Erbil
[key], city and capital of Kurdistan Region, N Iraq. A commercial,
agricultural, and administrative center with a predominantly Kurdish
population, it is one of the world's oldest continually settled towns. The
ancient Sumerian and Assyrian city of Urbillum (Arbela) was on this site. The oldest
section of the city, at the heart of of modern Erbil, is on an artificial
mound surmounted by an old Turkish fort. Since 1992 Erbil has been one of
the main towns of Iraq's Kurdish region, and it became the capital of a
unified Kurdish autonomous region in 2006.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Iraq Political Geography
