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|FSI_year = 2007 |FSI_rank = 2nd |FSI_category = Alert |currency = Iraqi dinar |currency_code = IQD |country_code = IRQ |time_zone = Arabia Standard Time |utc_offset = +3 |time_zone_DST = not observed |utc_offset_DST = +3 |drives_on = right |calling_code = +964 |cctld = .iq |footnote_a = Constitution of Iraq, Article 4 (1st). }} Iraq (, , or ; (アラビア語:العراق) ', Kurdish: ''Êraq''), officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: '; (クルド語:كۆماری عێراق) '), is a country in Western Asia. The country borders Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest, and Syria to the west. The southern part of Iraq is within the Arabian Peninsula. The capital, Baghdad, is in the centre of the country and its largest city. The largest ethnic groups in Iraq are Arabs and Kurds. Other ethnic groups include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, and Kawliya.〔Article 125 of the Iraqi Constitution.http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/454f50804.pdf〕 Around 95% of the country's 36 million citizens are Shia or Sunni Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring on the northern Persian Gulf and its territory encompasses the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain, the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship Between the Republic of Iraq and the United States of America )〕 Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through the centre of Iraq and flow into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is most often referred to as humanity's cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, and live in cities under an organised government—notably Uruk, from which ''Iraq'' was derived. The area has been home to continuous successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the centre of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, and Babylonian empires. It was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Top 10 Battles for the Control of Iraq )〕 Iraq's modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres. Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932. In 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Republic of Iraq was created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party from 1968 until 2003. After an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country. ==Name== The Arabic name ' has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name. One dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk (Biblical Hebrew ''Erech'') and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as ''Uruk'' was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of ', containing the Sumerian word for "city", UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is "deeply rooted, well-watered; fertile".〔"often said to be from Arabic ''`araqa'', covering notions such as "perspiring, deeply rooted, well-watered," which may reflect the impression the lush river-land made on desert Arabs. (etymonline.com ); see also "〕 During the medieval period, there was a region called ''ʿIrāq ʿArabī'' ("Arabian Iraq") for Lower Mesopotamia and ''ʿIrāq ʿajamī'' ("Foreign Iraq"),〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Iraq )〕 for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eraq-e-ajami )〕 The term historically included the plain south of the Hamrin Mountains and did not include the northernmost and westernmost parts of the modern territory of Iraq. The term ''Sawad'' was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the alluvial plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, contrasting it with the arid Arabian desert. As an Arabic word, means "hem", "shore", "bank", or "edge", so that the name by folk etymology came to be interpreted as "the escarpment", viz. at the south and east of the Jazira Plateau, which forms the northern and western edge of the "al-Iraq arabi" area. The Arabic pronunciation is (:ʕiˈrɑːq). In English, it is either (the only pronunciation listed in the Oxford English Dictionary and the first one in (Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary )) or (listed first by MQD), the (American Heritage Dictionary ), and the (Random House Dictionary ). The pronunciation is frequently heard in US media. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Iraq」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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