Orient means "the place where the sun rises" and "the east" when viewed from Europe. It is around the current "Middle East".
Speaking of "Middle East", oil, camels, deserts ... Is this the image? It's actually a dry area with very little rain. Perhaps you may think of Islam.
This time, I would like to look at the topography, place names, and climate of the Orient, where multiple ancient civilizations were born.
* Islam will not appear in the Orient, and we have to wait nearly 4000 years after the birth of ancient civilization. If it is a textbook, it is Chapter 4.
Let's take a look at the location of the Orient world and the surrounding terrain
The Orient is around here
Looking closer, it looks like the map below.
Let's take a look at the land of Egypt and its characteristics
On the map, the bottom left is Egypt on the African continent. .. Egyptian civilization Is the birthplace of.
Nile You can see that is flowing. The Nile basin is full of greenery, but the rest of the area is surrounded by deserts and serves to block enemies.
However, the desert is not suitable for agriculture at all. Did the ancients choose land that was full of deserts (desert soil rank G), even though it would be essential to secure food to support a civilized population?
The answer is "Egypt is the Nile's gift" As the word says, Nile It is in.
Nile The "White Nile", which originates from Lake Tana in Ethiopia, and the "Blue Nile", which flows from another location, merge and flow into the Mediterranean Sea.
Lake Tana The mountainous region of Ethiopia has a climate where heavy rains often occur during the three months of summer. The rain is caused by the clouds created by the monsoon (=seasonal wind) hitting the mountainous area, and the wind and rain are strong in the summer. And the area around Ethiopia is a plateau area made up of soil covered with magma. Cold and solidified magma is a black soil rich in minerals and minerals, making it suitable for agriculture.
* The continent was broken 10 to 5 million years ago, and magma is still blowing out. In Japan, you can see the outlets of volcanoes that are off limits, and you can see the scenery that makes you feel like you've come to a different planet. If you are interested, please search for "Danakil Desert" or "Great Rift Valley".
In the "World Soil Ranking" mentioned earlier, the blue part of East Africa is the area where the water source of the Nile River, Lake Tana, is located. Unlike rank G of desert soil, it jumps to rank B at once because it is "cracked clay soil".
Such soil pours into the Nile with the rain that fell on the upper plateau, and flows into the Nile basin of Egypt, where it is not raining, causing a gentle flood.
This flood also helps to wash away the salt on the ground. This is because the land in areas where rainfall is normally low has the characteristic of being "prone to salt damage."
Since the land is above the sea, salt remains in places that used to be the sea and deep in the ground. This seems to be the same no matter where you look around the world. However, land with a lot of rain and land with a lot of water do not suffer from salt.
You can tell by putting salt in water in a cup or pot, but the salt is heavy and sinks under the water. The same thing happens inside the ground. In areas with heavy rain or abundant water, salt sinks below the water, but in dry areas there is no water to replace the lid, so salt rises to the ground. Salt is a great enemy for agriculture. In that sense, the flooding of the Nile seems to have been a precious flood of grace.
* Currently Egypt is one of the countries suffering from salt damage due to the construction of dams and the prevention of floods.
By the way, cattle breeders need a large amount of salt for horses, sheep and goats, so it seems that it is relatively welcome to get salt easily.
Sinai Peninsula and Palestine
Let's move the place. A small triangular peninsula diagonally to the upper right of Egypt .. This is Sinai Peninsula Is called. This Sinai Peninsula was also written in the Old Testament (Exodus of Moses) Mount Sinai Exists. It is a place related to the era of the third dynasty and new kingdom in Egypt. Even in the ethics class, I remember the memory that came out during the "Ten Commandments of Moses," so it might be a good idea to keep it in the corner of your head.
Sinai Peninsula from the base on the right side Is Palestine Area called. Today, it often refers only to Israel and the Palestinian Territory, but when studying the world history of the Ancient Near East, it also includes parts of Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
Syria, Anatolia, Greece, Iran
Going further up, Syria But further to the upper left is Turkey now Anatolia You can see the area called. Also known as Asia Minor. The Pontos Mountains run to the north of the west of Anatolia, the Taurus Mountains to the south, and the Anatolian Plateau in the center. It has become.
It is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the Aegean Sea, and the Black Sea, but because it is surrounded by mountains, the moist wind from the sea does not enter in the inland area and the amount of precipitation is low (the global average annual precipitation is 880 mm). On the other hand, in the inland area of Anatolia (200-400 mm), there seems to be some land that is not suitable for farming at all, and such places are mainly cattle breeding of goats and sheep.
If all the central parts are not suitable for farming, that is not the case. Since wheat, the staple food of the time, was relatively resistant to dryness, some regions in central Anatolia also produce wheat (Turkey's wheat production is currently one of the highest in the world).
Complete Mediterranean climate in the southwest and south of Anatolia The climate is warm but crisp and comfortable in the summer, making it suitable for growing olives and grapes. The region between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea in the northwestern part of the Anatolian Plateau is a warm and dry Mediterranean climate mixed with a warm and humid climate . … So Anatolia has a unique climate in each region, so it can be cultivated in a variety of ways. The soil is also Chernozem And clay accumulation soil So it seems to be suitable for agriculture.
The land on the other side of the Anatolian Peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea and the Aegean Sea is Greece in Europe. .. It corresponds to the upper left part on the map. Again, it has a completely Mediterranean climate, and agricultural crops are resistant to dryness olive . And grape Is the main.
Since the land was not suitable for grain production, civilization has spread since other lands have developed steadily and there is room for crops.
Let's take a look at Mesopotamia
Going further to the right of Syria, Mesopotamia Can be seen. Mesopotamia The world's first farming area It is a dry area with very little rain. As mentioned in the previous article, irrigated agriculture was born because of the lack of rain, which made it difficult to use water.
Of course, the soil is also very good, especially the Tigris and Euphrates . The area is fertile triangle It was called. It seems that wheat, barley, beans, olives, dates, etc. were cultivated, and camels and sheep were also bred.
The Mesopotamia right (east) Is Iran .. Further northeast Central Asia To Southeast and India It is connected to. Although Mesopotamia and Iran are next to each other, you can see that the Zagros Mountains (4548m at the highest point) rise to the north of the Persian Gulf.
World history textbooks say that after the fall of the First Babylonian Dynasty, which continued throughout Mesopotamia from about 1894 BC to about 1595 BC, "the Kassites invaded the southern part of Mesopotamia from the Zagros Mountains." I think it's easier to get into your head if you remember the position somehow.
As mentioned above, the Orient Society has prospered since ancient times. Basically, it was necessary to carry out hydraulic control and irrigation using large rivers in arid areas .. Theocracy using religious authority to gain that leadership Appears. A unique culture was created.