The Tigris River flows through Baghdad before joining the Euphrates in the Shatt al-Arab.
The Tigris rises in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey and flows southeast through Turkey and Iraq. It passes through Baghdad, Iraq’s capital, and eventually meets the Euphrates near Al-Qurnah in southern Iraq. Their combined waters form the Shatt al-Arab, which reaches the Persian Gulf.
Together, the Tigris and Euphrates define much of ancient Mesopotamia, a region whose name means “land between rivers.” Early urban civilizations, including Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria, depended on irrigation from this river system. The two rivers are often confused because they run through the same historic region, but Baghdad is specifically associated with the Tigris.