60 Fun Facts About Iraq

What is the capital and largest city of Iraq?

Home to more than 8 million people, it holds about 22% of the country's population.

Ancient Mesopotamia lay between which two rivers, both of which run through Iraq?

Their flows were down 30–40% by 2023, a growing crisis for the country's farms and marshes.

Which civilisation, which emerged in southern Iraq around 6000-5000 BC, is recognised as the world's earliest?

It gave the world urban life, written language, monumental architecture and advanced canal systems.

Which Sumerian city, today's Warka, may have had 50,000 residents at its peak around 3100 BC?

It gives its name to the Uruk period and led the early urbanisation of Sumer.

Which Mesopotamian poem is the world's oldest surviving example of narrative literature?

Its earliest strands are five Sumerian poems that may date to around 2100 BCE; the combined Akkadian epic followed.

Which British archaeologist led the 1920s–30s excavation of the Great Ziggurat of Ur?

It was built by King Ur-Nammu in the 21st century BC and restored by Nabonidus some 1,500 years later.

The stele bearing the Code of Hammurabi, composed around 1753 BC, is displayed in which museum?

It was found in 1901 at Susa in Iran, where it had been carried off as plunder 600 years after it was made.

The Ishtar Gate, built around 569 BC, was ordered by which king?

Its glazed bricks were mostly blue, with lions, bulls and dragons in low relief along a processional way.

Which Biblical structure was the ziggurat of the ancient city near Hillah said to inspire?

The city also boasted the Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders, and has undergone major restoration work since the 2000s.

Which fortified caravan city in northern Iraq is the richest archaeological site of the Parthian Empire?

It flourished in the 2nd century between the Roman and Parthian worlds before the Sasanians destroyed it.

Which Abbasid caliph founded Iraq's present capital in 762?

He named it the City of Peace and laid it out as a 2-km-wide circle, the Round City.

What was the Abbasid academy that made the capital an Islamic Golden Age hub called?

Its founding is credited either to Harun al-Rashid or to the caliph who built the city before him.

The Great Mosque of Samarra is famous for a 52-metre minaret of what distinctive shape?

The Malwiya, or "spiral one", was built for caliph al-Mutawakkil between 848 and 851, when the mosque was the largest in the world.

Who captured and sacked the Abbasid capital in 1258, ending the dynasty's rule in Iraq?

The Seljuks had already reduced the caliphs to figureheads after taking the city in 1055.

Which Ottoman sultan conquered Iraq in 1534?

The region was fought over with the Safavids until the Treaty of Zuhab confirmed Ottoman control in 1639.

From 1749 to 1831 Iraq was ruled with great autonomy by a Mamluk dynasty of what origin?

They kept nominal allegiance to the sultan; after their fall, centralisation under Baghdad began.

Which three former Ottoman provinces did Britain merge into the mandate that became Iraq?

British troops had occupied the capital in 1917 and the mandate was set up in 1920.

Whom did the British install as king of Iraq on 23 August 1921?

The country's official English name changed from Mesopotamia to Iraq at the same time; he died in a car accident in 1939.

In which year did Iraq gain formal independence and join the League of Nations?

A 1930 treaty had already given a measure of independence while keeping British military bases and oil rights.

How old was the boy-king who inherited Iraq's throne in 1939?

His uncle Crown Prince Abdullah acted as regent until the king turned 18 in 1953.

Who led the 14 July Revolution of 1958 that overthrew Iraq's monarchy?

The king, the crown prince and prime minister Nuri al-Sa'id were all killed; the new ruler was himself toppled by the Ba'ath in 1963.

Who became president when the Ba'ath Party seized power in the 17 July Revolution of 1968?

Power gradually passed to his vice-president, Saddam Hussein, who formally took the presidency on 16 July 1979.

The 1975 Algiers Agreement between Saddam and the Shah settled a dispute over which waterway?

Iran withdrew its support for Iraq's Kurds, who were then defeated in the second Iraqi–Kurdish war.

The Halabja attack of 16 March 1988 killed thousands of Kurds with what kind of weapon?

A UN investigation found mustard gas and nerve agents had been used; it was part of the wider Anfal campaign.

On 2 August 1990 Iraq invaded and annexed which country as its "19th governorate"?

The dispute grew from unpaid war debts and oil prices; the coalition's ground assault the next year lasted just 100 hours.

The 1991 Gulf War coalition's ground assault against Iraqi forces lasted roughly how long?

It followed a long bombing campaign; sanctions imposed after the Kuwait invasion then crippled the economy.

On what date in 2003 did the US-led coalition invade Iraq?

The capital fell in the first week of April, and the toppling of a statue of Saddam symbolised the end of his rule.

The Islamic State's rapid expansion in Iraq began with a large-scale 2014 offensive on which city?

About 500,000 civilians fled, and the group's genocide against the Yazidis of Sinjar killed some 5,000 people.

How many governorates does Iraq have alongside its single federal region?

The governorates are split into districts and sub-districts; the federal region is Kurdistan.

Which city is the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan Region?

The region comprises four Kurdish-majority governorates: Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok and Halabja.

Alongside Arabic, which language is official throughout Iraq?

Assyrian, Turkmen and Mandaic are recognised regionally.

Which is Iraq's only coastal governorate, home to all six of its ports?

Its capital is regularly one of the hottest cities on Earth, with summers above 50 °C.

The waterway formed where Iraq's two great rivers meet at al-Qurnah empties into which body of water?

The 200-km river forms the Iran–Iraq border along its southern stretch.

Cheekha Dar, at about 3,611 m the highest point in Iraq, has a local name meaning what?

It sits on the Iranian border and was climbed in 2004 by English explorer Ginge Fullen.

About half of the world's population of which duck lives in Iraq's Mesopotamian Marshes?

The marshes also hold 60% of the world's Basra reed-warblers and were badly damaged by drainage under Saddam.

The Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq traditionally live in villages built of what material?

Their settlements are often reachable only by boat; there were an estimated 500,000 Marsh Arabs in the 1950s.

Iraq ranks where in the world for proved oil reserves?

Only Venezuela and Saudi Arabia hold more.

What is the currency of Iraq?

It entered circulation in 1932, replacing the Indian rupee at a rate of 11 rupees to one.

Which currency did Iraq's own money replace when it was introduced in 1932?

The rupee had been official since the British occupation in World War I; the new unit was pegged to sterling until 1959.

What are the three stripe colours of Iraq's flag, top to bottom?

The takbir is written in green Kufic script on the white stripe; the current design was adopted in 2008.

Masgouf, often called Iraq's national dish, is what?

It is the dish first served to visiting foreign delegations; Jacques Chirac was said to be a fan.

According to a 2020 estimate, roughly what share of Iraqis are Shia Muslims?

About 35% are Sunni; the two holiest Shia cities, Najaf and Karbala, are both in Iraq.

Which two Iraqi cities are among the holiest places for Shia Muslims?

Both have boomed on religious tourism since 2003, and a project is under way to link them.

Iraqi Christians are predominantly members of which ancient people?

Their churches trace back to the Church of the East in the 5th century, before Islam reached the region.

What is the nickname of Iraq's national football team?

Their usual home ground is the Basra International Stadium.

In which year did Iraq win the AFC Asian Cup, despite the chaos at home?

The team beat Australia, South Korea and Saudi Arabia along the way with little preparation.

Iraq scored its first-ever World Cup goal in 1986 against which team?

It has reached the finals only twice, in 1986 and 2026, going out at the group stage both times.

The Iraq Museum's collections were begun in 1922 by which British traveller and intelligence agent?

The museum was looted in 2003 and only reopened in February 2015.

Which Iraqi city did Alexander the Great intend as his capital before dying in 323 BCE?

The plan was dropped and Seleucia was founded as the new capital, with Babylon's people resettled there.

Which city on the Tigris merged with Seleucia to become the Sasanian capital, later called al-Mada'in?

Its loss to the Arab conquests marked the end of Sasanian rule.

After the 1991 Iraqi uprisings, the US, UK, France and Turkey established what over Iraq?

They cited UN Security Council Resolution 688, and the Kurds gained autonomy as a result.

Iraq's population of over 46 million ranks it where among the world's countries by population?

By area, at 438,317 km2, it ranks 58th.

An Arabic folk etymology gives the name "Iraq" what meaning?

The Arabic word can also mean "shore" or "edge", pointing to the escarpment of the Jazira Plateau.

How long is Iraq's coastline on the northern Persian Gulf?

Despite that short shore, Basra hosts all six of the country's ports.

Which 1639 agreement confirmed Ottoman control of Baghdad after decades of Ottoman-Safavid wars?

Baghdad had changed hands several times during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Which Rashidun caliph moved the seat of the caliphate from Medina to Kufa in Iraq?

The move strengthened Iraq's political importance decades before the Abbasids founded Baghdad.

Who staged the April 1941 coup that installed a pro-Axis government and triggered the Anglo-Iraqi War?

Britain invaded for fear the government would cut oil supplies to the West.

What share of voters approved Iraq's new constitution in the October 2005 referendum?

Shia and Kurdish communities backed it while Sunni Arabs largely rejected it.

Which two states rank ahead of Iraq in proved oil reserves?

Iraq holds about 143 billion barrels, yet only around 2,000 wells have ever been drilled there.

Iraq's oil sector traditionally provides roughly what share of its foreign exchange earnings?

Weak development elsewhere has left unemployment at 18 to 30 percent.