- This article is about the province of Iraq. There is also a city of the same name, see Arbil, Iraq
Arbīl (أربيل, also transliterated as Irbil or Erbil) is one of the provinces of Iraq. It is in the north of the country. Its capital is a city also called Arbil.
The province of Arbil covers an area of 14,428 km² 5,570 miles² in the north of Iraq, with an estimated population (in 2001) of 1,134,300 people. It is largely populated by Kurds with Arab and Turcoman minorities. There are also a number of Assyrians in Arbil, who celebrate the region's historical part in the ancient kingdoms of Adiabene and Assyria. From 1974 onwards the province of Arbil formed part of the Kurdish Autonomous Region of northern Iraq.
The region's economy is largely agricultural with some oil production and was badly affected by the conflict between Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi Kurds, although smuggling in defiance of the United Nations sanctions regime enabled many locals to keep afloat and even to prosper in some cases.
Since August, 2004, the Korean Zaytun Division (around 3,000 soldiers) were dispatched to the province for peace-keeping and reconstruction.
See also