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9000
BCE
:
Earliest settlements established in the mountains of northeast Iraq.
ca. 3000
BCE
: Sumer flourishes in southern Iraq.
ca. 1750
BCE
: Hammurabi, who becomes famous for his code of laws, rules in Babylon.
1150
BCE
:
Assyria conquers Babylon.
612
BCE
:
The Assyrian Empire, with its capital at Nineveh in central Iraq, is
conquered by Babylonian armies under Nebuchadnezzar.
539
BCE
:
Babylon falls to the Persians under Cyrus the Great.
331
BCE
:
The armies of Alexander the Great conquer the Persians and take control of
Mesopotamia.
126
BCE
:
Parthians, invaders from northern Persia, conquer Mesopotamia.
ca.
CE
570:
Muhammad, founder of the Islamic faith, is born in Mecca in the Arabian
Peninsula.
636:
Arabs defeat the Persians and conquer Iraq.
680:
Hussein, grandson of Muhammad, is martyred in Karbala.
762:
Baghdad is built as the capital of the Arab Muslim empire.
1258:
Mongols capture Baghdad.
1453:
Ottoman Turks conquer Constantinople, bringing an end to the Byzantine
Empire.
1530:
Ottoman armies conquer Baghdad and bring Mesopotamia into the Ottoman
Empire.
1914:
The Ottomans ally with Germany and Austria-Hungary during the First World
War; British forces occupy Basra, in southern Iraq.
1917:
British armies occupy Baghdad.
1918:
The First World War ends.
1920:
League of Nations gives British a mandate to administer Iraq.
1921:
A monarchy, ruled by the Hashemite King Faisal I, is established in Iraq.
1927:
Oil discovered at Kirkuk, in northern Iraq.
1932:
British mandate ends, and Iraq becomes independent.
1933:
King Faisal dies; his son Ghazi becomes king.
1939:
King Ghazi dies in a car accident; Abdulillah rules Iraq as regent until Ghazi’s
infant son Faisal II is old enough to rule.
CHRONOLOGY
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