Al-'aziziyah, Libya

Living in a modest Iraqi town of nearly 45,000 where British colonial history still echoes through local memory isn't for the faint-hearted expat. Al-Aziziyah, perched on the Tigris River's left bank 80km northwest of Kut, serves as the administrative hub of its namesake district in Wasit Province.

Founded in 1866 by Ottoman official Midhat Pasha as a tribute to Sultan Abdülaziz, the town later played a strategic role in World War I. It was here that British officers Percy Cox and Gerard Leachman met in 1915 to strategize Baghdad's liberation from Ottoman control, marking a pivotal moment in Iraq's path to eventual independence.