Mesopotamia (Greek, “between the rivers”), was one of the earliest centers of urban civilization, in the area of modern Iraq and eastern Syria between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. As the Tigris and Euphrates flow south out of Turkey, they are 400 km (250 mi) apart; the Euphrates runs south and east for 1,300 km (800 mi) and the Tigris flows south for 885 km (550 mi) before they join, reaching the Persian Gulf as the Shatt al Arab. The river valleys and plains of Mesopotamia are open to attack from the rivers, the northern and eastern hills, and the Arabian Desert and Syrian steppe to the west. Mesopotamia's richness always attracted its poorer neighbors, and its history is a pattern of infiltration and invasion. Rainfall is sparse in most of the region, but when irrigated by canals the fertile soil yields heavy crops. In the south, date palms grow, supplying rich food, useful fiber, wood, and fodder. Both rivers have fish, and the southern marshes contain wildfowl.
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Mesopotamia. Video hosted on Google. Commonly known as the "cradle of civilization", Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. In the Iron Age, it was ruled by the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Neo-Babylonian Empire, and later conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It mostly remained under Persian rule until the 7th century Islamic conquest of the Sassanid Empire. Under the Caliphate, the region came to be known as Iraq. The history of Mesopotamia begins with the emergence of urban societies in northern Iraq in 5000 BCE, and ends with either the arrival of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE, when Mesopotamia began being colonized by foreign powers, or with the arrival of the Islamic Caliphate, when the region came to be known as Iraq. A cultural continuity and spatial homogeneity for this entire historical geography ("the Great Tradition") is popularly assumed, though the assumption is problematic. Mesopotamia housed some of the world's most ancient states with highly developed social complexity. The region was famous as one of the four riverine civilizations where writing was first invented, along with the Nile valley in Egypt, the Indus Valley in the Indian subcontinent and Yellow River valley in China (Although writing is also known to have arisen independently in Mesoamerica). Mesopotamia housed historically important cities such as Uruk, Nippur, Nineveh, and Babylon as well as major territorial states such as the city of Ma-asesblu, Akkadian kingdom, Third Dynasty of Ur, and Assyrian empire. Some of the important historical Mesopotamian leaders were Ur-Nammu (king of Ur), Sargon (who established the Akkadian Kingdom), Hammurabi (who established the Old Babylonian state), and Tiglath-Pileser I (who established the Assyrian Empire). "Ancient Mesopotamia" begins in the late 6th millennium BC, and ends with either the rise of the Achaemenid Persians in the 6th century BCE or the Islamic conquest of Persian Mesopotamia in the 7th century CE.
Mesopotamia encompases the land inbetween the Euphrates and Tigris rivers; both of which have their headwaters in the mountains of Armenia in modern Turkey. Both rivers are fed by numerous tributaries, and the entire river system drains a vast mountainous region. Overland routes in Mesopotamia usually follow the Euphrates because the banks of the Tigris are frequently steep and difficult. The climate of the region is semi-arid with a vast desert expanse in the north which gives way to a 6,000 square mile region of marshes, lagoons, mud flats, and reed banks in the south. In the extreme south the Euphrates and the Tigris unite and empty into the Persian Gulf.
The arid environment which ranges from the northern areas of rain fed agriculture, to the south where irrigation of agriculture is essential if a surplus energy returned on energy invested (EROEI) is to be obtained. This irrigation is aided by a high water table and by melted snows from the high peaks of the Zagros Mountains and from the Armenian cordillera, the source of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, that give the region its name. The usefulness of irrigation depends upon the ability to mobilize sufficient labor for the construction and maintenance of canals, and this, from the earliest period, has assisted the development of urban settlements and centralized systems of political authority. Agriculture throughout the region has been supplemented by nomadic pastoralism, where tent dwelling nomads move herds of sheep and goats (and later camels) from the river pastures in the dry summer months, out into seasonal grazing lands on the desert fringe in the wet winter season. The area is generally lacking in building stone, precious metals and timber, and so historically has relied upon long distance trade of agricultural products to secure these items from outlying areas. In the marshlands to the south of the country, a complex water-borne fishing culture has existed since pre-historic times, and has added to the cultural mix.
 Periodic breakdowns in the cultural system have occurred for a number of reasons. The demands for labour has from time to time led to population increases that push the limits of the ecological carrying capacity, and should a period of climatic instability ensue, collapsing central government and declining populations can occur. Alternatively, military vulnerability to invasion from marginal hill tribes or nomadic pastoralists have led to periods of trade collapse and neglect of irrigation systems. Equally, centripetal tendencies amongst city states has meant that central authority over the whole region, when imposed, has tended to be ephemeral, and localism has fragmented power into tribal or smaller regional units. These trends have continued to the present day in Iraq.
The name Mesopotamia was given to the Middle Eastern civilisation that existed between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. The source of these rivers lies in modern Turkey and they cross Syria before ending in Iraq, where they unite. Mesopotamia is Greek for ‘a land between two rivers’. The Middle East is mostly dry and sandy. However, Mesopotamia is different because the two rivers kept the land fertile through regular flooding of the area. Like the Nile River in Egypt, the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers allowed the Mesopotamians to grow crops and to settle between these two rivers. By the 7th century BC small farming settlements of people were established. Later on in southern Mesopotamia, people began to develop irrigation agriculture instead of just relying on the flooding of the two rivers. This led to the first of Mesopotamian towns called Eridu and Uruk. The economy of these two cities depended on improving irrigation methods, to grow enough food to keep up with the demand of the people in Mesopotamia.
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