Iraq is Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates where Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria built some of the first cities, writing systems, and law codes in human history. Centuries of Persian and Hellenistic rule followed, then the 7th-century Arab-Islamic conquest, then Baghdad's rise from 762 as the Abbasid Caliphate's capital and a genuine golden age of science and philosophy — ended abruptly by the Mongols' catastrophic 1258 sack of the city.
Ottoman rule from 1534 gave way to British mandate after World War I, a monarchy carved from three Ottoman provinces, a republic after 1958, the well-documented Ba'athist era under Saddam Hussein, and the 2003 invasion that eventually produced the current flag, restyled in 2008.
Scope of this page: the land of Mesopotamia and the modern state of Iraq, c. 3100 BCE–present, twelve political entities. The ancient period (Sumer through Assyria) and the long span of Persian and Hellenistic rule before the Arab conquest are each treated as single honest bridging entries, since no single flag can be attributed to either era and false precision would misrepresent how fragmented and multi-power those centuries actually were. No internal governing split within Iraq's own modern borders is traceable across this span with the data available in this session, so the map below traces the whole country rather than an internal partition — see the rule box under the map for why. Part of a larger atlas — see the linked pages at the bottom.
One border, then two: Kurdistan's own government
Iraq's own real border, traced whole, now split to show the one long-running internal division the record does support cleanly: the autonomous Kurdistan Region in the northeast, which has run its own government since the 1970s. Press play, or drag the slider, to watch who held the whole country, then how Kurdistan's own administration diverges.
Iraq's history has two real regional distinctions of note. The Ottoman-era vilayets of Baghdad, Basra, and Mosul each answered to Istanbul as separate provinces for parts of this span, but that three-way split doesn't reduce to this map's simple two-territory adjacency model and isn't shown here. The modern Kurdistan Region is different: it has held its own formal autonomous government since a 1970 agreement with Baghdad, strengthened by the post-Gulf War no-fly zone from 1991, and constitutionally entrenched as a federal region — with its own parliament, presidency, and Peshmerga security forces — under the 2005 constitution. That is shown below from 1970 onward. Its boundary here is a schematic approximation, not a surveyed governorate line: no single, universally agreed administrative border exists along its edge, where a set of disputed territories (Kirkuk chief among them) are claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil, so the line drawn is illustrative only.
c. 3100 BCE
Sumer, Akkad, Babylon & Assyria
Real traced outer border; the Kurdistan Region's internal boundary is a schematic approximation, not a surveyed governorate line — see the rule box above for why.
current flag — the three stars are dropped, script restyled in Kufic, 2008
Who & why: after the 2003 invasion and the fall of Saddam Hussein's government, Iraq's parliament debates the flag repeatedly — a 2004 proposal for an entirely new blue-and-yellow design is abandoned within weeks after public backlash — before finally passing Law No. 9 of 2008, keeping the familiar red-white-black tricolor but standardizing the script and dropping the three green stars associated with the former ruling party.
What it represents: the same red-white-black horizontal tricolor used since 1963, but with Allahu Akbar ("God is greatest") rendered in green Kufic calligraphy rather than Saddam Hussein's own handwriting, and the three stars removed.
Paint guide
Proportions2:3, three equal horizontal bands.
LayoutRed / white / black bands; green Kufic-script Allahu Akbar centered in the white band; no stars.
Red#CE1126
White#F4EFE1
Black#1A1712
Script, green#0B7A3D
Saddam Hussein adds his own handwritten Takbir, 1991; flag unchanged through the 2003 invasion
1991 – 2008
Ba'athist Iraq, and post-invasion continuity
RepublicSaddam HusseinSecular Ba'athist state
Migration & conquest:Occupied by: US-led coalition (2003–04)Emigration: Kurdish refugee crisis (1991)Emigration: Iraqis to Syria & Jordan (2003–08)
Who & why: amid the buildup to the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein orders Allahu Akbar added to the flag in his own handwriting in January 1991, a gesture toward Islamic legitimacy. The Ba'athist government falls in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, but the interim Iraqi authorities and the first post-invasion governments keep this same flag in official use for years — a 2004 attempt to replace it outright is dropped almost immediately — until parliament finally legislates a redesign in 2008.
What it represents: the same 1963 tricolor and three green stars, now with green Arabic script reading Allahu Akbar added between the stars in Saddam Hussein's personal handwriting, simplified here to a generic mark.
Paint guide
Proportions2:3, three equal horizontal bands.
LayoutRed / white / black bands; three green five-pointed stars and green handwritten Allahu Akbar script in the white band.
Red#CE1126
White#F4EFE1
Black#1A1712
Stars & script, green#0B7A3D
the Ba'athist tricolor with three green stars, adopted after the 1963 Ramadan Revolution
1963 – 1991
Ba'athist Iraq
RepublicAhmed Hassan al-BakrSecular Ba'athist state
Migration & conquest:Immigration: Egyptian & Arab guest workers (1970s–80s)Emigration: Kurds fleeing the Anfal campaign (1988)
Who & why: the Ba'ath Party seizes power in the February 1963 Ramadan Revolution and adopts a new flag that July, matching the "Arab Liberation" color scheme and design language Egypt and Syria had already adopted as a gesture toward pan-Arab unity. The Ba'ath Party consolidates lasting control after a second 1968 coup; Saddam Hussein becomes president in 1979 and rules until 2003, a period covering the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), the Gulf War (1990–1991), and harsh internal repression, all extensively documented.
What it represents: a red-white-black horizontal tricolor, the historic Pan-Arab colors, with three green five-pointed stars in the white band originally read as a nod to the short-lived aspiration of unity between Egypt, Syria, and Iraq.
Paint guide
Proportions2:3, three equal horizontal bands.
LayoutRed / white / black bands; three green five-pointed stars centered in the white band.
Red#CE1126
White#F4EFE1
Black#1A1712
Stars, green#0B7A3D
the short-lived Qasim-era flag — sun and Kurdish dagger for Arab-Kurdish unity
1958 – 1963
Iraqi Republic (post-monarchy)
RepublicAbd al-Karim QasimSecular republic (no established religion)
Who & why: Brigadier Abd al-Karim Qasim leads the 14 July 1958 coup that kills King Faisal II and the royal family and ends the monarchy outright, declaring a republic. Qasim's government adopts a new flag the following year, deliberately breaking from the old dynastic design; his own rule ends violently in a 1963 coup that brings the Ba'ath Party to power for the first time.
What it represents: a red-white-black tricolor bearing a yellow eight-pointed sun with a Kurdish dagger (a hachar) at its center, a symbol chosen to represent unity between Iraq's Arab and Kurdish populations.
Paint guide
Proportions2:3, three equal horizontal bands.
LayoutRed / white / black bands; yellow eight-pointed sun with a black Kurdish dagger, centered in the white band, simplified here.
Red#CE1126
White#F4EFE1
Black#1A1712
Sun, yellow#F9D616
the Kingdom's flag — the same design flown since the 1921 mandate
Migration & conquest:Emigration: Iraqi Jews to Israel (1950–51)
Ruling house:Hashemite dynasty
Who & why: the League of Nations mandate formally ends on 3 October 1932 and Iraq gains full independence under King Faisal I, its Hashemite monarch since 1921, while remaining closely tied to Britain through treaty obligations, including basing rights. Faisal I dies in 1933; his grandson Faisal II is still a minor when the 1958 coup ends the dynasty.
What it represents: the same black-white-green horizontal tricolor with a red hoist-side triangle bearing a white seven-pointed star that had flown since Faisal's 1921 accession continues unchanged into full independence — a deliberate echo of the wartime Arab Revolt flag the Hashemites had led against Ottoman rule.
Paint guide
ProportionsRoughly 1:2.
LayoutBlack / white / green horizontal bands; red triangle at the hoist bearing a white seven-pointed star, simplified here.
Black#1A1712
White#F4EFE1
Green#0B7A3D
Triangle, red#CE1126
Faisal I's flag, adopted 1921, on the Arab Revolt color pattern
1920 – 1932
British Mandate of Iraq
MandateFaisal IIslam (predominant, no formal establishment)
Migration & conquest:Occupied by: Britain
Ruling house:Hashemite dynasty
Who & why: after the Ottoman defeat in World War I, Britain administers the former Ottoman provinces of Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra under a League of Nations mandate from 1920. Facing a major anti-British revolt that same year, Britain installs Faisal, a Hashemite prince and leader of the wartime Arab Revolt, as king in August 1921, governing under British supervision until full independence in 1932.
What it represents: Faisal brings the black-white-green horizontal tricolor with red hoist triangle used by the Arab Revolt, adding a white seven-pointed star to the triangle to distinguish the new Kingdom of Iraq from Arab Revolt flags used elsewhere in the region — the design flies unchanged from 1921 through independence.
Paint guide
ProportionsRoughly 1:2.
LayoutBlack / white / green horizontal bands; red triangle at the hoist bearing a white seven-pointed star, simplified here.
Black#1A1712
White#F4EFE1
Green#0B7A3D
Triangle, red#CE1126
the Ottoman crescent and star, standardized 1844
1534 – 1920
Ottoman Iraq
EmpireSuleiman the MagnificentSunni Islam (Ottoman)
Migration & conquest:Conquered by: Ottoman Empire
Who & why: Ottoman forces under Suleiman the Magnificent capture Baghdad in 1534, bringing Mesopotamia under Ottoman rule; the territory is contested with Safavid Persia for another century before Ottoman control settles by the 1639 Treaty of Zuhab, which fixes a border still broadly recognizable today. Iraq remains organized as the Ottoman provinces (vilayets) of Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra until the empire's defeat in World War I.
What it represents: the Ottoman state flag, a red field bearing a white crescent and star, is formally standardized by an 1844 firman under Sultan Abdulmecid I; a plainer red flag with crescent alone had been in wide use for generations before that.
Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed ratio before 1844; shown at 3:2.
LayoutRed field, white crescent and five-pointed star, standardized 1844.
Red#E30A17
White#F4EFE1
placeholder — contested between several powers, no shared design attested
1258 – 1534
Mongol sack aftermath and contested rule
Contested territoryHulagu KhanMongol tolerance, then Sunni Islam
Migration & conquest:Conquered by: Mongol Empire
Who & why: Hulagu Khan's Mongol army sacks Baghdad in February 1258, executes the last Abbasid caliph, and destroys the city's libraries, canals, and population on a scale from which it never fully recovers — a catastrophic rupture that historians still treat as a turning point for the wider region. Iraq passes through Mongol Ilkhanate rule, then the Jalayirid dynasty, then Timur's devastating 1401 sack of Baghdad, before becoming a contested borderland between the rising Ottoman and Safavid empires through the early 16th century.
What it represents: across nearly three centuries of shifting Mongol, Turkic, and Persian overlordship, no single flag or banner can honestly represent Iraq as a political unit; rulers used personal and dynastic tamgha marks rather than territorial flags. Shown here blank rather than invented.
Paint guide
ProportionsN/A — no attested flag.
the black Abbasid banner, flown over Baghdad during its golden age
Who & why: Caliph al-Mansur founds Baghdad as the Abbasid capital in 762, and the city grows within a few generations into the intellectual and commercial capital of the Islamic world. The 8th through 13th centuries bring a genuine golden age — the House of Wisdom's translation movement, and enormous advances in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and philosophy, much of it later transmitted to medieval Europe — even as Abbasid political power itself steadily fragments after the 9th century into the hands of regional dynasties and military commanders ruling in the caliph's name. The era ends catastrophically with the Mongol sack of the city in 1258.
What it represents: the plain black banner, associated with the Abbasid revolutionary movement since 750, remains the caliphate's recognized state color throughout this span, even as real political power around Baghdad shifts repeatedly between competing dynasties and military patrons.
Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded.
LayoutPlain black field.
Black#1A1712
the plain white Umayyad banner, representative of most of this span
637 – 762
Arab-Islamic conquest and early Caliphal Iraq
CaliphateCaliph Umar ibn al-KhattabIslam (Rashidun/Umayyad)
Who & why: Arab Muslim forces defeat the Sasanian Persian army at the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah around 636 and take the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon in 637, ending Persian rule over Mesopotamia; the garrison town of Kufa, founded that same year, briefly serves as an early caliphal capital. Iraq remains under the Rashidun Caliphate and then the Damascus-based Umayyad dynasty (661–750) until the 750 Abbasid Revolution, which begins in Iraq itself, topples the Umayyads and, twelve years later, relocates the caliphate's capital to the newly founded Baghdad.
What it represents: the plain white banner is most associated with the Umayyad dynasty, which governs the bulk of this span; the shorter Rashidun period before it used simpler, less standardized banners, and the last twelve years already fly the Abbasids' black.
Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded.
LayoutPlain white field (Umayyad, 661–750).
White#F4EFE1
placeholder — a province of successive foreign empires, no flag attested
539 BCE – 637 CE
Persian and Hellenistic imperial rule
Imperial provinceCyrus the GreatVaried (chiefly Zoroastrianism)
Migration & conquest:Emigration: Judeans returning from Babylon (538 BCE)
Who & why: Cyrus the Great's Achaemenid Persian army takes Babylon in 539 BCE, ending nearly three millennia of native Mesopotamian rule; Mesopotamia then passes to Alexander the Great's conquest in 331 BCE, to his Seleucid successors, to the Parthian Empire from the mid-2nd century BCE, and finally to Sasanian Persia from 226 CE, whose capital Ctesiphon sits just south of modern Baghdad. Almost twelve centuries pass with Mesopotamia governed as a province or contested frontier of larger empires centered elsewhere, until the Arab-Islamic conquest reaches Ctesiphon in 637.
What it represents: across four successive foreign empires and nearly twelve centuries, no flag can be honestly attributed to Mesopotamia itself as a political unit; each ruling power used its own imperial symbols, described on Iran's own page in this atlas. Shown here blank rather than invented, and treated as one bridging entry to avoid false precision about an era with no single ruling identity.
Paint guide
ProportionsN/A — no attested flag.
placeholder — flags as a form did not yet exist; several civilizations rose and fell
c. 3100 – 539 BCE
Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria
Ancient civilizationsNo single ruler documentedMesopotamian polytheism
Migration & conquest:Immigration: Assyrian deportee resettlement (8th–7th c. BCE)
Who & why: Sumerian city-states like Uruk and Ur develop the world's earliest writing system by roughly 3100 BCE; Sargon of Akkad forges the first known multi-ethnic empire around 2334 BCE; Babylon rises to prominence under Hammurabi (r. c. 1792–1750 BCE), whose law code is among the oldest surviving legal texts; and the Assyrian Empire, centered on Nineveh, builds one of the ancient world's most formidable military states before its own collapse around 609 BCE leaves a Neo-Babylonian revival that lasts only until Cyrus the Great's Persian conquest in 539 BCE.
What it represents: no flag, in the vexillological sense of a fixed rectangular banner, exists anywhere in this era; these civilizations expressed identity and royal authority instead through standards, religious emblems (the winged sun-disc, Ishtar's eight-pointed star, the lamassu guardian figures), and monumental inscriptions. Shown here blank rather than invented, and treated as one bridging entry across roughly two and a half millennia and several distinct civilizations, since no finer granularity would be historically honest.
Paint guide
ProportionsN/A — no attested flag.
Reading the tags
Ancient civilizations — pre-flag, multiple powers
Imperial province — ruled from an empire centered elsewhere
Caliphate — governed as part of the Islamic caliphate
Contested territory — no single stable ruling power
Empire — Ottoman imperial rule
Mandate — League of Nations administration
Kingdom, independent — sovereign under its own crown
Republic — the modern state since 1958
Leader — the named ruler most associated with the era's start
State religion — the official/established faith, not the population's
Find the records
Family history research for Iraq lives in a different project, Record Atlas, which maps which archive actually holds the paper for a given place and era.