Barzan ( ku, بارزان, Barzan) is a village located on the eastern shores of the
Great Zab
The Great Zab or Upper Zab ( (''al-Zāb al-Kabīr''), or , , ''(zāba ʻalya)'') is an approximately long river flowing through Turkey and Iraq. It rises in Turkey near Lake Van and joins the Tigris in Iraq south of Mosul. The drainage basin o ...
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 ...
,
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 Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
.
History
The village was formerly the territory of Zebari tribe and was part of
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 was ...
under the name ''Baziran''. In the 19th century, the village was the residence of a
Naqshbandi
The Naqshbandi ( fa, نقشبندی)), Neqshebendi ( ku, نهقشهبهندی), and Nakşibendi (in Turkish) is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their ...
Sheikh and his followers, now known as the Barzani tribe.
In 1914, Barzan was the site of a Russian-supported Kurdish uprising against the Ottoman Empire, which was fought concurrently with the
Bitlis uprising
The Bitlis uprising was a Kurdish uprising in the Ottoman Empire in early 1914. It was supported by the Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large par ...
.
The tribe was nominally autonomous from the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
until 1915 when the Ottomans stormed the village and hanged the local
sheikh
Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
. In the early 20th century, the village had a conflict with the neighboring Bradost tribe which necessitated intervention from Iraqi authorities.
In 1943, local
Mustafa Barzani
Mustafa Barzani ( ku, مەلا مستهفا بارزانی, Mistefa Barzanî; 14 March 1903 – 1 March 1979) also known as Mela Mustafa (Preacher Mustafa), was a Kurdish leader, general and one of the most prominent political figures in mod ...
revolted and quickly gathered support against Iraq; this would develop into the
1943 Barzani revolt
The 1943–1945 Barzani revolt was a Kurdish nationalistic insurrection in the Kingdom of Iraq, during World War II. The revolt was led by Mustafa Barzani and was later joined by his older brother Ahmed Barzani, the leader of the previous Kur ...
.
Climate
Barzan 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'') with hot, dry summers and cool, rainy winters. It is one of the rainiest cities in Iraq. Winter nights average below freezing most of the time, providing
frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a g ...