 Marsh Arabs on a boat. | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 6 to 8 millions descendants (based on population in 1950)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Iraq | 85,000 (6 million descendants in Governorate of Meysan, Basra and Dhi Qar regions of Mesopotamian Marsh) |
 Iran | 120,000 (1.6 million with descendants in Khuzestani Marshland and Iraqi refugees)[1] |
| Languages | |
| South Mesopotamian Arabic | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Twelver Shia Islam[2] | |
The Marsh Arabs (Arabic: عرب الأهوار ʻArab al-Ahwār "Arabs of the Marshlands"), also referred to as Ahwaris, the Maʻdān (Arabic: معدان "dweller in the plains") or Shroog[3] (Mesopotamian Arabic: شروگ "those from the east")—the latter two often considered derogatory in the present day—are Arab inhabitants of the Mesopotamian marshlands in the modern-day south Iraq, as well as in the Hawizeh Marshes straddling the Iraq-Iran border.[4]
Comprising members of many different tribes and tribal confederations, such as the Āl Bū Muḥammad, Ferayghāt, Shaghanbah, Ahwaris had developed a culture centered on the marshes' natural resources and unique from other Arabs. Many of the marshes' inhabitants were displaced when the wetlands were drained during and after the 1991 uprisings in Iraq. The draining of the marshes caused a significant decline in bioproductivity; following the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime, water flow to the marshes was restored and the ecosystem has begun to recover.[5]
- ^ a b USAID Archived 2014-11-11 at the Wayback Machine, iraqmarshes.org
- ^ Thesiger, p.127
- ^ Williams, Victoria (2020). Indigenous peoples: an encyclopedia of culture, history, and threats to survival. Santa Barbara, California. p. 706. ISBN 978-1-4408-6118-5. OCLC 1108783575.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Graham, Lloyd (2021). ""Bad Shepherds" of the Eastern Delta". Humanities Commons. doi:10.17613/VSN0-TJ43. Retrieved 2022-09-12.
- ^ U.S. National Aeornautics and Space Administration. 2008