Iraq
Subject
Subject Source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
Scope Note: Area was center of civilization from 10th mill. BCE; Sumerians arrived 3500 BCE; Akkadian empire developed 2350 BCE, then Babylonian (18th century BCE) and Assyrian (7th century BCE); was invaded by Persians, Alexander, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs (7th century) and Ottomans; official language is Arabic, though English is also widely spoken; Kurdish is official language in Kurdish Autonomous Region.