Middle East as we know it is one of the most politically disturbed regions on this planet. From ISIS to Israel issue this region has always remained a hot spot of war in the recent History. This region is the entrance to the east hence was known as near east but lately the name was changed to middle east. There is no official list of countries that are part of middle east but we know few countries based on their references in international journals and political platforms. now let’s quickly take a look at the countries that are part of the middle east.
- Bahrain
- Egypt
- Iran
- Iraq
- Israel
- Jordan
- Kuwait
- Lebanon
- Oman
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Syria
- Turkey
- United Arab Emirates
- Yemen
In this series on Middle East, we will discuss middle east in detail and for our ease of understanding the area we will divide this discussion in 5 parts. So, these five parts are-
- The place of birth of great Civilization.
- The Rise of Islam
- The Crusades
- The Ottoman Empire
- The Present condition.
The place of Birth of great civilization
Mesopotamia is believed to be the earliest civilization of the world. This was located in the present-day Iraq and areas around Iraq and for this region Iraq is sometimes refereed to as the cradle of civilization. This civilization almost 1000 years older than the mature phase of the Harappan civilization. If we talk about the Mesopotamian society it was a temple based society. Which means most of the political, social and economical activities were controlled by the temples, for this purpose huge temples called Ziggurats were constructed, these temples were the centers of administration. Ziggurats were also the owner of vast stretch of agricultural land and agricultural produce by others were also offered to the temple.
Mesopotamia is also known for their contribution to the human world. These contributions include-
- First writing developed in Mesopotamia. This writing was used for trade, administration, education and mathematical calculations. Students in Mesopotamia were able to perform calculations like addition, subtraction and multiplication, Thousands of clay tablets unearthed in Mesopotamia contain mathematical problems and solutions.
- Wheel was invented in Mesopotamia. The oldest known wheels were discovered in Mesopotamia and date back to around 4000-3500 BC. These early wheels were solid discs of wood and were likely used as potter’s wheels, not for transportation.
- First laws were codified in Mesopotamia. As we know there existed a central authority for administration in Mesopotamia, laws were made to govern the society.
- First canal for irrigation were developed.
- The emergence of first cities. As we have already discussed these were temple towns that lately developed in the form of cities.
By the end of 2000BCE we see that these temple towns started fighting with each other for the control of resources and this gave rise to the earliest empires. Babylonian empire was one of the most important empires that came into existence after 2000BCE. The Babylonian empire was defeated and merged into Achaemenids empire.
The Achaemenids were originally a minor tribe from Persis, a southwestern region of Iran. Around the 6th century BC, they emerged as a powerful force under their leader, Cyrus I. Later this region was made part of the Alexanders empire and the Mesopotamian culture was lost and mingled up with the other cultures of the region. Finally in 610CE this region saw the rise of Islam. About which we will discuss in our next episode.