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The Land
I
raq lies on the northern shore of the Arabian Gulf, more com-
monly known as the Persian Gulf among non-Arabs. Its small
segment of coastline is situated between the much longer
shorelines of Iran to its east and Kuwait to its south.
Iraq possesses a land area of some 168,754 square miles
(437,072 square kilometers), making it slightly more than twice the
size of Idaho. If Iraq were placed over the eastern part of the United
States, its southern edge would rest at Raleigh, North Carolina, and
its northern edge in Lake Ontario. The width of Iraq would stretch
from Washington, D.C., in the east to Indianapolis, Indiana, in the
west.
Iraq is surrounded by six countries, four of which are, like Iraq,
populated by Arabs. Kuwait lies to the southeast of Iraq. To the
south and southwest is the larger country of Saudi Arabia. Jordan,
to the west of Iraq, shares a 113-mile (181-km) border. To the
northwest is Syria, which borders Iraq for 376 miles (605 km). The
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View of the Euphrates River as it passes through the village of Hit. One of Iraq’s two major
rivers, the Euphrates originates in Turkey.