new Kstan blog

Some sweet blog posts from Nomad Out of Time, who visited Iraqi Kurdistan last week. Great photos and observations:

Irbil - the Citadel

Under Kurdish Skies

FYI I highly recommend the whole of his blog with great stuff for linguistics nerds and anyone with an interest in Islamic history/culture/art, Middle Eastern culture, or a love for Istanbul.

Iraq maps, old-school and recent

Erbil map from 1944. More old Middle East city maps available from the University of Texas' Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection. Speed for map nerds.

Mosul map, 1944.

Mosul-Dohuk-Erbil region, "tactical pilotage chart" (not for navigational use), 1989.

And for those of you crazy enough to want to visit Mosul right now, here is a 2003 map of Mosul:



There are many more fascinating maps on UT's excellent & detailed Iraq Maps page.