The College of Arts was established in 1964 with three other colleges: the College of Law, the College of Science, and the College of Engineering. All of them formed the first core of University of Basra. The College of Arts included at the beginning only four departments: Arabic Language and Literature, English Language and Literature, History, and Economics. The study was developed in the College of Arts, so the last Department was cancelled and became the core of the College of Administration and Economics, and the Geography Department was created. The Department of Information was added to the College in 1983 and the Department of Philosophy in 1990. Finally, the Department of Translation was established in 2002. Thus, the College of Arts has seven departments. The College of Arts strives to prepare specialized researchers who carry the torches of thought and knowledge in the fields of the Arabic Language, English Language, History, Geography, Library and Information Science, Philosophy, and Translation. As regards the Postgraduate studies, on one hand, the Masters (M.A.) began in the College in the academic year 1978-1979 in the Department of English Language, then in both the History and Arabic Language Departments in the academic year 1980-1981. After that, the Geography Department in the academic year 1985-1986. On the other hand, the Doctoral Study (PhD) began in the History Department in the academic year 1988-1989, then in the Arabic Language Department in the academic year 1994-1995, Finally, in the Geography and English Language Departments in the academic year 1995-1996 .