Editing Euphrates (section)

== History ==
{{further|History of Mesopotamia|History of Iraq}}
[[File:20151228-Euphrates 9283.jpg|thumb|A fishing boat in the Euphrates Southern Iraq]]

=== Palaeolithic to Chalcolithic periods ===
The early occupation of the Euphrates basin was limited to its upper reaches; that is, the area that is popularly known as the [[Fertile Crescent]]. [[Acheulean]] stone [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]] have been found in the Sajur basin and in the [[El Kowm (archaeological site)|El Kowm oasis]] in the central [[Syrian steppe]]; the latter together with remains of ''[[Homo erectus]]'' that were dated to 450,000 years old.<ref>{{harvnb|Muhesen|2002|p=102}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Schmid|Rentzel|Renault-Miskovsky|Muhesen|1997}}</ref> In the Taurus Mountains and the upper part of the Syrian Euphrates valley, early permanent villages such as Abu Hureyra – at first occupied by [[hunter-gatherer]]s but later by some of the earliest [[farmer]]s, Jerf el Ahmar, Mureybet and [[Nevalı Çori]] became established from the eleventh millennium BCE onward.<ref name=sagonazimansky4954>{{harvnb|Sagona|Zimansky|2009|pp=49–54}}</ref> In the absence of irrigation, these early farming communities were limited to areas where [[rainfed agriculture]] was possible, that is, the upper parts of the Syrian Euphrates as well as Turkey.<ref name=akkermansschwartz74>{{harvnb|Akkermans|Schwartz|2003|p=74}}</ref> Late Neolithic villages, characterized by the introduction of [[pottery]] in the early 7th millennium BCE, are known throughout this area.<ref name=akkermansschwartz110>{{harvnb|Akkermans|Schwartz|2003|p=110}}</ref> Occupation of lower Mesopotamia started in the 6th millennium and is generally associated with the introduction of irrigation, as rainfall in this area is insufficient for dry agriculture. Evidence for irrigation has been found at several sites dating to this period, including [[Tell es Sawwan|Tell es-Sawwan]].<ref name=helbaek>{{harvnb|Helbaek|1972}}</ref> During the 5th millennium BCE, or late [[Ubaid period]], northeastern Syria was dotted by small villages, although some of them grew to a size of over {{convert|10|ha}}.<ref name=akkermansschwartz163166>{{harvnb|Akkermans|Schwartz|2003|pp=163–166}}</ref> In Iraq, sites like [[Eridu]] and [[Ur]] were already occupied during the Ubaid period.<ref>{{harvnb|Oates|1960}}</ref> Clay boat models found at [[Tell Mashnaqa]] along the [[Khabur (Euphrates)|Khabur]] indicate that riverine transport was already practiced during this period.<ref name=akkermansschwartz167168>{{harvnb|Akkermans|Schwartz|2003|pp=167–168}}</ref> The [[Uruk period]], roughly coinciding with the 4th millennium BCE, saw the emergence of truly [[urbanism|urban]] settlements across Mesopotamia. Cities like [[Nagar, Syria|Tell Brak]] and [[Uruk]] grew to over {{convert|100|ha}} in size and displayed monumental architecture.<ref>{{harvnb|Ur|Karsgaard|Oates|2007}}</ref> The spread of southern Mesopotamian pottery, architecture and [[cylinder seal|sealings]] far into Turkey and [[Iran]] has generally been interpreted as the material reflection of a widespread trade system aimed at providing the Mesopotamian cities with raw materials. [[Habuba Kabira]] on the Syrian Euphrates is a prominent example of a settlement that is interpreted as an Uruk colony.<ref name=akkermansschwartz203>{{harvnb|Akkermans|Schwartz|2003|p=203}}</ref><ref name=vandemieroop3839>{{harvnb|van de Mieroop|2007|pp=38–39}}</ref>

=== Ancient history ===
<!-- deleted file removed [[File:The ancient city of Mari.jpg|thumb|Artist's impression of [[Mari, Syria|Mari]] during the 3rd–2nd millennia BCE|alt=A wide valley with a meandering river and a straight canal branching off and flowing through a circular city with two concentric city walls, surrounded by agricultural fields]]-->
During the [[Jemdet Nasr period|Jemdet Nasr]] (3600–3100 BCE) and [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic periods]] (3100–2350 BCE), southern Mesopotamia experienced a growth in the number and size of settlements, suggesting strong population growth. These settlements, including [[Sumero-Akkadian]] sites like [[Sippar]], Uruk, [[Adab (city)|Adab]] and [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]], were organized in competing [[city-state]]s.<ref>{{harvnb|Adams|1981}}</ref> Many of these cities were located along canals of the Euphrates and the Tigris that have since dried up, but that can still be identified from [[remote sensing]] imagery.<ref>{{harvnb|Hritz|Wilkinson|2006}}</ref> A similar development took place in [[Upper Mesopotamia]], [[Subartu]] and [[Assyria]], although only from the mid 3rd millennium and on a smaller scale than in Lower Mesopotamia. Sites like [[Ebla]], [[Mari, Syria|Mari]] and [[Tell Leilan]] grew to prominence for the first time during this period.<ref name=akkermansschwartz233>{{harvnb|Akkermans|Schwartz|2003|p=233}}</ref>

Large parts of the Euphrates basin were for the first time united under a single ruler during the [[Akkadian Empire]] (2335–2154 BC) and [[Third Dynasty of Ur|Ur III]] empires, which controlled – either directly or indirectly through vassals – large parts of modern-day Iraq and northeastern Syria.<ref name=vandemieroop63>{{harvnb|van de Mieroop|2007|p=63}}</ref> Following their collapse, the [[Old Assyrian Empire]] (1975–1750 BCE) and Mari asserted their power over northeast Syria and northern Mesopotamia, while southern Mesopotamia was controlled by city-states like [[Isin]], [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]] and [[Larsa]] before their territories were absorbed by the newly emerged state of [[Babylonia]] under [[Hammurabi]] in the early to mid 18th century BCE.<ref name=vandemieroop111>{{harvnb|van de Mieroop|2007|p=111}}</ref>

In the second half of the 2nd millennium BCE, the Euphrates basin was divided between [[Kassites|Kassite]] Babylon in the south and [[Mitanni]], Assyria and the [[Hittites|Hittite Empire]] in the north, with the [[Middle Assyrian Empire]] (1365–1020 BC) eventually eclipsing the Hittites, Mitanni and Kassite Babylonians.<ref name=vandemieroop132>{{harvnb|van de Mieroop|2007|p=132}}</ref> Following the end of the Middle Assyrian Empire in the late 11th century BCE, struggles broke out between Babylonia and Assyria over the control of the Iraqi Euphrates basin. The [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] (935–605 BC) eventually emerged victorious out of this conflict and also succeeded in gaining control of the northern Euphrates basin in the first half of the 1st millennium BCE.<ref name=vandemieroop241>{{harvnb|van de Mieroop|2007|p=241}}</ref>

In the centuries to come, control of the wider Euphrates basin shifted from the Neo-Assyrian Empire (which collapsed between 612 and 599 BC) to the short lived [[Median Empire]] (612–546 BC) and equally brief [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] (612–539 BC) in the last years of the 7th century BC, and eventually to the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (539–333 BC).<ref name=vandemieroop270>{{harvnb|van de Mieroop|2007|p=270}}</ref> The Achaemenid Empire was in turn overrun by [[Alexander the Great]], who defeated the last king [[Darius III of Persia|Darius III]] and died in Babylon in 323 BCE.<ref name=vandemieroop286>{{harvnb|van de Mieroop|2007|p=287}}</ref>

Subsequent to this, the region came under the control of the [[Seleucid Empire]] (312–150 BC), [[Parthian Empire]] (150–226 AD) (during which several [[Neo-Assyrian]] states such as [[Adiabene]] came to rule certain regions of the Euphrates), and was fought over by the [[Roman Empire]], its succeeding [[Byzantine Empire]] and the [[Sassanid Empire]] (226–638 AD), until the [[Early Muslim conquests|Islamic conquest]] of the mid 7th century AD. The [[Battle of Karbala]] took place near the banks of this river in 680 AD.

In the north, the river served as a border between [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Greater Armenia]] (331 BC–428 AD) and [[Lesser Armenia]] (the latter became a Roman province in the 1st century BC).

=== Modern era ===
{{See also|Water politics in the Middle East}}
[[File:Baghdad Railway Euphrates wooden bridge.jpg|thumb|right|Wooden bridge carrying the [[Baghdad Railway]] over the Euphrates, {{Circa|1900}}–1910|alt=Refer to caption]]
After [[World War I]], the borders in Southwest Asia were redrawn in the [[Treaty of Lausanne (1923)]], when the [[Ottoman Empire]] was [[partitioning of the Ottoman Empire|partitioned]]. Clause 109 of the treaty stipulated that the three riparian states of the Euphrates (at that time Turkey, [[France]] for its [[French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon|Syrian mandate]] and the [[United Kingdom]] for its [[British Mandate of Mesopotamia|mandate of Iraq]]) had to reach a mutual agreement on the use of its water and on the construction of any hydraulic installation.<ref>{{citation |url=http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Treaty_of_Lausanne |title=Treaty of peace with Turkey signed at Lausanne |publisher=World War I Document Archive |access-date=19 December 2010 |archive-date=12 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130112221242/http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Treaty_of_Lausanne |url-status=live }}</ref> An agreement between Turkey and Iraq signed in 1946 required Turkey to report to Iraq on any hydraulic changes it made on the Tigris–Euphrates river system, and allowed Iraq to construct dams on Turkish territory to manage the flow of the Euphrates.<ref name=geopolicity1112>{{harvnb|Geopolicity|2010|pp=11–12}}</ref>

[[File:Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Iraq (1921–1958).svg|thumb|left|upright|Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Iraq 1932–1959 depicting the two rivers, the confluence Shatt al-Arab and the date palm forest, which used to be the largest in the world]]
The river featured on the [[coat of arms of Iraq]] from 1932 to 1959.
[[File:Euphrates River (1).JPG|thumb|Euphrates near [[Kahta]]]]

Turkey and Syria completed their first dams on the Euphrates – the Keban Dam and the Tabqa Dam, respectively – within one year of each other and filling of the reservoirs commenced in 1975. At the same time, the area was hit by severe drought and river flow toward Iraq was reduced from {{convert|15.3|km3}} in 1973 to {{convert|9.4|km3}} in 1975. This led to an international crisis during which Iraq threatened to bomb the Tabqa Dam. An agreement was eventually reached between Syria and Iraq after intervention by Saudi Arabia and the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name=shapland117118>{{harvnb|Shapland|1997|pp=117–118}}</ref><ref name=kaya>{{harvnb|Kaya|1998}}</ref> A similar crisis, although not escalating to the point of military threats, occurred in 1981 when the Keban Dam reservoir had to be refilled after it had been almost emptied to temporarily increase Turkey's hydroelectricity production.<ref name=kolars49>{{harvnb|Kolars|1994|p=49}}</ref> In 1984, Turkey unilaterally declared that it would ensure a flow of at least {{convert|500|m3}} per second, or {{convert|16|km3}} per year, into Syria, and in 1987 a bilateral treaty to that effect was signed between the two countries.<ref name=daoudy169-170>{{harvnb|Daoudy|2005|pp=169–170}}</ref> Another bilateral agreement from 1989 between Syria and Iraq settles the amount of water flowing into Iraq at 60 percent of the amount that Syria receives from Turkey.<ref name=geopolicity1112/><ref name=kaya/><ref name=daoudy1720>{{harvnb|Daoudy|2005|pp=172}}</ref> In 2008, Turkey, Syria and Iraq instigated the Joint Trilateral Committee (JTC) on the management of the water in the Tigris–Euphrates basin and on 3 September 2009 a further agreement was signed to this effect.<ref name=geopolicity16>{{harvnb|Geopolicity|2010|p=16}}</ref>
On 15 April 2014, Turkey began to reduce the flow of the Euphrates into Syria and Iraq. The flow was cut off completely on 16 May 2014 resulting in the Euphrates terminating at the Turkish–Syrian border.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/19970|title=A new Turkish aggression against Syria: Ankara suspends pumping Euphrates' water|work=[[Al Akhbar (Lebanon)|Al Akhbar]]|date=30 May 2014|first=Suhaib|last=Anjarini|access-date=20 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616180412/https://english.al-akhbar.com/node/19970|archive-date=16 June 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> This was in violation of an agreement reached in 1987 in which Turkey committed to releasing a minimum of {{convert|500|m3}} of water per second at the Turkish–Syrian border.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuCd0blQ2V0| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/wuCd0blQ2V0| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title=Eupherates of Syria Cut Off by Turkey|date=30 May 2014|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

[[File:Euphrates River.jpg|thumb|Euphrates in Iraq, 2005]]During the [[Syrian civil war]] and the [[Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)|Iraqi Civil War]], much of the Euphrates was controlled by the [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant|Islamic State]] from 2014 until 2017, when the terrorist group began losing land and was eventually defeated territorially in [[Syria]] at the [[Battle of Baghuz Fawqani|Battle of Baghouz]] and in Iraq in the [[2017 Western Iraq campaign|Western Iraq offensive]] respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pearce |first=Fred |date=2014-08-25 |title=Mideast Water Wars: In Iraq, A Battle for Control of Water |url=https://e360.yale.edu/features/mideast_water_wars_in_iraq_a_battle_for_control_of_water |url-status=live |access-date=7 February 2020 |website=Yale E360 |language=en-US |archive-date=26 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926122552/https://e360.yale.edu/features/mideast_water_wars_in_iraq_a_battle_for_control_of_water }}</ref>