Mesopotamia 101

Mesopotamia 101

Mesopotamia 101
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 9 to 11
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	10.46

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		synonymous, respective, imprint, disintegrate, millennium, sediment, abundant, floodplain, present-day, downstream, divert, weakness, modern-day, so-called, influential, irrigate
	content words:		Southwest Asian, Fertile Crescent, Mediterranean Sea, Persian Gulf, Neo-Assyrian Empire, Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II, Hanging Gardens, Seven Wonders, Ancient World, After Nebuchadnezzar II

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Mesopotamia 101
By Vickie Chao

¹ In recent years, Iraq often dominates the headlines of our evening news. Sure, its abundant natural resource -- namely, oil -- is what makes this Southwest Asian country so influential in the world of politics. But aside from that fact, Iraq is also home to one of the oldest civilizations on Earth!

² Nearly nine thousand years ago, or around 7000 B.C., people began to settle in a region sandwiched between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Later on, when the Greeks visited that area, they called it "Mesopotamia," which literally meant "the land between the rivers" in their language. Strictly speaking, the coined phrase of Mesopotamia covers a broad plain of dry but rich soil lying beyond today's Iraq. It actually includes a portion of modern-day Turkey and Syria, too. Nonetheless, because Iraq represents the bulk of the region, its name and Mesopotamia are nearly synonymous.

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