Iraq is a country in the Middle East, built around the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the land that ancient writers called Mesopotamia, meaning the land between the rivers. Often described as a cradle of civilisation, it is where some of humanity's first cities, writing systems, and law codes appeared. A populous and historically rich nation, it has also endured decades of war and upheaval in modern times.
Mesopotamia gave rise to some of the earliest civilisations on Earth, the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, who invented writing, built great cities, and produced one of the first written law codes under Hammurabi of Babylon. Centuries later the region became the centre of the Islamic world when the Abbasid Caliphate built Baghdad into a dazzling capital of learning. Conquered in turn by Mongols and Ottomans, the modern state of Iraq was formed after the First World War under British oversight.
Iraq is dominated by the broad plain of the Tigris and Euphrates, the two great rivers that flow the length of the country and join before reaching the Persian Gulf. This fertile valley, part of the historic Fertile Crescent, is flanked by desert to the west and south and by mountains in the Kurdish north. The rivers have sustained farming and cities here for thousands of years, though falling water levels are a growing concern.
The flag of Iraq has three horizontal bands of red, white, and black, with the Arabic phrase meaning God is great written in green across the central white band. The red, white, and black are colours shared by many Arab nations, expressing a common identity, while the green inscription reflects the central place of Islam. The flag has been revised several times through the country's turbulent modern history.
Iraq is an overwhelmingly Muslim country and a place of deep significance to Islam, home to cities holy to Shia Muslims, who form the majority of the population, alongside a substantial Sunni minority. The Kurds of the north are mostly Sunni. Iraq is also home to some of the oldest Christian communities in the world, whose presence reaches back nearly two thousand years, though their numbers have fallen sharply amid recent conflict.
Iraqi cuisine reflects its ancient agricultural heartland and its place at a crossroads of the Middle East. Rice and flatbread are staples, served with stews, grilled meats, and kebabs. A signature dish is masgouf, river fish slow-grilled over an open fire, long associated with the banks of the Tigris. Dates, of which Iraq was once the world's leading producer, appear in many forms, and dishes like dolma, stuffed vegetables, are much loved.
Farming in Iraq depends on the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates and a tradition of irrigation reaching back to antiquity. The country grows wheat and barley, and it was historically famous above all for its dates, harvested from vast palm groves in the south. Decades of war, along with reduced river flows and rising salinity in the soil, have damaged Iraqi agriculture, and restoring it is an important goal for a country that once helped feed the ancient world.
Iraq's ancient legacy, from the invention of writing to the Code of Hammurabi and the golden age of Abbasid Baghdad, shaped the wider history of humanity. Its modern history has been dominated by conflict: the long rule of Saddam Hussein, the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, the Gulf War, and the United States-led invasion of 2003 that toppled the government and was followed by years of instability and the rise and defeat of extremist groups.
Iraq has a population of around 44 million people, the majority Arabs, with a large Kurdish population in the mountainous north who have their own region and language. The country is divided primarily between Shia and Sunni Muslims, a distinction that has shaped its modern politics. Most Iraqis live in the river valley and in great cities, above all the historic capital, Baghdad, one of the major cities of the Middle East.
