Al-Qurnah

Al-Qurnah (Kurnah or Qurna, meaning connection/joint in Arabic) is a town in southern Iraq about 74 km northwest of Basra, that lies within the conglomeration of Nahairat.

[11] The town experienced the Battle of Qurna during the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I, when the British defeated Ottoman troops who had retreated from Basra in 1914.

[12] The Battle of Qurna secured the British front line in Southern Mesopotamia, thereby protecting Basra and the oil refineries at Abadan in Persia (now Iran).

[13] In 1977, Thor Heyerdahl sailed a reed boat from al Qurnah to show that migration between Mesopotamia with the Indus Valley civilization was possible.

[16][17] After the First Gulf War (1991), the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein diverted river water away from the local marshes causing them to become completely desiccated.

View of Al-Qurnah in 1885 (Ridpath)
River rafts loaded with antiquities floating down River Tigris (V Place, 1867)
1994 map of the Al Qurnah area showing drainage of Marshes
Al Qurnah is said to be location of the Tree of Knowledge .
Flag of Iraq
Flag of Iraq