Middle East - Anthony Ham [181]
The draining of the southern marshes by Saddam Hussein in the 1990s threatened many species of birds and led to displacement of the Marsh Arabs, an indigenous culture who inhabited the area for thousands of years. Since 2003, about 40% of the marshlands have been restored and wildlife and people are slowly returning. Iraq’s primary environmental concerns stem from pollution or diversion of its rivers. Turkish dams on the Euphrates River have threatened Iraq’s precarious water supplies. Excessive irrigation methods such as flooding have left the soil waterlogged with high levels of soil salinity, reducing the mount of arable land in the once-fertile Tigris and Euphrates valley. Desertification, littering, and air and oil-well pollution are other areas of concern. The use of depleted uranium weapons by all sides during Iraq’s various wars is a major environmental and public health concern.
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BAGHDAD
01 / pop 7 million
All roads lead to Baghdad, the capital of Iraq and once the centre of the Islamic world. Baghdad’s very name invokes images of golden domes, towering minarets, sunlight filtering through exotic bazaars and tales of Ali Baba, Sinbad and Arabian Nights. The harsh reality is that Baghdad is now a city in ashes, ravaged by nearly three decades of war and neglect.
As the seat of Iraq’s new government and headquarters of the US military, Baghdad has been the focal point of the 2003 war. Suicide bombings, mortar attacks, kidnappings, murder and crime are a daily fact of life. The vast majority of visitors to Baghdad these days are soldiers, diplomats, journalists, contractors and aid workers. Security is slowly improving, but for the time being Baghdad remains unsafe for foreign travellers.
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HISTORY
Baghdad was founded in AD 762 by Abu Ja’far Al-Mansur, the second caliph of the Abbasid dynasty. The fortified city was built on the western bank of the Tigris River and surrounded by a circular wall, hence its nickname, the ‘Round City’. During the 8th and 9th centuries, Baghdad was at the heart of the Islamic Golden Age. Scholars from around the known world travelled to Baghdad to study at the Bait al-Hikma, a leading learning centre known as The House of Wisdom, which contained the greatest collection of human knowledge.
From the 10th century onwards, Baghdad’s power declined by a series of natural disasters, invasions and internal strife. In 1258 Baghdad was sacked and destroyed by Mongol conqueror Hulagu Khan – grandson of Chingiz (Genghis) Khan; the caliph was killed along with up to one million inhabitants. In 1534 the city was conquered again, this time by the Ottoman Turks. In 1921 it came under control of the British, who drew the lines of modern Iraq.
Baghdad’s greatest modern development occurred in the 1970s, when oil revenues transformed the city into a cosmopolitan metropolis that attracted jet-set travellers. But the glory days were short-lived. The Iran-Iraq war, the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq War all took their toll on Baghdad, once the crown jewel of the Middle East. These days, Baghdad is in the news every day for all the wrong reasons. It is a war-torn city of destroyed, looted and abandoned buildings, divided by concrete barricades and razor wire, military bases, police checkpoints and invisible sectarian lines.
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ORIENTATION
Baghdad extends along both sides of the Tigris River. The eastern side is known as Rusafah and the western side as Karkh. The Tigris bisects the city from northwest to southeast, looping around the Karada Peninsula – an affluent modern area that is home to the University of Baghdad. The old city centre, Sheikh Omar, lies on the northeastern side of the river and contains traditional antiques and gold bazaars and many of Baghdad’s oldest tourist attractions. The west side of the bank contains the controversial Green Zone and several residential areas including the affluent Mansur district. The 12km road from here to Baghdad International Airport, nicknamed ‘Route