Mesopotamia (Seanathan)

Part of Timeline (Seanathan)

Mesopotamia (Arabic: الرافدين), officially the Federation of Mesopotamia (Arabic: اتحاد بلاد ما بين النهرين), is a country in Western Asia. The capital and largest city is Baghdad. Mesopotamia is home to diverse ethnic groups including Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, and Assyrians. Around 89% of the country's 38 million citizens were Muslims in 2040, with small minorities of Christians, Alawites, Druze, Isma'ilis, Yarsans, Yezidis and Mandeans also present. The official language of Mesopotamia is Arabic.

Geography and History
Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Mesopotamia and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. The name Mesopotamia itself originally referred to the fertile valley between these rivers, often referred to as the cradle of civilization. Humanity first began to read, write, create laws and live in organized societies within the area.

Mesopotamia was the core of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian empires during ancient times.

This area changed hands over the next millenia, becoming a part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Seljuk, Mongol, Timurid, Safavid, Afsharid and Ottoman empires.

Following the first world war, this area was split between a French mandate (Syria) and a British mandate (Iraq).

In 1945, Syria gained independence. The following years were turbulent with many military coups and coup attempts shaking the country from 1949 to 1971. In 1958, Syria entered a brief union with Egypt called the United Arab Republic, which was terminated by the 1961 Syrian coup d'état. A Baathist government ruled until the mid 21st century.

Iraq gained freedom in 1932 as a kingdom, which was overthrown in favor of a socialist Baathist government in 1958. After a war with Iran in the 1980s, the government was overthrown in 2003 by the United States. This led to the Iraqi insurgency and the establishment of several Islamic terrorists.

In 2023, Iraq was partitioned in three between a Shi'a state, a Sunni state, and Kurdistan.

The Syrian civil war from 2011 to 2029 resulted in a win for the Arab Baathist government. However, the nation became less centralized and local groups like the Kurds and Alawites got greater autonomy.

As a result of World War 3, in which Syria and Sunni Iraq sided with the losing side, Mesopotamia was formed between them both. A year later, Shi'a Iraq joined the federation.

Kuwait was annexed into the federation in 2059.

In 2092, Mesopotamia and the Arabian Federation merged to form the Unitary Republic of the Mashriq.

In 2156, Mashriq became a founding member of the Terran Federation.

Population
2039- 80,155,199

2050- 106,069,450

2075- 121,437,600

Religion
* Including Alawites and Ismaili Muslims.

** Including Druze, Yazidi, and Jewish.