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 Pronounced
as: mosl, mosool , Arab. al Mawsil lies on the Tigris River, opposite the
ruins of Nineveh. Mosul is Iraq's third largest city and is situated
396km north of Baghdad. The city was an important trade centre in the
Abbasid era, because of its strategic position on the caravan route
between India, Persia and the Mediterranean.
Probably built on the site of an earlier Assyrian fortress, Mosul
succeeded Nineveh as the Tigris bridgehead of the road that linked Syria
and Anatolia with Persia.
 By the 8th century
AD
it had become the principal city of northern Mesopotamia. In succeeding
centuries a number of independent dynasties ruled the
city, which reached
its political zenith under the Zangid dynasty (AD
1127–1222) and under Sultan Badr ad-Din Lu'lu' (reigned
1222–59). Famous schools of metalwork and miniature painting arose
in Mosul at this time, but the region's prosperity ended in 1258 when the
Mongols under Hülegü ravaged it.
The city remained poor and shabby
through its occupation by the Persians (1508). The Ottoman Turks ruled the
region from 1534 to 1918, during which time Mosul became a trade centre of
the Ottoman Empire and the headquarters of a political subdivision. Under
the British occupation and mandate (1918-32) it regained its stature as
the chief city of the region. Its possession by Iraq was disputed by
Turkey (1923-25) but was confirmed by the League of Nations (1926).
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