Section 1- A difficult environment
What rivers is Mesopotamia between?
Tigris and Euphrates river.
Did the Zagros foothills have enough land to grow food?
By 5000 BCE, they did not have enough land to grow food because of the increasing population.
What happened to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers during the spring?
Rain and melted snow flowed into them causing it to flood across the plains.
What could happen if a canal wasn't unclogged?
It could disrupt the entire system, and thats why they had to unclog them so nothing would happen to their system.
Why did the Sumerians fight over the need for water?
They fought over it so they could have their needs to grow their foods.
What 4 major problems did Mesopotamians face?
1. food shortages in the hills
2. an uncontrolled water supply on the plains
3. difficulties in building and maintaining systems that provided water across village boundaries
4. attacks by neighboring communities
What made the foothills a good place to farm?
Mild weather and plentiful rains.
In order to grow food, they needed to ____.
Control the water supply so food would grow faster and better.
What happened between 3000 and 3500 BCE?
The villages turned into towns.
What are the cities of Sumer that are like independent countries?
They are called city states.
Were their building materials hard to find?
Yes, because there weren't many trees providing wood.
Driven by the need to grow food, people moved out of the foothills and onto the plains, this region became known as ______?
That region became known as Sumer, and it's people became known as Sumerians.
How did they control the water?
By digging canals and building dams.
How did people work together?
They worked together by clearing the silt from the canals so they wouldn't be clogged.
Why did the Sumerians build walls and dig moats around their cities?
So they could defend themselves from enemies.
Was there a lot of water supply?
They either had a too much or no water at all, they were farmers and they needed water for things to grow.
What happened in the plains that was very successful?
Both of the rivers flooded bringing water to the land.
How did they prevent rivers flooding?
Building levees.
Since villages were connected for miles around the canals, what could the farmers not do?
They couldn't live apart or in small groups, they had to help eachother by working together.
Why did the sumerians have to cooperate with eachother?
Because the system crossed village boundaries.
Were they successfully able to keep out enemies?
No, because there weren't many barriers to protect them from their enemies.
Which area had good conditions for growing crops?
The foothills of Zagros.
What is an irrigation system?
A supplying land with water.
How many people lived in the towns or cities?
Around seven thousand people.
What did the Sumerians do to control the water supply?
They built a complex irrigation system.