1398122414390238419912094 تالاب هورالعظیم

The Hawizeh Marshes are a complex of

marshes A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

that straddle the

Iran–Iraq border The Iran–Iraq border runs for 1,599 km (994 mi) from the tripoint with Turkey in the north down to the Shatt al-Arab (known as Arvand Rud in Iran) waterway and out to the Persian Gulf in the south. Although the boundary was first deter ...

. The marshes are fed by two branches of the

Tigris River 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 ...

(the Al-Musharrah and Al-Kahla) in

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 ...

and the

Karkheh River The Karkheh or Karkhen کرخه (perhaps the river known as the Gihon—one of the four rivers of Eden/Paradise to the Bible and as the Choaspes in ancient times; also called Eulæus; Hebrew: אולי Ulai) is a river in Khūzestān Province, I ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. The Hawizeh marsh is critical to the survival of the Central and Hammar marshes also make up the Mesopotamian Marshes, because they are a refuge for species that may recolonize or reproduce in other marshlands. Hawizeh Marshes are drained by the Al-Kassarah. This river plays a critical role in maintaining the marshes as a flow-through system and preventing it from becoming a

closed saline basin An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

. Hawizeh Marshes have been populated for more than 5,000 years. They are fed by the

Tigris and Euphrates rivers 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 Desert, Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empti ...

in present-day Iraq and the Karkhen River in present-day Iran. The Marsh Arabs live in Iraq and Hawizeh people live in Iran. From the time of the

Sumerians Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of c ...

and

Babylonians 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 c. 1 ...

people lived in the marshes. In the southwest of Iran and the southeast of Iraq, the Hawizeh and Hammar Marshes host many small cities. These cities in the marshes are part of both countries and no border separates them. The people small canoe-like boats called

Mashoof A mashoof (Arabic: مشحوف), also transliterated , is a long and narrow canoe traditionally used on the Mesopotamian Marshes and rivers of southern Iraq. It was widely used by the Marsh Arabs, or Maʻdān (معدان), as a fishing boat, water t ...

to move between Iraq and Iran. The marsh cities were built on water. The people who live there lead simple lives. They make houses out of reeds without electricity or cars, and generally have no education. The people fish, hunt, and cultivate buffalo. The area where the fresh waters reaches the marshes is far from the cities. The marshes offer a safe home for thousands of migrating animals such as wild squirrels, white eagle, hawks, brown dukes and squirrels who raise their young there.Morrison, John. “Tigris-Euphrates alluvial Salt marsh. Worldwildilife. World wildlife. N.d.Web.30 Apr. 2015. Around 3,000 BC, the marshes started at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. These rivers flooded the land, created the marshes and started a new ecosystem with new animals, birds, fish and plants. This affected Sumerians and Babylonians who lived there. They lived off the marshes by fishing, hunting and planting. People came to live in the marshes. Time changed some of the people’s ideas and beliefs. With the break between the

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...

and

Mandaean Mandaeans ( ar, المندائيون ), also known as Mandaean Sabians ( ) or simply as Sabians ( ), are an ethnoreligious group who are followers of Mandaeism. They believe that John the Baptist was the final and most important prophet. ...

forms of religion, Shia came to dominate in the marshes. Ideas from Islam mixed with ideas from Sumer. These ideas include fantastic stories about ghosts, curses and extraterrestrials. In 1990-1992 when the Hussein government decided to dry the marshes because they thought an armed group lived there, the population left Some moved to the cities while others moved to Iran. After the war in 2003 the Iraqi government reopened the flow, and the people returned to the marshes. Marshers number some 5,000.

References

External source

Management Plan for the Hawizeh Marsh Ramsar Site of Iraq, Second Draft Volume 1: Background, Vision, Principles and Annexes, A Report Prepared for the Iraq National Marshes and Wetlands Committee, December 2008 (Accessed June 2011)
{{coord, 31, 32, 32, N, 47, 42, 24, E, region:IQ_type:waterbody, display=title Marshes of Iraq Marshes of Iran Environmental issues in Iraq Tigris River Shatt al-Arab basin Ramsar sites in Iraq Mesopotamian Marshes

See also

References

External source