today we're looking at the Fertile Crescent
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the cradle of civilization the Fertile Crescent is an area in what today is called the Middle
East in which evidence of the first civilizations to form is found the Fertile Crescent stretches
from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea through modern day countries such as Kuwait Iraq
Syria turkey and Israel ancient people were drawn to this area because of its abundance
of Rich fertile land to farm and grow crops the key to this region having such fertile land was
the rivers that flow through the Fertile Crescent the Tigris and Euphrates rivers the land between
these two rivers became known as Mesopotamia which is the Greek word for land between the rivers each
year ice melt and runoff from mountains just to the north of the Fertile Crescent would cause
the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to break their Banks and flood the area although today floods
are considered to be disasters to the ancient people of Mesopotamia they were a blessing the
Muddy Waters of the Tigris and Euphrates would flood and then recede leaving a thick layer of
silt or fine particles of soil covering the ground this muddy silt was full of nutrients
and minerals perfect for growing and harvesting crops the people of Mesopotamia depended on the
yearly floods and began building irrigation systems to collect and harness the river's
water as early as 6000 BC there is evidence of early Villages beginning to appear along the
banks of the Tigers and Euphrates and by 3200 BC at the southern end of the Fertile Crescent the
first cities and civilization began to form in an area known as Sumer some of the earliest cities
such as ER Uric lagash and napur were built by the ancient Sumerians and had populations of
thousands of residents the communities operated as city-states or in other words a city that controls
the surrounding farmland and operates as their own independent political unit basically small
little countries unto themselves with their own government leaders and Military they were all
in the region of Sumer but beyond that these city-states were on their own and would fight
for control of the region one commonality these city-state shared was their religious beliefs and
practices like most early civilizations they were polytheistic or believed in many different gods
and goddesses ancient Sumerians believed that there were different gods that controlled every
aspect of their lives from the wind that blew to the water that flowed down the rivers in fact each
city-state even had its own individual God they believed that the gods had to be appeased or kept
happy so the ancient Sumerians prayed to them and offered sacrifices each city-state built its own
religious temples known as ziggurats these step pyramid structures became a focal point for the
early city-states as some were built as high as 300 feet tall not surprisingly religious leaders
also served as political leaders in these early cities soon though Warrior Kings took
control of the city-states and set up a system of heredity as one generation of rule was passed to
the next within a family the Fertile Crescent was also the location of major technological
advancements and inventions for ancient people arguably the greatest invention of Mesopotamia
was the wheel around 3500 BC the first Wheels were not used for transportation but rather as
Potter's wheels for people to make pottery over the next centuries people began using the wheel
to transport goods and it would not be until 2000 BC that we see the first spoked wheels being used
additionally mathematicians and astronomers of the Fertile Crescent developed a system of time
dividing it into 60 Minute hours and 60 second minutes by studying the movement of the sun moon
and stars in the sky they developed a calendar that included 12 separate periods which today we
would call months they too developed one of the early earliest known systems of writing known as
cuneiform written into clay tablets cuneiform was first invented as a system for priests to
record the amount of grains and goods being stored at the temple and traded although most
uniform that has been found primarily deals with trade and the surplus of food some recorded the
actions of rulers and the people of the ancient Fertile Crescent over the centuries the Fertile
Crescent would see armies of conquerors sweeping through the region with some of the first known
Empires being established and then being overrun the acadians Babylonians Assyrians and Persians
would all at one time control the region leaving their mark on the Region's history and culture
so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching