Basrah

Built in 636 as a military camp, Basra played an important role as a regional hub of knowledge, trade and commerce during the Islamic Golden Age and is home to the first mosque built outside the Arabian Peninsula. It was a center of the slave trade in Mesopotamia, until the Zanj rebellion in 871. Historically, Basra is one of the ports from which the fictional Sinbad the Sailor embarked on his journeys. It has experienced numerous ruling shifts. In 1258, the city was sacked by the Mongols. Basra came under Portuguese control in 1526 and later fell under the control of the Ottomans as part of the Basra Eyalet, one of the provinces comprising Ottoman Iraq. During World War I, British forces captured Basra in 1914. It was incorporated into Mandatory Iraq, under the framework Mandate for Mesopotamia after 1921, which later became the independent Kingdom of Iraq in 1932.