Agriculture remains an important part of Iraq's economy. Crops include barley, wheat, watermelons, tomatoes, dates, & grapes. Many sheep & cattle are raised. However, this activity as well as many other parts of the economy were greatly disrupted by the fighting in 1991 & 2003.Iraq's history reaches back thous&s of years. In about 3300 BC, in the southern part of Mesopotamia between the Tigris & Euphrates rivers, the Sumerians created one of the world's first civilizations. Later the region was ruled by the great powers of Babylonia & Assyria. The Persians took control of Mesopotamia in about 540 BC. They ruled until Alex&er the Great conquered the area in about 330 BC.
Beginning in the 2nd century BC, Mesopotamia spent hundreds of years as a battleground between various peoples. Weakened by warfare, the region was conquered by Muslims from Arabia in the 7th century AD. For a time Baghdad was the center of the Muslim world. In 1258 the Mongols conquered the city. Iraq then became a l& of small kingdoms. The Ottoman Turks took control of the area in the 16th century. Iraq remained part of the Ottoman Empire until the 20th century.During World War I (1914–18) British troops occupied Baghdad, ending Ottoman rule. After the war Iraq remained under British protection. A monarchy was established in 1921, & the country achieved full independence in 1932. A revolution led by a group of army officers ended the monarchy in 1958. Iraq was then declared a republic.In the 1960s & 1970s the Iraqi government faced a rebellion by the Kurds. The rebels were fighting to achieve self-government. Iran provided military aid to the Kurds, which strained relations between Iraq & Iran. The Kurdish rebellion collapsed in 1975, but occasional fighting continued into the 21st century.Saddam Hussein became Iraq's president in 1979. A year later Iraq invaded Iran, starting a war that lasted until 1988. Neither side won a clear victory.In 1990 Saddam ordered Iraqi troops to invade the neighboring country of Kuwait. Iraq claimed that Kuwait had been part of its territory since 1871. The invasion led to the Persian Gulf War of early 1991. In less than two months, a group of nations led by the United States pushed Iraq's forces out of Kuwait.At the end of the Persian Gulf War, Iraq agreed to allow weapons inspectors from the United Nations (UN) into the country. The inspectors were to make sure that Iraq destroyed some of its weapons & stopped making more. Despite the agreement, Iraq resisted the inspections. The Iraqi government said it would not cooperate with the UN until strict trade restrictions were ended. The restrictions were imposed at the beginning of the war. They prevented other countries from trading with Iraq. This led to food & medicine shortages in Iraq.Because of Iraq's continued refusal to cooperate with the weapons inspectors, the United States & Great Britain launched an air attack on the country in late 1998. Air strikes on a smaller scale had been common throughout the 1990s & continued into the 21st century. A more massive attack began in March 2003, when troops from the United States & Great Britain invaded the country as a result of the ongoing dispute. Saddam Hussein immediately went into hiding following the initial invasion, & the foreign troops soon took control of the country. Saddam was captured by U.S. troops in December 2003. The foreign forces faced continuing attacks from Iraqis as they tried to establish a transitional government. Population (2003 estimate), 24,683,000.
