Euphrates

Euphrates, a river of Western Asia, which, with the Tigris, encloses the fertile region known in Scriptural history as Mesopotamia, the river formed by the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris falling into the Persian Gulf, 60 miles below Basra, after a course of 1,700 miles, 1,200 of which are navigable for light vessels, and 120 for war vessels. Babylon and Nineveh were both in the Euphrates region, which was kept fertile by an elaborate system of irrigation. Attention has of late years been drawn to the valley as a likely route to India, either by improving the navigation, or by construction of a railway, or by a union of the two plans, but political considerations have prevented any practical result.