Wasit, Iraq

Wasit (Arabic,واسط) is a place in Wasit Governorate, south east of Kut in eastern Iraq.

History

The city was built by al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf in c. 702 CE on the west bank of the Tigris across from the historical city of Kashkar. Al-Hajjaj is said to have taken the doors for the citadel and the main mosque from Zanzaward. Al-Hajjaj died in Wasit in 714.

To quote UNESCO:

Wasit is an Islamic city built in the last quarter of the first Hijri century (7th century CE) by Al-Hajaj bin Yousif Al-Thaqafi, as an administrative centre for Iraq. As an ancient city its circumference is 16 kilometres. It was abandoned in the tenth Hijri century (16th century CE), after the change in the course of the river (Tigris. Its remains stood sound and safe due to its distance from constructive and agricultural influence. Most of its buildings are of bricks. A survey was carried out from 1936 to 1942, and another in 1985. The large mosque was cleared out in four stages from the seventh hijri, to the first hijri century, with some parts of its emirate house which is next to the mosque at the qibli side. A building known as the minaret was excavated, including a tomb and a school dating back to the seventh hijri century, a residence district was also cleared out in the late 1930s. Conservation has been carried out on some parts of the minaret due to the walls been worn out, but no real maintenance has been undertaken.

Iraq

Coordinates: 33°N 44°E / 33°N 44°E / 33; 44

Iraq (/ɪˈræk/, ⁱ/ɪˈrɑːk/, or /aɪˈræk/; Arabic: العراق‎ al-‘Irāq, Kurdish: Êraq), officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic:  جمهورية العراق  Jumhūrīyat al-‘Irāq; Kurdish: كۆماری عێراق‎ Komar-i ‘Êraq), is a country in Western Asia. The country borders Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest, and Syria to the west. The southern part of Iraq is within the Arabian Peninsula. The capital, Baghdad, is in the centre of the country and its largest city. The largest ethnic groups in Iraq are Arabs and Kurds. Other ethnic groups include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, and Kawliya. Around 95% of the country's 36 million citizens are Shia or Sunni Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present.

Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf and its territory encompasses the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain, the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert. Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through the centre of Iraq and flow into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land.

Mandatory Iraq

The Kingdom of Iraq under British Administration or Mandatory Iraq (Arabic: الانتداب البريطاني على العراق‎ al-Intidāb al-Brīṭānī ‘Alá al-‘Irāq) was created in 1921 following the 1920 Iraqi Revolt against the proposed British Mandate of Mesopotamia, and enacted via the 1922 Anglo-Iraqi Treaty.

Faisal ibn Husayn, who had been proclaimed King of Syria by a Syrian National Congress in Damascus in March 1920, was ejected by the French in July of the same year. Faisal was then granted by the British the territory of Iraq, to rule it as a kingdom, with the British Royal Air Force (RAF) retaining certain military control, though de facto; the territory remained under British administration until 1932.

The civil government of postwar Iraq was headed originally by the High Commissioner, Sir Percy Cox, and his deputy, Colonel Arnold Wilson. British reprisals after the murder of a British officer in Najaf failed to restore order. The most striking problem facing the British was the growing anger of the nationalists, who continued to fight against the imposition of British authority. British administration had yet to be established in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia (/ˌmɛsəpəˈteɪmiə/, from the Ancient Greek: Μεσοποταμία "[land] between rivers"; from Ancient Armenian՝ Միջագետք(Mijagetq), Arabic: بلاد الرافدين‎ bilād ar-rāfidayn; Persian: میان‌رودان‎‎ miyān rodān; Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪܝܢ‎ Beth Nahrain "land of rivers") is a name for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, roughly corresponding to modern-day Iraq, Syria and Kuwait, including regions along the Turkish-Syrian and Iran–Iraq borders.

Widely considered to be the one of the cradles of civilization by the Western world, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires, all native to the territory of modern-day Iraq. In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires.

The indigenous Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire.