Irbil (city)

Kurdish capital city, in the governorate of Irbil, in northern Iraq; population (2002 est) 839,600. Its position on the caravan route between Baghdad and Mosul helped it to become, as it still is, an important centre of commerce, particularly for the agricultural produce of the area, including maize, sesame, millet, and fruit. Today Irbil is a rail terminus, as well as a centre for roads to Turkey, Syria, and Iran. In 1974 Irbil became the capital of a Kurdish autonomous region set up by the Iraqi government. It was captured by the Kurdish Democratic Party in 1996 with the help of Saddam Hussein.

The city lies near Mosul and is one of the oldest settlements in the world, having been founded before 2300 BC by the Sumerians, under the name Urbillum.

In Assyrian times, Irbil (Arbela) was a religious centre of the goddess Ishtar, controlling the country between the Greater and Lesser Zab rivers on behalf of the capital cities of Nineveh, Assur, and Calah. It was the site of a battle in 331 BC at which Alexander the Great defeated the Persians under Darius III.