Al-Samawa (Arabic: السماوة‎), a city in southern Iraq, located on the banks of the Euphrates and is the administrative center of the Muthanna governorate, formed in 1975. The city is located 280 km southeast of the country’s capital, Baghdad. As of 2005, the population of the city is estimated at 250 thousand inhabitants.

Geographic location
Al-Samawa is located in the northern part of the Muthanna governorate, on both banks of the Euphrates River, through which four bridges are laid. The city is located between the capital of the country – Baghdad and the main port city of the country – Basra, which determines its great strategic importance.

History and Landmarks
Es-Samava was founded around the 3rd century AD. e. Kuda’a tribe, which was part of the ancient kingdom of Himyar, which existed around 110 BC. e. – 599 in the south of the Arabian Peninsula. The Kuda’a tribe was previously located on the territory of Yemen, but subsequently left it and settled on the border of Iraq, in the semi-desert of Samawa.
The city is built on both banks of the Euphrates River and is connected by four bridges in the center. The West Bank is the commercial heart of the city, including the old city and the Jewish quarter, agd al yahood. Here is the covered market Suq Al Masgoof, built during the Ottoman Empire. The old town has its roots in the Byzantine period and is a labyrinth of busy streets and markets.
The eastern side of the city has a more modern look and includes a row of houses built in the 1970s and 1980s, a stadium where the local football team FC Samava plays its home matches, as well as technical and polytechnical colleges and Qushla – the historical “Ottoman barracks”.
The most famous attraction of Samava is the ruins of the ancient Sumerian city of Uruk, which date back to 4000 BC. e. It was the largest city in Sumer. Uruk was not only the largest agglomeration of the first urban civilization on earth, but also the site of the discovery of the first written artifact, dated to 3300 BC.
Samava is surrounded by hundreds of palm groves that create a tropical atmosphere, especially in the southern and northern suburbs. These groves provide coolness in the scorching heat of Mesopotamia.
25 km north of the city center is a large salt lake called Sava, next to which is tourist camp, now fallen into disrepair. The lake has no obvious source, and the water is extremely salty due to strong evaporation in the burning heat of Mesopotamia, living organisms do not survive in it. The unique feature of the lake is that the water level in it is higher than the ground level.

Muthanna Province is known for having one of the harshest prisons in Iraq, in use since the days of the monarchy (1921-1958). Nigret Al Salman is located in the small town of As-Salman, 200 km south of Samawa. The prison is built in the form of a fort in which thousands of people died over the decades. It was used to house Kurdish prisoners who participated in the first Kurdish uprisings of the 1950s.
In 1964, the people of Samawa gained notoriety for rescuing more than 1,000 Iraqi Communist Party political prisoners who were sent on the “Death Train” (qutar al maut) from Baghdad to Nigret Al Salman Prison in 50-degree heat. The train was attacked by the inhabitants of the city at the railway station, dehydrated prisoners were released from the cars, watered and fed. More than 100 prisoners had already died by that time.
The barn on the eastern bank of the Samava is a historical symbol of power in the city. It dates from the period of Ottoman occupation and has been at the epicenter of local uprisings in the last century, in particular in 1991, when hundreds of prisoners, including women and children, as well as Kuwaiti hostages kidnapped by Iraqi occupying forces in 1990, were freed by the inhabitants of the city..
Samava’s medical facilities have improved significantly since 2003. The refurbishment of the central hospital with the help of Japanese development funds has led to an improvement in the health care of the people of the province.
During the invasion of Iraq by coalition forces in 2003, the city, populated mainly by Shiites – opponents of Saddam Hussein’s regime – practically did not resist, there is practically no insurgent activity here.
Elements of the US 82nd Airborne Division and 1st Armored Division took the city in the Battle of Samawa against the Fedayeen in the early days of the invasion. City administration was handed over to Dutch troops in August 2003, and in October 2004 to the British Army.
On December 24, 2006, 9 people, including 4 police officers. It was reported that local members of the Mahdi Army attempted to take over the city, but were resisted by the police, who were assisted by the Badr organization.

Religion
The city is mostly populated by Shiites. However, historically Samava had a significant percentage of the Jewish population, but in the 1940s and 1950s, the Jews, persecuted by Arab nationalists, mostly left the city. Today, a small diaspora of Assyrian Christians remains in the city.

Industry
Unemployment in the city is high, although agriculture and mining are booming. The city, despite the lack of costly natural resources such as oil and gas and the lack of investment from the central government, has been able to maintain its industrial and agricultural sectors.
In the 1970s, the largest cement plants in the Middle East were built in Samawa with a total production capacity of 2.85 million tons per year. Now they, except for the Southern Cement Plant, are inactive. Five new cement plants with a capacity of 9 million tons per year are being built on the outskirts of the city, they will provide employment for several thousand skilled and unskilled workers, as well as provide 45% of Iraq’s total cement needs.
A small refinery was opened in the city in 2005 after 15 years of inactivity. The main advantage of the plant is that it is designed to process heavy oil, which allows light oil to be sent for export.
Es Samawa has a railway yard for overhaul and maintenance of rolling stock on the Baghdad-Basra railway routes. The station is conveniently located halfway between Baghdad and Basra. The overhaul of railway facilities is an important source of jobs.
From the point of view of agriculture, the main products of Mesopotamia – dates, wheat, barley, citrus fruits, tomatoes – are grown in Samawa. In addition, rare wild truffles grow in the vicinity of the city.
Bahr al Milh, or the Salt Sea, is located 20 km southwest of Samawa and is the main source of industrial salts in Iraq. Also on the outskirts of the city there are enterprises for the production of bricks and the manufacture of carpets. Weaving develops due to the availability of cheap raw materials – wool from the Bedouins of the desert, who use Samawa as their main trading post, and also due to the availability of cheap labor in this poor city.

Notable natives
Khalid al-Maaly is an Arab writer, poet and publicist.
Al-Samawi Yahya (Yahia al-Samawy) – a famous poet of Iraqi origin, living in Australia
Al-Mutanabbi is one of the most prominent Arabic poets.
Shaker Hasan al Said – artist, one of the first representatives of modern Iraqi art, co-founder of the “Baghdad Group” of contemporary art