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Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate.
Erbil is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the heart of the city is the ancient Citadel of Erbil and Mudhafaria Minaret. The earliest historical reference to the region dates to the Third Dynasty of Ur of Sumer, when King Shulgi mentioned the city of Urbilum. The city was later conquered by the Assyrian people.
In the 3rd millennium BC, Erbil was an independent power in its area. It was conquered for a time by the Gutians. Beginning in the late 2nd millennium BC, it came under Assyrian control. Subsequent to this, it was part of the geopolitical province of Assyria under several empires in turn, including the Median Empire, the Achaemenid Empire (Achaemenid Assyria), Macedonian Empire, Seleucid Empire, Armenian Empire, Parthian Empire, Roman Assyria and Sasanian Empire, as well as being the capital of the tributary state of Adiabene between the mid-second century BC and early 2nd century AD. In ancient times the patron deity of the city was Ishtar of Arbela.Porter, Barbara Nevling, "Ishtar of Niniveh and her collaborator, Ishtar of Arbela, in the Reign of Assurbanipal", Iraq, vol. 66, pp. 41–44, 2004
Following the Muslim conquest of Persia, the region no longer remained united, and during the Middle Ages, the city came to be ruled by the Seljuk Empire and Ottoman Empire empires.Georges Roux – Ancient Iraq
Erbil's archaeological museum houses a large collection of pre-Islamic artifacts, particularly the art of Mesopotamia, and is a centre for archaeological projects in the area. The city was designated as the Arab Tourism Capital 2014 by the Arab Council of Tourism. Erbil named 2014 Arab Tourism Capital . Retrieved 30 January 2014 "Erbil: Kurdish City, Arab Capital", Rudaw. Retrieved 30 January 2014 In July 2014, the Citadel of Erbil was inscribed as a World Heritage Site.
The wider plain around Erbil has a number of promising archaeological sites, most notably Tell Baqrta. The Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey began in 2012. The survey combines satellite imagery and field work to determine the development and archaeology of the plain around Erbil.Ur, Jason, et al., "Ancient Cities and Landscapes in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: The Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey 2012 Season", Iraq, vol. 75, pp. 89–117, 2013 Tell Baqrta is a very large, 80 hectare, site which dates back to the Early Bronze Age.Kopanias, Konstantinos, et al., "The Tell Nader and Tell Baqrta Project in the Kurdistan region of Iraq: Preliminary report of the 2011 season", Subartu 6, pp. 23–57, 2013Peyronel, Luca et al., "The Italian Archaeological Expedition in the Erbil Plain, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Preliminary Report on the 2016 – 2018 Excavations at Helawa", Mesopotamia, vol. 54, pp. 1-104, 2019
With the rise of the Akkadian Empire (2335–2154 BC) all of the Akkadian Semites and Sumerians of Mesopotamia were united under one rule. Erridupizir, king of the kingdom of Gutium, captured the city in 2150 BC. Timeline ErbilCitadel.orq
The first mention of Erbil in literary sources comes from the archives of the kingdom of Ebla. They record two journeys to Erbil ( Irbilum) by a messenger from Ebla around 2300 BFC.
The Neo-Sumerian ruler of Ur, Amar-Sin, sacked Urbilum in his second year, c. 1975 BC.
Under the Medes, Cyaxares might have settled a number of people from the Iranian peoples tribe of Sagartians in the Assyrian cities of Arbela and Arrapha (modern Kirkuk), probably as a reward for their help in the capture of Nineveh. According to Classical authors, the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great occupied Assyria in 547 BC and established it as an Achaemenid military protectorate state (or satrapy) called in Old Persian Aθurā (Athura), with Babylon as the capital.Ehsan Yarshater (1993). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3. Cambridge University Press. p. 482. .
Medes, and with them the Sagartians, were to revolt against Darius II of Persia in 522 BC, but this revolt was firmly put down by the army which Darius sent out under the leadership of General Takhmaspada the following year. The events are depicted in the Behistun Inscription which stands today in the mountains of Iran's Kermanshah province.
The Battle of Gaugamela, in which Alexander the Great defeated Darius III of Persia, took place in 331 BC approximately west of Erbil according to Urbano Monti's world map. After the battle, Darius managed to flee to the city. (Somewhat inaccurately, the confrontation is sometimes known as the "Battle of Arbela".) Subsequently, Arbela was part of Alexander's Empire. After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, Arbela became part of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire.
Erbil became part of the region disputed between Rome and Persia under the Sasanids. During the Parthian era to early Sassanian era, Erbil became the capital of the state of Adiabene (Assyrian Ḥadyab). The town and kingdom are known in Jewish history for the conversion of the royal family, notably Queen Helena of Adiabene, to Judaism.
Its populace then gradually converted from the ancient Mesopotamian religion between the first and fourth centuries to Christianity, with Pkidha traditionally becoming its first bishop around 104 AD. The ancient Mesopotamian religion did not die out entirely in the region until the tenth century AD. There also existed a Christian community thought to be converts from Judaism. The Adiabene (East Syriac ecclesiastical province) in Arbela (Syriac language: ܐܪܒܝܠ Arbel) became a centre of eastern Syriac Christianity until late in the Middle Ages.
Following the Muslim conquest of Persia, the Sassanian province of Naxwardašīragān and later Garamig ud Nodardashiragan,D. Sellwood, “ADIABENE,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/5, pp. 456–459 of which Erbil made part of, was dissolved, and from the mid-seventh century AD the region saw a gradual influx of Muslim peoples, predominantly Arabs and Turkic peoples.
The most notable Kurdish tribe in the region was the Hadhabani, of which several individuals also acted as governors for the city from the late tenth century until the 12th century when it was conquered by the Zengid dynasty and its governorship given to the Turkic Begtegenids, of whom the most notable was Gökböri, who retained the city during the Ayyubid dynasty era.V. Minorsky. Studies in Caucasian History III, Prehistory of Saladin. Cambridge University Press. 208 pp. 1953.Nováček, K., Amin, N., & Melčák, M. (2013). A Medieval City Within Assyrian Walls: The Continuity of the Town of Arbīl in Northern Mesopotamia. Iraq, 75, 1–42. Yaqut al-Hamawi further describes Erbil as being mostly Kurdish-populated in the 13th century.B. James. Le « territoire tribal des Kurdes » et l’aire iraqienne (xe-xiiie siècles): Esquisse des recompositions spatiales. Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée, 2007. P. 101-126.
When the Mongols invaded the Near East in the 13th century, they attacked Arbil for the first time in 1237. They plundered the lower town but had to retreat before an approaching Caliphate army and had to put off the capture of the citadel. After the fall of Baghdad to Hulagu Khan and the Mongols in 1258, the last Begtegenid ruler surrendered to the Mongols, claiming the Kurdish garrison of the city would follow suit; they refused this however, therefore the Mongols returned to Arbil and were able to capture the citadel after a siege lasting six months.J. von Hammer-Purgstall. 1842. Geschichte der Ilchane, das ist der Mongolen in Persien, Volume 1. P. 159-161. Hülegü then appointed a Assyrian people governor to the town, and the Syriac Orthodox Church was allowed to build a church.
As time passed, sustained persecutions of Christians, Jews and Buddhists throughout the Ilkhanate began in earnest in 1295 under the rule of Oïrat amir Nauruz, which affected the indigenous Christian Assyrians greatly.Grousset, p. 379 This manifested early on in the reign of the Ilkhan Ghazan. In 1297, after Ghazan had felt strong enough to overcome Nauruz's influence, he put a stop to the persecutions.
During the reign of the Ilkhan Öljeitü, the Assyrian people inhabitants retreated to the citadel to escape persecution. In the Spring of 1310, the Malik (governor) of the region attempted to seize it from them with the help of the Kurds. Despite the Turkic bishop Yahballaha III's best efforts to avert the impending doom, the citadel was at last taken after a siege by Ilkhanate troops and Kurdish tribesmen on 1 July 1310, and all the defenders were massacred, including many of the Assyrian inhabitants of the lower town.Grousset, p. 383
However, the city's Assyrian population remained numerically significant until the destruction of the city by the forces of Timur in 1397.Edwin Munsell Bliss, Turkey and the Armenian Atrocities, (Chicago 1896) p. 153
In the Middle Ages, Erbil was ruled successively by the Umayyad dynasty, the Abbasids, the Buyid dynasty, the Seljuk dynasty and then the Turkmen Begtegīnid Emirs of Erbil (1131–1232), most notably Gökböri, one of Saladin's leading generals; they were in turn followed by the Ilkhanids, the Jalayirids, the Kara Koyunlu, the Timurids and the Ak Koyunlu. Erbil was the birthplace of the famous 12th and 13th century Kurdish historians and writers Ibn Khallikan and Ibn al-Mustawfi. After the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, Erbil came under the Soran Emirate. In the 18th century Baban took the city but it was retaken by Soran Emirate ruler Emir Muhammed Kor in 1822. The Soran emirate continued ruling over Erbil until it was taken by the Ottoman Turks in 1851. Erbil became a part of the Mosul vilayet in Ottoman Empire until World War I, when the Ottomans and their Kurdish and Turkmen allies were defeated by the British Empire.
The parliament of the Iraqi Kurdistan was established in Erbil in 1970 after negotiations between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Mustafa Barzani, but was effectively controlled by Saddam Hussein until the Kurdish uprising at the end of the 1991 Gulf War. The legislature ceased to function effectively in the mid-1990s when fighting broke out between the two main Kurdish factions, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The city was captured by the KDP in 1996 with the assistance of the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. The PUK then established an alternative Kurdish government in Sulaimaniyah. KDP claimed that in March 1996, PUK asked for Iran's help to fight KDP. Considering this as a foreign attack on Iraq's soil, the KDP asked Saddam Hussein for help.
The Kurdish Parliament in Erbil reconvened after a peace agreement was signed between the Kurdish parties in 1997, but had no real power. The Kurdish government in Erbil had control only in the western and northern parts of the autonomous region. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a United States special forces task force was headquartered just outside Erbil. The city was the scene of celebrations on 10 April 2003 after the fall of the Ba'ath regime.
During the U.S. occupation of Iraq, sporadic attacks hit Erbil. Parallel bomb attacks against Eid al-Adha celebrations killed 117 people in February 2004. Responsibility was claimed by Ansar al-Sunnah. A suicide bombing in May 2005 killed 60 civilians and injured 150 more outside a police recruiting centre.
The Erbil International Airport opened in the city in 2005.
In September 2013, a quintuple car bombing killed six people.
In 2015, the Assyrian Church of the East moved its seat from Chicago to Erbil.
In February 2021, a series of missiles hit the city killing two and injuring eight people. Further missile attacks took place in March 2022.
Another important form of transportation between Erbil and the surrounding areas is by bus. Among others, bus services offer connections to Turkey and Iran. A new bus terminal was opened in 2014. Erbil has a system of six ring roads encircling the city.
A downpour on 17 December 2021 caused flash floods in the area, killing 14 people.
Iraq's first two Turkmen schools were opened on 17 November 1993, one in Erbil and the other in Kifri.
Erbil's citadel also contains the Turkmen Culture House.
The only religious structure that currently survives in the citadel is the Mulla Effendi mosque. When it was fully occupied, the citadel was divided in three districts or Mahallah: from east to west the Serai, the Takya and the Topkhana. The Serai was occupied by notable families; the Takya district was named after the homes of , which are called ; and the Topkhana district housed craftsmen and farmers. Other sights to visit in the citadel include the bathing rooms ( Turkish bath) built in 1775 located near the mosque and the Textile Museum.'Erbil Citadel' Brochure, High Commission for Erbil Citadel Revitalization (HCECR). www.erbilcitadel.org Erbil citadel has been inscribed on the World Heritage List on 21 June 2014.
Middle Bronze
In the centuries after the fall of the Ur III empire Erbil became a power in its area. It was conquered by Shamsi-Adad I during his short lived Upper Mesopotamian Kingdom, becoming independent after its fall.
Late Bronze
By the time of the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050 BC) Erbil was within the Assyrian zone of control.
Iron Age
The region fell under the Neo-Assyrian Empire (935–605 BC). The city then changed hands a number of times including the Persian, Greek, Parthian, Roman and Sassanid rule.
Of the four residences of the Achaemenids named by Herodotus—Ecbatana, Pasargadae or Persepolis, Susa and Babylon—the last situated was maintained as their most important capital, the fixed winter quarters, the central office of bureaucracy, exchanged only in the heat of summer for some cool spot in the highlands. Under the Seleucid Empire and the Parthian Empire the site of the Mesopotamian capital moved slightly to the north on the Tigris—to Seleucia and Ctesiphon. It is indeed symbolic that these new foundations were built from the bricks of ancient Babylon, just as later Baghdad, a little further upstream, was built out of the ruins of the Sasanian Empire double city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.
Medieval history
As many of the Assyrian people who had converted to Christianity adopted Biblical (including Jewish) names, most of the early bishops had Eastern Aramaic or Jewish/Biblical names, which does not suggest that many of the early Christians in this city were converts from Judaism.Gillman, Ian and Hans-Joachim Klimkeit. Christians in Asia before 1500. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1999) p. 33 It served as the seat of a Metropolitan of the Assyrian Church of the East. From the city's Christian period come many church fathers and well-known authors in Aramaic.
Modern history
Erbil lies on the plain beneath the mountains, but for the most part, the inhabitants of Iraqi Kurdistan dwell up above in the rugged and rocky terrain that is the traditional habitat of the Kurds since time immemorial.
The modern town of Erbil stands on a tell topped by an Ottoman Fortification. During the Middle Ages, Erbil became a major trading centre on the route between Baghdad and Mosul, a role which it still plays today with important road links to the outside world.
Erbil is also home to a large population of refugees due to ongoing conflicts in Syria. In 2020, it was estimated that 450,000 refugees had settled in the Erbil metropolitan area since 2003, with many of them expected to remain.
Transportation
Erbil International Airport is one of Iraq's busiest airports. Services include direct flights to many domestic destinations such as Baghdad international airport. There are international flights from Erbil to many countries; such as the Netherlands, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Austria, Turkey, Jordan and elsewhere around the world. There are occasionally seasonal flights from Erbil international airport. Erbil International Airport was briefly closed to international commercial flights in September 2017 by the Iraqi government in retaliation for the Kurdish independence vote but reopened in March 2018.
Climate
Erbil has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa), closely bordering a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh) with long, extremely hot summers and mild winters. Summers are arid, with little to no precipitation occurring between June and September. Winters are usually wet with occasional flooding, with January being the wettest month.
Culture
Demographics
The city is predominantly Kurds and has minorities of local Iraqi Turkmen and Assyrian people, as well as Arabs. The Kurdish Population by the Kurdish Institute of Paris, 2017 estimate. Central Statistics Agency – Home Page. Archived from the original on 16 July 2017. on the Wayback Machine website.
Turkmens
The Turkmen population in Erbil is estimated to be around 300,000. They mainly reside in the neighbourhoods of Taci, Mareke and Three Tak in Erbil's city centre, around the citadel. Until 2006, they were living in the Tophane, Tekke and Saray neighborhoods of the Citadel, which contained almost 700 houses. In 2006, the citadel was emptied, and the Turkmen in the citadel were relocated to other neighbourhoods. Turkmens participate in the political institutions of the KRG, including the Parliament. Also available via Academia.edu
Assyrians
Erbil's Ankawa district is mainly populated by Christian Assyrians. The district houses approximately 40 churches.
Citadel of Erbil
The Citadel of Erbil is a tell or occupied mound in the historical heart of Erbil, rising between from the surrounding plain. The buildings on top of the tell stretch over a roughly oval area of occupying . It has been claimed that the site is the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world. The earliest evidence for occupation of the citadel mound dates to the fifth millennium BC and possibly earlier. It appears for the first time in historical sources during the Ur III period and gained particular importance during the Neo-Assyrian Empire (tenth to seventh centuries BC) period. West of the citadel at Ary Kon quarter, a chamber tomb dating to the Neo-Assyrian Empire period has been excavated. During the Sassanian period and the Abbasid Caliphate, Erbil was an important centre for Syriac Christianity and the Assyrian people in general. After the Mongol Empire captured the citadel in 1258, Erbil's importance began to decline. The main gate is guarded by an immense statue of a Kurd reading: "the house of the citadel behind him are built into stony ground of the mound and look down on the streets and tarmacked roads that circle them".
During the 20th century, the urban structure was significantly modified, as a result of which a number of houses and public buildings were destroyed. In 2007, the High Commission for Erbil Citadel Revitalization (HCECR) was established to oversee the restoration of the citadel. In the same year, all inhabitants, except one family, were evicted from the citadel as part of a large restoration project. Since then, archaeology research and restoration works have been carried out at and around the tell by various international teams and in co-operation with local specialists, and many areas remain off-limits to visitors due to the danger of unstable walls and infrastructure. The government plans to have 50 families live in the citadel once it is renovated.
Other sights
Sports
The local major football team is Erbil SC which plays its football matches at Franso Hariri Stadium (named after the assassinated Assyrian politician, former governor of Erbil city Franso Hariri) which is based in the south part of central Erbil. They won 3 Iraqi nation league titles and reached the AFC Final twice, but lost both times.
Sister cities
See also
Sources
External links
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