Mesopotamia+Four

M4 Mesopotamia  refers to the land between two rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris which both flow into the Persian Gulf. It is widely considered to be the cradle of civilization. Mesopotamia largely corresponds to modern-day Iraq, north-eastern Syria, south-eastern Turkey and south-western Iran. It used to include Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires in the past. In the Iron age it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires.
 * __Overview __**

Mesopotamia includes the land between the Euphrates and rivers, the headwaters of which originate in the mountains of Armenia modern-day Turkey. The two rivers are branched out by numerous tributaries, which together drain a huge mountainous region. Normally overland routes in Mesopotamia follow the Euphrates. The climate is semi-arid and there is a vast desert in the north joined to a 15,000 square kilometres of marshes, lagoons, mud flats, and reed banks in the south. Down to the extreme south, the Euphrates and the Tigris combine and pour into the Persian Gulf.
 * __Geography and Climate __**

The geography of Mesopotamia is possible for an agriculture facilitated by irrigation and good drainage, and this has profoundly affected the evolution of Mesopotamian civilization. The ingenious  [|Sumerian],  and later the Akkadians learned how to build their cities along the Tigris and Euphrates and the branches of these rivers where water was plenty and transportation was convenient. Major cities, such as Ur and Uruk, were set up and built on the tributaries of the Euphrates, and others, such as [|Lagash] , were founded along the branches of the Tigris. The cities were built along those areas also because fishing was possible and clay to build houses or road was close. Actually the Tigris and Euphrates River valleys make up the north-eastern part of the Fertile Crescent that also included the Jordan River valley and the Nile River valley. For the regions that were further away from the river sources the settlers in Mesopotamia  created an efficient irrigation system to sustain their survival and development. Dams and aqueducts were also built to serve the purpose of survival. Although the rivers sustained life, they also destroyed it by frequent floods that ravaged entire cities. The unpredictable Mesopotamian weather was often hard on farmers; crops were often ruined so backup sources of food such as cows and lambs were also kept.
 * __Adapt to and __****__Manage the Enviro __****__nment __**

<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">To control the flood and facilitate the irrigation systems the Mesopotamians built up dams and aqueducts. In modern times people are actually doing the same. One of the examples is the colossal Three Gorges River Dam in China which was built to control the flood that had been threatening the villages and farming plains along the Yangtze River, and to generate hydropower for the industries nearby. However, the building of this dam caused many hazards to both humans and the environment. Thousands, if not millions of people have to be relocated, which means they have lost their familiar farmland as well as their familiar sustenance means. The dam also caused a vast area to be flooded and biodiversity is threatened as some of the species are losing their natural habitats. Recently meteorologists are studying the abnormal weather changes along the river and some correlations seem to have been established. Another modern example is the large dams at Aswan along the Nile River in Egypt. Before the dams were built, the Nile flowed freely, carrying huge quantities of [|sediment] north from Africa's interior to be deposited on the Nile delta. This continued for 7,000 years, eventually covering a region of over 22,000 square kilometres with layers of fertile silt. Annual flooding brought in new, nutrient-rich soil to the delta region, replacing what had been washed away by the sea, and dispensing with the need for fertilizers in Egypt's richest food-growing area. But when the Aswan dams were constructed in the 20th century to provide electricity and irrigation, and to protect the huge population centre of Cairo and its surrounding areas from annual flooding and drought, the coastlines washed away by the Mediterranean currents could not be replenished and thus have been eroded. Aquaculture in the lagoons nearby has been negatively impacted as well, as by the time the sediment has come to rest in the fields and lagoons it is laden with municipal, industrial and agricultural waste from the Cairo region, which is home to more than 40 million people. Both of the dams in China and Egypt were meant to benefit the people and environment but they turn out to exert negative consequences that are not to be ignored. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
 * __<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Modern Lessons __**


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px;">__Bibliography__ **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">[|Google images]



<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">[|Mesopotamia-1]

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">[|Mesopotamia-2]

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">[|Mesopotamia-3]

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">[|Mesopotamia Building]

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">[|Mesopotamia map]

<span style="color: #0000ee; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">[|Mr Donn]

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<span style="color: #0000ee; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">[|Wikipedia]

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">[|Yangtze Rive r]