Iraq

IRAQ. - Arab state of western Asia, comprising the lower basins of the Tigris and Euphrates and part of the neighboring Syrian and Arabian deserts.

I. GEOGRAPHY

Of the two rivers, the second has no notable tributaries, while the first collects the waters flowing down from the more humid mountainous rim to the northwest of the Iranian region. Outside these two higher sectors (up to 1000 m.), the whole country is plain or lowland, for the most part steppe and desert, given the hot-dry climate, of distinctly continental stamp, with short and relatively cold winters, and long, torrid summers.

To northern I., very poor in rainfall and therefore depopulated, flanked as it is by an arid plateau, are opposed the southern regions, fertilized by the waters and silt of the twin rivers, which at Baghdad join into a single course (Shatt al-Arab). The extent of the territory, whose boundaries are not well definable (except toward Iran), is variously estimated (from 292 to 452 thousand sq. km.); but the area suitable for cultivation, which partly corresponds to the northern mountainous zone and partly to the irrigated strips near the rivers, does not even reach 30 thousand sq. km. (although a considerable expansion is envisaged).

Of the population (4.8 million inhabitants), 9/10 are Arabs, with Kurdish, Turkish and Jewish minorities. More than agriculture, which produces cereals (wheat, rice, granitur), tobacco, opium, fruit and above all dates (80% of the world harvest), and livestock raising (7.4 million sheep, wool, meat, hides, etc.), what stands out in the 'Iraqi economy is the extractive industry, which has a single item: petroleum. The entire eastern mountain arc from Mosul to the Persian Gulf is soaked in it. Production (4.5 million tons in 1948) has surpassed the prewar level. Modest, on the other hand, is the importance of the other industries (textile, tobacco manufacturing, soap-making). Roads (6400 km. of truckable roads) and railways (1850 km.) are still inadequate to the need. The port of Basrah is modernly equipped. The capital Baghdad has 285 thousand inhabitants; following, in importance, are Basrah (80 thousand inhabitants) and Mosul (80 thousand inhabitants).

I. is a hereditary constitutional monarchy, with two chambers, one of them elective.

Giuseppe Caraci

II. CIVIL HISTORY

The treatment of the history of I. is conditioned by the meaning attributed to this name. Strictly speaking, it would designate only that part of the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that runs from the Persian Gulf to about the latitude of Baghdad, while the zone between the two rivers above this point is more properly called Mesopotamia. However, since 'I. is currently the name of the State that governs the two regions, by history of I. we shall understand the treatment of the events of both territories, projecting into the past a unity which, effective from the geographical point of view, was not so politically for many centuries.

I. was the center of autonomous empires between the 4th millennium and 538 B.C. Then it became a province, not always unified, of foreign empires, until 1918, the year in which the history of the new 'Irāqī national State began, first under the English protectorate and then, from 1932, in effective independence. For a broader knowledge of 'Irāqī history up to 1918, one must therefore refer successively to the entries: SUMERIANS; BABYLONIANS; ASSYRIANS; PERSIA; ISLĀM.

The ancient period of 'Irāqī history is one of high political and cultural prosperity; on the banks of the two rivers, favored by favorable economic and geographical conditions, one of the greatest civilizations of the ancient world flourished. Its ethnic components were the Sumerians, the first to establish themselves in the region, and the Semites. Sumerian populations appear in the south of the region (Babylonia) as early as the 4th millennium, forming small city-states there and developing an advanced culture. Around 2400 (according to the recent "low" chronology) the Semites, already long present on the periphery of the cities in a condition of nomadism, established themselves in the same zone and founded the Babylonian Empire, which, through various dynasties interspersed with foreign invasions, lasted until ca. 1500, then yielding to a long period of non-Semitic domination (the Kassites: ca. 1500-1550). In the north, meanwhile, the Assyrian Empire was establishing itself, which under Tiglath-Pileser (1115-1093) extended on one side as far as the Persian Gulf, on the other as far as the Mediterranean. After a long period of prosperity the Assyrians fell in 612 at the hands of the Medes and Babylonians; the latter experienced a final period of flourishing from 612 to 538, the year in which their Empire too came to an end at the hands of Cyrus.

With his conquest, I. became part of the Persian Empire and remained there, under the Achaemenid dynasty, until the conquest of Alexander the Great (331 B.C.). After his death and the division of his Empire, I. went to the Seleucids, who governed it from 312 until 140 B.C. Then the region again became part of the Persian Empire, first under the Arsacids (140 B.C. - 226 A.D.) and then under the Sassanids (226-637 A.D.). During this phase of Persian domination, there were periodic struggles first with Rome and then with Byzantium in the northeast, where the Romans had established a province of Mesopotamia from the time of Trajan (2nd century A.D.).

The battle of Qādisiyah (637 A.D.) marks the Arab conquest of I. and its inclusion in the Islamic Empire. The Arab administration distinguished the two provinces of I. proper in the south and of Mesopotamia (al-Qazīrah) in the north. Using as their pivot the fortified camps of Kūfah and Basrah, destined to become important cities, the Arabs pushed further in the conquest of Central Asia. Under the fourth caliph 'Ali (656-61), who moved his residence to Kūfah, I. became the center of the Empire and of the struggle against his antagonist Mu'āwiyah; this struggle, which ended with the victory of Mu'āwiyah and with the advent for ca. a century of his dynasty, the Umayyads (661-750), left deep traces in I.: while the center of the State shifted to Syria, I. became the turbulent seat of the politico-religious movement favorable to 'Ali, the Shī'ah, and of the other heterodox movement that emerged from the affair, the ḥarījism (v. ISLĀM, Le sette). Tribal discord asserted itself violently. Some great Umayyad governors (Ziyād b. Abīhi, al-Haḡḡāḡ, Ḥālid al-Qaṣrī) nevertheless managed to contain the agitations, at the same time promoting the economic development of the country, essentially linked to the irrigation canals. The work continued in the early times of the 'Abbāsid dynasty (750-

1258), which brought the center of the State precisely into I., building there the new capital Baghdad; in the 9th and 10th centuries the region reached high prosperity, increased by the commerce that radiated from it toward the East and the West; the great factors of agitation were attenuated or disappeared in the new political situation. Then the decline of the 'Abbāsid caliphate was also the decline of I. Although the nominal sovereignty of the caliphs persisted, dynasties of various origin established themselves there, among which the Persian Būyids and the Turkish Seljuqs prevailed. Then, in 1258, the caliphate disappeared beneath the wave of the Mongols, who brought to I., with the destruction of the irrigation canals and the abandonment of every work of economic and commercial development, a long period of decline. Mongol dynasties succeeded one another in the region; then the wave of Timūr Lang (Tamerlane: 1393) swept over it. In 1509 I. was annexed to Persia by Shāh Ismā'īl. Finally, in 1534, it was conquered from the Ottomans by Suleiman the Magnificent, under whom it remained, amid alternating struggles with Persia, until the end of the First World War (1918).

1918 marks the beginning of the new history of I. But for some time the economic recovery of the region had already begun, both through the work of the Turkish administration and through the interest that the economic resources and the geographical position of I. aroused in the great European powers. In particular for England, I. constituted an essential route of connection between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean; at the beginning of the World War, the English landed in the Persian Gulf and in 1917 conquered Baghdad. In 1920 I. was entrusted to the British mandate and in 1921 a kingdom was constituted under Fajṣal, son of the sheriff of the Ḥiḡāz Ḥusajn and known for a previous failed attempt to reign in Syria (v.). Fajṣal reigned from 1921 to 1933. His government marked decisive phases of the progress of the new State in the economic field (important above all the exploitation of petroleum resources) and in the administrative field. On the other hand, there were from then on periodic agitations, revealing the contrasts that still make the life of the country difficult: they are due to the problems of ethnic minorities (Armenians, Kurds) and religious minorities (Christians, Jews, Yazidis). Further difficulties were caused by relations with England, I. tending, like the other Arab States of the postwar period, to obtain independence. This was sanctioned, with the end of the mandate, by the Treaty of 1932, although England retained considerable economic and military rights. Fajṣal was succeeded by Gāzī (1933-39), under whom contrasts and political agitations were repeated. In 1939 Fajṣal II, aged 6, ascended the throne, under the regency of his uncle 'Abd al-Ilāh. When the Second World War broke out, Italian-German propaganda had an easy game: in 1941 Rašīd 'Alī al-Kajlānī took the government by a coup d'état, appointed a new regent (Šaraf) and opposed the English landings at Bašrah; the English then marched on Baghdad, the government of Rašīd 'Alī al-Kajlānī was overthrown and the previous regent was reinstated. In 1943 I. declared war on Germany; in 1945 it joined the League of Arab States.

Among the postwar events, the Kurdish insurrections of 1945 and 1947 are noteworthy, testifying to the permanent state of agitation of the minorities. In 1948 a new Anglo-Iraqi treaty was concluded at Portsmouth, but it was subsequently repudiated by Iraq under the pressure of popular agitation. After Parliament was dissolved, new elections were held and several governments succeeded one another. The last, presided over by Tawfīq as-Suwajdī (Feb. 5, 1950), shows tendencies favorable to the resumption of negotiations with the English, as well as to the recent project of a Syro-Iraqi union.

Sabatino Moscati

III. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

Since up to the Arab conquest the I. was part of the Persian Empire, for its religious history, v. PERSIA. Christianity is subsequently represented by the Nestorians (v.); with the 16th century a Catholic community rises again with the Chaldeans (v.). At present the population is predominantly (79%) Arab. Islam is the state religion. The Shī'ites predominate. However, the royal family and the ruling classes are Sunnis.

1. Legal situation of Christians

The Constitution of 1924 guarantees religious freedom for all in art. 13. Art. 18 promises all citizens equality with regard to public employment. In practice, however, it is very difficult for a Christian to hold a high position. Art. 16 guarantees communities the right to have their own schools. Arts. 78-80 deal with personal status and guarantee the various communities their own religious courts. In recent times a dangerous tendency toward laicism can be noted in legislation, which puts the privileges of the communities at risk, as happens in Turkey. In 1940 a law was issued subjecting Catholic schools to state control. In 1947 a law on religious courts appeared, making them dependent on state control.

2. Situation of the schools

Despite the unfavorable school law of 1940, the situation of Catholic schools has noticeably improved in recent years. It is true, however, that the majority of the community schools are still in the hands of the government and run according to the Muslim spirit. The schools of the missionaries, on the other hand, enjoy sufficient freedom. The Jesuit secondary school in Baghdad flourishes greatly and is attended by the sons of the most prominent Muslim families. Since 1944 the Dominicans have had a secondary school in Mosul.

3. Situation of the Catholic communities

There exists in the I. an apostolic delegation with residence in Baghdad. The most important community is that of the Chaldeans, which numbers about 160,000 faithful. They belong to the patriarchate of Babylon, which has Mosul and Baghdad as patriarchal dioceses, and to the four dioceses of Kerkūk, Akra, Amadia and Zāhō. The Catholic Syrians have the dioceses of Baghdad and Mosul with 23,000 faithful; the Armenians the diocese of Baghdad with 2,500 faithful; the Melkites the patriarchal vicariate of Baghdad with about 250 faithful; the Latins the diocese of Baghdad with 750 faithful. Among the European missionaries are the Discalced Carmelites, the Dominicans, the Jesuits and the Sisters of the Presentation.

Non-Catholic Christians. - The monophysite or Jacobite Syrians number 12,000, the monophysite Armenians 15,000, the Nestorians 30,000 and the "Orthodox" of Byzantine origin 230.

For further information v. CALDEI; NESTORIANI.

Guglielmo de Vries