Muthanna Governorate ( ''Al Muthannā'') or Al Muthanna Province, is a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, named after the 7th-century Arab general

al-Muthanna ibn Haritha Al-Muthanna ibn Haritha al-Shaybani () was a Muslim Arabs, Arab General officer, general in the Rashidun army, army of the Rashidun Caliphate. Career Al-Muthanna was a commander of the Muslim Arabs in al-Hira, from which they were conducting raid ...

. It is in the south of the country, bordering

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

and

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

. The provincial capital is the city of

Samawah Samawah or As-Samawah () is a city in Iraq, 280 kilometres (174 mi) southeast of Baghdad. The city of Samawah is the modern capital of the Al Muthanna Governorate. The city is located midway between Baghdad and Basra, at the northern edge o ...

. It has the highest poverty rate in Iraq, with a rate of 52%.

History

Before 1976 it was part of the Diwaniya Province, which included present-day

Najaf Governorate Najaf Governorate () is a governorate in central and southern Iraq. The capital is the city of Najaf, with another major city being Al Kufah. Both cities are holy to Shia Muslims Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branch ...

and

al-Qādisiyyah Governorate Al-Qadisiyah Governorate (, ), also known as the Al-Diwaniyah Governorate (, ), is one of the governorates of Iraq. It is in the southern part of the center of the country. The estimated population of the province is about a million and a half ...

is very close to the ancient

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...

ian-

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

n city of

Uruk Uruk, the archeological site known today as Warka, was an ancient city in the Near East, located east of the current bed of the Euphrates River, on an ancient, now-dried channel of the river in Muthanna Governorate, Iraq. The site lies 93 kilo ...

(

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

: ''Erech''), which is possibly the source of the name

. After the decline of

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

following the

Seleucid The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great, a ...

founding of

Seleucia Seleucia (; ), also known as or or Seleucia ad Tigrim, was a major Mesopotamian city, located on the west bank of the Tigris River within the present-day Baghdad Governorate in Iraq. It was founded around 305 BC by Seleucus I Nicator as th ...

, Uruk became the largest city in southern Babylonia, and its name (''Erech'') came to replace ''Babili'' (Babylonia), as the city long outlived the former capital, surviving into the 7th century AD. In February 1991 it was the location of one of the largest tank battles in history during the

Persian Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

, the

Battle of Norfolk The Battle of Norfolk was a armored warfare, tank battle fought on February 27, 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, between armored forces of the United States and United Kingdom, and those of the Republican Guard (Iraq), Iraqi Republican Guard in ...

Demographics

Provincial government

*Governor: Ahmed Manfi Judeh *Deputy Governor: Sami Al-Hassani *Chairman of Al-Muthanna Provincial Council: Abdul Latif Al-Hassani

References

Governorates of Iraq {{Iraq-geo-stub