Demographics & Geography: The population of Dahuk, Arbil and As Sulaymaniyah is primarily Kurdish, while the other provinces are mostly Arab, with a minority of Chaldeans and Assyrians throughout the whole region. The area is comprised of mountains, valleys and desert regions. The northeastern region, bordering Iran to the East and Turkey to the North, extends into the Zagros mountains, while the western region extends into the Syrian desert.

The mountainous northeastern region of Iraq.

Mosul, also called Habda after the famous minaret, is the largest city in northern Iraq and the third largest city in the country. The population in 2003 was estimated at 1,739,800. Oil exploitation and trade in agricultural goods are the two primary occupations of the inhabitants. Mosul is home to a large oil refinery but its productivity was severely hindered during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Most of the urban population is Arab, but the surrounding rural areas have a large Kurdish population.

The city of Mosul.

History: The Northern province of Iraq was the seat of the Assyrian Empire, which had hegemony over most of the Middle East at its height in the 7th century B.C. Its capital was the city of Nineveh. The Assyrians left a rich legacy of literature and science, particularly the famous library of Ashurbanipal which housed the largest collection of literary tablets known in the ancient Near East.

Ruins of Nineveh, the ancient Assyrian capital.

After the Arab invasion, Mosul became the principle city of Northern Mesopotamia from the 8th to 13th centuries A.D. The city then fell under the hegemony of the Ottoman Turks until it fell to the British in 1918. In 1932 it became part of the independent nation of Iraq.

The Al-Hadba minaret in Mosul, built in the 7th century.