Great Zab

Great Zab
Arabic: الزاب الكبير‎‎ (al-Zāb al-Kabīr), Kurdish: Zêy Badînan‎ / Zêyê Mezin, Turkish: Zap, Syriac: ܙܒܐ ܥܠܝܐ‎ zāba ʻalya, Byzantine Greek: μέγας Ζβαω, Classical Greek: Λκοω, Akkadian: Zabu ēlū
River
Landscape of a section of the Great Zab in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan.
Countries	Turkey, Iraq (Kurdistan Region)
Tributaries
- left	Rubar-i-Shin, Rukuchuk, Rubar-i-Ruwandiz, Rubat Mawaran, Bastura Chai
- right	Khazir
Cities	Amadiya, Barzan
Source
- location	Taurus Mountains, Turkey
- elevation	3,000 m (9,843 ft) approx.
Mouth
- location	Tigris, Iraq
- coordinates	35°59′28″N 43°20′37″E / 35.99111°N 43.34361°E / 35.99111; 43.34361Coordinates: 35°59′28″N 43°20′37″E / 35.99111°N 43.34361°E / 35.99111; 43.34361
Length	400 km (249 mi) approx.
Basin	40,300 km2 (15,560 sq mi) approx.
Discharge
- average	419 m3/s (14,797 cu ft/s)
- max	1,320 m3/s (46,615 cu ft/s)
Map (in French) showing the course of the Great Zab (Grand Zab) in Iraq and the location of the Bekhme Dam (Barrage de Bekhme)

The Great Zab or Upper Zab (Arabic: الزاب الكبير‎‎ (al-Zāb al-Kabīr), Kurdish: Zêy Badînan or Zêyê Mezin‎, Turkish: Zap, Syriac: ܙܒܐ ܥܠܝܐ‎ (zāba ʻalya)) is an approximately 400-kilometre (250 mi) long river flowing through Turkey and Iraq. It rises in Turkey near Lake Van and joins the Tigris in Iraq south of Mosul. The drainage basin of the Great Zab covers approximately 40,300 square kilometres (15,600 sq mi), and during its course, the rivers collects the water from many tributaries. The river and its tributaries are primarily fed by rainfall and snowmelt – as a result of which discharge 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 Bekhme Dam, has commenced but was halted after the Gulf War.

The Zagros Mountains have been occupied since at least the Lower Palaeolithic, and Neanderthal occupation of the Great Zab basin has been testified at the archaeological site of Shanidar Cave. Historical records for the region are available from the end of the third millennium BCE onward. In the Neo-Assyrian period, the Great Zab provided water for irrigation for the lands around the capital city of Nimrud. The Battle of the Zab – which ended the Umayyad Caliphate – took place near a tributary of the Great Zab, and the valleys of the river provided shelter for refugees from the Mongol conquest of Iraq. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Great Zab basin saw frequent uprisings of local Kurdish tribes striving for autonomy.