Lake Amik or the Lake of Antioch () () was a large freshwater lake in the basin of the Orontes River in Hatay Province, Turkey. It was located north-east of the ancient city of Antioch (modern Antakya). The lake was drained during a period from the 1940s–1970s. Hydrology and history Lake Amik was located in the centre of Amik Plain () on the northernmost part of the Dead Sea Transform and historically covered an area of some , increasing during flood periods. It was surrounded by extensive marshland. Sedimentary analysis has suggested that Lake Amik was formed, in its final state, in the past 3,000 years by episodic floods and silting up of the outlet to the Orontes River. This dramatic increase in the lake's area had displaced many settlements during the classical period; the lake became an important source of fish and shellfish for the surrounding area and the city of Antioch. The 14th century Arab geographer Abu al-Fida described the lake as having sweet water and being long and wide, while an 18th-century traveller, Richard Pococke, noted that it was then locally called "Bahr-Agoule (the White Lake) by reaſon of the colour of its waters". By the 20th century, the lake supported around 50,000 inhabitants in 70 villages, who took part in stock raising, reed harvesting, fishing (with a particularly significant eel fishery) and agriculture, crops and fodder being grown on pastures formed during the summer as the lake waters receded. They also constructed dwellings, locally known as Huğ, from reeds gathered in the lake. Ecology Lake Amik was an extremely valuable habitat on the migratory routes of waterfowl and other birds, especially white storks and pelicans, and was noted for an isolated breeding population of the African darter. It also supported populations of endemic birds; a possible distinct subspecies of the black francolin (Francolinus francolinus billypayni) and the similarly distinct southern Turkish bearded reedling (Panurus biarmicus kosswigi). A ray-finned fish species Hemigrammocapoeta caudomaculata was only known from Lake Amik, while the cyprinid Jordan himri was found nowhere else in Turkey. With the draining of the lake, the endemic bird and fish species have become extinct; the region's biodiversity was further harmed by the fact that one of the few similar habitats, Lake Hula in northern Israel, was also drained in the 1950s. Draining Draining and reclamation of areas around the lake commenced in 1940, in order to