Early River Valley Civilizations 3500 B.C - 450 B.C.

• The earliest civilizations formed on fertile river plains, facing seasonal flooding and limited growing area.
• Projects such as irrigation systems required leadership and laws (organized government). They were controlled by priests, military leaders and or kings.
• Early civilizations developed bronze tools, the wheel, the sail, the plow, writing, mathematics. These spread through trade, wars, and the movement of peoples.
• The fertile crescent has rich land.
• Te fertile crescent is by the Mediterranean sea and the planes became known as Mesopotamia.
• Mesopotamia means "land between the rivers"
• The  rivers framing Mesopotamia are the Tigris and Euphrates.
• These rivers flow to the Persian Gulf.
• Once a year, these rivers flooded leaving silt on the land which was a very fertile soil and allowed the Sumerians to barley and wheat.
• people first farmed the land around 4500 B.C.
• Sumerians settled here.
• Sumerians dig irrigation trenches to get their crops watered. They traded with nearby civilizations and built walls around their cities.
• They were one of the first people to farm.
• They had advanced cities, specialized workers, complex institutions, record keeping, improved technology.
• Each city and the land around it formed city states.
• The city state functioned as a modern country.
• Some city states are Uruk, Kish, Lagash, Umana, and Ur.
• Priests first run the cities and lived in the ziggurat in the center of the city state.
• Soon people gained control of standing armies.
• A series of rulers from a single family is a dynasty.
• When a new Idea or product gets spread through different cultures is cultural diffusion.
• They were polytheistic (many gods).
• They built impressive ziggurats for their gods.
• Hammurabi's code: holds people responsible for their actions.