Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert. Iraq mainly consists of desert, but near the two major rivers (Euphrates and Tigris) are fertile alluvial plains, as the rivers carry about 60 million cubic metres of silt annually to the delta. The local climate is mostly desert, ...with mild to cool winters and dry, hot, cloudless summers. The federal government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution as an Islamic, democratic, federal parliamentary republic. Iraq's economy is dominated by the oil sector, which has traditionally provided about 95% of foreign exchange earnings.

Baghdad or Bagdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest (after Cairo) in the Arab World. Located on the River Tigris, the city dates back to the 8th century and was once the centre of the Muslim world. The city is located on a vast plain bisected by the River Tigris. The Tigris splits Baghdad in half, with the eastern half being called 'Risafa' and the Western half known as 'Karkh'. The land on which the city is built is almost entirely flat and low-lying, being of alluvial origin due to the periodic large floods which have occurred on the river.