Mesopotamia & the Rise of Mighty Empires Chapter 3 Intro: The Fertile Crescennt

The Fertile Crescent: Physical geography The northern Taurus and Zagros Mountain chains bottom out into plains that reach to the Persian Gulf.

Tigris & Euphrates These two important rivers flow from Turkey to Iraq where they unite into one river. The flooding of these rivers leaves fertile soil behind. This allows the desert land to be productive even with little rainfall.

Farming Challenges Heavy spring floods wash away crops. Hot sun bakes ground rock hard The little amount of rain led to plants dying.

Overcoming Challenges Digging irrigation canals brought water from the river to the crops Attached a seed funnel to their plows that dropped seed into the ground (beats dropping seeds by hand)