Historical land use land cover classification and its change detection mapping using different remotely sensed data from LANDSAT (MSS TM and ETM+) and Terra (ASTER) sensors : a case study of the Euphrates River Basin in Syria with focus on agricultural irrigation projects This thesis deals spatially and regionally with the natural boundaries of the Euphrates River Basin (ERB) in Syria. Scientifically the research covers the application of remote sensing science (optical remote sensing: LANDSAT MSS TM and ETM+; and TERRA: ASTER); and methodologically in Land Use Land Cover (LULC) classification and mapping automatically and or semi automatically; in LULC change detection; and finally in the mapping of historical irrigation and agricultural projects for the extraction of differing crop types and the estimation of their areas. With regard to time the work is based on the years 1975 1987 2005 and 2007.