Nineveh Governorate محافظة نينوى (Arabic) | |
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      Top–bottom, R–L: View over Tigris river Church of Saint Thomas •Hatra Mosul Rural area • River Gate toward Tigris river, 2019 Mosul Museum • Heritage house | |
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| Coordinates:36°0′N42°28′E / 36.000°N 42.467°E /36.000; 42.467 | |
| Country |  Iraq |
| Capital | Mosul |
| Government | |
| • Governor | Abdul Qader al-Dakheel |
| Area | |
• Total | 37,323 km2 (14,410 sq mi) |
| Population (Estimate 2018[1]) | |
• Total | 3,730,000[1] |
| • Density | 99.9/km2 (259/sq mi) |
| ISO 3166 code | IQ-NI |
| HDI (2021) | 0.695[2] medium |
Nineveh Governorate[a] is agovernorate in northernIraq. It has an area of 37,323 km2 (14,410 sq mi) and an estimated population of 2,453,000 people as of 2003. Its largest city and provincial capital isMosul, which lies across theTigris river from the ruins of ancientNineveh. Before 1976, it was calledMosul Province and included the present-dayDohuk Governorate.[8]
The region is home to many historical sites including the ancient Assyrian city ofNineveh, and the ruins ofHatra, a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site which was part of the 2nd-century ArabKingdom of Hatra. An ethnically, religiously and culturally diverse region, where the second largest city,Tal Afar, has an almost exclusivelyTurkmen population.[9]
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Its two cities endured the2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and emerged unscathed. In 2004, however, Mosul and Tal Afar were the scenes of fierce battles betweenUS-led troops andIraqi insurgents. The insurgents moved to Nineveh after theBattle of Fallujah in 2004.
After the invasion, the military of the province was led by (then Major General)David Petraeus of the101st Airborne Division and later by (then Brigadier General)Carter Ham as the multi-national brigade for Iraq. During the time, the American civil head of the local office of theCoalition Provisional Authority was US Foreign Service Officer and former Kurdish refugee to the States,Herro Mustafa. Mustafa administered her nominees on the provincial council and through members of the Kashmoula family.
In June 2004,Osama Kashmoula became the interim governor of the province and in September of the same year he was assassinated en route to Baghdad. He was succeeded as interim Governor byDuraid Kashmoula, who was elected governor in January 2005. Duraid Kashmoula resigned in 2009.[10] In April 2009,Atheel al-Nujaifi, a hardline Arab nationalist and member ofAl-Hadba, became governor.[11] While al-Nujaifi's ArabMuttahidoon bloc lost its majority to the KurdishBrotherhood and Coexistence Alliance List in the2013 provincial election, al-Nujaifi was reelected as governor by a larger Sunni Arab coalition[12] that was later formalized as theNahda Bloc.
In June 2014,insurgents from theIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant (known as ISIS or ISIL)overran the capital Mosul, forcing an estimated 500,000 refugees to flee the area,[13] including governor al-Nujaifi,[14] who was subsequently deposed by theIraqi Parliament.[15]
While the Kurdish list proposed Hassan al-Allaf, an Arab affiliated with theIslamic Party,[16] the provincial council electedNofal Hammadi (formerly Loyalty to Nineveh List) with the votes of the Nahdha bloc.[17]
Anoffensive to retake Mosul from ISIL control began in October 2016, with Iraqi and Kurdish soldiers supported by a U.S.-led coalition of 60 nations.[18]
The province borders the governorates ofDohuk,Kirkuk,Erbil,Saladin, andAnbar. It also shares a border withSyria, mostlyAl-Hasakah Governorate, andDeir ez-Zor Governorate.
Nineveh Governorate comprises nine districts (excludingAqrah), listed below with their areas[19] and populations as estimated in 2018:[20]
| No. | District | Name in Arabic | Population in 2018 | Area in sq. km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Mosul | الموصل | 1,905,174 | 4,318 |
| 2. | Tel Afar | تلعفر | 511,004 | 4,286 |
| 3. | Sinjar | سنجار | 325,816 | 3,576 |
| 4. | Al-Hamdaniya | الحمدانية | 210,601 | 740.6 |
| 5. | Tel Keppe | تلكيف | 210,263 | 1,218 |
| 6. | Makhmūr | مخمور | 209,545 | 2,682 |
| 7. | Al-Ba'aj | البعاج | 179,520 | 8,359 |
| 8. | Al-Hadar (Hatra) | الحضر | 59,429 | 11,130 |
| 9. | Shekhan | شيخان | 43,984 | 466 |
| Total | 3,729,998 | 36,700 |
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| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 1,105,700 | — |
| 1987 | 1,479,430 | +2.95% |
| 1997 | 2,042,852 | +3.28% |
| 2009 | 3,106,948 | +3.56% |
| 2018 | 3,729,998 | +2.05% |
| Source: Citypopulation[21] | ||
Nineveh Province is multiethnic, withArabs constituting the majority,[22] whileAssyrians,Turkmens,Kurds, andYazidis who live in both in towns and cities, and in their own specific villages and regions, constitute the minority. There are also manyArmenians,Kawliya,Mandeans, andShabaks.
The majority areSunni Muslim, with 80% of theArabs andTurkmens being Sunni Muslim, as wellKurds also being Sunni Muslim. About 5–10% of the population isShia Muslim. Generally,Yazidis,Shabaks andMandeans are followers of their respective heritage religions,Yazidism,Shabakism, andMandaeism.
The primary spoken language isArabic. Minority languages includeTurkmen,Neo-Aramaic dialects,Kurdish (predominantlyKurmanji) andArmenian.
Many Assyrian leaders advocate an autonomousAssyrian homeland within the Nineveh Province (mostly in theNineveh Plains region) for theAssyrian population.[23]
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