Basra (Arabic: ٱلْبَصْرَة, romanized: al-Baṣrah, Kurdish: بەسڕە, Romanized: Basra) is a city in southern Iraq located on the Shatt al-Arab in the Arabian Peninsula. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is handled at the port of Umm Qasr. However, there is ongoing construction of Grand Faw Port on the coast of Basra, which is considered a national project for Iraq and will become one of the largest ports in the world and the largest in the Middle East, in addition, the port will strengthen Iraq’s geopolitical position in the region and the world. Furthermore, Iraq is planning to establish large naval base in the Faw peninsula. Historically, the city is one of the ports from which the fictional Sinbad the Sailor journeyed. The city was built in 636 and has played an important role in Islamic Golden Age. Basra is consistently one of the hottest cities in Iraq, with summer temperatures regularly exceeding 50 °C (122 °F). In April 2017, the Iraqi Parliament recognized Basra as Iraq's economic capital.
