Download Fertile Crescent

Land Between Two Rivers
The Tigris River (East)
The Euphrates River (West)
Mesopotamia = “between two rivers” in Greek
The Fertile
Crescent is the large arc of
rich, or fertile, farmland that extends
from the Persian Gulf to the
Mediterranean Sea
• Rivers begin in Taurus Mountains
in Turkey
• Flow south to flat fields
• First people settled there more than
12,000 years ago
• Silt, a mixture of rich soil and tiny
rocks made the land ideal for
farming
Poor Timing
• Water needed to plant in fall, but
rivers were at their lowest
• Spring was time for harvest, but
that’s when the rivers flooded
• Ancient Mesopotamians developed
irrigation to control this resource
Controlling Water
• Annual flooding
• Spreads silt (a mixture of rich
soil and tiny rocks)
• Developed irrigation (way of
supplying water to an area of
land)
Early cities located near rivers.
Flooding a problem
People built canals to protect
from flooding and move water to
fields
Irrigation allows people to grow
more food
Food Surpluses
• Surplus = more than is needed
• They ate fish, meat, wheat,
barley and dates
• Division of labor = each worker
specializes in a particular task
Farming in Mesopotamia
• Main crops were wheat and barley
• Secondary crops were beans,
lettuce, onions, cucumbers and
spice plants
• Dates, apples, pomegranates
• Raised sheep, goats and cattle
Surplus allows specialization and the
division of labor