Mesopotamia 8,000 BC Start with a story: imagine you are a farmer living near Southwest Asia. The yearly flood which makes farming possible has not come. Now the village is fighting for it’s life…!

Do Now pg 65 IAN Think of a time when you’ve seen pictures about a flood on TV or in the Newspapers. Floods cause destruction by washing away objects in their path. Do you think a flood can also have good consequences? SWBAT explain how the land between the Tigris and Euphrates river was essential to early life.

Before & Now.. So far you’ve learned… This is where we are going… As people became better farmers, they settled in large villages. Some settlements developed complex villages with NEW ways of life! This is where we are going… The geography of Mesopotamia influenced where people settled and HOW they lived!

The Land between Two Rivers… The word “Mesopotamia” means the land between two rivers. Mesopotamia is between the: Tigris River Euphrates River

Where in the world are we???

Let’s ZOOM in! Asia Africa

Tiny bit closer….

The Euphrates River

The Tigris & Euphrates Located in Southwest Asia Provide Water Good for travel Easier to move by boat in Ancient times

The Tigris & Euphrates Fertile Soil Every year it would rain and melt the snow in the mountains, this caused the river to overflow!

As the water flowed down the mountains it picked up soil. When the rivers reached the plains water overflowed onto the FLOOD PLAIN. A flood plain is flat land bordering the banks.

The fine soil picked up by the overflowed river created SILT Silt was fertile which means it was great for growing crops!

Irrigation 6,000 BCE

Floods and droughts! A long period when too little rain falls is called a drought. Mesopotamia was ARID (dry) Drought is BAD because during a drought the Tigris & Euphrates water level would drop making it hard for famers to water their crops! IF CROPS FAIL…the people Starve!

Irrigation As early as 6000BCE Mesopotamian farmers took steps to control water they built walls to control water during floods they built canals to carry water from rivers to the fields This system of watering dry land is called IRRIGATION! http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=1E160BFC-BBCA-43F8-B10F-63102046DF34&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US#

The downside… Water from Tigris and Euphrates was muddy and silt often clogged the canals Keeping canals clean was a big challenge for farmers

Read up a little more Go to the following website and answer these questions: http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/economy/farming/irrigation.htm

Let’s try a game! http://kids.yahoo.com/games/game/irrigation-nation

Current Events http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGpCjPOFTvg

What are the downsides of this great land Mesopotamia? Lack of natural resources No forests for wood so they couldn’t build advanced homes Limited protection- not surrounded by mountains or other natural barriers Built brick walls They did trade because they had a SURPLUS of crops! This lead to a very diverse society.