Iraq

Iraq is a country in the Middle East, a region where western Asia meets the Arab world. It shares borders with Turkey, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria. A short stretch of coast in the south touches the Persian Gulf. About 45 million people live in Iraq. The capital and largest city is Baghdad.

Two great rivers run through Iraq: the Tigris and the Euphrates. They start in the mountains of Turkey, flow southeast across Iraq, and join before emptying into the Persian Gulf. The land between these rivers is called Mesopotamia, which is a Greek word meaning "between the rivers." Most Iraqis live near the rivers, because the rest of the country is mostly dry desert or rocky hills.

Mesopotamia was home to some of the first cities in human history. Around 3500 BCE, a people called the Sumerians built cities like Ur and Uruk. They also invented one of the earliest writing systems, called cuneiform. Later, powerful empires rose in the same region, including Babylon and Assyria. The Code of Hammurabi, one of the oldest written sets of laws, was carved in Babylon nearly 3,800 years ago. Because so much began here, historians often call Mesopotamia the "cradle of civilization."

In the 700s CE, Baghdad became the capital of a huge Islamic empire. For hundreds of years it was one of the most important cities in the world. Scholars there studied math, medicine, and astronomy, and they translated books from Greek, Persian, and Indian sources. Later, the region was ruled by the Ottoman Empire for about 400 years.

Modern Iraq was created after World War I, when the Ottoman Empire broke apart. It became fully independent in 1932. In 2003, a United States-led coalition invaded Iraq and removed its ruler, Saddam Hussein. The years after were hard, with fighting between different groups. Iraqis are still rebuilding today.

Most people in Iraq are Muslim, split mainly between two branches of Islam called Sunni and Shia. There are also Christian communities and other small groups. Arabic and Kurdish are both official languages. The Kurds are a large group who live mostly in the mountains of northern Iraq.

Iraq sits on top of huge oil reserves, which are among the biggest in the world. Oil is the country's most valuable export. But many Iraqis are also proud of a different kind of wealth: a history that reaches back to the very beginning of cities, writing, and written law.