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Mudhif
A Mudhif ( ''al-muḍīf'') is a traditional reed house made by the Ahwari people (also known as Marsh Arabs) in the swamps of southern Iraq. In the traditional Ahwari way of living, houses are constructed from reeds harvested from the marshes where they live. A mudhif is a large ceremonial house, paid for and maintained by a local sheik, for use by guests or as a gathering place for weddings, funerals, etc. Description Mudhif structures have been one of the traditional types of structures built by the Arabs of the marshlands in southern Iraq for at least 5,000 years. A carved elevation of a typical mudhif, dating to around 3,300 BCE was discovered at Uruk, and is now in the British Museum. A mudhif is a special type of ''sarifa''; a structure made from reeds which grow naturally in the marshlands and is used by the village sheik as a guest-house. Other types of reed dwelling, such as a ''raba'' (with entrances at both ends and used as a family dwelling) or a ''bayt'' (stric ...
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Marsh Arabs
The Marsh Arabs (Arabic: عرب الأهوار ʻArab al-Ahwār "Arabs of the Marshlands"), also referred to as Ahwaris, the Maʻdān (Arabic: معدان "dweller in the plains") or Shroog ( "those from the east")—the latter two often considered derogatory in the present day—are Indigenous inhabitants of the Mesopotamian marshlands in the modern-day south Iraq, as well as in the Hawizeh Marshes straddling the Iraq-Iran border. Comprising members of many different tribes and tribal confederations, such as the Āl Bū Muḥammad, Ferayghāt, Shaghanbah, Ahwaris had developed a culture centered on the marshes' natural resources. Many of the marshes' inhabitants were forcibly displaced during the Ahwari Genocide when the wetlands were drained during and after the 1991 uprisings in Iraq. The draining of the marshes caused a significant decline in bioproductivity; following the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime, water flow to the marshes was ...
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Marsh Arab
The Marsh Arabs (Arabic: عرب الأهوار ʻArab al-Ahwār "Arabs of the Marshlands"), also referred to as Ahwaris, the Maʻdān (Arabic: معدان "dweller in the plains") or Shroug, Shroog ( "those from the east")—the latter two often considered derogatory in the present day—are Indigenous inhabitants of the Mesopotamian Marshes, Mesopotamian marshlands in the modern-day south Iraq, as well as in the Hawizeh Marshes straddling the Iran–Iraq border, Iraq-Iran border. Comprising members of many different tribes and tribal confederations, such as the Āl Bū Muḥammad, Ferayghāt, Shaghanbah, Ahwaris had developed a culture centered on the marshes' natural resources. Many of the marshes' inhabitants were forcibly displaced Draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes#Gulf War draining, during the Ahwari Genocide when the wetlands were drained during and after the 1991 uprisings in Iraq. The draining of the marshes caused a significant decline in bioproductivity; following the ...
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Vernacular Architecture
Vernacular architecture (also folk architecture) is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. It is not a particular architectural movement or style but rather a broad category, encompassing a wide range and variety of building types; with differing methods of construction from around the world, including historical and extant and classical and modern. Vernacular architecture constitutes 95% of the world's built environment, as estimated in 1995 by Amos Rapoport, as measured against the small percentage of new buildings every year designed by architects and built by engineers. Vernacular architecture usually serves immediate, local needs, is constrained by the materials available in its particular region, and reflects local traditions and cultural practices. The study of vernacular architecture does not examine formally schooled architects, but instead that of the design skills and tradition of local builders, who were rarely given any att ...
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Iraqi Art
Iraqi art is one of the richest art heritages in world and refers to all works of visual art originating from the geographical region of what is present day Iraq since ancient Mesopotamia, Mesopotamian periods. For centuries, the capital, Baghdad was the Medieval centre of the literary and artistic Arab world during the Abbasid Caliphate, in which Baghdad was the capital, but its artistic traditions suffered at the hands of the Mongol invaders in the 13th century. During other periods it has flourished, such as during the reign of Pir Budaq, or under Ottoman rule in the 16th century when Baghdad was known for its Ottoman miniature painting. In the 20th century, an art revival, which combined both tradition and modern techniques, produced many notable poets, painters and sculptors who contributed to the inventory of public artworks, especially in Baghdad. These artists are highly regarded in the Middle East, and some have earned international recognition. The Iraqi modern art move ...
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Culture Of Iraq
The culture of Iraq (Arabic: ثقافة العراق) or the culture of Mesopotamia is one of the world's oldest cultural histories and is considered one of the most influential cultures in the world. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. Mesopotamian legacy went on to influence and shape the civilizations of the Old World in different ways such as inventing writing, mathematics, law, astrology and many more fields. Iraq is home to diverse ethnic groups who have contributed to the wide spectrum of the Iraqi Culture. The country is known for its poets، architects، painters and sculptors who are among the best in the region, some of them being world-class. The country has one of the longest written traditions in the world including architecture, literature, music, dance, painting, weaving, pottery, calligraphy, stonemasonry and metalworking. Additionally, Iraq embraces and celeb ...
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Architecture In Iraq
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings or other structures. The term comes ; ; . Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements. The practice, which began in the prehistoric era, has been used as a way of expressing culture by civilizations on all seven continents. For this reason, architecture is considered to be a form of art. Texts on architecture have been written since ancient times. The earliest surviving text on architectural theories is the 1st century AD treatise by the Roman architect Vitruvius, according to whom a good building embodies , and (durability, utility, and beauty). Centuries later, Leon Batt ...
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House Types
This is a list of house types. Houses can be built in a large variety of configurations. A basic division is between free-standing or single-family detached homes and various types of attached or multi-family residential dwellings. Both may vary greatly in scale and the amount of accommodation provided. By layout Hut A hut is a dwelling of relatively simple construction, usually one room and one story in height. The design and materials of huts vary widely around the world. Bungalow Bungalow is a common term applied to a low one-story house with a shallow-pitched roof (in some locations, dormered varieties are referred to as 1.5-story, such as the chalet bungalow in the United Kingdom). Cottage A cottage is a small house, usually one or two stories in height, although the term is sometimes applied to larger structures. Ranch A ranch-style house or rambler is one-story, low to the ground, with a low-pitched roof, usually rectangular, L- or U-shaped with deep over ...
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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. The marshes formerly covered an area of around . The main sub-marshes, the Hawizeh, Central, and Hammar marshes, were drained at different times for different reasons. In the 1990s, the marshes were drained for political motives, namely to force the Marsh Arabs (or Ahwaris) out of the area and to punish them for their role in the 1991 uprising against Saddam Hussein's government. However, the government's stated reasoning was to reclaim land for agriculture and exterminate breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The displacement of more than 200,000 of the Ahwaris, and the associated state-sponsored campaign of violence against them, has led the United States and others to describe the draining of the marshes as ecocide, ethnic cleansing, or genocide. The draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes has been des ...
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Gertrude Bell
Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist. She spent much of her life exploring and mapping the Middle East, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making as an Arabist due to her knowledge and contacts built up through extensive travels. During her lifetime, she was highly esteemed and trusted by British officials such as High Commissioner for Mesopotamia Percy Cox, giving her great influence. She participated in both the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (briefly) and the 1921 Cairo Conference, which helped decide the territorial boundaries and governments of the post-War Middle East as part of the partition of the Ottoman Empire. Bell believed that the momentum of Arab nationalism was unstoppable, and that the British government should ally with nationalists rather than stand against them. Along with T. E. Lawrence, she advocated for independent Ara ...
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Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, U.S. invasion of Iraq. He previously served as the Vice President of Iraq, vice president from 1968 to 1979 and also as the prime minister of Iraq, prime minister from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003. A leading member of the Ba'ath Party, Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, he espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism, while the policies and political ideas he championed are collectively known as Saddamism. Born near the city of Tikrit to a Sunni Islam, Sunni Arabs, Arab family, Saddam joined the revolutionary Ba'ath Party in 1957. He played a key role in the 17 July Revolution that brought the Ba'athists to power and made him Vice President of Iraq, vice president under Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. During his tenure ...
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