11 Nations that Collapsed because of Drought
Preface. Recently it was discovered that Assyria collapsed in the 7th century BC. Jeff Masters list ten more civilizations that failed from drought.
We may be next, as Lynn Ingram, a professor at U.C. Berkeley discusses in her book: The West without Water: What Past Floods, Droughts, and Other Climatic Clues Tell Us about Tomorrow. Since 2000, California has had the worst drought in 1,200 years.
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Sinha, A., et al. 2019. Role of climate in the rise and fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Science Advances.
New research suggests it was drought that led to the collapse of the Assyrian Empire (whose heartland was based in today’s northern Iraq)—one of the most powerful civilizations in the ancient world. Neo-Assyria was the first super power in the history of the world. The Neo-Assyrian empire (912-609 BC) was the third and final phase of Assyrian civilization. It was by far the largest empire in the region up to that time, controlling much of the territory from the Persian Gulf to Cyprus. The Assyrians were basically like the Empire in Star Wars, they are the all-devouring machine.
They also had incredible skill as hydro-engineers. The Assyrians were largely responsible for the way that the Tigris River Basin drainage now works, they completely remade the natural water flows of that landscape using aqueducts and other hydraulic infrastructure. Some of these features are still functioning today.
Today Iraq is water challenged, with a low level per capita of fresh water, and until a deluge in the winter of 2019, very little rain since 1988.
Jeff Masters. March 21, 2016. Ten Civilizations or Nations That Collapsed From Drought. wunderground
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