Six thousand years ago, two rivers flowed from the mountains and down through Syria and Iraq, and finally to the Persian Gulf, and provided the lifeblood that allowed the formation of farming settlements.
Geography of the Fertile Crescent
In the landscape between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea, which is dominated by a desert climate, is an arc of land that provides some of the best farming in Southwest Asia, which is called the Fertile Crescent.
Fertile Plains In between where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow in the eastern part of the Fertile Crescent, is called the Mesopotamia (Greek for “land between the rivers”). At least once a year the rivers flooded Mesopotamia, as the water receded it left a thick bed of silt. In
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The second disadvantage was that Sumer was a small region, and so the protection of the village was hard. The third and final disadvantage was that the natural resources of Sumer were extremely limited.
Creating Solutions Over time, the people of Sumer created solutions to deal with the problems/disadvantages. To provide water, they dug irrigation ditches that carried river water to the fields, and allowed them to provide a surplus of crops. To defend the city/village, they built city walls with mud bricks. Then they traded with the people of the mountains and the desert for the products they lacked. They would trade their grain, cloth, and crafted tools for the stone, wood, and metal they needed to make tools and buildings. It took many people working together, like for the large irrigation systems. Leaders planned the projects and supervise the digging. The projects created the need for laws to settle disputes over how land and water was distributed. This was the beginning of an organized government. Sumerians Create City-States The Sumerians stand out in history as one of the first groups of people to form a civilization. The five key characteristics that set Sumer apart from other early human societies are advanced cities, specialized workers, complex institutions, record keeping, and advanced technology. By 3000 B.C. the Sumerians had built a number of cities, each surrounded by fields of barley and wheat. They all had the
The first civilizations and the rise of empires began with small groups or villages existing with the use of hunting, fishing, and foraging. (William J. Duiker and Jackson J. Spielvogel, World History, vol. 1, 1) Within a few thousand years, people learned how to cultivate food crops and this led to an increase in population. Increased food production resulted in larger communities. The cities began to expand their cultural and religious developments leading to the beginnings of civilization. (Duiker, World History, 1) The first civilizations emerged in Mesopotamia and Egypt during the fourth and third millennia B.C.E and had various components in common. Each of these civilizations was established in a river valley so they were able to provide and produce the agricultural resources needed to survive and uphold the population. (Duiker, World History, 1) Mesopotamia developed in the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates River known as “the land between the rivers.” These rivers provided irregular and catastrophic flooding for the city-state. They created an intensive irrigation system to improve their agriculture. The first people to create Mesopotamian civilization were known as the Sumerians. These people were the first city builders and created the major city’s named Eridu, Ur, Uruk, Umma, and Lagash. These cities were built with surrounding walls and defense towers. A six-mile-long wall enclosed the city of Uruk. Mesopotamia lacked
Mesopotamia is located in the Fertile Crescent, between the Tigris River and the Euphrates River. On the Southeast side of Mesopotamia is Sumer and the Persian Gulf. To the east of Mesopotamia are where the Zagros Mountains are located.To the Northwest side of Mesopotamia are where the Taurus Mountains are
The society of Sumer, as said in a document “ was home to a privileged class of elites who headed households by nearby irrigated land”. Sumer was a growing civilization with a written language, education, government, religion, economy, and family hierarchy. “Sumer was a particular civilization that developed in the region of Mesopotamia.” Due to Mesopotamia being so plentiful, this let Sumer bloom into a great civilization. A written language in Sumer was in the form of cuneiform, characters formed by the arrangement of small wedge-shaped elements.
The Fertile Crescent stretches like a crescent moon from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf, containing Egypt and Mesopotamia. The terms mentioned throughout the essay are different empires and locations. Sumer was the first civilization and is located in the narrowing plain between the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. About 5,000 years ago, Sumerians developed writing, construction of cities, and domestication of animals. The Akkadians took over Sumer around 2350 BCE when Sargon I. became leader and began seizing territories as reward for winning a war. Ancient egypt, laid southwest of the Fertile Crescent alongside the Nile River in Africa. People have lived there since around 5000 BCE and began
Sumerians were creative inventors in their city-state of Sumer and made a lot of advancements and inventions that impacted. What the Sumerians did also helped their society and today’s society. It changed our world to come to be what it is today. Since Sumer is a place that lived long ago, its history and actions made up what our generation and life is like today.
In ancient times, the geography of ancient river valleys affected the growth and success of a civilization. Ancient Sumer and Ancient China were strongly changed by the geographic features they had around them. Many river valleys during this time, including Ancient China and Ancient Sumer, developed around rivers. These rivers gave the civilizations fertile soil, which lead to a surplus in food, for farming foods and crops was the most common way to grow food for families. Rivers also gave people water and other resources that were necessary for living during this time. Sumer developed around two rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. These rivers flowed parallel to each other and the land in between the rivers was called Mesopotamia. This land had very fertile farm soil and therefore many people in the civilization of Sumer settled in Mesopotamia. In China, the Civilization developed around two rivers, similar to the Sumerians. The two rivers Ancient China developed around were the
Sumerians made life easier because they made several advancements. Some of them help them with writing, building, and planting. Writing would help them because it developed language. The wheel helped because they helped make carts and wagons. The plow helped because it broke through hard clay for soil planting.
The two rivers had a delta which was called the Fertile Crescent. This was because of its crescent-like shape and because of how fertile it was due to the two rivers depositing rich silk into it, giving it the ability to support agriculture. The two rivers were incredibly important to the ancient Sumerians because it supplied them with water for their irrigation systems. They were able to also dump their sewage as well. The water gave them mud to use as clay for building. The river led them to the concept of regional government, which was used to manage their irrigation systems, consequently resulting in them creating a city-state. Unlike the Chinese and Harappan people, the Sumerians left behind records that we today are able to decipher. Their writing system was called ‘cuneiform’, which they wrote on clay tablets. This tell us that the Sumerians were civilized and organized. Unlike the Chinese, they utilized their time to learn how to read and write instead of fighting
Years ago and to this day it represents a puzzle for all the archaeologists to their origin. The fact that most of the languages of the earth descended from a common Indo-European language. Of course, there are exceptions, they are not so small, such as in Africa, however, and those tribes have a known or at least suspected source. But the language of ancient Sumer is like no other. Sometimes it seems that the tribe descended from the sky, so it had a strange culture. Even the exterior of the ancient Sumerians was very strange for these places: flat oval face, large eyes were so different from the usual image of Semitic tribes that they can not be confused. And this civilization is the first in the world presented to us in
Mesopotamia is a rich flat plain created by deposits from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. At the southern end of this plain developed the first recognizable civilization, in the area known as Sumer. In 3000 B.C. Sumer contained a dozen or more city-states, each ruled by its own king and worshiped its own patron deity. The citizens of these city-states were classified into three classes: nobles and priests, commoners, and slaves. In the center of a
The Fertile Crescent name is self explanatory. This is an area in the Middle East between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, that being said, this led to the development of early civilization. At the time, this region provided the population with enough irrigation for the crops. In order to provide for the growing population, water was essential. Both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were able to fulfil those needs. Water was an environmental factor that surpassingly benefited the growth of human civilization.
Their agricultural system made it possible for large numbers of people to go from working the land to embracing their skills. These people were now free to choose in specialized occupations. The Sumerian cities were characterized by social and economic diversity, which gave rise to artisans, merchants,
Sumeria was an incredible civilization that invented many useful things. One of the first thing the sumerians
Currently, the prosperity in Middle Eastern soil originates not from crops, however from oil. It is very essential to have oil or gas
Sumerians constructed the first real city – or a group of 5000 or more people living together – in the Tigris and Euphrates river valley primarily for agricultural reasons (2). Before they settled, most people avoided these rivers because of the violent and often unpredictable flooding that frequently ravaged the land. Instead, most early people settled in small communities in the hills and along smaller tributaries and streams that stemmed from these two mighty rivers. Perhaps due to