Mesopotamia was a civilization from nearly 6,000 years ago. Today, Mesopotamia is Iraq, but when it was a civilization back then it was called the land between 2 rivers or the Fertile Crescent. The Fertile crescent is between the Tigris river and the Euphrates river. Mesopotamia was popular for trade because it was easily travelled to by river and because it was a large empire. The land between 2 rivers had the 8 characteristics of a civilization, which includes art & architecture, cities, government, religion, writing, social classes, public works and job specializations.