The Origin Of Human Progress

With governmental machinery that brought political and social order to their territories, effective political and military power enabled them to build regional empires and expand their authority to neighboring people. Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia were two great civilizations among the earliest to emerge in the Middle east and North Africa. Both made significant contributions in areas such as mathematics, medicine, agriculture, astronomy, technology, architecture, art and writing. They had differences as well, including their political structures. Most importantly is that Egyptians were under a centralized government, and the Mesopotamians had self-controlled city state governments.

Mesopotamia, “the Land between Rivers,” was one of the greatest and the oldest ancient civilizations of the world. This civilization flourished around 3000 B.C. on the piece of fertile land, now known as Iraq, between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Before 1792 B.C., the city-states of ancient Mesopotamia were not united and constantly clashed in turmoil and warfare. In 1792 B.C., King Hammurabi conquered and merged the neighboring city states of ancient Mesopotamia, creating a Babylonian empire and becoming the sixth king of its capitol city, Babylon. During his reign, Hammurabi established law and order and funded irrigation, defense, and religious projects. He personally took care of and governed the administration. In

Mesopotamia was the foundation of western civilization. This was around 3500 BC when cities started evolving in world history. It was also known as the “land between the rivers.” The first city-states developed in southern Mesopotamia by the Sumerian citizens around 4000 BC. The history begins at Sumer; this society brings many things to the table for a starting civilization. In 3500 BC the Sumerian people learned their own writing system. They would write on cuneiforms, clay blocks which were easy to be transported but they were very fragile. The Sumerian people had an independent government which was ruled by a king, Sargon. The cities as well as

Mesopotamia was divided into city-states. They saw each city-state as a divine copy of heaven on earth. They viewed kingship as divine in origin. One could also view Mesopotamia as a primitive democracy. They had a consul responsible for everyday affairs and a government to administer

Mesopotamia political structures were to have one king and he would control the resources and build an army to go to war he also would make laws and be in control of building projects. Once King Hammurabi became the ruler he made a set of laws call the law of Hammurabi. These laws took more on a political stance of money and war. To maintain order they would go to other neighboring cities and collect money and it would help to build a stronger army to conquer more land.

Throughout time, many civilizations have risen and fallen, all of them making their own impressions on the future. Civilizations such as Ancient Mesopotamia evolved over time, becoming more and more advanced. The Ancient Mesopotamians had many groundbreaking achievements and innovations that made them an advanced civilization. These features were in many areas, such as law, technology, and education, among others. Important breakthroughs like these are what made Mesopotamia an advanced and impactful civilization.

Ancient Mesopotamia, sometimes referred to as the “Cradle of Civilization”, was located in the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, bringing the Greek origin of its name, of “land between rivers”. There were two very different regions in ancient Mesopotamia:

Mesopotamia means “the land between two rivers” (Tigris and Euphrates rivers). In Mesopotamia, A man named Hammurabi conquered and united all of the cities of Mesopotamia under his rule (Document 2). His advancement of Mesopotamia was his set of laws. It is an advancement because his laws were one of the first written laws. These laws were called “Hammurabi’s Code”. The type of laws were an “Eye for an Eye” which means if you killed someone you would also be killed. It wasn’t a fair policy because if you killed someone of a lower class all your punishment would be is a fine.

Mesopotamia was an ideal place to start civilization. It has natural barriers as well, which are rivers and mountains. Because the rivers surrounded Mesopotamia, it was suitable for farming. With the Map of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent seen in document 2, it can be proven that the area of Mesopotamia is located in the Fertile Crescent. In Mesopotamia, farming

1. What is Mesopotamia? Why was it so named, and which modern countries are included in the region?

Mesopotamia has changed so much through each king/leader of their time. Later Mesopotamia during Hammurabi was changed significantly in many ways. The economic activity was good causing trade to grow and benefit the people in Babylon, and social status was restored. Hammurapi, or Hammurabi, centralized state authority using diplomatic and military skills to become one of the strongest kings in Mesopotamia (textbook pg 94). During this time, culture was very important to the people because they valued the oral tales and written records of earlier Sumerians and Akkadians. Therefore, scribes would copy the ancient texts and preserve their traditions for generations to come (textbook pg 95). Also, during Hammurabi’s time, there was a rise in the economy because people were able to pay taxes in form of commodities such as grains, vegetables, and wool, which the entrepreneurs exchanged for silver through trades (textbook pg 95). This was a great idea because the people were able to pay with their agricultural products, and the entrepreneurs can sell or trade it for silver. This had significantly create more revenues for the state causing trade to flourish during Hammurabi’s time. The

The earliest civilization in Asia arose around 3500 BCE in Mesopotamia meaning "land between the rivers" because of its convenient location between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This river valley region's rich soil and access to waterways made early civilization thrive on agriculture and trade. Although much has changed since its beginnings, the Mesopotamian River Valley has continued to grow and develop as a civilization to this day. During the time period 2000 BCE to present, Mesopotamia has changed geographically, religiously, and economically, but the rich resource of the Tigris and the Euphrates river has stayed the same.

Mesopotamia had independent cities with its own government. Priests controlled these cities with other executives. Since disturbance and hostility would often arise between them, Mesopotamian Political Unification was seldom achieved. Mesopotamia was constantly attacked by foreigners who would integrate their culture into a new society being created.

Through the archeological discoveries, we can infer some details into the lives of the people who originated in the cities of Mesopotamia. The root word of Mesopotamia refers to ‘between rivers’, this infers to the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, figure 1. Because the environment influenced people to settle, we can see a change in their political, social, and economic structure as they begin to form a complex society. This is the period where we see a complex engineering system as people started to develop canals and other technologies for a more efficient agricultural development. An early culture to settle in the lowlands of Mesopotamia were the Hassuna culture, their civilization were characterized by “small settlements with a few hundred inhabitants, who lived in rectangular houses with several rooms” (Feuerbach, 2015). Another culture to settle in this area were the Samarran culture; even

Mesopotamia was the world's first civilization--the first time people settled down to live together in one place. They didn't have to rely only on hunting and gathering to get food because they knew how to farm and could save up food for the winter. Since they had so much extra time now (the time they used to spend hunting animals and gathering plants), this allowed them to begin creating objects and ideas to help them live a little easier.