Iraqi people

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Iraqi people
Total population
28,221,181[1]
Regions with significant populations
Syria 2 million [2]  Jordan 1 million  UK 450,000 [3][4]  Israel 250,000 - 400,000 [5]  Iran 203,000 [6]  Egypt 150,000 [7]  Germany 150,000 [8]  Lebanon 100,000 [9]  UAE 100,000 [1]  Yemen 100,000 [10]  Turkey 60,000-90,000  Australia 80,000 [11]  Sweden 70,000+ [12]  Netherlands 43,000 (0.3%)  Greece 5,000-40,000 [13] . more countries .
Languages
Vernacular Iraqi Arabic Traditional Akkadian, succeeded by Aramaic Liturgical Muslims: Arabic (Qur'anic Arabic) Christians: Aramaic (Syriac) Jews: Hebrew and Aramaic Diaspora Predominantly English, German, and Swedish.
Religion
Predominantly Muslim (mostly Shi'a and Sunni) Smaller followers of Christianity (mostly Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic). . Others, including non-religious, atheists, agnostics, and Iraqi Jews.
Related ethnic groups
Arabs, Assyrians, Jews and other Semites

The Iraqi people (Arabic: الشعب العراقي‎, āl sha'b āl īrāqi) are a Middle Eastern ethnic group native to Iraq, and are the indigenous people to the ancient semetic land of Mesopotamia. Iraq was non-Arabic prior to the Muslim-Arab invasion, and with the coming of Islam from the Arabs of the south, Iraq is now an Arabic-speaking country.

The "Arabization" of Iraq actually began 1,400 years ago^[14] when Arab settlers began spreading the new religion of Islam to Mesopotamia, which was the home primarily of three groups of non-Arabs, the Assyrians, Jews and Armenians.^{[citation needed]} A fourth non-Arab group from Central Asia, the Turkmen, settled here several centuries later.

The Iraqi Arabs descended from a people group cluster called the Levant Arabs. The Levant Arabs originally settled all over the Arabian Peninsula and later migrated to North Africa. "Levant" is a broad term that includes several groups of Arabs, most commonly the Lebanese, Jordanian, Palestinian, and Syrian Arabs.

Most scholars consider Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula to be the original Arabs. The Arabian culture was developed by tribes of nomads and villagers who lived in the Arabian Desert for many centuries. It was also from there that Arab migrations began, eventually leading to the expansion of the Arab world. Modern day Iraq is the home of the ancient Sumerian, Assyrian, and Babylonian empires. Iraq was occupied by Britain during World War I. In 1932, Iraq gained its independence. Today three-fourths of Iraq is Arab.

Contents 1 Historical homeland 1.1 Ancient Sumer and Akkad 1.2 Ancient Babylon 1.3 Ancient Assyria 2 Iraqi identity vs. Arab nationalism 3 DNA genetics 4 Demographics 4.1 Diaspora 4.2 Religion 5 Languages 6 See also 7 External links 8 References

[edit] Historical homeland

See also: History of Iraq

[edit] Ancient Sumer and Akkad

The Fertile Crescent, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern Iraq, was the cradle of civilization. From about 5000 B.C., prehistoric people settled in the area, domesticating animals and developing strong agriculture-based economies.

By about 3000 B.C., the Sumerians in the south and the Akkadians in the north were founding cities and pursuing trade with neighbouring countries. Raw materials from as far as Turkey, Arabia, Afghanistan, and Indus Valley were imported and skilled artisans were crafting elaborate vessels and jewelry of gold and lapis lazuli. The graves at the Royal Tombs at Ur (circa 2500 B.C.) were full of these precious objects.

City-states were the center of religious, political and economic life in ancient Mesopotamia. The well-developed military of the Akkadians probably existed in large parts because of the frequent fighting between these city-states. Uruk, one of the largest Sumerian cities, was enclosed by over six miles (10 kilometers) of mud-brick wall.

Each city-stage was under the dominion of one of their gods, who would have had a temple dedicated to them. In Uruk that god was Inanna, the goddess of love and war. At Ur the primary god was Ur, the moon god. Temples to other gods were also present in the cities, but to a lesser extent.

At these temples some of the first formal schools were established, where scribes were trained in cuneiform writing. Some modern scholars contend that cuneiform is the first written human language, although others claim that title for Egyptian hieroglyphics. Until it was replaced by prevalence of the Latin alphabet around 100 A.D., cuneiform was the most widely used system of writing.

The city-states in Sumer and Akkad were unified under Sargon in 2334 B.C., who expanded his empire east along the Persian Gulf, westward to the Mediterranean, and south into the Arabian peninsula. His dynasty continued throughout, Naram-Sin, under who the Akkadian Empire reached its greates extent. Soon after Naram-Sin's death, the Gutians from the northern Zagros mountains invaded and a new era began.

In 2004 B.C. the eastern kingdom of Elam sacked the city of Ur and the king, Ibbi-Sin, was taken captive. A couple of hundred years later Hammurabi united the former Akkadian empire, this time under Babylonian rule.

[edit] Ancient Babylon

The first ruler to unite Mesopotamia was Hammurabi, who ruled from about 1792 to 1750 B.C. His empire was centered in the legendary southern metropolis of Babylon. Hammurabi is best known for the code of laws he designed to govern the kingdom, the earliest known instance of a king so clearly delineating the rules of conduct by which his subjects were bound.

The code, which stressed equanimity and "eye-for-an-eye" punishments, was publicly displayed on a large basalt stela, a priceless relic which survives today in Paris's Lourve Museum.

Hammurabi's Babylonian Empire outlived many by generations. It lasted until around 1595 B.C., when Babylon was sacked by Hittite invaders who traveled down the Euphrates from Turkey.

The waning of Babylonian power led to a period of unrest and eventually the rise of another great empire, the Assyrians.

[edit] Ancient Assyria

The ancient Assyrians lived in northern Mesopotamia in what is now northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. They had long been under control of the neighbouring Babylonian and Mitanni kingdoms, but began to assert their independence during the 14th century B.C. The Assyrians conquered much of northern Mesopotamia before being pushed back to their traditional homelands by Aramean tribes around 1200 to 1000 B.C.

In the ninth century B.C., Assyrian kings began to once again consolidate their strength. They controlled trade routes and demanded obedience and tribute from less powerful rivals. Their conquests were made possible by well-trained and well-equipped armies with a fierce fighting spirit. Military prowess would eventually gain the Assyrians an empire that stretched throughout much of the ancient Middle East from the Persian Gulf to Egypt. The empire was likely at its greatest strength under King Ashurbanipal (669 to 631 B.C.), whose records suggest a peaceful, prospering realm.

The ancient Assyrian capitals of Nineveh and Nimrud yield a rich archaeological legacy that shows a fairly advanced civilization, particularly the enormous palaces in which kings carried out the political and religious rites of the state.

But the empire would not long outlive Ashurbanipal. It suffered invasions of Median peoples from Iran and the rise of the Chaldeans, latter-day Babylonians who had long chafted under Assyrian rule. Nineveh was sacked, and under Nabopolassar and his son, Nebuchadnezzar II, the glories of Babylon were renewed, but they were short-lived. Some of the empire's subjects still favoured the Assyrians, and unrest was common. Infighting opened the door to new foreign conquerors and closed the long era of indigenous, Semitic control of Mesopotamia.

[edit] Iraqi identity vs. Arab nationalism

Iraq has been subjected to a deeply ingrained stereotype of Arab nationalism that was formed early in the 20th century,^[15] when colonial powers swept into the region, it reached Iraq at that time especially during and after World War II, when the Arab Nationalists in Iraq were supporting Germany because they shared mutual hatred towards the United Kingdom and its supporting for Israel.^[16]

Once the Baath Party was implemented in 1963, Arab nationalism in Iraq would reach an all time high, with the nation being led by pan-Arabist Saddam Hussein, who belonged to one of the northern Arab tribes that came from Najd to Iraq centuries ago.^[16]

Ghazi Yawar, Iraq's former interim president, summed Saddam Hussein's pan-Arab nationalistic regime as he who,

"worked systematically to erase Iraqi identity over the course of three decades and replace it with an inflated and sinister version of Arab nationalism", in which he followed to add "Even if we are Arabs, we cannot have any identity but an Iraqi identity".

^[15]

American journalist Jim Hoagland, also shed light on the topic, by stating that "An Iraqi identity that is not bound up with perpetuating the long progression of wars that Saddam Hussein started, supported or invited will change the face of the region. It will also contribute decisively to redefining the nature of Arab nationalism, which is under enormous historical pressure to adapt or die."^[15]

Another follower of Yawar's theory is Kanan Makiya, an Iraqi American academic, who himself has expressed that "Iraq can no longer be an "Arab" country. Iraq's national identity can only be Iraqi, and a complete divorce from the disastrous ideology of Arab nationalism is imperative for the well-being of the emergent, pluralist Iraqi state".[1][2] Often dubbed the "Iraqi Solzhenitsyn,^[17] he is well known for his anti-Arab publications.

In a novel written by Salim Matar, entitled The Women of the Flask, most Iraqis claim "We are Iraqis. We go back to the Sumerians, Assyrians, Akkadians, Babylonians".^[16]

[edit] DNA genetics

Iraq has been conquered and assimilated with so many invading armies over the course of history, that it is difficult to pinpoint its ethnic origins to a particular source. However it has been suggested that Iraq may have been the homeland of Y haplogroup J,[3] as Iraqis have (33%) rate of Haplogroup J1 (Y-DNA). There have been several published studies displaying the genealogical connection between the modern day Iraqi people (Muslims and others) and ancient Mesopotamians such as Babylonians, Sumerians, Assyrians and Aramaeans. Advanced genetic testing concludes that 24% are R, with most of them (15%) R1ab,[4] which is East Anatolian Caucasian in origin, which is due to the Hittite invasion on Mesopotamia.

The Beni Delfi tribe of Iraq is believed to be Delfi related to the Greek soldiers of Alexander because the name resembles much like Delphi in Greece (oracle of Delphi), thus the name Delfi is not of Arabic origin.

Many historians and archeologists, provide strong circumstantial evidence to posit that the Marsh Arabs are linked to the ancient Sumerians.^[18]

[edit] Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Iraq

An April 2008 estimate of Iraq's total population numbered at around 28,221,181.^[1]

[edit] Diaspora

Main articles: Iraqi diaspora and Refugees of Iraq

The Iraqi diaspora is not a sudden exodus but one that has grown exponentially through the 20th century as each generation faced some form of radical transition or political conflict. There were at least two large waves of expatriation. A great number of Iraqis left the country during the government of Saddam Hussein, and large numbers have left during the Second Gulf War and its aftermath. The recent Iraqi diaspora represents the largest exodus of refugees in the Middle East since the state of Israel was created in 1948.^[19]

[edit] Religion

Unlike most other countries, Iraq has many devout followers of its religion. In 1968, the Iraqi constitution established Islam as the religion of the state. There are two main religious groups within the Islam religion, Sunni Islam and Shia Islam. The majority of Iraqis are Muslims. In addition, about 3% of the Iraqi people are Christians And about 1% of other religiones . Iraq's sizable Christian population numbers some 750,000-800,000, most of them of the Chaldean rite.^[20] Because there are different religions, Iraqi methods of worshipping are varied and so are their gods and idols.

The Apostle Thomas brought Christianity to Mesopotamia. The Church was centered in and spread from the Assyrian city of Arbel, located in the North. Today there are several denominations that have churches in Iraq. [5]

Iraq numbers as the 179th country to host 185 members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.^[21]

Bahá'ís, Mandaeans, Shabaks, and Yezidis are also present in Iraq.

[edit] Languages

Main article: Languages of Iraq

Unlike other nations in the Arab world, Iraq differs on linguistic grounds, as there are two official languages, which are Arabic and Kurdish, as well as many other minor languages spoken by various communities scattered in northern and southern Iraq. The two main regional dialects of Arabic spoken in Iraq are Mesopotamian (spoken by about 11.5 million) and North Mesopotamian (spoken by about 5.4 million)¹.^[22] The Assyrians speak Assyrian, which is a dialect of Neo-Aramaic, much similar to the Chaldean's Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, these are one of the many minor languages spoken in Iraq, as is Armenian and Persian. The Mandaic language is dialect of the Eastern Aramaic language, which is derived from the Semitic family of languages. All religious manuscripts concerning rites were written in this language.[6] The Iraqi Turkmen, located in cities such as Arbil, Kirkuk and Mosul, speak a dialect of the South Azerbaijani language, which is very close to the Azeri spoken in Azerbaijan, and they also write in Turkish. Many Iraqi's speak English as the most common foreign language.

[edit] See also

• Sumerians
• Babylonians
• Assyrians
• Arabs
• Iraqi diaspora
• List of Iraqis
• Arab tribes in Iraq

[edit] External links

• Iraqi Jews
• Babylon Jewry
• Y-chromosome and mtDNA polymorphisms in Iraq, a crossroad of the early human dispersal and of post-Neolithic migrations
• The Genographic Project - Human Migration, Population Genetics, Maps, DNA - Ancient Mesopotamia
• Iraqi identity - Forces for Integration/ Divisiveness
• Iraqi identity after the fall of Saddam

[edit] References

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