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Iraq’s oldest cities; it was founded in
CE
636 by Caliph Umar I. It is
located near an even older city—Ur, the ancient Sumerian city that
flourished more than 4,000 years ago.
Because of Basra’s
proximity
to southern Iraq’s many oil fields,
the city is an important center for petroleum production. Many
refineries have been built in and around Basra.
Since the 1980s, control of the city has been heavily contested
in Iraq’s many conflicts, due to its strategic location on the Shatt al
Arab near the Iran border. In 2014, Basra was supposed to host a
a major international soccer tournament, the Gulf Cup of Nations,
but the event had to be moved to Saudi Arabia because organizers
were concerned that the athletes would not be safe there.
O
THER
I
MPORTANT
C
ITIES
Erbil (population 1.5 million) is the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. It is
located 50 miles (81 km) east of Mosul. It is an important com-
mercial center in the region. Erbil was founded thousands of years
ago by the Medes. The city has grown signficantly since 2003,
thanks to generous foreign investment. An international airport
I
RAQ
104
The ruins of the ancient
Sumerian city of Ur are
located near Basra. By
the third millennium
BCE
,
Ur was already flourish-
ing as a center of trade
and government.