Interaction Persians were Indo-European tribes from Central Asia. Medes and Persians settled on plateaus of what is now Iran. The heart of the Persian communication network was the high quality roads, linking all the parts of the empire. Indo- Europeans migrated from central Europe and southern Russia to the mountains and plateaus east of the Fertile Crescent in about 1000 B.C. The area extended from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf.
The world’s first long highway, the Royal Road. Messengers on horseback could travel across the entire empire in just a matter of days. The Royal Road ran from Susa in Persia and Sardis in Anatolia, 2400 kilometers long. The region was filled with dozens of kingdoms, but later, two major powers emerge, the Medes and Persians. Cyrus the Great founded the Persian Empire after conquering the Medes. Darius divided the area into twenty provinces. |
Fertile Farmland The Persians had quite a lot of fertile farmland, and they were able to stay agriculturally stable for hundreds of years, never faltering. The Persians held their wealth of minerals, copper, lead, gold, silver, and blue lapis lazuli. They traded it and used it for their luxurious monuments. Strong road networks enabled empires to expand and maintain control over people and places. Darius I also dug a canal linking the Nile and the Red Sea.
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