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Iraq, officially the Republic of
Iraq, 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. It shares borders with
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the west, Syria to the
northwest, Turkey to the north, and Iran to the east. It has a very
narrow section of coastline at Umm Qasr on the Persian Gulf. There are
two major flowing rivers: the Tigris and the Euphrates. These provide
Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the desert
landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
The region of Iraq was historically known as
Mesopotamia. It was home to the world's
first known civilization, the Sumerian culture, followed by the Akkadian,
Babylonian, and Assyrian cultures, whose influence extended into
neighboring regions as early as 5000 BC. These civilizations produced
some of the earliest writing and some of the first sciences,
mathematics, laws and philosophies of the world; hence its common
epithet, the "Cradle of Civilization". |
