Fertile Crescent

noun

1. an agricultural region extending from the Levant to Iraq.
2. an area in the Middle East: formerly fertile, now partly desert.

Fertile Crescent

noun

1. an area of fertile land in the Middle East, extending around the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates in a semicircle from Israel to the Persian Gulf, where the Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Phoenician, and Hebrew civilizations flourished

Word History and Origins

Origin of Fertile Crescent¹

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

Human-made climate change is driving a yearslong extreme drought in Iran, Iraq and Syria, an area that encompasses a region known as the Fertile Crescent and a cradle of civilization, scientists said on Wednesday.

From New York Times

Two-thousand years ago, forts were constructed by the Roman Empire across the northern Fertile Crescent, spanning from what is now western Syria to northwestern Iraq.

From Science Daily

Civilization began in the Fertile Crescent about 10,000 years ago, when people first settled into villages and started growing food.

From Salon

High temperatures and scarce water are drying out swaths of Iraq that were once part of a verdant region known as the Fertile Crescent.

From New York Times

Every schoolchild learns the name: Mesopotamia – the Fertile Crescent, the cradle of civilization.

From New York Times