Definition
Mesopotamia is a region of southwest Asia whose name means "the land between the rivers" — the Tigris and the Euphrates, in what is now mostly Iraq. It is widely regarded as the birthplace of civilization, the place where the first cities, the first writing, and the first written law codes appeared.
The region was home to a succession of peoples and powers, including the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. Each built on what came before, so Mesopotamia is less a single civilization than a long-running cradle in which several civilizations rose, fell, and influenced one another.
Why it matters
How it works
The two rivers were the engine of Mesopotamian civilization. Their floods were less predictable than the Nile's, so the people built irrigation canals, levees, and reservoirs to control the water. Managing these systems required cooperation, record-keeping, and authority — pressures that helped drive the rise of cities and government.
Because the flat river plain had few natural defenses, Mesopotamia was repeatedly conquered, and power passed from city-states to empires and back again. Each new ruler inherited the writing, laws, and learning of the last, building the deep accumulated tradition for which the region is famous.