The Marsh Arabs (Arabic: عرب الأهوار ʻArab al-Ahwār "Arabs of the Marshlands"), also referred to as Ahwaris, the Maʻdān (Arabic: معدان "dweller in the plains") or Shroog (Mesopotamian Arabic: شروگ "those from the east") the latter two often considered derogatory in the present day—are indigenous inhabitants of the Mesopotamian marshlands in the modern-day south Iraq, as well as in the Hawizeh Marshes straddling the Iran–Iraq border. Comprising members of many different tribes and tribal confederations, such as the Āl Bū Muḥammad, Ferayghāt, Shaghanbah, Ahwaris had developed a culture centered on the marshes' natural resources. Many of the marshes' inhabitants were forcibly displaced during the Ahwari Genocide when the wetlands were drained during and after the 1991 uprisings in Iraq. The draining of the marshes caused a significant decline in bioproductivity; following the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime, water flow to the marshes was restored and the ecosystem has begun to recover. The origins of the Ahwari people are still a matter of some dispute. British colonial ethnographers found it difficult to classify some of Ahwaris' social customs and speculated that they might have originated in Indus Valley (Pakistan). They may have descended from the Zuṭṭ (Jat) people, who moved to the region of lower Iraq in the 8th and 9th centuries and followed similar customs and traditions. Some scholars such as Ali al-Wardi have claimed they are descended from the Nabataeans of Iraq, the Aramaic-speaking people who inhabited Lower Mesopotamia in the Middle Ages, and some of their clans even follow their ancestry to Islamized Mandaeans. Other scholars have proposed historical and genetic links between the Marsh Arabs and the ancient Sumerians due to shared agricultural practices, methods of house-building and location. There is, however, no written record of the marsh tribes until the ninth century and the Sumerians lost their distinct ethnic identity by around 1800 BCE, some 2700 years before. Links to Sumerian genetics can likely be traced back to the Arabization and assimilation of indigenous Mesopotamians. Others, however, have noted that much of the culture of Ahwaris is shared with the desert bedouin who came to the area after the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate.
Nestled in the southeastern reaches of Iraq, where the ancient rivers Tigris and Euphrates converge, lies a vast and iconic marshland. Often called the “Garden of Eden,” this marshland is home to the Marsh Arabs, or Ma’dan—a unique and resilient community whose way of life is as interwoven with the wetlands as the reeds and rushes from which they build their homes. Here, we’ll explore the rich history, remarkable lifestyle, and the challenges and triumphs of the Ma’dan people in the heart of Mesopotamia. The Ma’dan people trace their ancestry back thousands of years, living in the marshlands where civilization began. Their lineage is believed to stretch back to the Sumerians, who thrived in the Fertile Crescent, and their lifestyle reflects ancient practices of self-sufficiency and symbiosis with nature. Located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, these marshes cover a vital area with diverse flora, fauna, and complex waterways that form floating islands. This unique landscape is integral to the local climate and biodiversity of the region. The resilience of the Marsh Arabs illustrates an enduring commitment to preserving a way of life that’s intricately linked to nature. By understanding and supporting their lifestyle, we can help ensure that this ancient culture thrives for generations. 
Our boat left Amara in semidarkness and the city slipped away with ease, taken by the reeds. As light flooded the day, ducks and geese joined us in the current. Occasionally we passed factories making bricks, their chimneys exhaling black smoke that diffused the sky. This was about the worst job in Iraq, said Salman. It was hot, hard, noxious, and badly paid. Every time we went past one, I thought of the poor souls inside with no other options. The Tigris gradually shrank as channels branched off to feed the Hawizeh Marshes to the southeast. Maysan was home to the majority of the eastern Mesopotamian marshes, as well as being an important governorate for oil production. In the town of Qa’let Saleh, we stopped by a broken lock. An old shepherd said that our modest, small-engine speedboat was the largest he’d seen on the river since the 1980s. ‘Nobody uses it any more,’ he said and moved on. We squeezed through under the broken sluice gate, and on the other side disturbed a family dunking their sheep in the water to keep them cool. The animals, sweltering in their coats, panicked and struggled as they were carried to the water, then immediately relaxed in the cool flow. Most of them celebrated by defecating, and we floated through into a pond of shit, piss, bedraggled sheep, and confused shepherd boys. Officially our boat was privately owned, but the captain had been suggested to us by the mukhabarat, and as with the other undercover agents he couldn’t help but look like an intelligence officer doing an impression of a civilian. He was friendly, though, and didn’t interfere, and was talented when it came to avoiding sheep and wireat. 
The Ma'dan, or Marsh Arabs, is a distinct group of people who originally inhabited the marshy area at the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq before the marshes were destroyed by irrigation projects developed by the Iraqi government. A seminomadic tribal people, the Ma'dan once lived in reed huts built on floating islands of reeds, and made their living by herding water buffalo, fishing, and hunting wild boars and waterfowl. Their houses were elaborately woven with Gothic-like arches made of bundles of reeds tied together at the top. This same kind of house had been built since the 4th millennium BC. The term, Ma'dan, means "dweller of the plains." The tribal form of the Ma'dan took shape during the 17th century ad. Ma'dan culture is based on the culture of the Bedu (or bedouin, see Bedu) nomads of the desert, adapted for life on the watery marshes. Until the late 20th century, the Ma'dan way of life had changed little in thousands of years. However, the Ma'dan people encountered prejudice from other Arabs, and beginning in the 1970s, the marshes they had inhabited for 5,000 years were slowly destroyed for political and economic reasons by the Iraqi government. The waters of the Tigris and Euphrates were diverted in order to irrigate lands converted to agriculture and, after the 1991 Gulf War, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein systematically drained the waters as a form of punishment for the Shia Muslims who opposed his regime. The U.S.-led invasion in 2003 removed Saddam from power and efforts to restore the marshes are underway. However, the damage done to the Ma'dan way of life in the 1990s is expected to take several decades to repair. In addition, the marshes have become extremely dangerous to inhabit as fighting among rebel groups in Iraq has intensified and moves the country toward civil war. In 2008, the marshes in a war-torn Iraq were used as a hiding area for criminals and rebels opposing the provisional Iraqi government installed by U.S. occupation forces. Many Ma'dan are believed to have joined insurgent movements in Iraq. Some are followers of the Iraqi Hizbullah organization, while others belong to Moqtada al-Sadr's movement and wield control in provincial areas under the provisional government organized by U.S. forces occupying Iraq. 
The Marsh Arabs, known as the Ma’dan or Ahwaris, represent one of the world’s most ancient and distinctive indigenous communities. For thousands of years, this resilient people have inhabited the vast wetlands of southern Iraq, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers converge to create what was once the largest wetland ecosystem in the Middle East. Their story is one of remarkable cultural continuity, devastating destruction, and ongoing struggle for survival in the face of environmental catastrophe. The Marsh Arabs are indigenous inhabitants of the Mesopotamian marshlands in modern-day south Iraq, as well as in the Hawizeh Marshes straddling the Iran-Iraq border. The culture of the Ma’dan is one of the oldest in the Middle East – some say around 5,000 years. This extraordinary longevity connects them to the very dawn of human civilization. The earliest civilizations known to mankind grew up near the marshes, and this area probably saw the first successful efforts in the world to use irrigation to grow crops and the oldest known city in the world, Ur, was at the edge of the marshes, near the present city of Nasariyah. The marshlands themselves have been considered by many scholars as a possible location for the biblical Garden of Eden, adding a mythological dimension to their historical significance. Some scholars have proposed historical and genetic links between the Marsh Arabs and the ancient Sumerians due to shared agricultural practices, methods of house-building and location. While the direct lineage remains debated among historians, the architectural and agricultural traditions of the Ma’dan bear striking resemblances to practices depicted in ancient Sumerian tablets and artifacts. Originally covering an area of 20,000 km2 and divided into three major areas, the Central Marshes lie between the Tigris and Euphrates, while the Hammar Marshes lie south of the Euphrates and the Hawizeh Marshes are bound east of the Tigris. The Iraqi marshlands are the largest wetland ecosystem in the Middle East, forming a critical ecological corridor between Asia and Africa. The marshes were created by the annual flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which brought nutrient-rich sediments and sustained a complex aquatic ecosystem. Historically the marshlands used to be the largest wetland ecosystem of western Eurasia. This vast expanse of water, reeds, and mudflats supported an astonishing diversity of life.
Situated in southern Iraq, the Marshes straddle the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and their confluence: the waterway called the Shaft al-' Arab. Although exact figures are difficult to obtain, they once covered an area of perhaps 15,540 square kilometers (6,000 square miles) in a rough triangle formed by the towns of Amara and Nasiriya and the city of Basra. Today, though, this area is shrinking as dams and irrigation projects further upstream siphon off a vast volume of water and, as a result, lower the river's level. Nevertheless, the Marsh is still lovely. Some parts are permanent marsh, others seasonal - flooded only in spring and summer-but all, in flood, a maze of channels and waterways, many made by driving buffalo through the reedbeds when the water is low. There are also lakes large enough to lose sight of land on, and areas in which the reeds are so thick and high that it is impossible to see more than a few yards ahead. Villages dot the marshes in clusters of anything from half a dozen to 200 dwellings, and wildlife—especially birds—is plentiful. The Marsh Arabs call themselves Mi'dan, a collective word for the various tribes and clans that live in this waterlogged area. With periodic additions from the multitude of civilizations that held sway in Iraq's stormy past, they are not an ethnically distinct people. They are, moreover, often scorned by townspeople as primitive and backward, and they, in turn, regard city dwellers as unscrupulous money-grabbers who have forgotten the rules of hospitality and good manners. They proudly insist that their customs and culture are truly Arab, and that the challenge of the marsh life sets them apart. In the past, the Mi'dan grew rice, wheat and barley in the seasonal marshland, but this is not common any more. Indeed, I saw sacks of flour and rice from Texas being sold in the village stores. The basic diet still consists of rice, bread, fish and buffalo milk, but, today, substitutes and new delicacies are readily accepted. Mi'dan tribesmen still tend water buffalo and will probably continue to do so for the foreseeable future; to the Mi'dan this is a labor of love. On the other hand it is still labor: hours must be spent each day cutting the thin, green reeds that are the buffalo's chief fodder. 
The Marsh Arabs (ar|عرب الأهوار ʻArab al-Ahwār "Arabs of the Marshlands"), also referred to as Ahwaris, the Maʻdān (ar|معدان "dweller in the plains") or Shroog (ar|شروگ|label=[[Mesopotamian Arabic]] "those from the east") the latter two often considered derogatory in the present day—are Arab inhabitants of the Mesopotamian marshlands in the modern-day south Iraq, as well as in the Hawizeh Marshes straddling the Iraq-Iran border. Comprising members of many different tribes and tribal confederations, such as the Āl Bū Muḥammad, Ferayghāt, Shaghanbah, Ahwaris had developed a culture centered on the marshes' natural resources and unique from other Arabs. Many of the marshes' inhabitants were displaced when the wetlands were drained during and after the 1991 uprisings in Iraq. The draining of the marshes caused a significant decline in bioproductivity; following the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime, water flow to the marshes was restored and the ecosystem has begun to recover. The origins of Marsh Arabs are still a matter of some dispute. British colonial ethnographers found it difficult to classify some of Ahwaris' social customs and speculated that they might have originated in Indus Valley (Pakistan). They may have descended from Zuṭṭ, who moved to the region of lower Iraq in the 8th and 9th centuries and followed similar customs and traditions. Some scholars such as Ali al-Wardi have claimed they are descended from the Nabataeans of Iraq, the Aramaic-speaking people who inhabited Lower Mesopotamia in the Middle Ages, and some of their clans even follow their ancestry to Islamized Mandaeans. Other scholars have proposed historical and genetic links between the Marsh Arabs and the ancient Sumerians due to shared agricultural practices, methods of house-building and location. There is, however, no written record of the marsh tribes until the ninth century and the Sumerians lost their distinct ethnic identity by around 1800 BCE, some 2700 years before. Links to Sumerian genetics can likely be traced back to the Arabization and assimilation of indigenous Mesopotamians. Others, however, have noted that much of the culture of Ahwaris is shared with the desert bedouin who came to the area after the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate.
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