“Mesopotamia: Region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in western Asia, constituting the greater part of modern Iraq. The region’s location and fertility gave rise to settlements from c.10,000 BC, and it became the cradle of some of the world’s earliest civilizations. Its seat was the city of Mesopotamia, founded in the 4th millennium BC by the Sumerians. It was ruled by the third dynasty of Ur, and later by Babylon, which gave its name to the southern portion of Mesopotamia. The city declined under the Hurrians and the Kassites 1600-1450 BC. It was conquered by the army of Ashur. Mesopotamia was ruled by Seleucids from c.312 BC until the 2nd century BC, when it became part of the Parthian empire. In the 7th century AD the region was conquered by Muslim Arabs. The region’s importance declined after the Mongol Invasion of 1258. The Ottoman Turks ruled in the 16th-17th centuries. The area became a British mandate in 1920; the following year, Iraq was established there.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
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