Until his death in 1904, Herzl worked feverishly to build international recognition of the Jewish people's right to the Land of Israel in its maximalist borders - from the Nile Delta to the Euphrates River.
Professor Robert Englund of the University of California believes that the culture that flowered in this region around the delta that flows from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers formed the basis for what is almost certainly the world's oldest literary culture.