Duhok ( ku, دهۆک, translit=Dihok; ar, دهوك, Dahūk; syr, ܒܝܬ ܢܘܗܕܪܐ, Beth Nohadra) is a city in the
Kurdistan Region
Kurdistan Region ( ku, هەرێمی کوردستان, translit=Herêmî Kurdistan; ar, إقليم كردستان), abbr. KRI, is an autonomous region in Iraq comprising the four Kurdish-majority governorates of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok ...
of
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
. It's the
capital city of
Duhok Governorate
ar, محافظة دهوك
, image_skyline = Collage_of_Dohuk_Governorate.jpg
, imagesize =
, image_caption =
, image_flag =
, image_seal = ...
.
History
The city's origin dates back to the
Stone Age, and it became part of the
Assyrian Empire
Assyrian may refer to:
* Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia.
* Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
** Early Assyrian Period
** Old Assyrian Period
** Middle Assyrian Empire
** Neo-Assyrian Empire
* Assyr ...
, then the
Babylonian Empire
Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state ...
before it fell into the hands of
Achaemenid Empire after the
Fall of Babylon, and subsequently fell into the hands of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
and the Romans. It became an important center of
Syriac Christianity where it was known as "ܒܝܬ ܢܘܗܕܪܐ" ''Beth Nohdry'', before fading out after the conquests of
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
by
Tamerlane
Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...
.
According to
Evliya Çelebi
Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...
, the city was initially called ''Dohuk-e Dasinya,'' named after the militant Dasini tribe who were believers of
Yazidism
Yazidism , alternatively Sharfadin is a monotheistic ethnic religion that has roots in a western Iranic pre-Zoroastrian religion directly derived from the Indo-Iranian tradition. It is followed by the mainly Kurmanji-speaking Yazidis and i ...
. The Yazidi population is still relatively significant, but has decreased due to
persecution. This made it possible for Muslims, Christians and Jews to settle in the town.
The city became prominent in 1236, when Hasan Beg Saifadin joined the
Bahdinan
Bahdinan or Badinan was one of the most powerful and enduring Kurdish principalities. It was founded by ''Baha-al-Din'' originally from ''Şemzînan'' area in Hakkari in sometime between 13th or 14th century CE. The capital of this emirate wa ...
Principality. In 1842, the principality was dissolved by the
Ottomans and the region was administered from
Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...
. In 1820,
Claudius Rich
Claudius James Rich (28 March 1787 – 5 October 1821) was a British Assyriologist, business agent, traveller and antiquarian scholar.
Biography
Rich was born near Dijon "of a good family", but passed his childhood at Bristol. Early on, he deve ...
described Dohuk as a small town of 300 houses and the principal settlement of the Kurdish Doski tribe, who also lived in eighty villages. In 1851,
Henry Aaron Stern
Henry Aaron Stern ( Unterreichenbach, near Gelnhausen, 11 April 1820 – Hackney, 13 May 1885) was an Anglican missionary and captive in Abyssinia.
He was the youngest son of Aaron Stern, a Jew, and his wife Hannah, was born in the Duchy of Hess ...
pointed at the heterogenous composition in the city and mentioned a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
presence. He also mentioned that the mayor was a
Chaldean Catholic. In 1859, the city had two
minyans
According to Greek mythology and legendary prehistory of the Aegean region, the Minyans or Minyae ( el, Μινύες, ''Minyes'') were an autochthonous group inhabiting the Aegean region. The extent to which the prehistory of the Aegean world ...
according to Rabbi Yechiel.
In 1929, the city had a population of 3,500 people, of which a majority was Kurdish. Out of the 550 families, 65 were Christian and 30 were Jewish. The city also housed
Tyari
Tyari ( syr, ܛܝܵܪܹܐ, Ṭyārē) is an Assyrian tribe and a historical district within Hakkari, Turkey. The area was traditionally divided into Upper (''Tyari Letha'') and Lower Tyari (''Tyari Khtetha'')–each consisting of several Assyrian ...
and
Chaldean refugees from
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
.
Modern times
The
University of Duhok
The University of Duhok (UoD) is public university located in Duhok, Kurdistan.
The University describes itself as playing a vital role in developing the community by instigating socioeconomic, cultural, scientific as well as educational progre ...
was founded on 31 October 1992.
The city is home to diverse ethnic groups including
Iraqi Kurds
Iraqi Kurds ( ar, العراقيين الكرد, ku, کوردەکانی عێراق) are people born in or residing in Iraq who are of Kurdish origin. The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Iraq, comprising between 15% and 20% of the count ...
who are the majority, while other minorities include
Assyrians,
Yazidis
Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The ma ...
and
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
. The city also hosts tens of thousands of
internally displaced persons (IDPs), most of whom are Yazidis and Assyrian Christians after the
Islamic State
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
expansion in Iraq in 2014 and the subsequent
Fall of Mosul
The Fall of Mosul occurred between 410 June 2014, when Islamic State insurgents, initially led by Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi, captured Mosul from the Iraqi Army, led by Lieutenant General Mahdi Al-Gharrawi.
On 4 June, the insurgents began their ...
and the
Nineveh Plains region after two more months of fighting, in addition to the
Sinjar massacre in which 5,000 Yezidis were massacred during the
genocide of Yazidis by ISIL
A genocide of Yazidis by the Islamic State was carried out in the Sinjar area of northern Iraq in the mid-2010s. The genocide led to the expulsion, flight and effective exile of the Yazidis. Thousands of Yazidi women and girls were forced i ...
. According to the
International Organization for Migration
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations agency that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers.
The IOM w ...
(IOM-Iraq), as of June 2019, Duhok Governorate hosted 326,106 IDPs across 169 different locations.
Archaeology
In 2020, researches discovered in the Balyuz hills, ten kilometers west of Duhok City, an ancient tablet with
Greek inscription which dates back to 165 B.C. The inscriptions refers to
Demetrius
Demetrius is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek male given name ''Dēmḗtrios'' (), meaning “Demetris” - "devoted to goddess Demeter".
Alternate forms include Demetrios, Dimitrios, Dimitris, Dmytro, Dimitri, Dimitrie, Dimitar, Dumi ...
, the ruler of the region during that time.
Seven kilometers southwest of Duhok,
Halamata Cave is an
archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...
containing the Assyrian
relief carvings known as the Maltai Reliefs, associated with the northern canal system built by the Assyrian king
Sennacherib
Sennacherib ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: or , meaning " Sîn has replaced the brothers") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Sargon II in 705BC to his own death in 681BC. The second king of the Sargonid dynas ...
(r. 704-681 BCE) to carry water to his capital city of
Nineveh".
Climate
According to the
Köppen-Geiger climate classification system, Duhok, like most of
Upper Mesopotamia
Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been ...
, has a hot-summer
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
(''Csa'') featuring very hot, virtually rainless summers and cool to cold, wet winters.
Precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
falls in the cooler months, being heaviest in late winter and early spring. The city can get around two or three snowy days per year, with heavier falls in the uplands. Summers are virtually rainless, with rain returning in late autumn.
See also
*
List of largest cities in Iraq
*
Duhok International Airport
*
Assyrians in Iraq
Iraqi Assyrians ( syr, ܣܘܪ̈ܝܐ, ar, آشوريو العراق) are an ethnic and linguistic minority group, Indigenous peoples, indigenous to Upper Mesopotamia. Assyrians in Iraq are those Assyrian people, Assyrians still residing in the ...
*
Kurds in Iraq
Iraqi Kurds ( ar, العراقيين الكرد, ku, کوردەکانی عێراق) are people born in or residing in Iraq who are of Kurdish origin. The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Iraq, comprising between 15% and 20% of the count ...
*
Yazidis in Iraq Yazidis in Iraq live mainly in the Sinjar region and the Nineveh Plains, which are located within the Nineveh Governorate in north-western Iraq.
Demography
According to estimates, the number of Yazidis in Iraq is up to 700,000. According to the ...
References
External links
*
Iraq Image - Dahuk Satellite Observation
{{Authority control
Cities in Iraqi Kurdistan
District capitals of Iraq
Populated places in Dohuk Province
Assyrian communities in Iraq
Ancient Assyrian cities
Cities in Iraq
Kurdish settlements in Iraq
Historic Jewish communities in Iraq
Yazidi populated places in Iraq