Geography encouraged civilization in Mesopotamia in three key ways: 1) The Fertile Crescent region, with its fertile land, provided ideal conditions for early agriculture along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. 2) The reliable water from these rivers made irrigation farming possible and helped bring people together in settlements. 3) The rivers and surrounding land faced challenges like floods and invasions, pushing people to work together and develop systems like writing and infrastructure to support their growing civilizations.