The Middle East:

The history of the Middle East really begins with Abraham. The Arab people trace their lineage from Abraham and Hagar through Ishmael and the Jews trace their lineage from Abraham and Sarah through Isshak.

Prior to the British mandate of 1920, the nation of Iraq did not exist. Iraq was formed out of a number of culturally, ethnically, and religiously diverse former Ottoman provinces and quasi independent small kingdoms.

The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I brought changes to the Middle East. Most of the present nations of Syria, Iraq, and Jordan had been provinces of the Ottoman Empire, but otherwise consisted of small villages of Arabs who were Islamic farmers and herdsmen.

With the advent of the British and French mandate, these areas were turned into modern states with the responsibility of forming governments.