Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Fertile Crescent shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Fertile Crescent offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Fertile Crescent at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Fertile Crescent? Wrong! If the Fertile Crescent is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Fertile Crescent then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Fertile Crescent? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Fertile Crescent and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Fertile Crescent wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Fertile Crescent then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Fertile Crescent site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Fertile Crescent, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Fertile Crescent, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
The
Fertile Crescent is a historical crescent-shape region in the
Middle East incorporating the
Levant, Ancient Mesopotamia, and
Ancient Egypt. The term "Fertile Crescent" was coined by
University of Chicago archaeologist
James Henry Breasted.
Watered by the Nile,
Jordan River,
Euphrates and
Tigris rivers and covering some 400-500,000 square kilometers, the region extends from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea around the north of the Syrian Desert and through the Jazirah and
Mesopotamia to the Persian Gulf. These areas correspond to the present-day
Egypt,
Israel, West Bank,
Gaza strip, and
Lebanon and parts of Jordan,
Syria,
Iraq, south-eastern
Turkey and south-western
Iran. The population of the Nile River Basin is about 70 million, the Jordan River Basin about 20 million, and the Tigris and Euphrates Basins about 30 million, giving the present-day Fertile Crescent a total population of approximately 120 million, or at least a quarter of the population of the Middle East.
As crucial as rivers were to the rise of civilization in the Fertile Crescent, they were not the only factor in the area's precocity. Ecology the area is important as the "bridge" between Africa and Eurasia. This "bridging role" has allowed the Fertile Crescent to retain a greater amount of biodiversity than either Europe or North Africa, where climate changes during the
Ice Age led to repeated
extinction events due to ecosystems becoming squeezed against the waters of the Mediterranean sea. Coupled with the Saharan pump theory, this Middle Eastern land-bridge is of extreme importance to the modern distribution of
Old World flora and fauna, including the spread of humanity. The fact that this area has born the brunt of the
tectonism collision between the African and Eurasian
tectonic plates, has also made this region a very diverse zone of high snow-covered mountains, fertile broad aluvial basins and desert plateaux, which has also increased its biodiversity further and enabled the survival into historic times of species not found elsewhere.
Furthermore the Fertile Crescent had a
climate diversity and major climatic changes which encouraged the evolution of many r/K strategy annual plants, which produce more edible seeds than r/K strategy perennial plants, and the region's dramatic variety of elevation gave rise to many species of edible plants for early experiments in cultivation. Most importantly, as
Jared Diamond shows in "
Guns, Germs and Steel" the Fertile Crescent possessed the wild progenitors of the eight Neolithic founder crops important in early agriculture (i.e. wild progenitors to emmer,
einkorn, barley,
flax, chick pea,
pea, lentil, bitter vetch), and four of the five most important species of domesticated animals — cows, goats,
sheep, and
pigs — and the fifth species, the horse, lived nearby.
As a result the Fertile Crescent has an impressive record of past human activity. As well as possessing many sites with the skeletal and cultural remains of both pre-modern and early
modern humans (e.g. at Kebara Cave in Israel), later Pleistocene hunter-gatherers and Epipalaeolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherers (the
Natufians), this area is most famous for its sites related to the origins of agriculture. The western zone around the Jordan and upper Euphrates rivers gave rise to the first known Neolithic
farming settlements (referred to as
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A)), which date to around 9,000 BCE (and includes sites such as
Jericho). This region, alongside Mesopotamia (which lies to the east of the Fertile Crescent, between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates), also saw the emergence of early complex society during the succeeding Bronze Age. There is also early evidence from this region for
writing, and the formation of state-level societies. This has earned the region the nickname "The Cradle of
Civilization."
Since the Bronze Age, the region's natural Fertility (soil) has been greatly extended by irrigation works, upon which much of its agricultural production continues to depend. The last two millennia have seen repeated cycles of decline and recovery as past works have fallen into disrepair through the replacement of states, to be replaced under their successors. Another ongoing problem has been Soil salination — the seepage of salt water into irrigated farmland.
In the contemporary era, river waters remain a potential Water dispute in the region. The Jordan lies on the borders of Israel, the kingdom of Jordan and the areas administered by the
Palestinian Authority. Turkey and Syria each control about a quarter of the length of the Euphrates, on whose lower reaches Iraq is still heavily dependent.
See also
External links
- Map of the Fertile Crescent
The
Fertile Crescent is a historical
crescent-shape region in the Middle East incorporating the
Levant, Ancient Mesopotamia, and Ancient Egypt. The term "Fertile Crescent" was coined by University of Chicago archaeologist James Henry Breasted.
Watered by the
Nile,
Jordan River, Euphrates and Tigris rivers and covering some 400-500,000 square kilometers, the region extends from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea around the north of the Syrian Desert and through the Jazirah and Mesopotamia to the Persian Gulf. These areas correspond to the present-day
Egypt,
Israel, West Bank,
Gaza strip, and Lebanon and parts of
Jordan, Syria,
Iraq, south-eastern Turkey and south-western Iran. The population of the Nile River Basin is about 70 million, the Jordan River Basin about 20 million, and the Tigris and Euphrates Basins about 30 million, giving the present-day Fertile Crescent a total population of approximately 120 million, or at least a quarter of the population of the Middle East.
As crucial as rivers were to the rise of civilization in the Fertile Crescent, they were not the only factor in the area's precocity. Ecology the area is important as the "bridge" between Africa and Eurasia. This "bridging role" has allowed the Fertile Crescent to retain a greater amount of biodiversity than either Europe or North Africa, where climate changes during the Ice Age led to repeated
extinction events due to ecosystems becoming squeezed against the waters of the Mediterranean sea. Coupled with the Saharan pump theory, this Middle Eastern land-bridge is of extreme importance to the modern distribution of Old World
flora and
fauna, including the spread of humanity. The fact that this area has born the brunt of the
tectonism collision between the African and Eurasian
tectonic plates, has also made this region a very diverse zone of high snow-covered mountains, fertile broad aluvial basins and desert plateaux, which has also increased its biodiversity further and enabled the survival into historic times of species not found elsewhere.
Furthermore the Fertile Crescent had a climate diversity and major climatic changes which encouraged the evolution of many r/K strategy
annual plants, which produce more edible seeds than
r/K strategy perennial plants, and the region's dramatic variety of elevation gave rise to many species of edible plants for early experiments in cultivation. Most importantly, as
Jared Diamond shows in "Guns, Germs and Steel" the Fertile Crescent possessed the wild progenitors of the eight
Neolithic founder crops important in early
agriculture (i.e. wild progenitors to emmer,
einkorn, barley,
flax, chick pea,
pea, lentil,
bitter vetch), and four of the five most important species of domesticated animals —
cows,
goats, sheep, and pigs — and the fifth species, the
horse, lived nearby.
As a result the Fertile Crescent has an impressive record of past human activity. As well as possessing many sites with the skeletal and cultural remains of both pre-modern and early
modern humans (e.g. at Kebara Cave in Israel), later Pleistocene hunter-gatherers and
Epipalaeolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherers (the Natufians), this area is most famous for its sites related to the
origins of agriculture. The western zone around the Jordan and upper Euphrates rivers gave rise to the first known Neolithic
farming settlements (referred to as
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A)), which date to around 9,000 BCE (and includes sites such as
Jericho). This region, alongside Mesopotamia (which lies to the east of the Fertile Crescent, between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates), also saw the emergence of early complex society during the succeeding Bronze Age. There is also early evidence from this region for
writing, and the formation of state-level societies. This has earned the region the nickname "The Cradle of Civilization."
Since the Bronze Age, the region's natural Fertility (soil) has been greatly extended by
irrigation works, upon which much of its agricultural production continues to depend. The last two millennia have seen repeated cycles of decline and recovery as past works have fallen into disrepair through the replacement of states, to be replaced under their successors. Another ongoing problem has been Soil salination — the seepage of salt water into irrigated farmland.
In the contemporary era, river waters remain a potential
Water dispute in the region. The Jordan lies on the borders of Israel, the kingdom of Jordan and the areas administered by the
Palestinian Authority. Turkey and Syria each control about a quarter of the length of the Euphrates, on whose lower reaches Iraq is still heavily dependent.
See also
External links
- Map of the Fertile Crescent
Fertile Crescent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Fertile Crescent is a crescent-shaped region in the Middle East incorporating the Levant, Ancient Mesopotamia, and Ancient Egypt, known as the "Cradle of Civilization.
Fertile Crescent Plan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Fertile Crescent Plan was an Iraqi Hashemite proposal for the union of Iraq with Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Transjordan. Nuri as-Said, prime minister of Iraq, presented the ...
Fertile Crescent definition of Fertile Crescent in the Free Online ...
Fertile Crescent, historic region of the Middle East. A well-watered and fertile area, it arcs across the northern part of the Syrian desert. It is flanked on the west by the ...
Fertile Crescent
The Neti Pot is a little porcelain bowl with a spout, designed for washing out nasal and sinus passages with warm salt water. It is a wonderful way to prevent colds and sinus ...
Ancient Fertile Crescent Almost Gone, Satellite Images Show
The rich Mesopotamian marshlands known for centuries as the Fertile Crescent have shrunk 90 percent in recent years, a new study shows. The United Nations agency that used new ...
Middle East
The Fertile Crescent
Fertile Crescent - Hutchinson encyclopedia article about Fertile ...
Region of the Middle East stretching from the Gulf to the Nile Valley, and including the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. The name comes from the extensive irrigated cultivation of ...
Fertile Crescent - definition of Fertile Crescent by the Free Online ...
A region of the Middle East arching across the northern part of the Syrian Desert and extending from the Nile Valley to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Mr. Dowling's Mesopotamia Page
Provides information about the Fertile Crescent with a brief look at its geography, culture, and history.
Fertile Crescent
