Arabic Al-Mawṣil
City (pop., latest est.: 664,000), northern Iraq.
Located across the Tigris River from the ruins of ancient Nineveh , which it succeeded, Mosul prospered until 1258, when it was ravaged by the Mongol s. It was a centre of the Ottoman Empire с (1534–1918). After World War I (1914–18) it was occupied by the British and in 1926 was ceded to Iraq. Iraq's second largest city and a chief commercial centre in the northwest, it is a trade centre for grain, wool, livestock, and fruit and has an oil refinery and nearby oil fields. It has many ancient buildings, some dating from the 13th century, including the Great Mosque and the Red Mosque.