page_title: Ramadi
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Ramadi / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Ar Ramadi, Iraq
context_page_description: Ramadi is a city in central Iraq, about 110 kilometers west of Baghdad and 50 kilometers west of Fallujah. It is the capital of Al Anbar Governorate. The city extends along the Euphrates and is the largest city in Al-Anbar. Founded by the Ottoman Empire in 1879, by 2018 it had a population of about 223,500 people, the vast majority of whom are Sunni Arabs from the Dulaim tribal confederation. It lies within the Sunni Triangle of western Iraq.
  Ramadi occupies a highly strategic location on the Euphrates and the road west into Syria and Jordan. This has made it a hub for trade and traffic, from which the city gained significant prosperity. Its position has meant that it has been fought over several times, during the two World Wars and again during the Iraq War and Iraqi insurgency. It was heavily damaged during the Iraq War, when it was a major focus for the insurgency against occupying United States forces. Following the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq in 2011, the city was contested by the Iraqi government and the extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and fell to ISIL in May 2015.
context_section_description: At the start of the 21st century, Ramadi stretched over an area of about 15 km (9.3 mi) east to west by 12 km (7.5 mi) north to south. The center of the city is densely built up, with numerous more spread-out residential suburbs surrounding it. The city center is bounded to the north by the Euphrates, to the east by suburbs, to the south by the railway line between Baghdad and Haditha, and to the west by the Habbaniyah Canal. More suburbs exist to the west and northwest of the canal and north of the Euphrates.
  The city center is connected to the suburbs by two major bridges, one across the Euphrates and the other across the canal, while the western and northern suburbs are connected by a major highway that crosses the Euphrates north of the city. Various tribal groups live in separate districts within the suburbs, with dozens of sheikhs being responsible for maintaining the security and well-being of their particular grouping. The suburbs are extensively criss-crossed with canals that are used to irrigate the farmland around the city.
  Ramadi's recent origins mean that it is dominated by modern concrete buildings, mostly flat-roofed two- or three-story structures but with a number of taller buildings in the city center. Its modern origins mean that it lacks features typical of older Iraqi cities, such as a kasbah. The Japanese-built city hospital, with seven stories, is the tallest building in Ramadi. The city was badly damaged during the Iraq war and insurgency. Many buildings were destroyed and many more were rendered uninhabitable.
caption: Map of Ramadi in 2003
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