A Geography Without Borders
Kurdistan occupies the mountainous interior of the Middle East – a geographic heartland that has never corresponded to a single political unit. Bounded roughly by the Taurus Mountains to the north and west, the Zagros range to the east and south, and the plains of Mesopotamia to the south, it is one of the largest cultural-geographic regions in the world without its own internationally recognised state.
The Cradle of Civilisation
The geographic region of Kurdistan holds a claim that no other territory on earth can match: it lies at the heart of the Fertile Crescent – the arc of rich agricultural land stretching from the Nile Delta through the Levant and into Mesopotamia and the Zagros foothills – where humanity first developed agriculture, domesticated animals, built cities, and invented writing.
The northern Zagros foothills, precisely in the area of Kurdish settlement, are where archaeologists have found evidence of the world's first wheat and barley cultivation (c. 10,000 BCE), the earliest sheep and goat domestication, the first permanent agricultural villages, and the earliest forms of counting and symbolic record-keeping that preceded writing. The Kurdish landscape is, in the most literal archaeological sense, where civilisation began.
This is not incidental to Kurdish culture – it is foundational. The Kurds are the inheritors of the oldest continuously inhabited mountain civilization on earth, and their language, folklore, ritual, and agricultural practice contain layers of inherited memory reaching back to the first farmers of the Neolithic revolution. The mountain valleys they tend today were farmed ten thousand years before the pyramids were built.
The political geography of Kurdistan is sharply at odds with this cultural and historical depth. The modern borders dividing the Kurdish homeland – drawn principally by the treaties of 1916 (Sykes-Picot) and 1923 (Treaty of Lausanne) – cut across mountain ranges, river valleys, and tribal territories that had been Kurdish for millennia, distributing the Kurdish people across four sovereign states: Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria.
Geographic Fundamentals
- Kurdistan spans approximately 500,000–600,000 km² across Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria
- The region lies at 36–38° N latitude – similar to southern Spain or northern California
- Elevation ranges from near sea level (Tigris plain) to over 4,700 metres (Ararat massif)
- The Zagros fold mountains were formed by the collision of the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates, an active process that continues today
- Kurdistan contains the headwaters of both the Tigris and Euphrates – the rivers that made Mesopotamian civilisation possible
- The northern Zagros foothills are the primary zone of early agricultural domestication – the birthplace of farming
The Kurdish Landscape in Culture
- The mountains (çîya) appear as a symbol of freedom and refuge in Kurdish poetry and song across all periods
- The phrase "Kurds have no friends but the mountains" reflects the historical role of terrain as military and cultural protection
- Kurdish seasonal migration (koç) – moving livestock between highland summer pastures and lowland winter grazing – shaped the nomadic and semi-nomadic traditions central to Kurdish identity
- Spring thaw from the mountains feeds the rivers that water the agricultural valleys – the seasonal calendar of Kurdish farming follows the mountain snowpack
- Many Kurdish place names are pre-Islamic, pre-Arabic, and preserve geographical memory going back to Median or earlier periods
The Spine of Kurdistan
The mountains are not merely the backdrop of Kurdish life – they are its primary shaping force. Kurdish settlement, agriculture, architecture, clothing, music, and political history have all been formed by the demands and possibilities of high-altitude mountain living. The great ranges of the Zagros and Taurus have simultaneously sheltered, isolated, and defined the Kurdish people for thousands of years.
The Zagros Spine of the East
The Zagros mountain system – stretching some 1,500 kilometres from southeastern Turkey through northern Iraq and into western Iran – is the primary mountain range of the Kurdish homeland. It is a geologically young range, still rising as the Arabian tectonic plate pushes northward into Eurasia, and prone to the earthquakes and dramatic relief changes that characterise active mountain-building zones.
The Kurdish Zagros contains some of the most significant archaeological sites in human prehistory. The Shanidar Cave (in present-day Iraqi Kurdistan) contained Neanderthal burials dating to c. 50,000 BCE – the first evidence of deliberate burial suggesting ritual and spiritual life. The Jarmo site (c. 7000 BCE) is one of the earliest known permanent agricultural settlements. The Zagros foothills are, in the most literal sense, the birthplace of organised human settlement.
For the Kurds, the Zagros has been a military and cultural shield – its passes controllable, its valleys defensible, its peaks unreachable for the lowland empires that repeatedly attempted to subjugate the mountain peoples.
ninara — CC BY-SA 2.0
Diyako kazm — CC BY-SA 3.0
Mount Halgurd
چیای هەڵگورد — Çiyayê HalgurdAt 4,744 metres, Mount Halgurd on the Iraq-Iran border is the highest peak in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and one of the defining summits of the Kurdish Zagros. Its snowfield feeds the Greater Zab river system and its high-altitude meadows are traditional summer pastures for Kurdish nomadic herders. It is a symbol of Kurdish highland identity.
4,744m · Zagros
Vyacheslav Argenberg — CC BY 4.0
Mount Ararat (Agirî)
چیای ئاگری — Çiyayê AgirîAt 5,137 metres, Ararat (called Agirî in Kurdish – "mountain of fire") is the highest peak in the entire region and one of the most visually commanding mountains in the world. It rises as a near-perfect volcanic cone from the plain of the upper Araxes river. The mountain sits on the Turkish-Iranian-Armenian border and is deeply sacred to multiple peoples of the region, including the Kurds.
5,137m · Taurus-Zagros
Dan — CC BY-SA 2.0
Taurus Mountains (Toros)
چیاکانی توروس — Çiyakânî TorosThe Taurus range sweeps across southern Anatolia, forming the northern and western boundary of the Kurdish highland zone. Its sub-ranges – the Anti-Taurus, the Amanos – contain some of the most densely Kurdish-populated mountain terrain in Turkey, particularly the regions around Dêrsim (Tunceli), Colemêrg (Hakkari), and Mêrdîn (Mardin). The Taurus peaks reach over 3,700 metres.
3,756m · Bakur
Public domain
Şemdinli Highlands
نێو شهمدینی — Nêw ŞemdînîThe remote Şemdinli district in Hakkari Province (Turkey) occupies some of the most dramatic mountain terrain in the entire Kurdish world – deep glacial valleys, permanent snowfields, and summer meadows that bloom explosively after the snowmelt. The Greater Zab river rises in these highlands. Historically isolated, the region preserved tribal social structures and oral traditions into the 20th century.
~3,500m · Bakur
Eren Mengeş — CC BY-SA 4.0
Dêrsim / Munzur Mountains
چیاکانی موونزوور — Çiyakânî MunzurThe Munzur range around Dêrsim (modern Tunceli, Turkey) is the sacred heartland of Alevi Kurdish religious and cultural tradition. Its rugged volcanic peaks and deep river gorges made it one of the last regions in Anatolia to resist Ottoman centralisation. The Munzur valley is today a national park – one of the last wilderness areas in Turkey with significant wolf, bear, and lynx populations.
3,381m · Alevi Heartland
Khoshhat — CC BY-SA 4.0
Barzan Highlands
ناوچهی بارزان — Nawçeyê BarzanThe rugged mountain region north of Erbil, centred on the Barzan valley and the Rawanduz gorge – one of the deepest gorges in the Middle East. The Barzan region is historically significant as the power base of the Barzani tribe and its leaders, including Mustafa Barzani, the 20th-century Kurdish nationalist leader. Its narrow passes were the route of both invasion and resistance throughout Kurdish history.
~3,000m · Başûr
Nawaf shengaly — CC BY 4.0
Sinjar Mountain (Şengal)
چیای شهنگال — Çiyayê ŞengalAn isolated mountain ridge rising dramatically from the flat Mesopotamian plain in northwestern Iraq – the ancient heartland of the Yazidi Kurdish people. At 1,463 metres it is modest in height but enormous in cultural significance: the Yazidi religion, one of the oldest surviving pre-Islamic religious traditions in the world, is centred on the villages of its slopes. The 2014 ISIS assault on Şengal constituted a genocide against the Yazidi community.
1,463m · Yazidi Heartland
Khoshhat — CC BY 4.0
Safeen Mountain
چیای سافین — Çiyayê SafînSafeen Mountain near Erbil (1,900m) is the most symbolically important peak of the Başûr lowland region – visible from Erbil's ancient citadel, its silhouette frames the Kurdistan Region's capital. Its slopes have been a summer retreat for Erbil's population for generations. The mountain hosts diverse ecosystems from oak forest to alpine meadow within a single ascent.
1,900m · Başûr
Hiwa Sherzad — CC BY-SA 4.0
Qandil Mountains
چیاکانی کهندیل — Çiyakânî QendîlThe remote Qandil range along the Iraq-Iran border reaches 3,650 metres and contains some of the most rugged and inaccessible terrain in the Zagros. Permanently snowcapped, its peaks are visible from both Sulaymaniyah and Erbil on clear days. The Qandil has been a refuge and base for Kurdish political and military movements throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, precisely because its terrain made it unreachable by conventional military force.
3,650m · Iraq-Iran BorderThe Sacred Waters Rivers of the Kurdish Homeland
Kurdistan is the source of water for the entire Middle East. The Tigris, Euphrates, and their tributaries all rise in the Kurdish mountains, fed by the annual snowmelt from the Zagros and Taurus. Without the mountain hydrology of the Kurdish highlands, the great civilisations of Mesopotamia – Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, Assyria – could not have existed.
The Water Tower of the Middle East
The Kurdish mountains function as the region's water tower – accumulating winter snowfall and releasing it as spring and summer meltwater into the river systems that have sustained human civilisation in the arid lowlands for ten thousand years. The Tigris rises near the city of Elâzığ in eastern Turkey; the Euphrates rises from two tributaries in the Armenian highlands. Both rivers flow southeast through Kurdish territory before entering the Mesopotamian plain.
This hydrological role has made Kurdish territory enormously strategic throughout history – whoever controls the headwaters controls the flow of water to the agricultural lowlands. It explains why the Kurdish highlands were perpetually contested between the great lowland empires of Mesopotamia, Persia, and Anatolia, and why modern dam construction in Turkey has been one of the most politically charged issues in Kurdish-Turkish relations.
The rivers are not merely strategic – they are sacred in Kurdish culture. The Tigris (Dîcle in Kurdish) appears throughout Kurdish poetry and music as a symbol of life, journey, and loss. The Botan and Habur rivers of northern Kurdistan are settings for the most important Kurdish folk epics. The snowmelt rivers of spring are celebrated in Newroz songs as the arrival of life itself.
Tigris (Dîcle)
دیجله — DîcleThe Tigris rises near Elâzığ in eastern Turkey and flows ~1,900 kilometres southeast through Kurdish territory – past Amed (Diyarbakır), through the Cizre gorge, along the Iraq-Turkey border – before entering the Mesopotamian plain at Mosul. In its upper reaches it is a swift, emerald mountain river; by the time it exits the Kurdish highlands it has received the waters of the Batman, Botan, Greater Zab, Lesser Zab, and Diyala tributaries. Together, these Kurdish mountain rivers supply the Tigris with the majority of its volume.
~1,900 km · Source: ElâzığEuphrates (Firat)
فرات — FiratThe Euphrates (Firat in Kurdish) rises from two tributaries – the Karasu and Murat rivers – in the Armenian highlands and flows west and south through the Kurdish territories of eastern Turkey before turning southeast toward Syria. At 2,800 kilometres it is one of the longest rivers in the Middle East. The Atatürk Dam on the Euphrates – built in the 1990s – flooded the ancient Kurdish city of Halfeti and thousands of years of Kurdish settlement history beneath its reservoir.
2,800 km · Source: Eastern AnatoliaGreater Zab (Zêy Mezin)
زێی مهزن — Zêyê MezinThe Greater Zab rises near Hakkari in southeastern Turkey, fed by the snowfields of Mount Halgurd and the Şemdinli highlands. It flows south through the Barzan valley and the Rawanduz gorge – one of the most dramatic river gorges in the Middle East – before entering the Tigris south of Mosul. The Zab valley is one of the most important corridors of Kurdish history; the Barzan tribe's heartland, the scene of multiple military campaigns, and the route of the Kurdish national movement's most famous mountain marches.
473 km · Source: HakkariLesser Zab (Zêy Biçûk)
زێی بچووک — Zêyê BiçûkThe Lesser Zab rises in the Piranshahr district of Iranian Kurdistan and flows west through Ranya, Dokan, and the Dokan reservoir – one of the Kurdistan Region's most important water management projects – before joining the Tigris south of Erbil. The river's valley contains the ruins of multiple Assyrian cities and passes through the archaeological heartland of northern Mesopotamian civilisation.
402 km · Source: RojhilatBotan (Sirwan / Batman)
روباری بوتان — Rûbarî BotanThe Botan Su ("Botan River") flows through the historic Botan principality of northern Kurdistan – the territory of the great Berwari and Botan tribes. It joins the Tigris at Cizre, a crossing point of extraordinary historical significance – the point where the mountainous Kurdish north meets the Mesopotamian plain, where Kurdish highlanders and Arab lowlanders have traded, raided, and coexisted for millennia. The Botan valley features in more Kurdish epic poetry than almost any other geographical setting.
333 km · Source: Ağrı ProvinceDiyala (Sirwan)
سیروان — SîrwanKnown in its upper reaches as the Sirwan, the Diyala rises in the Hamadan province of Iran and flows westward through the Sulaymaniyah Governorate before entering Iraq and joining the Tigris south of Baghdad. The Darbandikhan reservoir on the Diyala provides irrigation water and hydroelectric power for a large part of southern Iraqi Kurdistan. The Sirwan valley was a key corridor of the ancient trade route connecting Mesopotamia with Persia.
445 km · Source: RojhilatOne People, Four States
The Kurdish homeland was divided between four modern states in the early 20th century – a division that has shaped every aspect of Kurdish political and cultural life since. Each of the four parts (known by their Kurdish directional names) has developed distinct political histories, cultural emphases, and relationships with the state power that governs them.
Bakur – Northern Kurdistan
Southeastern TurkeyBakur ("north" in Kurdish) encompasses the Kurdish-majority regions of southeastern Turkey – historically covering the provinces of Amed (Diyarbakır), Riha (Şanlıurfa), Serhed (Kars-Ağrı), Mêrdîn (Mardin), Colemêrg (Hakkari), Dêrsim (Tunceli), and Botan (Şırnak-Siirt). This is the largest and most populous part of the Kurdish homeland, containing an estimated 15–20 million Kurds.
The mountain terrain of Bakur – the Taurus and Zagros ranges at their most dramatic – has both sheltered the Kurdish population from state control and isolated it from development. The region contains some of the most significant archaeological sites in human prehistory (Göbekli Tepe, Çatalhöyük's cultural zone, Nemrut Dağı) and ancient cities of extraordinary historical depth (Amed's basalt walls, the monasteries of Tur Abdin, the cave settlements of Cappadocia's eastern margins).
Başûr – Southern Kurdistan
Northern Iraq · Kurdistan RegionBaşûr ("south" in Kurdish) is the only part of the Kurdish homeland with formal autonomous status – as the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), established after 1991 and constitutionally recognised in 2005. It covers the governorates of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, and Duhok, as well as disputed territories including Kirkuk. The Kurdistan Region has its own parliament, president, army (Peshmerga), and government, making it the most politically advanced expression of Kurdish self-governance in history.
Geographically, Başûr transitions from the high Zagros mountains in the north and east to the rolling foothills and eventually the flat Mesopotamian plain in the south. The ancient city of Erbil (Hewlêr) – whose citadel has been continuously inhabited for at least 6,000 years – is the regional capital. The Sulaymaniyah basin, ringed by mountains, is the cultural and intellectual capital.
Rojhilat – Eastern Kurdistan
Northwestern IranRojhilat ("east" in Kurdish) covers the Kurdish-populated regions of western Iran – primarily the provinces of Kurdistan (centred on Sanandaj/Sine), Kermanshah (Kirmanşah), Ilam, and parts of West Azerbaijan and Lorestan. With an estimated 8–12 million Kurds, Rojhilat has the second largest Kurdish population of any homeland.
The geography here is the Zagros at its most spectacular – high plateau terrain at 1,500–2,000 metres above sea level, flanked by peaks of 3,000–4,000 metres. The cities of Sanandaj, Kermanshah, and Ilam sit in broad mountain valleys where the climate is milder than the extreme north. Rojhilat's Kurdish culture shows the deepest Persian influence of any homeland – in language (Soranî and Kurmancî both spoken), in music, in textile traditions. The city of Sanandaj was historically a major centre of Kurdish literary and musical production.
Rojava – Western Kurdistan
Northern SyriaRojava ("west" in Kurdish) covers the Kurdish-majority regions of northern Syria – a non-contiguous arc of territory along the Turkish border, centred on three cantons: Afrîn, Kobanê (Ain al-Arab), and Cizîrê (Jazira). With an estimated 2–3 million Kurds, it is the smallest of the four homelands but has achieved the most dramatic international visibility through the Syrian civil war and the fight against ISIS.
Geographically, Rojava is distinct from the other three homelands – much of it lies on the flat Jazira plain and the Euphrates basin rather than in high mountains. The exception is the Kurd Dağî (Kurdish Mountain) range around Afrîn in the west, the only significantly mountainous part of Syrian Kurdistan. The Euphrates flows through the heart of Kobanê – the town whose resistance against ISIS siege in 2014–2015 made it a global symbol of Kurdish military and political will.
"The Kurds have no friends but the mountains – and even the mountains are divided between four states."— Adaptation of the Kurdish proverb, reflecting the post-1923 political reality
The Ancient Cities of the Kurdish World
Kurdish cities are among the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world. From the 6,000-year-old citadel of Erbil to the Roman-era columns of Diyarbakır's bazaar, the Kurdish urban tradition is layered with millennia of accumulated history – Neolithic, Babylonian, Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Byzantine, Islamic, and modern all stacked one upon another in the same city centres.
Hewlêr (Erbil)
هەولێر — HewlêrCapital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Erbil Citadel – a 30-metre-high tell rising from the plain – has been continuously occupied for at least 6,000 years, making it a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today Erbil is a rapidly modernising city of over 1.5 million, the political and commercial capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Başûr · IraqAmed (Diyarbakır)
ئامهد — AmedThe de facto capital of northern Kurdistan – a city of black basalt walls, ancient bazaars, and deep political significance. Amed's Roman-era city walls (built on earlier Assyrian foundations) are among the best-preserved in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city has been a Kurdish cultural centre for centuries and remains the symbolic heart of the Bakur Kurdish identity and political movement.
Bakur · TurkeySilêmanî (Sulaymaniyah)
سلێمانی — SilêmanîFounded in 1784 by the Baban principality, Sulaymaniyah is the cultural and intellectual capital of Başûr – home to Kurdistan's most important universities, museums, literary scene, and civil society. The city sits in a broad mountain basin ringed by the Azmar, Goizha, and Baranan ranges. Its poets, musicians, and writers have produced some of the most significant works of modern Kurdish culture.
Başûr · IraqSine (Sanandaj)
سنه — SîneCapital of Kurdistan Province in Iran and the cultural heart of Rojhilat. Sanandaj sits in a mountain valley at 1,500 metres elevation and is renowned across Kurdistan for the refinement of its musical tradition – the Sanandaj tanbur school is considered the most sophisticated in the Kurdish world. Its bazaar and historic architecture reflect centuries of the city's role as a centre of Persian-Kurdish cultural exchange.
Rojhilat · IranDuhok (Duhok)
دهووک — DuhokSituated in a mountain valley in the northwest of the Kurdistan Region, Duhok is the largest city of the Kurmancî-speaking part of Iraqi Kurdistan. Surrounded by dramatic limestone peaks and fruit-growing valleys, the city is the gateway to the ancient Christian and Yazidi communities of the Nineveh plains. Its region contains some of the oldest Kurdish mountain villages still inhabited on their original sites.
Başûr · IraqMêrdîn (Mardin)
مێردین — MêrdînPerched dramatically on a limestone ridge above the Mesopotamian plain, Mêrdîn is one of the most visually spectacular cities in the Kurdish world – its honey-coloured stone buildings cascading down a cliff face above the Syrian flatlands. It was historically a centre of Syriac Christian culture (the Tur Abdin monasteries lie nearby), and its bazaars and caravanserais reflect centuries of Silk Road trade passing through the Kurdish mountain gateway.
Bakur · TurkeySeasons of Extremity The Kurdish Natural World
The Kurdish homeland spans some of the most dramatic climate zones in the Middle East – from the permanently snow-capped peaks of the northern Zagros to the semi-arid steppe of the Jazira plain. This climatic range has shaped not only the agriculture and economy of Kurdish communities but also their seasonal rhythms of life, migration, and celebration.
Climate Zones
Alpine Mountain (above 2,000m) – The high Zagros and Taurus peaks experience a severe continental climate: winters of −20°C with snowfall from October to May, brief intense summers reaching 25°C. The growing season is only two to three months. These conditions shaped the nomadic and semi-nomadic lifestyle of the highland tribes, who moved livestock to high summer pastures (zozan) and returned to lower valley settlements for winter.
Highland Plateau (1,000–2,000m) – The majority of Kurdistan's population lives in this zone. Winters are cold (−10°C to −5°C) with significant snowfall but shorter duration; summers are warm and dry (25–35°C). Agriculture – wheat, barley, tobacco, fruits – is possible without irrigation in this zone, supported by reliable spring rainfall. Most Kurdish cities sit in this elevation band.
Mountain Foothills (300–1,000m) – The foothills zone has a Mediterranean-influenced climate – mild wet winters and hot dry summers – that supports diverse agriculture: pomegranates, grapes, figs, olives, and citrus alongside the grain crops of the higher plateau. The Sulaymaniyah and Erbil regions sit at this elevation.
Mesopotamian Margins (below 300m) – The flat southern margins of Kurdistan transition into the semi-arid steppe and eventually the desert of Mesopotamia. Summer temperatures exceed 45°C; rain is scarce. Agriculture requires irrigation from the rivers descending from the mountains above.
Wildlife & Ecosystems
The Kurdish highlands contain some of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the Middle East – a consequence of their position at the intersection of European, Central Asian, and Afro-tropical biogeographic zones. The Zagros and Taurus ranges are refugia for species that survived the last Ice Age in these mountainous pockets and have remained isolated long enough to develop local variants.
The large mammal fauna of the Kurdish highlands includes brown bear (xirs), wolf (gur), wild boar (beraz), red fox (rûvî), golden jackal, striped hyena, and the critically endangered Persian leopard (paleng) – once widespread across the Zagros, now reduced to perhaps 200 individuals in the most remote highland valleys of Rojhilat. The Caspian tiger was historically present in the Zagros and Taurus valleys; the last confirmed sighting was in the 1950s.
The oak forests of the Zagros foothills – dominated by the Persian oak (Quercus brantii) – are among the most ecologically significant in the region, providing habitat for the full diversity of the mountain fauna and crucial watershed protection for the rivers below. These forests are under severe pressure from charcoal production, overgrazing, and climate-driven drought.
The Kurdish highlands are an important migratory flyway for birds between Eurasia and Africa. Spring migration sees millions of raptors, storks, and songbirds moving through the mountain passes. The Duhok and Sulaymaniyah highlands are internationally recognised Important Bird Areas.
Seasonal Calendar
- Newroz (21 March) – first day of spring, snowmelt begins, livestock return to valley pastures
- Spring (April–May) – wildflower blooms, planting season, herb-gathering from mountain slopes
- Summer (June–Aug) – transhumance to high zozan pastures, fruit and grain harvest
- Autumn (Sept–Oct) – descent from highlands, grape and pomegranate harvest, walnut gathering
- Winter (Nov–March) – valley and lower settlement life; fireside culture, oral storytelling, weaving
Endangered Landscapes
- Zagros oak forests – reduced by 40–50% in the 20th century through charcoal production and overgrazing
- Mountain wetlands – drained for agriculture or reduced by upstream damming
- High altitude meadows (zozan) – degraded by overgrazing as transhumant practices declined
- River riparian forests – destroyed by dam construction along the Tigris and Euphrates
- Persian leopard habitat – fragmented by roads, settlements, and cross-border barriers
Natural Resources
- Oil – the Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah fields contain some of the world's largest known reserves
- Water – Kurdistan's rivers supply water to millions in Iraq, Syria, and downstream Turkey
- Minerals – chromite, copper, iron ore, and rock salt deposits throughout the Zagros
- Timber – the remnant oak and conifer forests of the highland zones
- Agricultural land – the fertile river valleys and highland plateaus, among the most productive in the region