Assyrian homeland: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Assyrian state proposed during World War I.jpg|thumb|250ppx|The "Assyrian triangle"]] |
[[File:Assyrian state proposed during World War I.jpg|thumb|250ppx|The "Assyrian triangle"]] |
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The '''Assyrian homeland''' refers to a geographic and cultural region inhabited traditionally by the [[Assyrian people]]. |
The '''Assyrian homeland''' refers to a geographic and cultural region inhabited traditionally by the [[Assyrian people]].{{cn}} [[Iran]] and [[Turkey]]. |
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The Assyrian-inhabited area of Iraq is located in the [[Ninawa Governorate|Ninawa]]-[[Mosul]] region in [[Northern Iraq]] where the biblical Assyrian capital of [[Nineveh]] was located.<ref> Minorities in the Middle East: a history of struggle and self-expression By Mordechai Nisan</ref> This area is known as the "Assyrian Triangle."<ref>The Origins of War: From the Stone Age to Alexander the Great By Arther Ferrill - Page 70</ref> |
The Assyrian-inhabited area of Iraq is located in the [[Ninawa Governorate|Ninawa]]-[[Mosul]] region in [[Northern Iraq]] where the biblical Assyrian capital of [[Nineveh]] was located.<ref> Minorities in the Middle East: a history of struggle and self-expression By Mordechai Nisan</ref> This area is known as the "Assyrian Triangle."<ref>The Origins of War: From the Stone Age to Alexander the Great By Arther Ferrill - Page 70</ref> |
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The Assyrian homeland is the part of [[Roman Syria]] and [[Sassanid]] [[Persian Mesopotamia|Mesopotamia]] that retained a significant Christian population following the [[Islamic_conquest_of_Persia#First_conquest_of_Iraq_.28633.29|Islamic conquest of Iraq]], [[Upper Mesopotamia]] having had an established structure of dioceses by AD 500.<ref>Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I By David Gaunt - p. 9, map p. 10.</ref> |
The Assyrian homeland is the part of [[Roman Syria]] and [[Sassanid]] [[Persian Mesopotamia|Mesopotamia]] that retained a significant Christian population following the [[Islamic_conquest_of_Persia#First_conquest_of_Iraq_.28633.29|Islamic conquest of Iraq]], [[Upper Mesopotamia]] having had an established structure of dioceses by AD 500.<ref>Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I By David Gaunt - p. 9, map p. 10.</ref> |
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===20th century=== |
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Today, Assyrians are believed to form a slight majority in two [[Ninewa]] counties, [[Tel Kaif]] and [[Al-Hamdaniya]]. |
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Since the fall of the Iraqi [[Baath Party]], and in the face of violence against the Christian community, there has been a growing movement for [[Assyrian independence]]. |
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==Geography== |
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The Assyrian homeland includes [[Upper Mesopotamia]] between [[Syria]] and [[Northern Iraq]], including Iraq's [[Ninawa Governorate|Ninawa]], [[Dahuk Governorate|Dohuk]] and [[Arbil]] provinces, and it historically also extends to [[Iranian Azerbaijan]] and [[Turkey]]'s [[Southeastern Anatolia Region]]. |
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Other ethnic groups that live in the region are [[Arabs]], [[Kurds]], and [[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmen]]. |
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==Demographics== |
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{{see|List of Assyrian settlements|List of Assyrian tribes}} |
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Assyrian populations are distributed between the Assyrian homeland and the [[Assyrian diaspora]]. There are no official statistics, and estimates vary greatly, between less than one and more than four million, mostly due to the uncertainty of the number of Assyrians in [[Iraq]]. Since the 2003 [[Iraq war]], Iraqi Assyrians have been dislocated to [[Syria]] in significant but unknown numbers. The diaspora population accounts for roughly 300,000 people, the largest diaspora community in the [[Near East]] being in [[Jordan]], and the largest oversea communities found in the [[Assyrians/Syriacs in the United States|United States]] and in [[Assyrians/Syriacs in Sweden|Sweden]]. |
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==History== |
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{{main|History of the Assyrian people|History of Syriac Christianity}} |
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===Ancient period=== |
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{{main|Mesopotamia|Levant|Roman Syria|Persian Assyria}} |
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Assyrians are [[Aramaic]]-speaking, descending from the [[pre-Islamic]] inhabitants of [[Mesopotamia]]. The [[Old Aramaic language]] was adopted by the population of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] from around the [[8th century BC]], and it remained in wide use throughout the Levant and Mesopotamia throughout the [[Persian Empire|Persian]] and [[Byzantine Empire|Roman]] periods. |
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===Early Christian period=== |
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{{main|Syriac Christianity}} |
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The first division between Syriac Christians occurred in the 5th century, when Christians of the [[Sassanid Empire|Sassanid Persian Empire]] were separated from those in the west over the [[Nestorian Schism]]. This split owed just as much to the politics of the day as it did to theological orthodoxy. [[Ctesiphon]], which was at the time the Sassanid capital, became the capital of the [[Assyrian Church of the East|Church of the East]]. |
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After the [[Council of Chalcedon]] in 451, many Syriac Christians within the [[Roman Empire]] rebelled against its decisions. The Patriarchate of Antioch was then divided between a Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian communion. The Chalcedonians were often labelled 'Melkites' (Emperor's Party), while their opponents were labelled as [[Monophysite]]s (those who believe in the one rather than two natures of Christ) and [[Jacobite Orthodox Church|Jacobite]]s (after [[Jacob Baradaeus]]). The [[Maronite]] Church found itself caught between the two, but claims to have always remained faithful to the Catholic Church and in communion with the bishop of Rome, the Pope. |
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===Middle Ages=== |
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Both Syriac Christianity and the Aramaic language came under pressure following the [[Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia]] in the 7th century, and Syriac Christians throughout the Middle Ages were subjected to [[Arabization|Arabizing]] [[superstrate]] influence. |
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===Early modern period=== |
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Syria and Upper Mesopotamia became part of the [[Ottoman Empire]] in the 16th century, following the conquests of [[Suleiman the Magnificent]]. |
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===Modern period=== |
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After World War I, the Assyrian homeland was divided between the [[British Mandate of Mesopotamia]], which would become the [[Kingdom of Iraq]] in 1932, and the [[French Mandate of Syria]] which would become the [[Syrian Arab Republic]] in 1944. |
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Assyrians faced reprisals under the [[Hashemite]] monarchy for co-operating with the British during the years after World War I, and most fled to the West. The Patriarch Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII, though born into the line of Patriarchs at Qochanis, was educated in Britain. For a time he sought a homeland for the Assyrians in Iraq but was forced to take refuge in [[Cyprus]] in 1933, later moving to Chicago, Illinois, and finally settling near San Francisco, California. The present Patriarch of Babylon is based in Chicago, and less than 1 million of the world's 4.5 million Assyrians remain in Iraq. |
Assyrians faced reprisals under the [[Hashemite]] monarchy for co-operating with the British during the years after World War I, and most fled to the West. The Patriarch Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII, though born into the line of Patriarchs at Qochanis, was educated in Britain. For a time he sought a homeland for the Assyrians in Iraq but was forced to take refuge in [[Cyprus]] in 1933, later moving to Chicago, Illinois, and finally settling near San Francisco, California. The present Patriarch of Babylon is based in Chicago, and less than 1 million of the world's 4.5 million Assyrians remain in Iraq. |
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Revision as of 07:29, 1 May 2010
 | This article possibly contains original research. |
The Assyrian homeland refers to a geographic and cultural region inhabited traditionally by the Assyrian people.[citation needed] Iran and Turkey.
The Assyrian-inhabited area of Iraq is located in the Ninawa-Mosul region in Northern Iraq where the biblical Assyrian capital of Nineveh was located.[1] This area is known as the "Assyrian Triangle."[2]
The Assyrian homeland is the part of Roman Syria and Sassanid Mesopotamia that retained a significant Christian population following the Islamic conquest of Iraq, Upper Mesopotamia having had an established structure of dioceses by AD 500.[3]
20th century
Assyrians faced reprisals under the Hashemite monarchy for co-operating with the British during the years after World War I, and most fled to the West. The Patriarch Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII, though born into the line of Patriarchs at Qochanis, was educated in Britain. For a time he sought a homeland for the Assyrians in Iraq but was forced to take refuge in Cyprus in 1933, later moving to Chicago, Illinois, and finally settling near San Francisco, California. The present Patriarch of Babylon is based in Chicago, and less than 1 million of the world's 4.5 million Assyrians remain in Iraq.
The Chaldean community was less numerous at the time of the British Mandate of Palestine, and did not play a major role in the British rule of the country. However with the exodus of Church of the East members, the Chaldean Catholic Church became the largest non-Muslim group in Iraq, and some later rose to power in the Ba'ath Party government, the most prominent being Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.
See also
References
- ^ Minorities in the Middle East: a history of struggle and self-expression By Mordechai Nisan
- ^ The Origins of War: From the Stone Age to Alexander the Great By Arther Ferrill - Page 70
- ^ Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I By David Gaunt - p. 9, map p. 10.