At the start of the 17th century, the Ottoman Sultans ordered Kurds from different parts of their empire to move to the area around the Euphrates river. These Kurds were told to live on both sides of the river. The western side of the river and the town of Kobanî were where most of these Kurds lived afterwards. In the 18th century, some of these Kurdish people in Greater Syria (also named "Bilad al-Sham") kept their Kurdish culture and their relations with Kurds in other parts of Kurdistan. Other Kurdish tribes were assimilated ("taken in") by Arab tribes who also lived there. 