1. River Valleys and Sumer
Mesopotamia

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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