The Fertile Crescent at maximum defined extent, with the names of ancient civilizations found there.

The Fertile Crescent, nicknamed "The Cradle of Civilization" due to the birth of various kingdoms within its borders, is a crescent-shaped region containing the comparatively moist and fertile land of otherwise arid and semi-arid Western Asia, and the Nile Valley and Delta of north east Africa. The term was first used by University of Chicago archaeologist James Henry Breasted. Having originated in the study of ancient history, the concept soon developed and retains today meanings in international geopolitics and diplomatic relations.

In current usage the Fertile Crescent has a maximum extent and a minimum extent. All definitions include Mesopotamia, the land in and around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The major nation in this region is Iraq (formerly Mesopotamia), with small portions of Iran near the Persian Gulf, Kuwait to the south and Turkey in the north. More typically the Fertile Crescent includes also the Levantine coast of the Mediterranean Sea, with Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and the West Bank. Water sources include the Jordan River. At maximum extent, the Fertile Crescent also may include Egypt and the Nile Valley and Delta within it. The inner boundary is delimited by the dry climate of the Syrian Desert to the south. Around the outer boundary are the arid and semi-arid lands of the Zagros Mountains to the east, the Anatolian highlands to the north, and the Sahara Desert to the west.

The region is often called the cradle of civilization; it saw the development of many of the earliest human civilizations. Some of its technological inventions (but not necessarily first or uniquely) are writing, glass, and the wheel. The earliest known western civilizations manifestly arose and flourished using the water supplies and agricultural resources available in the Fertile Crescent. They were not necessarily the first or the only source of civilization, as Breasted believed. Moreover, plants and animals were not domesticated there but in the surrounding nuclear area, where the original plant species still grow wild. There are several other known nuclear areas in the world, with which Breasted was not acquainted.

Terminology[link]

The Fertile Crescent as first defined by James Henry Breasted.

The term "Fertile Crescent" was first used by University of Chicago archaeologist James Henry Breasted in his Ancient Records of Egypt, published in 1906.^[1] The region was so named because of its rich soil and crescent shape.

The modern-day countries with significant territory within the Fertile Crescent are Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Palestinian territories, besides the southeastern fringe of Turkey and the western fringe of Iran.

Genetics and language[link]

The modern-day North Caucasians (the Chechens, the Ingush, the Batsbi, and the people of Dagestan) have the direct linguistic links to the Fertile Crescent.^[2]

The Ingush have the highest (89%) frequency of J2 gene and the Chechens have 57% respectively. J2 is closely associated with the Fertile Crescent.^[3]

Geography[link]

As crucial as rivers and marshlands were to the rise of civilization in the Fertile Crescent, they were not the only factor in the area's precocity. The area is important as the "bridge" between Africa and Eurasia. This "bridging role" has allowed the Fertile Crescent to retain a greater amount of biodiversity than either Europe or North Africa, where climate changes during the Ice Age led to repeated extinction events when ecosystems became squeezed against the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Coupled with the Saharan pump theory, this Middle Eastern land-bridge is of extreme importance to the modern distribution of Old World flora and fauna, including the spread of humanity.

The area has borne the brunt of the tectonic divergence between the African and Arabian plates and the converging Arabian and Eurasian plates, which has made the region a very diverse zone of high snow-covered mountains, fertile broad alluvial basins and desert plateau, which has also increased its biodiversity further and enabled the survival into historic times of species not found elsewhere.

Climate and vegetation[link]

The Fertile Crescent had a diverse climate, and major climatic changes encouraged the evolution of many "r" type annual plants, which produce more edible seeds than "K" type perennial plants. The region's dramatic variety of elevation gave rise to many species of edible plants for early experiments in cultivation. Most importantly, the Fertile Crescent was home to the eight Neolithic founder crops important in early agriculture (i.e. wild progenitors to emmer wheat, einkorn, barley, flax, chick pea, pea, lentil, bitter vetch), and four of the five most important species of domesticated animals—cows, goats, sheep, and pigs—and the fifth species, the horse, lived nearby.^[4]

History[link]

The Fertile Crescent has an impressive record of past human activity. As well as possessing many sites with the skeletal and cultural remains of both pre-modern and early modern humans (e.g. at Kebara Cave in Israel), later Pleistocene hunter-gatherers and Epipalaeolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherers (the Natufians), this area is most famous for its sites related to the origins of agriculture. The western zone around the Jordan and upper Euphrates rivers gave rise to the first known Neolithic farming settlements (referred to as Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA)), which date to around 9,000 BC (and includes sites such as Jericho). This region, alongside Mesopotamia (which lies to the east of the Fertile Crescent, between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates), also saw the emergence of early complex societies during the succeeding Bronze Age. There is also early evidence from the region for writing and the formation of statelevel societies. This has earned the region the nickname "The Cradle of Civilization."

Both the Tigris and Euphrates start in the Taurus Mountains of what is today Turkey. Farmers in southern Mesopotamia had to protect their fields from flooding each year, except northern Mesopotamia which had just enough rain to make some farming possible. To protect against flooding, they made levees.^[5]

Since the Bronze Age, the region's natural fertility has been greatly extended by irrigation works, upon which much of its agricultural production continues to depend. The last two millennia have seen repeated cycles of decline and recovery as past works have fallen into disrepair through the replacement of states, to be replaced under their successors. Another ongoing problem has been salination — gradual concentration of salt and other minerals in soils with a long history of irrigation.

In the contemporary era, river waters remain a potential source of friction in the region. The Jordan River lies on the borders of Israel, the kingdom of Jordan and the areas administered by the Palestinian Authority. Turkey and Syria each control about a quarter of the river Euphrates, on whose lower reaches Iraq is heavily dependent. In Syrian nationalism, the region is held to be a natural nation and is referred to as the Syrian Fertile Crescent.^[6]

See also[link]

• History of agriculture

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ancient Fertile Crescent Almost Gone, Satellite Images Show - from National Geographic News, May 18, 2001

Homeboy Sandman
Homeboy Sandman 2009
Background information
Birth name	Angel Del Villar II
Also known as	Homeboy Sandman
Born	(1980-09-24) September 24, 1980 (age 31)
Origin	Queens, New York, USA
Genres	Hip hop
Years active	2007–present
Website	www.homeboysandman.com

Homeboy Sandman is a rapper and musician from Elmhurst, Queens, New York.

Personal[link]

Homeboy Sandman grew up in New York City and attended boarding school at New Hampshire’s Holderness School (part of New York City’s Prep For Prep 9 program). He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently enrolled in law school at Hofstra University. He withdrew from law school during his third year to pursue his career as an emcee.

Career[link]

Homeboy Sandman recorded and released his first EP, Nourishment, in March 2007. His debut full length album, entitled Nourishment (Second Helpings), was released in August 2007. In early 2008 Homeboy Sandman's work began to be featured on underground radio programs the Squeeze Radio Show on WKCR 89.9 FM and the Halftime Radio Program on WNYU 89.1 FM in New York. In June 2008 he was featured in Source Magazine's "Unsigned Hype" column.^[1]

His second album, Actual Factual Pterodactyl was acclaimed upon its release in August 2008. The album received an entry in XXL Magazine's Chairman's Choice column, which praised Homeboy Sandman's "sharp lyrics and irresistibly melodic flow, which, together, form an elastic instrument few MCs can match."^[2] Actual Factual Pterodactyl received critical acclaim in a multitude of other print and online publications, including Blender Magazine, Beyond Race Magazine, Okayplayer.com and MSN.com.^[3] At the end of 2008, Homeboy Sandman was named "Best Hip Hop Act in NYC 2008" by New York Press.^[4] Recently his music has received rotation on NYC's Power 105.1 FM and Hot 97.1 FM, the city's #1 Hip Hop and R&B radio station, as well as airplay on Spitkicker Radio (Channel 65 on XM Satellite Radio), DJ Premier's "Live From HeadQCourterz" (Sirius Satellite Radio's #1 ranked Hip Hop show) and BBC 1Xtra's Hip Hop M1X (Hosted by DJ Sarah Love).

In addition to his studio releases, Homeboy Sandman has garnered attention for his live performances. ep-3/|title=Loud.com: Rapper Challenge}}</ref> From January 2008 to August 2009, Homeboy Sandman served as the host of “ALL THAT! Hip Hop, Poetry and Jazz” at the Nuyorican Poets Café, New York City’s longest running open mic session (originally hosted by Hip Hop icon Bobbito García). He has performed at the biggest hip hop shows around the country, including the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, TX, the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival in Brooklyn, NY, the Rock the Bells hip hop festival in Long Island, NY, the A3C Hip Hop Festival in Atlanta, GA and New York City's CMJ Music Marathon. Homeboy Sandman has recorded video interviews with other performers at his live shows, which are captured in his YouTube video series "Homeboy Sandman presents Live From..."

In addition to his own releases, Homeboy Sandman has appeared on records by other artists, frequently with members of the AOK Collective, with whom he is affiliated.^[5] He recently appeared on Fresh Daily's 2009 album The Gorgeous Killer In Crimes of Passion and the 2008 album For Your Consideration released by P.SO (formerly P. Casso). Homeboy Sandman collaborated with both Fresh Daily and P.SO for the song "Get On Down," which is featured on Sonic Smash, the album released in 2009 by music producer DJ Spinna.^[6] Homeboy Sandman has also laid down tracks for a series of features with RIDES Magazine.^[7] The track that Homeboy Sandman created for the Loud.com challenge, "Gun Control," was cited as one of the Top 25 Songs of 2009 by Hot 97 DJ Peter Rosenberg.^[8]

On June 1, 2010, Homeboy Sandman released his third album, The Good Sun, which features production from 2 Hungry Bros, Ski Beats, Thievin' Stephen, DJ Spinna, Psycho Les (The Beatnuts) and Core Rhythm, among others. The first single off of The Good Sun was "Angels with Dirty Faces," produced by J57.^[9] In September 2010 Homeboy Sandman released his first official video for The Good Sun for the track entitled The Essence.

In the fall of 2010, Homeboy Sandman was featured as the coach in an episode of MTV's MADE, which premiered in October 2010.^[10]

In August 2011, Homeboy Sandman signed with Stones Throw Records and released his debut project, Subject: Matter EP, with the California-based record label on January 24, 2012. Homeboy Sandman released his second EP with Stones Throw Records, titled Chimera in April 2012.

Discography[link]

Albums, EPs & Mixtapes

• Nourishment EP (2007)
• Nourishment (Second Helpings) (2007)
• DJ BabeyDrew Presents Homeboy Sandman: There Is No Spoon (2008)
• Actual Factual Pterodactyl (2008)
• The Good Sun (2010)
• Subject: Matter EP (2012)
• Chimera EP (2012)

Collaborations and Guest Appearances (list is not exhaustive)

• "Parallel Perpendicular" from 2 Hungry Bros. x AOK Collective's My Crew's All Thinner!
• "Best In Show" from P. Casso's For Your Consideration
• "Starter Pistol" from Fresh Daily's The Gorgeous Killer In Crimes of Passion
• "Get on Down" from DJ Spinna's Sonic Smash
• "20 years High & Rising (Homage To De La Soul)" from Mick Boogie x Terry Urban's Le Da Soul: 20 Years of De La Soul
• "Scenario" from PH's (formerly Pumpkinhead) MY ERA: No Skinny Jeans Allowed
• "Up to No Good (Remix)" from J.J. Brown's Connect the Dots
• "Love, Love" feat. KRS-One from Kyle Rapp's forthcoming mixtape Edutainment
• "Still Phenomenal" feat. Sene & Co$$ from J57′s Digital Society

References[link]

External links[link]

• HomeboySandman.com Official Website
• Homeboy Sandman's Myspace Page
• Homeboy Sandman's Facebook Page
• Homeboy Sandman Interview 9/21/10