Claim: Iraq's biggest city is Baghdad.

Iraq -LRB- -LSB- ɪˈræk -RSB- , -LSB- ɪˈrɑːk -RSB- , or -LSB- aɪˈræk -RSB- العراق ; عێراق -RRB- , officially known as the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia , bordered by Turkey to the north , Iran to the east , Kuwait to the southeast , Saudi Arabia to the south , Jordan to the southwest , and Syria to the west . The capital , and largest city , is Baghdad . The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds ; others include Assyrians , Turkmen , Shabakis , Yazidis , Armenians , Mandeans , Circassians , and Kawliya . Around 95 % of the country 's 36 million citizens are Muslims , with Christianity , Yarsan , Yezidism , and Mandeanism also present . The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish .   Iraq has a coastline measuring 58 km on the northern Persian Gulf and encompasses the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain , the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range , and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert . Two major rivers , the Tigris and Euphrates , run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf . These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land .   The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers , historically known as Mesopotamia , is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation . It was here that mankind first began to read , write , create laws , and live in cities under an organised government -- notably Uruk , from which `` Iraq '' is derived . The area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC . Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian , Sumerian , Assyrian , and Babylonian empires . It was also part of the Median , Achaemenid , Hellenistic , Parthian , Sassanid , Roman , Rashidun , Umayyad , Abbasid , Ayyubid , Mongol , Safavid , Afsharid , and Ottoman empires .   Iraq 's modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres . Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia . A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932 . In 1958 , the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created . Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party from 1968 until 2003 . After an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003 , Saddam Hussein 's Ba'ath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005 . The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011 , but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country .