Hey there good people, Brian here. So you're probably wondering, I know that I was,
about why we hang the term fertile on an area that seems pretty much a bunch of desert today.
I have to tell you, that's a really good question. Do you want to hear a couple of
others we're also going to answer today? Okay, what modern countries are in the fertile crescent?
How have they interacted with one another since the end of the World Wars?
And what challenges do they face? Interested? Course you are, so let's get to it!
The Fertile Crescent? So what gives with the name? I mean it's pretty obvious apart from the rivers
that this area is well, the opposite of fertile. So let's be geographers. Take a brief pause here,
look at the map, and make a prediction. No worries, I'll wait. Alright, what did you predict?
Well, the name comes from a formerly rich soils along the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile rivers,
but just as with any natural resource, if you overuse it and then add a changing climate
impacts are sure to happen. Over time Turkey, Syria, and Iraq have come to depend on the
waters from the Tigris and Euphrates. Growing populations, these three countries have around
145 million people alone in that region means that yearly flooding could damage
homes leading to these rivers being damned at multiple locations. These factors along with
heavy water pull for irrigation means that we have a water crisis and a source of conflict.
Take a second and think about what that means for the people of this region.
What are the modern countries of the Fertile Crescent? The modern states we'll talk about
today include Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. Now are you familiar with any of these
countries from other things you studied or perhaps from current events? Throughout the
lesson consider how information plays into your perceptions and your understanding of this area.
Jordan. Jordan was created as a part of the British mandate for Palestine after World War I
and was one of the countries which declared themselves independent after World War II in 1946.
Officially called the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,
the country is a constitutional monarchy. While the legislative branch is elected,
including the prime minister, the king, in this case king Abdullah II, still has authority to sign
or veto all laws. A 1948 conflict between Israel and other Arab states including Jordan resulted
in Jordan annexing an area of land called the West Bank, a predominantly Palestinian inhabited area.
The West Bank was heavily cultivated for crops including canals, irrigation, and areas for animal
herders. In fact, throughout the 1960s one third of Jordan's income came from this area. In 1967
over multiple tensions and unresolved issues from past wars between Israel and surrounding
Arab states, Jordan, Syria and Iraq launched a surprise attack against Israel in an event which
would later be called the Six Day War. Israel surprised these states and the world by pushing
the countries back and taking new territory including the West Bank. During this period many
Palestinians fled newly acquired Israeli territory too, among other places Jordan. To this day
about half of the Jordanian population of roughly 10 million are former Palestinians and the number
of Palestinian refugees in Jordan has ranged from 370,000 to over 2 million. This and the loss of
the West Bank have put great strain on the country to be able to provide for its people. The shortage
of money for assisting all of these refugees ballooned to more than 3.5 billion in 2016.
Lebanon. From independence from the French mandate in 1943 through to 1975, Lebanon was
a center for tourism, banking, and trade with a thriving economy. The capital city of Beirut was
called The Paris of the Middle East. Lebanon also had a unique governmental system called
Confessionalism in which a mix of religious groups and electoral representation were used;
however, instability from within along with a large number of Palestinian refugees and some
terrorist cells migrating to southern Lebanon out of Israel in the late 1960s pushed the country
into a full-scale Civil War in 1975. The conflict officially lasted until 1990, or about 15 years,
with multiple outside countries and groups playing a part. Even after the end with an estimated
cost of 120,000 lives, a new government wasn't established and the old confessional structure
continued. From 1990 to the present day, Lebanon has continually been rocked by
conflict spilling over from Turkey, Israel, and most recently Syria where a decade-long
civil war displaced over 1.2 million Syrians into Lebanon. This massive influx of people put severe
strains on Lebanon's limited resources and the country was plunged back into crisis after 2019.
It remains critically short on everyday supplies, electricity, and food. It would
be hard to miss the similarities of the conflict we've discussed so far,
but have you noticed any differences between the struggles faced by these countries? Take a
moment and make a prediction about what you think the other conflicts of the area will be about.
Syria. For thousands of years the country of Syria was a thriving center of resources and commerce
with expansive agricultural fields and the cities of Aleppo and Damascus serving as critical centers
of trade and culture. After a brief period as part of the French mandate, Syria became autonomous and
utilized a parliamentary republic system, and in 1946 became one of the original members of the
United Nations. Unlike other places in southwest Asia, Syria relied primarily on consistent
rainfall instead of irrigation for agriculture which had become less consistent throughout the
20th and 21st centuries. As a result, more people have abandoned farming and moved to cities causing
unemployment issues and overcrowding. Government programs to update those farming practices
have largely failed; however, due to the Syrian government itself which was characterized by many
military coups or takeovers from the 1940s through the Six Day War against Israel which they lost.
From 1963 through to 2011 Syria operated under a suspended constitution
with an emergency powers law and the only reason that emergency law expired in 2011
was that a massive multi-party civil war erupted that year. The ongoing conflict has taken a huge
toll on the Syrian people. 7.6 million of whom have been displaced from their homes,
5 million which have fled the country, and half a million dead. There are no clear sides in the
conflict making it difficult to enlist help from other countries or to know who is fighting who.
As of 2022 things seem to be improving, but Iran, Israel, and Russia are all
working to ensure that the resolution of the conflict works out in their favor.
Iraq. Like the others of the Fertile Crescent, Iraq utilized the incredibly rich soil between
the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for growth. Unlike some of the others, the discovery of the fifth
largest proven oil reserves in the world, totaling an estimated 140 billion barrels in the 1920s,
inevitably altered the recent trajectory of this country. The British mandate after
World War 1 included most of Iraq and though it technically became independent in 1932,
in reality the British maintained control of the country until the mid-1950s.
During this time much of Iraq was modernized, primarily for the exportation of oil and the
wealth brought in from it. Roads, airports, hospitals, schools, dams, and irrigation
systems along the Tigris and Euphrates were a boon to the Iraqi economy. A socialist
style revolution occurred in 1958 but was then replaced by an autocratic Ba'ath party in 1968 and
from this party in 1979, president Saddam Hussein came to power. Seeking to gain more territory and
wanting to take advantage of the 1979 Iranian religious revolution, Saddam invaded Iran in
1980. Kicking off nearly a decade of conflict between the two countries eventually costing
an estimated 1 million lives. This conflict ended in 1988 in a stalemate. Saddam next
turned Iraq's attention to the oil-rich country of Kuwait which was invaded in August of 1990.
The U.S. intervened and the Iraqi military was decimated in this First Gulf War and fell back.
The country was later accused of supporting terrorism and harboring weapons of mass
destruction by the U.S. which invaded in 2003 and executed Hussein in 2006.
the long-term invasion and occupation touched off guerrilla warfare and saw the rise of a new
terrorist organization, ISIS: the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which rose up
and claimed part of Iraq and Syria from 2011 to 2015. The country of Iraq remains unstable with
many parties continuing to vie for power. Briefly revisit the predictions about similarities and
differences which you made after Jordan and Lebanon. How did your predictions line up?
Conclusion. Conflict over these areas for land, resources, and dominance has long existed
and with borders drawn largely by European countries for administrative purposes has served
to create more conflict in an already conflicted area. So as we wrap the fertile crescent, how did
your understanding of the challenges faced in the region change your perception of its countries
and cultures? If you want to take a crack at peacemaking, check out the activity in the PDF
for this lesson and try your hand at building a better government for Lebanon. Maybe you'll help
to bring a hopeful end to a long-standing crisis. Until next time, keep exploring!