History in Iraq

Much of present-day Iraq lies between or near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Ancient societies developed cities, farming systems, writing traditions, law, trade, literature, and organized government in this wider region. Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian states rose at different times. They were not one continuous nation, but their remains form a major part of Iraq's archaeological heritage. The region later came under several empires and ruling powers, including Persian, Greek-influenced, Parthian, and Sasanian rule. Communities, languages, and religions changed through migration, trade, and political transition. In the seventh century, Muslim rule expanded into the region. Cities such as Kufa and Basra became important, and Baghdad later grew into a leading center of the Abbasid Caliphate, scholarship, commerce, and culture. After the weakening of Abbasid power and the Mongol conquest of Baghdad, various dynasties governed the area. Much of the territory later became part of the Ottoman Empire, with local patterns of authority remaining important. The modern state of Iraq emerged after the First World War under British influence and a monarchy. A republic later replaced the monarchy, followed by coups, authoritarian rule, wars, sanctions, invasion, occupation, political transition, and internal violence. These events affected communities differently and left painful memories, displacement, damaged institutions, and competing historical accounts. Conversations about recent history can therefore be personal and politically sensitive. Iraq's history also includes ordinary life, scientific learning, poetry, architecture, religious scholarship, farming, crafts, trade, protest, and cultural renewal. Museums, ruins, archives, oral histories, and family memories each reveal only part of the whole.