Iraq

Iraq has 11,000 years of history. Most of the country’s land mass was part of ancient Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers. The country is full of holy cities and sites, including many Muslim ones. Baghdad at one time was the center of the Muslim world. Iraq features the Ahwar marshes in the south, named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2016, and Kurdish mountain retreats that allow escape from Iraq’s summer heat. Iraq has been a site of major conflict for decades, and tourism remains difficult and is discouraged despite the wide range of historical sites Iraq possesses.

Iraq has five sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List. One is Hatra, a well-preserved and beautiful stone city. Its beginnings are in third-century BCE Assyria and ...