Iraq Governorates

Iraq is a country of two rivers, and almost every governorate is placed by them. The Tigris and the Euphrates run from the north-west and the north-east towards the Gulf, the capital sits where they come closest, and the 19 governorates stack along them. The map most quizzes still use has 18. Halabja, on the Iranian border, was made a governorate of its own in 2014, and this game draws the 19 of today.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: The north, the centre, the Kurdistan Region and the south
In the game: 19 governorates

Start

What you are looking at

Iraq is divided into 19 governorates (muhafazat). Fifteen are run from Baghdad. Four, Duhok, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Halabja, make up the Kurdistan Region, which has its own parliament and government.

Halabja is the newest, and the smallest of the Kurdish four. It was a district of Sulaymaniyah until 2014, and files that still draw it that way show 18.

The sizes are very uneven. Al-Anbar, the desert governorate in the west, is nearly a third of the country, and Baghdad, Babil and Karbala together are a fraction of it.

How to place one

Start with Baghdad. The capital is a small governorate in the middle of the country, and Anbar, Salah al-Din, Diyala, Wasit and Babil all touch it.
Follow the Euphrates south-east. Babil, Karbala, Najaf, Al-Qadisiyah, Dhi Qar and Muthanna are the river's belt, with the shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf close together at the western edge.
Then the Tigris. From Ninawa down through Salah al-Din, Baghdad, Wasit and Maysan, the other river runs through the governorates in that order.
The south is a corner. Basra is the only governorate on the coast, a few tens of kilometres wide at the head of the Gulf.
The Kurdish four sit against Iran and Turkey. Duhok is the north-western tip, Erbil is in the middle, and Sulaymaniyah and Halabja lie along the eastern border.

Every governorate, by group

North4 governorates: Diyala, Kirkuk, Nineveh, Salah al-Din
Centre5 governorates: Al-Anbar, Babil, Baghdad, Karbala, Wasit
Kurdistan Region4 governorates: Duhok, Erbil, Halabja, Sulaymaniyah
South-west3 governorates: Al-Najaf, Al-Qadisiyah, Muthanna
South3 governorates: Basra, Dhi Qar, Maysan

Worked examples

Al-Anbar

The biggest of them

Al-Anbar fills the whole west of the country and reaches the borders of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, but most of it is desert and the towns are strung along the Euphrates in its north-east corner.

Halabja

The newest of them

Halabja was split from Sulaymaniyah in 2014 and sits on the Iranian border. It is small enough at the size the whole country fits that the game gives it a tap area.

Baghdad

The one everyone starts from

Baghdad is the capital and a governorate of its own, with Anbar to the west, Salah al-Din to the north, Diyala and Wasit to the east and Babil to the south.