Fertile Crescent & Mesopotamia

Miss Genovese Geography

● Mesopotamia is the region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (AKA The Land Between Two Rivers) ● Land was mostly flat with small plants ● Tigris and Euphrates Rivers provided water and travel ● Climate is semiarid (hot and fairly dry) ○ Only received about 10 inches of rain or less a year ● (4,000 B.C.) farming villages develop in southern Mesopotamia The Rivers’ Importance

● Rain and melting snow from the mountains caused the rivers to expand. ● Water in the rivers picked up soil as it flowed down the mountains. ● This soil is called silt, which is fertile and good for crop growth. Irrigation

● Flooding was unpredictable which meant people could not predict when to plant crops. ● Reasons for Flooding: ○ Too much rainfall ○ Too much snowfall Irrigation

● Semiarid regions can experience droughts. ○ River level falls = no water = crops die = we die ● (6,000 B.C.) Farmers set up canals to get water from rivers to fields Finding Resources

● Mesopotamia did not have forests, stone, or minerals. ○ No forests = no wood ● Used mud to make bricks and plaster Finding Resources

● Traded grain for goods they needed like stone and wood. ● Able to trade crops because they had a surplus of grain. Finding Resources

● Mesopotamia was easy to invade because it had few mountains or barriers. ● Built mud walls around villages to protect against invaders Sumer

● (3300 B.C.) First civilization started in southern Mesopotamia ● Present-day Iraq and Kuwait ● Five traits that made it a civilization: 1. Advanced cities 2. Workers that specialize 3. Institutions 4. Records System 5. Advanced Technology Sumer- Advanced Cities

● Provided people with advantages ● Had temples for praying ○ Polytheistic religion ● Different kinds of jobs Sumer- Specialized Workers

● There had to be a surplus of food to allow people to do other kinds of work besides farming. ● Specialized Jobs: ○ Pottery ○ Weaving ○ Priesthood (organized people to do such work) ○ Scribes ○ Astronomers ○ Musicians Sumer- Institutions

● An institution is a group of people who have a specific purpose. ○ Religion (also had political power) ○ Government (officials and laws) ○ Education (trained scribes) Sumer- Records System

● A records system kept track of things, such as food and supplies ● Scribes kept record of things ● Before inventing the cuneiform (AKA the world’s first written language), scribes kept record by keeping clay tokens in a clay bowl, or bulla Sumer- Advanced Technology

● Sumerians built: ○ Canals for irrigation ○ Tools made of bronze ○ The wheel ■ first used wheels as a surface for shaping clay into pots ■ discovered that a wheel that was flipped onto its edge could be rolled forward ● Wheelbarrows ● chariots Sumer- Science & Technology

● Sumerians were the first people to use bronze. ● Sumerians traded bronze tools. Sumer- Science & Technology

● Used arithmetic to keep records of cops and trade goods. ● Number system was based on the number 60. ● Used geometric shapes to make bricks, set up ramps, and dig canals. Sumer- Creating Written Language

● Invented writing to help with business, keep records of traded goods, and label goods ● Used clay tokens to keep track of goods and put tokens in a container ● Containers were marked with symbols so people would know what was inside ○ Pictographs → “picture writing” ● Stopped using tokens and used clay tablets Sumer- Creating Written Language

● Pictographs showed actual depicts and later showed ideas and sounds ● Used a sharpened reed called a stylus to mark on the clay tablet ● Pictures then became wedge-shaped symbols ○ Cuneiform Sumer- Creating Written Language

● Cuneiform was difficult to learn. ● Few people were literate ● Scribes specialized in writing ○ Highly respected by Sumerians Epic of Gilgamesh

● The oldest story in the world ● An epic is a long poem that tells the story of a hero.