Garden of Peace

Garden of Peace. . , The rich cultural and spiritual heritage of the Middle East is one of the great foundations of western civilization and world history in general. This garden enables us to better understand our diverse cultural heritage and its relationship with the natural world., For its small size this Middle Eastern geographical area has a great natural wealth of plants and animals. It is a virtual biological highway connecting the continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa, with species indigenous to each of these regions. There is a wide range of habitats, from freshwater and marine wetlands to arid deserts, and from 2,900 ft. high down to the lowest point on earth at the Dead Sea, 1,600 ft. below sea level., The land of Israelites within the "Fertile Crescent," an area that stretches from Egypt in the west to the Persian Gulf in the east. It is one of the oldest areas of human civilization, with an economy based on the domestication of plants and animals. The earliest uses of cultivated crops and domesticated livestock date back 3,000-5,000 years. The Bible contains a fascinating historic record of these domesticated species, many of which can be found as you walk through the Garden of Peace.