Hewler

Saturday, 26 January 2013

Kurdistan - Hawler, Erbil , Arbil, Hewler

Nazdar Ciziri u Peshmerge - Ey Felek Felek (Hewler/Erbil)

University of Kurdistan Hewler 3rd Graduation Ceremony

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Afaq District
Afaq District is a district of the Al Muthanna Governorate, Iraq.

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Ain Sifni
Ain Sifni (Classical Syriac: ܥܝܢ ܣܦܢܐ‎, Arabic: عين سفني‎) is an Iraqi town and capital of Shekhan District in the Nineveh plains area of the Ninewah governorate in Iraq.
It's mainly populated by Yazidis and Assyrians.
Shekhan District
Coordinates: 36°41′39″N 43°21′00″E / 36.694204°N 43.350134°E / 36.694204; 43.350134

wn.com/Ain_Sifni
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]}

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Al Istiqlal District
Al Istiqlal District is a district of the Baghdad Governorate, Iraq.

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Al Tarmia District
Al Tarmia District is a district of the Baghdad Governorate, Iraq.

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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.

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Amara District
Amara District is a district of the Maysan Governorate, Iraq.

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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.

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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.

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Anah District
Anah is a district in Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq. It is centred around the town of Anah.

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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

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Aqrah District
Akre District is a district of the Ninawa Governorate, Iraq.

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Ar Rutba District
Ar Rutba is a district in Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq. It is centred around the town of Ar Rutba.

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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.

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Badra District
Badra District is a district of the Wasit Governorate, Iraq.

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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.

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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.

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Baiji District
Baiji District is a district of the Salah ad Din Governorate, Iraq.

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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.

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Balad District
Balad District is a district of the Salah ad Din Governorate, Iraq.

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Baladrooz District
Baladrooz District is a district of the Diyala Governorate, Iraq.

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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".

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Basrah District
Basrah District is a district of the Basra Governorate, Iraq.

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Chamchamal
Chamchamal (Arabic جمجمال, Kurdish: Çemçemall چه‌مچه‌ماڵ) is a Kurdish city located to the east of Kirkuk and west of Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The city's population of 200,000 is relatively young.
Chamchamal is the most ancient place where there is a record of wheat being grown. Traces of wheat production, dating from 700.000 years ago, have been discovered in Charmoo, a village near Chamchamal.^{[citation needed]}
Coordinates: 35°32′N 44°50′E / 35.533°N 44.833°E / 35.533; 44.833

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Chamchamal District
Chamchamal District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.

wn.com/Chamchamal_District
Citadel of Arbil
The Citadel of Arbil (Arabic: قلعة أربيل; Kurdish: Qelay Hewlêr) is a tell or occupied mound, and the historical city centre of Arbil in Iraq. It has been claimed that the site is the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world.
The earliest evidence for occupation of the citadel mound dates to the 5th millennium BC, and possibly earlier. It appears for the first time in historical sources during the Ur III period, and gained particular importance during the Neo-Assyrian period. During the Sassanian period and the Abbasid Caliphate, Arbil was an important centre for Christianity. After the Mongols captured the citadel in 1258, the importance of Arbil declined. During the 20th century, the urban structure was significantly modified, as a result of which a number of houses and public buildings were destroyed. In 2007, the High Commission for Erbil Citadel Revitalization (HCECR) was established to oversee the restoration of the citadel. In the same year, all inhabitants, except one family, were evicted from the citadel as part of a large restoration project. Since then, archaeological research and restoration works have been carried out at and around the tell by various international teams and in cooperation with local specialists. The government plans to have 50 families live in the citadel once it is renovated.

wn.com/Citadel_of_Arbil
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.

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Daquq District
Daquq District is a district of the Kirkuk Governorate, Iraq.

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Darbandokeh District
Darbandokeh District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.

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Diwaniya District
Diwaniya District is a district of the Al Muthanna Governorate, Iraq.

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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:

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Dokan District
Dokan District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.

wn.com/Dokan_District
Erbil
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.

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Haditha District
Haditha is a district in Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq. It is centred around the city of Haditha.

wn.com/Haditha_District
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.

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Halabja District
Halabja District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.

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Hamza District
Hamza District is a district of the Al Muthanna Governorate, Iraq.

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Hashimiya District
Hashimiya District is a district of the Babil Governorate, Iraq.

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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.

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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.

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Hīt District
Hīt is a district in Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq. It is centred around the city of Hīt, this district It has between 400,000 and 500,000 inhabitants.

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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.

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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.

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Kalar District
Kalar District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.

wn.com/Kalar_District
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

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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.

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Kifri
Kifri is a town in Iraq and a seat of Kifri District. The district population was estimated at 42,010 in 2003 (source: 2003 - NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq). Kurds form the majority of the population both in this town and in the District, which is currently part of Diyala Governorate. A referendum on whether the district should be restored to Kirkuk Governorate (of which it was formerly part) was scheduled to be held in November 2007, but was initially postponed for up to six months and is still awaited.
Until the 1970s, many inhabitants of the town of Kifri and the villages west to the city was Turkmens. The population in the eastern villages were almost completely Kurdish. However, after 1980 enforced Arabisation changed this situation, and after 2003 a Kurdisation policy - accompanied by large-scale emigration of the Turkmen (mainly to Baghdad and Kirkuk) - changed the demography of the city. The oldest districts - namely Ismaik Beg, Dedeler and Sade - are the original districts mainly inhabited by Turkmen, whereas the newer ones such as Imam Muhammed and Awberi are Kurdish. The arched old bazar with its hans are typical of Ottoman architecture. Unfortunately due to neglect this interesting heritage is being nullified.

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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.

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Kirkuk District
Kirkuk District is a district of the Kirkuk Governorate, Iraq.

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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.

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Kufa District
Kufa District is a district of the Najaf Governorate, Iraq.

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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.

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Kut District
Kut District is a district of the Wasit Governorate, Iraq.

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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

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Makhmur District
Makhmur District is a district of the Kirkuk Governorate, Iraq.

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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.

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Mosul District
Mosul District is a district of the Ninawa Governorate, Iraq.

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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.

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Najaf District
Najaf District is a district of the Najaf Governorate, Iraq.

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Nassriya District
Nassriya District is a district of the Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq.

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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.

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Penjwin District
Penjwin District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.

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Pshdar District
Pshdar District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.

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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.

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Ramadi District
Ramadi is a district in Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq. It is centred around the city of Ramadi.

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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).

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Ranya District
Ranya District (رانیه; Ra:nya) is located in Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraq. Its capital is Ranya. The district has a population of 200,826. The district includes three towns, Çiwarqurne, Bêtwate and Hacî awa, and is the centre of the Bîtwên and Raperîn area. The region of Ranya has been inhabited since ancient times and is rich in archaeologic sites such as Tell Shemshara, Tell Bazmusian, Girdedême , Kameryan and Boskin hills and Ranya castle. Its history as a district dates from the Ottoman Empire period in (1789) when the first district commissioner was appointed. The main tribes in Ranya are the Jaff, Bilbas, Ako and Shawri. Agriculturally, the area is well–known for its fertile soil. The principle crops are sunflowers, tobacco, rice, wheat and barley.

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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

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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.

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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.

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Samarra District
Samarra District is a district of the Salah ad Din Governorate, Iraq.

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Shekhan District
The Shekhan District is a district in the Ninewa Governorate of Iraq.
It is bordered by the Amadiya and Dahuk Districts of the Dahuk Governorate to the north, the Akre district to the east, Al-Hamdaniya District to the south, and the Tel Kaif District to the west.
After 1991 the Kurds controlled the northern part of the district. And although unified after 2003 the northern part is still under direct control of the Kurdish Regional Government
It is mainly populated by Yazidi Kurds and Assyrian Christian community, who retain Aramaic as a spoken language.

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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

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Sinjar District
Sinjar District is a district of the Ninawa Governorate, Iraq.

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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.

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Sulaymaniya District
Sulaymaniya District is a district of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.

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Taji District
Taji District is a district of the Baghdad Governorate, Iraq.

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Tel Afar District
Tel Afar District is a district of the Ninawa Governorate, Iraq.

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Tel Keppe
Tel Keppe (also spelled Tel Keipeh) (Classical Syriac: ܬܠ ܟܐܦܐ‎ Tal Kepe, Arabic: تل كيف‎ Tal Kaif), is one of the largest historically Assyrian towns in Iraq. It is located in the Ninawa Governorate, less than 8 miles North East of Mosul (Nineveh) in northern Iraq.
The name, Tel Keppe, is of Aramaic origin and is made of two syllables; "Tel" which means "hill" and "Keppe" which means "stones" i.e. Hill of Stones. Her name comes from its location over a ruined suburb of Nineveh, capital of old Assyria.
Unfortunately, due to the presence of the only cemetery over the hill that make up Tel Keppe, it has been difficult to excavate the Assyrian ruins of this suburb of Nineveh. However, so far what had been able to be excavated is the water irrigation canals that were built by Assyrian King Sennacherib (705- 681 BC) to irrigate the land around Tel Keppe. Also, an excavation by the Iraqi Directorate of Antiquities succeeded in finding vases dating to 2000 years BC, and other items even much older and of a prehistoric time. In addition to that, several old ruins of churches and monasteries dating to early Christianity were found in Tel Keppe. Currently, Tel Keppe has 5 old churches, and a large new one.

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Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf (Arabic: تل حلف‎) is an archaeological site in the Al Hasakah governorate of northeastern Syria, near the Turkish border, just opposite Ceylanpınar. It was the first find of a Neolithic culture, subsequently dubbed the Halaf culture, characterized by glazed pottery painted with geometric and animal designs. The site dates to the 6th millennium BCE and was later the location of the Aramaean city-state of Guzana or Gozan.
The site is located near the city of Ra's al-'Ayn in the fertile valley of the Khabur River (Nahr al-Khabur), close to the modern border with Turkey. The name Tell Halaf is a local Aramaic placename^{[citation needed]}}, tell meaning "hill", and Tell Halaf meaning "made of former city"; what its original inhabitants called their settlement is not known. It was discovered in 1899 by Baron Max von Oppenheim, a German diplomat, while he was surveying the area to build the Baghdad Railway. At the time, Syria was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. He returned to excavate the site from 1911 to 1913 and then again 1929, now under French stewardship following the creation of modern Syria. Oppenheim took many of the artifacts found to Berlin. In 2006, new Syro-German excavations have started under the direction of Lutz Martin (Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin), Abd al-Masih Bagdo (Directorate of Antiquities Hassake), Jörg Becker (University of Halle) and Mirko Novák (University of Bern).

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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.

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Tikrit District
Tikrit District is a district of the Salah ad Din Governorate, Iraq.

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Tooz District
Tooz District is a district of the Salah ad Din Governorate, Iraq.

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United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.

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Ur
Coordinates: 30°57′45″N 46°06′11″E / 30.9625°N 46.10306°E / 30.9625; 46.10306 Ur (Sumerian: Urim;Sumerian Cuneiform: 𒋀𒀕𒆠 URIM₂^KI or 𒋀𒀊𒆠 URIM₅^KI;Akkadian: Uru) was an important city-state in ancient Sumer located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate. Once a coastal city near the mouth of the Euphrates on the Persian Gulf, Ur is now well inland, south of the Euphrates on its right bank, 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Nasiriyah.
The city's patron deity was Nanna, the Sumerian moon god, and the name of the city is in origin derived from the god's name, URIM₂^KI being the classical Sumerian spelling of LAK-32.UNUG^KI, literally "the abode (UNUG) of Nanna (LAK-32)".
The site is marked by the ruins of the Ziggurat of Ur, which contained the shrine of Nanna, excavated in the 1930s. The temple was built in the 21st century BC (short chronology), during the reign of Ur-Nammu and was reconstructed in the 6th century BC by Nabonidus. The ruins cover an area of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) northwest to southeast by 800 metres (2,600 ft) northeast to southwest and rise up to about 20 metres (66 ft) above the present plain level.

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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).

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Akkadians
Coordinates: 33°6′N 44°6′E / 33.1°N 44.1°E / 33.1; 44.1
The Akkadian Empire (Akkadian ^URUAkkad KI, Hittite KUR A.GA.DÈ.KI "land of Akkad"; Biblical Hebrew אַכַּד Akkad) was an empire centered in the city of Akkad (Sumerian: Agade) and its surrounding region in Mesopotamia.
During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism.Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC (the exact dating being a matter of debate).
The Akkadian Empire reached its political peak between the 24th and 22nd centuries BC, following the conquests of its founder Sargon of Akkad (2334–2279 BC). Under Sargon and his successors, Akkadian language was briefly imposed on neighboring conquered states such as Elam. Akkad is sometimes regarded as the first empire in history, though there are earlier Sumerian claimants.^{[citation needed]}
The precise archaeological site of the city of Akkad has not yet been found.^{[citation needed]} The form Agade appears in Sumerian, for example in the Sumerian King List; the later Assyro-Babylonian form Akkadû ("of or belonging to Akkad") was likely derived from this. The etymology and meaning of Akkad (written a.ga.dè^KI or URI^KI) are unknown. Centuries later, the neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus mentioned in his archaeological records that Ishtar's worship in Agade was later superseded by that of the goddess Anunit, whose shrine was at Sippar—suggesting proximity of Sippar and Agade. Despite numerous searches, the city has never been found. One theory holds that Agade was situated opposite Sippar on the left bank of the Euphrates, and was perhaps the oldest part of the city of Sippar. Another theory is that the ruins of Akkad are to be found beneath modern Baghdad. Reputedly it was destroyed by invading Gutians with the fall of the Akkadian Empire.

wn.com/Akkadians
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (20/21 July 356 – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great (Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας, Aléxandros ho Mégas from the Greek αλέξω alexo "to defend, help" + ανήρ aner "man"), was a king of Macedon, a state in northern ancient Greece. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16. By the age of thirty, he had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world, stretching from the Ionian Sea to the Himalayas. He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of history's most successful commanders.
Alexander succeeded his father, Philip II of Macedon, to the throne in 336 BC after Philip was assassinated. Upon Philip's death, Alexander inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. He was awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his father's military expansion plans. In 334 BC, he invaded Persian-ruled Asia Minor and began a series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles, most notably the battles of Issus and Gaugamela. He subsequently overthrew the Persian King Darius III and conquered the entirety of the Persian Empire. At that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River.

wn.com/Alexander_the_Great
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia (Old Persian: Kuruš (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia, parts of Europe and the Caucasus. From the Mediterranean sea and Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, Cyrus the Great created the largest empire the world had yet seen. He also pronounced one of the first historically important declarations of human rights via the Cyrus Cylinder sometime between 539-530 BCE.
The reign of Cyrus the Great lasted between 29 and 31 years. Cyrus built his empire by conquering first the Median Empire, then the Lydian Empire and eventually the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Either before or after Babylon, he led an expedition into central Asia, which resulted in major campaigns that were described as having brought "into subjection every nation without exception". Cyrus did not venture into Egypt, as he himself died in battle, fighting the Massagetae along the Syr Darya in December 530 BC. He was succeeded by his son, Cambyses II, who managed to add to the empire by conquering Egypt, Nubia, and Cyrenaica during his short rule.

wn.com/Cyrus_the_Great
Geoffrey Khan
Geoffrey Khan, (b. 1958, Cheltenham, United Kingdom) is a Professor of Semitic Languages at the University of Cambridge.
Geoffrey Khan was born in Cheltenham and went to school in Middlesbrough. In 1984, he gained his Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies with a thesis entitled Extraposition and Pronominal Agreement in Semitic Languages. He became a researcher at the Cambridge University Library (1983-1993), working on on the Cairo Genizah manuscripts . He then joined the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (1993). In 2002, he was appointed Professor of Semitic Philology in Cambridge.
His main area of research is in linguistics studies of Hebrew and Aramaic while the focus of his Aramaic research is on North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic Dialects.

wn.com/Geoffrey_Khan
Ibn Khallikan
Shams al-Dīn Abū Al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad Ibn Muḥammad Ibn Khallikān (Arabic: شمس الدين أبو العباس أحمد بن محمد بن خلكان‎) (September 22, 1211 – October 30, 1282) was a 13th Century Shafi'i Islamic scholar of Kurdish origin.
Ibn Khallikan was born in Arbil, Iraq on September 22, 1211, studied there and in Aleppo and Damascus. He also studied jurisprudence at Mosul and then settled in Cairo. He gained prominence as a jurist, theologian and grammarian. Ibn Khallikan married in the year 1252.
He was an assistant to the chief judge in Egypt until 1261 when he assumed the position of chief judge in Damascus. Ibn Khallikan was removed from this position in 1271, returned to Egypt and taught there until being reinstated as judge in Damascus in the year 1278. He retired from this position in 1281 and died in Damascus on October 30, 1282.
Ibn Khallikan's most renowned work is the biographical dictionary entitled Wafayāt al-aʿyān wa-anbāʾ abnāʾ az-zamān (Deaths of Eminent Men and History of the Sons of the Epoch). He began compiling this work in 1256 and continued until 1274, referencing the works of earlier scholars.Deaths of Eminent Men does not include biographies of individuals already sufficiently covered, such as the Islamic Prophet Muhammad and the caliphs. This work has been translated into English by William McGuckin de Slane, (1801–1878), and is over 2,700 pages long.

wn.com/Ibn_Khallikan
Mulla Effendi
Mulla Abu Bakr Effendi, also Mulla Effendi (also spelled Mala Afandi), (Kurdish: مه‌لا فه‌ندى) (Arabic: ملا أفندي‎) also Abu Bakr IIII or Küçük Mulla (1863 - December 31, 1942) was a senior Kurdish Muslim cleric, Islamic philosopher, scholar, astronomer, politician, and a prominent Iraqi personality from Arbil, Iraq.
Mulla Effendi was born into a respected and intellectual family of Islamic scholars who settled in Arbil in the 16th century and spent most of their life learning and teaching Islamic studies at the Great Mosque at the Citadel of Arbil. His family was well-known for their piety and learning and influential throughout Kurdistan for hundred years before him.
After being educated at the Great Mosque, Mulla Effendi like his ancestors spent most of his time teaching and learning there. During his life he granted more than hundred scientific licenses for scholars from different parts of Iraq, Iran, and the Middle East in general, and sponsored the daily living and study costs of his students. He also contributed to establishing many schools and mosques in Arbil and in many different villages.

wn.com/Mulla_Effendi
Mustafa Barzani
Mustafa Barzani (Kurdish: Mistefa Barzani) (March 14, 1903 – March 1, 1979) also known as Mullah Mustafa was a Kurdish nationalist leader, and the most prominent political figure in the modern Kurdish politics. In 1946 he was chosen as the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to lead the Kurdish revolution against Iraqi regimes. Barzani was the primary political and military leader of the Kurdish revolution until his death in March 1979. He led campaigns of armed struggle against both the Iraqi and Iranian governments.
Mustafa Barzani was born in 1903 in Barzan, a village in northern Iraqi Kurdistan, (then part of the Ottoman Empire). Following an insurrection launched by his tribe, he was moved along with his mother and the rest of his family in to jail, when Barzani was only at the age of 5 years. His father, grandfather, and a brother were later executed by the Ottoman authorities for other insurrections. At an early age he joined other tribal fighters in aiding Sheikh Barzinji's revolt against the British in Iraq.

wn.com/Mustafa_Barzani
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
Timur
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/Timur

{{kurdshow}} Hozan Serhat - Hewler

www.kurdshow.com...

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Hozan Serhat Hewler Nusina Kurmanci

...

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hewler...

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hewler kız...

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ÖNDER DENIZ - HEWLER

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photo: White House / Pete Souza

A bronze bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is visible in the foreground as President Barack Obama meets with senior advisors, in the Oval Office, Feb. 4, 2010.

Same Bibles, Different Theologies and Histories

WorldNews.com

24 Jan 2013

Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. In the world of politics and imagination, theater usually trumps theology while history is most often vanquished by histrionics. President Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony for a second term reflects this truth, specifically as he uses two historic bibles-one belonging to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and another used only by Abraham Lincoln ... "With malice toward none; with charity for all."....(size: 7.3Kb)

photo: AP / Mohammad Hannon

In this Sept. 14, 2012 file photo, Libyan military guards check one of the burnt out buildings at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, during a visit by Libyan President Mohammed el-Megarif to express sympathy for the death of American ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and his colleagues in the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the consulate.

There are bigger issues to worry about than Benghazi

The News Tribune

25 Jan 2013

Republicans wanted nothing more than to summon Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Capitol Hill and grill her about the tragic fiasco in Benghazi. Sadly for them, they got their wish. Clinton’s smooth and confident performance at Wednesday’s Senate and House committee hearings was fun to watch. When her would-be inquisitors asked serious questions, she gave serious answers. But when Sen ... Fat chance ... Benghazi ... Perhaps not ... ....(size: 4.8Kb)

photo: AP / Hossam Ali

File - Egyptian defendants who face charges relating to the deaths after a soccer match in the Mediterranean city of Port Said Feb. 1, 2012, chant slogans inside a cage during their trial at a court house in Cairo Egypt, Tuesday, April 17, 2012.

Death sentences over Egypt football massacre

Al Jazeera

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An Egyptian court has handed down 21 death sentences in connection with the deadly riot last year at a football stadium in Port Said located along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The defendants sentenced on Saturday are mostly members of the "Ultras," die-hard football fans who support Port Said's al-Masry squad ... Al-Masry fans stormed the pitch after their team won, throwing stones, bottles and fireworks at al-Ahly supporters....(size: 17.2Kb)

photo: US Army / Edward N. Johnson

File - A checkpoint at the Demilitiarised Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.

Why sticks don't work with North Korea

CNN

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By Charles Armstrong, Special to CNN. Editor’s note. Charles Armstrong is the director of the Center for Korean Research at Columbia University. The views expressed are his own. Anyone who has followed North Korean affairs for the last several years (or the last two decades) could have predicted North Korea’s defiant response to the U.N ... sanctions not by giving up missiles and nukes, but ratcheting up the rhetoric ... More from GPS ... Post by ... ... ....(size: 15.8Kb)

photo: UN / Martine Perret

File - Health Officers of the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) with the support of the World Health Organization help the Ministry of Health to monitor and coordinate the national response to the human cases of the H1N1 influenza virus, 7 May, 2009.

Swine flu infected 'fifth of people'

BBC News

25 Jan 2013

At least one in five people, including half of schoolchildren, were infected with swine flu during the first year of the pandemic in 2009, according to data from 19 countries. It is thought the virus killed 200,000 people around the world. A World Health Organization-led study looked for evidence of the body's immune system fighting the virus ... Anti-bodies ... ....(size: 2.1Kb)

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MINISTER FAST ANNOUNCES NEW APPOINTMENTS TO CANADIAN COMMERCIAL CORPORATION'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS (Government of Canada)

noodls

18 Dec 2012

(Source. Government of Canada). December 18, 2012 - The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, today announced the appointment of the new chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), as well as two new members of the board ... Ray Castelli becomes chair of CCC, and Sherry Hewler and Derrick Rowe are the two new board members ... Mr ... Ms ... Mr. Rowe, of St....(size: 4.4Kb)

Minister Fast Announces New Appointments to Canadian Commercial Corporation’s Board of Directors (Government of Canada)

noodls

18 Dec 2012

Minister Fast Announces New Appointments to Canadian Commercial Corporation's Board of Directors (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada)

noodls

18 Dec 2012

(Source. Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada) ... "Our government is focused on what matters to Canadians-jobs, growth and long-term prosperity," said Minister Fast. "CCC has an important role to play as the Canadian government seeks to grow our exports in key sectors, including defence and security ... Ray Castelli becomes chair of CCC, and Sherry Hewler and Derrick Rowe are the two new board members ... Mr ... Ms ... Mr....(size: 4.4Kb)

The British Siege of the Ecuadorian Embassy: DÃ©jÃ Vu: Anglo-American disregard for International Law

Axis of Logic

26 Aug 2012

In regard to British threats to storm the Ecuadorian Embassy to the United Kingdom in London, the focus should not be on Julian Assange, the controversial founder of WikiLeaks ... The world is divided into two ... The Iranian diplomatic mission that the US stormed was in Arbil (Hewler), the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and had been representing Tehranâs interests in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1992 ... Source URL ... DÃ©jÃ Vu ... ....(size: 12.9Kb)

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya: The British Siege of the Ecuadorian Embassy: Déjà Vu: Anglo-American disregard for International Law

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The US, UK, and their allies ranted and raved about the sanctity of foreign diplomatic missions, calling the activists “terrorists” and “anarchists.” Today, however, they endorse the storming of embassies and consulates themselves ... The Iranian diplomatic mission that the US stormed was in Arbil (Hewler), the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and had been representing Tehran’s interests in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1992 ... ....(size: 10.3Kb)

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GlobalResearch

23 Aug 2012

The US, UK, and their allies ranted and raved about the sanctity of foreign diplomatic missions, calling the activists terrorists and anarchists. Today, however, they endorse the storming of embassies and consulates themselves ... The Iranian diplomatic mission that the US stormed was in Arbil (Hewler), the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and had been representing Tehrans interests in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1992 ... ....(size: 10.5Kb)

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This article is about the city in Iraq. For other uses, see Erbil (disambiguation).

Erbil Kurdish: ھەولێر Arabic: أربيل‎ Aramaic: ܐܪܒܝܠ
Hewlêr Park
Erbil Erbil in Iraq
Coordinates: 36°11′28″N 44°0′33″E / 36.19111°N 44.00917°E / 36.19111; 44.00917Coordinates: 36°11′28″N 44°0′33″E / 36.19111°N 44.00917°E / 36.19111; 44.00917
Country	Iraq
Autonomous region	Kurdistan^[1]
Province	Erbil
Settled	9000 BC
Government
• Governor	Nawzad Hadi
Population (2009 est.)
• Total	1,293,839

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.^[2] 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,^[3]^[4] and it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.^[3]^[4] 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.^[5]

1 Etymology
2 History
3 Main sights
- 3.1 Citadel of Erbil
- 3.2 Other sights
4 Culture
- 4.1 Sports
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Etymology [link]

The name Erbil was mentioned in Sumerian holy writings (c. 2000 BC) as Urbilum, Urbelum or Urbillum,^[6] 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.

Later, Akkadians/Assyrians rendered the name to mean four gods (arba'ū ilū).^[7] The city was a centre for the worship of the goddess Ishtar. In classical times the city was known by its Aramaic name, Arbela. In Old Persian the city was called Arbairā.^[8] The modern Kurdish name of the city, Hawler, appears to be a corruption of the local Neo-Aramaic name Arbel by a series of metatheses of consonants.^[7]

History [link]

The ancient city wall still dominates the center of Erbil.

Old Minaret, Erbil

Siege of Erbil by the Ilkhanid Mongols in 1258-59 depicted in the depicted in the Jami' al-tawarikh by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Division Orientale.

Ancient history [link]

It has been claimed that Erbil is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in history.^[9] The Neo-Sumerian ruler of Ur, Amar-Sin sacked Urbilum in his second year, ca. 1975 BC)^[6]

Erbil was under the Assyrian Empire from around 2000 BC until 608 BC, and it remained part of the Assyrian province under Persian, Greek, Parthian, Roman and Sassanid rule.

Under the Median Empire, Cyaxares might have settled a number of people from the Ancient Iranian tribe of Sagarthians in Arbela and Kirkuk, probably as a reward for their help in the capture of Nineveh.^[10] The Persian emperor Cyrus the Great occupied Assyria in 547 BC, and established there an Achaemenid satrapy called in Old Persian Aθurā (Assyria), with Arbela as the capital.^[11]

The Battle of Gaugamela, in which Alexander the Great defeated Darius III of Persia in 331 BC, took place approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of Erbil. After the battle, Darius managed to flee to the city, and, somewhat inaccurately, the confrontation is sometimes known as the "Battle of Arbela".

Erbil became part of the region disputed between Rome and Persia under the Sasanids. The ancient Syriac kingdom of Adiabene (the Greek form of Ḥadyab) had its center at Erbil, and the town and kingdom are known in Jewish Middle Eastern history for the conversion of the royal family to Judaism.^[12] Its populace then converted during the first and second century to Christianity, with Pkidha becoming traditionally its first bishop around 104 AD.^[13]^[14] The metropolitanate of Ḥadyab in Arbela became a centre of eastern Syriac Christianity until late in the Middle Ages.^[15]

Medieval history [link]

Arbela was an early center of the Syriac Christianity. By 100 AD there was a bishop seated in the city. As many modern Assyrians use Biblical (including Jewish) names, most of the early bishops had Jewish/Biblical names, which does not suggest that many of the early Christians in this city were converts from Judaism.^[16] It served as the seat of a Metropolitan of the Assyrian Church of the East. From the city's Christian period come many church fathers and well-known authors in Syriac. The city's Aramaic-speaking Assyrian population remained significant in size until destruction of the city by the forces of Timur in 1397.^[17]

Great Mosque in Hewlêr (Erbil).

In the Middle Ages, Erbil was ruled successively by the Umayyads, the Abbasids, the Buwayhids, the Seljuks and then by the Atabegs of Erbil (1131–1232), under whom it was a Turkmen state; they were in turn followed by the Ilkhanids, the Jalayirids, the Karakoyun and the Akkoyun. Erbil was the birthplace of the famous 13th century Muslim historian and writer Ibn Khallikan.

Modern history [link]

The modern town of Erbil stands on a tell topped by an Ottoman fort. During the Middle Ages, Erbil became a major trading centre on the route between Baghdad and Mosul, a role which it still plays today with important road links to the outside world.

The parliament of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region was established in Erbil in 1970 after negotiations between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Mustafa Barzani, but was effectively controlled by Saddam Hussein until the Kurdish uprising at the end of the 1991 Gulf War. The legislature ceased to function effectively in the mid-1990s when fighting broke out between the two main Kurdish factions, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The city was captured by the KDP in 1996 with the assistance of the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. The PUK then established an alternative Kurdish government in Sulaimaniyah. KDP claimed that on March 1996 PUK asked for Iran's help to fight KDP. Considering this as a foreign attack on Iraq's soil, the KDP asked the Iraqi government for help.

US Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld (2nd from right) has dinner with the Commander of the Republic of Korea Division Maj. Gen. Hwang Ui-don in Irbil, Iraq, on October 10, 2004

The Kurdish Parliament in Erbil reconvened after a peace agreement was signed between the Kurdish parties in 1997, but had no real power. The Kurdish government in Erbil had control only in the western and northern parts of the autonomous region. During the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, a United States special forces task force was headquartered just outside of Erbil. The city was the scene of rapturous celebrations on April 10, 2003 after the fall of the Ba'ath regime.

During the US occupation of Iraq, sporadic terrorist attacks have hit Erbil. Parallel bomb attacks against Eid celebrations killed 109 people on February 1, 2004. Responsibility was claimed by the Islamist group Ansar al-Sunnah, and stated to be in solidarity with the Kurdish Islamist faction Ansar al-Islam.^{[citation needed]} Another bombing on May 4, 2005 killed 60 civilians.^{[citation needed]}

The Erbil International Airport opened in the city in 2005.

Main sights [link]

Citadel of Erbil [link]

The Citadel of Arbil is a tell or occupied mound, in the historical heart of Erbil, rising between 25 and 32 metres (82 and 105 ft) from the surrounding plain. The buildings on top of the tell stretch over a roughly oval area of 430 by 340 metres (1,410 × 1,120 ft) occupying 102,000 square metres (1,100,000 sq ft). It has been claimed that the site is the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world.^[4] The earliest evidence for occupation of the citadel mound dates to the 5th millennium BC, and possibly earlier. It appears for the first time in historical sources during the Ur III period, and gained particular importance during the Neo-Assyrian period. West of the citadel at Ary Kon quarter, a chamber tomb dating to the Neo-Assyrian period has been excavated.^[5] During the Sassanian period and the Abbasid Caliphate, Erbil was an important centre for Christianity. After the Mongols captured the citadel in 1258, the importance of Erbil declined.

Erbil International Airport

During the 20th century, the urban structure was significantly modified, as a result of which a number of houses and public buildings were destroyed. In 2007, the High Commission for Erbil Citadel Revitalization (HCECR) was established to oversee the restoration of the citadel. In the same year, all inhabitants, except one family, were evicted from the citadel as part of a large restoration project. Since then, archaeological research and restoration works have been carried out at and around the tell by various international teams and in cooperation with local specialists, and many areas remain off-limits to visitors due to the danger of unstable walls and infrastructure. The government plans to have 50 families live in the citadel once it is renovated.

The only religious structure that currently survives in the citadel is the Mulla Afandi Mosque. When it was fully occupied, the citadel was divided in three districts or mahallas: from east to west the Serai, the Takya and the Topkhana. The Serai was occupied by notable families; the Takya district was named after the homes of dervishes, which are called takyas; and the Topkhana district housed craftsmen and farmers. Other sights to visit in the citadel include the bathing rooms (hamam) built in 1775 located near the mosque and the Textile Museum.^[18]

Other sights [link]

The covered Erbil Qaysari Bazaars, sometimes known as Kaisary market, lies below the main entrance to the citadel and stocks mainly household goods and tools.
The 36 m high Mudhafaria Minaret, situated in Minaret Park several blocks from the citadel, dates back to the late 12th century AD and the reign of Erbil king Muzaffar Al-Din Abu Sa’eed Al-Kawkaboori. It has an octagonal base decorated with two tiers of niches, which is separated from the main shaft by a small balcony, also decorated. Another historical minaret with turquoise glazed tiles is nearby.
Sami Rahman Park
Franso Hariri Stadium
The Mound of Qalich Agha lies within the grounds of the Museum of Civilization, 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the citadel. An excavation in 1996 found tools from the Halaf, Ubaid and Uruk periods.^[5]
Kurdish Textile Museum

^ "Kurdistan Regional Government". KRG. http://krg.org/articles/detail.asp?lngnr=12&smap=03010300&rnr=140&anr=23911. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
^ "Largest Cities in Iraq". mongabay.com. 2002-01-01. http://www.mongabay.com/igapo/Iraq.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
^ ^a ^b "Czech archaeologists uncover Stone Age tools in Erbil, Iraq". Radio Prague. 2010-03-17. http://www.radio.cz/en/section/czechstoday/czech-archaeologists-uncover-stone-age-tools-in-arbil-iraq. Retrieved 08-12-2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Erbil Citadel". UNESCO. http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5479/. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
^ ^a ^b ^c 'Directorate Antiquities of Erbil's Guide' Brochure produced by General Directorate of Antiquities, KRG, Ministry of Tourism
^ ^a ^b Hamblin, William J. (2006). Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC. Routledge. p. 111. ISBN 0-415-25589-9. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=en9tzr1-VM4C.
^ ^a ^b Khan, Geoffrey (1999). A grammar of neo-Aramaic: the dialect of the Jews of Arbel, Part 1, Volume 47. BRILL. p. 2. ISBN 978-90-04-11510-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=we7Q1AxbiOYC&pg=PA2.
^ "Iranica: Arbela". Iranicaonline.org. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arbela-assyrian-arbailu-old. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
^ Erbil: World's oldest, and continously inhabited city - 8,000 Years, Allvoices.com
^ ASAGARTA, Encyclopedia Iranica
^ E. Herzfeld, The Persian Empire, ed. G. Walser, Wiesbaden, 1968, pp. 304-07
^ Adiabene,Jewish Kingdom of Mesopotamia, Jonah Gabriel Lissner
^ MŠIHA-ZKHA. "HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF ADIABENE UNDER THE PARTHIANS AND THE SASSANIDS". Tertullian.org. http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/arbela_02_text.htm.
^ Neusner, Jacob (1969). A history of the Jews in Babylonia, Volume 2. Brill Archive. p. 354.
^ British Institute of Persian Studies (1981). Iran , Volumes 19-21. the University of Michigan. pp. 15, 17. http://books.google.com/books?ei=OUL-Td73A4rBtAbc6aHvDQ&ct=result&id=rNdtAAAAMAAJ&dq=adiabene+syriac+metropolitanate&q=adiabene.
^ Gillman, Ian and Hans-Joachim Klimkeit. Christians in Asia before 1500. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1999) p. 33
^ Edwin Munsell Bliss, Turkey and the Armenian Atrocities, (Chicago 1896) p. 153
^ 'Erbil Citadel' Brochure, High Commission for Erbil Citadel Revitalization (HCECR). www.erbilcitadel.org

External links [link]

i Erbil – Portal for international visitors
Livius.org: Arbela
Hospitality in Hawler Directory of hotels in Arbil with contact information, photos and reviews.

v t e Districts of Iraq and capitals

Al Anbar Governorate	Al-Qa'im District (Al-Ka'im) •Ar Rutba District (Al-Rutba)• Anah District (Anah) • Falluja District (Falluja) • Haditha District (Haditha) • Hīt District (Hīt) •Ramadi District (Ramadi)

Al Muthanna Governorate	Al-Khidhir District (Al-Khidhir) • Al-Rumaitha District (Al-Rumaitha) • Al-Salman District (Al-Salman) • Al-Samawa District (Samawa)

Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate	Afaq District (Afaq) • Al-Shamiya District (Al-Shamiya) • Diwaniya District (Diwaniya) • Hamza District (Hamza)

Babil Governorate	Al-Mahawil District (Al-Mahawil) • Al-Musayab District (Al-Musayab) • Hashimiya District (Hashimiya) • Hilla District (Hilla)

Baghdad Governorate	Abu Ghraib District • Al Istiqlal District• Al-Mada'in District • Mahmudiya District (Mahmudiya) • Taji District• Al Tarmia District• Baghdad:Adhamiyah •Karkh • Karadah • Kadhimyah • Mansour • Sadr City • Al Rashid • Rusafa • 9 Nissan

Basra Governorate	Abu Al-Khaseeb District (Abu Al-Khaseeb) • Al-Midaina District (Al-Midaina) • Al-Qurna District (Al-Qurna) • Al-Zubair District (Al-Zubair) • Basrah District (Basrah) • al-Faw District (al-Faw) • Shatt Al-Arab District (Shatt Al-Arab)

Dhi Qar Governorate	Al-Chibayish District (Al-Chibayish) • Al-Rifa'i District (Al-Rifa'i) • Al-Shatra District (Al-Shatra) • Nassriya District (Nassriya) • Suq Al-Shoyokh District (Suq Al-Shoyokh)

Diyala Governorate	Al-Khalis District (Al-Khalis) • Al-Muqdadiya District (Al-Muqdadiya) • Baladrooz District (Baladrooz) • Ba'quba District (Ba'quba) •Khanaqin District (Khanaqin) • Kifri District (Kifri)

Dohuk Governorate	Amadiya District (Amadiya) • Dohuk District (Dohuk)• Sumel District (Sumel) • Zakho District (Zakho)

Arbil Governorate	Makhmur District (Makhmur) • Arbil • Koisanjaq District (Koisanja) • Shaqlawa District (Shaqlawa)• Soran District • Mergasur District • Choman District

Karbala Governorate	Ain Al-Tamur District (Ain Al-Tamur) • Al-Hindiya District (Al-Hindiya) • Kerbala District (Kerbala)

Kirkuk Governorate	Al-Hawiga District (Al-Hawiga) • Daquq District (Daquq) • Kirkuk District (Kirkuk)

Maysan Governorate	Ali Al-Gharbi District (Ali Al-Gharbi) • Al-Kahla District (Al-Kahla) • Al-Maimouna District (Al-Maimouna) • Al-Mejar Al-Kabi District (Al-Mejar Al-Kabi) • Amara District (Amarah) • Qal'at Saleh District (Qal'at Saleh)

Najaf Governorate	Al-Manathera District (Al-Manathera) • Kufa District (Kufa) • Najaf District (Najaf)

Ninawa Governorate	Aqrah District (Aqrah) • Al-Ba'aj District (Al-Ba'aj) • Al-Hamdaniya District (Bakhdida) • Hatra District (Hatra) •Mosul District (Mosul) • Shekhan District (Ain Sifni) • Sinjar District (Sinjar) • Tel Afar District (Tel Afar) • Tel Keppe District (Tel Keppe)

Salah ad Din Governorate	Al-Daur District (Al-Daur) • Al-Shirqat District (Al-Shirqat) • Baiji District (Baiji) • Balad District (Balad) • Samarra District (Samarra) • Tikrit District (Tikrit) • Tooz District (Tooz)

Sulaymaniyah Governorate	Chamchamal District (Chamchamal) • Darbandokeh District (Darbandokeh) • Dokan District (Dokan) • Halabja District (Halabja) • Kalar District (Kalar) • Penjwin District (Penjwin) • Pshdar District (Pshdar) • Ranya District (Ranya) • Sharbazher District (Sharbazher) • Sulaymaniya District (Sulaymaniya)

Wasit Governorate	Al-Hai District (Al-Hai) • Al-Na'maniya District (Al-Na'maniya) • Al-Suwaira District (Al-Suwaira) • Badra District (Badra) • Kut District (Kut)

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Contents

Etymology [link]

History [link]

Ancient history [link]

Medieval history [link]

Modern history [link]

Main sights [link]

Citadel of Erbil [link]

Other sights [link]

Culture [link]

Sports [link]

See also [link]

References [link]

External links [link]

http://wn.com/Erbil

Related pages:

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