JAZIRAH, AL-

also spelled El-gezira, region, east-central Sudan. Al-Jazirah lies just southeast of the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers; the Blue Nile runs northwestward through the central part of the region, and the White Nile lies to the west. The Blue Nile is joined by the ad-Dindar River at the southern border of Al-Jazirah and is joined by the ar-Rahad River east of Wad Madani. Al-Jazirah is the site of one of the largest irrigation projects in the world. Begun by the British in 1925, the Jazirah (Gezira) scheme distributes the waters of the Blue Nile through a 2,700-mile (4,300-kilometre) network of canals and ditches to irrigate fields growing cotton and other cash crops. This scheme has made Al-Jazirah the most productive agricultural area of The Sudan. Water for the scheme is supplied from the Sennar and ar-Rusayris dams upstream on the Blue Nile. Most of the population engages in agriculture, and crops include cotton, cereals, oilseeds, peanuts (groundnuts), wheat, sesame, durra (sorghum), dukhn (millet), and vegetables. A hydroelectric plant is located at Wad Madani. Industries produce ginned cotton, sesame and peanut oils, cigarettes, leather goods, soap, and processed foods. Wad Madani is the chief city of Al-Jazirah. Most of the people are Arabs; the Nuba are the only significant minority. (Arabic: Island), the northern reaches of Mesopotamia, now making up part of northern Iraq and extending into eastern Turkey and extreme northeastern Syria. The region lies between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and is bounded on the south by a line running between Takrit and Anbar. It consists of a rolling and irregular plateau 8001,500 feet (240460 m) above sea level. Al-Jazirah was important in ancient and medieval times as a crossroads linking Iraq, Anatolia, Syria, Armenia, and Iran. It was also valued for its agricultural products. There were already numerous towns and markets along both rivers at the beginning of the Christian era, when Al-Jazirah was divided between the Byzantine and Persian empires. During the Umayyad and 'Abbasid periods, Al-Jazirah was a centre of conflict and uprisings, and such groups as the Shi'ites and the Kharijites fought the authorities in Damascus or Baghdad from the region. Late in the 9th century it even attained semiautonomy, but it was retaken by the 'Abbasids in 892. In the 10th century Al-Jazirah came under the rule of a succession of independent dynasties: the Hamdanids of Mosul (905991); the Buyids of Baghdad (977983); the Marwanids in Diyar Bakr (9831085); and the 'Uqaylids in Mosul (c. 9921096). After a brief period as part of the Seljuq empire (108592), the region's various districts pursued separate existences. The history of the largest district, Diyar Rabi'ah in eastern Al-Jazirah, henceforth became identical with that of its capital, Mosul. The Zangids, the Mamluks, the Persian Il-Khans, the Jalayirids, the Turkmen Kara Koyunlu and Ak Koyunlu, and the Persian Safavids ruled the area in succession until it was finally absorbed into the Ottoman Empire in 1637. With the dissolution of the empire in 1918, Diyar Rabi'ah was divided between Syria and Iraq. Diyar Mudar, a frontier region in the west, briefly separated into two kingdoms late in the 11th century: the crusader Armenian state at Edessa (now Sanliurfa, Turkey) in the north and the Turkish Muslim kingdom at Harran in the south. Zangi's capture of Edessa in 1144 returned Diyar Mudar to Muslim control. In the 15th century Turkmen tribes made increasing inroads into Diyar Mudar, and the Ak Koyunlu finally took it about 1402. The district became part of the Ottoman Empire early in the 17th century and since 1918 has been divided between Turkey and Syria. The chaotic state of the Seljuq empire in 1092 afforded several Turkmen tribes the chance to set themselves up in Diyar Bakr, the northernmost district. Diyar Bakr came under Ottoman rule in 1516, and its capital, Amida (modern Diyarbakir, Turkey), flourished as a literary and scholarly centre. Upon the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the northern district became part of Turkey.