FERTILE CRESCENT

FERTILE CRESCENT
   Term coined by Egyptologist J. H. Breasted to describe the geographical area that stretches in the form of a semicircle from the southeastern regions of the Mediterranean Sea, including Egypt, across Syria and Anatolia to Mesopotamia, leaving the dry expanses of the Arabian desert in the middle. It is determined by the line of a 200-millimeter rainfall isohyet, which can support agriculture without irrigation, and is the homeland of most of the plant and animal species first domesticated in this region.

Historical Dictionary of Mesopotamia. . 2012.

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  • Fertile Crescent — Fertile Cres|cent the Fertile Crescent an area in the ↑Middle East in the shape of a ↑crescent (=a curved shape) from Israel to the ↑Gulf, including the land around the rivers ↑Tigris and ↑Euphrates. Several important ancient ↑civilizations had… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Fertile Crescent — historical crescent shaped region in the Middle East, extending from the E end of the Mediterranean Sea to the Tigris & Euphrates rivers: significant as the birthplace of several ancient civilizations …   English World dictionary

  • Fertile Crescent — The Fertile Crescent is a crescent shaped region in the Middle East, originally incorporating the Levant and Ancient Mesopotamia, and often extended to Ancient Egypt. The region is sometimes referred to as the Cradle of Civilization. The term… …   Wikipedia

  • Fertile Crescent — 1. an agricultural region extending from the Levant to Iraq. 2. an area in the Middle and Near East: formerly fertile, now partly desert. * * * Region, Middle East. The term describes a crescent shaped area of arable land, probably more… …   Universalium

  • Fertile Crescent —    The earliest inhabited zone of the Near East often referred to as the Cradle of Civilization in which agriculture and the ancestors of the Mesopotamian peoples first developed. The term Fertile Crescent was coined in the early twentieth… …   Ancient Mesopotamia dictioary

  • Fertile Crescent — crescent shaped agricultural region in the Middle East stretching from the Mediterranean Sea through the Tigris Euphrates valley to the Persian Gulf …   English contemporary dictionary

  • Fertile Crescent Plan — 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 plan to British officials during World War II, when it appeared… …   Wikipedia

  • Fertile Crescent — noun /ˈfɜːtaɪl ˈkrɛsənt,ˈfɝːtəl ˈkrɛsənt/ (Ancient History) A crescent shaped strip of fertile land stretching from present day Iraq through eastern Turkey and down the Syrian and Israeli coasts …   Wiktionary

  • Fertile Crescent — geographical name semicircle of fertile land stretching from SE coast of Mediterranean around Syrian Desert N of Arabia to Persian Gulf …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Fertile Crescent — Fer′tile Cres′cent n. geg a crescent shaped agricultural region of the ancient Near East beginning at the Mediterranean Sea and extending between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to the Persian Gulf …   From formal English to slang

  • Fertile Crescent — /fɜtaɪl ˈkrɛzənt/ (say fertuyl krezuhnt) noun 1. an arc shaped region favourable for agriculture extending from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. 2. an area in western Asia, once fertile but now partly desert, in which it is believed that… …  

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