The tribe of Shammar (Arabic: Šammar) is a Qahtanite Bedouin Arab tribe, descended from the ancient tribe of Tayy. It is one of the largest and most influential Arab tribes, with an estimated 4 million members in the world; 3 million in Iraq, over 1.5 million in Saudi Arabia (concentrated in Ha'il), a Syrian population is thought to exceed 0.5 million along, with an unknown number in Jordan. The current seat of the tribe's leadership is in the city of Mosul, in Northern Iraq. In its "golden age", around 1850, the tribe ruled much of central and northern Arabia from Riyadh to the frontiers of Syria and the vast area known as Al Jazira in Northern Iraq.