Basra (also Bassora or Bussora), a town of Asiatic Turkey, is situated on the western bank of the Euphrates, here called the Shat-el-Arab, 56 miles from its mouth in the Persian Gulf. The river, which is navigable up to Basra for ships of 500 tons, is there divided into a number of channels, and by evaporation and frequent over- flowing, makes the climate very unhealthy. Most of the houses are low huts, built of unburned bricks. The population, once 150,000, had sunk in 1854 to 5000, but the establishment of the English Tigris and Euphrates Steamship Company has altogether changed the prospects of Basra, and the town now probably contains at least 40,000 inhabitants, most of them actively engaged in commerce, notably in the exchange of the productions of Turkey and Persia for Indian and European goods, particularly articles of British manufacture. Basra was founded in 636 by the Calif Omar, and soon became one of the most famous and opulent cities of the East. The possession of it has been the subject of many contests between the Turks and the Persians. It is a place of great note in the history of Arabic literature.
Bas-relief. See RELIEF.