Kirkuk is a city in Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate, located 238 kilometres north of Baghdad. Kirkuk lies in a wide zone with an enormously diverse population and has been multilingual for centuries. There were dramatic demographic changes during Kirkuk's urbanization in the twentieth century, which saw the development of distinct ethnic communities. Iraqi Turkmen, Kurds, Arabs, and Assyrian people lay conflicting claims to this zone, and all have their historical accounts and memories to buttress their claims.