The city has had many names throughout its history, Basrah being the most common. In Arabic, the word baṣrah means "the overwatcher," which may have been an allusion to the city's origin as an Arab military base against

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Rashidun Caliphate (632–661)
The city was founded at the beginning of the Islamic era in 636 and began as a garrison encampment for

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Basra is located on the Shatt-Al-Arab waterway, downstream of which is the Persian Gulf. The Shatt-Al-Arab and Basra waterways define the eastern and western borders of Basra, respectively. The city is penetrated by a complex network of canals and streams, vital

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Basra has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh), like the rest of the surrounding region, though it receives slightly more

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In Basra the vast majority of the population are ethnic Arabs of the Adnanite or the Qahtanite tribes. The tribes located in Basra include Bani Malik, Al-shwelat, Suwa'id, Al-bo

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• The old mosque of Basra, the first mosque in Islam outside the Arabian peninsula.
• Sinbad Island is located in the centre of Shatt Al-Arab, near the Miinaalmakl, and extends

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The city is located along the Shatt al-Arab waterway, 55 kilometers (34 mi) from the Persian Gulf and 545 kilometers (339 mi) from Baghdad, Iraq's capital and largest city. Its economy is largely

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