The Tigris River flows through Baghdad and joins the Euphrates to form the Shatt al-Arab.
The Tigris rises in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey and runs southeast through Turkey and Iraq. It passes through or near major historic cities including Mosul, Samarra, Baghdad, and Kut. Near Al-Qurnah in southern Iraq, it meets the Euphrates; the combined river then flows toward the Persian Gulf.
Together, the Tigris and Euphrates define much of Mesopotamia, a region whose name means “land between rivers.” Irrigation supported early urban societies there, including Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian states. Baghdad was founded on the Tigris in 762 under the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur.
The Tigris is sometimes confused with the Euphrates because the rivers share a basin and converge. The Euphrates is longer, while the Tigris generally carries more water. Both rivers remain vital to agriculture, cities, ecosystems, and water politics in the region.