Manbij plain ( ar, سهل منبج ) is a vast plain on the eastern

Aleppo plateau The Aleppo plateau ( ar, هضبة حلب ) is a low, gently undulating plateau of northern Syria. It lies at the northern end of the junction between the Arabian Plate and the African Plate at the Dead Sea Rift. The plateau lies mostly in the Ale ...

in northern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and southeastern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. The plain runs along the western bank of river

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

for approximately 140 km from Nizip to

Maskanah Maskanah ( ar, مَسْكَنَة) also spelled, Meskene is a town in northern Syria, administratively part of the Manbij District of the Aleppo Governorate. The town is located southeast of Aleppo on the Lake Assad part of the Euphrates. Nearby ...

, with an average width of 15–30 km. It is located within the Manbij and Jarābulus districts of Aleppo Governorate in Syria, and the Nizip and

Karkamış Karkamış is a town and district of Gaziantep Province in southeastern Turkey, next to the site of ancient Karkemish. The population of the town was 2,998 in 2010. It is a border checkpoint on the road to Jarabulus in Syria. In 2004, 8,071 vehic ...

districts of

Gaziantep Province Gaziantep Province ( tr, ) is a province in south-central Turkey. It is located in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region. Its capital is the city of Gaziantep. It neighbours Ad ...

in Turkey.

Borders and description

The average elevation of the plain is around 400 m. It gradually slopes up from east to west. The plain can be divided into northern and southern parts. The northern part extends from Nizip to Manbij. This part is surrounded by the

Aintab plateau Aintab plateau or Gaziantep plateau ( ar, هضبة عنتاب Levantine pronunciation: ) is a low, gently undulating plateau that forms the westernmost part of the Southeastern Anatolia Region in Turkey. It forms the northwestern end of the Arab ...

from north and west. It is traversed from west to east by the Nizip, Merzimen (Bozatlı), and Sajur rivers. It is inhabited by a

Turkmen Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to: Peoples Historical ethnonym * Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages Ethnic groups * Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...

density in addition to

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

s and other ethnic minorities. The Turkmen call this plain ''Barak plain'' after the name of a Turkmen tribe. In Syria it is called the northern Manbij plain. The southern plain extends from Manbij to Maskanah. It is bounded from west by the Dhahab valley and

Lake Jabboul Sabkhat al-Jabbūl or Mamlahat al-Jabbūl or Lake Jabbūl ( ar, سبخة الجبول) is a large, traditionally seasonal, saline lake and concurrent salt flats (sabkha) 30 km southeast of Aleppo, Syria, in the Bāb District of Aleppo Go ...

. In the south it is joined by the arid steppe of the northern

Syrian Desert The Syrian Desert ( ar, بادية الشام ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert and steppe covering of the Middle East, including parts of sou ...

. Irrigation based agriculture has been practiced in the plain since ancient times. Archeological remains from the

paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

have been discovered in the Sajur valley. The ancient Zeugma on the Euphrates is found in the northern end of the plain.

Borders and description

See also