Final answer:
The Fertile Crescent is a historical region where early cultivation and domestication began, leading to the rise of Neolithic cities and settled agriculture.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Fertile Crescent is a region known as the cradle of civilization, where the earliest evidence of cultivation and domestication of crops and animals began. Around 10,000 BCE, in this crescent-shaped area of the Middle East, encompassing parts of modern-day northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, western Iran, Syria, Israel, and Palestine, agriculture first flourished leading to the rise of Neolithic cities such as Jericho and Çatalhöyük. The presence of nutritious staple crops like wheat and barley, along with the domestication of key animal species including goats, sheep, and cows, supported the transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to settled agriculture and the growth of early urban areas.