mesopotamian geo
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Social Studies for 910h E.G.B
Teacher: Mauricio Torres
GEOGRAPHY OF MESOPOTAMIA
WATER IS LIFE• With bands of hunter-gatherers settling down all
around the world, into farming settlements, they began to domesticate animals and plants.
• Civilizations needed water to support their growing numbers.
• They learned how to control floods.
• These were the River Valley Civilizations.
THE LAND BETWEEN RIVERS• The Tigris and Euphrates rivers are the most important physical features of the region
known as Mesopotamia.
• Its Greek for: “in between rivers”
THE LAND BETWEEN RIVERS
GEOGRAPHY• It lies between Asia Minor and the Persian Gulf.
• The region is part of an area known as the Fertile Crescent (a large arc of rich, fertile farmland).
• Mesopotamia is made of two parts:
• A plateau in the North.
• A flat plain in the South.
VocabularyPlateau: An area of flat, high land.Plain: is a land with with relatively low relief.
WHY? RISE OF CIVILIZATION
• 12,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers first settled in the area.
• Every year, the flood of the rivers made the land ideal for farming, because the soil was rich in nutrients.
• By 7,000 BC they began producing:
• Farming: Wheat, barley and other types of grain.
• Growing: Livestock, fish and birds.
FARMING & CITIES• The first thing farmers needed, was to control
water.
• If it rained too much were the rivers began, floods would destroy crops, kill livestock and wash away everything.
• It it didn’t, then crops dried up.
• Controlling Water
• They developed irrigation.
• They dug canals. VocabularyIrrigation: a way of supplying water to an area of land.Plain: human-made waterways.
FOOD SURPLUSES• With these new developments, along with
the use of Iron Tools, farmers now produced more than what they actually needed, and this is called surplus.
• Along with surplus, trade was the next step. This allowed for people in the area to feed on a wide variety of foods.
• People now had more time for themselves, so new jobs were created and also something called division of labor.
BIGGER GOALS
• When people where available to work on different jobs, this meant that society could accomplish more.
• This was done because:
• Large projects needed more specialized workers.
• They needed to be organized (structure and rules).
• To complete those goals, government and laws were needed.
CITIES ON THE HORIZON• Settlements in Mesopotamia grew in size
and complexity.
• Between 4000 and 3000 BC they developed into cities.
• Even though cities emerged, their main activity was still agricultural based.
• But in cities everything was done in a much larger scale:
• Trading
• Building
• Culture
ASK YOURSELF (FOR FURTHER READING USE YOUR BOOKS, CHAPTER 3, SECTION 1)
• Identify:
• What does Mesopotamia mean?
• What were the two rivers where it developed?
• Explain:
• What is the Fertile Crescent?
• How did irrigation help farmers?
• Summarize:
• When, how and why were settlements established in Mesopotamia?
• Analyze:
• What effects did irrigation have on farming?
BIBLIOGRAPHY• Burstein, S. M., & Shek, R. (2012). World History (Teacher´s Edition) (1st Edition ed.). (H.
McDougal, Ed.) Orlando, Florida, US.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
• Images taken from Google.com
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