The ancient Greeks called the Iraqi region Mesopotamia, meaning "land between two rivers"—in reference to the region's great Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The region was clearly one of the earliest places in which humans first developed advanced civilizations. It was there that the ancient Sumerians, Assyrians, and Babylonians made spectacular achievements in religion, law, and literature, using a written language with wedge-shaped symbols called cuneiform.
Islamic Arabs conquered the region in 637 c. E. Baghdad served as seat of the Abbasid caliphate from 750 to 1258—a time recognized as one of the great periods of human civilization. Following the Mongol conquest in 1258, the region suffered from wars with Iran, raids from desert tribes, and frequent conflicts among local chiefdoms.
After being conquered by the Turkish Ottoman Empire in 1517, Iraq became a backwater province that was, in fact, ruled by local tribal chiefs. At the end of the eighteenth century, the reign of Sulayman Pasha was notable for its enlightened administration and suppression of Kurdish chiefs.
During the period of Ottoman Tanzimat (or reform) in the nineteenth century, Turkish authorities initiated modernization, including land registration, road construction, and establishment of newspapers and government schools. By 1914 some educated Iraqis, especially army officers, had formed nationalist societies, with the goal of establishing an independent Iraqi state.
During World War I, which lasted from 1914 to 1918, Great Britain invaded Iraq. By 1917 it had taken Baghdad. After the war, the British took control of Iraq away from the Ottoman Empire.
Iraq became a League of Nations mandate territory, administered by Britain from 1920 to 1932. After installing King Faisal I as Iraq's constitutional monarch, the British established a parliamentary system, an independent judiciary, a military force, and a modern civil service. Oil was first discovered in Iraq near Kirkuk in 1927. The Iraq Petroleum Company was organized two years later.
World History
