Mesopotamia and the fertile crescent
Some of the world's earliest civilizations grew up in the land that is now Iraq, in the Middle East. Iraq has seen a lot of conflict in recent years, and that conflict has created many global issues. Thousands of years ago, though, this same land was home to the Sumerians, the Babylonians and the Assyrians. In those times it was known as Mesopotamia.
A name meaning 'between two rivers'. It refers to the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, roughly where Iraq is today.
The two rivers gave Mesopotamia water and rich soil, which made it part of a larger farming region.
A curved arc of land stretching from Egypt, around the eastern Mediterranean coast, and down through Mesopotamia to the Persian Gulf, where conditions were good for farming.
When you read the map, notice three named regions inside Mesopotamia. Sumer lies in the south, close to where the rivers reach the Persian Gulf. Babylonia and Assyria lie further up the rivers. Each region gave its name to a civilization, and Sumer came first.
A crescent is the curved shape of a thin new moon. Trace the green band on the map with your finger and you will see why the region got its name.
These natural advantages explain why so many early civilizations began here. Good farmland meant more people could be fed, and that set off a chain of changes in Sumer.
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