al-Basrah

Basra or al-Baṣrah is an Iraqi metropolis placed on the Shatt al-Arab among Kuwait and Iran. It had an envisioned population of two.5 million in 2012. Basra is likewise Iraq's important port, although it does now not have deep water get entry to, which is dealt with at the port of Umm Qasr. The city is one of the ports from which the fictitious Sinbad the Sailor journeyed. It played an important role in early Islamic records and become built in 636. Basra is constantly one of the hottest cities in Iraq, with summer time temperatures often exceeding 50 °C.

In April 2017, the Iraqi Parliament identified Basra as Iraq's economic capital. The town become referred to as through many names throughout its records, Basrah being the most not unusual. In Arabic the phrase baṣrah approach "the overwatcher", which could have been an allusion to the city's foundation as an Arab military base in opposition to the Sassanids. Others have argued that the name is derived from the Aramaic word basratha, that means "vicinity of huts, settlement".