Summary+Debra


 *  Intro ||  Summary  ||  Maps  ||  People  ||  opinion  ||  sources  ||

The Tigris river to the north and the Euphrates river to the south. Early Civilizations first developed in mesopotamia over 6 thousand years ago. Mashkan-shapir was a typical mesopotamian city, located some were around 20 miles from the Tigris river and connected to the river by a net work of canals. After the city was established, a writing system was developed, empires were created and monumental buildings were constructed. people first began to settle and farm the flat swampy lands in southern mesopotamia before 4500 B.C. around 3300 B.C. the people called the sumerians. But there were three disadvantages to their now environment.
 * unpredictable flooding combined with a period of little or no rain. the land sometimes become almost a desert
 * With no natural barriers for protection, a sumerian village was nearly defenseless
 * The natural resources of sumer were limited, building materials and other necessary items were scarce.

Over a long period of time, the people of sumer created solutions to deal with these problems.
 * to provide water, they dug irrigation ditches that carried river water to their fields and allowed them to produce a surplus of crops
 * for defense, they built city walls with mud bricks.
 * sumerians traded their grain, cloth, and crafted tools with the peoples of the mountains and the desert. In exchange, they received raw materials such as stone, wood, and metal.