Aleppo (Arabic: حلب ['ħalab], 36°13′N, 37°10′E) is a city in northern Syria, capital of the Aleppo Governorate; the Governate extens around the city for over 16,000 km² and has a population of 4,393,000, making it the largest Governate in Syria (followed by Damascus). Aleppo is one of the oldest inhabited cities; it knew human settlement since the eleventh millennium B.C. through the residential houses that were discovered in Tell Qaramel. It was known to antiquity as Khalpe, Khalibon, to the Greeks as Beroea (Veroea), and to the Turks as Halep; during the French Mandate, the name Alep was used. It occupies a strategic trading point midway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates. Initially, Aleppo was built on a small group of hills surrounding the prominent hill where the castle is erected. The small river Quweiq (قويق) runs through the city.