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January 26, 2003

The history of Iraq



The birthplace of civilization
8000 B.C.E. - 750 C.E. | 1095-1932 | 1933-2002

8000-6000 Before Common Era
Agricultural development thrives in the "Fertile Crescent."

5000-2350 B.C.E.
Sumer, a loosely organized league of city-states, springs up in the southern part of Mesopotamia. Its capital, Ur, is thought to be the birthplace of Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Around 3000, writing is developed independently in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Mesopotamian boatmen seal their barges with black pitch that bubbles from the ground; people decorate their temples with bitumen, a byproduct of distilled petroleum.

2000-1800
Abraham leads Israelites from Mesopotamia into Canaan, in modern-day Israel.

1962-1600
Mesopotamia is divided into rival states, Babylon in the south, Assyria to the north.

1704-1662
Babylon's King Hammurabi writes a detailed law code.

854
Assyrian records first mention Arabs, nomads who herd sheep and goats in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula south of Mesopotamia.

730
Assyrian empire expands from the Persian Gulf to Egypt and Asia Minor, including Mesopotamia and today's Israel.

THE EMPIRES

587
Under King Nebuchadnezzar, Babylonians take Syria from Egypt and conquer Judea. Babylonians destroy the First Temple in Jerusalem and take the Israelites into slavery.

539
Persia (modern-day Iran) conquers Babylon and sends the Jews back to reconstruct Jerusalem and build the Second Temple.

331
Alexander the Great conquers Persia and creates a commercial center in Babylon.

163 B.C.E-114 Common Era
Roman armies add Persian territories to their expanding empire.

224-637 C.E.
Sassanians form a revitalized Persian empire, with Mesopotamia at its core. Pagans, Christians, Jews and Buddhists worship alongside Zoroastrians, whose ancient religion is the official faith.

570
Islam's founder, Mohammed, is born.

622
Mohammed begins recruiting followers to his monotheistic faith.

632
Mohammed dies in Medina, in what is now Saudi Arabia.

634-637
In the name of Islam, an Arab army conquers Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Palestine and Persia and rules from Damascus.

694-750
Mesopotamians revolt against Arabic rule from Damascus. Jafar al-Mansur, a caliph from Mohammed's family, builds a new capital, Baghdad, which becomes a trading center for Islamic Empire.

Next Next


THE FERTILE CRESCENT
Thumbnail The Fertile Crescent is often described as the stretch of land beginning at the top of the Persian Gulf, arcing to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and down to the Nile River. MORE
HAMMURABI'S CODE
King Hammurabi reunited a collapsed Sumerian people in central and southern Mesopotamia under the name Babylonia in the 1700s B.C.E. Hammurabi is most famous for his legal code, the most extensive and detailed set of laws to that point. MORE
HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON
Thumbnail Legend has it that King Nebu-
chadnezzar II of Babylonia, around 600 B.C.E., sought to please his wife Amyitis, who had grown up in lush mountains and was homesick on the arid Babylonian plains. MORE
THE ABBASID CALIPHATE
Thumbnail The rise of the Abbasids in 750 marked a long period of enormous economic, educational, scientific and cultural growth. Linking trade from Asia to the Mediterranean Sea, Baghdad soon became the world's center of power. MORE

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