For thousands of years, two famous rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, made Iraq one of the most fertile regions in the Middle East. Often called "the cradle of civilisation", the first urban settlers grew up on the lands between the two ancient waterways. But today, things are dramatically different, for the rivers and the people who depend on them. Iraq's ancient rivers and water resources have been seriously damaged by wars, economic sanctions, the construction of upstream dams, pollution and a fall in water levels. The Tigris and Euphrates meet in Basra province, in the south of Iraq, where they form the Shatt al-Arab waterway. Tens of thousands of Iraqis live in marshes.