Ninawa Governorate
Encyclopedia
Ninawa is a governorate
(province) in northern Iraq
, and the Arabic name for the biblical
city of Nineveh
in Assyria
. It has an area of 37323 square kilometres (14,410.5 sq mi) and an estimated population of 2,453,000 people in 2003. Its chief city and provincial capital is Mosul
, which lies across the Tigris
river from the ruins of ancient Nineveh
. Tal Afar
is also a major city within the region. Prior to 1976, it was called Mosul Province and also included the present-day Dohuk Governorate.
Its two main cities endured the 2003 Invasion of Iraq
and emerged relatively unscathed. In 2004, however, Mosul and Tal Afar were the scenes of fierce battles between US
-led troops and the Iraqi insurgency
. The insurgents had moved to Ninawa after the Battle of Fallujah in 2004.
After the US invasion in 2003, the military government of the province was led initially by (then Lieutenant General) David Petraeus
as commander of the 101st Airborne Division and later by BG Carter Ham
as commander of the multi-national brigade for northern Iraq. During the American occupation, the civil government was ledden by the head of the local office of the Coalition Provisional Authority
Herro Mustafa
, a US Foreign Service Officer and former Kurdish refugee to the United States. She administered the province through her nominees on the provincial council and in particular various members of the Kashmoula family. In June 2004, Osama Kashmoula became the interim Governor of the province and in September of the same year he was assassinated en route to Baghdad. He was succeeded as interim Governor by Duraid Kashmoula, who was elected Governor in January 2005.
, Kurds, and Yazidis, both in towns and cities, and in their own specific villages and regions. There are also numbers of Shabaks, Turkmen
, Mandeans, and Armenians
.
In terms of religion, the majority of Kurds, Arabs are Sunni Muslim while Turkmen are mostly Shi'ite, Assyrians and Armenians are exclusively Christian
, and Yazidis, Shabaks and Mandeans following their own religious beliefs.
The main languages spoken are Arabic
, Neo-Aramaic
, Kurdish
, South Azeri, Shabaki, and Armenian
.
2005 December
2005 January
Minister of Finance Sarkis Aghajan, himself an Assyrian and a prominent figure in the Kurdish government. Minister Sarkis has claimed that the autonomous region he envisions would stretch from the Syrian border to the north at Fishkabor to Hamdaniyah. He says it will have its own parliament, executive council, constitution, budget, logo, and flag.
Note that Shekan and Akra is currently under the Kurdistan Regional Government
control, as Mosul has no control over these two districts.
Governorates of Iraq
||Iraq is composed of 18 provinces :#Baghdād #Salāh ad-Dīn #Diyālā #Wāsit #Maysān #Al-Basrah #Dhī Qār #Al-Muthannā #Al-Qādisiyyah...
(province) in northern Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, and the Arabic name for the biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
city of Nineveh
Nineveh
Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
in Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
. It has an area of 37323 square kilometres (14,410.5 sq mi) and an estimated population of 2,453,000 people in 2003. Its chief city and provincial capital is Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
, which lies across the Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
river from the ruins of ancient Nineveh
Nineveh
Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
. Tal Afar
Tal Afar
Tal Afar is a city and district in northwestern Iraq in the Ninawa Governorate located approximately 30 miles west of Mosul and 120 miles north west of Kirkuk.While no official census data exists, the city which had been...
is also a major city within the region. Prior to 1976, it was called Mosul Province and also included the present-day Dohuk Governorate.
Its two main cities endured the 2003 Invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
and emerged relatively unscathed. In 2004, however, Mosul and Tal Afar were the scenes of fierce battles between US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-led troops and the Iraqi insurgency
Iraqi insurgency
The Iraqi Resistance is composed of a diverse mix of militias, foreign fighters, all-Iraqi units or mixtures opposing the United States-led multinational force in Iraq and the post-2003 Iraqi government...
. The insurgents had moved to Ninawa after the Battle of Fallujah in 2004.
After the US invasion in 2003, the military government of the province was led initially by (then Lieutenant General) David Petraeus
David Petraeus
David Howell Petraeus is the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, sworn in on September 6, 2011. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus was a four-star general serving over 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander...
as commander of the 101st Airborne Division and later by BG Carter Ham
Carter Ham
Carter F. Ham is a United States Army general, who serves as the second and current Commander, U.S. Africa Command. In that position, he has been in command of the initial 2011 military intervention in Libya....
as commander of the multi-national brigade for northern Iraq. During the American occupation, the civil government was ledden by the head of the local office of the Coalition Provisional Authority
Coalition Provisional Authority
The Coalition Provisional Authority was established as a transitional government following the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies, members of the Multi-National Force – Iraq which was formed to oust the government of Saddam Hussein in 2003...
Herro Mustafa
Herro Mustafa
Herro K. Mustafa is an American diplomat.Mustafa's family story was the subject of the documentary film American Herro. She is multilingual and speaks English, Kurdish, Arabic, Turkish, Spanish and Greek.-Early life and education:...
, a US Foreign Service Officer and former Kurdish refugee to the United States. She administered the province through her nominees on the provincial council and in particular various members of the Kashmoula family. In June 2004, Osama Kashmoula became the interim Governor of the province and in September of the same year he was assassinated en route to Baghdad. He was succeeded as interim Governor by Duraid Kashmoula, who was elected Governor in January 2005.
Demographics
Ninawa Governorate is multiethnic. There are significant numbers of Arabs, indigenous AssyriansAssyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
, Kurds, and Yazidis, both in towns and cities, and in their own specific villages and regions. There are also numbers of Shabaks, Turkmen
Iraqi Turkmen
The Iraqi Turkmen are an ethnic group who mainly reside in northern Iraq. Estimates of their numbers vary dramatically, in accordance with Iraq's assimilation policies no realistic and independent census results have been revealed regarding the Iraqi Turkmen population...
, Mandeans, and Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
.
In terms of religion, the majority of Kurds, Arabs are Sunni Muslim while Turkmen are mostly Shi'ite, Assyrians and Armenians are exclusively Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, and Yazidis, Shabaks and Mandeans following their own religious beliefs.
The main languages spoken are Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, Neo-Aramaic
Neo-Aramaic languages
Neo-Aramaic, or Modern Aramaic, languages are varieties of Aramaic that are spoken vernaculars in the medieval to modern era, evolving out of Middle Aramaic dialects around AD 1200 ....
, Kurdish
Kurdish language
Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
, South Azeri, Shabaki, and Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
.
Provincial elections
Since no real census has been taken for decades, the election results are the only indicator of the province's ethnic distribution, although it should be noted that many Assyrians and Yazidis claim that ballot papers were denied them, and in addition, many members of ethnic groups voted for mainstream parties,or ethnic parties that were attached to mainstream Arab or Kurdish led parties.2005 December
- Sunni Arab Group, 324,518 (47%)
- Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan, 156,476 (19%)
- Allawi's Multi-ethnic Group, 91,661 (11%)
- Sunni/Assyrian Group, 81,976 (10%)
- Shia Arab Group, 61,083 (7%)
- Yezidi Group, 18,618 (1%)
- Assyrian Group, 12,323 (1%)
2005 January
- Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan, 42,000
- Shia Group, 23,000
- Sunni Group, 56,000
- Allawi's Multi-ethnic Group, 21,000
- Assyrian Group, 3,500
- Yezidi Group, 3,200
- Turkman Group, 1,800
Proposed Assyrian Autonomous Region
Many Assyrians leaders are pressing for an autonomous region in Nineveh. The plan has not been taken seriously by national Iraqi leaders, but has a strong proponent in Kurdistan Regional GovernmentKurdistan Regional Government
The Kurdistan Regional Government , , is the official ruling body of the predominantly Kurds-populated Kurdistan Region in Northern Iraq...
Minister of Finance Sarkis Aghajan, himself an Assyrian and a prominent figure in the Kurdish government. Minister Sarkis has claimed that the autonomous region he envisions would stretch from the Syrian border to the north at Fishkabor to Hamdaniyah. He says it will have its own parliament, executive council, constitution, budget, logo, and flag.
Districts
- AkraAqrahAqrah is a city and district in Iraq which is located in the Ninawa Governorate. The total area of the district is km2...
- Al-Ba'ajAl-Ba'ajBa'aj is a city and district in the western part of the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq...
- Al-HamdaniyaAl-Hamdaniya DistrictAl-Hamdaniya District is one of ten districts that make up the Ninawa Governorate, Iraq.Towns and villages include:*Bakhdida*Bartella*Bashiqa*Karamles...
- Al-HadarAl-HadarAl-Hadar is a village and the center of Al-Hadar district in Ninawa Governorate in Iraq.The ancient ruins of Hatra lie 2 km northwest of the modern settlement....
- MosulMosulMosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
- Al-ShekhanShekhan DistrictThe Shekhan District is a district in the Ninewa Governorate of Iraq.It is bordered by the Amadiya and Dahuk Districts of the Dahuk Governorate to the north, the Akre district to the east, Al-Hamdaniya District to the south, and the Tel Kaif District to the west.After 1991 the Kurds controlled the...
- SinjarSinjarSinjar is the name of a town and district in northwestern Iraq's Ninawa Governorate near the Syrian border. Its population at the time of the 2006 census was 39,875....
- Tall Afar
- Tel Kaif
Note that Shekan and Akra is currently under the Kurdistan Regional Government
Kurdistan Regional Government
The Kurdistan Regional Government , , is the official ruling body of the predominantly Kurds-populated Kurdistan Region in Northern Iraq...
control, as Mosul has no control over these two districts.
See also
- Ninawa governorate council election, 2005Ninawa governorate council election, 2005The Governorate Council election in the Ninawa governorate of Iraq was held on January 30, 2005, simultaneously with the national legislative election. The province is largely a mix of Sunnis and Kurds, but there is also a significant Shi'ite presence...
- NinevehNinevehNineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
- Nineveh plainsNineveh plainsNineveh plains is a region in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq to the north and west of the city Mosul. The area generally consists of three districts; Tel Keppe, Al-Hamdaniya, and Al-Shikhan...
- List of churches and monasteries in Nineveh
- Iraq Inter-Agency Information & Analysis Unit Reports, Maps and Assessments of Iraq from the UN Inter-Agency Information & Analysis Unit