Beginnings Farming communities sprang up around rivers (first civilizations in the world) Early civilizations: Sumerians Egyptians Phoenicians Persians

Sumerians Time: 4000 B.C. Place: between the Tigris & Euphrates Rivers in modern day Iraq (called Mesopotamia) Contribution: irrigation cuneiform - writing on clay tablets

Egyptians Time: 3000 B.C. Place: Nile River Valley Contribution: pyramids 365-day calendar hieroglyphics – picture writing

Phoenicians Time: 1,200 B.C. Place: Mediterranean East Coast (present day Israel) Contribution: alphabet in which letters stood for sounds (phonics)

Persians Time: 500 B.C. Place: from present day Iran to the Nile River Contribution: qanats -underground irrigation canals

Persians

History (cont.) After the fall of the Roman Empire: By the 1800s the Muslim empires began to decline: European powers divided the Middle East as they wished and installed kings who had been their allies in WW I, like King Abdullah of Jordan.

King Abdullah II & Family

History (cont.) After WW I, Kemal Ataturk became the 1st president of Turkey & made the country modern & secular

History (cont.) Turning Point: Discovery of OIL!!! 1st found in Persia in 1908 (present day Iran) later in Saudi Arabia in 1938

western companies pumped oil to fuel industrialization kings of oil states became rich

Brunei- $22 Billion His palace...

U.A.E. $21 Billion His cars....

United Arab Emirates Palace Saudi Arabia Royal Palace Qatar

History (cont.) After the world wars: 1948 – The region remains full of conflict: Israeli – Palestinian Israel – Lebanon War on Terror (Afghanistan) War in Iraq Arab Spring