SS Chapter 4 Flashcards
Fertile Crescent small villages located in rolling hills and low plains is called what
Mesopotamia
means land between the rivers
Greek word “Mesopotamia”
two of the largest rivers of the Fertile Crescent in Southwest Asia that flow from the mountains in Turkey to the Persian Gulf
Tigris & Euphrates Rivers
Earliest cities in Mesopotamia date back to____and were like what with their own ruler & farmland?
3500 B.C.E…..small independent countries
strong city walls were built of ____and surrounded by ____
sun baked bricks…..moats
Paleolithic Age
2 million to 8000 B.C.E
Neolithic Age
8000 to 3000 B.C.E.
Sumerian City-States
3500 to 2300 B.C.E
what affected where people settled in Mesopotamia
Geographic features such as climate, the Zagros Mountains, and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
What part of Mesopotamia was hilly and received rain
northern Mesopotamia
What part of Mesopotamia had low plains and flat land
southern Mesopotamia
weeds that grow near rivers
reeds
what were the 4 major challenges making it hard to survive in the Mesopotamia environment?
- food shortages in the hills
- uncontrolled water supply on the plains
- difficulties in building & maintaining systems that provided water across village boundaries
- attacks by neighboring communities
irrigation
supplying land with water
levee
wall of earth built to prevent a river from flooding its banks
Why did Sumer farmers struggle to raise crops?
uncontrolled water supply & dramatic seasonal changes
Over time, Sumerians learned 2 ways to control the water supply:
1) dug canals to shape the path the water took
2) constructed dams along the river to block the water and force it to collect in pools they built (called reservoirs) for later use.
ideal place to farm in Northern Mesopotamia
Zagros foothills - mild weather / plentiful rains
Why did Mesopotamia population grow dramatically?
1) plenty of stones for tool making
2) mild weather for farming
3) lots of timber for building shelters
When did Zagros villages begin to suffer from food shortages?
5000 BCE
Where is Sumer?
area in southern Mesopotamia where cities first appeared
fine particles of rock
silt
Miles of canals forced the farmers to do what?
They connected farmers and forced them to work together.
Between what years did Sumer villages become cities and populations grow to several thousand people?
3500 - 3000 BCE
stele
upright slab of stone inscribed with letters & pictures to depict important events
city-state
an early city that was like a small, independent country with its own laws and government
what did Sumerians fight over as they grew in size?
water
