MESOPOTAMIA Site of first river valley civilizations Located between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers Mesopotamia means “land between the rivers”

The Fertile Crescent

MESOPOTAMIA GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS The floods of the Tigris-Euphrates rivers were unpredictable and as a result the Sumerians believed that their gods were angry gods. The valley was surrounded by deserts and hills but they were relatively easy to cross and so the peoples of this region were constantly conquered and re-conquered

MESOPOTAMIA The first people to settle there were the Sumerians Developed a system of writing called Cuneiform, which were wedge-shaped characters pressed into a clay tablet The Sumerians created city-states (a city and its surrounding lands) Each city-state had its own government Sumerian city-states were built around a ziggurat

Ziggurat

MESOPOTAMIA The Akkadians defeated the city-states of Sumer and gained control of northern and southern Mesopotamia Created the first empire which lasted about 200 years

MESOPOTAMIA Amorites overtake the Akkadians and establish a capital at Babylon which gives its name to their empire – The Babylonian Empire. Most important and most famous ruler was king Hammurabi who created the first written legal code.