Mesopotamia

 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

PositivesNegatives  Constant supply of fresh water  Used for cooking, cleaning, bathing, drinking, laundry, restroom  Watering crops  Water for animals  Transportation  Flooding  Unsanitary from people and animals

 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

 Mesopotamia is not a civilization. It is a region where a bunch of different peoples lived.  Many different groups came to power over time.

 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

 3 main classes of people  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

 Invented many things  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