Place:Al-Qurnah

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Al-Qurnah

القرنة
City
Al-Qurnah is located in Iraq
Al-Qurnah
Coordinates: [ ⚑ ] : 31°0′57″N 47°25′50″E / 31.01583°N 47.43056°E / 31.01583; 47.43056
Country Iraq
Governorate
(Template:Italic correction)		Basra Governorate
DistrictAl-Qurna District
Elevation16 ft (4 m)
Population
 (2018)
 • Total286,073
 District total
Time zoneUTC+3 (GMT +3)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+4 (GMT +4)

Al-Qurnah (Kurnah or Qurna, meaning connection/joint in Arabic) is a town in southern Iraq about 74 km northwest of Basra, that lies within the conglomeration of Nahairat. Qurna is located at the confluence point of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to form the Shatt al-Arab waterway.[2] Local folklore holds Qurnah to have been the original site of biblical paradise, the Garden of Eden, and location of the Tree of Knowledge.

History

File:Confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates near Al-Qurnah.tif Local folklore holds Qurnah to have been the site of the Garden of Eden and the location of a city built by general Seleucus Nicator I.[3][4] An ancient tree is celebrated locally and shown to the tourists as the actual Tree of Knowledge of the Bible.[5] The tree died some time ago and replacement trees were planted. The tomb of Ezra is also described to be nearby and found further upstream on the river Tigris.[6][7]

In 1855, Al Qurnah was the site of the Qurnah Disaster, in which local tribes attacked and sank a convoy of a ship and rafts carrying 240 cases of antiquities discovered by Victor Place's mission to Khorsabad, Rawlinson's to Kuyunjik and Fresnel's to Babylon.[8][9] The loss of priceless antiquities was a notable disaster for those researching the antiquities of the region.[8] Subsequent efforts to recover antiquities lost in the Qurnah Disaster, including a Japanese expedition in 1971-2, were largely unsuccessful.[10][11]

River rafts loaded with antiquities floating down River Tigris (V Place, 1867)

The town experienced the Battle of Qurna during the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I, when the British defeated Ottoman troops who had retreated from Basra in 1914.[12][13] The Battle of Qurna secured the British front line in Southern Mesopotamia, thereby protecting Basra and the oil refineries at Abadan in Persia (now Iran).[14]

In 1977, Thor Heyerdahl sailed a reed boat from al Qurnah to show that migration between Mesopotamia with the Indus Valley civilization was possible.[15][16] The voyage proved complicated because of the wars in the region and the vessel was eventually lost off Djibouti.[17][18]

1994 map of the Al Qurnah area showing drainage of Marshes

After the First Gulf War (1991), the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein diverted river water away from the local marshes causing them to become completely desiccated.[19] The wetlands have since shrunk to 58% of their pre-drainage area and are projected to drop below 50%.[20] This loss has also been a result of Turkish and Iranian damming of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.[21][22] The United Nations has reported that the combined volume of these rivers has been reduced by 60%.[23] These developments are said to have made the area more vulnerable to degradation and desertification.[24]

Recent developments

Al Qurnah is said to be location of the Tree of Knowledge.

The river front Qurnah Tourist Hotel was built during the Ba'athist period to encourage tourism for the region.[25]

Majnoon Island near Al-Qurnah is a center for oil production of the giant Majnoon Oilfield. The area was built out of sand dunes and mud to create pathways for oil pipelines.[citation needed] The island was held by Iranian army during the Iran-Iraq war before Iraqi chemical weapons were deployed.[26]

As of the start of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, conditions of the city were reportedly woeful.[27][28] Cracked pavements and bullet holes in local properties, the looting of the local hospital[29] and the poor condition of the tree of knowledge[30] made the return of tourism to the area a challenge.[31][32]

Notable people

  • Nuri Ja'far (1914 – 7 November 1991), psychologist and philosopher of education.[33]

Gallery

  • Basra area map.

  • Farm outside Al Qurnah

  • Shrine in Al Qurnah

  • العربية: مشهد لمرقد النبي عزرا (العزير) يطل على نهر دجلة في محافظة العمارة في العراق

    Ezra's Tomb in Kurnah

  • Rafts used for transport on the River Tigris

  • Depiction of rafts (Keleks) loaded with antiquities that sank near Al Qurnah in 1855 (Victor Place, 1867)

See also

  • Qurnah Disaster
  • Battle of Qurna (1914)
  • Operation Kheibar (1984)
  • Battle of Qurna (Iraq War)
  • West Qurna Oil Field
  • Draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes
  • Ezra's Tomb

References

  1. ↑ "Maps, Weather, and Airports for Al Qurnah, Iraq". http://www.fallingrain.com/world/IZ/2/Al_Qurnah.html. 
  2. ↑ "Qurna, Iraq". http://www.atlastours.net/iraq/qurna.html. 
  3. ↑ "Qurna, Iraq". http://www.atlastours.net/iraq/qurna.html. 
  4. ↑ "Seleucus I Nicator | Seleucid ruler" (in en). https://www.britannica.com/biography/Seleucus-I-Nicator. 
  5. ↑ "The Tree of Knowledge" (in en). http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tree-knowledge. 
  6. ↑ Yigal Schleifer. "History". http://www.dangoor.com/issue76/articles/76056.htm. 
  7. ↑ "TOMB OF EZRA" (in en-US). 2014-08-13. https://thecompletepilgrim.com/tomb-ezra/. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Larsen, M.T., The Conquest of Assyria: Excavations in an Antique Land, Routledge, 2014, pp 344-9
  9. ↑ Potts, D. T. (in en). Potts 2020. 'Un coup terrible de la fortune:' A. Clément and the Qurna disaster of 1855. Pp. 235-244 in Finkel, I.L. and Simpson, St J., eds. In Context: The Reade Festschrift. Oxford: Archaeopress.. https://www.academia.edu/44717694. Retrieved 2021-04-11. 
  10. ↑ Namio Egami, "The Report of The Japan Mission For The Survey of Under-Water Antiquities At Qurnah: The First Season," (1971-72), 1-45, https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/orient1960/8/0/8_0_1/_pdf .
  11. ↑ "It sank in the Tigris in 1855'... Tragically, the disappearance of Iraqi antiquities is sufficient to open 4 international museums". 2021-03-15. https://www.tellerreport.com/news/2021-03-15-%0A---it-sank-in-the-tigris-in-1855----tragically--the-disappearance-of-iraqi-antiquities-is-sufficient-to-open-4-international-museums%0A--.S1Xi416m_.html. 
  12. ↑ Reynolds, B. T. (1937). "The Battle of Qurna". The Military Engineer 29 (164): 101–106. ISSN 0026-3982. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44563856. Retrieved 2021-04-09. 
  13. ↑ "Battle of Qurna" (in en). https://worldhistoryproject.org/1914/12/3/battle-of-qurna. 
  14. ↑ A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914–1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign ,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 36
  15. ↑ Pathé, British. "Bahrain: Noted Explorer Thor Heyerdahl Prepares To Continue His Reed-Boat Voyage To India." (in en-GB). https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVA4EN09P9P62YNTHMVV64KAXCUK-BAHRAIN-NOTED-EXPLORER-THOR-HEYERDAHL-PREPARES-TO-CONTINUE-HIS/query/Reed. 
  16. ↑ "Thor Heyerdahl's Tigris expedition - Rashad Salim" (in en). https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/thor-heyerdahl-s-tigris-expedition-rashad-salim/oAFmCqPT7BiM6A. 
  17. ↑ "Thor Heyerdahl's expeditions" (in en-GB). https://heyerdahl-institute.no/en/expeditions/expeditions/. 
  18. ↑ "11.1 25 Years Ago Heyerdahl Burns "Tigris" Reed Ship to Protest War - Story by Betty Blair and Bjornar Storfjell Letter to UN by Thor Heyerdahl". https://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai111_folder/111_articles/111_heyerdahl_tigris.html. 
  19. ↑ The Iraqi Government Assault on the Marsh Arabs - A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper January 2003(PDF) (Report). Human Rights Watch. January 2003. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  20. ↑ Al-Hilli, Majeed & Warner, Barry & Asada, Taro & Douabul, Ali. (2009). An assessment of vegetation and environmental controls in the 1970s of the Mesopotamian wetlands of southern Iraq. Wetlands Ecology and Management. 17. 207-223. 10.1007/s11273-008-9099-1.
  21. ↑ "Turkey's Dam-Building Could Create New Middle East Conflict" (in en). https://www.maritime-executive.com/editorials/turkey-s-dam-building-could-create-new-middle-east-conflict. 
  22. ↑ ispiseo (2020-02-24). "Iran's Upstream Hegemony and Its Water Policies Towards Iraq" (in en). https://www.ispionline.it/en/pubblicazione/irans-upstream-hegemony-and-its-water-policies-towards-iraq-25173. 
  23. ↑ Ibrahim, Arwa. "Declining levels in Iraq's Tigris raise fear of water crisis" (in en). https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/6/9/declining-levels-in-iraqs-tigris-raise-fear-of-water-crisis. 
  24. ↑ Hamza, Kanar, "Desertification and political onstability in the Tigris and Euphrates River Basins" (2010). Masters Theses. 423. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/423
  25. ↑ "War Takes Its Toll on the Garden of Eden". http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0528-04.htm. 
  26. ↑ Regencia, Ted. "Chemical attacks on Iran in the 1980s that US ignored" (in en). https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/4/19/chemical-attacks-on-iran-when-the-us-looked-the-other-way. 
  27. ↑ "BBC - History - The Lost Palaces of Iraq". https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/iraq/iraq_lost_cities_07.shtml. 
  28. ↑ "Al-Qurnah Hospital stripped bare" (in fr). 2003-04-22. https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/fr/node/190789. 
  29. ↑ "Al-Qurnah Hospital stripped bare" (in fr). 2003-04-22. https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/fr/node/190789. 
  30. ↑ "The Tree of Knowledge" (in en). http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tree-knowledge. 
  31. ↑ e.thePeople : Article : The Legendary Garden of Eden Now a Wasteland[yes|permanent dead link|dead link}}]
  32. ↑ "The Lost Palaces of Iraq" (in en-uk). https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/iraq/iraq_lost_cities_07.shtml. 
  33. ↑ Al-Jaburi, Kamel Salman (2003) (in ar). Mu'jam Al-Udaba' min Al-'Asr Al-Jahili Hatta Sanat 2002. 6 (first ed.). Beirut: Dar Al-Kotob Al-Ilmiyah. p. 393. 

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