From Mesopotamia to Modern Iraq

The Sumerians

Some of the earliest cities in Mesopotamia were built by the Sumerians more than 5,000 years ago. Cities such as Ur and Uruk developed in southern Mesopotamia near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Sumerian cities often governed themselves as city-states. Each had its own rulers, temples, farmland, and surrounding territory. Irrigation helped farmers produce enough food to support larger populations and workers with specialized jobs.

The Sumerians developed cuneiform writing, used mathematics, built ziggurats, and created systems for keeping records and managing cities. Their achievements influenced later Mesopotamian societies.

Around 2300 B.C.E., Sargon of Akkad conquered many Sumerian city-states and brought a large part of Mesopotamia under one ruler.

The Akkadian Empire became one of the earliest large territorial empires. Instead of a region made up mainly of independent city-states, much of Mesopotamia was united under a central ruler.

The empire eventually weakened, but the idea of controlling a large territory from one political center appeared repeatedly in the region’s history.

Centuries later, the city of Babylon became a major center of power. King Hammurabi expanded Babylonian control across much of Mesopotamia during the 1700s B.C.E.

Babylon became an important center of government, trade, religion, and learning. Hammurabi is especially remembered for a written collection of laws that showed how rulers tried to organize complex societies.

After Hammurabi’s death, Babylonian power declined, and other groups gained control of different parts of the region.

Beginning around the 900s B.C.E., the Assyrians built a powerful empire centered in northern Mesopotamia. Their empire eventually stretched far beyond the area of modern Iraq.

Assyrian rulers used organized armies, roads, governors, and systems of taxation to control a large territory. Cities such as Nineveh became important centers of government and culture.

By the late 600s B.C.E., the Assyrian Empire had been defeated by its enemies.

After Assyrian power collapsed, Babylon again became the center of an independent empire. This period is often called the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

Under rulers such as Nebuchadnezzar II, Babylon grew into a major political and cultural center. Large building projects strengthened and decorated the city.

This return of Babylonian power did not last long.

In 539 B.C.E., Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon. Mesopotamia became part of the much larger Persian Empire.

For centuries afterward, control of the region shifted among different empires. Persian, Greek, Parthian, and Sasanian rulers controlled Mesopotamia at different times.

Although rulers changed, the region remained important because of its farmland, cities, trade routes, and location between larger regions of Asia.

In the 600s C.E., Arab Muslim armies conquered Mesopotamia as Islamic rule expanded beyond the Arabian Peninsula.

Over time, Islam became the religion of most people in the region, and Arabic became increasingly important. These changes happened gradually. Older religious communities and languages continued to exist alongside the growing influence of Arabic and Islam.

The region became part of a large network connecting Southwest Asia, North Africa, Europe, Central Asia, and parts of South Asia.

In 762 C.E., the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur established Baghdad as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Its location near the Tigris River and major trade routes helped Baghdad grow rapidly. The city became an important center of government, trade, scholarship, science, mathematics, medicine, and literature.

Scholars in Baghdad studied and expanded knowledge from Greek, Persian, Indian, and other intellectual traditions. For centuries, Baghdad was one of the most influential cities in the Islamic world.

In 1258, Mongol forces captured Baghdad.

The invasion ended Abbasid political control of the city and caused enormous destruction and loss of life. Baghdad remained inhabited and important, but it no longer held the same political position it had during the height of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Different rulers controlled the region during the centuries that followed.

Beginning in the 1500s, much of the land that is now Iraq came under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman control continued, with interruptions, until World War I.

The Ottomans governed the region through several provinces rather than as one country called Iraq. Baghdad, Basra, and Mosul were important regional centers.

After the Ottoman Empire was defeated in World War I, Britain took control of the territory. The borders and political institutions of modern Iraq developed during the period that followed.

Iraq became independent as a kingdom in 1932. The country had a monarch, a parliament, and other government institutions.

In 1958, military officers overthrew the monarchy and declared Iraq a republic. The change ended royal rule, but political struggles and changes in leadership continued.

The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party gained control of Iraq in 1968. The party promoted Arab nationalism and socialism while concentrating political power in the national government.

Saddam Hussein became president in 1979. Under his rule, the government tightly controlled political life. Iraq fought a long war with Iran from 1980 to 1988 and invaded Kuwait in 1990, leading to the Gulf War in 1991.

These conflicts had major effects on Iraq’s government, economy, and people.

In 2003, a United States-led coalition invaded Iraq and removed Saddam Hussein and the Ba'ath government from power.

The fall of the government began a major political transition. New political institutions had to be created while Iraq also faced serious violence, instability, and disagreements over political power.

The effects of this period continued to shape the country for years.

In 2005, Iraqi voters approved a new constitution and participated in national elections. The constitution established a federal parliamentary system in which elected representatives play an important role in forming the national government.

Creating new institutions did not end Iraq’s political challenges. The country continued to face disagreements over power, security, resources, and the relationship between the national government and different regions and communities.

Modern Iraq reflects many layers of history. Ancient Mesopotamian civilizations, Arab and Islamic influence, imperial rule, the creation of the modern Iraqi state, and later political changes have all shaped the region over time.