Diyar Bakr ( ar, دِيَارُ بَكرٍ, Diyār Bakr, abode of Bakr) is the medieval

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

name of the northernmost of the three provinces of the Jazira ( Upper Mesopotamia), the other two being

Diyar Mudar Diyar Mudar ( ar, دِيَارُ مُضَرَ, Diyār Muḍar, abode of Mudar) is the medieval Arabic name of the westernmost of the three provinces of al-Jazira ( Upper Mesopotamia), the other two being Diyar Bakr and Diyar Rabi'a. According to ...

and Diyar Rabi'a. According to the medieval geographer al-Baladhuri, all three provinces were named after the main Arab tribes that were settled there by

Mu'awiyah Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...

in the course of the Muslim conquests of the 7th century. The Diyar Bakr was settled by the Rabi'a subgroup of the

Banu Bakr The Banu Bakr bin Wa'il ( ar, بنو بكر بن وائل '), or simply Banu Bakr, were an Arabian tribe belonging to the large Rabi'ah branch of Adnanite tribes, which also included Abd al-Qays, Anazzah, Taghlib. The tribe is reputed to have e ...

, and hence the two provinces are sometimes referred to collectively as "Diyar Rabi'a". In later Turkish usage, "Diyar Bakr" referred to the western portion of the former province, around Amid (which hence became known as

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortres ...

in Turkish). Diyar Bakr encompasses the region on both banks of the upper course of the river

Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

, from its sources to approximately where its course changes from a west-east to a southeasterly direction. Its main city was Amida (Amid in Arabic), and other major settlements included Mayyafariqin, Hisn Kaifa, and

Arzan Arzan may refer to: *Arzen or Arzan, ancient and medieval city on the border zone between Upper Mesopotamia and the Armenian Highlands, in eastern Turkey *Arzhan Arzhan (russian: Аржан) is a site of early Scythian kurgan burials in the Tu ...

. Geographically and politically, in early Islamic times the Diyar Bakr was usually part of the Jazira, but it was sometimes joined to the Armenian province to the north. In the late 9th century, it was controlled by an autonomous dynasty founded by Isa ibn al-Shaykh al-Shaybani. In the mid-10th century, the region passed into the hands of the Hamdanids, but their rule was contested by the Buyids (978–983) and after that the Marwanids. The Marwanid emirate ruled the region for almost a century before being annexed by the

Seljuk Empire The Great Seljuk Empire, or the Seljuk Empire was a high medieval, culturally Turko-Persian, Sunni Muslim empire, founded and ruled by the Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. It spanned a total area of from Anatolia and the Levant in the west to ...

in 1084–1085. Following the Seljuk realm's collapse after the death of Malik-Shah I in 1092, a series of small emirates established itself across the region, with the Artuqids of Mardin the most important among them. In the late 12th century, the province came under Ayyubid control, and in the mid-13th century it was divided between the Ayyubids in the east and the Seljuks of Rum, who controlled the western portion around Amida. Around 1260, the region was conquered by the

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

, who allowed the local rulers to continue to exercise power as their vassals. In the 14th century, the region was conquered by the Aq Qoyunlu, who disputed control with the Qara Qoyunlu and the last Ayyubid princes. In the early 16th century, it was for a time occupied by the Safavids before coming under Ottoman control in 1516.

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