Learn how environmental changes have humbled many of history’s most successful and dominant cultures.

This story appears in the April 2009 issue of National Geographic magazine. The world's first empire, known as Akkad, was founded some 4,300 years ago, between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers.

The Akkadian Empire, considered the world's first empire, was established in Mesopotamia. It eventually fell due to a combination of factors, including severe drought, soil salinization ...

The ancient Assyrian language is classified as Akkadian; it was the language of the Assyrians and Babylonians, written in Cuneiform. To facilitate administrative tasks of the Assyrian Empire Aramaic ...