Jump to content

Iraqis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Iraqi people)
"The Iraqis" redirects here. For the Iraqi political party, see The Iraqis (party).

Iraqis
العراقيون
Map of the Iraqi diaspora in the world including descendants
Total population
48+- million worldwide
Regions with significant populations
 Iraq45,504,560[1]
 Iran500,000[2]
 Israel450,000[3][4]
 Germany321,000[5]
 United Kingdom400,000–850,000[6]
 United States350,000 to 450,000[7][8]
 United Arab Emirates250,000[9]
 Sweden145,586[10]
 Jordan131,000[11]
 Turkey115,000[12]
 Australia104,170[13]
 Canada84,130 [14]
 Netherlands85,000
 Lebanon50,000[15]
 Finland26,653[16]
 Austria13,000+[17]
 More countries
Languages
Mesopotamian Arabic (Semitic): 100% (as the official formal language spoken by Iraqis) and native only language spoken to 65–70%;
Neo-Aramaic languages (Semitic): 10%;
Kurdish languages (Indo-Iranian): 20%;
Iraqi Turkmen Turkish (Turkic): 7–13%;[18]
Other indigenous Mesopotamian languages; 1% Including: Hebrew, Judeo-Iraqi Arabic, Mandaic, Armenian (diasporic), Shabaki, Domari and others
Religion
Predominantly
Islam (Shia and Sunni)
Smaller Minorities
Christianity (Church of the East, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, Western Christianity), Irreligion, Judaism, Mandaeism, Yazidism, Yarsanism[19][20][21]
Related ethnic groups
Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians and other Arabs

Iraqis (Arabic: العراقيون) are people who originate from the country of Iraq.[22]

Iraqi Arabs are the largest ethnic group in Iraq,[23] followed by Iraqi Kurds, then Iraqi Turkmen as the third largest ethnic group.[24][25] Other ethnic groups include Yazidis, Assyrians, Mandaeans, Armenians, Ajamis and Marsh Arabs.[26][27][28]

Iraq consists largely of most of ancient Mesopotamia, the native land of the indigenous Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian civilizations, which was subsequently conquered, invaded and ruled by foreigners for centuries after the fall of the indigenous Mesopotamian empires. As a direct consequence of this long history, the contemporary Iraqi population comprises a significant number of different ethnicities.[29] However, recent studies indicate that the different ethno-religious groups of Iraq (Mesopotamia) share significant similarities in genetics, likely due to centuries of assimilation between invading populations and the indigenous ethnic groups.[30]

The daily language of the majority of Iraqis is Mesopotamian Arabic, and has been ever since the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia and the replacement of various Eastern Aramaic languages, most notably during the Abbasid Caliphate during which Baghdad became the capital of the caliphate and the center of Islamic Golden Age. However, Mesopotamian Arabic is considered to be the most Aramaic-influenced dialect of Arabic, due to Aramaic having originated in Mesopotamia, and spread throughout the Fertile Crescent during the Neo-Assyrian period, eventually becoming the lingua franca of the entire region prior to the Islamic invasions of Mesopotamia. [31][32][33][34] In addition, Kurdish, Turkish (Turkmen), Neo-Aramaic and Mandaic are other languages spoken by Iraqis and recognized by Iraq's constitution.[35]

History

[edit]
Part of a series on the
Culture of Iraq
History
People
Languages
Cuisine
Religion
Art
Literature
Music
Media
Sport
Monuments
Symbols
Main articles: Mesopotamia, History of Mesopotamia, and History of Iraq

In ancient and medieval times Mesopotamia was the political and cultural centre of many great empires and civilizations, such as the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, Assyrian Empire and Babylon Empire.[36][37] The ancient Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer is the oldest known civilization in the world,[38] and thus Iraq is widely known as the Cradle Of Civilization.[36] Iraq remained an important centre of civilization for millennia, up until the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia and subsequently Abbasid Caliphate (of which Baghdad was the capital), which was the most advanced empire of the medieval world (see Islamic Golden Age). Hence Mesopotamia has witnessed several emigration and immigration in the past.

Further information on Iraq's civilization and cultural history can be found in the following chronology of Iraqi history:

  • Akkadian era
  • Islamic conquest (632 – 1258)

Genetics

[edit]
Further information: Genetic history of the Middle East, Genetic history of the Arab world, and Assyrian people § Genetics

One study found that Haplogroup J-M172 originated in northern Iraq.[39] In spite of the importance of this region, genetic studies on the Iraqi people are limited and generally restricted to analysis of classical markers due to Iraq's modern political instability,[39] although there have been several published studies displaying a genealogical connection between all Iraqi peoples and the neighboring countries, across religious, ethnic and linguistic barriers. Studies indicate that the different ethno-religious groups of Iraq (Mesopotamia) share significant similarities in genetics and that Mesopotamian Arabs, who make up the majority of Iraqis, are more genetically similar to Iraqi Kurds than other Arab populations in the Middle East and Arabia.[40]

No significant differences in Y-DNA variation were observed among Iraqi Mesopotamian Arabs, Assyrians, or Kurds.[39] Modern genetic studies indicate that Iraqi Arabs and Iraqi Kurds are distantly related, though Iraqi Mesopotamian Arabs are more related to Iraqi-Assyrians than they are to Iraqi Kurds.[41][42]

For both mtDNA and Y-DNA variation, the large majority of the haplogroups observed in the Iraqi population (H, J, T, and U for the mtDNA, J-M172 and J-M267 for the Y-DNA) are those considered to have originated in Western Asia and to have later spread mainly in West Asia.[39] The Eurasian haplogroups R1b and R1a represent the second most frequent component of the Iraqi Y-chromosome gene pool, the latter suggests that the population movements from Central Asia into modern Iran also influenced Iraq.[39]

Many historians and anthropologists provide strong circumstantial evidence to posit that Iraq's Marsh Arabs share very strong links to the ancient Sumerians[38][43]—the oldest human civilization in the world and most ancient inhabitants of central-southern Iraq.

The Iraqi-Assyrian population was found to be significantly related to other Iraqis, especially Mesopotamian Arabs,[42][38] likely due to the assimilation of indigenous Assyrians with other people groups who occupied and settled Mesopotamia after the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.[44]

Studies have reported that most Irish and Britons have ancestry to Neolithic farmers who left ancient Mesopotamia over 10,000 years ago. Genetic researchers say they have found compelling evidence that, on average, four out of five (80%) Europeans can trace their Y chromosome to the ancient Near East. In another study, scientists analyzed DNA from the 8,000-year-old remains of early farmers found at an ancient graveyard in Germany. They compared the genetic signatures to those of modern populations and found similarities with the DNA of people living in today's Turkey and Iraq.[45]

According to Dogan et al. (2017), the most prevalent lineages among north Iraqis are J1 (17.98%), R1b (12.81%), R1a (12.40%) and J2a1b (12.19%) but distributions vary according to ethnicity. 14 different haplogroups were observed in Iraqi Arabs, with the three most common being J1 (38.61%), R1a (12.87%) and T (8.91%). The high prevalence of J1 is indicative of the indigeneity of Iraqi Arabs, which is similarly observed in Marsh Arabs. Prevalence of R and J macrohaplogroups is also attributed to pre-Last Glacial Maximum events in the Near East. Meanwhile, 15 different haplogroups were observed in Kurds, with the three most common being J2a1b (20.20%), J1 / R1a (17.17%) and E1b1b (13.13%). 10 different haplogroups were observed in Syriacs, with the three most common being R1b (30.23%), T (17.44%) and J2a1b (15.12%). 16 different haplogroups were observed in Turkmens, with the three most common being E1b1b (17.53%), J1 / J2a1b / R1a (12.37%) and G2a (10.31%). 11 different haplogroups were observed in Yazidis, with the three most common being R1b (20.79%), L (11.88%) and G2a / J2a1x J2a1b/h (10.89%).[29]

Language

[edit]

Iraq's national languages are Arabic and Kurdish. The two main regional dialects of Arabic spoken by the Iraqi people are Mesopotamian Arabic (spoken in the Babylonian alluvial plain and Middle Euphrates valley) and South Mesopotamian Arabic and North Mesopotamian Arabic (spoken in the Assyrian highlands).[46] The two main dialects of Kurdish spoken by Kurdish people are Central Kurdish (spoken in the Erbil and Sulaymaniyah Governorates)[47] and Northern Kurdish (spoken in Dohuk Governorate).[47] In addition to Arabic, most Assyrians and Mandaeans speak Neo-Aramaic languages. Mesopotamian Arabic has an Aramaic substratum.[31]

Religion and ethnic groups

[edit]
See also: Irreligion in Iraq
Mor Mattai Monastery
Haydar-Khana Mosque

Ethnicity

[edit]

Iraq's population was estimated to be 39,650,145 in 2021 (residing in Iraq).[48] Arabs are the majority ethnic group in Iraq, at around 80%.[49] The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority. Turkmens are the third largest ethnic group in the country. This is followed by Assyrians and Armenians (500,000), Yazidis (500,000), Marsh Arabs, and Shabaks, Persians (500,000) (250,000). Other minorities include Mandaeans (6,000), Roma (50,000) and Circassians (2,000). The most spoken language is Mesopotamian Arabic, followed by Kurdish, Iraqi Turkmen dialects and Syriac. The percentages of different ethno-religious groups residing in Iraq vary from source to source due to the last Iraqi census having taken place over 30 years ago. A new census of Iraq was planned to take place in 2020.[50][26][27][28][51]

Religion

[edit]

Iraqis are diverse in their faiths. Over 95% of Iraqis are Muslim, divided between 55% Shias and 40% Sunnis.[52] In 1968 the Iraqi constitution established Islam as the official religion of the state.

Religion in Iraq (2019)[53]

  Islam (95%)
  Yazidism (1.25%)
  Christianity (1.25%)
  others (incl.Yarsanism, Zoroastrianism, Baháʼí, Mandaeism, Irreligion) (2%)

In addition, Christianity in Iraq consists of various denominations. The majority of Iraqi Christians are Chaldean Catholic Assyrians, whilst non-Syriac Christians are mostly Iraqi Arabs and Armenians. Iraqi-Assyrians largely belong to the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Ancient Church of the East, and the Syriac Catholic Church. Iraqi Arab Christians belong to the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church of Antioch, and Iraqi-Armenians belong to the Armenian Orthodox Church and Armenian Catholic Church. Their numbers inside Iraq have dwindled to around 500,000+ since 2003.[54]

Other religious groups include Mandaeans, Shabaks, Yazidis and followers of other minority religions. Furthermore, Jews had also been present in Iraq in significant numbers historically, and Iraq had the largest Jewish population in the Middle East, but their population dwindled, after virtually all of them migrated to Israel between 1949 and 1952. From 1949 to 1951, 104,000 Jews were evacuated from Iraq in Operations Ezra and Nechemia (named after the Jewish leaders who took their people back to Jerusalem from exile in Babylonia beginning in 597 B.C.E.); another 20,000 were smuggled out through Iran.[55][56][57]

Diaspora

[edit]
Main articles: Iraqi diaspora and Refugees of Iraq

The Iraqi diaspora is not a sudden exodus but one that has grown rapidly through the 20th century as each generation faced some form of radical transition or political conflict. From 1950 to 1952 Iraq saw a great exodus of roughly 120,000–130,000 of its Jewish population under the Israel-led "Operation Ezra and Nehemiah". There were at least two large waves of expatriation of both Christians and Muslims alike. A great number of Iraqis left the country during the regime of Saddam Hussein and large numbers have left during the Iraq war and its aftermath.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Iraq Population". worldpopulationreview.com. World Bank. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  2. ^ "500,000 Iraqis in Iran". Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  3. ^ HighBeam
  4. ^ Collie, Tim (2 March 2003). "JEWISH & IRAQI". Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on 4 April 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  5. ^ "Ausländische Bevölkerung in den Jahren 2011 bis 2018" (PDF). statista (in German). Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  6. ^ Kadhum, Oula (26 July 2021). "The UK Iraqi Diaspora and their Mobilization towards Iraq". Arab Reform Initiative. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  7. ^ "PLACE OF BIRTH FOR THE FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES Universe: Foreign-born population excluding population born at sea more information 2015 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  8. ^ "PEOPLE REPORTING ANCESTRY". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  9. ^ "UAE Iraqis restricted by passport delays". 28 August 2008. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  10. ^ "Population by country of birth, age and sex. Year 2000 - 2020". Archived from the original on 23 November 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  11. ^ "الأردن يستضيف 3 ملايين شخص من 57 جنسية". قناة المملكة (in Arabic). 18 December 2019. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  12. ^ "Ethnic groups of Turkey". Joshua Project. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  13. ^ "Department of Home Affairs Website". www.https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/. Home Affairs. Retrieved 13 November 2024. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
  14. ^ "Profile table, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population - Canada [Country]". www.statcan.gc.ca/en/start. Canada Statistics. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  15. ^ "العراقيون في لبنان.. لاجئون منسيون بانتظار "إعادة التوطين"". 6 January 2021. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  16. ^ "Persons with foreign background". stat.fi. Archived from the original on 5 January 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Bevölkerung zu Jahresbeginn seit 2002 nach detaillierter Staatsangehörigkeit" [Population at the beginning of the year since 2002 by detailed nationality] (PDF). Statistics Austria (in German). 14 June 2016. Archived from the original on 14 November 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  18. ^ Barker, Geoff (2012), Iraq, Britannica, p. 23, ISBN 1-61535-637-1
  19. ^ "Minorities in Iraq: Pushed to the brink of existence" (PDF). European Parliament. February 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 July 2022. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  20. ^ "Middle East :: Iraq — The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency". cia.gov. 2 November 2021. Archived from the original on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  21. ^ "Iraq - Arabs". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  22. ^ "Iraqi – a native or inhabitant of Iraq". Reference.com. Archived from the original on 29 December 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  23. ^ Office, Great Britain Foreign (1958). Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919-1939. H.M. Stationery Office. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  24. ^ "Minorities in Iraq: EU Research Service" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  25. ^ Mitchell, T. F. (1990–1993). Pronouncing Arabic. Oxford [England]: Clarendon Press. p. 37. ISBN 0198151519. OCLC 18020063.
  26. ^ a b Office, Great Britain Foreign (1958). Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919-1939. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 719. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  27. ^ a b "Minorities in Iraq: EU Research Service" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  28. ^ a b Mitchell, T. F. (1990–1993). Pronouncing Arabic. Oxford [England]: Clarendon Press. p. 37. ISBN 0198151519. OCLC 18020063.
  29. ^ a b Dogan, Serkan; Gurkan, Cemal; Dogan, Mustafa; Balkaya, Hasan Emin; Tunc, Ramazan; Demirdov, Damla Kanliada; Ameen, Nihad Ahmed; Marjanovic, Damir (3 November 2017). "A glimpse at the intricate mosaic of ethnicities from Mesopotamia: Paternal lineages of the Northern Iraqi Arabs, Kurds, Syriacs, Turkmens and Yazidis". PLOS ONE. 12 (11): e0187408. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1287408D. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0187408. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 5669434. PMID 29099847. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License Archived 2017-10-16 at the Wayback Machine.
  30. ^ Lazim, Hayder; Almohammed, Eida Khalaf; Hadi, Sibte; Smith, Judith (17 September 2020). "Population genetic diversity in an Iraqi population and gene flow across the Arabian Peninsula". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 15289. Bibcode:2020NatSR..1015289L. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-72283-1. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 7499422. PMID 32943725.
  31. ^ a b Muller-Kessler, Christa (July–September 2003). "Aramaic 'K', Lyk' and Mesopotamian Arabic 'Aku, Maku: The Mesopotamian Particles of Existence". The Journal of the American Oriental Society. 123 (3): 641–646. doi:10.2307/3217756. JSTOR 3217756.
  32. ^ Aramaic was the medium of everyday writing, and it provided scripts for writing. (1997). Humanism, Culture, and Language in the Near East : Studies in Honor of Georg Krotkoff. Krotkoff, Georg., Afsaruddin, Asma, 1958-, Zahniser, A. H. Mathias, 1938-. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 9781575065083. OCLC 747412055. [verification needed]
  33. ^ Tradition and modernity in Arabic language and literature. Smart, J. R., Shaban Memorial Conference (2nd : 1994 : University of Exeter). Richmond, Surrey, U.K. 16 December 2013. p. 253. ISBN 9781136788123. OCLC 865579151.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link) [verification needed]
  34. ^ Sanchez, Francisco del Rio. ""Influences of Aramaic on dialectal Arabic", in: Archaism and Innovation in the Semitic Languages. Selected papers". Archived from the original on 11 September 2021. Retrieved 4 April 2022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) [verification needed]
  35. ^ "Iraq's Constitution" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 May 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  36. ^ a b McIntosh, Jane (2005). Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspectives. ABC-CLIO. p. 313. ISBN 978-1-57607-965-2. Iraqis have always been proud of their heritage and of their unique position as guardians of the Cradle of Civilization.
  37. ^ Spencer, William (2000). Iraq: Old Land, New Nation in Conflict. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-7613-1356-4. The Iraqi heritage is a proud one. Iraqi ancestors made such contributions to our modern world as a written language, agriculture and the growing of food crops, the building of cities and the urban environment, basic systems of government, and a religious structure centered on gods and goddesses guiding human affairs.
  38. ^ a b c Al-Zahery; et al. (October 2011). "In search of the genetic footprints of Sumerians: a survey of Y-chromosome and mtDNA variation in the Marsh Arabs of Iraq". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 11 (1): 288. Bibcode:2011BMCEE..11..288A. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-11-288. PMC 3215667. PMID 21970613.
  39. ^ a b c d e "N. Al-Zahery et al. "Y-chromosome and mtDNA polymorphisms in Iraq, a crossroad of the early human dispersal and of post-Neolithic migrations" (2003)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 December 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  40. ^ Hayder Lazim; Eida Khalaf Almohammed; Sibte Hadi; Judith Smith (2020). "Population genetic diversity in an Iraqi population and gene flow across the Arabian Peninsula". Nature. 10 (1): 15289. Bibcode:2020NatSR..1015289L. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-72283-1. PMC 7499422. PMID 32943725.
  41. ^ Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Paolo Menozzi, Alberto Piazza, The History and Geography of Human Genes, p. 242
  42. ^ a b "Cavalli-Sforza et al. Genetic tree of West Asia". Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  43. ^ Spencer, William (2000). Iraq: Old Land, New Nation in Conflict. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-7613-1356-4.
  44. ^ Tubiana, Joseph (22 October 2012). "Siegbert Uhlig (ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. Volume 1". Aethiopica. 7: 194–211. doi:10.15460/aethiopica.7.1.294. ISSN 2194-4024.
  45. ^ "Migrants from the Near East 'brought farming to Europe'". BBC. 10 November 2010. Archived from the original on 13 December 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  46. ^ "Country Profile: Iraq". Mongabay. 25 August 2006. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  47. ^ a b "The Kurdish language". KRG. Archived from the original on 2 December 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  48. ^ "Middle East :: Iraq — The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency". cia.gov. Archived from the original on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  49. ^ "2.15. Religious and ethnic minorities, and stateless persons". European Union Agency for Asylum. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  50. ^ "Iraq prepping to conduct a census in 2020". rudaw.net. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  51. ^ "Minorities in Iraq - European Research Service" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  52. ^ "Religious Politics in Iraq". United States Institute of Peace. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  53. ^ "Iraq". 15 May 2022. Archived from the original on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  54. ^ "Minorities in Iraq: EU Research Group" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 August 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  55. ^ Farrell, Stephen (1 June 2008). "Baghdad Jews Have Become a Fearful Few". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 September 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  56. ^ Van Biema, David (27 July 2007). "The Last Jews of Baghdad". Time. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  57. ^ "Jews in Islamic Countries: Iraq". Archived from the original on 19 January 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Iraqis&oldid=1263014510"