Nineveh Plain

Nineveh Plains سهل نينوى ܦܩܥܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ
Map of the three districts which constitute Nineveh plains overlaid over the Ninawa Governorate map.
Largest city	Bakhdida
Official languages	Syriac, Ezdiki
Government
• Governor of Hamdaniya	Nisan Karromi
• Governor of Tel Keppe	Basim Ballu
• Governor of Al-Shikhan	Hasu Narmu
Area
• Total	4,197 km2 (1,620 sq mi)
Population
• 2012 estimate	500,000
• 1987 census	281,829
• Density	117/km2 (303.0/sq mi)

Nineveh Plains (Syriac: ܦܩܥܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ‎, Pqata d'Ninwĕ, and modern Syriac: ܕܫܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ‎, Daŝta d'Ninwĕ; Arabic: سهل نينوى‎‎, sahl naynawā; Central Kurdish: Deşta Neynewa‎) is a region in Iraq's Nineveh Governorate to the north and east of the city Mosul, from which it is also known as the Plain of Mosul. It was formerly known as the Plain of Sanjar or Sinjar from its major medieval settlement. It was the location of al-Khwārizmī's determination of a degree during the reign of the caliph al-Mamun. The area also includes the ruins of the ancient Assyrian cities of Nineveh, Nimrud, and Dur-Sharrukin as well as numerous ancient religious sites such as Mar Mattai Monastery, Rabban Hormizd Monastery, the Tomb of Nahum, and Lalish.

Nineveh Plains lie to the east, northeast of the city of Mosul in the Iraqi Ninawa Province. The ancient city of Nineveh stood where the eastern outskirts of Mosul are today, on the bank of the Tigris river. The villages on the eastern part of the plains are inhabited by minority religious groups that are non-Muslim. Most of these inhabitants are Assyrian Christians. The Nineveh plains are not only the historical homeland of the Assyrian people and a crucible of pre-Arab and Kurd pre-Islamic Mesopotamian civilisation, but it is a province where a majority of the population is currently drawn from the minorities, around half of whom are Assyrians.