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Al-Qurnah (Kurnah or Qurna, meaning connection/joint in
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
) is a town in southern Iraq about 74 km northwest of
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 hand ...
, that lies within the conglomeration of Nahairat. Qurna is located at the
confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
point of the
Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the P ...
and Euphrates rivers to form the Shatt al-Arab waterway. Local folklore holds Qurnah to have been the original site of biblical paradise, the Garden of Eden and location of the Tree of Knowledge.


History

Local folklore holds Qurnah to have been the site of the Garden of Eden and the location of a city built by general
Seleucus Nicator Seleucus I Nicator (; ; grc-gre, Σέλευκος Νικάτωρ , ) was a Macedonian Greek general who was an officer and successor ( ''diadochus'') of Alexander the Great. Seleucus was the founder of the eponymous Seleucid Empire. In the po ...
I. An ancient tree is celebrated locally and shown to the tourists as the actual Tree of Knowledge of the Bible. The tree died some time ago and replacement trees were planted. The
tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immuremen ...
of
Ezra Ezra (; he, עֶזְרָא, '; fl. 480–440 BCE), also called Ezra the Scribe (, ') and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra, was a Jewish scribe (''sofer'') and priest (''kohen''). In Greco-Latin Ezra is called Esdras ( grc-gre, Ἔσδρα ...
is also described to be nearby and found further upstream on the river Tigris. In 1855, Al Qurnah was the site of the
Qurnah Disaster The Qurnah disaster was a May 1855 shipwreck at Al-Qurnah (modern Iraq), at the confluence point of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It represents one of the most high profile disasters in the history of archaeology. The disaster took place during ...
, in which local tribes attacked and sank a convoy of a ship and rafts carrying 240 cases of antiquities discovered by Victor Place's mission to Khorsabad, Rawlinson's to
Kuyunjik Nineveh (; akk, ; Biblical Hebrew: '; ar, نَيْنَوَىٰ '; syr, ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ, Nīnwē) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern ban ...
and
Fresnel Augustin-Jean Fresnel (10 May 1788 – 14 July 1827) was a French civil engineer and physicist whose research in optics led to the almost unanimous acceptance of the wave theory of light, excluding any remnant of Newton's corpuscular th ...
's to Babylon.Larsen, M.T., ''The Conquest of Assyria: Excavations in an Antique Land,'' Routledge, 2014, pp 344-9 The loss of priceless antiquities was a notable disaster for those researching the antiquities of the region. Subsequent efforts to recover antiquities lost in the
Qurnah Disaster The Qurnah disaster was a May 1855 shipwreck at Al-Qurnah (modern Iraq), at the confluence point of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It represents one of the most high profile disasters in the history of archaeology. The disaster took place during ...
, including a Japanese expedition in 1971-2, were largely unsuccessful. The town experienced the
Battle of Qurna The Battle of Qurna, (3 to 9 December 1914) was between British forces and Ottoman forces that had retreated from Basra, which they lost at the Battle of Basra (1914) during the Mesopotamian campaign of World War I. Background By capturing ...
during the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I, when the British defeated Ottoman troops who had retreated from Basra in 1914. The Battle of Qurna secured the British
front line A front line (alternatively front-line or frontline) in military terminology is the position(s) closest to the area of conflict of an armed force's personnel and equipment, usually referring to land forces. When a front (an intentional or uninte ...
in Southern Mesopotamia, thereby protecting
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 hand ...
and the oil refineries at
Abadan Abadan ( fa, آبادان ''Ābādān'', ) is a city and capital of Abadan County, Khuzestan Province, which is located in the southwest of Iran. It lies on Abadan Island ( long, 3–19 km or 2–12 miles wide). The island is bounded ...
in Persia (now Iran). In 1977, Thor Heyerdahl sailed a
reed boat Reed boats and rafts, along with dugout canoes and other rafts, are among the oldest known types of boats. Often used as traditional fishing boats, they are still used in a few places around the world, though they have generally been replaced wit ...
from al Qurnah to show that migration between Mesopotamia with the
Indus Valley civilization The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300  BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900& ...
was possible. The voyage proved complicated because of the wars in the region and the vessel was eventually lost off
Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red S ...
. After the First Gulf War (1991), the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein diverted river water away from the local marshes causing them to be completely
desiccated Desiccation () is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying. A desiccant is a hygroscopic (attracts and holds water) substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container. ...
. The wetlands have since shrunk to 58% of their pre-
drainage area A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
and are projected to drop below 50%. This loss has also been a result of Turkish and Iranian damming of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The UN has reported that the combined volume of these rivers has been reduced by 60%. These developments are said to have made the area more vulnerable to degradation and desertification.


Recent developments

The river front Qurnah Tourist Hotel was built during the Ba'athist period to encourage tourism for the region.
Majnoon Island Majnoon Island is an island in southern Iraq near Al-Qurnah that is a center for oil production of the Majnoon Oilfield. The area was built out of sand dunes and mud to create pathways for oil pipelines. It was the site of several large battles in ...
near Al-Qurnah is a center for oil production of the giant Majnoon Oilfield. The area was built out of sand dunes and mud to create pathways for oil pipelines. The island was held by
Iranian army The Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Forces ( fa, نیروی زمینی ارتش جمهوری اسلامی ایران, ''Niroo-ye Zamini-ye Artesh-e Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Iran''), acronymed NEZAJA ( fa, نزاجا, NEZEJA) are the ground forc ...
during the Iran-Iraq war before Iraqi
chemical weapons A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as a ...
were deployed. As of the start of the 2003 Iraq War, conditions of the city were reportedly woeful. Cracked pavements and bullet holes in local properties, the looting of the local hospital and the poor condition of the tree of knowledge made the return of tourism to the area a challenge.


Notable people

*
Nuri Ja'far Nuri Ja'far Ali al-Chalabi (), better known as Nuri Ja'far ( ar, نوري جعفر, translit=Nūrī Jaʻfar; 1914 – 7 November 1991), was an Iraqi psychologist, philosopher of education, and author. He wrote more than fifty works on pedagogy, ...
, (1914 – 7 November 1991) psychologist and philosopher of education.


Gallery

File:Shatt al arab.png, Basra area map. File:A farm in the town of Qurna 1.jpg, Farm outside Al Qurnah File:Tomb of Ezra, a Shrine to Thousands of Jews East Bank of Tigris River, Iraq (29591542932).jpg, Shrine in Al Qurnah File:Ezras-tomb-kurnah.jpg, alt=العربية: مشهد لمرقد النبي عزرا (العزير) يطل على نهر دجلة في محافظة العمارة في العراق, Ezra's Tomb in Kurnah File:Iraq. Mosul. Mosul bazaars and river scenes on the Tigris. The Tigris. Inflading goatskins for river rafts. Inflating by human breath LOC matpc.16217.jpg, Rafts used for transport on the River Tigris File:Place V 1867 III Plate 43 6.jpg, Depiction of rafts (Keleks) loaded with antiquities that sank near Al Qurnah in 1855 (Victor Place, 1867)


See also

*
Qurnah Disaster The Qurnah disaster was a May 1855 shipwreck at Al-Qurnah (modern Iraq), at the confluence point of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It represents one of the most high profile disasters in the history of archaeology. The disaster took place during ...
* Battle of Qurna (1914) *
Operation Kheibar Operation Kheibar was an Iranian offensive in the Iran–Iraq War. It was part of the Battle of the Marshes. Prelude After the unsuccessful major offensive named Operation Dawn V aimed directly at Basra, Iran opened a front at the lakes of th ...
(1984) * Battle of Qurna (Iraq War) * West Qurna Oil Field *
Draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes The Mesopotamian Marshes were drained in Iraq and to a smaller degree in Iran between the 1950s and 1990s to clear large areas of the marshes in the Tigris-Euphrates river system. Formerly covering an area of around , the main sub-marshes, the H ...
* Ezra's Tomb


References


External links


Iraq Image
- Al-Qurnah Satellite Observation

- about the
Battle of Qurna The Battle of Qurna, (3 to 9 December 1914) was between British forces and Ottoman forces that had retreated from Basra, which they lost at the Battle of Basra (1914) during the Mesopotamian campaign of World War I. Background By capturing ...
{{Authority control Qurnah District capitals of Iraq