N. Africa & SW Asia:
Ancient Culture Hearths

In the Tigris-Euphrates lowland [nwphys], between the head of the Persian Gulf and the uplands of present-day Turkey, arose one of humanity's first civilizations [wwhearth]. Agricultural knowledge was based on planned sowing and harvesting.  There was distribution of surplus grain, storage, and later consumption.  This zone of advanced farming extended in an arc from the Mediterranean coast to the Persian Gulf known as the Fertile Crescent.

Irrigation was the key to progress and power.  The Hydraulic Civilization theory holds that cities able to control irrigated farming over large hinterlands held power over others and thrived as they expanded their spheres of influence.  Higher crop yields resulted from irrigated agriculture and in turn, this food surplus could support the development of a large non-farming population.  The strong centralized government is backed by an urban based military that expanded power into the outlying areas. Farmers who resisted authority were denied water.  Continued reinforcement of the power elite came from the need for organizational coordination to assure continued operation of the irrigation system.  There was a surplus of water due to irrigation able to support non-farmers.  Class distinction reinforced by power differences and labor specialization developed.  The Hydraulic model fits several areas where cities first arose, China, Egypt, and Mesopotamia

Eventually durable states arose in the Mesopotamia region.  Babylon on the Euphrates River evolved for nearly 2,000 years as a walled fortified center with temples, towers and palaces.  Egypt’s cultural evolution may have started earlier than Mesopotamia and the focus of this civilization lay above (South) of the Nile Delta and below the cataracts (rapids) of the Nile.  The Nile was Egypt’s highway of trade and interaction also supported the following agricultural crops by irrigation:

• Domesticated cereals (wheat, rye and barley)
• Vegetables (peas and beans)
• Fruits (Grapes, Apples and Peaches)
• The raising of pigs, sheep and cattle

Many of these ancient civilizations [wwhearth] are located in present-day arid environments (A climates) [wwclimat].  It is possible that climate damage along with shifting environmental zones in the wake of the Pleistocene ice age was responsible for the change to a drier regime.  Innovations in agricultural planning and irrigation technology may have been made irresponsive to changing environmental conditions as these communities struggled to survive.  As old societies disintegrated, new power centers emerged.  Persians, Greeks & Romans all colonized the irrigated riverine areas of the middle east-Romans also colonized North Africa’s farmlands into irrigated plantations.

[The text of the above was written by Scott Girhard, San Antonio College from his online course GEOG 1301 World Geography. Used with permission.]