Human Ethnic Civilization Begins in Mesopotamian

The name comes from a Greek word meaning “between rivers,” referring to the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Today, Mesopotamia occupies modern Iraq. The historical region includes also the head of the Persian Gulf and southeast Turkey, west Iran, northeastern Syria and northern Kuwait.

History of Mesopotamia, history of the region in southwestern Asia where the world’s earliest civilization developed. The name comes from a Greek word meaning “between rivers,” referring to the land between the Tigris and  Euphrates, but the region can be broadly defined to include the area that is now eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and most of Iraq. The region was the centre of a culture whose influence extended throughout theMiddle East and as far as the Indus valley, Egypt, and the Mediterranean.

This article covers the history of Mesopotamia from the prehistoric period up to the Arab conquest in the 7th century A.D. For the history of the region in the succeeding periods, see Iraq, history of. For a discussion of the religions of ancient Mesopotamia, see Mesopotamian religion. See also art and architecture, Mesopotamian.