"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [ظ‎‎٢‎٥‎٢] (٨٦٢/٥٠٩)

380 DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION
the nineteenth century. The Shammar Toqa below Baghdad are
other relatively recent converts to Shiism.
The northern fringe of the Shia region along the Diyala and the
Euphrates canals is a zone of transition from Shia to Sunni. Near the
Yezidis (Y)
Province
Sunnis
Shias
Christians
Jews
Sabians (S)
Mosul
268,844
18,997
83,490
12,492
33,828 (Y)
Erbil
99,670
220
4,301
4,247
39 (S)
Kirkuk
122,610
11,204
5,336
3,452
• •
Sulaimaniya
101,282
475
i ,777
Baghdad .
192,187
96,165
29,268
4 U 725
272 (S)
Diyala
43,086
39 , 32 i
466
3,024
1 (S)
Kut.
2,569
H 7,344
97
452
60 (S)
Diwaniya
3,388
337 ,o 83
79
887
43 (S)
Karbala .
485
106,804
1
56
Hilla
2,270
207,000
122
2,221
Dulaim
129,856
474
677
1,244
56 (S)
Basra
53,752
182,381
8,753
11,972
604 (S)
Amara
4,497
255,995
2,519
3,707
3,659 (S)
Muntafiq .
3,337
221,545
9 i
746
1,274 (S)
(Southern Desert)
2,000
18,000
Total
1,029,833
1,612,533
135,675
88,002
33,828 (Y)
6,008 (S)
Euphrates east and north of Musaiyib Sunni sections are found in
such tribes as the Zubaid, Jannabiyin, and the former Zoba confedera
tion. Along the Saqlawiya and Abu Ghuraib canals the Sunni element
is probably increasing in strength because the new settlers are drawn
from the Sunni confederations of Dulaim and even Shammar. In
Baghdad province, which includes much of the canal zone, Sunnis
outnumber Shias by 2 to 1; Baghdad itself is a Sunni city with a large
Shia element, but Kadhimain is a Shia town.
In the western desert, along the Euphrates in Dulaim province, and
in the Jazira north of the canals the tribes are Sunni. The settled
population of the Tigris valley above Baghdad is more mixed as
far as Samarra, which is a Shia sanctuary. The Arabs of the right
bank are mostly Sunnis and those of the left bank almost up to the
confluence of the Adhaim are Shias; thence the tribesmen from the
Ubaid northwards are the Sunni descendants of former beduin tribes.
North of the Jabal Hamrin, in the four provinces of the Assyrian
plains and the Kurdish mountains, the Shias amount barely to 5 per
cent, of the Moslem population. They are apparently confined to the
two provinces of Kirkuk and Mosul and may include the Qizilbashi