What Happened to Fertile Lands of EB Time?

[Ibrahim]

Muslim Conquest. Screwed pretty much everything it touched.

first off, all that the others said wers correct. we muslims tended to irrigation, did in fact introduce capitalism (a version not too different from what is in europe today-rich give lots of money to the poor), and manage to maintain that system for centuries on end. We also invented a proto 3-meals a day concept (some Arab living in spain). we wrote beautiful poetry (even before Islam), transfered ancient knowlege to europeans from main sources, made androids, wrote sociology books (Ibn Khaldun), and put Alexander the great to shame....so I'd shut my mouth up if I were you..

Its also worth pointing out that the Mongol conquests did most of the damage, as they distroyed the irrigation, kiilled technicians, and threw entire volumes/books on agriculture into the rivers. then the areas fell into a period of anarchy, during which the irrigation systems were left in desrepair, as no one was able to unify and cooperate on the reconstruction. the ottomans didn't do too well, mostly because they were focused on Europe (that said, the area did remain somewhat prosperous enough till the 20th century).

@lobf: the Mongols do represent a religious movement/upheaval (sort of). they were known to play religions against one another, and often used their conquests to justify that the judeo-christian/ Muslim god was either non-existant, or that the losers deserved "divine wrath" (toppling the Khalifah, wiping out those eastern europeans, etc). Even Tamerlane, a muslim, attacked other muslims, saying they deserved divine retribution by himself. If you find a good book on the sack of baghdad, you'll see a gruesome example being made of the khalifah...not a pretty thing.

they also killed everybody save artists (for buildings), scribes, and siege engineers. they did in fact kill all other technicians (the ones for agriculture included). It was Mongol Policy to do that, so as to terrify all neighbors into submission, which backfired at the battle of 3ain jallut in 1260-something.

second, here's is my message to you Barry soteiro : *throws the rigid digit salute*. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flipping_the_bird