Iraq

Iraq is one of the most historically significant places on Earth - it is literally the birthplace of human civilisation! Ancient Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, is where the world's first cities were built, where writing was invented (cuneiform script), where the wheel was first used, and where the first law codes were written. The city of Ur, birthplace of Abraham, dates back 5,000 years.

The ancient city of Babylon - home of Nebuchadnezzar, the Hanging Gardens (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), and the Tower of Babel - was located in modern Iraq. Nineveh, the capital of the ancient Assyrian Empire, is near modern Mosul. Iraq's Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian civilisations created the foundations for much of human knowledge including mathematics, astronomy, agriculture, and architecture. Baghdad, the capital, was once the largest and most advanced city in the world during the Islamic Golden Age (8th-13th centuries), a centre of science, medicine, mathematics, and the arts when much of Europe was in the Dark Ages. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers make the land fertile, and the marshlands of southern Iraq - home to the Marsh Arabs - were once called the Garden of Eden. Iraq's ancient heritage makes it one of the most important countries for understanding the human story.