history of the middle east

Ignore today's images of â¦ Several species of grain grew wild, and there were marshes and tributary streams that could easily be drained or dammed in order to sow wild wheat and barley. This short-lived state made a tremendous impression on contemporaries, especially on the Jews, whose state was destroyed and who were carried into the Babylonian Captivity, and on the Greeks, to whom the glory of Babylon became legendary. Kassite Babylonia was subjugated by Assyria c. 1230. See the entire history of the Middle East mapped out every year. Middle East Early Contributions. As early as 1580, English merchants (like their Venetian, French, and other European counterparts) secured formal commercial privileges for trading in the Ottoman Empire (and later gained comparable rights in Iran). 1800-present), the politics of the Middle East were dramatically reshaped by the dominant global powers (i.e. This history started from the earliest human settlements, continuing through several major pre- and post-Islamic Empires through to the nation-states of the Middle East today. This period marked the end of the formative phase of Mesopotamian civilization. In Mesopotamia the dominant powers were Kassite Babylonia and Assyria (which emerged from subjection to Mitanni in the early 14th century bc). This essentially does what it says on the cover, giving readers a short history of the Middle East. If you continue browsing the site, you agree to the use of cookies on this website. Sargon and his successors were the first known rulers in southwestern Asia to gain control of the Fertile Crescent as well as of adjacent territories. Ancient to Pre-modern. The New Kingdom rulers moved back into Syria-Palestine and came into conflict first with the Hurrian state of Mitanni and later with the Anatolian Hittites, who were expanding into Syria from the north in the 14th century bc. In the north and east considerable urban installations developed at sites such as Nineveh no later than the 5th millennium bc, when southern Mesopotamia was still mostly swampland like the early Egyptian delta. They sent trading expeditions to central Anatolia and Iran and as far as India and Egypt. Home to the Cradle of Civilization, the Middle Eastâinterchangeable with the Near Eastâhas seen many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations. The latter was much swifter, however, so that it was potentially more important for irrigation, even though much harder to tame. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Corrections? France retreated from Syria and Lebanon in 1946 after numerous catastrophic engagements with local peoples. This list currently covers Middle Eastern wars and conflicts from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War to the Present, along with other conflicts involving Middle Eastern nations. 1916, May â¦ This, followed by the fall of the Hittite Empire (c. 1200), ended what has been called the first âInternational Ageâ in the civilized world. Written by a highly experienced military author and fully updated to include Operation Iraqi Freedom, The History of the War in the Middle East is an important and fascinating overview of the persistent and dangerous unrest in the region since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. This timeline tries to compile dates of important historical events that happened in or that led to the rise of the Middle East. It is impossible to go into any real details of the vast history of a region and its people in under 300 pages, so it is indeed brief, but it does provide plenty of appetite whetting for further research. Many bone sickle handles and flint sickle edges dating from between c. 9000 and 7000 bc have been found in Palestinian sites. Best known of the new settlers from the west are the Phrygians, who occupied most of the old Hittite heartland, and the Philistines, who moved into Palestine. It was not until the late 10th century that the Assyrians began to recover, but by 850 they had conquered much of western Media and southern Armenia as well as Babylonia and Syria. Land passage between Asia and Africa was in early times limited to narrow strips of land in the Isthmus of Suez. Professor of Semitic Languages, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 1929â58. 1979 – Saddam Hussein becomes president of Iraq; 2001 – Members of al-Qaeda attacked sites in the U.S. 2005 – Syrian troops leave Lebanon as a result of the, This page was last edited on 7 March 2021, at 06:58. See ancient Near East for ancient history of the Middle East. Most of Central Asia was conquered by Russia , while Britain seized the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. This video shows the history of the Middle East from the rise of the city-states in 2500 BCE to the fall of Egypt to Persia in 525 BCE. â¢ 4000 to 3000 BC â domestication of the African wild ass in Egypt or Mesopotamia, producing the donkey Evolution of Middle Eastern civilizations, The Achaemenian Empire and its successors, https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Middle-East, Social Studies for Kids - Ancient Middle East. The Chaldean dynasty in Babylonia carried on Assyrian traditions of administration and encouraged commerce; under Nebuchadrezzar II (c. 605âc. The latter part of the 13th century bc saw the irruption of new peoples into the Aegean, Anatolia, and the Fertile Crescent; their appearance coincided with the Trojan War, the collapse of the Hittite Empire, and the destruction of many coastal cities of Greece, Cyprus, and Syria-Palestine. In Mesopotamia and Iran remains of this period appear in caves on the lower slopes of the Zagros Mountains between western Iran and Iraq. The most populous Middle Eastern countries are Turkey, Egypt, and Iran, each with more than 50 million people. By most accounts, the earliest reference to the "Middle East" occurs in a 1902 edition of the British journal National Review, in an article by Alfred Thayer Mahan entitled "The Persian Gulf and International Relations." Movement of large numbers of people north of the Caspian Sea was virtually impossible in winter, owing to the severity of the climate; central Eurasia was often too dry in summer. What is happening in Middle East in 3500BCE. It is important to look at the foods of the Middle East as they developed within the entire region, ignoring present-day political boundaries. The Middle East burst back onto the American foreign policy radar with the Six-Day War of 1967, when Israel, after rising tension and threats from all sides, pre-empted what it characterized as an impending attack from Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. southern Iraq), where settlements of the Sumerianculture grew into the world's first cities ca. In northern and eastern Mesopotamia, main streams were soon partly diverted during moderate river floods into canals running more or less parallel to the rivers, which could thus be used to irrigate an extensive area. Archaeologists once thought that all irrigation originated in the foothills of the Zagros and that the earliest true farmers lived in the plains of Iran. It is also known as the home of three major world religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Conduct in the Middle East Since World War Il and the Folly Of Intervention, Cato Policy Analysis No. Although rock art dating back to 10,000 BC lies hidden amid the desert monoliths of the Jebel Acacus in Libya, little is known about the painters or their nomadic societies, which lived on the outermost rim of the Middle East. The Urban Social History of the Middle East, 1750â1950 is an ambitious attempt to write a comprehensive account of 200 years of Middle East history from a social history perspective. Because of its economic, religious, and geographical location, the Middle East has been at the center of many world issues and political affairs. The Aramaeans and Medes were to transform the ancient Middle East. Ancient Middle East, history of the region from prehistoric times to the rise of civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and other areas. The western border of the Middle East is defined by the Mediterranean Sea, where Israel, Lebanon, and Syria rest opposite from Greece and Italy in Europe. If you love to know about foods and how they originated, the Middle Eastern dishes would be an ideal place to start your study. The Egyptian Nile had a much more predictable water flow than the Mesopotamian rivers because it flowed through hundreds of miles of swamp, where unusually high annual floods spread out, interfering with navigation but averting the danger of the occasional destructive inundations of Mesopotamia. Egypt in Africa also borders the Mediterranean and is sometimes considered as part of the Middle East, while Turkey and Cyprus literalâ¦ The Euphrates had a much smaller flow of water than the nearby Tigris. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. the primary European powers and the United States). After the fall of the dynasty of Akkad there was a Sumerian revival under the 3rd dynasty of Ur (Ur III [21stâ20th centuries]), followed by another influx of Semites. The Middle East is a geographical and cultural region located primarily in western Asia, but also in parts of northern Africa and southeastern Europe. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The Amarna Letters (diplomatic correspondence written in Babylonian script and language and discovered in Egypt by archaeologists) are an important source of information on this period. The Middle East has a population of about 246 million, or nearly as many people as the United States. In the east the Iranian tribes, led by the Medes, were pouring into Iran from Turkistan. At this time the Egyptians had already developed a system of writing. In the Modern age (ca. Relations between states were governed by elaborate treaties, which were constantly being broken. These people founded the first dynasty of Babylon (19thâ16th centuries), whose most important king was Hammurabi. Updates? The oldest known urban and literate culture in the world was developed by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia beginning in the late 4th millennium bc. The cuisine of the Middle East â how history influenced it. It is characterized by political and military conflict, in this case caused by British and Americâ¦ Economically, the Middle East is known for its vast oil reserves. The seed had only to be strewn over a sufficiently moist surface to ensure some kind of crop under normal conditions. At the same time, in Transjordan and western Palestine, the Hebrews founded a tribal confederation that was changed into a monarchy by Saul and David (c. 1020â960 bc). This list is intended as a timeline of the history of the Middle East. In the following centuries, until just before 630, the empire was greatly expanded. About 2300 bc a Semitic leader, Sargon I, conquered all of Babylonia and founded the first dynasty of Akkad (Akkadu), which held power for about a century and a half. (In reference to this culture, the southern half of Mesopotamia is sometimes called "Sumer" or "Sumeria".) Evolution of Middle Eastern civilizations The high antiquity of civilization in the Middle East is largely due to the existence of convenient land bridges and easy sea lanes passable in summer or winter, in dry or wet seasons. Its rule extended from the Taurus Mountains in Anatolia to eastern Arabia and deep into southern Iran. The birth of civilization has been traced to southern Mesopotamia(i.e. Before the close of the 16th century bc the native 18th dynasty rose in Egypt; it expelled the Hyksos and founded the New Kingdom. The very beginning of the book and that portion of the book that addresses Middle Eastern history from about 1950 forward is very obviously biased toward the perspective of a liberal academic who sympathizes strongly with the Palestinian view of the region. The fertile regions are very densely settled; many others are only lightly populated; while others, particularly in the deserts, are completely empty of human life. A Brief Chronology of Islamic History A chronology of historical events from the 6th to the 20th century. The distribution of the population varies widely. During these two centuries Egyptian control was established over Nubia, Libya, Palestine, and southern Syria. Our editors will review what youâve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. In about 5000 BC a culture known as Al-Ubaid first appeared in Mesopotamia. 3500 BC. Another reason for the early significance of this area in world history is the fact that the water supply and the climate were ideal for the introduction of agriculture. Author of. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. The high antiquity of civilization in the Middle East is largely due to the existence of convenient land bridges and easy sea lanes passable in summer or winter, in dry or wet seasons. The Middle East is an area of the world that includes many countries, such as Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq. From the south and west came the Semitic Aramaeans. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Called capitulations in Engliâ¦ Omissions? From the origin of civilization to the modern conflicts that impact the world. But recent excavations and surface explorations have proved that irrigation around the upper Tigris and Euphrates, as well as their tributaries, dates from the early 6th millennium bc (e.g., at al-Kawm on the Upper Euphrates). The enduring shift from nomadism to more-sedentary organised societies began in the fertile crescent of Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq) and the Nile River Valley of Ancient Egypt. Shortly after 3000 bc the numerous small states that had arisen in the Nile Valley during the 4th millennium were united under the 1st dynasty of Egypt. Ancient Middle East, history of the region from prehistoric times to the rise of civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and other areas. 561 bc) their Neo-Babylonian Empire became the most powerful political entity of its time. Senior Editor Sheldon L. Richman, Ancient History: U.S. Soon after 1800 bc the Egyptian Empire fell apart, and c. 1700 Egypt was overwhelmed by the Asian âHyksos,â who ruled the country for a century and a half. It is therefore not surprising that there is evidence of simple agriculture as far back as the 8th or 9th millennium bc, especially in Palestine, where more excavating has been done in early sites than in any other country of the Middle East. The Middle East is a large and diverse region composed of several countries and cultures in north Africa and western Asia. The Persian Gulf states of Bahrain and Qatar have the smallest populations, about 400,000 eaâ¦ By the mid-20th century a common definition of the Middle East encompassed the states or territories of Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, and the various states and territories of Arabia proper (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and the Trucial States, or Trucial Oman [now United Arab Emirates ]). Such deflector dam irrigation avoided the self-destructive weaknesses of large storage dams, in particular the danger of depositing great masses of refractory mud in the storage basin behind the dam. The Canaanite Phoenicians on the Syrian coast re-established their trading communities after the Philistine and Aramaean invasions; in the 10th and 9th centuries they moved out into the Mediterranean, establishing colonies in North Africa and as far west as Spain. The history of the oil industry in Iran is representative of the effects of the discovery of oil in the Middle East, and a prime example of the âresource curseâ: the paradox that countries with an abundance of natural resources, specifically non-renewable resources like minerals and fuels, tend to have less economic growth, less democracy, and worse development outcomes than countries with fewer natural resources. The Middle East is rich with history. To refer to a concept similar to that of today's Middle East but earlier in time, the term ancient Near East is used. Farming has been established for thousands of years in the Middle East, and in the river valleys of ancient Mesopotamia the first true civilization in world history is appearing, that of the Sumerians.. The Rise of CivilizationKingdoms and EmpiresCatastrophe and AdvanceMultinational EmpiresAn Alien CivilizationA Region DividedFurther study For more detailed information, see articles on the histories of individual countries. Source for information on Independence and Decolonization, Middle East: Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism â¦ Their influence in the western Mediterranean declined after the 6th century. The Middle East is located at the crossroads between North Africa, Asia, and Europe. Independence and Decolonization, Middle EastIn the decades immediately following the conclusion of World War II, European formal empires in the Middle East began to unravel. The date of the systematic introduction of irrigation on a large scale in Mesopotamia is somewhat doubtful because most of the early sites of irrigation culture were covered long ago by accumulation of alluvial soil brought down by the spring floods of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Farther east the Medes and Chaldeans destroyed the Assyrian Empire at the end of the 7th century. CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (, King, Leonid W. (2015) "A History of Sumer and Akkad" (, articles on the histories of individual countries, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathir al-Farghani, List of modern conflicts in the Middle East, Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire, Defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Egypt under Mehemet Ali and his successors, History of pottery in the Southern Levant, British foreign policy in the Middle East, United States foreign policy in the Middle East, http://archaeology.about.com/od/eterms/qt/Emmer-Wheat.htm, "New World cattle show ancestry from multiple independent domestication events", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Timeline_of_Middle_Eastern_history&oldid=1010772426, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 12500 BC – The world's oldest evidence of bread-making has been found at Shubayqa 1, in Jordan, 11000 BC – The oldest known evidence of beer found in, 10000 BC – earliest neolithic sanctuaries at, 8500 BC – first domestication of the cow (, 7000 to 6500 BC – early undecorated, unglazed and low-fired pottery in, 7000 BC — Neolithic farmers start to move in to Europe, stimulating the European neolithic for over 3 thousand years, 5500 BC – first large scale agriculture by the, 4000 BC – Egyptians discover how to make bread using, 3500 to 3000 BC – one of the first appearances of wheeled vehicles in Mesopotamia, 3500 BC – beginning of desertification of the, 3000 to 2000 BC – First domestication of the, 2500 BC – First use of war wagons as recorded by the, 1800 to 1200 BC – the emergence of the city of, 1725 to 1550 BC – Hyksos (Canaanite) domination of Egypt, 1600 to 1360 BC – Egyptian domination over Canaan and, 1300 BC – discovery of iron smelting and smithing techniques in, 1200 BC – oldest Phoenician alphabet inscription engraved on the, 1102 to 850 BC – estimated period in which, 31 BC – Emergence of the Roman Empire as signified by the, 632 – Death of Muhammad, Designation of the, 1260 – First major defeat the Mongols suffer at, 1300 – deportation of the last Muslims from, 1347 – a fleet of Genoese trading ships fleeing Caffa (, 1909 to 1921 – Arab nationalist organizations, 1924 – abolition of the Caliphate as part of, 1968 – Ba'athists stage second military coup under General. Food in these countries is far from being "fashionably trendy" but rather retains the ancestral heritage of its peoples. Toward the end of the 3rd millennium there was a period of disunity, followed by reunification under the 12th dynasty (1991â1786). Upon examining the history and heritage of the Jewish people, we find that Judaism is deeply connected to the Middle East and North Africa: Sarah and Abraham came from Mesopotamia, the land that is today Iraq â the same land where the first yeshivas and the Babylonian Talmud were developed. The Middle East is the territory that comprises today's Egypt, the Persian Gulf states, Iran, Iraq, Israel and Palestine, Cyprus and Northern Cyprus, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Their Carthaginian colony then took over Phoenician trade in the western and central Mediterranean. We known little about it except that its influeâ¦ The Rise of Cities. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The Middle East, with its particular characteristics, was not to emerge until the late second millennium AD. The Assyrian state suffered an eclipse in the 11th century bc, when the Aramaeans and related tribes occupied most of its territory. Large-scale desert travel was limited to special routes in Iran and in North Africa, both east and west of the Nile Valley. In the 17th century new ethnic groups appeared in both Babylonia and Syria-Palestine: Kassites from the Zagros Mountains, Hurrians from what is now Armenia, and Indo-Europeans from Central Asia. Early Fields in the Middle East The production in the Middle East began in Iran (called Persia back then) by the turn of the 20th century. It was also highly organized administratively; its language became Aramaic. Modern Middle East 20 th Century World History B. Bergey Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. Small-scale irrigation was practiced in Palestine (e.g., at Jericho) in the 7th millennium bc. Islamic History in Arabia and Middle East A well-written survey, organized according to dynasty. After the fall of Mitanni (c. 1350) the Hittites and Babylonians both directed their hostility against Assyria. On December 4, 1991, Islamic militants in Lebanon release kidnapped American journalist Terry Anderson after 2,454 days in captivity. Tradition is at the root of these cultures, and the foods they eat are no different. If you continue browsing the site, you agree to the use of cookies on this website. Brief History of the middle east Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. Between c. 2686 and c. 2160 bc their country was united under a powerful monarchy (the Old Kingdom) served by a complex bureaucracy. Before tracing the rise of British prominence in the Middle East after 1798, it is important to note the historical antecedents of Britain's involvement in the region as well as the political and economic condition of the Ottoman Empire and Iran on the eve of Britain's ascendance. Britain offered Arabs across the Middle East self-rule in exchange for their aid in defeating the Ottoman empire during the first world war. Keep in mind this area is known as the cradle of civilization, the Fertile Crescent, flanked by the Nile River to the west and the Tigris and Euphrates to the east.