Erbil

- With a moderate stature, although it has to age a little, the largest and oldest perennial tree lives in the Shaqlawa tourist area of ​​the city of Erbil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and it is over a thousand years old, and its height is more than 60 meters, while its diameter is about 5 meters.

The branches of the tree, when looking at its external form, appear disjointed and separated from each other, but in reality they are intertwined and united with each other with roots that extend tens of meters underground.

Miran: The ownership of the tree belongs to the family of the late Othman Miran, the sheikh of the well-known Kurdish Khoshnaw clan (Al-Jazeera)

Ownership

The "Jinar tree", meaning the bear tree, is owned by the family of the late Othman Miran, the sheikh of the well-known Kurdish Khoshnaw clan in the region and Iraq. The youngest of the Sheikh of the Miran clan.

King Faisal II and head of the Khoshnaw-Shaqlawa clan pic.twitter.com/2jyzg08PkQ

— Omama (@rafelnabeel312) August 25, 2020

Miran, 61, tells about one of the most prominent features that increased the tree's status, as all the presidents and leaders of Iraq visited it and took pictures with it, most notably King Faisal I, King Faisal II, Abdul Karim Qassem, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, and many Arab and foreign ambassadors and well-known political figures. Locally and abroad, with the exception of the late President Saddam Hussein, whose family only visited the tree when he visited the city in the eighties of the last century.

The tree still has a high vital strength and green leaves (Al-Jazeera)

Despite the geological and natural changes that are known about the city due to its famous waterfalls, valleys and mountains, the mentioned tree is still lofty and has been able to withstand hundreds of years in front of all these changes, and it still has a high vitality, in addition to its adherence to its green leaves that add more beauty to it.

The tree is more than 1025 years old, according to British and American experts (Al-Jazeera)

her age

Miran recalls in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net that a foreign delegation that included British and American experts conducted several studies and research on the tree in 1996, and concluded from their research that it was more than a thousand years old at the time, meaning that it is now more than 1025 years old.

The tree has become the living symbol of the city of Shaqlawa, and is closely and historically linked to it, and it serves as an explicit and clear identity about the city’s age and heritage, and this is what made many tourists and foreign expatriates frequent it so far, says Miran.

What the younger son hopes is that the concerned authorities increase the area of ​​interest in the well-known heritage and natural places in Shaqlawa, most notably this tree, to turn into a tourist landmark that serves the city, and gives a civilized impression about it, especially as it is of a picturesque nature that helps in winning tourists and foreign arrivals more.

The nature of the environment in Iraqi Kurdistan is behind the longevity of many trees (Al-Jazeera)

the scientific explanation

Iraqi Kurdistan is famous, unlike other regions, for the presence of trees that reach hundreds of years of age, especially those that grow near rivers and in forests, so that the nature of the environment plays a role in this, says agricultural expert Kamran Ahmed.

Shaqlawa region, north of


Hawlêr

city, Erbil

Kurdistan – Hawlêr region pic.twitter.com/6XP4jT2WNI

— Kurdistan | Kurdistan (@Kurdistan_EN) April 16, 2020

Scientifically, Ahmed explains the longevity of this tree by its resistance to changes in the atmosphere and nature, in addition to the environment and the good land of Shaqlawa, which is famous for the presence of many such perennial trees.

Each ring of the tree represents one year of its life (Al Jazeera)

The age of any tree can be determined by the number of its rings, as each ring represents one year of the tree’s age, according to the agricultural expert, telling Al Jazeera Net that the width of the distance between the rings indicates that the rain was heavy with the mild weather in that year, and vice versa, if it was It is narrow and indicates a lack of rain and turbulence in the weather.

The roots of the tree extend to tens of meters underground (the island)

For his part, photojournalist Aram Shaqlawi says that the tree has become a gathering point for journalists and educated elites, in addition to confirming the city's residents' interest in nature by not cutting it down or harming it so far.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Shaqlawi suggests that government agencies in the region conduct in-depth research and studies on the tree and the land in which it was planted to know the history and age of their area, which is expected to go back thousands of years, and the possibility that there are many hidden archaeological areas in it without being discovered so far.