Baadre
Town in Kurdistan Region, Iraq
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Baadre (Kurdish: باعەدرێ, romanized: Baedrê;[1][2] Syriac: Beṯ ʿEḏraï)[3][a] is a town located in the Shekhan District of the Nineveh Governorate, Iraq. It is located in the Nineveh Plains. It belongs to the disputed territories of Northern Iraq. In 2014, the urban population was 9835 and the rural population was 5167.[5]
Baadre | |
|---|---|
Town | |
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  Baadre Location in Iraq  Baadre Baadre (Iraqi Kurdistan) | |
| Coordinates: 36°43′05″N 43°15′15″E | |
| Country |  Iraq |
| Region |  Kurdistan Region |
| Governorate | Dohuk Governorate |
| District | Shekhan District |
It is mostly inhabited by Yazidis and it is considered the political capital of the Yazidis as it is the historical seat of the ruling dynasty of the Sheikhan principality and the Mir.[6][7][8] The castle of the princely family is found here.[9]
History
Beṯ ʿEḏraï (today called Baadre) was historically inhabited by Church of the East Christians.[10] A synod was hosted at Beṯ ʿEḏraï in August-September 485 AD.[11] It was conquered by Utba ibn Farqad al-Sulamī during the Arab conquest of Mesopotamia in 641, according to Futuh al-Buldan by the 9th-century historian Al-Baladhuri.[12] Al-Baladhuri noted that the district of Bā ʿAdhra had a Kurdish population.[12] A school was established in the village by the 8th-century reformer Rabban Babāï.[13]
In the 9th century, the village is attested as part of the Church of the East diocese of Margā as per Thomas of Marga's Book of Governors, in which it is mentioned that one resident had practised sun worship prior to converting to Christianity.[14] The father of Patriarch Abraham II of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (r. 837–850) was from Beṯ ʿEḏraï.[15] The monk Joseph Busnaya (d. 979) was born at Beṯ ʿEḏraï.[16] Beṯ ʿEḏraï likely ceased to be Christian during the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries, at which time a Yazidi community was established.[17]
In Ba'athist Iraq, the population of Baadre was deported because of their support for Peshmerga.[18] According to Shamal Adeeb, who was the town's mayor at the time, the town and the 10 villages in the vicinity took in 2,028 displaced families totaling 12,115 people fleeing the Sinjar massacre in 2014.[8]
