The “Fertile Crescent” is the name given to the agricultural plains of Ancient Mesopotamia, which are abundant in comparison to the surrounding desert. The land of the “Fertile Crescent” can be found around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in and around modern Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Southern Turkey, and Northern Saudi Arabia. This area's importance to history is that it was the first part of the world that we know of to inspire humanity's adoption of a settled and agricultural life, which in turn lead to the first powerful empires and cultures of the ancient era.

The Neolithic Revolution is the first recognized agricultural revolution in human history. It marked the transition from hunter-gatherer tribes into established and settled agricultural communities - thus allowing for a massive expansion in population, as well as the development of art and culture for the first time in human history. It first occurred in what is known as the “Fertile Crescent” - particularly fertile and abundant lands in Ancient Mesopotamia (now called The Middle East). Historical sources vary, but most scholars agree that the Neolithic Revolution began around 12,000-10,000 B.C.E. and had resulted in complicated societies (like the Sumerians) by 5,500 B.C.E.

The Edict of Milan was issued by Roman Emperor Constantine in 313 C.E. It formally ended persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire.

Siddhartha Gautama is often credited with founding modern Buddhism. He promoted the idea of a Middle Way - that encouraged a middle ground between sensory indulgence and complete asceticism that was popular in the India of his time.

The Neolithic era spans from about 10,000 B.C.E. to about 2,000 B.C.E. It is marked by the movement of human society away from hunter-gatherer societies and towards settled agricultural communities. The change took place first in the fertile lands in the Middle East but spread almost everywhere where hunting was difficult or lands were fertile. The movement towards settled agricultural communities paved the way for cities, large communities, civilizations, and empires, as well as art, culture, and written language.

A ziggurat is an ancient structure built in Mesopotamia by the Sumerians, Babylonians, and other Mesopotamian civilizations. It generally takes the shape of a step pyramid. Ziggurats were religious buildings part of temple complexes, and many survive to this day.

The Bronze Age began first in the Near Middle East in about the 4th millenium B.C.E. It provided people with new tools to manipulate the environment around them - allowing people to build better buildings, farm more efficiently, and wage war far more effectively. The Bronze Age eventually spread around much of the world (although remained absent indefinitely in some places) and contributed dramatically to the growth of civilizations.

The Code of Hammurabi is one of the earliest known systems of law that we know about from the ancient world. Hammurabi was a Babylonian king in the 1700s B.C.E.

When you see dates written, it is traditionally in the format of B.C. (Before the birth of Jesus Christ) and A.D. (After the birth of Jesus Christ); however, in recent years, it has become more common practice to use B.C.E. (Before Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era). So this year is 2015 A.D. and 2015 C.E.; the year 432 B.C. is also the year 432 B.C.E. The years begin in the distant B.C.E., countdown to zero (Christ’s birth) and then count back up in the Common Era. So the year that is the furthest in the past is 1212 B.C.E.

Despite the connotation of the word "roads," exchange along the Silk Roads took place by both land and sea. These passageways greatly facilitated—rather than inhibited—the exchange of goods and ideas to and from China. The Silk Roads were established well before the fourteenth century CE.