Why do geographers refer to mesopotamia as the fertile crescent?

Question

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Answer 1

This term invented in 1916 by James Breasted, first director of the Oriental Institute, Chicago. What he referred to was the roughly crescent-shaped area of land between Egypt, through the Levant, into southern Anatolia and on to Mesopotamia and south-East Iran .

Conditions here were favourable for the development of farming, and it is here that many of the earliest farming sites have indeed been found. The term is less heavily used today, however, because early farming sites have also been found outside the Crescent and in more marginal landscapes.

The first civilization of Sumer and the civilizations of the Bible - Assyria, Akkad, Persia (modern Iran), and ancient Egypt, as well as the Jewish kingdoms of Judah and Israel - all developed in the Fertile Crescent, with cities, agricultural towns and villages, and herders of domesticated sheep and goats.

Answer 2

To add onto a previous answer that explained why it was 'fertile'.

The crescent part of the name comes from the fact that the fertile land formed a crescent (sliver of the moon-like) shape.  This is where the first civilizations sprouted.

Answer 3

It was generally temperate at the time; not much rain- but have 2 large rivers with good alluvial plains (flood plains) and therefore good for irrigation and growing crops.

More so, wild grains were native to that area, as were most of the animals we use and eat (cows, etc).  they were amongst the first to domesticate those animals which helped.

But also they were among the first civilizations, and its a rough crescent shape from the persian gulf to the headwaters of the 2 rivers.

Answer 4

Because it lies between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.  When the rivers flood, the waters create very fertile land after the river water recedes.

Answer 5

Because it's located in the flood plains of the Euprates and Tigris Rivers. Ideal for agriculture in a normally dry region of the world.

Answer 6

Mesopotamia or Iraq was known as fertile crescent because of its shape, the shape is like a crescent and fertile because

Mesopotamia is sorrounded by the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates making it fertile.