuk Governorate
- Koisanja
- Koisanjaq District
- Kufa
- Kufa District
- Kufic
- Kurd
- Kurdish language
- Kurdish people
- Kurds
- Kut
- Kut District
- Kuyunjik
- League of Nations
- Lebanon
- Levantine Arabic
- Lingua franca
- Little Zab
- Liwa (Arabic)
- Loc. cit.
- Mahmoudiyah, Iraq
- Mahmudiya District
- Maimonides
- Makhmur
- Makhmur District
- Mamluk
- Mandean
- Mansour district
- Mar Hudeni Church
- Mar Matte
- Mar Petion Church
- Marble
- Mawdud
- Maysan Governorate
- Mecca
- Mede
- Median Empire
- Mediterranean
- Mediterranean Basin
- Mergasur District
- Mesopotamia
- Mihrab
- Minaret
- Monasteries
- Mongol
- Mongol Empire
- Mosque
- Mosques
- Mosul
- Mosul Dam
- Mosul District
- Mosul FC
- Mosul Museum
- Mosul Stadium
- Mosul Vilayet
- Muhammad bin Qasim
- Mujahidi Mosque
- Munir Bashir
- Muslin
- Nabopolassar
- Najaf
- Najaf District
- Najaf Governorate
- Nassriya
- Nassriya District
- Nebi Yunus
- Neo-Aramaic
- Nestorian Church
- Nimrod
- Nimrud
- Ninawa Governorate
- Ninevah
- Nineveh
- Nineveh plains
- Nineveh Province
- Nineveh ruins
- No-fly zones
- Old Testament
- Ottoman Empire
- Palestine
- Parthian Empire
- Pasha
- Paulos Faraj Rahho
- Penjwin
- Penjwin District
- Persia
- Peshmerga
- Petroleum
- Pope Benedict XIV
- Portal Iraq
- Portal Kurdistan
- Prophet
- Province
- Pshdar
- Pshdar District
- Qal'at Saleh
- Qara Serai
- Qusay Hussein
- Railway turntable
- Ramadi
- Ramadi District
- Ranya
- Ranya District
- Religions
- Rusafa
- Saddam Hussein
- Sadr City
- Safawid
- Saladin
- Samarra
- Samarra District
- Samawa
- Sasanian
- Sassania
- Sassanid Persia
- Schools
- Seleucid Empire
- Semi-arid climate
- Sennacherib
- Shabak people
- Shamoun Al-Safa
- Shaqlawa
- Shaqlawa District
- Sharbazher
- Sharbazher District
- Shatt Al-Arab
- Shekhan District
- Sindh
- Sinjar
- Sinjar District
- Soran District
- Souk
- Special forces
- Stryker
- Suez Canal
- Suicide bomber
- Sulaymaniya
- Sulaymaniya District
- Sulfur dioxide
- Sultan
- Sumel
- Sumel District
- Sunni
- Suq Al-Shoyokh
- Syriac language
- Sāmānid
- Taha Yassin Ramadan
- Taji District
- Tamerlan
- Tariff
- Tariq Aziz
- Tel Afar
- Tel Afar District
- Tel Keppe
- Tel Keppe District
- Template Refref
- Template talk Tigris
- Template Tigris
- The Pentagon
- Tigris
- Tigris River
- Tikrit
- Tikrit District
- Time zone
- Tooz
- Tooz District
- Tourism in Mosul
- Treaty of Lausanne
- Turkey
- Turkish language
- Turkmen language
- Turkmen people
- Turkmens
- Uday Hussein
- Umar ibn al-Khattab
- Umar ibn Al-Khattab
- Umayyads
- United States Army
- University
- University of Mosul
- Uqaylids
- Urban area
- Vilayet
- Waleed Kashmoula
- Wasit Governorate
- Wikipedia Footnotes
- Wikipedia Link rot
- Wilayah
- World War I
- Xenophon
- Yarsan
- Yazidi
- Yezidi
- Zakho
- Zakho District
- Zangi
- Zangid
- Zengid dynasty
-
Achaemenid
The Achaemenid Empire (/ækəˈmɛnɪˌdi/; Old Persian: Parsā, name of ruling dynasty: Haxāmanišiya) (c. 550–330 BCE), sometimes known as First Persian Empire, was an Iranian empire in Southwest Asia, founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation. It expanded to eventually rule over significant portions of the ancient world which at around 500 BCE stretched from the Indus Valley in the east, to Thrace and Macedon on the northeastern border of Greece making it the biggest empire the world had yet seen. The Achaemenid Empire would eventually control Egypt as well. It was ruled by a series of monarchs who unified its disparate tribes and nationalities by constructing a complex network of roads.
Calling themselves the Parsa after their original Aryan tribal name Parsua, Persians settled in a land which they named Parsua, bounded on the west by the Tigris River and on the south by the Persian Gulf. This became their heartland for the duration of the Achaemenid Empire. It was from this region that eventually Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II of Persia) would advance to defeat the Median, the Lydian, and the Babylonian Empires, opening the way for subsequent conquests into Egypt and Asia minor.
wn.com/Achaemenid -
Afaq District
Afaq District is a district of the Al Muthanna Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Afaq_District -
Al Anbar Governorate
Anbar Province (Arabic: الأنبار; al-’Anbār) (or Al Anbar Governorate) is the largest province in Iraq geographically. Encompassing much of the country's western territory, it shares borders with Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. The provincial capital is Ramadi, other important cities include Fallujah and Haditha.
Before 1976 the province was known as Ramadi; before 1962, it was known as Dulaim. in 1976 it was renamed Al Anbar Province.
All the inhabitants of the province are Sunni Muslims and mostly from the Dulaim tribe.
The name of the province is from the Arabic انبار, ’Anbār, which means "granaries," in Arabic as this region was the primary entrepot on the western borders of Lakhmid Kingdom.
Geographically, Anbar province consider part of the Arabian Peninsula. The region's geography is a combination of steppe and true desert, characterised by a desert climate, low rainfall and a large variation in temperature between day and night. Summer temperatures rise to 42 degrees Celsius, whilst in the winter average lows reach 9 degrees Celsius. The northwesterly and southwesterly winds are sometimes to a maximum speed of 21 m / sec. Average rainfall in winter to 115mm.[citation needed]
wn.com/Al_Anbar_Governorate -
Al Istiqlal District
Al Istiqlal District is a district of the Baghdad Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al_Istiqlal_District -
Al Rashid, Baghdad
Rasheed or Al Rashid is one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad, Iraq. Located in southern Baghdad, includes the Baiyaa and Dora neighborhoods.
It is a predominantly Sunni Muslim area.
The 18-story Hotel Al-Rasheed is one of the most prominent landmarks, and is frequented by journalists and media personnel. Named after Harun Al-Rashid, it became well known in the western media during the 1991 Persian Gulf War when CNN conducted their newscasts from the hotel. Between the Persian Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the building was the main housing facility for wealthy western businessmen and diplomats and the press.
After the invasion, the hotel was converted into a base for the Coalition and the American military. On October 26, 2003 it was subject to a Katyusha rocket attack which killed Lieutenant Colonel Charles H. Buehring and injuring 17 others. A large tile mosaic depicting George H.W. Bush was installed on the floor of the lobby after the Persian Gulf War. In Arab culture walking over a face is seen as a serious insult and was created with the intent to force any visitors to walk over his face when they entered the hotel. The mosaic was destroyed by U.S. soldiers in 2003.
wn.com/Al_Rashid,_Baghdad -
Al Tarmia District
Al Tarmia District is a district of the Baghdad Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al_Tarmia_District -
Al-Ba'aj District
Al-Ba'aj District is a district of the Ninawa Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Ba'aj_District -
Al-Daur District
Al-Daur District is a district of the Salah ad Din Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Daur_District -
Al-Faw District
Al-Faw District is a district of the Basra Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Faw_District -
Al-Hai District
Al-Hai District is a district of the Wasit Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Hai_District -
Al-Hawiga
Hawija (Arabic: الحويجة,Al Hawyjah) is a town near Kirkuk north of Baghdad.
Hawijah is in the Al-Tamim province of Iraq and approximately 30 miles south of Kirkuk. There are approximately 450,000 people in and around Hawijah with an estimated 80% Sunni Population. While the city itself has about 150.000 with 98% Sunni population.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have experienced numerous lethal attacks in the area from Sunni insurgents. As of March 2006, the area of Hawijah was considered one of the most dangerous in all of Iraq with US soldiers and the foreign press corps in Baghdad dubbing Hawija "Anbar of the North," a reference to the violence wracked province in Western Iraq.
The closest US base to Hawija is FOB McHenry. FOB McHenry was established in 2003 by Alpha Company 1-12 infantry who had been operating out of an abandoned school in the town of Hawijah. As of May 2005 FOB McHenry was home to around 500 US soldiers.[citation needed] In March 2006, Soldiers in 1st Battalion 327th infantry regiment at FOB McHenry were finding 3-5 road-side bombs a day.[citation needed] From November 1, 2005 through March 2006 medics treated 120 trauma cases.[citation needed] Nine members of the brigade as of March 2006 have died in combat in Hawijah proper,[citation needed] most from a single company, C Co. 1-327th Inf, call sign 'Cold Steel.'
wn.com/Al-Hawiga -
Al-Hawiga District
Al-Hawiga District is a district of the Kirkuk Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Hawiga_District -
Al-Hindiya District
Al-Hindiya District is a district of the Karbala Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Hindiya_District -
Al-Kahla District
Al-Kahla District is a district of the Maysan Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Kahla_District -
Al-Khalis District
Al-Khalis District is a district of the Diyala Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Khalis_District -
Al-Khidhir District
Al-Khidhir District is a district of the Al Muthanna Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Khidhir_District -
Al-Mada'in District
Al-Mada'in District is a district of the Baghdad Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Mada'in_District -
Al-Maimouna District
Al-Maimouna District is a district of the Maysan Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Maimouna_District -
Al-Midaina District
Al-Midaina District is a district of the Basra Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Midaina_District -
Al-Na'maniya
An Numaniyah (Arabic,النعمانية) is a city on the Tigris river in Iraq, located roughly 90 miles (140 km) southeast of Baghdad in the Wasit Province. It is the site of one of four national training centers for the Iraqi Army.
It is also the site of a base that was built by the Hussein regime and constructed by Yugoslavian contractors Mostogradnja. Following the beginning of the Iraq War, it changed its purpose September 1, 2004 to operate as a training base for new recruits and serve as the home station for three battalions of the Iraqi Intervention Force – the Iraqi army's counterinsurgency wing.
According to Globalsecurity.org, "An Numaniyah Airbase is located in Southern Iraq approximately 294 kilometers South of Baghdad. The airfield is served by a single 9,700-foot (3,000 m) long runway. An Numaniyah Airbase occupies a 17 square kilometer site and is protected by a 18 kilometers security perimeter."
wn.com/Al-Na'maniya -
Al-Qurna District
Al-Qurna District is a district of the Basra Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Qurna_District -
Al-Rifa'i District
Al-Rifa'i District is a district of the Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Rifa'i_District -
Al-Rumaitha District
Al-Rumaitha District is a district of the Al Muthanna Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Rumaitha_District -
Al-Salman District
Al-Salman District is a district of the Al Muthanna Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Salman_District -
Al-Samawa District
Al-Samawa District is a district of the Al Muthanna Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Samawa_District -
Al-Shamiya District
Al-Shamiya District is a district of the Al Muthanna Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Shamiya_District -
Al-Shatra District
Al-Shatra District is a district of the Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Shatra_District -
Al-Shirqat District
Al-Shirqat District is a district of the Salah ad Din Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Shirqat_District -
Al-Suwaira District
Al-Suwaira District is a district of the Wasit Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Suwaira_District -
Al-Zubair District
Al-Zubair District is a district of the Basra Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Al-Zubair_District -
Albania
Albania (
i/ælˈbeɪniə/ al-BAY-nee-ə, Albanian: Shqipëri/Shqipëria; Gheg Albanian: Shqipnia), officially known as the Republic of Albania (Albanian: Republika e Shqipërisë pronounced Albanian pronunciation: [ɾɛpuˈblika ɛ ʃcipəˈɾiːs]), is a country in Southern Europe. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west, and on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. It is less than 72 km (45 mi) from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which links the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea.
Albania is a member of the UN, NATO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Council of Europe, World Trade Organisation, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and one of the founding members of the Union for the Mediterranean. Albania has been a potential candidate for accession to the European Union since January 2003, and it formally applied for EU membership on 28 April 2009.
wn.com/Albania -
Alqosh
Alqōsh or Alqūsh (Classical Syriac: ܐܠܩܘܫ, Arabic: ألقوش) is one of the most famous Assyrian towns of the mainly East Syrian rite in Iraq. It is located (50 km) north of Mosul. The name Alqosh (or Elqosh) is derived from an Akkadian name Eil-Kushtu, where "Eil" means God and "Kushtu" means righteousness or power. Therefore, Elqosh, or as casually pronounced Alqosh, means "The God of Righteousness" or "The God of Power."The name "Alqosh" could also be originated from the Aramaic "Eil Qushti," which means "The God of the Bow." Here, an association could be drawn in conjunction with the winged disk symbol of God Ashur holding a bow. Meanwhile, in Aramaic language, rainbow is referred to as "Qeshta d' Maran," therefore, the meaning of the "Bow of Our Lord," is possible as well. Alqosh is known also as Yimma d' Athor (Mother of Assyria) or Yimma d' Mathwatha (Mother of all Villages). Alqosh has adorned the Bayhidhra mountains for more than twenty five centuries. The town glowingly reigns over Nineveh's northern plateau known for its fertile soil and extends southward across the other Assyrian/Chaldean towns, such as, Telassqopa (Tel Skuf), Baqofah, Batnaya, and Tel Keppe.
wn.com/Alqosh -
Amadiya
Amadiya (also spelled "Amediyah", "Amadia", "Amedi", "al-Amadiyah" or other variations), is a small Assyrian and Kurdish town along a tributary to the Great Zab in the Dahuk Governorate of Iraqi Kurdistan. The town is perched on a mountain, formerly only accessible by a narrow stairway cut into the rock. The history of this city goes back to 3000 years B.C. to the time of ancient Assyria, since it has always been a strategic place as it is built on the flat top of a mountain. For several centuries, after the expulsion of the caliphs from Baghdad, it was ruled by a pasha, a prince who was from the royal Abbas family, reputed to be one of the richest rulers in the region.
The region in which the city rests is also believed to have been the home of the Magi or priests of Ancient Persia. Amedia is believed to be the home of some of the most significant Magi priests, the Biblical Magi or the "Three Wise Men", who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to see Jesus Christ shortly after his birth.
There are also ruins from the Assyrian era and ruins of a synagogue and a church in the small town. At the turn of the 19th century, the population already numbered 6,000, of whom 2,500 were Kurds, 1,900 Jews and 1,600 Assyrians.
wn.com/Amadiya -
Amara District
Amara District is a district of the Maysan Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Amara_District -
Amarah
Amarah (Arabic: العمارة; BGN: Al ‘Amārah; also spelled Amara), is a city in southeastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km from the border with Iran. It lies at the northern tip of the marshlands between the Tigris and Euphrates.
Predominantly Shia Muslim, it had a population of about 340,000 as of 2002 and about 420,000 as of 2005. It is the administrative capital of the Maysan province. A major trading center for the surrounding agricultural area, it is known for woven goods and silverware.
The city was founded in the 1860s as an Ottoman military outpost from which the empire tried to control the warring Banu Lam and Al Bu Muhammad tribes.
In 1915 Amarah was captured by the British. Before the revolution in 1958 Amarah was known for its feudal system with local estate-holders maintaining private militias.
During the eight year Iran–Iraq War, Amarah and the surrounding province became the sight of several battles, notably Operation Before the Dawn launched by Iran. Since the Baghdad-Basra highway cut through the province, Iran targeted the area due to its strategic significance to the Iraqis.
wn.com/Amarah -
Anah
Anah, or Ana, is an Iraqi town on the Euphrates river, approximately mid-way between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Persian Gulf.
It is called Hanat in a Babylonian letter, (about 2200 BC), a-na-at by the scribes of Tukulti-Ninurta (885 BC), and An-at by the scribe of Assur-nasir-pal (879 B.C.), Anatho (Isidore Charax), Anatha (Ammianus Marcellinus) by Greek and Latin writers in the early Christian centuries, Ana (sometimes, as if plural, Anat) by Arabic writers. The name has been connected with that of the deity Anat. Descendants with origins from Anah are commonly referred to as "Alanie", literally meaning "the one from Anah" in Arabic.
Whilst Anah has thus retained its name for forty-two centuries the site is variously described. Most early writers concur in placing it on an island; so Tukulti-Ninurta II, Assur-nasir-pal, Isidore, Ammianus Marcellinus, Ibn Serapion, al-Istakri, Abulfeda and al-Karamani. Ammianus calls it a munimentum, Theophylactus Simocattato 'Anathon frourion, Zosimus a frourion, opp. Fathusai, which may be the Beth(th) ina of Ptolemy (v. 19).Leonhart Rauwolff, in AD 1574, found it "divided ... into two towns," the one "Turkish," "so surrounded by the river, that you cannot go into it but by boats," the other, much larger, on the Arabian side of the river.
wn.com/Anah -
Anatolia
Coordinates: 39°N 32°E / 39°N 32°E / 39; 32
Anatolia (from Greek Ἀνατολή Anatolē — "east" or "(sun)rise"; also Asia Minor, from Greek: Μικρὰ Ἀσία Mikrá Asía "small Asia"; in modern Turkish: Anadolu) is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west. The Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Iskenderun and the Black Sea, approximately corresponding to the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. However, since Anatolia is now often considered to be synonymous with Asian Turkey, its eastern and southeastern borders are widely taken to be the Turkish borders with the neighboring countries, which are Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq and Syria, in clockwise direction.
wn.com/Anatolia -
Aqrah
Aqrah (Kurdish Akrê, ئاکرێ; Syriac: ܥܩܪܐ ʻaqra) is a city and district in Iraq which is located in the Ninawa Governorate. The total area of the district is (6418) km2. It was formed in 1877 by the Ottoman Empire and the city of Aqrah became the center of the district.
The population is mainly Kurds, but with an Assyrian minority. Defend International President Widad Akrawi, the Kurdish film director, Hiner Saleem, and the Iraqi Ambassador to Vienna, Tariq Aqrawi, were born in this city.
Coordinates: 36°44′29″N 43°53′36″E / 36.74139°N 43.89333°E / 36.74139; 43.89333
wn.com/Aqrah -
Arbil
Erbil (Hewlêr in Roman-alphabet Kurdish) (also written Arbil, or Irbil) (Akkadian: Arba-ilu; Arabic: اربيل Arbīl; Kurdish: ھەولێر Hewlêr; Sumerian: Urbilum; Syriac-Aramaic: ܐܪܒܝܠ Arbaelo) is, with a population of approximately 1.3 million (2009), the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul. It is located 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of Mosul, and is the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Urban life at Erbil can be dated back to at least 6000 BC, and it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. At the heart of the city is the ancient Citadel of Arbil. The Hurrians were the first to establish Urbilum and expand their rule to the rest of northern Mesopotamia. The city has since been under the rule of many regional powers, including the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Arabs, and the Ottomans. Erbil's archaeological museum houses a large collection of pre-Islamic artifacts, and is a center for archaeological projects in the area.
The name Erbil was mentioned in Sumerian holy writings (c. 2000 BC) as Urbilum, Urbelum or Urbillum, and it may be Sumerian in origin. It is thought to originate from Sumerian UR (city) + BELA (high) meaning the city located in the upper area. The initial ar element also appears in a number of Hurrian place names.
wn.com/Arbil -
Arbil Governorate
Erbil Province or Governorate (Arabic: أربيل Arbīl, Kurdish: Hawler, Syriac: ܐܪܒܝܠ Arbel, Turkmen: Erbil) is one of the provinces of Iraq, located in the autonomous Kurdistan Region. It derives its name from the city of Erbil, which is also its capital.
The province of Erbil covers an area of 15,074 square kilometres (5,820 sq mi) in the north of Iraq, with an estimated population (in 2003) of 1,314,000 people. It is largely populated by Kurds but has minority populations of Assyrians, Iraqi Arabs, and Iraqi Turkmen
There are many national and international banks operating in Erbil offering citizens and visitors services, including but not limited to:
wn.com/Arbil_Governorate -
Babil Governorate
Babylon Province (Arabic: بابل Bābil) (or Babil Governorate) is a province in central Iraq. It has an area of 5,603 square kilometres (2,163 sq mi), with an estimated population of 1,385,783 people in 2003. The provincial capital is the city of Hillah, which lies opposite the ancient city of Babylon (بابل), on the Euphrates river.
The ancient city of Babylon in present-day Babylon Province was the capital of ancient Babylonia, situated on the Euphrates river south of Baghdad, Iraq.
The city was occupied from the 3rd millennium BC but became important early in the 2nd millennium under the kings of the First Dynasty of Babylon. The sixth king of this dynasty was Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC) who made Babylon the capital of a vast empire and is best remembered for his code of laws.
The city achieved pre-eminence when Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC) extended the Babylonian Empire over most of Western Asia.
wn.com/Babil_Governorate -
Badra District
Badra District is a district of the Wasit Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Badra_District -
Badra, Iraq
Badra (Arabic,بدرة , Kurdish Bedre) is a town in south eastern Iraq near the Iraqi-Iranian borders in Wasit Governorate. Its population is a mixture of Arabs, Turkmen and Faili Kurds.
Coordinates: 33°07′N 45°57′E / 33.117°N 45.95°E / 33.117; 45.95
wn.com/Badra,_Iraq -
Baghdad
Baghdad (Arabic: بغداد, Baġdād, IPA: [bæɣˈdæːd]) is the capital of Republic of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Province. The population of Baghdad as of 2011 is approximately 7,216,040, making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab World (after Cairo, Egypt), and the second largest city in Western Asia (after Tehran, Iran).
Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic World. This in addition to housing several key academic institutions (e.g. House of Wisdom) garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning". Throughout the High Middle Ages, Baghdad was considered to be the largest city in the world with an estimated population of 1,200,000 people. The city was largely destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues and multiple successive empires. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state (formerly the British Mandate of Mesopotamia) in 1938, Baghdad gradually regained some of its former prominence as a significant center of Arabic culture.
wn.com/Baghdad -
Baghdad Governorate
Baghdad Province (Arabic: محافظة بغداد Muḥāfaẓät Baġdād) (or Baghdad Governorate) is the capital province of Iraq. It includes the City of Baghdad, as well as the surrounding metropolitan area, which includes Al-Mada'in (Seleucia-Ctesiphon), Taji, Mahmudiya District and Abu Ghraib District. The province has a total area of 4,071 square kilometres (1,572 sq mi), the smallest of the 18 provinces of Iraq but the most populous.
Baghdad Province is one of the most developed parts of Iraq, with a better infrastructure than much of Iraq, though heavily damaged from the invasion in 2003 and continuing violence today. It also has one of the highest rates for terrorism in the world with bombs, suicide attackers, and hit squads operating in the city.
Baghdad has at least 12 bridges spanning the Tigris river - joining the east and west of the city. The Sadr City district of the capital is the most densely populated area in Iraq.
Baghdad is governed by the Baghdad Provincial Council. Representatives to the Baghdad Provincial Council were elected by their peers from the lower councils of the administrative districts in Baghdad in numbers proportional to the population of the various districts that were represented.
wn.com/Baghdad_Governorate -
Baiji District
Baiji District is a district of the Salah ad Din Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Baiji_District -
Baiji, Iraq
Baiji (Arabic: بيجي; also spelled Bayji) is a city of about 200,000 inhabitants in northern Iraq some 130 miles north of Baghdad, on the main road to Mosul. It is a major industrial centre best known for its oil refinery, the biggest in Iraq and has a large power plant. It also has important weapons and chemical plants.
After the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, dozens of British civilians taken captive in Kuwait were held at the Baiji oil refinery, apparently as human shields. The city was bombed during the 1991 Gulf War and about 80% of the oil refinery was destroyed. It was quickly rebuilt and was back in action only a couple of months after the war's end. However, a lack of maintenance and spare parts resulting from the United Nations trade embargo against Iraq caused the deterioration of the city's oil refinery, which by the late 1990s was in a very poor condition and was seriously polluting the surrounding area.
Baiji was captured with little or no fighting during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It was briefly thought in late April 2003 that barrels of chemicals found in a storage area near the town contained the nerve agent cyclosarin. Soon afterwards, United States troops discovered an underground oil refinery at Baiji which was initially suspected to be a chemical weapons plant. Both leads eventually proved to be false alarms in the fruitless search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
wn.com/Baiji,_Iraq -
Bakhdida
Bakhdida (Classical Syriac: ܒܓܕܝܕܐ, Arabic:بخديدا) IPA: [bɑχdɛːdə], also known as Baghdeda, Qaraqosh, Karakosh or Al-Hamdaniya, is an Assyrian town in the northern Iraq Ninawa Governorate, located about 32 km southeast of the city of Mosul amid agricultural lands, close to the ruins of the ancient Assyrian cities Nimrud and Nineveh. It is connected to the main city of Mosul by two main roads. The first runs through the towns of Bartella and Karamles which connects to the city of Arbil as well. The second which was gravel until the 1990s when it was paved, is direct to Mosul.
The name Bakhdida (Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܟܘܕܝܕܐ; Beth Khdeda), is of uncertain origin and when translated from the Syriac language it has two components Beth which means "land" or "town", and Khodida which could either mean "Youths" in Aramaic or "God's gift" in Old Persian. Some also believe that Bakhdida comes from the Aramaic Beth Deta, meaning "Land of the Kite". During the Ottoman Turks rule, the Turkish name Qara Qoş (Turkish for black bird) came into use. Finally, and as part of the Arabization policy in the 1970s, the Iraqi Ba'ath government changed the village name to Hamdaniyya, naming it after the Arab tribe of "Banu Hamdan", who ruled Mosul in the middle ages.
wn.com/Bakhdida -
Balad District
Balad District is a district of the Salah ad Din Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Balad_District -
Balad, Iraq
Coordinates: 34°0′59″N 44°8′43″E / 34.01639°N 44.14528°E / 34.01639; 44.14528 Balad (Arabic: بلد) is a city (80 kilometres) north of Baghdad in the Salah ad Din Governorate Iraq. It is located within the borders of the so-called Sunni Triangle; however, Balad is a primarily Shiite town of approximately 100,000. It is the principal town of the Balad district.
Located within the municipality of Yethrib, the installation is known officially as Joint Base Balad, formerly LSA Anaconda and Balad Air Base. The name of this base in the Saddam era was Al-Bakir Air Base (Arabic: قاعدة البكر الجوية). This base currently hosts several Army and Air Force units, as well as a small attachments of U.S. Navy personnel.
As of early 2007 the base is the central hub for airlift and U.S. Air Force operations in Iraq, it is also a major transshipment point for US Army supply convoys.
Even closer to the actual city of Balad is a tiny FOB (Forward Operating Base) called FOB Paliwoda. Currently home to the 545th MP Company (2nd Plt), the 1-28th ID and a few enablers, it sits on the outskirts of Balad proper.
wn.com/Balad,_Iraq -
Baladrooz District
Baladrooz District is a district of the Diyala Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Baladrooz_District -
Basra
Basra (Arabic: البصرة; BGN: Al Baṣrah) is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is handled at the port of Umm Qasr.
The city is part of the historic location of Sumer, the home of Sinbad the Sailor, and a proposed location of the Garden of Eden. It also played an important role in early Islamic history, being built in 636 CE, or 14 AH. It is Iraq's second largest and most populous city after Baghdad.
The city was called by many names throughout its history, Basrah being the most common. Although some Chaldean Christians argue that the name has Akkadian roots, other sources claim that the name is derived from the Persian word Bas-rah, which means "where many paths meet". During the pre-Islamic era, the area was known to the Arabs as al-Khariba due to the existence of an ancient city called al-Kharba. After the present city was built, it was called by many names, including "the mother of Iraq", "the reservoir of Arabs", "the prosperous city", and "al-Faiha".
wn.com/Basra -
Basra Governorate
Basra Province (Arabic: البصرة Al Baṣra) (or Basra Governorate) is a province in southern Iraq, bordering Kuwait to the south and Iran to the east. The provincial capital is the city of Basra. Other districts of Basra include Al-Qurnah, Az Zubayr, Al Mudaynah, Shatt Al Arab, Abu Al Khaseeb and Al Faw located on the Persian Gulf.
In 1920, after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the United Kingdom took over the former Ottoman vilayets of Basra, Baghdad and Mosul which had together formed the historical region of Irak Arabi or Irak Babeli, and called it the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. The mandate was succeeded by the Kingdom of Iraq in 1932.
wn.com/Basra_Governorate -
Basrah
Basra (Arabic: البصرة; BGN: Al Baṣrah) is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is handled at the port of Umm Qasr.
The city is part of the historic location of Sumer, the home of Sinbad the Sailor, and a proposed location of the Garden of Eden. It also played an important role in early Islamic history, being built in 636 CE, or 14 AH. It is Iraq's second largest and most populous city after Baghdad.
The city was called by many names throughout its history, Basrah being the most common. Although some Chaldean Christians argue that the name has Akkadian roots, other sources claim that the name is derived from the Persian word Bas-rah, which means "where many paths meet". During the pre-Islamic era, the area was known to the Arabs as al-Khariba due to the existence of an ancient city called al-Kharba. After the present city was built, it was called by many names, including "the mother of Iraq", "the reservoir of Arabs", "the prosperous city", and "al-Faiha".
wn.com/Basrah -
Basrah District
Basrah District is a district of the Basra Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Basrah_District -
Batman River
The Batman River is a major tributary of the Tigris, joining it near the source of Tigris called Dicle River in southeast Turkey. It originates in the Anti-Taurus Mountains (at the Sason and Genç mountains) and flows approximately from north to south, passing near the city of Batman and forming a natural border between the Batman Province and Diyarbakır Province. The historic Malabadi Bridge (built in 1146–1147) crosses the river near the town of Silvan. The region along the Batman River is known for its oil fields. The Batman Dam (Turkish: Batman Baraji, B. de Batman on the map) was built in 1999 in the upstream (38°09′36″N 41°12′06″E / 38.160088°N 41.201574°E / 38.160088; 41.201574), together with the associated reservoir and hydroelectric power plant.
The river is widest at about 100 m right after exiting the dam, but then narrows to about 50 metres and forms numerous splits along its way to the Tigris. Its riverbed is irregular in many places that promotes flooding. A tributary of Batman, the Iluh River, originates in the Raman Mountain on the south of the Batman city and flows north-west through the city into the Batman River. Despite being a small river, absent on most maps, Iluh plays an important role for the province because its spring floods affect the provincial capital. The floods of Iluh and Batman rivers occur between March and May and sometimes in October–November. Major floods occurred in 1969 (April, 60 buildings damaged), 1972 (April and May, 210 buildings damaged), 1991 (November, 500 buildings flooded), 1995 (March, nearly 1000 buildings submerged and 450 damaged) and 2006 (October, 11 people died and 20 injured).
wn.com/Batman_River -
Bismil
Bismil is a district of Diyarbakır Province of Turkey. The population is 56,887 (as of 2010) and most of the people are Kurds. The mayor is Cemile Eminoğlu (BDP).
Historians have established that, in order to settle the influx of migrants from Konya in 1936, the sixth district of Diyarbakir was established It is a South-Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and is located on the east of the Diyarbakir province. The area of this district is 1748 sq.km. Geographically it is situated 550 meters above the sea level.
The town features numerous parks. The population is 56,887 (as of 2010). The mayor is Mr. Cemile Eminoğlu who belongs to the Peace and Democratic Party (BDP) of Turkey.
wn.com/Bismil -
Cairo
Cairo (
/ˈkaɪroʊ/ KYE-roh; Arabic: القاهرة al-Qāhira, literally "The Vanquisher" or "The Conqueror"), is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Located near the Nile Delta, it was founded in the year 969 A.D. making it 1,043 years old. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life. Cairo was founded by the Fatimid dynasty in the 10th century AD.; but the land composing the present-day city was the site of national capitals whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo. Cairo is also associated with Ancient Egypt due to its proximity to the ancient cities of Memphis, Giza and Fustat which are nearby to the Great Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza.
Egyptians today often refer to Cairo as Maṣr (Arabic: مصر), the Arabic pronunciation of the name for Egypt itself, emphasizing the city's continued role in Egyptian influence. Cairo has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab World, as well as the world's second-oldest institution of higher learning, al-Azhar University. Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city, and the Arab League has had its headquarters in Cairo for most of its existence.
wn.com/Cairo -
Chamchamal District
Chamchamal District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Chamchamal_District -
Cizre
Cizre (pronounced [dʒizˈɾe]; Kurdish: Botan or Cizîr, Classical Syriac: ܓܙܝܼܪܵܐ Gzira/Gziro) is a town and district of Şırnak Province in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, located at the border to Syria, just to the north-west of the Turkish-Syrian-Iraqi tripoint. It is populated by a majority of Kurds and Assyrian/Syriac people in addition to Arabs.[citation needed] It is surrounded by the Tigris from the North, East and South, which has given it its name, which means island in Arabic.
Cizre is historical Jazīrat ibn ʿUmar (or Jezira ibn Umar or Gazarta) Arabic: جزيرة ابن عمر, an important town during the Abbasid period and the Crusades as a gateway connecting Upper Mesopotamia to Armenia. During the Early Iron Age, Cizre was in the kingdom of Kumme, north of Assyria. In classical antiquity, it was located in Corduene (Kardu). In 19th century scholarship, it was often named as the location of Alexander's crossing of the Tigris in 331 BC, further identified with the Roman stronghold of Bezabde although Stein (1942) is sceptical of this.
wn.com/Cizre -
Damascus
Damascus (Arabic: دِمَشق / ALA-LC: Dimashq; commonly known in Syria as al-Sham (Arabic: الشام / al-Shām), and as the City of Jasmine (Arabic: مدينة الياسمين / Madīnat al-Yāsmīn), is the capital and the second largest city of Syria. Both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural and religious center of the Levant. The city has an estimated population of 1,711,000 (2009 est.).
Located in southwestern Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area of 2.6 million people (2004). Geographically embedded on the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range 80 kilometres (50 mi) inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau 680 metres (2,230 ft) above sea-level, Damascus experiences a semi-arid climate due to the rain shadow effect. The Barada River flows through Damascus.
First settled in the 2nd millennium BC, it was chosen as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. After the victory of the Abbasid dynasty, the seat of Islamic power was moved to Baghdad. Damascus saw a political decline throughout the Abbasid era, only to regain significant importance in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. During Ottoman rule, the city decayed completely while maintaining a certain cultural prestige. Today, it is the seat of the central government and all of the government ministries. Damascus was chosen as the 2008 Arab Capital of Culture.
wn.com/Damascus -
Daquq
Daquq or Daquqa, Dakuk, Daqooq, Tavuk or Tawuq (Arabic,داقوق) is a historic town in Iraq south of Kirkuk. It is the capital of Daquq District, one of the four Districts of Kirkuk Governorate. It lies just south of Taza.
Daquq is sometimes referred to as the earliest Turkmen settlement in Iraq.
Abul-Fath Mohammad bin Annaz, founder of the Annazid dynasty, temporarily seized Daquq from Banu Oqayl in 998 AD.
Up to the end of the 14th century AD, Daquq was for the most part administratively and economically superior to neighbouring Kirkuk.
The majority of the 50,000 inhabitants are Turkmen Shia. The town is known for its tea and famous mosque. It is situated on the Daquq river, of which the floodwaters in spring are said to join the Tigris.
wn.com/Daquq -
Daquq District
Daquq District is a district of the Kirkuk Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Daquq_District -
Darbandokeh District
Darbandokeh District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Darbandokeh_District -
Dhi Qar Governorate
Dhi Qar Province (Arabic: ذي قار Dhī Qār) (or Dhi Qar Governorate) is a province in southern Iraq. The provincial capital is Nasiriyah. Prior to 1976 the province was known as Muntafiq Province. Dhi Qar was the heartland of the ancient Iraqi civilization of Sumer and the ruins of Ur, Eridu, Lagash, Larsa, Girsu, Umma, and Bad-tibira are located here.
Dhi Qar governorate includes the towns of al-Rifai, Qalat Sukkar, Ash Shatrah, al-Gharraf, Suq al-Shuyouk, Khamisiyah and al-Chibayish
In the mid 1990s the governor was Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, who later became police chief of the country, and in 1999, director of the Iraqi Intelligence Service.
An Nasiriyah witnessed some of the heaviest fighting and some of the stiffest resistance against invading U.S. forces in 2003.[citation needed]
wn.com/Dhi_Qar_Governorate -
Diwaniya District
Diwaniya District is a district of the Al Muthanna Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Diwaniya_District -
Diyala Governorate
Diyala Province (Arabic: ديالى Diyālā) (or Diyala Governorate) is a province in eastern Iraq.
Diyala Governorate extends to the northeast of Baghdad as far as the Iranian border. Its capital is Baqubah. It covers an area of 17,685 square kilometres (6,828 sq mi).
A large portion of the province is drained by the Diyala River, a major tributary of the Tigris. Because of its proximity to two major sources of water, Diyala's main industry is agriculture, primarily dates grown in large groves. The province also contains one of the largest olive groves in the Middle East. It is also recognized as the orange capital of the Middle East. The Hamrin Mountains pass through the governorate.
In 2003, it had an estimated population of some 1,224,000 people. Iraqi Arabs comprise about 82 percent of the governorate, Iraqi Kurds about 16 percent (predominantly in the Khanaquin and Kifri Districts), and Iraqi Turkmen about 2 percent. Around 75% of the population live in the major cities: Baqubah, Muqdadiyah and Khanaqin.
wn.com/Diyala_Governorate -
Diyala River
The Diyala River after Darban-e Khan Dam:Kurdish: Sirwan, سيروان, Arabic: نهر ديالى, Persian: سیروان دیاله, is a river and tributary of the Tigris that runs mainly through Eastern Iraq but also Western Iran. It covers a total distance of 445 km (277 mi).
It rises near Sanandaj, in the Zagros Mountains of Iran. It then descends through the mountains, where for some 32 km it forms the border between the two countries. It finally feeds into the Tigris below Baghdad.
Its origin in Kurdish and Persian is called "Sirwan", meaning 'roaring sea' or 'shouting river', as well as being the name of an ancient city near Ilam city in Iran.
Navigation of the upper reaches of the Diyala is not possible because of its narrow defiles, but the river's valley provides an important trade route between Iran and Iraq.
The river is controlled by the Diyala Weir on the lower Diyala valley, which controls floods and irrigates the area northeast of Baghdad.
The Diyala Governorate in Iraq is named after the river.
Coordinates: 33°13′15″N 44°30′23″E / 33.2208°N 44.5064°E / 33.2208; 44.5064
wn.com/Diyala_River -
Dohuk Governorate
Dohuk Province (Arabic: دهوك Dahūk, Kurdish: Dihok) (or Duhok Governorate) is one of the provinces of Iraq. It is in the north of the country in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. Its capital is the city of Duhok. It also includes the city of Zakho, which has at various times served as a checkpoint for the border with Turkey. Prior to 1976 it was part of Ninawa Governorate, which was called Mosul Province.
Duhok was divided into four Districts and has now 7 districts:
wn.com/Dohuk_Governorate -
Dokan District
Dokan District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Dokan_District -
Falluja
Fallujah (Arabic: الفلوجة, ʾal-Falūǧah, IPA: [ʔalfaˈluːdʒah]; Aramaic: Pumbeidtha - פומבדיתא) is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly 69 kilometers (43 mi) west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jewish academies for many centuries.
The city grew from a small town in 1947 to a population of 326,471 inhabitants in 2010. Within Iraq, it is known as the "city of mosques" for the more than 200 mosques found in the city and surrounding villages.
The region has been inhabited for many millennia. There is evidence that the area surrounding Fallujah was inhabited in Babylonian times. The current name of the city is thought to come from its Syriac name, Pallgutha, which is derived from the word division or "canal regulator" since it was the location where the water of the Euphrates River divided into a canal. Classical authors cited the name as "Pallacottas". The name in Aramaic is Pumbedita."
The region of Fallujah was a part of the Sassanid Persian province of Anbar. The word anbar is Persian and means "warehouse". Known as Firuz Shapur or Perisapora during the Sassanian Era, it was one the main commercial center of the Lakhmid Kingdom. One mile north of Fallujah lie extensive ruins which are identified with the town of Anbar. Anbar was located at the confluence of the Euphrates River with the King's Canal, today the Saqlawiyah Canal, known in Early Islamic times as the Nahr 'Isa and in ancient times as Nahr Malka. Subsequent shifts in the Euphrates River channel have caused it to follow the course of the ancient Pallacottas canal. The town at this site in Jewish sources was known as Nehardea and was the primary center of Babylonian Jewry until its destruction by the Palmyran ruler Odenathus in 259. The Medieval Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela in 1164 visited "el-Anbar which is Pumbeditha in Nehardea" and said it had 3000 Jews living there.
wn.com/Falluja -
Fallujah
Fallujah (Arabic: الفلوجة, ʾal-Falūǧah, IPA: [ʔalfaˈluːdʒah]; Aramaic: Pumbeidtha - פומבדיתא) is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly 69 kilometers (43 mi) west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jewish academies for many centuries.
The city grew from a small town in 1947 to a population of 326,471 inhabitants in 2010. Within Iraq, it is known as the "city of mosques" for the more than 200 mosques found in the city and surrounding villages.
The region has been inhabited for many millennia. There is evidence that the area surrounding Fallujah was inhabited in Babylonian times. The current name of the city is thought to come from its Syriac name, Pallgutha, which is derived from the word division or "canal regulator" since it was the location where the water of the Euphrates River divided into a canal. Classical authors cited the name as "Pallacottas". The name in Aramaic is Pumbedita."
The region of Fallujah was a part of the Sassanid Persian province of Anbar. The word anbar is Persian and means "warehouse". Known as Firuz Shapur or Perisapora during the Sassanian Era, it was one the main commercial center of the Lakhmid Kingdom. One mile north of Fallujah lie extensive ruins which are identified with the town of Anbar. Anbar was located at the confluence of the Euphrates River with the King's Canal, today the Saqlawiyah Canal, known in Early Islamic times as the Nahr 'Isa and in ancient times as Nahr Malka. Subsequent shifts in the Euphrates River channel have caused it to follow the course of the ancient Pallacottas canal. The town at this site in Jewish sources was known as Nehardea and was the primary center of Babylonian Jewry until its destruction by the Palmyran ruler Odenathus in 259. The Medieval Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela in 1164 visited "el-Anbar which is Pumbeditha in Nehardea" and said it had 3000 Jews living there.
wn.com/Fallujah -
Geography of Iraq
The geography of Iraq is diverse and falls into four main regions: the desert (west of the Euphrates), Upper Mesopotamia (between the upper Tigris and Euphratesh rivers), the northern highlands of Iraqi Kurdistan, and Lower Mesopotamia, the alluvial plain extending from around Tikrit to the Persian Gulf.
The mountains in the northeast are an extension of the alpine system that runs eastward from the Balkans through southern Turkey, northern Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, eventually reaching the Himalayas. The desert is in the southwest and central provinces along the borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan and geographically belongs with the Arabian Peninsula.
Iraq holds a special distinction in the history of geography: a clay tablet generally accepted as "the earliest known map" was unearthed in 1930 during the excavation of Ga-Sur at Nuzi Yorghan Tepe, near the towns of Harran and Kirkuk, 200 miles (322 km) north of the site of Babylon. The tablet, measuring 6.8 × 7.6 in (173 × 193 mm), is usually dated from the dynasty of Sargon of Akkad between 2500-2300 BC; an even earlier date for the tablet was promulgated by archeologist Leo Bagrow, placing it in the Agade Period (3800 BC).
wn.com/Geography_of_Iraq -
Halabja
Halabja (Kurdish: ههڵهبجه Helebce), is a Kurdish town in Northern Iraq, located about 150 miles (240 km) north-east of Baghdad and 8–10 miles from the Iranian border.
The town lies at the base of what is often referred to as the greater Hewraman region stretching across the Iran-Iraq border. The Kurds in the city of Halabja generally speak only the Sorani dialect of Kurdish, but some residents of the surrounding villages speak the Hewrami dialect.
Halabja has a long history. The cemetery includes the tombs of several historical figures, such as Ahmed Mukhtar Jaf, Tayar Bag Jaf and Adila Khanim. In August 2009, three 17th century tombs were discovered in the Ababile district of the town.
This suggests that the town is somewhat older than indicated by some sources, which claim that it was built by the Ottoman Empire circa 1850. However, modern developments date from the early 20th century. The post office opened in 1924 and the first school opened the following year. The Qaysari Pasha and Hamid Bag bazaars were built in 1932. Electricity did not reach the city until 1940.
wn.com/Halabja -
Halabja District
Halabja District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Halabja_District -
Hamza District
Hamza District is a district of the Al Muthanna Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Hamza_District -
Hasankeyf
Hasankeyf (Kurdish: Heskîf, Greek: Kiphas, Turkish: Hasankeyf, Latin: Cepha, from Syriac: ܚܨܢ ܟܐܦܐ Ḥéṣn Kayfa) is an ancient town and district located along the Tigris River in the Batman Province in southeastern Turkey. It was declared a natural conservation area by Turkey in 1981. Predominantly Armenian and Arab before, a steady and significant Kurdish immigration from surrounding villages in the last 20-30 years - combined with the effects of the Armenian and Assyrian Genocide - has shifted the ethnic balance. Kurdish people form the majority of the city centre today.
Much of the city and its archeological sites are at risk of being flooded with the completion of the Ilisu Dam.
Hasankeyf is an ancient city, and has been identified with the Ilanṣura of the Mari Tablet (c. 1800 BC). The Romans had built the Cephe fortress on the site and the city became the Kiphas fortress and a bishopric under the Byzantine Empire. It was conquered by the Arabs, in ca. 640, renamed Hisn Kayf. In the 12th century, the city was successively captured by the Artukids as their capital. During this period, Hasankeyf's golden age, the Artukids and Ayyubids built the Old Tigris Bridge, the Small Palace and the Great Palace. The infrastructure, location and significance of the city helped increase trade and made Hasankeyf a staging post on the Silk Road. The Ayyubids (descendants of Saladin) captured the city in 1232 and built the mosques that made Hasankeyf an important Islamic center.
wn.com/Hasankeyf -
Hashimiya District
Hashimiya District is a district of the Babil Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Hashimiya_District -
Hatra
Coordinates: 35°35′17″N 42°43′06″E / 35.58806°N 42.71833°E / 35.58806; 42.71833
Hatra (Arabic: الحضر al-Ḥaḍr) is an ancient city in the Ninawa Governorate and al-Jazira region of Iraq. It is currently known as al-Hadr, a name which appears once in ancient inscriptions, and it was in the ancient Iranian province of Khvarvaran. The city lies 290 km (180 mi) northwest of Baghdad and 110 km (68 mi) southwest of Mosul.
Hatra was founded by Ancient Arab tribes some time in the 3rd century BCE. A religious and trading centre under the Parthian empire of Iran, it flourished during the 1st and 2nd centuries BCE. Later on, the city became the capital of possibly the first Arab Kingdom in the chain of Arab cities running from Hatra, in the northeast, via Palmyra, Baalbek and Petra, in the southwest. The region controlled from Hatra was the Kingdom of Araba, a semi-autonomous buffer kingdom on the western limits of the Parthian Empire of Iran, governed by Arabian princes.
Hatra became an important fortified frontier city and withstood repeated attacks by the Roman Empire, and played an important role in the Second Parthian War. It repulsed the sieges of both Trajan (116/117) and Septimius Severus (198/199). Hatra defeated the Iranians at the battle of Shahrazoor in 238, but fell to the Iranian Sassanid Empire of Shapur I in 241 and was destroyed. The traditional stories of the fall of Hatra tell of an-Nadira, daughter of the King of Araba, who betrayed the city into the hands of Shapur. The story tells of how Shapur killed the king and married an-Nadira, but later had her killed also.
wn.com/Hatra -
Hatra District
Hatra District is a district of the Ninawa Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Hatra_District -
Hīt
Hīt (Arabic: هيت) is an Iraqi city in Al-Anbar province. Hīt lies northwest of Ramadi, the provincial capital.
On the Euphrates River, Hīt is a small walled town built on two mounds on the site of the ancient city of Is; bitumen wells in the vicinity have been utilized for at least 3,000 years and were used in the building of Babylon. Hīt is a marketplace for agricultural produce and oil pipelines to the Mediterranean Sea cross the Euphrates there. It was regarded as the head of navigation on the river before the decline in river traffic.
wn.com/Hīt -
Iran
Coordinates: 32°N 53°E / 32°N 53°E / 32; 53
Iran (i/ɪˈrɑːn/ or /aɪˈræn/;Persian: ایران [ʔiˈɾɒn] (
listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia ( /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/). Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.
The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital, the country's largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power, and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.
wn.com/Iran -
Iraq
Iraq (/ɪˈræk/ or
i/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: 
جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.
Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.
Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.
wn.com/Iraq -
Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region (Kurdish: ههرێمی کوردستان, Herêmî Kurdistan; Arabic: إقليم كردستان العراق Iqlīm Kurdistān al-‘Irāq) is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr. The region is officially governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
The establishment of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq dates back to the March 1970 autonomy agreement between the Kurdish opposition and the Iraqi government after years of heavy fighting. The Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s and the Anfal genocide campaign of the Iraqi army devastated the population and nature of Iraqi Kurdistan. Following the 1991 uprising of the Iraqi people against Saddam Hussein, many Kurds were forced to flee the country to become refugees in bordering regions of Iran and Turkey. A northern no-fly zone was established following the First Gulf War in 1991 to facilitate the return of Kurdish refugees. As Kurds continued to fight government troops, Iraqi forces finally left Kurdistan in October 1991, leaving the region to function de facto independently; however, neither of the two major Kurdish parties had at any time declared independence and Iraqi Kurdistan continues to view itself as an integral part of a united Iraq but one in which it administers its own affairs. The 2003 invasion of Iraq and the subsequent political changes led to the ratification of a new Constitution of Iraq in 2005. The new Iraqi constitution defines Iraqi Kurdistan as a federal entity of Iraq, and establishes Arabic and Kurdish as Iraq's joint official languages.
wn.com/Iraqi_Kurdistan -
Jordan
Jordan ( /ˈdʒɔr.dən/;Arabic: اَلأُرْدُنّ, Al-'Urdunn), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Arabic: اَلمَمْلَكَة اَلأُرْدُنِيَّة اَلهَاشِمِيَّة), Al-Mamlakah Al-Urdaniyyah Al-Hashimiyyah) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing control of the Dead Sea with the latter. Jordan's only port is at its south-western tip, at the Gulf of Aqaba, which is shared with Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Over half of Jordan is covered by the Arabian Desert. However, the western part of Jordan is arable land and forests. Jordan is part of the Fertile Crescent. The capital city is Amman. According to the CIA World Factbook, Jordan has the second highest life expectancy in the Middle East, after Israel. The average life expectancy is one position behind the United Kingdom, although the age remains exactly the same (80.05 years).
The precursor to modern Jordan was founded in 1921 as the Hashemite Emirate, and it was recognized by the League of Nations as a state under the British mandate in 1922 known as The Emirate of Transjordan. In 1946, Jordan became an independent sovereign state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. After capturing the West Bank area of Cisjordan during the 1948–49 war with Israel, Abdullah I took the title King of Jordan and Palestine, and he officially changed the country's name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in April 1949.
wn.com/Jordan -
Kadhimiya
al-Kāżimiyyah (Arabic: الكاظمية al-Kāżimiyyah; alternatively, Arabic: الكاظمين al-Kāżimayn), is a town located in what is now a northern neighbourhood of Baghdad, Iraq about five kilometres from the city center. Al-Kāżimiyyah is one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad.
Al-Kāżimayn is regarded as a holy city in Shī‘ah Islām. It received its name (lit. "the Two Kāżims" or "the Two who swallow their anger"), for the two Shī‘ah Imāms buried there: Mūsā al-Kādhim and his grandson and successor Shī‘ah Imām Muhammad at-Taqī. A shrine was first built over their tombs, and subsequently the al-Kadhimiya Mosque.
The area that now constitutes al-Kāżimiyyah was originally the location of a graveyard reserved for members of the Quraish tribe. This land was set aside for this purpose by the Abbasid caliph, Harun al-Rashid.
In its early history, the town was an important center of Shia learning, perhaps the main center, but over time the town declined, and other cities rose to prominence. The location of the city has lent it to numerous plunders, that have resulted in damage to its shrines at different times in history. Among the most damage ever experienced by the town was after the Mongol sack of Baghdad where the shrine of the Shia Imams was burnt down. The area was also an important center of resistance against the British after World War I.
wn.com/Kadhimiya -
Kalar District
Kalar District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Kalar_District -
Kalar, Iraq
Kalar (Kurdish:کهلار, Kelar ) is a town in Iraqi Kurdistan located on Sirwan (Diyala) river, and to the east of Kifri and to the west of Qasri Shirin and Sarpol Zahab in Kermanshah Province in western Iran. Part of the twin towns of Smud-Kalar, Smud was renamed Rizgari after the 1991 Kurdish uprising against the Ba'ath party. The neighborhood of Smud was a relocation camp for Kurdish people under the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The University of Kelar, a satellite campus of University of Sulaymaniyah, majors in agriculture.
Sherwana Castle, on the Sirwan River was built in the 19th century. It now serves as a museum for the artifacts uncovered from the mound on which it stands. Coordinates: 34°38′N 45°18′E / 34.633°N 45.3°E / 34.633; 45.3
wn.com/Kalar,_Iraq -
Karbala Governorate
Karbala Province (Arabic: كربلاء Karbalāʾ) (or Karbala Governorate) is a province in central Iraq. The provincial capital is the city of Karbala, a holy city for Shi'ah Muslims, which houses the shrine of Imam Hussein (AS), a greatly revered figure in Shia Islam.
wn.com/Karbala_Governorate -
Karkh
Karkh or Al-Karkh (Arabic: الكرخ) is historically the name of the western half of Baghdad, Iraq, or alternatively, the western shore of the river Tigris as it ran through Baghdad. The eastern shore is known as Al-Rasafa.
Its name is derived from the Syriac (ܟܪܟܐ) Karkha; citadel.
Today, it is also a neighborhood between the international zone and the Tigris. Karkh is one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad.
Coordinates: 33°19′N 44°24′E / 33.317°N 44.4°E / 33.317; 44.4
wn.com/Karkh -
Kerbala
Karbala (Arabic: كربلاء; BGN: Al-Karbalā’; also referred to as Karbalā' al-Muqaddasah) is a city in Iraq, located about 100 km (62 mi) southwest of Baghdad. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorate, and has an estimated population of 572,300 people (2003).
The city, best known as the location of the Battle of Karbala (680), is amongst the holiest cities for Shia Muslims after Mecca and Medina. It is home to the Imam Hussein Shrine. Karbala is famous as the site of the martyrdom of Hussein ibn Ali (Imam Hussein), and commemorations are held by millions of Shias annually to remember it. Karbala is considered sacred by all Shias.
There are several theories as to the origin of the name Karbala. One traditional hypothesis is Turkish geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi's belief that the name is an alternate Arabic feminine version of karbalah "soft earth". Another theory is that the name came from the Aramaic root Karb or Qarb; meaning "Near", and Alah; meaning God. Hence, the word 'Karbala' signifies 'Near God'. Alternatively, it has been said to be derived from the Aramaic word Kora, meaning place for making bricks, for the nearby ancient city of Babil, hence Karbabil, which became Karbala by contraction.
wn.com/Kerbala -
Kerbala District
Kerbala District is a district of the Karbala Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Kerbala_District -
Khanaqin
Khanaqin (Kurdish خانه قين,Xaneqîn Arabic خانقين, also transliterated as Khanakin, Xanaqin) is a city in Iraq. It is located at 34.3°N, 45.4°E in the Diyala Governorate, near the Iranian border on a tributary of the Diyala River. Khanaqin is the administrative capital of the Khanaqin District, which comprises several cities, such as As-Sadiyah and Jalula, as well as hundreds of villages. The city is divided into two parts by the Alwand River, this river has played a significant role in land cultivation and in establishment of a strong rural society in the area. The river is considered by the people of Khanaqin as a symbol for their unity and Kurdish identity.
The majority of people of the city of Khanaqin are Kurds (although the province of Diyala has an Arab majority). They speak mainly the Kalhuri branch of southern Kurdish dialects which is Indo-European. These dialects are closely related to each other and called Feyli or Xanaqini by the locals (see southern Kurdish).
Khanaqin's original name was Du-Khanag and was a part of the Kurdistan for centuries. The name Du-Khānaqa (دو خانقا) means "Two Sufi Houses" in Kurdish. After the Arabic invasion of Kurdistan, the occupiers Arabized many of the local names and also omitted the word du (two) from this name and attached the Arabic suffix of dualis after the name, hence Du-khānaqa became Khānaq-ayn and Khanaqin.
wn.com/Khanaqin -
Kirkuk
Kirkuk (also spelled Karkuk or Kerkuk, Arabic: كركوك karkūk, Kurdish: Kerkûk/کهرکووک, Syriac: ܟܪܟ ܣܠܘܟ karḵ sluḵ, Turkish: Kerkük) is a city in Iraq and the capital of Kirkuk Governorate.
It is located in the Iraqi governorate of Kirkuk, 236 kilometres (147 mi) north of the capital, Baghdad. Kirkuk city lies 83 km south of Arbil, 149 km southeast of Mosul, 97 km west of Sulaymaniyah, and 116 km northeast Tikrit
It stands on the site of the ancient Assyrian capital of Arrapha, which sits near the Khasa River on the ruins of a 5,000-year-old settlement (Kirkuk Citadel). Arrapha reached great importance under the Assyrians in the 10th and 11th centuries BC. Because of the strategic geographical location of the city, Kirkuk was the battle ground for three empires—the Neo Assyrian Empire, Babylonia, and Media—which controlled the city at various times.
Kirkuk lies in a wide zone with an ethnically mixed population, which has moreover experienced dramatic demographic changes in the course of the twentieth century. Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs lay conflicting claims to this zone, and all have their historical accounts and memories to buttress their claims.
wn.com/Kirkuk -
Kirkuk District
Kirkuk District is a district of the Kirkuk Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Kirkuk_District -
Kirkuk Governorate
Kirkuk Province (Arabic: كركوك Karkūk, Kurdish: Kerkûk, Syriac: ܟܪܟ ܣܠܘܟ Karḵ Sloḵ, Turkish: Kerkük) (or Kirkuk Governorate) is a province in northern Iraq. The province has an area of 9,679 square kilometres (3,737 sq mi). In 2003 the estimated population was 848,000 people. The provincial capital is the city of Kirkuk. It is divided into four districts.
From 1976 to 2006, it was named At-Ta'mim Province which means "Nationalisation Province" and refers to the national ownership of the regional oil and natural gas reserves. Prior to 1976 it had been named Kirkuk Province.
wn.com/Kirkuk_Governorate -
Kufa
Kufa (Arabic,الكوفة al-Kūfah) is a city in Iraq, about 170 kilometres (110 mi) south of Baghdad, and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000.
Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya and Najaf, Kufa is one of five Iraqi cities that are of great importance to Shia Muslims. The city was the final capital of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and was founded within the first hundred years of the 622 Hijra[citation needed].
The city contains the Great Mosque of Kufa, one of the earliest mosques in Islam, built in the 7th century.
File:Kufa masjid.pdf
See Ancient Mesopotamia.
Ruled by Sassanian Empire as part of Suristan province. See Middle Bih-Kavad.
The Arabs, led by Caliph ʻUmar ibn Khattāb, conquer Iraq and begin ruling Suristan around 637.
ʻUmar ibn Khattāb became the second caliph in 634. After the Arab victory against the East Roman Empire at Battle of Yarmouk in 636, Kūfah was founded and given its name in 637–638 CE, about the same time as Basra. The Companion of the Prophet Saʻd ibn Abī Waqqas founded it as an encampment adjacent to the Lakhmid Arab city of al-Hīrah, and incorporated it as a city of seven divisions. The city was alternately known to non-Arabs as Hīrah and Aqulah before the consolidations of ʻAbdu l-Mālik in 691.
wn.com/Kufa -
Kufa District
Kufa District is a district of the Najaf Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Kufa_District -
Kut
Al-Kūt (Arabic: الكوت; BGN: Al Kūt; also spelled Kut-Al-Imara or Kut El Amara, Kurdish: Kût) is a kurdish city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about 160 kilometres (100 mi) south east of Baghdad. As of 2003[update] the estimated population is about 374,000 people. It is the capital of the province long known as Al Kut, but since the 1960s renamed Wasit.
The old town of Kut is within a sharp "U" bend of the river, almost making it an island but for a narrow connection to the shore. For centuries Kut was a regional center of the carpet trade. The area around Kut is a fertile cereal grain growing region. The Kut Barrage was constructed in the city in the 1930s to provide irrigation water for the surrounding area. The Baghdad Nuclear Research Facility, looted following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, is located near Kut.
The Kut Barrage is a barrage on the Tigris river, located in the modern town of Kut in Wasit Governorate, Iraq. It is 516 metres (1,693 ft) long, 10.5 metres (34 ft) high and consists of 56 gates, each 6 metres (20 ft) wide. The maximum discharge of the barrage is 6,000 cubic metres (7,800 cu yd), but actual discharge has not exceeded 2,000 cubic metres (2,600 cu yd) in the last 10 years. The barrage supports a road and includes a lock for boats passing up and down the Tigris. Its purpose is to maintain a sufficiently high water level in the Tigris to provide water for the Gharraf irrigation canal, which branches off the Tigris just upstream from the Kut Barrage. Before the construction of the Kut Barrage, the Gharraf canal only received water during periods of flood in the Tigris. The water level in the canal is maintained by the Gharraf Head Regulator, which was constructed at the same time as the Kut Barrage.
wn.com/Kut -
Kut District
Kut District is a district of the Wasit Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Kut_District -
Kuyunjik
Coordinates: 36°21′34″N 43°09′10″E / 36.35944°N 43.15278°E / 36.35944; 43.15278
Nineveh (English pronunciation: /ˈnɪn.ɪv.ə/; Akkadian: Ninwe; Classical Syriac: ܢܸܢܘܵܐ; Hebrew: נינוה Nīnewē; Greek: Νινευη Nineuē; Latin: Nineve; Arabic: نينوى Naynuwa; Persian: نینوا Nainavā) was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq.
The origin of the name Nineveh is obscure. Possibly it meant originally the seat of Ishtar, since Nina was one of the Babylonian names of that goddess. The ideogram means "house or place of fish," and was perhaps due to popular etymology (comp. Aramaic "nuna," denoting "fish").
Ancient Nineveh's mound-ruins of Kouyunjik and Nabī Yūnus are located on a level part of the plain near the junction of the Tigris and the Khosr Rivers within a 7 km² (1732 acres) area circumscribed by a 12-kilometre (7.5 mi) brick rampart. This whole extensive space is now one immense area of ruins overlaid in parts by new suburbs of the city of Mosul.
wn.com/Kuyunjik -
Lebanon
Lebanon (i/ˈlɛbənɒn/ or /ˈlɛbənən/; Arabic: لبنان Libnān or Lubnān, Lebanese Arabic: [lɪbˈneːn]), officially the Lebanese Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية اللبنانية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Libnānīyah, Lebanese Arabic: [elˈʒʊmhuːɾɪjje l.ˈlɪbneːnɪjje]), is a country in the East Mediterranean. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland has dictated its rich history, and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity.
The earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than 7,000 years—predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Phoenicians, a maritime culture that flourished for nearly 2,500 years (3000–539 BC). Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, the five provinces that comprise modern Lebanon were mandated to France. The French expanded the borders of Mount Lebanon, which was mostly populated by Maronite Catholics and Druze, to include more Muslims. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, and established a unique political system, known as confessionalism, a power-sharing mechanism based on religious communities – Bechara El Khoury who became independent Lebanon's first President and Riad El-Solh, who became Lebanon's first prime minister, are considered the founders of the modern Republic of Lebanon and are national heroes for having led the country's independence. French troops withdrew from Lebanon in 1946.
wn.com/Lebanon -
Mahmoudiyah, Iraq
Coordinates: 33°3′42″N 44°21′15″E / 33.06167°N 44.35417°E / 33.06167; 44.35417 Mahmoudiyah (also transliterated Mahmudiyah, Mahmoudi, or Mahmoodiyah, prefixed usually with Al-) is a Sunni Arab Iraqi rural city south of Baghdad. Known as the “Gateway to Baghdad,” the city's proximity to Baghdad made it central to the counterinsurgency campaign.
Mahmudiya District has approximately 550,000 inhabitants, about 92 percent of them Sunni Arabs and the rest mostly Shias.
For full article see Mahmudiyah killings
During the Iraq War, a war crime took place in Mahmudiyah in March 2006 in which five soldiers of the 502d Infantry Regiment, raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, Abeer Qasim Hamza, and then murdered her, her father, her mother Fakhriya Taha Muhasen and her six-year-old sister. The soldiers then burned the bodies to conceal evidence of the crime. Four of the soldiers were convicted of rape and murder, and the fifth was convicted of lesser crimes.
Earlier, in late 2003, The Observer and Human Rights Watch reported a less volatile incident in Al-Mahmudiyah associated with the soldiers from the 82nd Airborne’s 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment.[vague]
wn.com/Mahmoudiyah,_Iraq -
Mahmudiya District
Al-Mahmudiya (المحمودية) is a district in Babylon Governorate, Iraq.
Mahmudiya District has approximately 550,000 inhabitants, about 92 percent of them Sunni Arabs and the rest mostly Shias. Most of the inhabitants live in rural areas.
This region inhabit by 5 tribes: Al Janabi, Dulaim, Al Ubaid, Qarghoul and Al Jubour
Coordinates: 33°04′N 44°22′E / 33.067°N 44.367°E / 33.067; 44.367
wn.com/Mahmudiya_District -
Makhmur District
Makhmur District is a district of the Kirkuk Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Makhmur_District -
Mar Matte
Mar Matti Monastery (Syriac: ܕܝܪܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܡܬܝ, Arabic,دير مار متى) is located atop Mount Maqloub in northern Iraq. About 20 kilometers from Mosul, Mar Matti was founded in AD 363 by a Syriac Christian called Matti (Syriac for Matthew) who was fleeing persecution from Amid to nearby Nineveh in Asuristan (Assyria.) Matti joined a mostly Nestorian population that had a small Syriac community already located atop Mt. Maqloub. Under his leadership, that community developed a true monastic ethos. It is today recognized as one of the oldest Christian monasteries in existence. It is further noted for a considerable collection of Syriac Christian manuscripts.
The monastery is currently maintained by the Syriac Orthodox Church. Every year, Christians of various church denominations gather in the monastery on September 14 to commemorate the day of Saint Matti's death.
wn.com/Mar_Matte -
Maysan Governorate
Maysan Province (Arabic: ميسان Maysān) (or Maysan Governorate) is a province in southeastern Iraq, bordering Iran. The provincial capital, located beside the Tigris, is Amarah. The second settlement is Majar Al-Kabir. Prior to 1976 the province was known as Amara Province.
Maysan is a majority Shia province. Its population suffered greatly during the Iran–Iraq War, during which it was a major battlefield, and subsequently post the 1991 Shia Uprising. The province is traditionally home to many Marsh Arabs.
This region is called Μεσήνη by Strabo, Mays̲h̲an in Syriac. Mēs̲h̲ān in Middle Persian, Mēs̲h̲un in Armenian, Maysān in Arabic, and T’iao-tche (Chaldaea) in the Han sources. The earliest references are from the first century AD.
wn.com/Maysan_Governorate -
Mecca
Mecca ( /ˈmɛkə/; Arabic: مكة, Makkah, pronounced [ˈmækːɐ]) is a city in the Hejaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its resident population in 2012 was 2 million, although visitors more than triple this number every year during Hajj period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah.
As the birthplace of Muhammad and a site of the composition of the Quran, Mecca is regarded as the holiest city in the religion of Islam and a pilgrimage to it known as the Hajj is obligatory upon all able Muslims. The Hijaz was long ruled by Muhammad's descendants, the sharifs, either as independent rulers or as vassals to larger empires. It was absorbed into Saudi Arabia in 1925. In its modern period, Mecca has seen tremendous expansion in size and infrastructure. Because of this Mecca has lost many thousand years old buildings and archaeological sites. Today, more than 15 million Muslims visit Mecca annually, including several million during the few days of the Hajj. As a result, Mecca has become one of the most cosmopolitan and diverse cities in the Muslim world, although non-Muslims remain prohibited from entering the city.
wn.com/Mecca -
Mede
The Medes (/midz/) (from Old Persian Māda-) were an ancient Iranian people who lived in Iran in an area known as Media and spoke a northwestern Iranian language referred to as the Median language. Their arrival to the region is associated with the first wave of Iranian tribes in the late second millennium BCE (the Bronze Age collapse) through the beginning of the first millennium BCE.
In the 7th century BCE a unified Median state was formed which together with Babylonia, Lydia, and Egypt became one of the four major powers of the ancient Near East. An alliance with the Babylonians helped the Medes to capture Nineveh in 612 BCE which resulted in the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Medes were subsequently able to establish their Median kingdom (with Ecbatana as their royal centre) beyond their original homeland (central-western Iran) and had eventually a territory stretching roughly from northeastern Iran to the Halys River in Anatolia. The Median kingdom was conquered in 550 BCE by Cyrus the Great who established the next Iranian dynasty—the Achaemenid Empire.
wn.com/Mede -
Median Empire
The Medes (/midz/) (from Old Persian Māda-) were an ancient Iranian people who lived in Iran in an area known as Media and spoke a northwestern Iranian language referred to as the Median language. Their arrival to the region is associated with the first wave of Iranian tribes in the late second millennium BCE (the Bronze Age collapse) through the beginning of the first millennium BCE.
In the 7th century BCE a unified Median state was formed which together with Babylonia, Lydia, and Egypt became one of the four major powers of the ancient Near East. An alliance with the Babylonians helped the Medes to capture Nineveh in 612 BCE which resulted in the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Medes were subsequently able to establish their Median kingdom (with Ecbatana as their royal centre) beyond their original homeland (central-western Iran) and had eventually a territory stretching roughly from northeastern Iran to the Halys River in Anatolia. The Median kingdom was conquered in 550 BCE by Cyrus the Great who established the next Iranian dynasty—the Achaemenid Empire.
wn.com/Median_Empire -
Mosul
Coordinates: 36°20′N 43°08′E / 36.34°N 43.13°E / 36.34; 43.13
Mosul (Arabic: الموصل al-Mawṣil; North Mesopotamian Arabic: el-Mōṣul; Syriac: ܢܝܢܘܐ Nînwe; Kurdish: Mûsil/Nînewe; Turkish: Musul), is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Nineveh Province, some 400 km (250 mi) northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial areas on both banks, with five bridges linking the two sides. The majority of its population is Arab (with Assyrians, Turcoman and Kurdish minorities). It is Iraq's third largest city after Baghdad and Basra.
The fabric Muslin, long manufactured here, is named after this city. Another historically important product of the area is Mosul marble.
In 1987, the city's population was 664,221 people; the 2002 population estimate was 1,740,000, and by 2008 was estimated to be 1,800,000. People from Mosul are called Maslawis.
wn.com/Mosul -
Mosul District
Mosul District is a district of the Ninawa Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Mosul_District -
Najaf
Najaf (Arabic: النجف; BGN: An Najaf) is a city in Iraq about 160 km (roughly 100 miles) south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2008 is 560,000 people. It is the capital of Najaf Governorate. It is widely considered the third holiest city of Shi'a Islam and the center of Shia political power in Iraq.
Najaf is renowned as the site of the tomb of Alī ibn Abī Tālib also known as "Imām Alī"the First Imam of Shia's , the cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad whom the Shia consider to be the righteous caliph . The city is now a great center of pilgrimage from throughout the Shi'a Islamic world. It is estimated that only Mecca and Medina receive more Muslim pilgrims. As the burial site of Shia Islam's second most important figure, the Imam Ali Mosque is considered by Shias as the third holiest Islamic site.
The Imam Ali Mosque is housed in a grand structure with a gold gilded dome and many precious objects in the walls. Nearby is the Wadi-us-Salaam cemetery, reputed to be the largest in the world. It contains the tombs of several prophets and many of the devout from around the world aspire to be buried here, to be raised from the dead with Imām Alī on Judgement Day. Over the centuries, numerous hospices, schools, libraries and Sufi convents were built around the shrine to make the city the centre of Shīʻa learning and theology.
wn.com/Najaf -
Najaf District
Najaf District is a district of the Najaf Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Najaf_District -
Najaf Governorate
Najaf Province (Arabic: النجف An Najaf) (or Najaf Governorate) is a province in southern Iraq. The capital is the city of Najaf. The other major city is Al Kufah. Both cities are holy to Shi'ah Muslims, who form the majority of the population. Prior to 1976 it was part of the Diwaniya Province, which also included present day Al Muthanna Governorate and Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate.
wn.com/Najaf_Governorate -
Nassriya
Nasiriyah (Arabic: الناصرية; BGN: An Nāşirīyah; also spelled Nassiriya or Nasiriya) is a city in Iraq. It is on the Euphrates about 225 miles (370 km) southeast of Baghdad, near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur. It is the capital of the province of Dhi Qar. According to the 1987 census the city had a population of 265,937 people; the estimated population in 2003 was 560,200.
The population of Nasiriyah is nearly exclusively[clarification needed]Shī‘a Muslims with small Mandaean and Sunni muslim communities, until 1951 the town was a home to a sizable Jewish community. After the failed uprising of 1991, many families were massacred by Saddam Hussein's forces whilst thousands fled from Iraq to other countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Sweden.
Nasiriyah is the centre of a date-growing area, but many other agricultural products are produced here as well. The city's industries include boatbuilding, carpentry and silver working.
The old parts of the town are built mainly from sun-dried brick and this part of the town is still enclosed by a mud wall. The newer parts are dominated by standard Iraqi block buildings.
wn.com/Nassriya -
Nassriya District
Nassriya District is a district of the Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Nassriya_District -
Nimrud
Coordinates: 36°5′57″N 43°19′39″E / 36.09917°N 43.3275°E / 36.09917; 43.3275 Nimrud is an ancient Assyrian city located south on the river Tigris in modern Iraq. In ancient times the city was called Kalhu. The Arabs called the city Nimrud after the Biblical Nimrod, a legendary hunting hero (cf. Genesis 10:11-12, Micah 5:6, and 1Chronicles 1:10).
The city covered an area of around 16 square miles (41 km2). Ruins of the city are found in modern day Iraq, some 30 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of Mosul. The ruins are located in the District of Al Hamdaniya, within 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) of the village of Noomanea. Nimrud has been suggested as the site of the biblical city of Calah or Kalakh.
Assyrian king Shalmaneser I made Nimrud, which existed for about a thousand years, the capital in the 13th century BC. The city gained fame when king Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria (c. 880 BC) made it his capital. He built a large palace and temples on the site of an earlier city that had long fallen into ruins.
wn.com/Nimrud -
Ninawa Governorate
Nineveh Province (Arabic: نینوى Nīnawā, Kurdish: Neynewa, Syriac-Aramaic: ܢܝܢܘܐ Nīnwē) is a province in northern Iraq, which contains the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh. It has an area of 37,323 square kilometres (14,410 sq mi) and an estimated population of 2,453,000 people in 2003. Its chief city and provincial capital is Mosul, which lies across the Tigris river from the ruins of ancient Nineveh. Tal Afar is also a major city within the region. Prior to 1976, it was called Mosul Province and also included the present-day Dohuk Governorate.
Its two main cities endured the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and emerged relatively unscathed. In 2004, however, Mosul and Tal Afar were the scenes of fierce battles between US-led troops and the Iraqi insurgency. The insurgents had moved to Nineveh after the Battle of Fallujah in 2004.
After the US invasion in 2003, the military government of the province was led initially by (then Lieutenant General) David Petraeus as commander of the 101st Airborne Division and later by BG Carter Ham as commander of the multi-national brigade for northern Iraq. During the American occupation, the civil government was under Herro Mustafa, the head of the local office of the Coalition Provisional Authority. She was a US Foreign Service Officer and former Kurdish refugee to the United States. Mustafa administered the province through her nominees on the provincial council and through various members of the Kashmoula family. In June 2004, Osama Kashmoula became the interim Governor of the province and in September of the same year he was assassinated en route to Baghdad. He was succeeded as interim Governor by Duraid Kashmoula, who was elected governor in January 2005. Duraid Kashmoula resigned in 2009, and in April 2009, Atheel Najafi, a hardline Arab nationalist and member of Al-Hadba, became governor.
wn.com/Ninawa_Governorate -
Ninevah
Coordinates: 36°21′34″N 43°09′10″E / 36.35944°N 43.15278°E / 36.35944; 43.15278
Nineveh (English pronunciation: /ˈnɪn.ɪv.ə/; Akkadian: Ninwe; Classical Syriac: ܢܸܢܘܵܐ; Hebrew: נינוה Nīnewē; Greek: Νινευη Nineuē; Latin: Nineve; Arabic: نينوى Naynuwa; Persian: نینوا Nainavā) was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq.
The origin of the name Nineveh is obscure. Possibly it meant originally the seat of Ishtar, since Nina was one of the Babylonian names of that goddess. The ideogram means "house or place of fish," and was perhaps due to popular etymology (comp. Aramaic "nuna," denoting "fish").
Ancient Nineveh's mound-ruins of Kouyunjik and Nabī Yūnus are located on a level part of the plain near the junction of the Tigris and the Khosr Rivers within a 7 km² (1732 acres) area circumscribed by a 12-kilometre (7.5 mi) brick rampart. This whole extensive space is now one immense area of ruins overlaid in parts by new suburbs of the city of Mosul.
wn.com/Ninevah -
Nineveh
Coordinates: 36°21′34″N 43°09′10″E / 36.35944°N 43.15278°E / 36.35944; 43.15278
Nineveh (English pronunciation: /ˈnɪn.ɪv.ə/; Akkadian: Ninwe; Classical Syriac: ܢܸܢܘܵܐ; Hebrew: נינוה Nīnewē; Greek: Νινευη Nineuē; Latin: Nineve; Arabic: نينوى Naynuwa; Persian: نینوا Nainavā) was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq.
The origin of the name Nineveh is obscure. Possibly it meant originally the seat of Ishtar, since Nina was one of the Babylonian names of that goddess. The ideogram means "house or place of fish," and was perhaps due to popular etymology (comp. Aramaic "nuna," denoting "fish").
Ancient Nineveh's mound-ruins of Kouyunjik and Nabī Yūnus are located on a level part of the plain near the junction of the Tigris and the Khosr Rivers within a 7 km² (1732 acres) area circumscribed by a 12-kilometre (7.5 mi) brick rampart. This whole extensive space is now one immense area of ruins overlaid in parts by new suburbs of the city of Mosul.
wn.com/Nineveh -
Nineveh plains
Nineveh plains (Classical Syriac: ܦܩܥܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ; pqaˁta d'ninwĕ, Arabic: سهل نينوى; sahl naynawā, Kurdish: Deşta Neynewa) is a region in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq to the north and west of the city Mosul. The area generally consists of three districts; Tel Keppe, Al-Hamdaniya, and Al-Shikhan. The area includes the ancient Assyrian ruins of the cities of Nineveh, Nimrud and Dur-Sharrukin.
Most of the inhabitants are Syriac-speaking Assyrians following various traditions of the Syriac Christianity. The four patriarchal churches represented are:
It is considered by its Assyrian inhabitants as the original Assyrian heartland. Other inhabitants are the Yezidis, Shabaks, Turkmens, and Kurds.
The Assyrian inhabited towns and villages on the Nineveh Plain form a concentration of those belonging to Syriac Christian traditions, and since this area is the ancient home of the Assyrian empire through which the Assyrian people trace their cultural heritage, the Nineveh Plain is the area on which an effort to form an autonomous Assyrian entity has become concentrated. There have been calls by some politicians inside and outside Iraq into creating an autonomous region for Assyrian Christians in this area.
wn.com/Nineveh_plains -
Parthian Empire
The Parthian (pronounced /ˈpɑrθiən/) Empire (247 BC – 224 AD), also known as the Arsacid (/ˈɑrsəsɪd/) Empire (Modern Persian: اشکانیان Ashkāniān), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia. Its latter name comes from Arsaces I of Parthia who, as leader of the Parni tribe, founded it in the mid-3rd century BC when he conquered the Parthia region in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) in rebellion against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I of Parthia (r. c. 171–138 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now south-eastern Turkey, to eastern Iran. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and Han Empire of China, became a center of trade and commerce.
The Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and royal insignia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Persian, Hellenistic, and regional cultures. For about the first half of its existence, the Arsacid court adopted elements of Greek culture, though it eventually saw a gradual revival of Iranian traditions. The Arsacid rulers were titled the "King of Kings", as a claim to be the heirs to the Achaemenid Empire; indeed, they accepted many local kings as vassals where the Achaemenids would have had centrally appointed, albeit largely autonomous, satraps. The court did appoint a small number of satraps, largely outside Iran, but these satrapies were smaller and less powerful than the Achaemenid potentates. With the expansion of Arsacid power, the seat of central government shifted from Nisa, Turkmenistan to Ctesiphon along the Tigris (south of modern Baghdad, Iraq), although several other sites also served as capitals.
wn.com/Parthian_Empire -
Penjwin District
Penjwin District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Penjwin_District -
Persia
Coordinates: 32°N 53°E / 32°N 53°E / 32; 53
Iran (i/ɪˈrɑːn/ or /aɪˈræn/;Persian: ایران [ʔiˈɾɒn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia ( /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/). Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.
The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital, the country's largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power, and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.
wn.com/Persia -
Pshdar District
Pshdar District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Pshdar_District -
Ramadi
Ramadi (Arabic: الرمادي; BGN: Ar Ramādī) is a city in central Iraq, about 110 kilometers (68 mi) west of Baghdad. It is the capital of Al Anbar Governorate. The city outstretched to a distance of more than 60 kilometers on the Euphrates, the largest city in Al-Anbar.
Ramadi's population has been stated as 444,582 according to UN data from 2003. and 483,209 according to UN from 2004.
However, according to the former regime there are about 700,000 inhabitants. Although there was a large Jewish community into the twentieth century, in the 21st century all of the inhabitants of the city are Sunni Muslims from the Dulaim tribe.
Ramadi is located in a fertile, irrigated, alluvial plain, within Iraq's Sunni Triangle. It was founded in 1869 under the Ottoman Empire. The main purpose of the city was to give the Ottomans a focal point to communicate and control the Dulaim tribe of the region.
During the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I, British forces under Lieutenant General Frederick Stanley Maude took Ramadi. In November 1917, British forces fought what was left of the Ottoman forces there. Sir Maude died soon after Ramadi was taken.
wn.com/Ramadi -
Ranya
Ranya (رانیه; Ra:nya) is a town located in Southern Kurdistan, 130 kilometres (81 mi) north east of Sulaymaniyah. The population of this city was involved in the revolutionary movement of Kurdish people from the war against the British Empire invasion during Şêx Mehmud's government, the Eylûl revolution, and the uprising which broke out in this city on 5 March 1991.[clarification needed] Consequently it acquired the name of 'the gate of uprising'. The city includes a number of tourist sites, notably the shore of the Derbendi, the area around the Reşemêrg spring, the Kwerakani spring which runs from the Central mosque through Ranyae's main bazaar Girdedême hill and Bêtwate, the villages in the Dola Raqa valley. Ranya is surrounded by three mountain ranges, the Kewarash, the Hajila and the Asos. Lake Dukan, created by the construction of a hydro-electric dam, is near the town. Ranya neighbourhoods include Qelat, Reşemêrg, Gilîincan, Sera, Rizgarî, Raperîn, Azadî 1, Azadî 2, Kêwereş, Qule،Mamostayan and Fermanberan. The first known newspaper published in Ranya appeared in 1942 under the name of Blêse (flame).
wn.com/Ranya -
Rusafa
Al Rusafa (Arabic: الرصافة) or Rasafa is the east-bank settlement of Baghdad, Iraq, or the eastern shore of the river Tigris. It is also one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad. When referring to Al Rusafa as a district, it refers to the older area in the Rasafa side of Baghdad; its central commercial area, a center of markets considered one of the four old CBDs of Baghdad (Karkh, Rasafa, A'dhamyya and Kadhmyya).
The west side of the river is Al Karkh (الكرخ).
Coordinates: 33°19′54″N 44°24′55″E / 33.331604°N 44.415236°E / 33.331604; 44.415236
wn.com/Rusafa -
Sadr City
Sadr City (Arabic: مدينة الصدر - Madinat aṣ-Ṣadr) is a suburb district of the city of Baghdad, Iraq. It was built in 1959 by Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim and later unofficially renamed Sadr City after deceased Shia leader Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr.
Sadr City (or more accurately Thawra District — Arabic: حيّ الثورة - ħayy ath-Thawra) is one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad. A public housing project neglected by Saddam Hussein, Sadr City holds more than 3 millions Shiite residents.
Sadr City was built in Iraq in 1959 by Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim in response to grave housing shortages in Baghdad. At the time named Revolution City (مدينة ألثورة "Al-Thawra"), it provided housing for Baghdad's urban poor, many of whom had come from the countryside and who had until then lived in appalling conditions. It quickly became a stronghold of the Iraqi Communist Party, and resistance to the Baathist-led coup of 1963 was strong there.
In 1982, following the Saddam Hussein coup, the district was renamed Saddam City, in honor of Saddam Hussein, the Baath Party leader. After the foreign occupation of Baghdad in April 2003, the district was unofficially renamed Sadr City after deceased shiite leader Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr.
wn.com/Sadr_City -
Samarra
Sāmarrā (Arabic: سامَرّاء) is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Salah ad-Din Governorate, 125 kilometers (78 mi) north of Baghdad and, in 2003, had an estimated population of 348,700.
Medieval Islamic writers believed that the name “Samarra” is derived from the Arabic phrase “Sarra man ra’a” (Arabic: سر من رأى), which translates to “A joy for all who see”. Later when the city declined the name changed to “Sa'a man ra’a” (Arabic: ساء من رأى), which translates to “A sadness for all who see”. Eventually the two names merged to its current form Samarra' (Arabic: سامَرّاء).
In 2007, UNESCO named Samarra one of its World Heritage Sites.
The remains of ancient Samarra were first excavated between 1911 and 1914 by the German Archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld. Since 1946, the notebooks, letters, unpublished excavation reports and photographs have been in the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
Though the present archaeological site covered by mudbrick ruins is vast, the site of Samarra was only lightly occupied in ancient times, apart from the Chalcolithic Samarran Culture (ca 5500–4800 BC) identified at the rich site of Tell Sawwan, where evidence of irrigation—including flax— establishes the presence of a prosperous settled culture with a highly organized social structure. The culture is primarily known by its finely-made pottery decorated against dark-fired backgrounds with stylized figures of animals and birds and geometric designs. This widely-exported type of pottery, one of the first widespread, relatively uniform pottery styles in the Ancient Near East, was first recognized at Samarra. The Samarran Culture was the precursor to the Mesopotamian culture of the Ubaid period.
wn.com/Samarra -
Samarra District
Samarra District is a district of the Salah ad Din Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Samarra_District -
Samawa
Samawah or As Samawah (Arabic language:السماوة ) is a city in Iraq, 280 kilometres (174 mi) southeast of Baghdad. .
The city of Samawah is the modern capital of the Al Muthanna Governorate. The city is located midway between Baghdad and Basra, at the northern edge of the governorate. The province was established in 1975; prior to that date it was a unified province along with Qadissiya (Diwaniya) and Najaf.
The city was settled by the Himyarite tribe of Banu Quda'a around the 3rd century AD. It is built on both sides of the Euphrates river; there are four bridges in the centre of town for crossing between the two sides. The west bank of the city contains the commercial heart of the city, and includes the old town and the Jewish quarter, agd al yahood.
The west bank is the site of the covered market Suq Al Masgoof, which dates to the Ottoman period. The area surrounding the market is the old city with its Byzantine maze of crowded markets and streets.
The eastern side of the city including 'Qushla' has a more modern feel and contains a number of estates of apartment blocks built during the 1970s and 1980s, the main stadium which is home to the local Muthanna team, as well as technical colleges and the polytechnic. There too is Al Qushla, the historic "Ottoman Barracks".
wn.com/Samawa -
Shatt Al-Arab
Shatt al-Arab (Arabic: شط العرب, literally "Coast/Beach of the Arabs") or Arvand Rūd (Persian: اروندرود, "Arvand River"), is a river in Southwest Asia of some 200 km (120 mi) in length, formed by the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris in the town of al-Qurnah in the Basra Governorate of southern Iraq. The southern end of the river constitutes the border between Iraq and Iran down to the mouth of the river as it discharges into the Persian Gulf. It varies in width from about 232 metres (761 ft) at Basra to 800 metres (2,600 ft) at its mouth. It is thought that the waterway formed relatively recently in geologic time, with the Tigris and Euphrates originally emptying into the Persian Gulf via a channel further to the west.
The Karun river, a tributary which joins the waterway from the Iranian side, deposits large amounts of silt into the river; this necessitates continuous dredging to keep it navigable.
The area is judged to hold the largest date palm forest in the world. In the mid-1970s, the region included 17 to 18 million date palms, an estimated one-fifth of the world's 90 million palm trees. But by 2002, war, salt, and pests had wiped out more than 14 million of the palms, including around 9 million in Iraq and 5 million in Iran. Many of the remaining 3 to 4 million trees are in poor condition.
wn.com/Shatt_Al-Arab -
Sindh
Sindh (pronounced [sɪnd̪ʱ]; Sindhi: سنڌ; Urdu: سندھ Indica in Latin, Indus in Greek) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran" and has been given the title of Bab-ul-Islam (The gateway of Islam). The name of Sindh is derived from the Indus River that separates it from Balochistan and the greater Iranian Plateau. This river was known to the ancient Iranians in Avestan as Indus, in Sanskrit as Sindhu, to Assyrians (as early as the seventh century BC) as Sinda, to the Greeks as Indos, to the Romans as Indus, to the Persians as Ab-e-sind, to the Pashtuns as "Abasind", to the Arabs as Al-Sind, to the Chinese as Sintow, and to the Javanese as the Santri.
Sindh is bounded to the west by the Indus River and Balochistan, to the north by Punjab, the east by the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan and to the south by the Arabian Sea. The capital of the province is Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and financial hub. Most of the population in the province is Muslim, with sizeable Christian, Zoroastrian and Hindu minorities. The main language spoken is Sindhi by about 40 million people, while there exists a significant Urdu-speaking minority.
wn.com/Sindh -
Sinjar
Sinjar (Arabic:سنجار, Kurdish: Şengal ) is the name of a town and district in northwestern Iraq's Ninawa Governorate near the Syrian border. Its population at the time of the 2006 census was 39,875. The region is home to the native Yezidi and Shabak people.
A huge mound and wall in northeastern Syria known as Tell Hamoukar indicate an urban civilisation dating back at least 6,000 years. The Sinjar valley belonged to the Northern Ubaid culture. In the Sinjar plain, where Tell Hamoukar is located, civilizations are known to have existed many centuries earlier (Hassuna, Halaf, Ubaid). More than 200 sites are known.
Some sources mention the city as the birthplace of the Christian saint Abd-al-Masih (Abda).
Sinjar was also the site of the filming, and some of the plot, for the 1973 film The Exorcist.
Coordinates: 36°19′N 41°52′E / 36.32°N 41.86°E / 36.32; 41.86
wn.com/Sinjar -
Sinjar District
Sinjar District is a district of the Ninawa Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Sinjar_District -
Soran District
Soran (Kurdish: ﺱۆﺭاﻥ or Deverí Soran) is an area in Iraqi Kurdistan bordering Iran and Turkey. Its main city is also called Soran, although the town of Rawanduz is better known outside of the region . According to Kurdistan television, citing an official in the town of Soran, the population of the region is estimated to be over 400,000.
Kurdish settlement in the region dates back prior to the establishment of the Sassanid empire. King Ardashir I of Persia mentioned the region in 224 during his battle against the Median king Madig.
A major Kurdish dialect (Sorani) is named after the region.
One of the Kurdish principality named as the Soran lordship ruled, for some years, in the 19th century, one of the famous kings was Pasha Kora (\Blind king). They went to war with the Ottoman empire and also the Baban lordship.
Soran District is similar to a county, and the seat of government for Soran District is at the Town of Soran. Formerly it was at Diyana, however due to the growth of the population over the past fifteen years, it was moved.
wn.com/Soran_District -
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal (Arabic: قناة السويس Qanāt al-Sūwais), also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows transportation by water between Europe and Asia without navigation around Africa. The northern terminus is Port Said and the southern terminus is Port Tawfik at the city of Suez. Ismailia lies on its west bank, 3 km (1.9 mi) north of the half-way point.
When first built, the canal was 164 km (102 mi) long and 8 m (26 ft) deep. After multiple enlargements, the canal is 193.30 km (120.11 mi) long, 24 m (79 ft) deep and 205 metres (673 ft) wide as of 2010. It consists of the northern access channel of 22 km/14 mi, the canal itself of 162.25 km/100.82 mi and the southern access channel of 9 km/5.6 mi.
The canal is single lane with passing places in Ballah By-Pass and in the Great Bitter Lake. It contains no locks; seawater flows freely through the canal. In general, the canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. The current south of the lakes changes with the tide at Suez.
wn.com/Suez_Canal -
Sulaymaniya District
Sulaymaniya District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Sulaymaniya_District -
Taji District
Taji District is a district of the Baghdad Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Taji_District -
Tel Afar
Tal Afar (pronounced /ta.la.fer/) (also Tal'Afar, Tal Afar, Tall Afar, Tell Afar, Tel Afar) (in Arabic: تلعفر or تل عفر, in Turkish: Telafer) is a city and district in northwestern Iraq in the Ninawa Governorate located approximately 30 miles west of Mosul and 120 miles north west of Kirkuk.
While no official census data exists, the city which had been assessed to have a population of approximately 200,000, had dropped to 80,000 as of 2007, nearly all of whom are Iraqi Turkmen. In Tal’Afar itself, the population is mostly Turkomen, about 75 percent of whom were Sunni Muslims, while a quarter were Shi’ites. While most residents speak Arabic, a dialect of Turkish is regularly used throughout the city.
10 kilometres (6.2 mi) southwest of the town of Tal Afar are the mounds of Yarim Tepe which yielded remains from the Halafian culture from the Hassuna, Halaf and Ubaid periods, between 7,000 and 4,500 BC.
Tel Afar has been thought to be a city mentioned in the Bible, Telassar or Thela'sar, mentioned in 2 Kings 19:12 and in Isaiah 37:12 as a city inhabited by "the children of Eden" which had been conquered and was held at the time of the Sennacherib by the Assyrians.
wn.com/Tel_Afar -
Tel Afar District
Tel Afar District is a district of the Ninawa Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Tel_Afar_District -
Tigris
The Tigris River (/ˈtaɪɡrɪs/; Arabic: دجله) 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. This stretch of 44 km is the only part of the river that is located in Syria. The remaining 1,418 km are entirely within the Iraqi borders.
The Tigris unites with the Euphrates near Basra, and from this junction to the Persian Gulf the mass of moving water is known as 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 BC.
wn.com/Tigris -
Tigris River
The Tigris River (/ˈtaɪɡrɪs/; Arabic: دجله) 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. This stretch of 44 km is the only part of the river that is located in Syria. The remaining 1,418 km are entirely within the Iraqi borders.
The Tigris unites with the Euphrates near Basra, and from this junction to the Persian Gulf the mass of moving water is known as 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 BC.
wn.com/Tigris_River -
Tikrit
Tikrit (Arabic: تكريت, Tikrīt also transliterated as Takrit or Tekrit) is a town in Iraq, located 140 km northwest of Baghdad on the Tigris river (at 34.61°N, 43.68°E). The town, with an estimated population in 2002 of about 260,000 is the administrative center of the Salah ad Din Governorate.
As a fort along the Tigris (Akkadian: Idiqlat), the town is first mentioned in the Fall of Assyria Chronicle as being a refuge for the Babylonian king Nabopolassar during his attack on the city of Assur in 615 BC.
Tikrit is usually identified with the Hellenistic settlement Birtha. As Tagrit, it was the seat of the Maphrian of the Monophysites.
Over a thousand years ago, it possessed a fortress and a large Christian monastery. It was renowned as a centre for the production of woolen textiles. The Arab Uqaylid Dynasty took hold of Tikrit in 1036.
Around 1138, the legendary leader Saladin was born there; his many achievements include defending Egypt against the Christian Crusaders and recapturing Jerusalem in 1187. The modern province of which Tikrit is the capital is named after him.
wn.com/Tikrit -
Tikrit District
Tikrit District is a district of the Salah ad Din Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Tikrit_District -
Tooz District
Tooz District is a district of the Salah ad Din Governorate, Iraq.
wn.com/Tooz_District -
Turkey
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.
wn.com/Turkey -
Wasit Governorate
Wasit Province (Arabic: واسط Wāsit) (or Wasit Governorate) is a province in eastern Iraq. Its name comes from the Arabic word meaning "middle," as it lies along the Tigris about midway between Baghdad and Basra. Its major cities include the capital Al Kut, Al-Hai, and the city Wasit. Prior to 1976 it was known as Kut Province.
wn.com/Wasit_Governorate -
Zakho
Zakho (Kurdish: Zaxo, زاخو; Arabic: زاخو; Syriac-Aramaic: ܙܟܼܘ) is a district and a town in Northern Iraq located a few kilometers from the Iraqi-Turkish border.
Zakho is a province of the Dohuk Governorate. The city has 200,000 inhabitants. It may have originally begun on a small island in the Little Khabur which currently flows through the city. The Khabur River flows west of Zakho to form the border between Iraq and Turkey and flows into the Tigris. The most important rivers in the district of Zakho are: the Zeriza river, the Seerkotik river and the Little Khabur river.
There are several theories concerning the derivation of the name "Zakho". Some Aramaic sources maintain that the name comes from the Aramaic "Zakhota" (victory), after the battle fought between the Romans and the Persians near the city, which resulted in a Roman victory.
Another version maintains that the name comes from the Kurdish words "Zey- Khowin" ("river of blood"), possibly referring to the same battle.
A third opinion attributes the name to the Kurdish "Zey" (river) and "Khowak" (a curved place which blocks the water).
wn.com/Zakho
-
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie DBE (née Miller; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and more than 15 short story collections (especially those featuring Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple), and her successful West End plays.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels have sold roughly four billion copies, and her estate claims that her works rank third, after those of William Shakespeare and the Bible, as the most widely published books. According to Index Translationum, Christie is the most translated individual author, with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions surpassing her. Her books have been translated into at least 103 languages.
Agatha Christie published two autobiographies: a posthumous one covering childhood to old age; and another chronicling several seasons of archaeological excavation in Syria and Iraq with her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. The latter was published in 1946 with the title, Come, Tell Me How You Live.
wn.com/Agatha_Christie -
Ak Koyunlu
The Aq Qoyunlu or Ak Koyunlu, also called the White Sheep Turkomans (Persian/Azeri: آق قویونلو), was an SunniOghuz Turkic tribal federation that ruled parts of present-day Eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, northern Iraq, and Iran from 1378 to 1508.
According to chronicles from the Byzantine Empire, the Aq Qoyunlu were present in eastern Anatolia from at least 1340, and most of their leaders, including the dynasty's founder, Uzun Hassan, married Byzantine princesses.
The Aq Qoyunlu Turkomans first acquired land in 1402, when Timur granted them all of Diyarbakır in present-day Turkey. For a long time, the Aq Qoyunlu were unable to expand their territory, as the rival Kara Koyunlu or "Black Sheep Turkomans" kept them at bay. However, this changed with the rule of Uzun Hassan, who defeated the Black Sheep Turkoman leader Jahān Shāh in 1467.
After the defeat of a Ilkhanate leader, Abu Sa'id, Uzun Hassan was able to take Baghdad along with territories around the Persian Gulf. He expanded into Iran as far east as Khorasan. However, around this time, the Ottoman Empire sought to expand eastwards, a serious threat that forced the Aq Qoyunlu into an alliance with the Karamanids of central Anatolia.
wn.com/Ak_Koyunlu -
Amittai
Amittai ( /əˈmɪti.aɪ/; Hebrew: אֲמִתַּי, my truth; Latin: Amathi; Arabic: Matta) was the father of Jonah the prophet. He was also a native of Gath-hepher.
Amittai (Matta in Arabic) is also mentioned in Islam in Prophet Muhammad's Hadith, in which Muhammad emphasizes upon the belief that all prophets are equal in their importance and greatness: Muhammad's cousin Ibn Abbas recalled that the prophet had said: "One should not say that I am better than Jonah, son of Amittai."
When Muhammad was returning from preaching in Ta'if and decided to take shelter in the garden of two leaders, Addas, a lowly servant boy, was sent to offer grapes to Muhammad. When Addas came, Muhammad asked which land he came from. Addas replied he was from Nineveh. Upon receiving this answer, the Prophet exclaimed "The town of Jonah, son of Amittai!" Overjoyed, Muhammad then told Addas how Jonah and he (Muhammad) were prophetic brothers.
This article incorporates text from Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), a publication now in the public domain.
wn.com/Amittai -
Aq Qoyunlu
The Aq Qoyunlu or Ak Koyunlu, also called the White Sheep Turkomans (Persian/Azeri: آق قویونلو), was an SunniOghuz Turkic tribal federation that ruled parts of present-day Eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, northern Iraq, and Iran from 1378 to 1508.
According to chronicles from the Byzantine Empire, the Aq Qoyunlu were present in eastern Anatolia from at least 1340, and most of their leaders, including the dynasty's founder, Uzun Hassan, married Byzantine princesses.
The Aq Qoyunlu Turkomans first acquired land in 1402, when Timur granted them all of Diyarbakır in present-day Turkey. For a long time, the Aq Qoyunlu were unable to expand their territory, as the rival Kara Koyunlu or "Black Sheep Turkomans" kept them at bay. However, this changed with the rule of Uzun Hassan, who defeated the Black Sheep Turkoman leader Jahān Shāh in 1467.
After the defeat of a Ilkhanate leader, Abu Sa'id, Uzun Hassan was able to take Baghdad along with territories around the Persian Gulf. He expanded into Iran as far east as Khorasan. However, around this time, the Ottoman Empire sought to expand eastwards, a serious threat that forced the Aq Qoyunlu into an alliance with the Karamanids of central Anatolia.
wn.com/Aq_Qoyunlu -
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs (Arabic: عرب, ʿarab), are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing an important part of Arab identity.
The word "Arab" has had several different, but overlapping, meanings over the centuries (and sometimes even today). In addition to including all Arabized people of the world (with language tending to be the acid test), it has also at times been used exclusively for bedouin (Arab nomads [although a related word, "`a-RAB," with the Arabic letter "alif" in the second syllable, once was sometimes used when this specific meaning was intended] and their now almost entirely settled descendants). It is sometimes used that way colloquially even today in some places. Townspeople once were sometimes called "sons of the Arabs." As in the case of other ethnicities or nations, people identify themselves (or are identified by others) as "Arabs" to varying degrees. This may not be one's primary identity (it tends to compete with country, religion, sect, etc.), and whether it is emphasized may depend upon one's audience.
wn.com/Arab -
Arab people
Arab people, also known as Arabs (Arabic: عرب, ʿarab), are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing an important part of Arab identity.
The word "Arab" has had several different, but overlapping, meanings over the centuries (and sometimes even today). In addition to including all Arabized people of the world (with language tending to be the acid test), it has also at times been used exclusively for bedouin (Arab nomads [although a related word, "`a-RAB," with the Arabic letter "alif" in the second syllable, once was sometimes used when this specific meaning was intended] and their now almost entirely settled descendants). It is sometimes used that way colloquially even today in some places. Townspeople once were sometimes called "sons of the Arabs." As in the case of other ethnicities or nations, people identify themselves (or are identified by others) as "Arabs" to varying degrees. This may not be one's primary identity (it tends to compete with country, religion, sect, etc.), and whether it is emphasized may depend upon one's audience.
wn.com/Arab_people -
Arabs
Arab people, also known as Arabs (Arabic: عرب, ʿarab), are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing an important part of Arab identity.
The word "Arab" has had several different, but overlapping, meanings over the centuries (and sometimes even today). In addition to including all Arabized people of the world (with language tending to be the acid test), it has also at times been used exclusively for bedouin (Arab nomads [although a related word, "`a-RAB," with the Arabic letter "alif" in the second syllable, once was sometimes used when this specific meaning was intended] and their now almost entirely settled descendants). It is sometimes used that way colloquially even today in some places. Townspeople once were sometimes called "sons of the Arabs." As in the case of other ethnicities or nations, people identify themselves (or are identified by others) as "Arabs" to varying degrees. This may not be one's primary identity (it tends to compete with country, religion, sect, etc.), and whether it is emphasized may depend upon one's audience.
wn.com/Arabs -
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians (Armenian: հայեր, Armenian pronunciation: [hɑˈjɛɾ]) are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.
The largest concentration is in Armenia, having a nearly homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian. Because of wide-ranging and long-lasting diaspora, an estimated total of 3 million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry live outside of Armenia. As a result of the Armenian Genocide, a large number of survivors fled to many countries throughout the world, most notably the Russian Empire, the Near East, the United States, France, Iran, Georgia and other parts of Europe (see Armenian diaspora).
Christianity began to spread in Armenia soon after Jesus's death, due to the efforts of two of his apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew In the early 4th century, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion. Most Armenians adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church, a non-Chalcedonian church, which is also the world's oldest national church.
wn.com/Armenians -
Asenath Barzani
Tanna’it Asenath Barzani (1590–1670) was a renowned Kurdish Jewish woman who lived in Mosul, Iraq. She was the daughter of the illustrious Rabbi Samuel Barzani. She studied Kabbalah.
Barzani was given the title Tanna’it. Until the modern era, very few women were given a Jewish title. After Tanna’it Barzani died, many Jews made pilgrimages to her grave in Amadiyah in Northern Iraq. Tanna’it Asenath was the daughter of Rabbi Samuel Barzani, who headed many yeshivas during his lifetime, and whose authority in Kurdistan was absolute. He was a master of Kabbalah, and he was said to have taught the secrets of Kabbalah to his daughter, who adored her father, whom she regarded as a King of Israel. He was her primary teacher, and after his death she took over many of his duties. Not only did Asenath serve as a rabbi, but she became the head of the yeshivah of Mosul, and eventually became known as the chief teacher of Torah in Kurdistan. In another source, it is said that, "Asenath Barzani in sixteenth-century Kurdistan supplicates the Torah sages of Amadiya so she can support the yeshiva her husband established in Mosul until her young son could take over"(see [1]).
wn.com/Asenath_Barzani -
Ashurbanipal
Ashurbanipal ([pronunciation?]; Akkadian: Aššur-bāni-apli; Aramaic: "ܐܵܫܘܿܪ ܒܵܢܝܼ ܐܵܦܠܝܼ"; "Ashur is creator of an heir"; 685 BC – c. 627 BC), also spelled Assurbanipal or Ashshurbanipal, was an Assyrian king, the son of Esarhaddon and the last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (668 BC – c. 627 BC). He established the first systematically organized library in the ancient Middle East, the Library of Ashurbanipal, which survives in part today at Nineveh.
In the Bible he is called Asenappar (Ezra 4:10). Roman historian Justinus identified him as Sardanapalus.
Ashurbanipal was born toward the end of a fifteen-hundred-year period of Assyrian ascendancy.
His father, Esarhaddon, youngest son of Sennacherib, had become heir when the crown prince, Ashur-nadin-shumi, was deposed by rebels from his position as vassal for Babylon. Esarhaddon was not the son of Sennacherib's queen, Tashmetum-sharrat, but of the West Semitic/Aramean "palace woman" Zakutu "the pure', known by her native name, Naqi'a. The only queen known for Esarhaddon was Ashur-hamat, who died in 672 BC.
wn.com/Ashurbanipal -
Assyrian people
The Assyrian people, most commonly known as Assyrians and other later names, such as: Chaldeans, Syrians, Syriacs (see names of Syriac Christians), are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia. They are Eastern Aramaic speaking Semites who trace their ancestry back to the Sumero-Akkadian civilisation that emerged in Mesopotamia circa 4000- 3500 BC, and in particular to the northern region of the Akkadian lands, which would become known as Assyria by the 24th Century BC. The Assyrian nation existed as an independent state, and often a powerful empire, from the 24th century BC until the end of the 7th century BC.
Today that ancient territory is part of several nations; Assyria remained a Geo-political entity after its fall, and was ruled as an occupied province under the rule of various empires from the late 7th century BC until the mid 7th century AD when it was dissolved, and the Assyrian people have gradually become a minority in their homelands since that time. They are indigenous to, and have traditionally lived all over what is now Iraq, north east Syria, north west Iran, and Southeastern Turkey. They are predominantly Christian.
wn.com/Assyrian_people -
Assyrians
The Assyrian people, most commonly known as Assyrians and other later names, such as: Chaldeans, Syrians, Syriacs (see names of Syriac Christians), are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia. They are Eastern Aramaic speaking Semites who trace their ancestry back to the Sumero-Akkadian civilisation that emerged in Mesopotamia circa 4000- 3500 BC, and in particular to the northern region of the Akkadian lands, which would become known as Assyria by the 24th Century BC. The Assyrian nation existed as an independent state, and often a powerful empire, from the 24th century BC until the end of the 7th century BC.
Today that ancient territory is part of several nations; Assyria remained a Geo-political entity after its fall, and was ruled as an occupied province under the rule of various empires from the late 7th century BC until the mid 7th century AD when it was dissolved, and the Assyrian people have gradually become a minority in their homelands since that time. They are indigenous to, and have traditionally lived all over what is now Iraq, north east Syria, north west Iran, and Southeastern Turkey. They are predominantly Christian.
wn.com/Assyrians -
Cush (Bible)
Cush (also Kush, Biblical כּוּשׁ Kûš) was the eldest son of Ham, brother of Mizraim (Egypt), Canaan and the father of Nimrod, and Raamah, mentioned in the "Table of Nations" in the Genesis 10:6 and I Chronicles 1:8. He is traditionally considered the eponymous ancestor of the people of Cush, a dark-skinned people inhabiting the country surrounded by the River Gihon, identified in antiquity with Arabia Felix (i.e. Yemen) and Aethiopia (i.e. all Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the Upper Nile).
According to Genesis, Cush's other sons were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtecah.
The wife of Moses was a Cushite, according to the Book of Numbers 12:1. Exagoge 60-65 by Ezekiel the Tragedian (fragments reproduced in Eusebius) has Zipporah describe herself to Moses as a stranger in the land of Midian, and proceeds to describe the inhabitants of her ancestral lands in Africa:
"Stranger, this land is called Libya {an ancient name for the African continent}. It is inhabited by tribes of various peoples, Ethiopians, dark men. One man is the ruler of the land: he is both king and general. He rules the state, judges the people, and is priest. This man is my father {Jethro} and theirs."
wn.com/Cush_(Bible) -
Darbandokeh
Darbandokeh, (Syriac: ܕܪܒܢܕܘܟܐ darbandōḵa), is an Assyrian village located in the sub-district of Harir and in the district of Shaqlawa. It was previously inhabited by both Kurds and Assyrians. The Assyrians of Darbandokeh came right after the Assyrian genocide that took place within the Ottoman Empire. They came from the Shamezdin region, located within Hakkari, Turkey. After force migration in the late 20th century, today no Assyrians remaining in the village of Darbandokeh. Many of them are now living in the Australia, United States, Sweden and Canada.
Darbandokeh is the birthplace of many renowned Assyrians. It is where the current Patriarch of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Dinkha IV, was born. It is also the birthplace of the Secretary General of the Assyrian Universal Alliance, Emanuel Kamber.
wn.com/Darbandokeh -
David
David (Hebrew: דָּוִד, דָּוִיד, Modern David Tiberian Dāwîḏ; ISO 259-3 Dawid; Strong's Daveed; beloved; Arabic: داوود or داود Dāwūd) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and, according to the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke, an ancestor of Jesus. David is seen as a major Prophet in Islamic traditions. His life is conventionally dated to c. 1040–970 BC, his reign over Judah c. 1010–1003 BC,[citation needed] and his reign over the United Kingdom of Israel c. 1003–970 BC.[citation needed] The Books of Samuel, 1 Kings, and 1 Chronicles are the only sources of information on David, although the Tel Dan stele records "House of David", which some take as confirmation of the existence in the mid-9th century BC of a Judean royal dynasty called the "House of David".
David is very important to Jewish, Christian and Islamic doctrine and culture. In Judaism, David, or David HaMelekh, is the King of Israel, and the Jewish people. Jewish tradition maintains that a direct descendant of David will be the Messiah. In Islam, he is known as Dawud, considered to be a prophet and the king of a nation. He is depicted as a righteous king, though not without faults, as well as an acclaimed warrior, musician, and poet, traditionally credited for composing many of the psalms contained in the Book of Psalms.
wn.com/David -
Galen
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (b. 129 AD, d. circa 200 AD), better known as Galen of Pergamon (modern-day Bergama, Turkey), was a prominent Roman (of Greek ethnicity) physician, surgeon and philosopher. Arguably the most accomplished of all medical researchers of antiquity, Galen contributed greatly to the understanding of numerous scientific disciplines, including anatomy,physiology, pathology,pharmacology, and neurology, as well as philosophy and logic.
The son of Aelius Nicon, a wealthy architect with scholarly interests, Galen received a comprehensive education that prepared him for a successful career as a physician and philosopher. He traveled extensively, exposing himself to a wide variety of medical theories and discoveries before settling in Rome, where he served prominent members of Roman society and eventually was given the position of personal physician to several emperors.
wn.com/Galen -
Great Seljuq Empire
The Great Seljuq Empire (Turkish: Büyük Selçuklu Devleti, Persian: دولت سلجوقیان) was a medieval Persianate,Turko-PersianSunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuq Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf. From their homelands near the Aral sea, the Seljuqs advanced first into Khorasan and then into mainland Persia before eventually conquering eastern Anatolia.
The Seljuq empire was founded by Tughril Beg in 1037 after the efforts by the founder of the Seljuq dynasty, Seljuq Beg, back in the first quarter of the eleventh century. Seljuq Beg's father was in a higher position in the Oghuz Yabgu State, and gave his name both to the state and the dynasty. The Seljuqs united the fractured political scene of the Eastern Islamic world and played a key role in the first and second crusades. Highly Persianized in culture and language, the Seljuqs also played an important role in the development of the Turko-Persian tradition, even exporting Persian culture to Anatolia. The Seljuqs conquest gave impetus to the progressive Turkicization of parts of Anatolia, Iran and the Caucasus.
wn.com/Great_Seljuq_Empire -
Great War
World War I (WWI), which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939 (World War II), and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It involved all the world's great powers, which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (originally centred around the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy; but, as Austria–Hungary had taken the offensive against the agreement, Italy did not enter into the war). These alliances both reorganised (Italy fought for the Allies), and expanded as more nations entered the war. Ultimately more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. More than 9 million combatants were killed, largely because of enormous increases in lethality of weapons, thanks to new technology, without corresponding improvements in protection or mobility. It was the sixth-deadliest conflict in world history, subsequently paving the way for various political changes such as revolutions in the nations involved.
wn.com/Great_War -
Hawar Mulla Mohammed
Hawar Mulla Mohammed Taher Zebari (Arabic: هوار ملا محمد طاهر زيباري, Kurdish: هەوار مەلامحەمەد تاهر زێبارى, born in 1 June 1981 in Mosul, Iraq) is an Iraqi Kurdish football player, who plays as Winger and Wingback positions for Zob Ahan in Iran. Hawar is known to be one of the best players in Iraqi national team and was a key figure in Iraq 2007 Asian Cup glory. His younger brother Halgurd Mulla Mohammed is also a National team player.
Having earned a reputation as a regular goalscorer for Iraqi national team and clubs such as Al Ain and Al Ansar, Hawar Mulla Mohammed made a high-profile move to Cypriot champions Anorthosis Famagusta FC in August 2008.
In a little over a month, the 27-year-old entered the history books as the first Iraqi player to feature in the UEFA Champions League, coming off the bench to help Anorthosis hold Werder Bremen to a goalless draw. A fortnight later, he scored in the second half to seal a memorable 3-1 win for the Cypriots over Greek giants Panathinaikos.
In doing so, Mohammed demonstrated that he is more than capable of competing at the highest level, and the experience he has gained at club level will be invaluable to Iraq when they rub shoulders with the world's best at the FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009.
wn.com/Hawar_Mulla_Mohammed -
Hormuzd Rassam
Hormuzd Rassam (1826 – 16 September 1910) (Syriac: ܗܪܡܙܕ ܪܣܐܡ), was a native Assyrian Assyriologist, British diplomat and traveller who made a number of important discoveries, including the clay tablets that contained the Epic of Gilgamesh, the world's oldest literature. Even though he became a British citizen later in his life he can be accepted to be the first known Assyrian, Ottoman and Middle Eastern archaeologist.
Rassam, an ethnic Assyrian, was born in Mosul, then part of the Ottoman Empire, (now modern Iraq) into a Chaldean Catholic and Assyrian Church of the East family. His father Anton Rassam was from Mosul and was archdeacon in the Assyrian Church of the East; his mother Theresa was daughter of Ishaak Halabee of Aleppo, Syria. When he was 20 years old, he was hired by British archaeologist A.H. Layard as a pay master at a nearby dig site. Layard, who was in Mosul on his first expedition (1845–1847), was impressed by the hard-working Rassam and took him under his wing; they would remain friends for life. Layard provided an opportunity for Rassam to travel to England and study at Oxford (Magdalen College), where he stayed for 18 months before accompanying Layard on his second expedition to Iraq (1849–1851).
wn.com/Hormuzd_Rassam -
Hulegu
Hulagu Khan, also known as Hülegü, Hulegu (Mongolian: Hülegü Khaan, "Warrior"; Mongolian Cyrillic: Хүлэг хаан; Turkish: Hülâgü Han; Chagatai/Urdu: ہلاکو Hulaku; Persian/Arabic: هولاكو خان; Chinese: 旭烈兀; c. 1217 – 8 February 1265), was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of Southwest Asia. Son of Tolui and the Kerait princess Sorghaghtani Beki, he was a grandson of Genghis Khan, and the brother of Arik Boke, Möngke Khan and Kublai Khan. Hulagu's army greatly expanded the southwestern portion of the Mongol Empire, founding the Ilkhanate of Persia, a precursor to the eventual Safavid dynasty, and then the modern state of Iran. Under Hulagu's leadership, the Mongols destroyed the greatest center of Islamic power, Baghdad, and also weakened Damascus, causing a shift of Islamic influence to the Mamluks in Cairo. During Hulagu's reign historians began writing in Persian instead of Arabic[citation needed].
Hulagu was born to Tolui, one of Genghis Khan's sons, and Sorghaghtani Beki, an influential Kerait princess. Sorghaghtani successfully navigated Mongol politics, arranging for all of her sons to become Mongol leaders. She was a Nestorian Christian, and Hulagu was friendly to Christianity. Hulagu's favorite wife, Dokuz Khatun, was also a Christian, as was his closest friend and general, Kitbuqa. It is recorded however that he was a Buddhist as he neared his death, against the will of Dokuz Khatun.
wn.com/Hulegu -
Ibn Battuta
Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Lawātī al-Ţanjī ibn Baṭūṭah (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد بن عبد الله اللواتي الطنجي بن بطوطة), or simply Ibn Battuta (ابن بطوطة), also known as Shams ad-Din (February 25, 1304–1368 or 1369), was a Berber Muslim Moroccan explorer, known for his extensive travels, accounts of which were published in the Rihla (lit. "Journey"). Over a period of thirty years, he visited most of the known Islamic world as well as many non-Muslim lands; his journeys including trips to North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in the West, and to the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China in the East, a distance surpassing threefold his near-contemporary Marco Polo. Ibn Battuta is considered one of the greatest travellers of all time. He journeyed more than 75,000 miles (121,000 km), a figure unsurpassed by any individual explorer until the coming of the Steam Age some 450 years later.
All that is known about Ibn Battuta's life comes from the autobiographical information included in the account of his travels. Ibn Battuta was born into a Berber family of Islamic legal scholars in Tangier, Morocco, on 25 February 1304, during the reign of the Marinid dynasty. As a young man he would have studied at a Sunni Maliki madh'hab, (Islamic jurisprudence school), the dominant form of education in North Africa at that time. In June 1325, at the age of twenty-one, Ibn Battuta set off from his hometown on a hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca, a journey that would take sixteen months. He would not see Morocco again for twenty-four years.
wn.com/Ibn_Battuta -
Iraqi Turkmen
The Iraqi Turkmens (also spelled Turcomans, Turkomens, and Iraqi Turkmans), Iraqi Turks, or Turks of Iraq (Turkish: Irak Türkmenleri/Irak Türkleri) are the third largest ethnic group in Iraq who are the ethnic kin of the Turks. They mainly reside in northern Iraq and share close cultural and linguistic ties with Turkey.
The Iraqi Turkmen are the descendants of various waves of Turkic migration to Mesopotamia dating from the 7th century until Ottoman rule. The first wave of migration dates back to the 7th century when some 1,000 Turkmen soldiers were recruited in the Muslim armies of Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad; however, most of today's descendants of these first migrants have been assimilated into the local Arab population. The second wave of migrants were the Turks of the Great Seljuq Empire; finally, the third wave, and largest number of Turkmen migrants into Iraq arose during the Ottoman Empire. With the conquest of Iraq by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1534, followed by Sultan Murad IV's capture of Baghdad in 1638, a large influx of Turks settled down in the region. Thus, most of today's Iraqi Turkmen are the descendants of the Ottoman soldiers, traders and civil servants who were brought into Iraq during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
wn.com/Iraqi_Turkmen -
Jews
The Jews (Hebrew: יְהוּדִים ISO 259-3 Yhudim Israeli pronunciation [jehuˈdim]), also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and an ethnoreligious group, originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation.Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within the Jewish ethnos is equal to those born into it, have been absorbed into the Jewish people throughout the millennia.
In Jewish tradition, Jewish ancestry is traced to the Biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the second millennium BCE. The modern State of Israel defines itself as a Jewish state in its Basic Laws, and Israel's Law of Return states: "Every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh." Israel is the only country where Jews are a majority of the population. Jews achieved political autonomy twice before in ancient history. The first of these periods lasted from 1350 to 586 BCE, and encompassed the periods of the Judges, the United Monarchy, and the Divided Monarchy of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, ending with the destruction of the First Temple. The second was the period of the Hasmonean Kingdom spanning from 140 to 37 BCE. Since the destruction of the First Temple, most Jews have lived in diaspora. A minority in every country in which they live (except Israel), they have frequently experienced persecution throughout history, resulting in a population that has fluctuated both in numbers and distribution over the centuries.
wn.com/Jews -
Jonah
Jonah (Hebrew: יוֹנָה, Modern Yona Tiberian Yônā ; dove; Arabic: يونس, Yūnus or يونان, Yūnān; Greek/Latin: Ionas) is the name given in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh/Old Testament) to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BC, the eponymous central character in the Book of Jonah, famous for being swallowed by a fish or a whale, depending on translation. The Biblical story of Jonah is also repeated, with minor changes, in the Qur'an.
Jonah son of Amittai appears in 2 Kings as a prophet from Gath-Hepher (a few miles north of Nazareth) active during the reign of Jeroboam II (c.786-746 BC), where he predicts that Jeroboam will recover certain lost territories.
wn.com/Jonah -
Kathem Al Saher
Kadim Al Sahir (Arabic: كاظم الساهر; born September 12, 1957 in Mosul, Iraq), is an Iraqi singer, composer, and poet. He has been dubbed the "Caesar of Arabic Song", and "Iraq’s Ambassador to the world".
Kadim Al Sahir, whose first name is also written alternatively as Kazem, Kadhem, Kathem, Kazim and his family name alternatively as Saher, El Saher and Al Saher, has established himself as one of the most successful singers in the history of the Arab World, having sold more than 100 million albums worldwide since the start of his career. Ranging from big romantic ballads to more political work, from pop to Arab classical music.
Al Sahir was born in Mosul in 1957 to a Shiaa mother from Najaf and a Sunni father from Samarra. His father lived in Baghdad, but was a Samarra native from the tribe of Albu Daraj. He grew up and spent a large part of his life in Alhurrya city in Baghdad. He is the son of a palace worker and has nine siblings.
Apart from his mother, Al Saher's family were never supportive of his direction in becoming a musician. They had no faith in him that he would become successful, and instead wanted him to become a doctor or a lawyer. Sahir's brother once took him to a different places where people sing, and told him it's your choice to sing a respectful way and choose the good or the bad way. He said that the only way to achieve success is if you respect your music and respect yourself, He has two sons (Omar & Wissam).
wn.com/Kathem_Al_Saher -
Kurd
The Kurdish people, or Kurds (Kurdish: کورد Kurd), are an Iranic people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. They speak the Kurdish language, which is a member of the Iranian branch of Indo-European languages. The Kurds number about 30 million, the majority living in the Middle East, with significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey, in Armenia, Georgia, Israel, Azerbaijan, Russia, Lebanon and, in recent decades, some European countries and the United States. The Kurds are an indigenous ethnic minority in countries where the Kurdistan region is located, although they have enjoyed partial autonomy in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1991. An irredentist movement pushes for the creation of a Kurdish nation state.
The exact origins of the name, "Kurd", are unclear. Reynolds believes that the term Kurd is most likely related to the ancient term Qardu. The common root of Kurd and Qardu is first mentioned in a Sumerian tablet from the third millennium B.C. as the "land of Kar-da." Qardu is etymologically related to the Assyrian term Urartu corresponding to Ararat. According to Asatrian, the most reasonable explanation of this ethnonym is its possible connections with the Cyrtii (Cyrtaei)
wn.com/Kurd -
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds (Kurdish: کورد Kurd), are an Iranic people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. They speak the Kurdish language, which is a member of the Iranian branch of Indo-European languages. The Kurds number about 30 million, the majority living in the Middle East, with significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey, in Armenia, Georgia, Israel, Azerbaijan, Russia, Lebanon and, in recent decades, some European countries and the United States. The Kurds are an indigenous ethnic minority in countries where the Kurdistan region is located, although they have enjoyed partial autonomy in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1991. An irredentist movement pushes for the creation of a Kurdish nation state.
The exact origins of the name, "Kurd", are unclear. Reynolds believes that the term Kurd is most likely related to the ancient term Qardu. The common root of Kurd and Qardu is first mentioned in a Sumerian tablet from the third millennium B.C. as the "land of Kar-da." Qardu is etymologically related to the Assyrian term Urartu corresponding to Ararat. According to Asatrian, the most reasonable explanation of this ethnonym is its possible connections with the Cyrtii (Cyrtaei)
wn.com/Kurdish_people -
Kurds
The Kurdish people, or Kurds (Kurdish: کورد Kurd), are an Iranic people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. They speak the Kurdish language, which is a member of the Iranian branch of Indo-European languages. The Kurds number about 30 million, the majority living in the Middle East, with significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey, in Armenia, Georgia, Israel, Azerbaijan, Russia, Lebanon and, in recent decades, some European countries and the United States. The Kurds are an indigenous ethnic minority in countries where the Kurdistan region is located, although they have enjoyed partial autonomy in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1991. An irredentist movement pushes for the creation of a Kurdish nation state.
The exact origins of the name, "Kurd", are unclear. Reynolds believes that the term Kurd is most likely related to the ancient term Qardu. The common root of Kurd and Qardu is first mentioned in a Sumerian tablet from the third millennium B.C. as the "land of Kar-da." Qardu is etymologically related to the Assyrian term Urartu corresponding to Ararat. According to Asatrian, the most reasonable explanation of this ethnonym is its possible connections with the Cyrtii (Cyrtaei)
wn.com/Kurds -
Maimonides
Mosheh ben Maimon משה בן מימון, called Moses Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn (Arabic: موسى بن ميمون), or RaMBaM (רמב"ם – Hebrew acronym for "Rabbi Mosheh Ben Maimon"), was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the most prolific and followed Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages. He was born in Córdoba, Almoravid Empire (present-day Spain) on Passover Eve, 1135, and died in Egypt (or Tiberias) on 20th Tevet, December 12, 1204. He was a rabbi, physician and philosopher in Morocco and Egypt.
Although his writings on Jewish law and ethics were met with acclaim and gratitude from most Jews even as far off as Spain, Iraq and Yemen, and he rose to be the revered head of the Jewish community in Egypt, there were also vociferous critics of some of his rulings and other writings particularly in Spain. Nevertheless, he was posthumously acknowledged to be one of the foremost rabbinical arbiters and philosophers in Jewish history, his copious work a cornerstone of Jewish scholarship. His fourteen-volume Mishneh Torah still carries canonical authority as a codification of Talmudic law. In the Yeshiva world he is known as "haNesher haGadol" (the great eagle) in recognition of his outstanding status as a bona fide exponent of the Oral Torah.
wn.com/Maimonides -
Mandean
Mandaeism or Mandaeanism (Modern Mandaic: Mandaʻiūtā (מנדעיותא); Arabic: مندائية Mandāʼīyah/Mandāʾiyyah; Persian: مندائیان Mandâ'iyân) is a gnostic religion[citation needed] (Aramaic manda means "knowledge", as does Greek gnosis) with a strongly dualistic worldview.
Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enosh, Noah, Shem, Aram and especially John the Baptist, but reject Jesus of Nazareth and are hostile to Christianity. They are sometimes identified with mentions in the Quran of the Sabian religion, particularly in an Arabian context, but the Sabian religious community is extinct today.
According to most scholars, Mandaeans migrated from the Southern Levant to Mesopotamia in the first centuries CE and are certainly of pre-Arab and pre-Islamic origin. They are Semites and speak a dialect of Eastern Aramaic known as Mandaic. They may well be related to the "Nabateans of Iraq" who were pagan, Aramaic speaking indigenous pre-Arab and pre-Islamic inhabitants of southern Iraq.
wn.com/Mandean -
Mawdud
Mawdud ibn Altuntash (also spelled Maudud or Sharaf al-Dawla Mawdûd) (died October 2, 1113) was a Turkic military leader who was atabeg of Mosul from 1109 to 1113. He organized several expeditions to reconquer lands from the Crusaders, but never succeeded.
Mawdud was an officer of Mehmed I of Great Seljuk, who sent him to reconquer Mosul from the rebel atabeg Jawali. After his conquest of the city, Mehmed entrusted him with several military attempts to push back the Crusaders from the nearby Principality of Antioch and county of Edessa. The first attempt was launched in 1110; having joined forces with Ilghazi, the emir of Mardin, and of Soqman al Qutbi, emir of Khilat, they began by besieging Edessa from April of that year, but Baldwin I of Jerusalem intervened, and forced Mawdud to retreat.
The following year Mawdud marched against Edessa, but as the city walls had been quickly strengthened, he preferred to lay siege to the town of Turbessel, held by Joscelin I of Courtenay. When Radwan of Aleppo sent news that the Christians under Tancred of Hauteville were on the verge of capturing Aleppo, he moved on to that city. On his arrival, however, he discovered that the capture of the city was not imminent at all, and that Radwan even refused to open the city's gates for him. He also received the news that a relief army which had been sent by Baldwin was now marching northwards, so he raised the siege of Turbessel and the subsequent Battle of Shaizar proved to be indecisive and a tactical draw.
wn.com/Mawdud -
Mede
The Medes (/midz/) (from Old Persian Māda-) were an ancient Iranian people who lived in Iran in an area known as Media and spoke a northwestern Iranian language referred to as the Median language. Their arrival to the region is associated with the first wave of Iranian tribes in the late second millennium BCE (the Bronze Age collapse) through the beginning of the first millennium BCE.
In the 7th century BCE a unified Median state was formed which together with Babylonia, Lydia, and Egypt became one of the four major powers of the ancient Near East. An alliance with the Babylonians helped the Medes to capture Nineveh in 612 BCE which resulted in the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Medes were subsequently able to establish their Median kingdom (with Ecbatana as their royal centre) beyond their original homeland (central-western Iran) and had eventually a territory stretching roughly from northeastern Iran to the Halys River in Anatolia. The Median kingdom was conquered in 550 BCE by Cyrus the Great who established the next Iranian dynasty—the Achaemenid Empire.
wn.com/Mede -
Median Empire
The Medes (/midz/) (from Old Persian Māda-) were an ancient Iranian people who lived in Iran in an area known as Media and spoke a northwestern Iranian language referred to as the Median language. Their arrival to the region is associated with the first wave of Iranian tribes in the late second millennium BCE (the Bronze Age collapse) through the beginning of the first millennium BCE.
In the 7th century BCE a unified Median state was formed which together with Babylonia, Lydia, and Egypt became one of the four major powers of the ancient Near East. An alliance with the Babylonians helped the Medes to capture Nineveh in 612 BCE which resulted in the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Medes were subsequently able to establish their Median kingdom (with Ecbatana as their royal centre) beyond their original homeland (central-western Iran) and had eventually a territory stretching roughly from northeastern Iran to the Halys River in Anatolia. The Median kingdom was conquered in 550 BCE by Cyrus the Great who established the next Iranian dynasty—the Achaemenid Empire.
wn.com/Median_Empire -
Mongol
Mongols (Mongolian: Монголчууд (help·info)), Mongolchuud) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. Owing to wars and migrations, Mongols are also found in some Central Asian states such as Kazakhstan. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia (a smaller number of Mongols can also be found in Xinjiang in northwest China). The Buryat branch of the Mongol ethnic group can be found in the autonomous republic of Buryatia, Russia. Ethnic Mongols are bound together by a common language and culture. They speak languages belonging to the Mongolic languages. The contiguous territories inhabited by ethnic Mongols is also known as Greater Mongolia[disambiguation needed 
]. There are approximately 10 million ethnic Mongols in total.
A definition includes the Mongols proper, who can be approximately divided into the eastern Mongols (the Khalkha Mongols, the Inner Mongolians, the Buryats), and the Oirats. In a wider sense, the Mongol people includes all people who speak a Mongolic language, such as the Kalmyks of eastern Europe.
wn.com/Mongol -
Muhammad bin Qasim
Muhammad bin Qasim Al-Thaqafi (Arabic: محمد بن قاسم) (c. 31 December 695–18 July 715) was a Umayyad general who, at the age of 17, began the conquest of the Sindh and Punjab regions along the Indus River (now a part of Pakistan) for the Umayyad Caliphate. He was born & raised in the city of Taif (in modern day Saudi Arabia). Qasim's conquest of Sindh and Punjab laid the foundations of Islamic rule in the Indian subcontinent.
A member of the Thaqeef tribe, which is still settled in and around the city of Taif ( a city in modern day Saudi Arabia) to this very day, Muhammad bin Qasim's father was Qasim bin Yusuf[citation needed] who died when Muhammad bin Qasim was young, leaving his mother in charge of his education. Umayyad governor Al-Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf Al-Thaqafi, Muhammad bin Qasim's paternal uncle, was instrumental in teaching Muhammad bin Qasim about warfare and governance. Muhammad bin Qasim married his cousin Zubaidah, Hajjaj's daughter, shortly before going to Sindh. Another paternal uncle of Muhammad bin Qasim was Muhammad bin Yusuf, governor of Yemen.[citation needed] Under Hajjaj's patronage, Muhammad bin Qasim was made governor of Persia, where he succeeded in putting down a rebellion.[citation needed]
wn.com/Muhammad_bin_Qasim -
Munir Bashir
Munir Bashir (Arabic: منير بشير, Syriac: ܡܘܢܝܪ ܒܫܝܪ) (1930 – September 28, 1997) was an Iraqi musician and one of the most famous musicians in the Middle East during the 20th century and was considered to be the supreme master of the Arab maqamat scale system.
He created different styles of the Arabian short scaled lute, the oud. He was one of the first middle eastern instrumentalists known to Europe and America. Bashir’s music is distinguished by a novel style of improvisation that reflects his study of Indian and European tonal art in addition to oriental forms. Born in Iraq, he had to deal with numerous disruptions of violent coup attempts and multiple wars that the country went through. He would eventually exile to Europe and become noticeable first in eastern nations such as Hungary and Bulgaria.
Munir Bashir was born in Mosul, situated in northern Iraq. According to different references he was born in a period of time from 1928 to 1930. Bashir is descended from a family of Assyrian heritage. His father Abd al-Aziz and his brother Jamil had good reputations as oud-soloists and vocalists; Jamil wrote an important textbook for the oud. The family started musically educating young Bashir at his age of five, Bashir's father began to instruct him and his older brother Jamil in the basics of ud. His father, who was also a poet believed that a pure tradition of Arab music had devolved in Baghdad. He first learned to play the violoncello, a European instrument that had become a popular bass-instrument in Arabian music during the end of the 19th century. He simultaneously was taught playing the oud. The lute plays a similar role in Arabian music as the piano does in European music: it is the instrument used to impart the most important theoretical aspects in music.
wn.com/Munir_Bashir -
Nabopolassar
Nebopolassar ([pronunciation?]; Akkadian:Nebû-apal-usur) (c.658 BC - 605 BC) was the king of the Babylonia and played a key role in the demise of the Assyrian Empire following the death of the last powerful Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal. He ruled over Babylon for 20 years (625 - 605 BC).
Nabopolassar rose in revolt against the Assyrian Empire (which had ruled Babylon for the previous 200 years), after the last effective Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal died some time between 631 BC and 627 BC. Following his successful revolt, he took on the title of King of Babylonia.
Assyria, weakened by internal strife and ineffectual rule following the death of Ashurbanipal, was unable to resist the alliance of Chaldeans and Medes, who combined to sack the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in 612 BC, following the Battle of Nineveh which involved a prolonged siege of the city. Nabopolassar was left in control of Nineveh. His army and its allies destroyed the remnants of the Assyrian army at Carchemish in 605 BC.
Nabopolassar waged war against Egypt from 610 BC until his death. In 605 BC, Nabopolassar took the Assyrian city of Harran, where Assyrian forces had retreated after the fall of Nineveh. Later that year, his son Nebuchadnezzar fought against the Pharaoh Necho II of Egypt, shortly before Nabopolassar died.
wn.com/Nabopolassar -
Nebi Yunus
Jonah (Hebrew: יוֹנָה, Modern Yona Tiberian Yônā ; dove; Arabic: يونس, Yūnus or يونان, Yūnān; Greek/Latin: Ionas) is the name given in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh/Old Testament) to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BC, the eponymous central character in the Book of Jonah, famous for being swallowed by a fish or a whale, depending on translation. The Biblical story of Jonah is also repeated, with minor changes, in the Qur'an.
Jonah son of Amittai appears in 2 Kings as a prophet from Gath-Hepher (a few miles north of Nazareth) active during the reign of Jeroboam II (c.786-746 BC), where he predicts that Jeroboam will recover certain lost territories.
wn.com/Nebi_Yunus -
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire or Turkish Empire or Sublime Ottoman State or sometimes also referred to as Turkey (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه Devlet-i ʿAliyye-yi ʿOsmâniyye (also عثمانلى دولتى Osmanlı Devleti),Modern Turkish: Osmanlı Devleti or Osmanlı İmparatorluğu) was a Turkish empire which lasted from 27 July 1299 to 1 November 1922, when the Sultanate was abolished.
The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history; such that the Ottoman State, its politics, conflicts, and cultural heritage in a vast geography provide one of the longest continuous narratives. During the 16th and 17th centuries, in particular at the height of its power under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the empire was one of the most powerful states in the world – a multinational, multilingual empire that stretched from the southern borders of the Holy Roman Empire to the outskirts of Vienna, Royal Hungary (modern Slovakia) and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the north to Yemen and Eritrea in the south; from Algeria in the west to Azerbaijan in the east; controlling much of southeast Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. At the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into the empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries.
wn.com/Ottoman_Empire -
Paulos Faraj Rahho
Archbishop Mar Paulos Faraj Rahho (Arabic: بولس فرج رحو, Būlus Farağ Raḥū; Syriac: ܦܘܠܘܣ ܦ̮ܪܔ ܪܚܘ, Paulōs Farağ Raḥō; 20 November 1942 – February or March 2008) was the Chaldean Catholic Archeparch of Mosul, in the northern part of Iraq.
Also known as Paul Faraj Rahho and Paulos Faradsch Raho, he was born in Mosul, where he lived almost his entire life. The city of Mosul has a long established community of Chaldean Catholics. Rahho came to worldwide attention in 2008 when he was kidnapped by gunmen and subsequently found dead in Mosul, an event that drew condemnation from the Vatican and foreign governments.
Paulos Faraj Rahho was born to an Assyrian family in 1942. He spent nearly all his life in Mosul, a city with one of the largest and oldest Christian populations in Iraq. In 1954, he entered the St. Peter's junior and major seminary in Baghdad in order to become a priest. After his ordination on June 10, 1965 he briefly worked in Baghdad before being appointed to St. Isiah's Church in Mosul. Between 1974 and 1976, Rahho completed his religious studies in Rome. Rahho later founded the church of the Sacred Heart in Tel Keppe, a town some 12 miles (20 km) north of Mosul. He also opened an orphanage for handicapped children.
wn.com/Paulos_Faraj_Rahho -
Pope Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV (31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was Pope from 17 August 1740 to 3 May 1758.
Lambertini was born into a noble family of Bologna, which was at that time the second largest city in the Papal States. He was created Cardinal-Priest of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme on 10 May 1728 and was elected Pope in 1740. The conclave that elected him had lasted for six months, and he is reported to have said to the cardinals: "If you wish to elect a saint, choose Gotti; a statesman, Aldrovandi; an honest man, me". His Papacy began in a time of great difficulties, chiefly caused by the disputes between Catholic rulers and the Papacy about governmental demands to nominate bishops rather than leaving the appointment to the Church. He managed to overcome most of these problems — the Holy See's disputes with the Kingdom of Naples, Sardinia, Spain, Venice, and Austria were settled.
He had a very active papacy, reforming the education of priests, the calendar of feasts of the Church, and many papal institutions. Perhaps the most important act of Benedict XIV's pontificate was the promulgation of his famous laws about missions in the two bulls, Ex quo singulari and Omnium solicitudinum. In these bulls he ruled on the custom of accommodating Christian words and usages to express non-Christian ideas and practices of the native cultures, which had been extensively done by the Jesuits in their Indian and Chinese missions.
wn.com/Pope_Benedict_XIV -
Qusay Hussein
Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti (Arabic: قصي صدام حسين) (or Qusai) (17 May 1966 – 22 July 2003) was the second son of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. He was appointed as his father's heir apparent in 2000.
Qusay's older brother Uday Hussein was viewed as Saddam's heir until he sustained serious injuries in a 1996 assassination attempt. Unlike Uday, who was known for extravagance and erratic, violent behavior, Qusay Hussein kept a low profile. He was married to the daughter of a top ranking military official and had three sons; One of the sons, Mustapha Hussein (born 3 January 1989 in Tikrit), was killed alongside his father in the shootout with U.S. troops. The other two: Yahya Hussein (born 1991) and Yaqub Hussein are presumed alive, but their whereabouts are unknown.
Unlike other members of his family and the government, little information is known about Qusay, politically or personally. It is believed that until the 2003 Invasion of Iraq Qusay was the supervisor of the Iraqi Republican Guard and the head of internal security forces (possibly the Special Security Organization (SSO)), and had authority over other Iraqi military units.
wn.com/Qusay_Hussein -
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (Arabic: صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي Ṣaddām Ḥusayn ʿAbd al-Maǧīd al-Tikrītī; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and later, the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organisation Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region, which espoused ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism, Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup, later referred to as the 17 July Revolution, that brought the party to long-term power of Iraq.
As vice president under the ailing General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, and at a time when many groups were considered capable of overthrowing the government, Saddam created security forces through which he tightly controlled conflict between the government and the armed forces. In the early 1970s, Saddam nationalized oil and other industries. The state-owned banks were put under his control, leaving the system eventually insolvent mostly due to the Iran–Iraq War, the Gulf War, and UN sanctions. Through the 1970s, Saddam cemented his authority over the apparatuses of government as oil money helped Iraq's economy to grow at a rapid pace. Positions of power in the country were filled with Sunnis, a minority that made up only a fifth of the population.
wn.com/Saddam_Hussein -
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb (Arabic: صلاح الدين يوسف بن أيوب, Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb, Kurdish: سهلاحهدین ئهیوبی, Selah'edînê Eyubî) (ca. 1138 – March 4, 1193), better known in the Western world as Saladin, was a KurdishMuslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant. At the height of his power, his sultanate included Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Hejaz, Yemen, and parts of North Africa.
Under his personal leadership, his forces defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin, leading the way to his re-capture of Palestine, which had been seized from the Fatimid Egyptians by the Crusaders 88 years earlier. Though the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem would continue to exist for a period, its defeat at Hattin marked a turning point in its conflict with the Muslims and Arabs. As such, Saladin is a prominent figure in Kurdish, Arab, and Muslim culture. Saladin was a strict adherent of Sunni Islam. His noble and chivalrous behavior was noted by Christian chroniclers, especially in the accounts of the Siege of Kerak, and despite being the nemesis of the Crusaders, he won the respect of many of them, including Richard the Lionheart; rather than becoming a hated figure in Europe, he became a celebrated example of the principles of chivalry.
wn.com/Saladin -
Sennacherib
Sennacherib (pronounced /səˈnækərɪb/; Akkadian: Sîn-ahhī-erība "Sîn has replaced (lost) brothers for me") was the son of Sargon II, whom he succeeded on the throne of Assyria (705 – 681 BC).
As the crown prince, Sennacherib was placed in charge of the Assyrian Empire while his father, Sargon II, was on campaign. Unlike his predecessors, Sennacherib's reign was not largely marked by military campaigns, but mainly by architectural renovations, constructions, and expansions. After the violent death of his father, Sennacherib encountered numerous problems in establishing his power and faced threats to his domain. However, he was able to overcome these power struggles and ultimately carry out his building projects. During his reign, he moved the empire's capital from his father's newly-constructed city of Dur-Sharrukin to the old city and former capital of Nineveh. It is considered striking that Sennacherib not only left his father's city, but also doesn’t name him in any official inscription during his reign.
wn.com/Sennacherib -
Taha Yassin Ramadan
Taha Yasin Ramadan al-Jizrawi (February 22, 1938 – March 20, 2007) (Arabic: طه ياسين رمضان الجزراوي) was a prominent Iraqi Kurd, serving as Vice President of Iraq from March 1991 to the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003.
In October 2002, four months before the United States invaded Iraq, Ramadan suggested U.S. President George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein settle their difference in a duel. He reasoned this would not only serve as an alternative to a war that was certain to damage Iraq's infrastructure, but that it would also reduce the suffering of the Iraqi and American peoples. Ramadan's offer included the possibility that a group of US officials would face off with a group of Iraqi officials of same or similar rank (President v. President, Vice President v. Vice President, etc.). Ramadan proposed that the duel be held in a neutral land, with each party using the same weapons, and with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan presiding as the supervisor. On behalf of President Bush, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer declined the offer.
wn.com/Taha_Yassin_Ramadan -
Tamerlan
Timur (Turkish: Demir "iron", Persian: تمور Timūr, Chagatai: Temür "iron"; 8 April 1336 – 18 February 1405), historically known as Tamerlane (from Persian: تيمور لنگ, Timūr-i Lang, Aksak Timur "Timur the Lame" in Turkish), was a Turkic, who conquered West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty. He was the grandfather of Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449, and the great-great-grandfather of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, which ruled South Asia for centuries.
Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan. Unlike his predecessors Timur was also a devout Muslim and referred to himself as the Sword of Islam. His armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and multicultural. During his lifetime Timur would emerge as the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world after defeating the formidable Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire and the declining Sultanate of Delhi; Timur had also decisively defeated the Knights Hospitaler at Smyrna and since then referred to himself as a Ghazi. By the end of his reign Timur had also gained complete suzerainty over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, Ilkhanate, Golden Horde and even the Yuan Khanate.
wn.com/Tamerlan -
Tariq Aziz
Tariq Aziz (Arabic: طارق عزيز Ṭāriq ʿAzīz, né: Mikhail Yuhanna (Syriac: ܡܝܟܐܝܠ ܝܘܚܢܢ Mīḵāil Yōḥānon, Arabic: ميخائيل يوحنا Mīḫāʾīl Yūḥannā baptized Manuel Christo; born 28 April 1936) was the Foreign Minister (1983 – 1991) and Deputy Prime Minister (1979 – 2003) of Iraq and a close advisor of former President Saddam Hussein. Their association began in the 1950s when both were activists for the then-banned Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. He is an ethnic Assyrian but an Arab Nationalist and a member of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
Because of security concerns, Hussein rarely left Iraq, so Aziz would often represent Iraq at high-level diplomatic summits. What the United States wanted, he averred, was not "regime change" in Iraq but rather "region change". He summed up the Bush Administration's reasons for war against Iraq tersely: "oil and Israel."
Since surrendering to American forces on 24 April 2003, Aziz has been held in prison, first by American forces and subsequently by the Iraqi government. He is currently in prison in Camp Cropper in western Baghdad. He was acquitted of some charges on 1 March 2009 following a trial, but was sentenced to 15 years on 11 March 2009 for the executions of 42 merchants found guilty of profiteering in 1992 and another 7 years for relocating Kurds. On 26 October 2010, he was sentenced to death by the Iraqi High Tribunal, and this has sparked regional and international condemnation from Iraqi bishops and other Iraqis, the Vatican, the United Nations, and the human rights organization Amnesty International, as well as various governments around the world, such as those of the European Union and Russia. On 28 October 2010, it was reported that Tariq Aziz, as well as 25 fellow prison inmates, had begun a hunger strike to protest the fact that they could not receive their once-monthly visit from friends and relatives, which was normally set for the last Friday of each month.
wn.com/Tariq_Aziz -
Turkmen people
The Turkmen (Turkmen: Türkmen/Түркмен, plural Türkmenler/Түркменлер) are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, Syria, Iraq and North Caucasus (Stavropol Krai). They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai, Gagauz and Salar.
Originally, all Turkic tribes that were not part of the Turkic dynastic mythological system (for example, Uigurs, Karluks, Kalaches and a number of other tribes) were designated "Turkmens". Only later did this word come to refer to a specific ethnonym. The etymology of the term derives from Türk plus the Sogdian affix of similarity -myn ,-men, and means "resembling a Türk" or "co-Türk". A prominent Turkic scholar, Mahmud Kashgari, also mentions the etymology Türk manand (like Turks). The language and ethnicity of the Turkmen were much influenced by their migration to the west. Kashgari calls the Karluks Turkmen as well, but the first time the etymology Turkmen was used was by Makdisi in the second half of the 10th-century AD. Like Kashgari, he wrote that the Karluks and Oghuz Turks were called Turkmen. Some modern scholars have proposed that the element -man/-men acts as an intensifier, and have translated the word as "pure Turk" or "most Turk-like of the Turks". Among Muslim chroniclers such as Ibn Kathir the etymology was attributed to the mass conversion of two hundred thousand households in AH 349 (971 CE), causing them to be named Turk Iman, which is a combination of "Turk" and "Iman" إيمان (faith, belief), meaning "believing Turks", with the term later dropping the hard-to-pronounce hamza.
wn.com/Turkmen_people -
Turkmens
The Turkmen (Turkmen: Türkmen/Түркмен, plural Türkmenler/Түркменлер) are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, Syria, Iraq and North Caucasus (Stavropol Krai). They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai, Gagauz and Salar.
Originally, all Turkic tribes that were not part of the Turkic dynastic mythological system (for example, Uigurs, Karluks, Kalaches and a number of other tribes) were designated "Turkmens". Only later did this word come to refer to a specific ethnonym. The etymology of the term derives from Türk plus the Sogdian affix of similarity -myn ,-men, and means "resembling a Türk" or "co-Türk". A prominent Turkic scholar, Mahmud Kashgari, also mentions the etymology Türk manand (like Turks). The language and ethnicity of the Turkmen were much influenced by their migration to the west. Kashgari calls the Karluks Turkmen as well, but the first time the etymology Turkmen was used was by Makdisi in the second half of the 10th-century AD. Like Kashgari, he wrote that the Karluks and Oghuz Turks were called Turkmen. Some modern scholars have proposed that the element -man/-men acts as an intensifier, and have translated the word as "pure Turk" or "most Turk-like of the Turks". Among Muslim chroniclers such as Ibn Kathir the etymology was attributed to the mass conversion of two hundred thousand households in AH 349 (971 CE), causing them to be named Turk Iman, which is a combination of "Turk" and "Iman" إيمان (faith, belief), meaning "believing Turks", with the term later dropping the hard-to-pronounce hamza.
wn.com/Turkmens -
Uday Hussein
Uday Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti (18 June 1964 – 22 July 2003), (Arabic: عُدي صدّام حُسين) was the eldest son of Saddam Hussein from his first wife, Sajida Talfah, and the brother of Qusay Hussein. Uday was for several years seen as the heir apparent of his father; however, Uday lost his place in the line of succession due to injuries sustained in an assassination attempt, his erratic behavior and his troubled relationship with his father and brother. Following the United States-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, he was killed along with his brother by a secretive combined Special Operations Task Force (Task Force 20) during a brief gunfight in Mosul.
Uday produced the newspaper Babel and a local Iraqi TV channel called "Al-shabab TV". He was briefly married to the daughter of Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri, who was Vice President and Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, but he later divorced her.
Uday Saddam was born in Baghdad to Saddam Hussein and Sajida Talfah while his father was in prison.
wn.com/Uday_Hussein -
Umar ibn al-Khattab
Umar (Arabic: عمر ابن الخطاب, Transliteration: `Umar ibn Al-Khattāb, Umar Son of Al-Khittab, c. 586–590 CE– 7 November 644), also known as Omar, Farooq the Great was the most powerful of the four Rashidun Caliphs and one of the most powerful and influential Muslim rulers in history. He was a sahabi (companion) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He succeeded Caliph Abu Bakr (632–634) as the second Caliph of Rashidun Caliphate on 23 August 634. He was an expert jurist and is best known for his justice, that earned him the title Al-Farooq (The one who distinguishes between right and wrong). Under Umar the Islamic empire expanded at an unprecedented rate ruling the whole Sassanid Persian Empire and more than two thirds of the Eastern Roman Empire. His brilliantly coordinated multi-prong attacks against the Sassanid Persian Empire resulted in the conquest of the Persian empire in less than two years. His legislative abilities and firm political and administrative control over a rapidly expanding empire marked his reputation as a great political and military leader. It was Umar, who for the first time in 500 years since their expulsion from the Holy Land, allowed Jews to practice their religion freely and live inside Jerusalem.[citation needed]
wn.com/Umar_ibn_al-Khattab -
Umar ibn Al-Khattab
Umar (Arabic: عمر ابن الخطاب, Transliteration: `Umar ibn Al-Khattāb, Umar Son of Al-Khittab, c. 586–590 CE– 7 November 644), also known as Omar, Farooq the Great was the most powerful of the four Rashidun Caliphs and one of the most powerful and influential Muslim rulers in history. He was a sahabi (companion) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He succeeded Caliph Abu Bakr (632–634) as the second Caliph of Rashidun Caliphate on 23 August 634. He was an expert jurist and is best known for his justice, that earned him the title Al-Farooq (The one who distinguishes between right and wrong). Under Umar the Islamic empire expanded at an unprecedented rate ruling the whole Sassanid Persian Empire and more than two thirds of the Eastern Roman Empire. His brilliantly coordinated multi-prong attacks against the Sassanid Persian Empire resulted in the conquest of the Persian empire in less than two years. His legislative abilities and firm political and administrative control over a rapidly expanding empire marked his reputation as a great political and military leader. It was Umar, who for the first time in 500 years since their expulsion from the Holy Land, allowed Jews to practice their religion freely and live inside Jerusalem.[citation needed]
wn.com/Umar_ibn_Al-Khattab -
Uqaylids
The 'Uqailid or 'Uqaylid Dynasty was a Shi'a Arab dynasty with several lines that ruled in various parts of Al-Jazira, northern Syria and Iraq in the late tenth and eleventh centuries. The main line, centered in Mosul, ruled from 990 to 1096.
The 'Uqailids were descended from the Banu Uqayl and were Shi'a.[citation needed] They first came to power in Diyarbakr when they were granted land there by the Buwayhids, who hoped that they would serve as a buffer against the Kurdish rebel Badh. Soon afterwards the 'Uqailids forged an alliance with the Hamdanids, who had been expelled from Mosul by the Buwayhids in 979. Together the two of them moved against the Buyids and Mosul was occupied in 989. The 'Uqailid leader, Muhammad b. Musayyib, then fought against Badh, which eventually resulted in the death of the Kurdish rebel. Following this, Muhammad turned against the Hamdanids and defeating them as well. He also forced the Buwayhid governor of Mosul to grant him half of his dependencies.
Muhammad b. Musayyib died in 996. He was succeeded by his brother Muqallad, who in that same year marched on Mosul, forcing its Buwayhid governor to flee. From there the 'Uqailids advanced into Iraq; they succeeded in overrunning much of the country and even raiding Baghdad. Eventually the Buwayhid amir Baha' al-Daula came to terms with Muqallad, whereby the Uqailid was invested by the caliph with the rule of Mosul, Kufa and Jami'yan. He was also given the title of "Husam al-Daula." The treaty made Muqallad nominally subservient to the Buwayhids but in effect he was independent, refusing to pay the tribute that he owed.
wn.com/Uqaylids -
World War I
World War I (WWI), which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939 (World War II), and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It involved all the world's great powers, which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (originally centred around the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy; but, as Austria–Hungary had taken the offensive against the agreement, Italy did not enter into the war). These alliances both reorganised (Italy fought for the Allies), and expanded as more nations entered the war. Ultimately more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. More than 9 million combatants were killed, largely because of enormous increases in lethality of weapons, thanks to new technology, without corresponding improvements in protection or mobility. It was the sixth-deadliest conflict in world history, subsequently paving the way for various political changes such as revolutions in the nations involved.
wn.com/World_War_I -
Xenophon
Xenophon (Ancient Greek: Ξενοφῶν, Xenophōn; c. 430 – 354 BC), son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates. He is known for his writings on the history of his own times, the 4th century BC, preserving the sayings of Socrates, and descriptions of life in ancient Greece and the Persian Empire.
Xenophon's birth date is uncertain, but most scholars agree that he was born around 431 BC near the city of Athens. Xenophon was born into the ranks of the upper classes, thus granting him access to certain privileges of the aristocracy of ancient Attica. While a young man, Xenophon participated in the expedition led by Cyrus the Younger against his older brother, king Artaxerxes II of Persia, in 401 BC. Xenophon writes that he had asked the veteran Socrates for advice on whether to go with Cyrus, and that Socrates referred him to the divinely inspired Delphic oracle. Xenophon's query to the oracle, however, was not whether or not to accept Cyrus' invitation, but "to which of the gods he must pray and do sacrifice, so that he might best accomplish his intended journey and return in safety, with good fortune". The oracle answered his question and told him to which gods to pray and sacrifice. When Xenophon returned to Athens and told Socrates of the oracle's advice, Socrates chastised him for asking so disingenuous a question.
wn.com/Xenophon -
Yarsan
The Ahl-e Haqq or Yârsân (Kurdish: یارسان Yâresân,Persian: اهل حق Ahl-e Haqq "People of Truth"), are members of a religion founded by Sultan Sahak in the late 14th century in western Iran. The total number of members is estimated at around 1,000,000, primarily found in western Iran and Iraq, mostly ethnic Kurds, though there are also smaller groups of Persian, Luri, Azeri and Arab adherents. Some Yârsânî in Iraq are called Kaka'i.
The Yârsân have a distinct religious literature primarily written in Gorani and partly in Persian, although few modern Yâresânî can speak or read Gorani, as their mother tongues are Gorani and Soranî. The Sarl living near Eski Kalak are adherents, as Edmonds (1957: 195) surmised and Moosa (1988: 168) observed. Their central religious book is called as Kalâm-e Saranjâm, written in the 15th century based on the teachings of Sultan Sahak.
Up to the 20th century, the Yârsânî faith was strictly for Kurds who were born into it, called checkedea ("a drop of"), as opposed to individuals who married into a Yârsânî family, called chasbedea ("attached"). Adherents today are mainly found among the Kurdish tribes of the Guran, Qalkhani, Bajalani and Sanjabi, located in western Iran, forming approximately a third of the population in the religiously diverse province of Kermanshah. There are some groups located around Kirkuk in Iraq. The Arabic-speaking adherents are based in the Iraqi cities of Mandali, Baquba, and Khanaqin. According to Encyclopædia Britannica, "The chief source of information about the Ahl-e Haqq is the Firqan al-Akhbar, written in... early 20th century by Hajj Nematollah"
wn.com/Yarsan
Send this Playlist by SMS
Email this Page
Convoy through Mosul
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:15
- Updated: 29 Jun 2012
Sit in the divers seat as the Al Kasik team convoys through Mosul in late 07'. Uneventful trip (thank God), but a lot of creating our own path on the way to our destination.
http://wn.com/Convoy_through_Mosul
Sit in the divers seat as the Al Kasik team convoys through Mosul in late 07'. Uneventful trip (thank God), but a lot of creating our own path on the way to our destination.
Violence in Mosul during 2003 invasion.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:29
- Updated: 09 Dec 2012
US Army Soldiers, 1st Batt, 502 Inf, 2nd Brigade, 101st AB Division patrol the streets of Mosul on foot and in M998 HMMWV. Images of people being taken into custody. The violence was quickly stopped but had already taken its toll. Scenes open up with a wounded soldier. Ifyou like this video take a look at some of the over 2500+ other videos with 14+ million views on this channel!. You can also find us on FaceBook at "military videos" and Twitter at "3rdID8487".
http://wn.com/Violence_in_Mosul_during_2003_invasion
US Army Soldiers, 1st Batt, 502 Inf, 2nd Brigade, 101st AB Division patrol the streets of Mosul on foot and in M998 HMMWV. Images of people being taken into custody. The violence was quickly stopped but had already taken its toll. Scenes open up with a wounded soldier. Ifyou like this video take a look at some of the over 2500+ other videos with 14+ million views on this channel!. You can also find us on FaceBook at "military videos" and Twitter at "3rdID8487".
- published: 07 Apr 2011
- views: 35969
- author: 3rdID8487
A Tour of Mosul
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:24
- Updated: 10 Nov 2012
We were pulling security for the Engineers cleaning trash of the streets, patrolling some back alleys. The first of a few videos from my time in OIF 07-09.
http://wn.com/A_Tour_of_Mosul
We were pulling security for the Engineers cleaning trash of the streets, patrolling some back alleys. The first of a few videos from my time in OIF 07-09.
- published: 17 Dec 2011
- views: 1465
- author: JakeTheArmyGuy
Mosul Airport: take off-- in May 2012 الاقلاع من مطار الموصل الدولي
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:16
- Updated: 08 Nov 2012
I took off from Mosul International Airport (airport code: OSM) this past May 2012, as I was visiting with my family. The Turkish Airlines flight took off from Mosul Int'l Airport, and took approximately 2 hours to reach Istanbul. You may know that Turkish Airlines started launching direct flights from Istanbul, Ataturk Airport, to Mosul International Airport (and vise versa) as of November 3rd 2011. This was a political move, despite the Kurdish pressure on keeping Mosul airport closed. Flights from Istanbul to Mosul, and vise versa, are on the following days: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday For more information, read the following article: www.turkishairlines.com
http://wn.com/Mosul_Airport_take_off-_in_May_2012_الاقلاع_من_مطار_الموصل_الدولي
I took off from Mosul International Airport (airport code: OSM) this past May 2012, as I was visiting with my family. The Turkish Airlines flight took off from Mosul Int'l Airport, and took approximately 2 hours to reach Istanbul. You may know that Turkish Airlines started launching direct flights from Istanbul, Ataturk Airport, to Mosul International Airport (and vise versa) as of November 3rd 2011. This was a political move, despite the Kurdish pressure on keeping Mosul airport closed. Flights from Istanbul to Mosul, and vise versa, are on the following days: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday For more information, read the following article: www.turkishairlines.com
- published: 20 Jun 2012
- views: 959
- author: MuslawiFella
Mosul Dam,Tigris River,Aerial,Iraq,HD,2011 سد الموصل
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:16
- Updated: 10 Nov 2012
Mosul Dam,Tel Afar District,Ninawa,Iraq from 34,00ft,HD,2011,is the largest dam in Iraq,located on the Tigris River and built in the 1980's.Upstream from the city of Mosul.It is ranked the 4th largest dam in the Middle East.Fears about the dams strength,,being built on gypsum,a soft mineral which dissolves on contact with water..سد الموصل
http://wn.com/Mosul_Dam,Tigris_River,Aerial,Iraq,HD,2011_سد_الموصل
Mosul Dam,Tel Afar District,Ninawa,Iraq from 34,00ft,HD,2011,is the largest dam in Iraq,located on the Tigris River and built in the 1980's.Upstream from the city of Mosul.It is ranked the 4th largest dam in the Middle East.Fears about the dams strength,,being built on gypsum,a soft mineral which dissolves on contact with water..سد الموصل
- published: 22 Dec 2011
- views: 4440
- author: Nick Short
Mosul Airport: landing-- in May 2012 الهبوط في مطار الموصل الدولي
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:41
- Updated: 29 Nov 2012
I landed in Mosul International Airport (airport code: OSM) this past May 2012, as I was visiting with my family. The Turkish Airlines flight took off from Istanbul, and took approximately 2 hours to reach Mosul. You may know that Turkish Airlines started launching direct flights from Istanbul, Ataturk Airport, to Mosul International Airport as of November 3rd 2011. This was a political move, despite the Kurdish pressure on keeping Mosul airport closed. Flights from Istanbul to Mosul, and vise versa, are on the following days: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday For more information, read the following article: www.turkishairlines.com
http://wn.com/Mosul_Airport_landing-_in_May_2012_الهبوط_في_مطار_الموصل_الدولي
I landed in Mosul International Airport (airport code: OSM) this past May 2012, as I was visiting with my family. The Turkish Airlines flight took off from Istanbul, and took approximately 2 hours to reach Mosul. You may know that Turkish Airlines started launching direct flights from Istanbul, Ataturk Airport, to Mosul International Airport as of November 3rd 2011. This was a political move, despite the Kurdish pressure on keeping Mosul airport closed. Flights from Istanbul to Mosul, and vise versa, are on the following days: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday For more information, read the following article: www.turkishairlines.com
- published: 20 Jun 2012
- views: 782
- author: MuslawiFella
جولة في غابات الموصل 5-2012 A tour in Mosul by the Tigris river bank
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:29
- Updated: 18 Nov 2012
This is a tour in Mosul by the left bank of the Tigris River. The footage was taken by myself during my recent visit to Mosul.
http://wn.com/جولة_في_غابات_الموصل_5-2012_A_tour_in_Mosul_by_the_Tigris_river_bank
This is a tour in Mosul by the left bank of the Tigris River. The footage was taken by myself during my recent visit to Mosul.
- published: 04 Jul 2012
- views: 1205
- author: MuslawiFella
Ambush In Mosul Iraq
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:42
- Updated: 10 Aug 2012
Vbied and ambush
http://wn.com/Ambush_In_Mosul_Iraq
Vbied and ambush
- published: 21 Mar 2012
- views: 1040
- author: bleeepbleeep
Fears of violence grow ahead of Mosul pullout - 25 Jun 09 - Hot Latest News
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:38
- Updated: 08 Aug 2012
Mosul, a northern Iraqi city, has been one area where the country's security forces are preparing to take full control, but there are two local armies patrolling the city. One is loyal to the Kurdish autonomous government while the other is allegiant to Baghdad. Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reports on how the split has raised fears of sectarian violence in a strategic city. - Hot Latest News - Watch more on fastlatestnews.com
http://wn.com/Fears_of_violence_grow_ahead_of_Mosul_pullout_25_Jun_09_Hot_Latest_News
Mosul, a northern Iraqi city, has been one area where the country's security forces are preparing to take full control, but there are two local armies patrolling the city. One is loyal to the Kurdish autonomous government while the other is allegiant to Baghdad. Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reports on how the split has raised fears of sectarian violence in a strategic city. - Hot Latest News - Watch more on fastlatestnews.com
- published: 18 Jul 2012
- views: 35
- author: HotLatestNews
Leaving Mosul, Iraq
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:38
- Updated: 19 Nov 2012
This was in 2006 close to the end of my deployment.
http://wn.com/Leaving_Mosul,_Iraq
This was in 2006 close to the end of my deployment.
- published: 18 Jan 2012
- views: 1540
- author: alpha2six
The REAL Stryker! Chapter 14: A Mosul Story (Part 1 of 2)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 17:07
- Updated: 25 Jul 2012
Unlike all of the other presentations in this series thus far, this one isn't just me rambling on about how problematic the Stryker Armored Car is. This time, you'll see what it's like to ACTUALLY fight in a Stryker. The story in this presentation is NOT a hypothetical scenario --- it's a raw, first-hand account of an actual battle, that shook the streets of Mosul for four hours on August 4th, 2004. The events are real. The people are real. The gunshots, the smoke, the fire, the wreckage, the chaos, the danger, the violence, and the killing are ALL REAL. The author of the story within this presentation is real as well --- his name is Colby Buzzel. He was a Stryker VC who fought in this battle. And unfortunately for the men who risked their lives in this battle, you will also see in this story that all of the failings of the Stryker I've mentioned so far are also real. Buzzel's story was censored by the Army, so it the original source isn't viewable anymore, but this animated film recounts his story; www.youtube.com Finally, bear in mind that there's some pretty foul language in this particular presentation, so it's NOT for younger audiences. I usually avoid swearing like the plague, but I wanted to convey this witness' whole story, word-for-word, and most soldiers swear like... well... soldiers. And all of this is only the *first half* of the story...
http://wn.com/The_REAL_Stryker!_Chapter_14_A_Mosul_Story_Part_1_of_2
Unlike all of the other presentations in this series thus far, this one isn't just me rambling on about how problematic the Stryker Armored Car is. This time, you'll see what it's like to ACTUALLY fight in a Stryker. The story in this presentation is NOT a hypothetical scenario --- it's a raw, first-hand account of an actual battle, that shook the streets of Mosul for four hours on August 4th, 2004. The events are real. The people are real. The gunshots, the smoke, the fire, the wreckage, the chaos, the danger, the violence, and the killing are ALL REAL. The author of the story within this presentation is real as well --- his name is Colby Buzzel. He was a Stryker VC who fought in this battle. And unfortunately for the men who risked their lives in this battle, you will also see in this story that all of the failings of the Stryker I've mentioned so far are also real. Buzzel's story was censored by the Army, so it the original source isn't viewable anymore, but this animated film recounts his story; www.youtube.com Finally, bear in mind that there's some pretty foul language in this particular presentation, so it's NOT for younger audiences. I usually avoid swearing like the plague, but I wanted to convey this witness' whole story, word-for-word, and most soldiers swear like... well... soldiers. And all of this is only the *first half* of the story...
- published: 27 Feb 2012
- views: 648
- author: BlacktailDefense
Sumer On The Thames : Medley From Mosul
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:06
- Updated: 15 Aug 2012
Taken on 4th August, 2012 on Iraq Day Festival . The Audio quality suffers from ambient noise and echoes, as it was not possible to take it directly from the mixer. It was a fun day and the video is just to remeber the day. It does not do justice to the quality of the Sumer Group.
http://wn.com/Sumer_On_The_Thames_Medley_From_Mosul
Taken on 4th August, 2012 on Iraq Day Festival . The Audio quality suffers from ambient noise and echoes, as it was not possible to take it directly from the mixer. It was a fun day and the video is just to remeber the day. It does not do justice to the quality of the Sumer Group.
- published: 12 Aug 2012
- views: 108
- author: abusoona
getting ready A 163FA Mosul Iraq 2008
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:54
- Updated: 08 Jul 2012
good shot of our motor pool before a mission and the after effects of a mortar attack on the air field mosul FOB Diamondback 2008
http://wn.com/getting_ready_A_163FA_Mosul_Iraq_2008
good shot of our motor pool before a mission and the after effects of a mortar attack on the air field mosul FOB Diamondback 2008
- published: 02 Jul 2012
- views: 112
- author: Brus1066
1st Platoon in Mosul
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:40
- Updated: 30 Sep 2012
http://wn.com/1st_Platoon_in_Mosul
- published: 14 Aug 2012
- views: 13
- author: Tanya Klug
Mortars in Mosul.AVI
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:38
- Updated: 30 Jun 2012
Comanche Company 1-2 SCR Mortars dropping rounds in Mosul.
http://wn.com/Mortars_in_MosulAVI
Comanche Company 1-2 SCR Mortars dropping rounds in Mosul.
- published: 27 Jun 2012
- views: 62
- author: mgaulke
Massaker von Mosul | Massacre of Mosul | Komkuja Mosul | 2007
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:01
- Updated: 14 Sep 2012
23. April 2007, Mosul, Nordirak Sonntagabend. Arbeiter einer Textilfabrik nahe Mosul, begeben sich nach Ende ihrer Schicht zu dem für sie bereitgestellten Bus. Der Bus soll sie nach Bashik fahren, einem kleinen êzîdîsch-christlich geprägten Dorf. Während der Fahrt wird der Bus unerwartet von mehreren Fahrzeugen umstellt und zum Anhalten gezwungen. Danach stürmen mit Maschinengewehren bewaffnete Personen den Bus. Sie fordern die Insassen auf, sich anhand ihrer Personalausweise zu identifizieren. Die bewaffneten Männer befehlen den Muslimen und Christen, den Bus zu verlassen. 24 êzîdîsche Arbeiter müssen im Bus bleiben. Sie werden wieder zurück nach Mosul gefahren, ohne zu wissen, was mit ihnen geschieht. An einer Stelle nahe Mosul dann, hält der Bus. Dort angekommen stellen sie die Êzîden der Reihe nach mit dem Gesicht gegen eine Mauer. Mehrere der Entführer entsichern ihre Maschinengewehre und beginnen, dass Feuer auf die 24 Êzîden zu eröffnen. Die 24 Männer brechen unter dem Kugelhagel zusammen, Tod sind einige von ihnen noch nicht. Danach folgen einige wenige Schüsse. Währenddessen laden andere Terroristen ihre MGs nach. Nochmal wird aus nächster Nähe auf die am Boden liegenden Männer geschossen. Wieder und wieder schießen sie aus nächster Nähe auf die Männer, um sich zu vergewissern, dass keiner am Leben ist. Einer der Terroristen filmt das Geschehen. Das gefilmte Video wird mit islamischer Musik untermalt. Dabei schreien sie immer wieder „Allah u Akbar". Alle 24 ...
http://wn.com/Massaker_von_Mosul_|_Massacre_of_Mosul_|_Komkuja_Mosul_|_2007
23. April 2007, Mosul, Nordirak Sonntagabend. Arbeiter einer Textilfabrik nahe Mosul, begeben sich nach Ende ihrer Schicht zu dem für sie bereitgestellten Bus. Der Bus soll sie nach Bashik fahren, einem kleinen êzîdîsch-christlich geprägten Dorf. Während der Fahrt wird der Bus unerwartet von mehreren Fahrzeugen umstellt und zum Anhalten gezwungen. Danach stürmen mit Maschinengewehren bewaffnete Personen den Bus. Sie fordern die Insassen auf, sich anhand ihrer Personalausweise zu identifizieren. Die bewaffneten Männer befehlen den Muslimen und Christen, den Bus zu verlassen. 24 êzîdîsche Arbeiter müssen im Bus bleiben. Sie werden wieder zurück nach Mosul gefahren, ohne zu wissen, was mit ihnen geschieht. An einer Stelle nahe Mosul dann, hält der Bus. Dort angekommen stellen sie die Êzîden der Reihe nach mit dem Gesicht gegen eine Mauer. Mehrere der Entführer entsichern ihre Maschinengewehre und beginnen, dass Feuer auf die 24 Êzîden zu eröffnen. Die 24 Männer brechen unter dem Kugelhagel zusammen, Tod sind einige von ihnen noch nicht. Danach folgen einige wenige Schüsse. Währenddessen laden andere Terroristen ihre MGs nach. Nochmal wird aus nächster Nähe auf die am Boden liegenden Männer geschossen. Wieder und wieder schießen sie aus nächster Nähe auf die Männer, um sich zu vergewissern, dass keiner am Leben ist. Einer der Terroristen filmt das Geschehen. Das gefilmte Video wird mit islamischer Musik untermalt. Dabei schreien sie immer wieder „Allah u Akbar". Alle 24 ...
- published: 18 Jul 2012
- views: 1227
- author: Pesmerga1991
Mosul show of force
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 24:26
- Updated: 18 Nov 2012
Show of force strike on an island in Mosul, 2004 Some soldiers- 194th LRSD, SF, and Albanians, aircraft are H-60 DAP and AH-64s
http://wn.com/Mosul_show_of_force
Show of force strike on an island in Mosul, 2004 Some soldiers- 194th LRSD, SF, and Albanians, aircraft are H-60 DAP and AH-64s
- published: 18 May 2012
- views: 150
- author: TunaBrick
How to make Iraqi Kubba Mosul (Meat Pie)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 24:48
- Updated: 08 Dec 2012
A delicious recipe for the famous Iraqi dish Kubba Mosul (Meat Pie), and as the name suggests it comes from the City of Mosul in Iraq. Follow Mabel's easy steps and you will be surprised at how tasty your this will turn out.
http://wn.com/How_to_make_Iraqi_Kubba_Mosul_Meat_Pie
A delicious recipe for the famous Iraqi dish Kubba Mosul (Meat Pie), and as the name suggests it comes from the City of Mosul in Iraq. Follow Mabel's easy steps and you will be surprised at how tasty your this will turn out.
- published: 10 Oct 2011
- views: 17081
- author: AssyrianFood
US ARMY Logistics Convoys around Mosul, Iraq and other missions.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:16
- Updated: 18 Aug 2012
http://wn.com/US_ARMY_Logistics_Convoys_around_Mosul,_Iraq_and_other_missions
- published: 09 Aug 2012
- views: 85
- author: Nicholas Tuma
Iranian puppet Maliki militia try to occupy kurdish areas near Mosul 2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:30
- Updated: 05 Dec 2012
few days ago the iranian agent maliki sent his militia to the disputed border areas of Kurdistan with iraq, but they were stopped by Kurdistan government forces and prevented them from advancing, their main aim was to occupy the pipeline going trhu Kurdish lands in Pishkhabur and 2nd to help Assad regime by securing its borders for him but maliki needs to know Kurdistan borders western Kurdistan about 300 kms and there is no way that kurds will allow the iranian agents take over this strategic border point which is essential in securing a confederation between KRG and Syrian Kurdistan region in the north. www.kurdistanskyscrapers.tk
http://wn.com/Iranian_puppet_Maliki_militia_try_to_occupy_kurdish_areas_near_Mosul_2012
few days ago the iranian agent maliki sent his militia to the disputed border areas of Kurdistan with iraq, but they were stopped by Kurdistan government forces and prevented them from advancing, their main aim was to occupy the pipeline going trhu Kurdish lands in Pishkhabur and 2nd to help Assad regime by securing its borders for him but maliki needs to know Kurdistan borders western Kurdistan about 300 kms and there is no way that kurds will allow the iranian agents take over this strategic border point which is essential in securing a confederation between KRG and Syrian Kurdistan region in the north. www.kurdistanskyscrapers.tk
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 420
- author: Alan Kirkuki
Female Soldiers on patrol in Mosul, Iraq
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:55
- Updated: 09 Dec 2012
Major Mary Prophit, Civil Affairs Officers, takes pictures of Iraqi children and daily life in Mosul, a female Soldier pulling guard duty, and three female Soldiers briefing other Soldiers on proper Medivac procedures. 03.11.2005 (usar)
http://wn.com/Female_Soldiers_on_patrol_in_Mosul,_Iraq
Major Mary Prophit, Civil Affairs Officers, takes pictures of Iraqi children and daily life in Mosul, a female Soldier pulling guard duty, and three female Soldiers briefing other Soldiers on proper Medivac procedures. 03.11.2005 (usar)
- published: 27 Oct 2011
- views: 5519
- author: MilitaryLioness
Lynne O'Donnell talks about High Tea in Mosul
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:28
- Updated: 19 Nov 2012
Australian reporter Lynne O'Donnell was in Iraq covering the war and met two Englishwomen who had married Iraqi men in the 1970s and lived in Iraq ever since. This is their story, and an unusual look at the war.
http://wn.com/Lynne_O'Donnell_talks_about_High_Tea_in_Mosul
Australian reporter Lynne O'Donnell was in Iraq covering the war and met two Englishwomen who had married Iraqi men in the 1970s and lived in Iraq ever since. This is their story, and an unusual look at the war.
- published: 21 Jul 2012
- views: 66
- author: Peter Kreutzer
Heavy CO 2/3 ACR Mosul Iraq 2007 -2009
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:48
- Updated: 26 Oct 2012
http://wn.com/Heavy_CO_2_3_ACR_Mosul_Iraq_2007_-2009
- published: 12 Nov 2011
- views: 595
- author: gabev1984
photo: AP / Todd Williamson
10 Dec 2012
MÉXICO, D.F., diciembre 9 (EL UNIVERSAL).- La Voz México, programa de talentos de Televisa, confirmó la muerte de la cantante Jenni Rivera, a través de su Twitter. "Que toquen fuerte las bandas, suelten por mí mariposas, apláudanme con sus palmas... http.//twitpic.com/bkmhl0 .Descanse en paz Jenni Rivera" ... Además, anunció un homenaje luctuoso dedicado a la cantante ... Descanse en Paz" ... ....(size: 2.1Kb)
photo: AP / Khalil Hamra
09 Dec 2012
Syria's rebel leaders have agreed to come under a united command in a bid to integrate diverse fighting groups and streamline the route for arms essential to their struggle against President Bashar al-Assad. The new body, expected to be announced officially on Sunday, hopes to form the basis of a united rebel front ... "It also aims to get the situation under control once the regime falls." ... 378 Source.. Agencies. Share ... News ... Egypt....(size: 18.6Kb)
photo: AP / Gustavo Ferrari
09 Dec 2012
Tens of thousands of Kuwaitis have staged a peaceful protest against the parliament elected last week under voting rules deemed unfair by the opposition. The opposition supporters demonstrated for the second week in a row as police watched the protest without interfering on Saturday ... The opposition says the amendments of the electoral law enables the government to control the outcome of polls ... 349 Source.. Agencies. Share ... News ... ....(size: 18.5Kb)
photo: US Navy / Electronics Technician Seaman Sean Roozen
08 Dec 2012
WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday proposed $60 billion in spending to help the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states recover from Superstorm Sandy and shore up defenses against future disasters. Congress is expected to begin consideration of the relief measure as soon as next week, with lawmakers from states still reeling from the October storm eager for action by the end of the year ... New Jersey Gov ... Andrew M ... New York Reps ... Rep ... 0....(size: 32.2Kb)
Antiwar
10 Dec 2012
noodls
10 Dec 2012
(Source. ANHRI - Arabic Network for Human Rights Information) ... They have also confiscated and broke their tools in the light of the security bodies careless of the senior officers ... ANHRI reminds the Iraqi authorities that the violations file to the rights of the journalists has expanded as ANHRI monitored various models of violations against, (Sabah Hasan, Mosul journalists and Karazan Karim in Kurdistan). Also available in ....(size: 3.2Kb)
photo: AP / Rodrigo Abd
09 Dec 2012
Multimedia. Video Feature. Aleppo Attack Kills 16 at Start of Internet Blackout. Related. Rebel Groups in Syria Make Framework for Military (December 8, 2012) ... Aid Group Hit by Car Bomb in Damascus (December 7, 2012) ... Twitter List ... Reporting was contributed by Hania Mourtada from Beirut; Duraid Adnan and Yasir Ghazi from Baghdad; employees of The New York Times from Mosul, Iraq, and the provinces of Anbar and Diyala; and Michael R ... campaign....(size: 11.0Kb)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
09 Dec 2012
Money flows to the group, the Nusra Front, from like-minded donors abroad ... As their successes mount, they gather more weapons and attract more fighters ... Assad's fall to pursue its goal of an Islamic state ... Assad's fall ... Reporting was contributed by Hania Mourtada from Beirut; Duraid Adnan and Yasir Ghazi from Baghdad; employees of The New York Times from Mosul, Iraq, and the provinces of Anbar and Diyala; and Michael R ... ....(size: 9.4Kb)
Antiwar
07 Dec 2012
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that the central and Kurdish governments have reached an agreement to remove army and Kurdish Peshmerga forces from disputed areas in northern Iraq. Local units, reflecting the ethnic make-up of their respective areas, will replace the soldiers ... In Mosul, gunmen killed a Shabak civilian....(size: 1.5Kb)
Reuters
06 Dec 2012
TUZ KHURMATO, Iraq (Reuters) - A hundred miles from Baghdad, tanks are facing off across a frontline defined not by an international border but by ethnic enmity, fueled by past bloodshed and future oil wealth, that risks tearing Iraq apart ... U.S ... STALEMATE. For now, that phoney war continues, around Tuz Khurmato, to the southeast of it in Diyala province, in the northwest around the big city of Mosul and, most intensely, around Kirkuk....(size: 8.3Kb)
Antiwar
05 Dec 2012
Antiwar
04 Dec 2012
Spokespersons for the central Iraqi and Kurdish Regional governments exchanged accusations that the other government is reinforcing troops in a disputed area of northern Iraq ... The Peshmerga are former Kurdish fighters now entrusted with security concerns in Kurdish regions in and outside official Kurdistan ... From the beginning, the Kurds protested the new command as an unnecessary intrusion ... In Mosul, a policeman was killed....(size: 1.9Kb)
Antiwar
03 Dec 2012
Seven Iraqis were killed and seven more were wounded in new attacks. In Mosul, gunmen killed a policeman, a doctor and an engineer at separate locations ... An explosion killed one civilian and wounded four more in Arab Jabour....(size: 1.2Kb)
noodls
02 Dec 2012
The meeting was attended by several journalists and staff of various media outlets ... ANHRI asserts that it will never tire to denounce and condemn these practices, particularly, these practices were clearly repeated in the recent time through targeting several journalists in different places in Iraq (Sabah Hasan, El-Mosul journalists and Karzan Karim in Kurdistan) ... distributed by ... (noodl. 16812208) ....(size: 3.8Kb)
The Columbus Dispatch
01 Dec 2012
MOSUL, IRAQ -- Masked gunmen hijacked a bus carrying 20 police recruits in northern Iraq yesterday and took them to a remote area bordering Syria where al-Qaida operates, police sources said. The kidnappers seized the vehicle on the road from Mosul to the capital Baghdad and took the recruits to Anbar province, officers said ......(size: 3.9Kb)
noodls
01 Dec 2012
We strongly condemn the bomb attacks perpetrated yesterday (29 November) in the cities of Mosul, Hilla, Karbala and Fallujah in Iraq which resulted in the loss of lives of 38 people and the injury of a great number of people, according to initial reports ... Share on Facebook. distributed by....(size: 2.0Kb)
The Columbus Dispatch
30 Nov 2012
About 208 more were wounded in attacks on Shiites. Crime Databases. Find statistics and facts from all Columbus homicides.. Search by name, race, and county.. Search for the crime statistics of any US city. Get Email Updates. Afternoon Update Email Newsletter ... Local Stories from ThisWeek. Get Email Updates ... Other attacks in Karbala, a Shiite holy city in the south, Fallujah, Mosul and Baghdad left 16 people dead and about 70 wounded ... ....(size: 5.7Kb)
For other uses, see Mosul (disambiguation).
Coordinates: 36°20′N 43°08′E / 36.34°N 43.13°E / 36.34; 43.13
| Mosul الموصل |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
 Mosul
|
|
| Coordinates: 36°20′N 43°08′E / 36.34°N 43.13°E / 36.34; 43.13 | |
| Country |  Iraq |
| Governorate | Ninawa |
| District | Mosul |
| Population | |
| • Urban | 1,800,000 (2,008) |
| Time zone | GMT +3 |
| Twin cities | |
| • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | United States |
Mosul (Arabic: الموصل al-Mawṣil; North Mesopotamian Arabic: el-Mōṣul; Syriac: ܢܝܢܘܐ Nînwe; Kurdish: Mûsil/Nînewe; Turkish: Musul), is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Nineveh Province, some 400 km (250 mi) northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial areas on both banks, with five bridges linking the two sides. The majority of its population is Arab (with Assyrians, Turcoman and Kurdish minorities). It is Iraq's third largest city after Baghdad and Basra.[1]
The fabric Muslin, long manufactured here, is named after this city.[2] Another historically important product of the area is Mosul marble.
In 1987, the city's population was 664,221 people; the 2002 population estimate was 1,740,000, and by 2008 was estimated to be 1,800,000.[3] People from Mosul are called Maslawis.
The city's mayor is Mohsin Mohammed Abdulazeez.[4]
The city of Mosul is home to the University of Mosul, one of the largest educational and research centers in Iraq and the Middle East.
The city is also a historic center for the Nestorian Christianity of the Assyrians, containing the tombs of several Old Testament prophets such as Jonah.
Contents |
Etymology[link]
The name of the city is first mentioned by Xenophon in 401 BC in his expeditionary logs. There, he notes a small town of "Mepsila" (Μέπσιλα) on the Tigris at about where modern Mosul is today (Anabasis, III.iv.10). It may be safer to identify Xenophone's Mepsila with the site of Iski Mosul, or "Old Mosul", 20 miles north of modern Mosul, where six centuries after Xenophon's report, the Sasanian Persian center of Budh-Ardhashīr was built. Be as it may, the name Mepsila per se, however, is doubtlessly the root for the modern name, albeit, in its metathetic form of Mosul.
Nineveh gave its place to Mepsila after its violent fall to the Babylonians, Medes and Scythians in 612 BC. In fact, Xenophon makes no mention of it in his expedition of 401 BC (during the reign of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty in this region), although he does note Mepsila.
In its current Islamic form and spelling, the term Mosul, or rather "Mawsil" stands for the "linking point" – or loosely, the Junction City, in Arabic. Mosul should not be confused with the ancient Assyrian capital of Nineveh which is located across the Tigris from Mosul on the eastern banks, at the famed archaeological mound of Kuyunjik (Turkoman for "sheep's hill"). This area is better known today as the town of Nebi Yunus ("prophet Jonah"). The site contain the tomb of the Biblical Jonah as he lived and died in Nineveh, then the capital of ancient Assyria. Today, this entire area has been absorbed into Mosul metropolitan area. The surviving Assyrians, refer to entire city of Mosul as Nineveh (or rather, Ninweh).
It is also named al-Faiha ("the Paradise"), al-Khaḍrah ("the Green") and al-Hadbah ("the Humped"). It is sometimes described as "The Pearl of the North".[5]
History[link]
Ancient era and early Middle Ages[link]
It is mentioned in Biblical references that Nineveh was founded by Nimrod, son of Cush.[6]
In approximately 850 BC, King Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria chose the city of Nimrud as his capital, 30 kilometres from present day Mosul. In approximately 700 BC, King Sennacherib made Nineveh the new capital of Assyria. The mound of Kuyunjik in Mosul is the site of the palaces of King Sennacherib and his grandson Ashurbanipal, who established the Library of Ashurbanipal.
Mosul later succeeded Nineveh as the Tigris bridgehead of the road that linked Syria and Anatolia with the Median Empire. In 612 BC, the Mede emperor Cyaxares the Great, together with the alliance of Nabopolassar king of Babylon and the Scythians, conquered Nineveh.
It became part of the Seleucid Empire after Alexander's conquests in 332 BC and was later taken by the Parthian Empire in 224 BC.
The city changed hands once again with the rise of Sassanid Persia in 225 AD. Christianity was present among the indigenous Assyrian people in Mosul as early as the 2nd century. It became an episcopal seat of the Nestorian faith in the 6th century. In 637 (other sources say 641), during the period of the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab, the city was annexed to the Islamic empire by Utba bin Farqad Al-Salami.
Mosul was promoted to the status of capital of Mesopotamia under the Umayyads in the 8th century, during which it reached a peak of prosperity. During the Abbassid era it was an important trading centre because of its strategic location astride the trade routes to India, Persia, and the Mediterranean. The Muslim general and conqueror of Sindh, Muhammad bin Qasim, is said to have died here in the 8th century AD.
9th to 15th centuries[link]
.jpeg)
In the late 9th century control over the city was seized by the Hamdanid Arab dynasty, who, for several decades, made it their main stronghold, first as governors of the Abbassid and later as de facto independent rulers. A century later they were supplanted by the Uqaylids.
Mosul was conquered by the Seljuks in the 11th century. After a period under semi-independent atabeg such as Mawdud, in 1127 it became the centre of power of the Zengid dynasty. Saladin besieged the city unsuccessfully in 1182 but finally gained control of it in 1186. In the 13th century it was captured by the Mongols led by Hulegu, but was spared the usual destruction since its governor, Badr al-Din Luʾluʾ, helped the Khan in his following campaigns in Syria. After the Mongol defeat in the Battle of Ain Jalut against the Mamluks, Badr al-Din's son sided with the latter; this led to the destruction of the city, which later regained some importance but never recovered its original splendor. Mosul was thenceforth ruled by the Mongol Ilkhanid and Jalayrid dynasties, and escaped Tamerlan's destructions.
During 1165, Benjamin of Tudela passed in Mosul; [7] in his papers, he wrote that he found a small Jewish community estimated in 7000 people in Mosul, the community was led by rebbi Zakhi (זכאי) presumably connected to the king David dynasty. In 1288–1289, the Exilarch was in Mosul and signed [7][8] supporting paper for Maimonides.
16th to 19th centuries[link]
In the early 16th century Mosul was under the Turkmen federation of the Ak Koyunlu, but in 1508 it was conquered by the Safawids. Finally, in 1535, Ottoman sultan Suleyman the Magnificent added it to his empire. Thenceforth Mosul was governed by a pasha. Mosul was celebrated for its line of walls, comprising seven gates with large towers, a renowned hospital (maristan) and a covered market (qaysariyya), and was also famous for its fabrics and flourishing trades.
Although Mesopotamia had technically been integrated within the Ottoman Empire since 1533, until the reconquest of Baghdad in 1638 the city of Mosul was considered “still a mere fortress, important for its strategic position as an offensive platform for Ottoman campaigns into Iraq, as well as a defensive stronghold and plaque tournante guarding the approaches to Anatolia and to the Syrian coast. Then with the Ottoman reconquest of Baghdad, the liwa’ of Mosul became an independent wilaya.”[9]
Despite being a part of the Ottoman Empire, during the four centuries of Ottoman rule Mosul was considered “the most independent district” within the Middle East, following the Roman model of indirect rule through local notables.[10] “Mosuli culture developed less along Ottoman-Turkish likes than along Iraqi-Arab lines; and Turkish, the official language of the State, was certainly not the dominant language in the province.”[11]
In line with its status as a politically stable trade route between the Mediterranean and the Gulf the city developed considerably during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Similar to the development of the Mamluk dynasty in Baghdad, during this time “the Jalili family was establishing itself as the undisputed master of Mosul”, and “helping to connect Mosul with a pre-Ottoman, pre-Turcoman, pre-Mongol, Arab cultural heritage which was to put the town on its way to recapturing some of the prestige and prominence it had enjoyed under the golden reign of Badr ad-Din Lu’lu’.”[12]
Along with the al-Umari and Tasin al-Mufti families, the Jalilis formed an “urban-based small and medium gentry and a new landed elite”, which proceeded to displace the control of previous rural tribes.[13] Such families proceed to establish themselves through private enterprise, solidifying their influence and assets through rents on land and taxes on urban and rural manufacturing.
As well as elected officials, the social architecture of Mosul was highly influenced by the Dominican fathers arrived in Mosul in 1750, sent by Pope Benedict XIV (Mosul had a large Christian population, predominantly Assyrians).[14] They were followed by the Dominican nuns in 1873. They established a number of schools, health clinics, a printing press and an orphanage. The nuns also established workshops to teach girls sewing and embroidery.[15] A congregation of Dominican sisters, founded in the 19th century, still has its motherhouse in Mosul. Over 120 Assyrian Iraqi Sisters belong to this congregation.[14]
In the nineteenth century the Ottoman government started to reclaim central control over its outlying provinces. Their aim was to “restore Ottoman law, and rejuvenate the military” as well as reviving “a secure tax base for the government”.[16] In order to reestablish rule in 1834 the Sultan abolished public elections for the position of governor, and began “neutraliz[ing] local families such as the Jalilis and their class.”[17] and appointing new, non-Maslawi governors directly. In line with its reintegration within central government rule, Mosul was required to conform to new Ottoman reform legislation, including the standardization of tariff rates, the consolidation of internal taxes and the integration of the administrative apparatus with the central government.[18]
This process started in 1834 with the appointment of Bayraktar Mehmet Pasha, who was to rule Mosul for the next four years. After the reign of Bayraktar Mehmet Pasha, the Ottoman government (wishing still to restrain the influence of powerful local families) appointed a series of governors in rapid succession, ruling “for only a brief period before being sent somewhere else to govern, making it impossible for any of them to achieve a substantial local power base.”[19]
Mosul remained under Ottoman control until 1918 when it was taken by the British, with a brief break in 1623 when Persia seized the city, and was the capital of Mosul Vilayet one of the three vilayets (provinces) of Ottoman Iraq.
20th century[link]
 |
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009) |
Mosul's importance as a trading centre declined after the opening of the Suez Canal, which enabled goods to travel to and from India by sea rather than by land across Iraq and through Mosul. The city's fortunes revived with the discovery of oil in the area, from the late 1920s onward. It became a nexus for the movement of oil via truck and pipeline to both Turkey and Syria. Qyuarrah Refinery was built within about an hour's drive from the city and was used to process tar for road-building projects. It was damaged but not destroyed during the Iran–Iraq War. Mosul provides a key portion of the country's electrical needs via Mosul Dam and several neighboring thermal turbine facilities.
The opening of the University of Mosul in 1967 enabled the education of many in the city and surrounding areas, and it includes engineering and linguistics departments among its many other academic departments.
The region had been part of the Ottoman Empire from 1534 until the end of World War I in 1918.[20] The possibility of dissolving this Empire became real with the Great War, since Germany was the ally of the Ottoman Empire. Secret agreements between the French and the British government (known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement) decided in 1916 to draw a straight line from the Jordan heights to Iran: where the northern zone (Syria, and later the upcoming Lebanon) would be under French influence, and the southern zone (Iraq, and later, after renegotiations in 1917, Palestine which included modern Jordan) would be under British influence. Mosul was in the northern zone, and would have become a Syrian city; but early discoveries of oil in the region just before the end of the war (1918), pushed the British government to yet another negotiation with the French; to include the region of Mosul into the southern zone (or the British zone). The border line that divides the two sides has not changed since 1918, but it has helped determine the boundaries of the modern Middle East for the coming century with the creation of different countries from the Ottoman Empire.
At the end of World War I in October 1918, after the signature of the Armistice of Mudros, British forces occupied Mosul. After the war, the city and the surrounding area became part of the British mandate of Iraq. This mandate was contested by Turkey which continued to claim the area based on the fact that it was under Ottoman control during the signature of the Armistice. In the Treaty of Lausanne, the dispute over Mosul was left for future resolution by the League of Nations. Iraq's possession of Mosul was confirmed by the League of Nations brokered agreement between Turkey and Great Britain in 1926.
Some of the villages and towns around Mosul with its large Kurdish population were significantly affected by the 1991 rebellion suppression by the deposed former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, during the 1991 Kurdish-mounted, unsuccessful revolt against the regime. In the wake of the revolt's failure, a swathe of Kurdish-populated territory in the north and northeast of Iraq fell under the control of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Kurdistan Democratic Party, which established autonomous (and de facto independent) rule in the region. Mosul did not fall within the Kurdish-ruled area, but it was included in the no-fly zones imposed and patrolled by the United States and Britain between 1991 and 2003.
Although this prevented Saddam's forces from mounting large-scale military operations again in the region, it did not stop the regime from implementing a steady policy of "Arabisation" by which the demography of some areas of Nineveh Governorate were gradually changed. Despite the program Mosul and its surrounding villages remained home to a mixture of Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, Armenians, Turkmens, a few Jews, and isolated populations of Yazidis and Mandeans. Saddam was able to garrison portions of the 5th Army within the Mosul city, had the international flight capable airport under military control, and recruited heavily from the city for his military's officer corps; this may be due to the fact that most of the officers and generals of the Iraqi Army were from Mosul long before the Saddam regime era.
After Saddam's fall[link]
When the 2003 invasion of Iraq was being planned, the United States had originally intended to base troops in Turkey and mount a thrust into northern Iraq to capture Mosul. However, the Turkish parliament refused to grant permission for the operation. When the war did break out in March 2003, US military activity in the area was confined to strategic bombing with airdropped special forces operating in the vicinity. Mosul fell on April 11, 2003, when the Iraqi Army 5th Corps, loyal to Saddam, abandoned the city and eventually surrendered, two days after the fall of Baghdad. Kurdish fighters took civil control of the city, and started what eventually became a widespread looting before agreeing to cede control to US forces.
On July 22, 2003, Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday Hussein and Qusay Hussein, were attacked and killed by Coalition forces in Mosul. The brothers were killed in a gunbattle that ensued after a failed attempt at their apprehension.[21] The city also served as the operational base for the US Army's 101st Airborne Division during the occupational phase of the Operation Iraqi Freedom. During its tenure, the 101st Airborne Division was able to extensively survey the city and, advised by the 431st Civil Affairs Battalion, non-governmental organizations, and the people of Mosul, began reconstruction work by employing the people of Mosul in the areas of security, electricity, local governance, drinking water, wastewater, trash disposal, roads, bridges, and environmental concerns.[22] Other US Army units to have occupied the city include the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division, the 172nd Stryker Brigade, the 3rd Brigade-2nd Infantry Division, 18th Engineer Brigade (Combat), the 1st Brigade-25th Infantry Division, the 511th Military Police Company, the 812th Military Police Company and company-size units from Reserve components, including an element of the 364th Civil Affairs Brigade.
On June 24, 2004, a coordinated series of car-bombs killed 62 people, many of them policemen.
In November 2004, concurrently with the US and Iraqi attack on the city of Fallujah, the Battle of Mosul (2004) began. On November 10, insurgents conducted coordinated attacks on the police stations. The policemen who were not killed in the fighting fled the city, leaving Mosul without any civil police force for about a month. However, soon after the insurgents' campaign to overrun the city had begun, elements from the 25th Infantry Division and components from the Multinational force composed mainly of Albanian forces, took the offensive and began to maneuver into the most dangerous parts of the city. Fighting continued well into the 11th with the insurgents on the defensive and US forces scouring neighborhoods for any resistance.
On December 21, 2004, fourteen US soldiers, four American employees of Halliburton, and four Iraqi soldiers were killed in a suicide attack on a dining hall at the Forward Operating Base (FOB) Marez next to the main US military airfield at Mosul. The Pentagon reported that 72 other personnel were injured in the attack carried out by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest and the uniform of the Iraqi security services. The Islamic terrorist group Army of Ansar al-Sunna (partly evolved from Ansar al-Islam) declared responsibility for the attack in an Internet statement.
In early 2005, the head of Mosul's anti-corruption unit, Gen. Waleed Kashmoula, was killed by a bomb which exploded outside his office. In October 2005, the Iraq Interior Department attempted to fire the police chief of Mosul. Mosul Sunni leaders saw it as a Kurdish attempt to seize control over the police. In the end the police chief was replaced by a Sunni Arab, MG Wathiq Al Hamdani, who is a city resident.
In December 2007, Iraq reopened the airport in Mosul. An Iraqi Airways flight carried 152 Hajj pilgrims to Baghdad, the first commercial flight since US forces declared a no-fly zone in 1993, although further commercial flight remained prohibited.[23] On January 23, 2008, an explosion in an apartment building killed 36 people. The following day, a suicide bomber dressed as a police officer assassinated the local police chief, Brig. Gen. Salah Mohammed al-Jubouri, the director of police for Ninevah province, as he toured the site of the blast.[24]
After November 2004, the city of Mosul suffered tremendously due to deteriorated security conditions (including military actions as well as threats and killing of innocent civilians by terrorists and criminals), unprecedented violence levels (especially on ethnic bases), continuous destruction of the main infrastructures of the city, and neglect and mismanagement by the occupation forces, by the Nineveh Governerate Council, by multiple political parties as well as by the central Iraqi Government in Baghdad.
All these factors deprived the city of its historical, scientific, and intellectual foundations in the last 4 years, when a great lot of scientists, professors, academics, doctors, health professionals, engineers, lawyers, journalists, religious clergy (both Muslims and Christians), historians, as well as the professionals and artists in all walks of life, were either killed or forced to leave the city under the threat of being shot, exactly as it happened elsewhere in Iraq in the years following 2003.[25][26][27][28]
On May 10, 2008, a military offensive was launched by US-backed Iraqi Army Forces led by Maj. Gen. Riyadh Jalal Tawfiq, the commander of military operations in Mosul, in the hope of bringing back stability and security to the city.[29] Though the representatives of Mosul in the Iraqi Parliament, the intellectuals of the city, and other concerned humanitarian groups agreed on the pressing need for a solution to the unbearable conditions of the city, they still believe that the solution is merely political and administrative. They are also questioning whether such a large scale military offensive will spare the lives of innocent people.[30]
In 2008, many Assyrian Christians (about 12,000) fled the city following a wave of murders and threats against their community. The murder of a dozen Assyrians, threats that others would be murdered unless they converted to Islam and the destruction of their houses sparked a rapid exodus of the Christian population. Some families crossed the borders to Syria and Turkey while others were given shelter in churches and monasteries. Accusations and blames were exchanged between Sunni fundamentalists and some Kurdish groups for being behind this new exodus. For the time being the motivation of these acts is unclear, but some claims linked it to the imminent provincial elections which took place in January 2009, and the related Assyrian Christians' demands for broader representation in the provincial councils.[31][32]
An investigation in 2009 pointed out that more than 2,500 Kurds had been killed and more than 40 families displaced in Mosul since 2003. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan blames Al-Qaeda and former Ba'ath Party's.[33] Despite all the odds, the citizens of Mosul have vowed to bring stability and prosperity to Mosul, to rebuild the city, and to regain its historical and cultural roles as one of the three major cities in Iraq and one of the first historic metropolitan areas in the world.[citation needed][who?]
Demographics[link]
This city is indicative of the mingling ethnic and religious cultures of Iraq. There is a Sunni Arab majority in urban areas, such as downtown Mosul on the Tigris. Across the Tigris and further north in the suburban areas, thousands of Assyrians, Kurds, Turkmens, Shabaks and Armenians, make up the rest of Mosul's population.[34] Sunni Arabs make up the majority of the city's population. Sunni Kurds, Yezidi Kurds, Turkmens and Assyrians are also present. Shabaks are concentrated on the eastern outskirts of the city.
The population of Mosul has progressively become a mixture of Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Turkmens. The Arabization plans were counteracted in the 1980s by former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath party, which forced some of those minorities to move outside the city, back into Kurdish regions.
The city is close to the Kurdish regions of Iraq. Kurdish fighters have been moving into the city since the fall of the Ba'ath government, causing some tensions with the Sunni Arabs of the city. Clashes have erupted in recent months between Sunni Arabs in Mosul and Kurdish fighters entering the city from the Kurdish regional governorates.[35]
Religion[link]
The majority of people in Mosul are Sunni Muslims, though Mosul had a proportion of Assyrian Christians who also have a presence in the villages around of Mosul in ancient Nineveh since the foundation of the city (majority follow the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church and the Syriac Orthodox Church, and a minority follow the Assyrian Church of the East). There is also a number of Arab Christians which belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, some follow Chaldean Catholic Church and Syriac Orthodox Church, and have a number of Protestant churches. Other religions, such as Yazidi, Yarsan and Mandean religions also call Mosul home.[36][37]
Long before the Muslim conquest of the 7th century, the old city Nineveh was Christianized when the Assyrians converted to Christianity during the 1st and 2nd centuries.
Despite institutional ethnic persecution by various political powers, including the Ba'ath Party regime, Mosul has maintained a multicultural and multi-religious mosaic. The difficult history of Mosul, however, still contributes to tensions among its modern inhabitants.
Mosul had a Jewish population. Like most Iraqi Jews, most left in 1950–51. A larger number may have converted to Islam in the past century but some traditions have been retained. It is very difficult to give a reliable estimate of the Jewish population in Iraq because of the remaining Jews have adapted[clarification needed] to the Islamic culture.[clarification needed] Most Iraqi Jews have moved to Israel, some to the United States.[38] A rabbi in the American army found an abandoned, dilapidated synagogue in Mosul dating back to the 13th century.[39]
Language[link]
The Arabic of Mosul is considered to be much softer in its pronunciation than that of Baghdad, bearing considerable resemblance to Levantine dialects, particularly Aleppan Arabic. Iraqis sometimes describe it as the 'feminine version' of Iraqi Arabic.
Mosul Arabic is influenced largely by the languages of every ethnic minority group co-existing in the city: Kurds, Turkmen, Armenians, Assyrians, as well as others – thus infusing Kurmanji Kurdish, Turkmen, Armenian, and Neo-Aramaic. Each minority language is respectively spoken along side Arabic.
Arabic is the lingua franca of communication, education, business, and official work to the majority of the city's residents. Upper class and university-educated residents usually have varying degrees of proficiency in English as well.
Climate[link]
Mosul experiences a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSh) with extremely hot, almost rainless summers and cool, rainy winters. Mosul, although not at a particularly high elevation, still receives much more rain than most of Iraq. Rainfall is close to 3 times that of Baghdad and over twice that of Basra, despite being much further from the Persian Gulf than either. The Kurdish regions to the north are even wetter.
| Climate data for Mosul | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 12.4 (54.3) |
14.8 (58.6) |
19.3 (66.7) |
25.2 (77.4) |
32.7 (90.9) |
39.2 (102.6) |
42.9 (109.2) |
42.6 (108.7) |
38.2 (100.8) |
30.6 (87.1) |
21.1 (70.0) |
14.1 (57.4) |
27.76 (81.96) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 2.2 (36.0) |
3.4 (38.1) |
6.8 (44.2) |
11.2 (52.2) |
16.2 (61.2) |
21.3 (70.3) |
25.0 (77.0) |
24.2 (75.6) |
19.1 (66.4) |
13.5 (56.3) |
7.2 (45.0) |
3.8 (38.8) |
12.83 (55.09) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 62.1 (2.445) |
62.7 (2.469) |
63.2 (2.488) |
44.1 (1.736) |
15.2 (0.598) |
1.1 (0.043) |
0.2 (0.008) |
0.0 (0) |
0.3 (0.012) |
11.8 (0.465) |
45.0 (1.772) |
57.9 (2.28) |
363.6 (14.315) |
| Avg. precipitation days | 11 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 71 |
| Source: World Meteorological Organisation (UN)[40] | |||||||||||||
Sports[link]
The city has one football team competing in the top-flight of Iraqi football – Mosul FC, currently playing in the Iraqi premier League. Another team from the region, Al-Hadba FC, plays in second league.
Mosul FC was founded in 1947 and represents the entire Ninevah province in Iraq, but due to lack of funding it withdrew from the league in the 2008/2009 season. On the 28 May 2010, Mosul FC beat the Iraqi champions Arbil, in front of a full crowd at the Al Mosul University Stadium by a single goal scored by Anmar Ismaeil.
Sports venues[link]
Football stadium
Opened in 1964, this is currently the main stadium in the province, and is the home of Mosul FC. It has a capacity of 10,000. As the stadium is not safe for use, the Mosul FC plays their home games in the Al Mosul University Stadium.
The al Mosul University Stadium is a multi-use stadium. It is currently used mostly for football matches and serves as the home stadium of Mosul FC. The stadium holds 20,000 people.
Education[link]
The city's largest university, the University of Mosul was founded on 1 April 1967, by merging with College of Medicine which was opened in 1959.
This considered as the main interest in the government of Ninevah wich consists of Mosul university and “AL_Hadbaa” college as well as the college of technology and mand technical institutes . There are more than 263 high school _14 vocational school:( commercial_agriculture_industry). 8 institutes for training. 45 nursery school for kids. 1328 primary school. Mosul university is the most important university in Iraq wich includes 22 colleges and 122 departments in many fields
Health[link]
Health in Mosul is directed by Nineveh Health Directorate which is related to Iraqi Ministry of Health. The most important hospitals in Mosul are: Al Jamhuri hospital, Ibn seena hospital, Al Khansaa teaching hospital, Al-Salam teaching hospital, Ibn Alatheer hospital, Mosul General hospital, Al Batool hospital, Oncology and Nuclear medicine hospital, Al Shifaa hospital for infections. Other hospitals in Nineveh governorate are Telafer general hospital, Al-Hamdania hospital, Sinjar general hospital, Baaj hospital.
There are more than 15 hospital all over Ninevah.There are as follows: the public hospital,wich considered as the main and biggest hospital.the hospital of "AL-Khansaa" .(Ninevah hospital ,comptent) as well as many caring houses
Main sights[link]
Mosul is rich in old historical places and ancient buildings: mosques, castles, churches, monasteries, and schools, many of which have architectural features and decorative work of significance. The town center is dominated by a maze of streets and attractive 19th century houses. There are old houses here of beauty. The markets are particularly interesting not simply for themselves alone but for the mixture of types who jostle there: Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, Turcoman, Armenians, Yazidi, Mandeans, Roma and Shabaks.
The Mosul Museum contains many interesting finds from the ancient sites of the old Assyrian capital cities Nineveh and Nimrud. The Mosul Museum is a fair, olden building, around a courtyard and with an impressive facade of Mosul marble containing displays of Mosul life depicted in tableau form.
The famous English writer, Agatha Christie, lived in Mosul whilst her second husband, an archaeologist, was involved in the excavation in Nimrud.
Mosques and shrines[link]
Main article: Mosques and shrines of Mosul
- Umayyad Mosque: The first ever in the city, built in 640 AD by Utba bin Farqad Al-Salami after he conquered Mosul in the reign of Caliph Umar ibn Al-Khattab. The only original part still extant is the remarkably elaborate brickwork 52m high minaret that leans like the Tower of Pisa, called Al-Hadba (The Humped).
- The Great (Nuriddin) Mosque: Built by Nuriddin Zangi in 1172 AD next door to the Umayyad Mosque. Ibn Battuta (the great Moroccan traveller) found a marble fountain there and a mihrab (the niche that indicates the direction of Mecca) with a Kufic inscription.
- Mosque of the Prophet Yunus or Younis (Jonah): On one of the two most prominent mounds of Nineveh ruins, rises the Mosque (a Nestorian-Assyrian Church ear) of Prophet Younis "Biblical Jonah". Jonah the son of Amittai, from the 8th century BC, is believed to be buried here, where King Esarhaddon had once built a palace. It is one of the most important mosques in Mosul and one of the few historic mosques that are found on the east side of the city.
- Mujahidi Mosque: The mosque dates back to 12th century AD, and is distinguished for its shen dome and elaborately wrought mihrab.
- Mosque of the Prophet Jerjis (Georges): The mosque is believed to be the burial place of Prophet Jerjis. Built of marble with shen reliefs and renovated last in 1393 AD. It was mentioned by the explorer Ibn Jubair in the 12th century AD, and is believed also to embrace the tomb of Al-Hur bin Yousif.
- Mashad Yahya Abul Kassem: On the right bank of the Tigris, known for its conical dome, decorative brickwork and calligraphy engraved in Mosul blue marble, 13th century.
- Bash Tapia Castle: Mosul's old walls have disappeared, with the exception of these imposing ruins a'rising high over the Tigris.
- Qara Serai (The Black Palace): The remnants of the 13th century palace of Sultan Badruddin Lu'lu'.
Churches and monasteries[link]
Main article: Churches and monasteries of Mosul
Mosul has the highest proportion of Assyrian Christians of all the Iraqi cities, and contains several interesting old churches, some of which originally date back to the early centuries of Christianity. Its ancient Assyrian churches are often hidden and their entrances in thick walls are not easy to find. Some of them have suffered from overmuch restoration.
- Shamoun Al-Safa (St. Peter, Mar Petros): The oldest church in Mosul, it dates from the 13th century and named after Shamoun Al-Safa or St. Peter (Mar Petros in Assyrian Aramaic). Early, it had the name of the two Apostles, Peter and Paul, and had early been inhabited by the nuns of the Sacred Hearts.
- Church of St. Thomas (Mar Touma in Assyrian Aramaic): One of the oldest historical churches, named after St. Thomas the Apostle who preached the Gospel in the East, including India. The exact time of its foundation is unknown, but it can be assumed that it dates yester 770 AD, since Al-Mahdi, the Abbasid Caliph, is mentioned as listening to a grievance concerning this church on his trip to Mosul.
- Mar Petion Church: Mar Petion, educated by his cousin in a monastery, was martyred in 446 AD. It is the first Chaldean Catholic church in Mosul, after the union of many Assyrians with Rome in the 17th century. It dates back to the 10th century, and lies 3 m below street level. This church suffered destruction, and it has been reconstructed many times. A hall has been built on one of its three parts in 1942. As a result, most of artistic features have been confused.
- Ancient Tahira Church (The Immaculate): Near Bash Tapia, considered one of the most ancient churches in Mosul. No evidence helps to determine its exact area. It could be either the remnants of the church of the Upper Monastery or the ruined Mar Zena Church. Al-Tahira Church dates back to the 7th century, and it lies 3 m below street. Reconstructed last in 1743.
- Mar Hudeni Church: It was named after Mar Ahudemmeh (Hudeni) Maphrian of Tikrit who martyred in 575 AD. Mar Hudeni is an old church of the Tikritans in Mosul. It dates back to the 10th century, lies 7 m below street and was first reconstructed in 1970. People can get mineral water from the well in its yard. The chain, fixed in the wall, is thought to cure epileptics.
- St. George's Monastery (Mar Gurguis): One of the oldest churches in Mosul, named after St. George, located to the north of Mosul, was probably built late in the 17th century. Pilgrims from different parts of the North visit it yearly in the spring, when many people also go out to its whereabouts on holiday. It is about 6 m below street. A modern church was built over the old one in 1931, abolishing much of its archeological significance. The only monuments left are a marble door-frame decorated with a carved Estrangelo (Syriac) inscription, and two niches, which date back to the 13th or 14th century.
- Mar Matte: This famous monastery is situated about 20 km east of Mosul on the top of a high mountain (Mount Maqloub). It was built by Mar Matte, a monk who fled with several other monks in 362 AD from the Monastery of Zuknin near the City of Amid (Diyarbakir) in the southern part of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and the north of Iraq during the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate (361–363 AD). It has a precious library containing Syrianic scriptures.
- Monastery of Mar Behnam: Also called Deir Al-Jubb (The Cistern Monastery) and built in the 12th or 13th century, it lies in the Nineveh Plain near Nimrud about 32 km southwest of Mosul. The monastery, a great fort-like building, rises next to the tomb of Mar Behnam, a prince who was killed by the Sassanians, perhaps during the 4th century AD. A legend made him a son of an Assyrian king.
- St. Elijah's Monastery (Dair Mar Elia): The oldest Christian Monastery in Iraq, it dates from the 6th century.[41]
Other Christian historical buildings:
- The Roman Catholic Church (built by the Dominican Fathers in Nineveh Street in 1893)
- Mar Michael
- Mar Elias
- Mar Oraha
- Rabban Hormizd Monastery, the monastery of Notre-Dame des Semences, near the Assyrian town of Alqosh
Arts[link]
Painting[link]
The so-called Mosul School of Painting refers to a style of miniature painting that developed in northern Iraq in the late 12th to early 13th century under the patronage of the Zangid dynasty (1127–1222). In technique and style the Mosul school was similar to the painting of the Seljuq Turks, who controlled Iraq at that time, but the Mosul artists had a sharper sense of realism based on the subject matter and degree of detail in the painting rather than on representation in three dimensions, which did not occur. Most of the Mosul iconography was Seljuq – for example, the use of figures seated cross-legged in a frontal position. Certain symbolic elements however, such as the crescent and serpents, were derived from the classical Mesopotamian repertory.
Most Mosul paintings were illustrations of manuscripts—mainly scientific works, animal books, and lyric poetry. A frontispiece painting, now held in the Bibliothèque National, Paris, dating from a late 12th century copy of Galen's medical treatise, the Kitab al-diriyak ("Book of Antidotes"), is a good example of the earlier work of the Mosul school. It depicts four figures surrounding a central, seated figure who holds a crescent-shaped halo. The painting is in a variety of whole hues; reds, blues, greens, and gold. The Küfic lettering is blue. The total effect is best described as majestic. Another mid-13th century frontispiece held in the Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, to another copy of the same text suggests the quality of later Mosul painting. There is realism in its depiction of the preparation of a ruler's meal and of horsemen engaged in various activities, and the painting is as hueredful as that of the early Mosul school, yet it is somehow less spirited. The composition is more elaborate but less successful. By this time the Baghdad school, which combined the styles of the Syrian and early Mosul schools, had begun to dominate. With the invasion of the Mongols in the mid-13th century, the Mosul school came to an end, but its achievements were influential in both the Mamluk and the Mongol schools of miniature painting.
Metalwork[link]
Starting from the 13th-century, metal craftsmen centred in Mosul influenced the metalwork of the Islamic world from North Africa to eastern Iran. Under the active patronage of the Zangid dynasty, the Mosul School developed an extraordinarily refined technique of inlay—particularly in silver—far overshadowing the earlier work of the Sāmānids in Persia and the Būyids in Iraq.
Mosul craftsmen used both gold and silver for inlay on bronze and brass. After delicate engraving had prepared the surface of the piece, strips of gold and silver were worked so carefully that not the slightest irregularity appeared in the whole of the elaborate design. The technique was carried by Mosul metalworkers to Aleppo, Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, and Persia; a class of similar metalwork from these centres is called Mosul bronzes.
Among the most famous surviving Mosul pieces is a brass ewer inlaid with silver from 1232, and now in the British Museum, by the artist Shujā’ ibn Mana. The ewer features representational as well as abstract design, depicting battle scenes, animals and musicians within medallions. Mosul metalworkers also created pieces for Eastern Christians. A candlestick of this variety from 1238 and housed in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, attributed to Dà’ūd ibn Salamah of Mosul, is bronze with silver inlay. It displays the familiar medallions but is also engraved with scenes showing Christ as a child. Rows of standing figures, probably saints, decorate the base. The background is decorated with typically Islamic vine scrolls and intricate arabesques, giving the piece a unique look.
Notable births[link]
- Tariq Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister 1979-2003) (from Tel Keppe)
- Munir Bashir, Assyrian musician and famous musician in the Mideast during the 20th century
- Asenath Barzani, first Jewish female rabbi
- Hawar Mulla Mohammed, Iraqi soccer player for the national team
- Paulos Faraj Rahho, Assyrian Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul, assassinated, late February or early March 2008
- Taha Yassin Ramadan, former Vice President of Iraq
- Hormuzd Rassam, Assyrian Assyriologist and diplomat
- Kathem Al Saher, Iraqi pop singer, songwriter, and musician
- Salah al-Din al-Sabbagh, Iraqi Army officer
- Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, Interim President of Iraq during 2004–2005
- Ignatius Zakka I, Patriarch of Antioch and all east
See also[link]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mosul |
- Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Mosul
- Al-Mishraq, site of 2003 sulfur dioxide disaster
- List of Emirs of Mosul
- List of places in Iraq
- Mosul International Airport
- Nineveh plains
- Tel Keppe
- Tourism in Mosul
References[link]
 |
Constructs such as ibid., loc. cit. and idem are discouraged by Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title. (January 2012) |
- ^ "Largest Cities in Iraq". mongabay.com. January 26-2009. http://www.mongabay.com/igapo/Iraq.htm. Retrieved 2002-01-01.
- ^ "Musin". Online encyclopedia. http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/MOS_NAN/MUSLIN_through_Fr_mousseline_fr.html. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
- ^ "Mosul, the next major test for the U.S. military in Iraq". mcclatchydc.com. -01-26-2009. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/103/story/26032.html. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- ^ "From Mosul to Market Street". philly.com. January 26-2009. http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/heardinthehall/From_Mosul_to_Market_Street.html. Retrieved 05-08-2009.
- ^ Mosul, Iraq from AtlasTours.net
- ^ Genesis 10:11 From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah. Bible.cc. Retrieved on 2011-07-02.
- ^ a b עזרא לניאדו, יהודי מוצל, מגלות שומרון עד מבצע עזרא ונחמיה, המכון לחקר יהדות מוצל, טירת-כרמל: ה'תשמ"א.
- ^ Moses Maimonides: The Man and His Works, Herbert A. Davidson, Oxford University Press,p 560
- ^ Kemp, Percy. ‘Power and Knowledge in Jalili Mosul’. Middle Eastern Studies. Vol. 19, Issue 2, April 1983.Volume 19. pp.202.
- ^ Al-Tikriti, Nabil. ‘Ottoman Iraq’. The Journal of the Historical Society. Vol VII:2, June 2007. pp.203–4.
- ^ Kemp, Percy. ‘Power and Knowledge in Jalili Mosul’. pp.203.
- ^ ibid
- ^ Khoury, Dina Rizk. State and Provincial Society in the Ottoman Empire: Mosul, 1540–1834. Cambridge: Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization, 1997. pp.19.
- ^ a b Woods, Richard (2006). "Iraq Perspectives: Catholics and Dominicans in Iraq". Dominican Life. http://www.domlife.org/Justice/Iraq/PerspectivesJanuary06.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
- ^ Rasam, Suha (2005). Christianity in Iraq: its origins and development to the present day. Gracewing. http://books.google.fr/books?id=GYC93sfHXAEC&pg=PA138. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
- ^ Shields, Sarah D. Mosul before Iraq; Like Bees Making Five-Sided Cells. NY: SUNY, 2000. pp.24–6.
- ^ Shields, Sarah D. pp.28–9.
- ^ Shields, Sarah D. pp.26.
- ^ Shields, Sarah D. pp.29.
- ^ Mosul. Encyclopædia Britannica on-line
- ^ Pentagon: Saddam's sons killed in raid . CNN.com (2003-07-22). Retrieved on 2011-07-02.
- ^ Mosul. Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved on 2011-07-02.
- ^ Iraq reopens Mosul airport after 14 years – US military. Forbes. 12 APril 2007. Retrieved on 2011-07-02.
- ^ Gamel, Kim: Provincial Police Chief Killed in Mosul, Associated Press, January 25, 2008.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Human Rights in Iraq[dead link]
- ^ Iraq's deadly brain drain. France 24. Retrieved on 2011-07-02.
- ^ "Losing Mosul?". Time. October 16, 2004. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,725055,00.html. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ [3][dead link]
- ^ Muir, Jim. (2008-10-28) Middle East | Iraqi Christians' fear of exile. BBC News. Retrieved on 2011-07-02.
- ^ "Christians flee Iraqi city after killings, threats, officials say." CNN. 11 October 2008.
- ^ "More than 2500 Kurds were killed since 2003". Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. 2009-01-27. http://pukmedia.com/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9000&Itemid=52. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
- ^ Mosul| Encyclopedia.com: Facts, Pictures, Information. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-02.
- ^ Lasseter, Tom. (2005-12-29) Kurds quietly ready for civil war. Seattle Times. 29 December 2005. Retrieved on 2011-07-02.
- ^ ArabNet Mosul Entry ArabNet
- ^ 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 904
- ^ Mosul. Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved on 2011-07-02.
- ^ Cf. Carlos C. Huerta, Jewish heartbreak and hope in Nineveh.
- ^ "World Weather Information Service – Mosul". United Nations. http://worldweather.wmo.int/154/c01467.htm. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
- ^ Chaplains Struggle to Protect Monastery in Iraq. NPR's Morning Edition, 21 November 2007. Retrieved on 2011-07-02.
External links[link]
- ninava-explorer
- Iraq Image – Mosul Satellite Observation
- Detailed map of Mosul by the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, from lib.utexas.edu
|
|||||||||||||||||
http://wn.com/Mosul
Related pages:
http://it.wn.com/Mossul
http://cs.wn.com/Mosul
http://id.wn.com/Mosul
http://es.wn.com/Mosul
http://ru.wn.com/Мосул
http://nl.wn.com/Mosoel
http://pl.wn.com/Mosul
http://fr.wn.com/Mossoul
http://de.wn.com/Mosul
http://pt.wn.com/Mossul
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosul
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
