The city has had many names throughout 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 bas… See more

The city was founded at the beginning of the Islamic era in 636 and began as a garrison encampment for Arab tribesmen constituting the armies of the Rashidun Caliph Umar. A tell a few kilometers south of the presen… See more

Basra is located in the Arabian Peninsula 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, resp… See more

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 Mohammed, Al-Badr, Al-Ubadi, Ruba'ah Sayyid trib… See more

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 above the bridge Khaled and is a tourist land… See more