Overview of the Middle East Starter: Pick up the two maps in the front of the room

Circle the location of the Middle East on your small map In which continent is the Middle East ?

If you were starting your own civilization, where would you build it? What characteristics would the area have? What innovation allowed people to build the first permanent towns/villages?

Early Civilizations of the Middle East Why are they located in these places?

2. Now label the source and the mouth of each river. 3. Draw a small arrow showing the direction in which the river flows Tigris Euphrates Nile 1. Label the three main rivers on your map 4. Which river shows a delta on the map? Label it.

Vocab Review – In your notes, write the definition with the correct word A place in which important ideas begin and thereafter spread to surrounding cultures The process of spreading ideas, languages, or customs from one culture to another A new method, product, idea, etc. Adopting the cultural traits or patterns of another group 1.Innovation 2.Hearth 3.Diffusion 4.Acculturation

Fertile Crescent An area containing moist and fertile soil compared to the dry areas around it Why is it so fertile? These rivers flood annually (yearly) The flooded rivers carried silt (small particles of rich soil) The silt made the land more fertile An flat area of fertile soil left by river floods = alluvial plain

The Fertile Crescent is the first agricultural hearth the first place agriculture started and then spread from there Therefore, it’s the first place where permanent villages and towns started. Why? People no longer had to travel in search of food – they grew it themselves!

Mesopotamia – The alluvial plain in between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (label on your map) One of the earliest advanced civilizations (one with writing) formed here – called the “cradle of civilization” One of the first forms of writing starts here – cuneiform These civilizations were also very early in developing math, as well as technology like copper and glass Why would writing and technology advance here so early? b/c farming was so easy, there was lots of food which allowed for specialized jobs like accountants, lawyers, blacksmiths, etc.

Crossroads of Ancient Civilizations – Where Asia, Africa, and Europe meet Silk Road = a network of trade routes connecting China, India, and Mediterranean Europe

Practice Quiz 1.What are the two important rivers that form Mesopotamia? 2.Why is the fertile crescent so good for farming? 3.What allowed permanent villages/towns to form? 4.Why did civilization start so early in this area? 5.What is an alluvial plain? 6.What is a cultural hearth? 7.Where is Mesopotamia?

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