River Valleys and Sumer Mesopotamia

All River Valleys shared tHese People begin to settle along rivers because of the need for fresh water. The first four civilizations to show up are located in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and India

Positives and Negatives of River Life Constant supply of fresh water Used for cooking, cleaning, bathing, drinking, laundry, restroom Watering crops Water for animals Transportation Flooding Flooding Unsanitary from people and animals Positives Negatives

Mesopotamia: The land between 2 Rivers Civilizations are complex societies Rivers were very important They could water enough crops to feed large groups of people Without having to worry about basic needs, people had time to think of other things and do other jobs; Specialization The 2 rivers are the Tigris and the Euphrates Irrigation: the building of walls, canals, and ditches to water crops and control flooding Flooding is both good and bad Good: brings fresh soil Bad: washes crops away if not harvested in time

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is not a civilization. It is a region where a bunch of different peoples lived. Many different groups came to power over time.

Sumer The first group to come to power Organized into city-states City-state had its own government (was its own country) Sumerian cities were not united. The city-states were often at war with one another Divided because of geography Polytheistic-believe in many gods and goddesses Ziggurat-religious temple Kings and leaders were probably war heroes

Sumer 3 main classes of people Slavery was not based off of skin color Upper: kings, priests, gov. officials Middle: artisans (skilled workers) merchants, farmers (majority of people were farmers), and fishermen Lower: enslaved people Slavery was not based off of skin color They were prisoners of war or simply owed money

Sumer Invented many things Some of them we still use today Cuneiform- the first system of writing using wedge shaped marks Scribes- people that were taught to write, only boys, held honored positions in society Oldest known story Epic of Gilgamesh Some of them we still use today Wagon wheel, plow, number system (based off of 60), 60 minute hour, 12 month calendar They built the first carts pulled by animals and sailboats