MESOPOTAMIA & EGYPT:

One of the major events that marked the beginning of civilization was the development of agriculture which was made possible by the presence of three important rivers -- the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia, the so-called "Cradle of Civilization," and the great Nile River in Egypt, where one of the greatest civilizations first appeared some five thousand years ago. As pointed out by Wolfram Von Soden, the area now known as the Near East, comprised of Egypt, Israel, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey, "dried out into desert and semi-desert regions after the last retreat of the glaciers which compelled the inhabitants to move to the fertile valleys" bounded by the Tigris, Euphrates and Nile Rivers (67). One reason for this exodus to the "Cradle of Civilization" was the presence of native plants, such as wild wheat and barley, and herds of animals that could be domesticated for...
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