Two rivers that pass through the Fertile Crescent were the Tigris and Euphrates, and the area they pass through was formerly known as Mesopotamia. The word Mesopotamia itself means, “land between two rivers.” Mesopotamia is often referred to as the “cradle of civilization” because, one of the earliest and most influential civilizations was developed, invented many different things that help people now in the present, and the two rivers helped many people recognize new ways to do things.; The Sumerians, or known as the Sumer Mesopotamia, were mostly short, stock, and black-haired. They were one of the earliest known civilizations and by 3000 BC, many of the villages that were created had grown intro city-states. City-states were self-reliant …show more content…
These two rivers unpredictably flooded often which caused damaged that destroyed lives and property of the people living there. Each spring, the rivers overflow banks and spread rich silt all over the land. The rich soil then made sufficient crops such as beans, olives, grapes, etc. For the first time there was a surplus to feet city workers such as artists, craftsmen, and merchants. The Sumerians then built their villages on fabricated mounts to help protect them from the floods. This is when they learned to make bricks from clay and straw. Considering they were one of the earliest civilizations there was not many materials or information to work with and there were no nations, only small city-states.
In conclusion, Mesopotamia was known as the “cradle of civilization” for many reasons, but the most important reason being how it was essentially the start of everything. The Sumerians had inhabited Mesopotamia and were the first human civilization known, their innovations have made their way from being used in the start of their time in 3000 BC to the present, and the Tigris and Euphrates river helped the start of many new things as
The formations of Sumerian city-states were the first signs of urbanization in Mesopotamia. Canal construction required stronger leadership than the typical Neolithic villages could execute. To do this, aristocratic councils of elders were formed to work with religious leaders. It was here that the political power of religious leaders and the organization of what might have been an early, and strictly relative group of "intellectuals" centralized. Situated between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Sumerian cities such as Uruk grew from small villages to populations of nearly 50,000. In 2600 B.C.E., around the time of Gilgamesh, Sumer had a population of 500,00 people with almost 4/5 of them in urban areas. (45, 54.)
Mesopotamia, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was and is still an extremely important region for the water it provides. For this and its ability to support agriculture, it’s known also as the Fertile Crescent. It’s also been called the Cradle of Civilization for providing the earliest existence of a civilization.
Ancient Mesopotamian societies had great shifts as cities and rulers rose and fell, rose and fell again, gaining land and enemies as they advanced The area Mesopotamia occupied is an immense, dry plain through which two rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris, course. These rivers rise from tributaries in the mountain ranges to the north before flowing through Mesopotamia to the sea. As they reach the land close to the sea, the land becomes swampy, with lagoons, mud flats, and reed banks, but in ancient times the sea advanced much further inland; and they poured into it as two separate streams, whereas today they join as one before reaching the sea. A close cultural cooperation was established between the Sumerians (who spoke a language that was more isolated) and the Semitic Akkadian speakers, which included extensive bilingualism in its culture. This took place around the third millennia BC and as the fourth millennia dawned Mesopotamia saw an increase in its population. By aspiring and adjusting to the changing world around them the people of Mesopotamia created government and states. Order began to develop in the territories, and due to the efficiency of its military and political structure their authority began to spread and empires grow. One of these city states Sumer was first permanently settled between c. 5500 and 4000 BC. Sumer a city-state coming to power in prehistoric time, prior to the cultures ability to leave much historical record, however in the twenty- third century BC writing came into being which has given historians their first glimpse into some of the earliest Mesopotamian cultures.
Before the beginning of history, people from across the land gradually developed numerous cultures, each unique in some ways while the same time having features in common. Mesopotamia and Egypt are important to the history of the world because of religious, social, political and economic development. Mesopotamia was the first civilization, which was around 3000 B.C., and all other countries evolved from it. Mesopotamia emerged from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The soil was rich and agriculture was plentiful. The Semitic nomads occupied the land around Akkad. The Sumerians established the city-states. Villages became urban centers. Because of the formation of the city-states everything flourished. However, Mesopotamian agriculture lacked stones; therefore mud brick became their major building block. Their diet consisted of fish from the rivers. The rivers were flooded frequently destroyed the cities. Mesopotamians made their living from crops and pottery.
The first civilization to rise was the Mesopotamia, located in present day Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and Egypt, along the Nile River. It’s split in two ecological zones. In the south Babylonia (irrigation is vital) and north Assyria (agriculture is possible with rainfall and wells). By 4000 B.C.E., people had settled in large numbers in the river-watered lowlands of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Archaeologists have shown that large-scale irrigation appeared only long after urban civilization had already developed, meaning major waterworks were a consequence of urbanism (population). Mesopotamia cities were made of people called the Summerians in the land of Sumer located on the south of Babylonia. The Summerian city was one of
Mesopotamia’s climate consisted of temperatures rising from 110 to 120°F in the summer. This led to many dry days that eventually led to a severe drought. Basically, there was little to no rainfall from the months of May until October. This led to the devastation of agriculture. Not only did the Sumerians have to deal with the effects of the droughts, they had to deal with the consequences of flooding as well. The Tigris and the Euphrates surrounded Mesopotamia thus when it would overflow more devastation would occur such as the washouts of embankments. (Hause, 2001, pg. 7)
Mesopotamia was the first primordial, and influential cradle of civilization. Nestled in the valleys of the vehement Tigris-Euphrates Rivers around the time of the Lower Paleolithic period
Egypt and Mesopotamia were two of the world’s earliest city-based civilizations, creating the basis for Middle Eastern and Western history. Both Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations existed on the banks of major rivers. While Egyptian civilization thrived along the Nile, Mesopotamia settled between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Although they shared this characteristic, it was also the cause of many of their differences in political systems, religions, and social stability.
Approximately 5500 years ago four of the worlds' most prestigious ancient river civilizations had emerged. Our world has been left in astonishment and awe wondering how these civilizations were developed. Egypt and Mesopotamia were the first ancient river civilizations to create cities and their own ways of living. Society, geography, and religion played an enormous role in the development of the ancient cities. Although there is evidence of early Sumerian contact with the Egyptians, Egypt's civilization was largely self-generated and its history and cultural patterns differed from Mesopotamia.
The Fertile Crescent and the presumed locale of the biblical Garden of Eden, which is another known name for Mesopotamia, the core of the region. In Mesopotamia, three of the world’s great faiths were given birth in the region where the land mass forms a mountainous border between Turkey and Syria through Iraq to Iran’s Zagros Mountains. There were early complex urban societies, and invented writing that was first introduced in the 4th millennium BCE, where the 1st great Mesopotamia civilization was inhabited by the Sumerians in between valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. One of the great Sumerian developments was the city-state, as others were writing and producing great literature.
Mesopotamia ,now modern day Iraq, is known as the “cradle of civilization” and was located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Fertile Crescent. Mesopotamia was a very rich and very successful civilization; because of its convenient placement it was a very fruitful area having many people and excessive amounts of crops which meant lots of work. With all of these people came some amazing ideas and with ideas came reality. From this ancient civilization came some of the most revolutionary and life changing inventions such as writing, medicine, math and most importantly the wheel. All of these inventions have made an amazing impact on the world we live in now but the most revolutionary invention was the wheel.This invention was by far one of the most important inventions of its time and passes the other inventions such as, math, writing, medicine and other inventions because this made not only work less difficult but life as well ,it Increased supplies and containers, helped explore new lands, made trading with farther places and obtaining more goods easier, fewer men needed for heavy work, etc, while the other invent...
Millions of years ago the procreant low lands in the river basins of Euphrates and Tigris was probably the home of some animal life, but no great civilizations. However, things change over time, and just a few thousand years ago the same fertile low lands in the river basins of Euphrates and Tigris became the home of a very rich and complex society. This first high society of man was located in what some still call "Mesopotamia". The word "Mesopotamia" is in origin a Greek name meaning "land between the rivers." The name is used for the area watered by the Euphrates and Tigris and its tributaries, roughly comprising modern Iraq and part of Syria. South of modern Bagdad, this alluvial plain was called the land of Sumer and Akkad. Sumer is the most southern part, while the land of Akkad is the area around modern Bagdad, where the Euphrates and Tigris are closest to each other. This first high, Mesopotamian society arose as a combined result of various historical, institutional, and religious factors. The reality of these factors occurring at a specific place within the fabric of space / time indeed established the basis for this first high civilization. Items like irrigation, topography, and bronze-age technical innovations played a big part along with the advent of writing and the practice of social conditioning (through the use of organized religion) in this relatively early achievement of man.
Mesopotamia’s first invention was a form of writing called cuneiform which was written on clay tablets with a sharp reed called a stylus. This permitted for recording events and writing formal laws. The Sumerians, a civilization in Mesopotamia designed the wheel which was used to help transfer heavy objects to and from places. They also began constructing daggers, spears and chariots, which has led to their successful wars. The Mesopotamians were also responsible for the first laws and the discoveries of glass, sailboats, and ziggurats. With interest high in religion and mythology, Sumerians and their successors worshiped gods and goddesses just like Egyptians, Greeks, and Aegean cultures.
Centuries before Julius Cesar, Galileo, Aristotle, Socrates, and albert Einstein; There was an ancient civilization that arose out of nowhere. They Settled upon the Tigris, and Euphrates Rivers, known as the fertile crest of Mesopotamia. These settlers are known as the Sumerians. The Sumerians were an agricultural society, who lived off their crops and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to trade goods. So when presented the terrible question “Why they existed?” The Sumerians believed that they existed to serve their gods by worship and dedicated work. Through the Sumerian Literature, architecture, and artwork the Sumerians let their purpose be known.
Ancient Mesopotamia was one of the first of the ancient civilizations. It formed in present-day northeastern Egypt, in the Fertile Crescent. The Fertile Crescent is a crescent-shaped region of good farmland created by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The first people to settle in Mesopotamia made important contributions to the world, such as wheeled vehicles, and an early form of writing called Cuneiform. Later, the Phoenicians here developed an alphabet much like the one we use today. Also, the Sumerians of this region developed algebra and geometry. Most importantly, the Sumerians made extensive irrigation systems, dikes, and canals to protect their crops from floods. The Great Hammurabi of Babylon, another empire in the Fertile Crescent, made the Code of Hammurabi. It was the first significant set of laws in history. Also, the Hittites and the Lydians settled in Mesopotamia. The Hittites developed a way to produce strong plows and weapons. The Lydians created a system of coined money. The contributions from the region of Mesopotamia in ancient times are still used today and are very useful.