The Madan people, also called Marsh Arabs, have built "Mudhif houses" for many centuries in the swampland of southern Iraq. These large communal structures were constructed from from reeds harvested from the marshes and rested on islands made of compacted mud and rushes.
In 1992 the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein began draining the country’s southern marshlands in an attempt to drive out Shīʿite guerrillas who had taken refuge there. Residents were forced from their settlements, abandoning their traditional lifestyle in favour of towns and camps in other areas of Iraq or to Iranian refugee camps. It was considered a lost culture until 2003 when local communities began reflooding the marshes. However experts estimate that the ecosystem will be expensive to restore.
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