The Land Between Two Rivers

1. The Land Between Two Rivers Chapter 3 Lesson 1

2. Objectives • Locate the major river systems where the earliest civilizations developed • Describe the physical settings that supported permanent settlements and early civilizations

3. Vocabulary • Tributary – rivers that flow into larger rivers • Plateau – a high, flat area of land • Alluvial Plain – a low, flat land formed from fine soil left behind by streams • Silt – soil and tiny rocks carried or deposited on the land by floodwaters

4. Importance of Major River Systems • Many early civilizations formed in the valleys of major river systems • People used the river water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and fishing • The land in river valleys was good for farming and raising livestock See page 95 in textbook for early river valley civilizations

5. The Tigris and Euphrates • One of the earliest civilizations formed in Sumer in an area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers called Mesopotamia • Sumer arose in southern Mesopotamia

6. The Need for Irrigation • The hot dry climate of Mesopotamia made farming a challenge, and rainfall was unreliable • Farmers in southern Mesopotamia solved this problem by developing increasingly sophisticated systems of irrigation • Access to water from the Tigris and Euphrates allowed permanent settlements to thrive in the south

7. Ubaid Culture • Ubaid culture was based on farming • Formed in 5000 BC in southern Mesopotamia • They built irrigation systems, larger homes and temples; produced surpluses; had leaders; created pottery, and traded

8. Summary • Like some other major rivers systems, the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers gave rise to an early civilization • Between these rivers in southern Mesopotamia, the Sumerians developed new ideas for more complex cultures there • This led to one of the world’s first civilizations in Sumer