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John Van Ess
The Rev. Dr. John van Ess (1879–1949) was an American missionary for the American (Dutch) Reformed Church in Basra, Iraq from 1902 until his death in 1949, shortly before he planned to retire. Early life and education Van Ess was born in New Holland, Michigan, and was educated at Hope College in Michigan and Princeton Theological Seminary, where he studied Semitic languages. In 1911, he married Dorothy Firmin (1885–1975). Career Van Ess was sent to the Near East in 1902 by the Reformed Church of America. He was first posted to Bahrain to study Arabic. In 1903, Basra, Mesopotamia (now Iraq) became his base. He was a touring evangelist. His Turkish papers said he was a tall, harmless monk. He explored the Two Rivers in the southern region and successfully mapped the area where the Marsh Arabs (Ma'dan) lived on islands built of reeds. He traveled south to the Pirate Coast (now the United Arab Emirates), then north all the way to Istanbul, before he floated his raft, with a goat f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is handled at the port of Umm Qasr. However, there is ongoing constuction of Grand Faw Port on the coast of Basra, which is considered a national project for Iraq and will become one of the largest ports in the world and the largest in the Middle East, in addition, the port will strengthen Iraq’s geopolitical position in the region and the world. Furthermore, Iraq is planning to establish large naval base in the Al-Faw peninsula, Faw peninsula. Historically, the city is one of the ports from which the fictional Sinbad the Sailor journeyed. The city was built in 636 and has played an important role in Islamic Golden Age. Basra is consistently one of the hottest cities in Iraq, with summer temperatures regularly exceeding . In April 2017, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
