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Fast Facts About Mesopotamia

By N.S. Gill, About.com

Fast Facts About Mesopotamia - The Land Between the Tigris and Euphrates

Iraq - Map of Modern Iraq  showing the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Map of Modern Iraq showing the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Map courtesy of CIA Sourcebook.

Meaning of Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia means the land between the rivers. (Hippotamus -- river horse -- contains the same word for river potam-).

Location of the 2 Rivers

The 2 rivers of Mesopotamia are the Tigris and the Euphrates (Dijla and Furat, in Arabic). The Euphrates is the one on the left (west) in maps and the Tigris is the one closer to Iran. Today, they join up to flow into the Persian Gulf.

Location of Major Cities

Baghdad is by the Tigris River in the middle of Iraq.

Babylon, the capital of Babylonia, was built along the Euphrates.

Nippur, an important Babylonian city dedicated to the god Enlil, was located about 100 miles south of Babylon.

The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers meet somewhat north of the modern city of Basra and flow into the Persian Gulf.

Land Boundaries:

total: 3,650 km

Border countries:

  • Iran 1,458 km,
  • Jordan 181 km
  • Kuwait 240 km
  • Saudi Arabia 814 km
  • Syria 605 km
  • Turkey 352 km
Map courtesy of CIA Sourcebook.

This page is copyright © 2003-2009 N.S. Gill.

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