Famous landmarks in Iraq

Iraq is a country in West Asia, at the top of the Persian Gulf, between Iran, Türkiye, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Its capital is Baghdad, on the Tigris River. Much of Iraq lies in ancient Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, where some of the world's first cities, laws and writing appeared. Today it is also known for its large oil fields and its date palms.

On My Earth Toy you can see the blue-tiled Ishtar Gate and the ruins of Babylon, the Great Ziggurat of Ur, the spiral Malwiya Minaret at Samarra, the hilltop Erbil Citadel and Baghdad's Al-Shaheed Monument. You can also discover the Rumaila oil field in the south.

Geography and nature

The heart of Iraq is the flat, fertile plain of the Tigris and Euphrates, which join in the south to form the Shatt al-Arab waterway. To the west stretches a dry desert, while the north rises into the mountains of the Kurdistan Region, where Cheekha Dar reaches 3,611 metres. In the far south lie the Mesopotamian Marshes, a watery world of reeds, birds and water buffalo protected by UNESCO. Summers are extremely hot and dry, and winters are mild.

People, languages and culture

Arabic and Kurdish are Iraq's official languages, and Turkmen and Syriac are also used in some areas. Most Iraqis are Muslim, both Shia and Sunni, and the country is also home to Christians, Yazidis and other communities. In the marshes, people have long built arched houses entirely from reeds. Favourite foods include masgouf, a river fish grilled over an open fire, and sweet dates. Iraqi maqam is a classical style of singing passed down through generations.

History in a nutshell

Around 5,000 years ago the Sumerians built cities such as Ur and Uruk and invented cuneiform writing. Later came the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires; King Hammurabi of Babylon wrote one of the earliest law codes. In 762 the Abbasid caliphs founded Baghdad, which became a great centre of science and learning. After centuries of Ottoman rule and a period under British administration, Iraq became independent in 1932 and a republic in 1958. It has since gone through several wars and long periods of conflict.