Iraq

## Republic of Iraq

الْعِرَاق (Arabic)

* Flag
* Coat of Arms
* FlagMap
* Outline Border

**Iraq** (Arabic: العراق), officially the **Republic of Iraq** (Arabic: جمهورية العراق) is a country in the Middle East. In TSIGPIGS, they're both genderfluid in the mapping and object style, and compete in the team of Middle East.

During the selection process, Iraq was selected as an individual candidate, however, due to the "lower cast mandate for MS", they merged with Syria and Jordan to form **United Arabia**, which later got annexed by Jerusalem Empire.

## Geography

### Overall

Iraq is located in the Middle East region of West Asia, bordered by Iran to the East, Kuwait to the South-West, Saudi Arabia to the South, Jordan to the West, Syria to the North-West, and Türkiye to the North. They also have a really slim narrow coast on the Persian Gulf.

### Political Geography

Iraq is divided into 19 governorates/provinces, with the capital Baghdad located in the heart of the historical '"Tigris *River Valley.*
After the obvious Baghdad, the next largest cities in the country are *Basra* in the South, *Hillah* in the fertile *Euphrates* region.

Also, apart from dividing Iraq administratively, it can also be divided linguistically, and also based off of prevalent people groups. After war times, ethno-linguistic and religious people groups started to "segregate" themselves into 3 distinct areas:

* The South, which is where the majority of the Shia Muslims live.
* The Middle, which is where most of the Sunni minority live.
* The North, where most most of the Kurds live, among various other groups, like Assyrians, *Yazedis*, *Lurs*, and so on.

Also, strangely, the 3 governorates of Erbil, **Dahok'*, and*** *As Sulaymaniyah* in the North make up the region of "Iraqi Kurdistan". This region (along with Syrian and Turkish Kurdistan) is an incredibly autonomous region, where the majority of he Kurds live. To verify they have their own government, prime-minister, and even a "quasi-army".

There are certain no-go zones due to certain civil issues (especially the Kurd Rebellion) in the West and Central areas; As of 2017, numerous international travel boards have advised 'strongly against travel' in the red zone of the image for most of the conflict between the ISIS, and various groups.

#### Landmarks

Some top notable sites in Iraq include:

* *Eridu* and *Uruk* (2 of the Oldest Cities in the World)
* *Ziggurate* of Ur (The Home of *Abraham*)
* *Sumerian Ziggurate*
* *Al Shaheed* Monument
* The Tree of Knowledge
* The *Mudhif* House of the Marsh Arabs
* The Ruins of former Babylon in Hillah.
* Alexander the Great's Tomb
* *Ctesiphon* (The Ancient Capital of Persia)
* *Lalesh* (The Holiest Site of the Yazidis)
* *Ninevah* (The Ancient Capital of the Assyrian Empire)
* *Al-Najaf* Cemetry (The Largest in the World)
* Baghdad Zoo
* Victory Arches of *Qadis-Yiah*
* Shopping Districts of *Al Mansour* and *Al Karrada*
* Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
* *Abbasid* Mosque of Samarra
* Iraqi National Museum (Has a 605-Page Quran written entirely out of the blood of *Saddam Hussein*)

### Physical Geography

While looking at a satellite image of Iraq, a lot of its occupied territories is rather beige and sandy-colored in the West and North-East, along with a big cluster of green and blue in the South-East, which is like, "The Lifeblood of Iraq". It is sourced by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which is also the most crucial resources to the entire country, converging the *Shatt Al-Arab River*, and then eventually dumps into the Persian Gulf. Around 75% of the entire population lives within the region of the 2 rivers.

Composition-wise, Iraq is made up of 4 geographical regions.

* The Dry Deserts in the West and the South-West,
* The Fertile Alluvial Plains inside the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers,
* The Uplands to the North, and
* The Highlands and the Mountains in the Far North and the North-East (the Kurd Region).

Now, Iraq's overall climate is pretty dry, as they only get about 9.5 in (or 24.13 cm) of rain every year. However, their mountains can get lots of snow (which melts rapidly), and in the past, has caused a lot of flood problems in the country. To avoid the floods, they've constructed a ton of dams (like the Baghdad Water Dam), which has also created a ton of artificial lakes and reservoirs. The largest lake/reservoir being Lake *Tharthar*. They actually got lucky with this lake, as over time, it developed an actual biosphere with animals, plants, and fishes, whereas the most of the lakes were barely lucky, as they quite expectedly got dried up due to being locates in a deserted region.
 Otherwise, another lake, Lake *Habbaniyah*, has a strange blood-red coast, mostly made up of algae.

## Economy

### Exports/Imports

#### Oil Field

Almost 100% of Iraq's entire export sector is made up of oil/petroleum trade. This is because Iraq has 3rd largest oil reserves in the Middle East, after both Saudi Arabia and Iran.

## Food

Inland, due to the Mediterranean Wind Fronts that constantly push up from the West, Iraq is subjected to the "*Shamal", or the North-West wind, which creates some of the worst sand and dust storms imaginable.*
Otherwise, the fertile valleys do allow them to grow and provide their populace, with some of the typical Middle Eastern crops, like rice, dates, lentils and so on.

Some national dishes includes food like:

* Baghdadi *Dolma*
* *Moslawi Kubbah*
* *Bacha*
* *Masgoof*
* Iraqi *Sambosas*
* *Klecha*

## Transportation

### Via Air

The largest airport are Baghdad, Basra, and Erbil International.

### Via Sea

Within their narrow strip of coast lies their southernmost port, *Um-Qasr*, on the *Khawe Az-Aubayr* Waterway

## Trivia

* Iraq's slim coast is the reason Kuwait doesn't border Iran.
* Iraq used to have an airport, but it literally got spliced in half by their border with Kuwait.
* Baghdad is the 2nd largest city in the Arab World, after Egypt's capital Cairo.
* With nearly 50,000/km2 as Baghdad's population density, this makes it the dense country subdivision in the world.
* Iraq's current borders are a result of post-British colonialism, from when Winston Churchill helped establish what the Iraqis like to call an "artificial monarchy".
* While, it's a sad truth, but the fact is that Iraq is the most historical region of this world, with the worst of circumstances.
* Baghdad was the epicenter of Science and Mathematics for a period of time.
* The highest point of the country at 3,600 meters doesn't even have an official name, but it's locally called as "*Cheekah Dar*", which means Black Tent.

## References

1. ↑ [1]
2. ↑ [2]
3. ↑ Wikipedia: Iraqi Billionaires