Duhok
City in Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Duhok (Kurdish: دهۆک, romanized: Dihok; Arabic: دهوك, romanized: Dohūk; Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܢܘܗܕܪܐ, romanized: Beth Nohadra, Lishanid Noshan: דוהוך, romanized: Dohok) is a city in Kurdistan Region, Iraq and the capital city of Duhok Governorate.
Name
The city of Duhok received its name from the Kurdish words 'du' (two) and 'hok' (lump) as a tax payment of two lumps from the basket of each passing caravan that often carry wheat and barley. According to a tradition presented by Sasson Nahum, Duhok was initially named Duhok-e Dasinya, signifying "Duhok of the Yezidis". However, after a massacre of the Yezidis, the town was abandoned, leading to the settlement of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the area.
Demographics
The city is home to diverse ethnic groups, with Kurds forming the majority, while other minorities include Assyrians, Yazidis, Armenians, and Arabs. The city also hosts tens of thousands of refugees from Syria, mostly Syrian Kurds, and internally displaced persons (IDPs), most of whom are Yazidis and Assyrians who fled after ISIS took control of Sinjar and Mosul, Iraq.
According to the Kurdistan Regional Government, as of March 2024, the Kurdistan Region hosts 631,174 IDPs, with 40% of them living in Duhok Governorate. Additionally, there are 251,475 Syrian refugees, of which 131,700 (as of 2022) reside in Duhok Governorate.
History
One of the earliest written references to Duhok appears in the late 15th-century Persian chronicle Kitab-i Diyarbakriyya by Abu Bakr Tihrani, which mentions Duhok in accounts of Aq Qoyunlu military campaigns.
According to historical sources, Duhok served as the center of the Yazidi principality of Dasini (Sheikhan) until the 16th century, with the mountain overlooking the city known as "Mount Dasin".
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Duhok” as city in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as city in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q152831. VIAF identifies the subject as 156057892. The Library of Congress control number is n89110424. Authority coordinates are 36.850, 42.983. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2024 and 2022.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Duhok”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Duhok primary sources, Duhok archive and Duhok research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Duhok”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Duhok” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.