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THE
NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION AND |
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AGE OF EMPIRES - http://www.gamedownloadsonline.com/stratagy.shtml |
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MESOPOTAMIA Mesopotamia is a region that included parts of what is now eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and most of Iraq, lay between two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. The name Mesopotamia is a Greek word meaning “between the rivers.” Its oldest known communities date from 7000 B.C. Several civilizations flourished in the region. In the 6th century B.C. it became part of the Persian Empire, the largest empire in the world up to then. 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. The need for self-defense and irrigation led the ancient Mesopotamians to organize and build canals and walled settlements. After 6000 bc the settlements grew, becoming cities by the 4th millennium bc. The oldest settlement in the area is believed to be Eridu, but the best example is Erech (Uruk) in the south, where mud-brick temples were decorated with fine metalwork and stonework, and growing administrative needs stimulated the invention of a form of writing, cuneiform. The Sumerians were probably responsible for this early urban culture, which spread north up the Euphrates. Important Sumerian cities, besides the two mentioned above, were Adab, Isin, Kish, Larsa, Nippur, and Ur. Mesopotamia’s ancient patterns of conquest and defeat never left it. The sultans of the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid rulers of Persia fought for control of Mesopotamia from the 16th to the 18th century, when family dynasties controlled Baghdad and other Mesopotamian cities. The Ottomans eventually prevailed. During World War I British troops took the area after much hard fighting. The League of Nations then mandated Iraq to Great Britain and Syria to France. Iraq became independent in 1932, Syria in 1945.
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