Nasiriyah

Nasiriyah (ٱلنَّاصِرِيَّة; BGN: An Nāşirīyah; also spelled Nassiriya or Nasiriya) is a city in Iraq. It is on the lower Euphrates, about south-southeast of Baghdad, near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur. It is the capital of the Dhi Qar Governorate. Its population in 2003 was about 560,000, making it the fourth-largest city in Iraq. It had a diverse population of Muslims, Mandaeans and Jews in the early 20th century; today its inhabitants are predominantly Shia muslims. Nasiriyah was founded by the Muntafiq tribe in the late 19th century during the Ottoman era. It has since become a major hub for transportation. Nasiriyah is the center of a date-growing area. The city's cottage industries include boat-building, carpentry and silver working. The city museum has a large collection of Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid artifacts. The ruins of the ancient cities of Ur and Larsa are nearby and the Euphrates merges with the Tigris for the final time about 10 kilometres from the city. Nasiriyah features a hot desert climate (BWh according to the Köppen climate classification), with mild winters and very hot summers. Nasiriyah has an average annual mean of , an average annual high of and an average annual low of . July, the warmest month, has a mean of and an average high of (August has the same average high), while the coolest month, January, has a mean of and an average low of . Nasiriyah receives of precipitation annually over 42 precipitation days. Summer is drier than winter, and July and August receive no precipitation at all. The wettest month and the month with the most precipitation days is January, which receives of precipitation on average over 7 precipitation days. Nasiriyah was founded in 1872 by Nasir al-Sadoon Pasha (ناصر السعدون باشا), the sheikh ("chief") of the Muntafiq tribal confederation, after whom the city was named. During that same year, it became the administrative center of the Muntafiq sanjak ("district"). Nasir Pasha was the head of the Sunni Muslim al-Saadun clan, which was the ruling family of the Muntafiq whose tribesmen were mostly Shia Muslims.