Located near the Iran–Iraq border at the north-easternmost extent of the Arabian Peninsula, the city is situated along the banks of the Shatt al-Arab that empties into the Persian Gulf.

After the Iraq war ended, Basra experienced a period of prosperity and development, with numerous reconstruction projects funded by foreign investments.

[3] The city was founded at the beginning of the Islamic era in 636 and began as a garrison encampment for Arab tribesmen constituting the armies of the Rashidun Caliph Umar.

While defeating the forces of the Sassanid Empire there, the Muslim commander Utbah ibn Ghazwan erected his camp on the site of an old Persian military settlement called Vaheštābād Ardašīr, which was destroyed by the Arabs.

[6] Abu Musa led the conquest of Khuzestan from 639 to 642, and was ordered by Umar to aid Uthman ibn Abi al-As, then fighting Iran from a new, more easterly miṣr at Tawwaj.

Indeed, in an anecdote related by al-Baladhuri, al-Ahnaf ibn Qays pleaded to the caliph Umar that, whereas other Muslim settlers were established in well-watered areas with extensive farmland, the people of Basra had only "reedy salt marsh which never dries up and where pasture never grows, bounded on the east by brackish water and on the west by waterless desert.

"[7] Nevertheless, Basra overcame these natural disadvantages and rapidly grew into the second-largest city in Iraq, if not the entire Islamic world.

[7] The result of these investments was a massive irrigation system covering some 57,000 hectares between the Shatt al-Arab and the now-dry western channel of the Tigris.

[7] Ultimately, Basra's irrigation canals were unsustainable, because they were built at too little of a slope for the water flow to carry salt deposits away.

After Basra was sacked in by Zanj rebels in the late 800s and then by the Qarmatians in the early 900s, there was no financial incentive to invest in restoring the irrigation system, and the infrastructure was almost completely abandoned.

Finally, in the late 900s, the city of Basra was entirely relocated, with the old site being abandoned and a new one developing on the banks of the Shatt al-Arab, where it has remained ever since.

Ibn Battuta visited Basra in the 14th century, noting it "was renowned throughout the whole world, spacious in area and elegant in its courts, remarkable for its numerous fruit-gardens and its choice fruits, since it is the meeting place of the two seas, the salt and the fresh.

In 1524, following Ismail I's death, the local ruling dynasty of Basra, the Al-Mughamis, resumed effective control over the city.

British officials and engineers (including Sir George Buchanan) subsequently modernized Basra's harbor, which due to the increased commercial activity in the area became one of the most important ports in the Persian Gulf, developing new mercantile links with India and East Asia.

[citation needed] As part of the Iraqi no-fly zones conflict, United States Air Force fighter jets carried out two airstrikes against Basra on 25 January 1999.

[25] This was described by Iraqi information minister Human Abdel-Khaliq[d] as giving U.S.-led forces "an Arab green card" to continue their involvement in the conflict.

[citation needed] They held a two-day strike in August 2003, and formed the nucleus of the independent General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE) in June 2004.

[29] The Multi-National Division (South-East), under British command, was engaged in foreign internal defense missions in Basra Governorate and surrounding areas during this time.

[29] American journalist Steven Vincent, who had been researching and reporting on corruption and militia activity in the city, was kidnapped and killed on 2 August 2005.

[30] On 19 September 2005, two undercover British Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers were stopped by the Iraqi Police at a roadblock in Basra.

[29] The British Ministry of Defence initially denied carrying out the operation, which was criticised by Iraqi officials, before subsequently admitting it and claiming the two soldiers would have been executed if they were not rescued.

[34] Major-General Abdul Jalil Khalaf was appointed Police Chief by the central government with the task of taking on the militias.

[25] In April 2008, following the failure to disarm militant groups, both Major-General Abdul Jalil Khalaf and General Mohan Furaiji were removed from their positions in Basra.

[29] At least 10 demonstrators died as they protested against the lack of clean drinking water and electrical power in the city during the height of summer in 2018.

[52] The Sunni Muslim population is small and dropping in their percentage as more Iraqi Shias move into Basra for various job or welfare opportunities.

[51][52][53] However, a significant number of the modern community are refugees fleeing persecution from ISIS in the Nineveh Plains, Mosul, and northern Iraq.

Sinbad Island is located in the centre of Shatt Al-Arab, near the Miinaalmakl, and extends above the Bridge Khaled and is a tourist landmark.

Palm tree forests are largely located on the shores of Shatt-al Arab waterway, especially in the nearby village of Abu Al-Khasib.

[62] Basra is in a fertile agricultural region, with major products including rice, maize corn, barley, pearl millet, wheat, dates, and livestock.

[24] Basra was known in the 1960s for its sugar market, a fact that figured heavily in the English contract law remoteness of damages case The Heron II [1969] 1 AC 350.