Name: ____________________________
Chapter 5, Lesson 1: Geography of the Fertile Crescent
1. What are the names of the two rives that are part of the Fertile Crescent?
2. How did the Fertile Crescent get its name?
3. All of the Fertile Crescent was not fertile. Why not?
4. What does the name Mesopotamia mean in Greek?
5. The area of Mesopotamia has a different name today. What is it?
6. Define plateau.
7. Was the timing of the floods of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers good or bad? Explain.
8. Define drought.
9. Which area (northern or southern) of Mesopotamia was more fertile? What caused one area to
be more fertile?
10. Look at the map on page 105. Is Mesopotamia larger or smaller than the Fertile Crescent?
11. What did the farmers build to solve the difficulties of the river flooding?
12. Mesopotamian farmers grew several crops. List five of the crops they grew.
13. What were cattle used on the farms for?
14. Write a five line summary about this lesson (pp 104-107)
Answer Key
1. What are the names of the two rives that are part of the Fertile Crescent?
Tigris and Euphrates
2. How did the Fertile Crescent get its name?
A crescent is the shape of a quarter moon and that’s the shape of this fertile area.
3. All of the Fertile Crescent was not fertile. Why not?
Much of the land was either rocky mountains or deserts.
4. What does the name Mesopotamia mean in Greek?
The land between two rivers
5. The area of Mesopotamia has a different name today. What is it?
Iraq
6. Define plateau.
An area of elevated flatland
7. Was the timing of the floods of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers good or bad? Explain.
The timing was bad. They didn’t flood during the dry season when the fields needed water. The
floods burst through the fields just as crops were to be harvested. These floods would destroy
the crops as well as lives and homes.
8. Define drought.
Lone periods of dry weather
9. Which area (northern or southern) of Mesopotamia was more fertile? What caused one area to
be more fertile?
Southern; the flooding rivers left behind more silt in this area than the north.
10. Look at the map on page 105. Is Mesopotamia larger or smaller than the Fertile Crescent?
smaller
11. What did the farmers build to solve the difficulties of the river flooding?
They built water control and irrigation systems.
12. Mesopotamian farmers grew several crops. List five of the crops they grew.
Wheat, barley, beans, onion, lettuce, cucumber, spice plants, date palms, apple, pomegranate
13. What were cattle used on the farms for?
They were used as work animals, milk, leather and meat
14. Write a five line summary about this lesson (pp 104-107)