Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Great Zab
open-in-new
<p>The Great Zab or Upper Zab is an approximately 400-kilometre (250 mi) long river flowing through <a href="/facts/Turkey/KIYAWAs0">Turkey</a> and <a href="/facts/Iraq/pqYSFJw8">Iraq</a>. It rises in Turkey near <a href="/facts/Lake_Van/JK4utXj4">Lake Van</a> and joins the <a href="/facts/Tigris/Rc8Ka6k8">Tigris</a> in Iraq south of <a href="/facts/Mosul/RGzLjeb2">Mosul</a>. During its course, the river collects water from many tributaries and the <a href="/facts/Drainage_basin/lzsx0XJS">drainage basin</a> of the Great Zab covers approximately 40,300 square kilometres (15,600 sq mi). The river and its tributaries are primarily fed by rainfall and snowmelt – as a result of which <a href="/facts/Discharge_(hydrology)/aFeFEHpC">discharge</a> fluctuates highly throughout the year. At least six dams have been planned on the Great Zab and its tributaries, but construction of only one, the <a href="/facts/Bekhme_Dam/0bEWGLj6">Bekhme Dam</a>, has commenced but was halted after the <a href="/facts/Gulf_War/6LdLnGdo">Gulf War</a>. </p><p>The <a href="/facts/Zagros_Mountains/2h0Dr5nj">Zagros Mountains</a> have been occupied since at least the <a href="/facts/Lower_Paleolithic/oeIoC6WB">Lower Palaeolithic</a>, and <a href="/facts/Neanderthal/19rBo6ze">Neanderthal</a> occupation of the Great Zab basin has been testified at the <a href="/facts/Archaeological_site/zC1LtpXB">archaeological site</a> of <a href="/facts/Shanidar_Cave/d1QkQcuu">Shanidar Cave</a>. Historical records for the region are available from the end of the third millennium BCE onward. In the <a href="/facts/Neo-Assyrian_Empire/GzQ9HoXb">Neo-Assyrian</a> period, the Great Zab provided water for <a href="/facts/Irrigation/RWX5PEgK">irrigation</a> for the lands around the capital city of <a href="/facts/Nimrud/4tL6H0H3">Nimrud</a>. The <a href="/facts/Battle_of_the_Zab/6K9Gdr2J">Battle of the Zab</a> – which ended the <a href="/facts/Umayyad_Caliphate/gdW8JwoK">Umayyad Caliphate</a> – took place near a tributary of the Great Zab, and the valleys of the river provided shelter for refugees from the <a href="/facts/Mongol_Empire/cfddtfIK">Mongol</a> conquest of Iraq. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Great Zab basin saw frequent uprisings of local <a href="/facts/Kurdish_people/nfHFlVlq">Kurdish</a> tribes striving for autonomy. </p>