Fertile Crescent

The first region where settled farming emerged and early civilizations like Sumer flourished.

The Fertile Crescent is a crescent-shaped region in the Middle East, spanning modern-day Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, together with northern Kuwait, south-eastern Turkey, and western Iran. Some authors also include Cyprus and northern Egypt. It is believed to be the first region where settled farming emerged as people started the process of clearance and modification of natural vegetation to grow newly domesticated plants as crops. Early human civilizations such as Sumer in Mesopotamia flourished as a result. Technological advances in the region include the development of agriculture, irrigation, writing, the wheel, and glass, most emerging first in Mesopotamia.

Quick Facts

Region

Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, northern Kuwait, south-eastern

Key rivers

Tigris
Euphrates
Jordan River

Historical significance

First region where settled farming emerged; home to the first known Neolithic fa

Resource focus

Emmer wheat
einkorn
barley
flax
chick pea
pea
lentil
bitter vetch
cows

Lore & Background

From ancient times empires arose and fell in the Tigris–Euphrates river basin, including Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia. The last two millennia have seen repeated cycles of decline and recovery as past irrigation works have fallen into disrepair through the replacement of states. Another ongoing problem has been salination—gradual concentration of salt and other minerals in soils with a long history of irrigation.

Reader's Guide

The Fertile Crescent features the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which start in the Taurus Mountains of modern-day Turkey. The region is delimited by the dry climate of the Syrian Desert to the south, the Sahara Desert to the west, the Anatolian and Armenian highlands to the north, and the Iranian plateau to the east. Resource distribution includes eight Neolithic founder crops and four of the five most important species of domesticated animals—cows, goats, sheep, and pigs—with the horse living nearby.

Did You Know?

The term 'Fertile Crescent' was popularized by archaeologist James Henry Breasted in 1914.
There is no single term for this region in antiquity.
Prehistoric seedless figs discovered at Gilgal I suggest fig trees were being planted some 11,400 years ago.
The oldest known libraries are found in Nippur (in Sumer) and Ebla (in Syria), both from c. 2500 BCE.
Small cats (Felis silvestris) were domesticated in this region alongside cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and geese.