The Tigris River flows through Baghdad and empties into the Shatt al-Arab.
The Tigris rises in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey and travels generally southeast through Turkey and Iraq. It passes through or near major Iraqi cities including Mosul, Tikrit, Samarra, and Baghdad. Near the city of al-Qurnah, the Tigris joins the Euphrates to form the Shatt al-Arab, which reaches the Persian Gulf.
Together, the Tigris and Euphrates define Mesopotamia, a region whose name means “between rivers.” Their waters supported irrigation, cities, and states including Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria. Baghdad, founded in 762 under the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur, grew beside the Tigris and became a major centre of scholarship and trade.
The Tigris is shorter and generally more prone to sudden flooding than the Euphrates. Modern dams, irrigation schemes, pollution, and reduced water flows have created major environmental and political challenges throughout the basin.