The achievements were that it managed to raise its own army and create its own currency and government. The failures were that it didn't manage to become internationally recognized, and they eventually became bankrupt. Another thing was that there was a lot of internal strife and division.
Primarily alternative way that these railroad companies used their land was to either sell it or rent it out to private business, and occasionally individuals, since the rail companies did not always need all the land they were given for development.
The Fertile Crescent includes Mesopotamia, the land in and around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; and the Levant, the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The modern-day countries with significant territory within the Fertile Crescent are Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, as well as the southeastern fringe of Turkey and the western fringes of Iran
