Farming had spread around the Middle East by c. The highlands of the Middle East are the natural habitat of grasses, such as wild wheat and barley, and it was almost inevitable that agriculture based on these crops, which would eventually cover so much of the world, would begin here, around 10,000 years ago. Running through all these zones are long rivers, especially the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia, and the Nile in Egypt. Large parts are covered by desert or grassland elsewhere there are highlands and mountains covered by forests. The Middle East is a huge area, with many different kinds of climate and landscape. A region of dry grasslands and fertile river plains, the Ancient Middle East was the natural home to the first agriculture, and then to the first civilizations.
