| Anbar Governorate محافظة الأنبار Anbar Province |
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|---|---|
| — Province — | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Iraq |
| Capital | Ramadi |
| Governor | Qasim Mohammad Abid Hammadi al-Fahadawi |
| Area | |
| • Total | 138,228 km2 (53,370.1 sq mi) |
| Population (2011 Estimate) | |
| • Total | 1,300,000 |
Al Anbar Governorate (Arabic: الأنبار; al-’Anbār) (or Anbar Province) is the largest province in Iraq geographically. Encompassing much of the country's western territory, it shares borders with Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. The provincial capital is Ramadi, other important cities include Fallujah and Haditha. The province was known as Dulaim Province until 1962 when it was changed to Ramadi Province. In 1976 it was renamed Al Anbar Province.
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The name of the province originally comes from Persian. Anbār (انبار) is a Persian word meaning "arsenal", originally from the Middle Persian Ambarag. The province was named as such because it was the primary entrepôt on the western borders of the Lakhmid Kingdom.
Much of Al Anbar province consists of the Syrian Desert. The region's geography is a combination of steppe and true desert characterised by a desert climate, low rainfall and a large variation in temperature between day and night. Summer temperatures rise to 42 degrees Celsius, whilst in the winter average lows reach 9 degrees Celsius. The northwesterly and southwesterly winds are sometimes to a maximum speed of 21 m / sec. Average rainfall in winter to 115mm.
The most important agricultural crops in Al-Anbar are wheat, potatoes, autumn, barley, maize and vegetables and fodder. There are also a large number of orchards and the province has 2.5 million palm trees. Agriculture depends on perfusion or through the rivers and the wells and the rains.
The Euphrates River flows diagonally from the north to the southeast, passing through six of the seven districts:
In the 1920s, the province had 250,000 people from a total population in Iraq of 2 million. It is believed that the total population of Anbar was between 2 to 6 million people in the 1960s but there is no precise sources because Anbar was a dangerous area at that time and the majority of the residents lived on the banks of the Euphrates River outside cities and the towns, however there were between 1.9 million and 2.9 million inhabitants in the other districts of Al Anbar.[1]
According to UN statistics in 2003 the population of Al Anbar is 1,230,169.[2]
There are no precise estimates of the population which include all of the cities and towns and villages in Anbar. According to a 2003 estimate by the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq, the population was 1,230,140.
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| Syria | Ninawa Governorate | Salah ad Din Governorate | ||
| Mafraq Governorate | Baghdad Governorate Babil Governorate |
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| Al Anbar Governorate | ||||
| Northern Borders Province | Karbala Governorate Najaf Governorate |
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