# Duhok

Duhok (Kurdish: دهۆک, romanized: Dihok; Arabic: دهوك, romanized: Dohūk; Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܢܘܗܕܪܐ, romanized: Beth Nohadra, Lishanid Noshan: דוהוך, romanized: Dohok) is a city in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. It is the capital city of Duhok Governorate.

## Name

The city of Duhok received its name from the Kurdish word ’du’ (two) and ’hok’ (lump) as a tax payment of two lumps from the basket of each passing caravan that often carry wheat and barley. According to a tradition presented by Sasson Nahum, Dohuk was initially named Dohuk-e Dasinya, signifying "Dohuk of the Yezidis". However, after a massacre of the Yezidis, the town was abandoned, leading to the settlement of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the area.

## Demographics

The city is home to diverse ethnic groups, with Kurds forming the majority, while other minorities include Assyrians, Yazidis, Armenians, and Arabs. The city also hosts tens of thousands of refugees from Syria, mostly Syrian Kurds, and internally displaced persons (IDPs), most of whom are Yazidis and Assyrians who fled after ISIS took control of Sinjar and Mosul, Iraq.
According to the Kurdistan Regional Government, as of March 2024, the Kurdistan Region hosts 631,174 IDPs, with 40% of them living in Duhok Governorate. Additionally, there are 251,475 Syrian refugees, of which 131,700 reside in Duhok Governorate.

## History

The city joined the Kurdish principality of Badinan sometime in the 13th or 14th centuries under the foundation of the Kurdish Hakkari tribe. As observed by Evliya Çelebi in Seyahatnâme (Book of Travels), the principality was divided into: Akre, Zaxo, Shixoyi, Duhok, Zibari, and Muzuri.
In 1820, Rich described Duhok as a small town comprising 300 houses, serving as the principal site for the Doski tribe, accompanied by eighty additional villages. The missionary Henry Aaron Stern (1851) observed Dohuk's diverse population, which included Jewish residents. Stern further noted that the kiahya, or village mayor, was an Assyrian Christian of Chaldean Catholic affiliation. By 1859, Rabbi Yehiel found two minyans of Jews in the area. The Muslim and Assyrian Christian communities comprised around a hundred households.
In 1929, the settled population reached approximately 3,500 inhabitants, with Kurds forming the majority. Among the 550 households, 65 were Assyrian Christian, and 30 were Jewish.

### Modern times

The University of Duhok was founded on 31 October 1992.

## Archaeology

In 2020, researchers discovered in the Balyuz hills, ten kilometers west of Duhok City, an ancient tablet with Greek inscription which dates back to 165 B.C. The inscriptions refer to Demetrius, the region's ruler during that time.
Seven kilometers southwest of Duhok, Halamata Cave is an archaeological site containing the Assyrian relief carvings known as the Maltai Reliefs, associated with the northern canal system built by the Assyrian king Sennacherib (r. 704–681 BCE) to carry water to his capital city of Nineveh".

## Climate

According to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification system, Duhok, like most of Upper Mesopotamia, has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa) featuring sweltering, virtually rainless summers and cool to cold, wet winters. Precipitation falls in the cooler months, being heaviest in late winter and early spring. The city can get around two or three snowy days yearly, with more severe falls in the uplands. Summers are virtually rainless, with rain returning in late autumn.
Climate data for Duhok, Iraq :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 20 (68) | 27 (81) | 30 (86) | 34 (93) | 38 (100) | 41 (106) | 45 (113) | 46 (115) | 44 (111) | 39 (102) | 31 (88) | 24 (75) | 46 (115) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 11 (52) | 14 (57) | 19 (66) | 24 (75) | 32 (90) | 38 (100) | 42 (108) | 41 (106) | 37 (99) | 29 (84) | 20 (68) | 13 (55) | 27 (80) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 7 (45) | 10 (50) | 14 (57) | 18 (64) | 25 (77) | 31 (88) | 34 (93) | 34 (93) | 29 (84) | 22 (72) | 14 (57) | 9 (48) | 21 (69) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 3 (37) | 5 (41) | 9 (48) | 13 (55) | 18 (64) | 23 (73) | 27 (81) | 26 (79) | 21 (70) | 15 (59) | 8 (46) | 6 (43) | 15 (58) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −4 (25) | −6 (21) | −1 (30) | 3 (37) | 6 (43) | 10 (50) | 13 (55) | 17 (63) | 11 (52) | 4 (39) | −2 (28) | −2 (28) | −6 (21) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 92.2 (3.63) | 99.3 (3.91) | 105 (4.1) | 96.4 (3.80) | 44.3 (1.74) | 4.9 (0.19) | 0.1 (0.00) | 0.1 (0.00) | 2.1 (0.08) | 36 (1.4) | 68.9 (2.71) | 95.8 (3.77) | 645.1 (25.33) |
| Average precipitation days | 13.1 | 11.5 | 12.2 | 12 | 7.6 | 2.5 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 6.1 | 8 | 10.2 | 93.2 |
| Average snowy days | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 72.4 | 69.4 | 64.5 | 60.2 | 46 | 30.5 | 25.8 | 26.7 | 30.6 | 46.8 | 62.9 | 72.9 | 50.7 |
| Average dew point °C (°F) | −0.1 (31.8) | 1.0 (33.8) | 3.8 (38.8) | 7.5 (45.5) | 9.2 (48.6) | 8.2 (46.8) | 9.2 (48.6) | 9.1 (48.4) | 7.6 (45.7) | 7.6 (45.7) | 5.2 (41.4) | 2.0 (35.6) | 5.9 (42.6) |
| Percentage possible sunshine | 50.1 | 53.2 | 56.4 | 57.8 | 70.2 | 89.8 | 95.2 | 94.4 | 90.5 | 71.8 | 59.5 | 50.1 | 69.9 |
| Source 1: My Forecast ||||||||||||||
| Source 2: Weatherbase (precipitation-precip days-humidity-dew point-sun) ||||||||||||||