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'Basra province', or 'Al Basrah province', is a province of Iraq, with an area of and an estimated population of about 2,600,000 (2003). Its capital is Basra, the country's second largest city; other major cities include Corna (Eden), Az Zubayr, Umm Qasr and Abu Al Khaseeb. The province has international borders with Kuwait to the south and Iran to the east.

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History

After World War I

After the Baath regime

History

After World War I

Historically, under the Ottoman Empire, Basra province included the modern-day state of Kuwait. After defeating the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the United Kingdom combined the old Ottoman provinces (''vilayets'') of Basra, Baghdad and Mosul to form the state of Iraq, which Britain controlled as a League of Nations mandate. Kuwait had become a separate British protectorate shortly before the outbreak of World War I.

After the Baath regime

A proposal to join Basra with the neighbouring governorates of Dhi Qar and Maysan to form a southeastern state in an eventual Iraqi federation is currently under discussion. A new law, passed by the Iraqi Parliament in 2006, allows for the merger of two or more provinces as of April 2008.