Learning Objectives: 1. Examine the geography of Mesopotamia 2. Explain why civilization first emerged in Mesopotamia 3. Locate the world’s first civilization and identify its culture (religion, government, economy, math, technology) and accomplishments, including the first written language, the first book (The Epic of Gilgamesh), and first code of law (Hammurabi’s Code).
World History Semester 1 Exam Student Name: tia_____ Student ID: _____ 1. Explain the significance of agriculture in the rise of Early Complex Societies. humans were able to make enough food where they no longer needed to migrate to their food source. 2. Explain some of the technological and social developments of the Nile River Valley and Mesopotamian civilizations.
World History Semester 1 Exam Student Name: _____ Student ID: _____ 1. Explain the significance of agriculture in the rise of Early Complex Societies. The importance was that the societies could build permanent structures and develop themselves because they wouldn’t have to migrate to their food source.
Sep 18, 2016 · One similarity amongst the early civilizations that I have noticed is flooding. Mesopotamia flooded periodically, the Nile river also flooded, and the Saurdee Rivers of the Indus Valley civilization flooded approximately twice a year (Indus Valley Civilization, Kahn Academy). These floods were beneficial to agricultural development of the world's early civilizations.
Presently, according to waterencyclopedia.com, some abandoned canals and ditches still remain in the area but not intact, the farming activity of Mesopotamia started declining overtime caused by the accumulation of salt in the soil and in 1258, Mongols took over the empire and damaged the irrigation systems.
The use of irrigation made at the same good and harm to agricultural activity in Mesopotamia in a sense that there was fast and good food production, but the activity was becoming more and more complex because of salt accumulation due to irrigation. However, cultivation also had its own consequences both positive and negative.
Even though the Mesopotamian soil was fertile in a way that agriculture was very easy, there was a problem linked to the scarcity of rains. Nevertheless, they knew how to overcome the issue by the use of methods such as irrigation. In Fact, irrigation is the fact to bring additional water supply to a dry area in order to help crops growth. Certainly, the land consisted in its interior of wide rivers such as the Euphrates and the Tigris representing the most important ones from where water could be drawn to the cultivation’s fields and surrounded by Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Aral Sea, Arabian Sea and Caspian Sea also (“Ancient Mesopotamia”, Encarta). Mesopotamia was totally dependent on irrigation and its two big rivers because of the scarcity of rains and the article wrote and posted by Larry Mays on the site Water Encyclopedia says: “Irrigation was extremely vital to Mesopotamia (Mays, “Ancient Irrigation systems,” waterencyclopedia.com)”. The method of water flow control was first practiced in the two world’s first civilizations respectively Egypt and Mesopotamia. The application of the method needed a lot of physical work, correspondingly building. Activities such as building canals, ditches, tunnels, wide gaps where the water would come and stay and the maintenance of the infrastructures were constant in the area and it took them a lot of time to realize all this. Presently, according to waterencyclopedia.com, some abandoned canals and ditches still remain in the area but not intact, the farming activity of Mesopotamia started declining overtime caused by the accumulation of salt in the soil and in 1258, Mongols took over the empire and damaged the irrigation systems. By still dealing with Mays’ article on Water Encyclopedia, we got to know that the soil of the empire was full of silt, a major factor of soil fertility but constituted a continuous agent causing problems in the irrigation systems. Therefore, as there was not enough rainfall, the soil was kept its fertility because irrigation method could not wash a soil until removing its minerals components favoring good food production. Nevertheless, the Mesopotamian agricultural activity knew many problems such as flooding of water coming from the melting of snows in summer from the Turkish mountains according to the web page historylink.com and an unpredictable water flood from its two principle rivers respectively the Euphrates and Tigris according to the article of Louis and Jenifer posted on best.berkley.edu. However, irrigation carried many consequences on the farming activity in Mesopotamia. Irrigation maintained the fertility of soils because it did not deepen or sink the minerals as the way rainfall usually does. Minerals inside a soil are very important and help a fast and good food production at the end of an agricultural session. “The topsoil did not wash away as it does on sloping land, and minerals did not leach deep into the soil as they do under heavy rainfall. Hence, the fertility could be maintained indefinitely by the use of fairly simple soil-management practices (“Farming in Mesopotamia”)” said the web site historylink.com about the impacts of irrigation. Socially, the development of irrigation was helpful to citizens in a sense that it was a physical and intellectual work helping for additional knowledge and body welfare. A fertile soil combined with irrigation result to good and fast food production as we all know.
Mesopotamia was totally dependent on irrigation and its two big rivers because of the scarcity of rains and the article wrote and posted by Larry Mays on the site Water Encyclopedia says: “Irrigation was extremely vital to Mesopotamia (Mays, “Ancient Irrigation systems,” waterencyclopedia.com)”. The method of water flow control was first practiced ...
It consisted of two principal seas such as the Euphrates and the Tigris and was surrounded by many vast seas where they could draw water for additional supply. Despite the arid climate and scarcity of rains in Mesopotamia, they made use of irrigation as principal method to water their crops.
The ancient kingdom possessed a very fertile soil favoring the development of cultivation’s activity. Precisely, as the ancient kingdom is located in the Middle East, it appears to be the first place where agriculture began in a general way.
In the case of the oasis hypothesis it was a great climatic change; foe the nuclear zone hypothesis it was a certain set of conditions that created a special ecological region where agriculture could occur; for the population pressure hypothesis it was the increase in human population (Chadwick, 27).
When people first moved into the region between the Tigris and Euphrates, they found living pretty easy . There was wildlife to catch, fish in the rivers, and edible vegetation growing wild. So they stayed. Soon they found that they could grow their own food if they tended the land.
When people are asked today what they think the land in the modern country of Iraq is like, most would say desert. And in a sense it is. It doesn't rain much so in that way it is a desert, but the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is very fertile. Food crops grow readily if they have water.
Due to the unpredictable flood patterns, the only way a farmer could constantly yield enough food was to use an organized and communal irrigation and drainage system. This made it possible to grow crops constantly, which resulted n an abundance of food. This enabled people to live permanently together in large cities. Maintaining this system in all it's complexities required Mesopotamia to form a stable, organized government to take care of and direct the operation.
Lived in the northern regions of Mesopotamia, were ruled by Sargon the First. He created the first standing army, which was permanent, professional, and trained, verses other armies which was merely a collection of called upon townspeople. Sargon used his army to take over all of Sumer and it's city-states. He adopted the writing form "cuneiform", which was pokes in clay wedges as a form of writing and recorded information. He helped to spread Sumerian culture. After Sargon 's death, the Akkadian Empire falls.
Their focus would shift from survival to want of power, which could lead to war and dysfunction. The outbursts of opinion through art and literature could stir enmity between social classes or groups. The religious grounds and pride could cause conflict between Catal Huyuk and other civilizations with different beliefs.
Thus mesopotamia developed a polytheistic religion, so that the 3,000 gods identified could be responsible for a phenomenon of nature and the universe. The gods were unpredictable and harsh, just as nature was. When nature was punishing, it was of the people to think either the gods were cruel or they were being punished.
Because of this, women began doing the strenuous household jobs, such as making cheese, looking after the kids, and making cloth, which could all be done in the same place. Men started stereotypically earning the family's money instead of women, thus. This was the root of male dominance which still exists in society today.
Occupations were arranged into a social hierarchy/social classes. This created demand between classes which stimulated trade.
Pyramids and temples were built as places for sacrifice, worship, or as the tombs for important people. Paintings and sculptures portrayed gods/goddesses, and other natural forces. New material goods through creativity helped the formation of trade, which brought contact between civilizations thus widespread technologies.
The area is a difficult environment for agriculture because there is little rainfall, the rivers flood at the wrong time for grain agriculture, and the rivers change course unpredictably.
8. The states of Mesopotamia needed resources and obtained them not only by territorial expansion but also through a flourishing long-distance trade. Merchants were originally employed by temples or palaces; later, in the second millennium B.C.E ., private merchants emerged. Trade was carried out through barter or traded for fixed weights of precious metal or measurements of grains.
1. Early Mesopotamian society was a society of villages and cities linked together in a system of mutual interdependence. Cities depended on villages to produce surplus food to feed the nonproducing urban elite and craftspeople. In return, the cities provided the villages with military protection, markets, and specialist-produced goods
1. The Indus Valley civilization flourished from 2600 to 1900 B.C.E. Knowledge of the civilization is gained from archaeological excavation of the remains of Indus Valley settlements. The two largest and best-known sites are those at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.
The three classes of Mesopotamian society were: (1) the free landowning class, (2) dependent farmers and artisans, and (3) slaves. Slavery was not a fundamental part of the economy, and most slaves were prisoners of war.
2. Kings, known as pharaohs, dominated the Egyptian state. The pharaohs were regarded as gods come to earth to ensure the welfare and prosperity of the people. The death of a pharaoh was thought to be the beginning of his journey back to the land of the gods. Funeral rites and proper preservation of the body were therefore of tremendous importance.
1. Egypt’s political organization evolved from a pattern of small states ruled by local kings to the emergence of a large, unified Egyptian state around 3100 B.C.E. Historians organize Egyptian history into a series of thirty dynasties falling into three longer periods: the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms. These three periods were divided by periods of political fragmentation and chaos.