Mesopotamia was known for being in vicinity to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. This allowed them to use an extensive amount of trade routes to modern day Turkey and Iran, as well as getting closer to where Asian and European traders were.
This, in turn gave them access to resources that they otherwise would not be able to find in their own territory, such as certain metals and wood.
Carpetbaggers
Scalawags
Ku lux clan
but it was mostly the "carpetbaggers"
That would be productivity.
It was the year 1798 that Thomas Malthus predicted that the humanity would be met with mass starvation. His prediction was based on an assumption that human population would far exceed the means of producing food and that we just would not be able to produce enough food for everyone. But the technological advancement and the advanced farming techniques allowed us to increase productivity and thus avert this prediction.
