{ir-ak'} Iraq is a republic of Southwest Asia, extending northwest from the head of the Persian Gulf. It is bounded on the south by the gulf, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia; on the west by Jordan and Syria; on the north by Turkey; and on the east by Iran. Iraq has been a major petroleum producer. Formerly called \TMesopotamia\t ("the land between the rivers"), Iraq is the site of one of the most ancient centers of civilization. In the 7th century AD it became part of the Arab world. Under Ottoman Turkish rule from the 17th century until World War I, it was then under British mandate until 1932. Iraq achieved independence as a monarchy, but a violent revolution brought the establishment of a socialist republic in 1958. LAND AND RESOURCES The topography of Iraq has four main areas: lower Iraq, upper Iraq, the northeast mountain region (part of \TKurdistan\t), and the western desert. Lower Iraq extends from the ridge between al-Ramadi and \TBaghdad\t, the capital, southeastward for about 565 km (350 mi) to the \TPersian Gulf\t and encompasses the lower course of the \TTigris\t and \TEuphrates\t river systems. Near the gulf the rivers unite in the \TShatt-al-Arab\t waterway, but they are independent rivers throughout most of their courses, separated by a strip of land that at some points is more than 160 km (100 mi) in width. The flat plain of lower Iraq never exceeds 90 m (300 ft) in altitude. Baghdad is only 34 m (112 ft) above sea level, although more than 500 km (310 mi) inland. The rivers run behind low levees, both natural and artificial, which are necessary to prevent flooding. Their waters are distributed for irrigation through extensive canals. Upper Iraq is 215 to 365 m (700 to 1,200 ft) high, composed primarily of rolling plains with fertile soil. The chief cities there are \TMosul\t and Kirkuk. Northeast of Kirkuk Mount Halgurd, the highest point in the country, rises to 3,728 m (12,230 ft). The western desert constitutes about 35% of the total area of Iraq and extends from Kuwait along the Saudi Arabian border to Jordan and Syria. It is composed of heavily eroded rock of ancient origin. The soils of Iraq are heavy alluvial deposits in the Tigris-Euphrates Basin and very light soil elsewhere. Climate Aridity and summer heat characterize the climate. In the lowlands, rainfall, occurring only between November and April, totals about 150 mm (6 in), whereas upper Iraq receives about 380-635 mm (15-25 in). Summer in the plains is dry and excessively hot, with a persistent northwest wind (the shamal). The July mean temperature in Baghdad is about 34 deg C (93 deg F), with daily maxima as high as 49 deg C (120 deg F). The January average is 10 deg C (50 deg F), although temperatures of up to 27 deg C (81 deg F) have been recorded. In the uplands temperatures are more moderate, and winters are cold. Resources Petroleum has been the country's only substantial mineral resource. Four projects on the Tigris and Euphrates provide irrigation water, flood control, and hydroelectricity. PEOPLE Iraq has undergone successive waves of conquest and immigration that have determined its ethnic diversity, but \TArabs\t and Arabized elements of other ethnic strains make up nearly 80% of its present population. The largest, most visible minority is the \TKurds\t (about 15% of the population), who live in the northeast, speak their own language, have a strong ethnic identity, and have demanded an autonomous Kurdish state. After unsuccessful revolts against the government in 1991, more than one million Kurds became refugees and large numbers of Shiites from southern Iraq fled to Iran. Languages and Religions Arabic is spoken almost universally, but Kurdish is commonly used in Kurdistan, and Persian is used along the Iranian border. The dominant religion is Islam. Shiites are in the majority, but the government is dominated by the Sunnite minority. Christians of various sects constitute about 3.5% of the population. Demography Iraq's cities have grown rapidly since the 1950s as a result of rural-urban migration. The desert area is uninhabited except for Bedouin tribes. Education and Health A major expansion of educational facilities took place after 1958. Primary enrollment of children aged 6 to 11 reached 100% in 1978 but had fallen to 86% by 1985. Some 43% of children, aged 12 to 17, attended secondary schools in 1986. Six universities have been established, all of them since 1957, and many Iraqis study abroad. The 1991 \TPersian Gulf War\t badly disrupted social services. Aerial bombardment destroyed electrical, water, and sewage systems, creating the threat of serious epidemics. Cultural Institutions The traditional culture of Iraq developed from the broader Arab culture and is expressed in poetry and prose literature, dancing, and the design of rugs and artifacts. The Iraq Museum and the Museum of Arab Antiquities in Baghdad house ancient relics. ECONOMIC ACTIVITY The economy of Iraq was almost exclusively agricultural until recent decades, when rising revenues from oil production reduced the importance of agriculture. During the \TIran-Iraq war\t (1980-88), Iraqi oil shipments via the Persian Gulf were halted, although oil continued to be shipped by road and piped through Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The worldwide boycott imposed after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, however, froze Iraqi assets abroad and instantly cut off Iraq's oil revenues (estimated at $10 billion per year). Moreover, allied bombing in the subsequent war severely damaged more than two-thirds of Iraq's oil export operations, including its links to the Saudi and Turkish pipelines. In May 1991 the United Nations decided that Iraq could use frozen assets to purchase food and other civilian essentials, but with a foreign debt of more than $70 billion for the Iran-Iraq war and the cost of reparations for damage done by the \TPersian Gulf War\t, the money needed to rebuild the economy was unavailable. Mining and Manufacturing Petroleum is found in the north, northeast, and south; natural gas is also produced. Iraq's proven petroleum reserves in 1988 were estimated at 100 billion barrels, second only to Saudi Arabia. Before August 1990, production averaged 830 million barrels per year. The developer of the Iraqi oil industry was the British-dominated Iraq Petroleum Company. In 1972 Iraq's petroleum resources were nationalized. Iraq is a charter member of the \TOrganization of Petroleum Exporting Countries\t (\TOPEC\t). Iraq's diversified industrial base, including petrochemicals, textiles, steel, sugar, and cement, was hurt by the 1990 boycott (which led to shortages of spare parts) and later damaged by bombing. Agriculture The 1958 revolution led to the forced breakup of large estates. In 1990, in an effort to increase food production, land previously allocated to state and collective farms was opened to private farmers at nominal rents. Iraq is the world's leading date producer; wheat, barley, beans, and rice are major crops. Agriculture in the south relies on irrigation, and soil salinization is a severe problem. GOVERNMENT The overthrow of the monarchy in 1958 was followed by a succession of revolutionary socialist regimes that have ruled the country under a provisional constitution. From the mid-1960s the Arab Socialist \TBaath party\t controlled the nation, forming a coalition known as the National Progressive Front in 1973. From 1979, Gen. Saddam \THussein\t served as president, head of the ruling junta (the Revolutionary Command Council, or RCC), commander of the armed forces, and secretary general of the Baath party. The Kurdish area was granted limited autonomy in 1970. The first elections for a new national assembly were held in 1980. In March 1991, Hussein pledged to carry out earlier promises of reforms; opposition parties were granted limited rights in September 1991. HISTORY Iraq was one of the most ancient centers of urban civilization and settled cultivation. \TSumer\t, \TAkkad\t, \TAssyria\t, and \TBabylonia\t all developed major civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia. In the early centuries AD, the area was part of various Persian empires. After the Arab conquest in the 7th century, Baghdad (founded in 762) became the seat of the \Tcaliphate\t of the \TAbbasids\t. With the Mongol conquest by Hulagu in 1258, the country was virtually ruined. In the 16th and 17th centuries control over Iraq was contested by the Ottoman and Persian empires. From 1638, however, Iraq was part of the Ottoman Empire, although often with some degree of autonomy. During World War I a British force occupied Iraq, and in 1920 it became a British mandate of the League of Nations, with \TFaisal I\t of the Hashemite family as king. Following civil disturbances in the 1920s, the mandate was terminated in 1932, but the British maintained strong influence over Iraq until 1958. Iraqi politics was dominated during the 1940s and '50s by the pro-Western leader Nuri es-Said, who initiated the modernization of Iraq. The country joined the \TCentral Treaty Organization\t in 1955, the only Arab state to do so. Radical nationalist forces created a ferment, however, that led to a military coup under Gen. Abdul Karim Kassem on July 14, 1958. A pro-Communist republic was proclaimed, and the royal family, along with Nuri es-Said, was murdered. Since 1958 the history of Iraq has been marked by both extremism and violence. The Kassem regime collapsed in 1963. The government of Col. Abdul Salam Aref, which succeeded it, was replaced by that of the Baathist Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr in a 1968 coup. Saddam Hussein succeeded al-Bakr in 1979. Consistently anti-Israel, Iraq participated in the Arab-Israeli War of 1973. Israel bombed (1981) a French-supplied Iraqi nuclear reactor because the Israelis feared it would be used to produce atomic weapons. Iraq signed a treaty of alliance with the \TUSSR\t in 1972 and thereafter received Soviet military aid; it later resumed (1984) diplomatic relations with the United States. Longstanding border and ideological differences between Iran and Iraq escalated into war in 1980, when Iraq invaded Iran (see \TIran-Iraq war\t). Although vastly outnumbered on the ground, Iraq was backed by most other Arab states and used its air superiority to attack Iranian economic targets and involve other nations in the conflict. After the two countries accepted a United Nations mediated cease-fire in August 1988, the government allegedly used chemical weapons to crush a Kurdish rebellion in the north. In July 1990, Hussein accused Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates of exceeding their \TOPEC\t export quotas, thereby holding world oil prices down and reducing Iraqi revenues. He also charged that Kuwait had stolen Iraqi oil from the huge Rumelia oil field on the disputed border between the two countries and demanded that Kuwait and other Arab Gulf states write off about $30 billion in loans they had granted Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war, which he contended he had fought for all Arabs. On August 2, when Hussein's demands were not met, Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait, formally annexing it on Aug. 28, 1990. After the invasion Iraq tried to ease its isolation by agreeing to Iran's peace terms. Like the Iran-Iraq war and Saddam Hussein's renewed threats against Israel, the invasion of Kuwait was considered a reflection of the Iraqi ruler's desire to become the undisputed leader of the Arab world. International condemnation of his aggression was nearly universal, although his argument that the affluent Gulf states had not given a fair share of their wealth to the "have-not" Arab nations and his attempts to link a withdrawal from Kuwait to an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories were viewed favorably by many poor Arabs. Several Arab nations sent troops to join U.S. and other Western forces massing in neighboring Saudi Arabia. The \TPalestine Liberation Organization\t and Libya were the only \TArab League\t members openly to back the invasion, although several (most notably Jordan) condemned the Western military presence on Arab soil while agreeing to observe the international embargo. The \TPersian Gulf War\t was launched on Jan. 16, 1991, after Hussein failed to withdraw from Kuwait by the UN-imposed January 15 deadline. On February 23, after several weeks of aerial bombardment, the Allied ground attack began. Iraq was swiftly defeated and agreed on February 27-28 to accept the allied peace terms. After the war, revolts against the central government broke out among the Kurds in the north and disaffected Shiites south of Baghdad, but Hussein managed to retain his hold on power. Arthur Campbell Turner Bibliography: al-Khalil, S., Republic of Fear (1989; repr. 1990); Axelgard, F. W., ed., Iraq in Transition (1986) and A New Iraq (1988); Farouk-Sluglett, M., and Sluglett, P., Iraq since 1958 (1988); Frey, J., Iraq (1988); Ghareeb, E., The Kurdish Question in Iraq (1981); Helms, C. M., Iraq (1984); Khadduri, M., Independent Iraq, 2d ed. (1980), Republican Iraq (1969; repr. 1980) and Socialist Iraq (1978); Karsh, Efraim, and Rautsi, Inari, Saddam Hussein: A Political Biography (1991); Marr, P., The Modern History of Iraq (1986); Middle East Watch, Human Rights in Iraq (1990); Miller, J., and Mylroie, L., Saddam Hussein and the Crisis in the Gulf (1990); Morony, M. G., Iraq after the Muslim Conquest (1984); Niblock, T., ed., Iraq (1982); Roux, G., Ancient Iraq, rev. ed. (1980); Sciolino, Elaine, The Outlaw State: Saddam Hussein's Quest for Power and the Gulf Crisis (1991); Simon, R.S., Iraq between the Two World Wars (1986).