Fertile crescent: description, history, geography and interesting facts

In the articles on the Middle East, sometimes the phrase "fertile crescent moon" slips, which causes bewilderment among the uninitiated. What kind of crescent is this? Why is it so fertile? Let's find out, it's interesting!

Earth crescent moon

Fertile crescent is a territory that is used to call the Middle East. Crescent, it is named in a form that really resembles a night star in a half phase. Concerning fertility: this famous place is considered the cradle of the entire world civilization, and almost the birthplace of agriculture, grain crops and bread, like the famous Egyptian valley of the Nile. This is a terrain with very rich soil and abundant rain in the winter.

Another name for hearing is the "golden triangle". Often these two names are attributed to one locality, but this is incorrect. Yes, both the "fertile crescent moon" and the "golden triangle" are the names of the territories that resemble those figures. But unlike the first, the "golden triangle" is a terrain connecting the borders of Thailand, Laos and Burma. It is glorified by the fact that it was here that the center for the production and distribution of opium originated and flourished until the 20th century. The difference in the appointment of both centers is obvious.

Geographical location

Geographically, this territory occupies the area of Saudi Arabia along the northern edge of the Syrian desert. The western edge is washed by the Mediterranean Sea, the eastern edge rests on the Zagros Mountains. It occupies Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Israel, parts of Jordan and Turkey. A crescent of fertile lands is the territory of ancient Mesopotamia and the Levant.

The shelter between the mountain ranges, a sufficient number of rivers and marshes, rain water, location at the intersection of the roads from Africa to Asia - a combination of all these factors led to the fact that it was this area that was destined to become a famous parent of farming, agriculture and livestock.

The Neolithic Revolution

A very successful geographical location led to the region of the fertile crescent becoming the focus of the Neolithic revolution. This is how the transition period of the ancient tribes is called from gathering to production. This happened not suddenly and not immediately, on someone else's plan. The process has dragged on for many hundreds of years, but the grandiose changes that broke out in the life of mankind make it possible to call it revolutionary.

It is known that the ancient tribes procured food for themselves, selecting part of what was produced from nature. Food was brought hunting, fishing and collecting ready-made berries, mushrooms, seeds, fruits. Gradually emptying the territory, a sensible man noticed that the seeds can not simply be collected, but sprinkled specially for the next crop. The consequences of this occupation led not just to a change in the way of life, but to truly cardinal changes in the course of history. The producing economy is the basis of the life activity of the entire present world existence.

History and agriculture

The first peoples, who tried to sow and produce, were the tribes inhabiting the fertile crescent. History calls the main reason for these actions, the sudden climate change after the Ice Age. It turned out that it was the territory of Mesopotamia and the Levant that remained the most fertile, while the Egyptian center for the birth of civilization was spoiled by a hot and arid climate.

The occupation of agriculture led to a settled way of life for the tribes, the first cities appeared. The processing of land and crops encouraged the creation of new tools, dishes for storage, new ways of cooking. At the same time, pottery, livestock, weaving began to develop. There were mills and ovens for baking bread. Fertile land produced a crop in surplus, which could be exchanged for other necessary things. So agriculture led to the development of trade.

From agriculture to animal husbandry

The first animals that settled near the person were dogs. The remaining species of wild neighbors constituted for the primitive tribes the object of hunting, and the prospect of eating meat. With the development of agriculture, the processing of fields began to take more and more time, and the meat was "harvested for future use", that is, to catch and keep in pens. New individuals began to appear already in captivity.

Gradually, people began to eat milk, use the help of animals to work in the fields. Tamed and domesticated animals were no longer considered only as food. They began to serve people. They gradually changed their habits, instincts and even the appearance and structure of internal organs. Fertile crescent has become the home of domestic goats, sheep, bulls, horses. Even a cat, which, as you know, walked for a long time by itself, first joined the home hearth in the Middle Eastern village.

Life Cereals

Why did cereals become the main crop of the fertile crescent? Wild progenitors of wheat, barley, lentils grew between grasses on extensive areas of the planet. Exclusiveness of the territory of ancient Mesopotamia is that it is here that the climate and soil proved to be the most fertile for their reproduction and cultivation by sowing.

The first "tamed" cereals were wheat and barley. Their crops existed here already at the end of the IX century BC. E. Whoever the Creator of man is, he took care of decent food for him! Times and tastes change, some kinds of plants disappear and new ones appear, and cereals, which began growing on a "fertile crescent moon", remain the most valuable food product of all times and peoples.

Cereals contain almost the entire complex of vitamins of group B necessary for the human body. Fiber cellulose helps in the fight against harmful cholesterol. Bread and porridge - products that quickly saturate the body, do not cause harm and contribute to the accumulation of energy. Grain is a source of magnesium, selenium, folic acid. In short, cereals contain all the elements necessary for the healthy activity of a living organism.

A few facts about bread

There are no recipes for baking bread. Different peoples make it differently. The similarity is one - the basis of any bread is grain. Need I say that the birthplace of the first baked bread was a fertile crescent moon.

• The first bread is more than 30 thousand years old. They were unleavened cakes made of crushed grain, baked on hot stones.
• The most ancient type of bread is the Middle Eastern pita.
• Yeast bread was baked already in Ancient Egypt.
• In all peoples the bread is given magical power and ability to strengthen. Use it in many religious rituals.
• Most bread is eaten in Turkey.
• Bread is the basis of the diet of 99% of the inhabitants of the Globe.