Iraq

Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the west, Saudi Arabia to the south and southwest, and Kuwait to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country. Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BCE. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the Wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian Empire, Neo-Sumerian Empire, Neo-Assyrian Empire, Neo-Babylonian Empire. It was also part of the Achaemenid Assyria, Seleucid Empire, Arsacid Empire, Sassanid Empire, Roman Empire, Rashidun Caliphate, Umayyad Caliphate, Abbasid Caliphate, Ilkhanate, Safavid Empire, Afsharid dynasty, and Ottoman Empire, and under United Kingdom control
Category:Nations