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How did the first civilizations of Mesopotamia form their social classes?
Depending on their occupations.
What modern territory did Mesopotamia develop in?
Southern Iraq.
What does the word "Mesopotamia" mean?
"The land between the rivers".
What were the main two rivers of Mesopotamia?
The Tigris and the Euphrates.
What does it mean that both the Tigris and the Euphrates ran almost parallel?
It means that both rivers ran in the same direction almost keeping the same distance between them.
What was the Fertile Crescent?
A curving strip of good farmland that extended from the Mediterranean sea to the Persian gulf.
What modern territories does the Fertile Crescent include? (3 to win)
Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan.
Describe how the Tigris and Euphrates behaved along the year. (Base your answer on seasonal changes).
Little rain fell in the summer leaving the rivers low. Rains and melting snow caused the overflow their banks in spring.
Why was silt useful for farmers?
After floods, silt particles brought by water proved to leave fertile soil for farming.
Explain the Mesopotamian irrigation system.
People learned to build dams to control seasonal floods, then they dug canals that took water from a water source to their fields.
What were surpluses?
Extra amounts of food farmers could grow due to the irrigation system people made.
How did surpluses change the lives of people in Mesopotamia?
They didn't need to farm so they became artisans who began to live in places that favored trade making villages to become cities.
Which were the first cities in Southwest Asia built by Sumerians?
Ur, Uruk, and Eridu.
Why were Sumerian cities cut off from each other and what did this cause?
Mudflats and deserts made it hard to travel and communicate which resulted in independent cities with their own politics and economy.
How did cities become city-states?
Gaining economic and political control over the lands around them.
How many people lived in Sumerian city-states approximately?
From 5,000 to 20,000 people.
