The Tigris flows through Baghdad before joining the Euphrates at Al-Qurnah. The confluence forms the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which continues southward to the Persian Gulf. Together, the Tigris and Euphrates define the historic region known as Mesopotamia, meaning “land between rivers.”
The Tigris rises in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey and runs generally southeast through Turkey and Iraq. Baghdad, founded in 762 under the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur, was established on the Tigris and became a major center of scholarship, trade, and administration. The river was central to the city's transport, agriculture, and water supply.
The river system has changed through floods, irrigation projects, dams, and shifting channels. Although the Tigris and Euphrates are often discussed together, they are separate rivers for most of their courses. Their shared lower waterway is particularly important for southern Iraq, where wetlands and marshes depend on the region's freshwater flow.