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Israel & Levant History | Where is the Levant | Climate of Israel #levant #levanthistory
The Land of Israel & The Levant, Itself
Link to part 2 is below.
   • Israel & Levant History part 2 | Where is ...  
An IRON LIONS production!

The Land of Israel has been divisive. Just look at the gap between these descriptions: "So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey"

Size of Israel & The Levant
The modern state of Israel measures a mere 250 miles from its northernmost point in Metula to the southern port of Eilat. But if that sounds small, consider how narrow the land is. It is less than 40 miles wide at the narrowest point from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean coast.

Israel and the Levant as a Crossroads
The importance of the area we today call Israel was apparent from early in human history. Africa is the "cradle of mankind," Therefore, the future Holy Land was a crucial link in spreading homo sapiens throughout the world. Therefore, almost everyone went through the Levant at one point or another. And a good portion chose to stay there.

The Fertility Of The Land of Israel
Israel also had another reason for its importance at the time. It remains a fertile strip between two arid zones, the Negev-Sinai area, and Jordan. That is why it would host some of the earliest farming communities on earth.

Analysts of geopolitics have long maintained that "geography is destiny." The great thinker of that school of thought, Harold Mackinder, said: "Man and not nature initiates, but nature in large measure controls." Indeed, while humans build kingdoms and plan strategies, they are always constrained by geography.

Climate of Israel
Although a lot of time has passed, the weather was quite similar to its contemporary form. There are only two seasons in Israel. Summer and winter. Summer gets very hot and is dry in most of the country. Meanwhile, winter is mild near the coast but can get quite bitter and rainy inland. It usually rains for a total of around 30 days per year. However, there was always the danger of severe droughts.

The region's topography is essential for understanding how societies developed: "It comprises a narrow coastal plain, two parallel mountain ranges with a rift valley in between, and an eastward sloping plateau dissected by many eastward running wadis."

Biodiversity of Israel
There was a good deal of biodiversity in the region. In particular, there were more large predators and game than today since homo sapiens were less effective hunters than they are today. Antelopes, boar, and deer were plentiful, especially on the coast and Galilee grasslands. Wild goats and sheep were found in the lowlands and drier areas. Back then, you could also see the wild cattle that, once domesticated, would become the backbone of many agricultural farmsteads.

At certain times the Land of Israel contained animals we wouldn't associate with it at all. For example, elephants dwell there up to 500,000 years ago. Our ancestors even developed special tools to scoop out and eat elephant bone marrow, as we learned from the Gesher Bnot Yaacov find. The elephants in Israel were straight-tusk ones, about twice as big as modern elephants. In fact, one Israeli researcher believes they played a crucial role in helping humans cross over from Africa. "There are strong arguments to claim that prehistoric people used elephants' migrating routes to travel out of Africa," Tel Aviv University Prof. Ran Barkai says.

What Is Grown In The Land Of Israel?
The humans living in the pre-agricultural era were already quite familiar with cereals and other staples. At first, agriculture was used to supplement the nomadic lifestyle. Then some individuals relied on grains to provide them with an increasingly more significant proportion of the calories needed to survive.

In biblical times the staples were: wheat, barley, figs, vines, olives, dates, and pomegranates, but none of these play a significant role in modern Israeli agri- culture. Today Israeli agriculture is based upon irrigation allowing for water-rich products. Therefore, the main crops are oranges, cotton, sugar, beet, vegetables, potatoes, and apples.

CREDITS
Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, Creator & Narrator
Brian Burke, Editing & Graphics
An "IRON LIONS" production.
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