History of Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia was first settled by the Sumerians around 3500 BCE. They were attracted by the fresh water supplied by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that they could drink, use to water their crops, bathe in, travel on, etc. Different cities were built in Sumer, such as Ur, Uruk, Lagash, and Kish. They were called city-states. They all shared the same culture, but they had their own rulers/kings, gods, and laws. They basically acted like their own country, but they were tied together because they were all from Sumer. A city-state consisted of the city plus the land that surrounded it. Each city-state had a large city wall around it to protect it from enemies. The Sumerians were known for inventing LOTS of important things. You'll review these in the section called Inventions.
Sumer is marked in green. The different city-states of Sumer have a red dot. Each city-state acted independently of the others.
End of Sumer
Around the year 2500 BCE, the city-states all began fighting each other. This left them weak and unable to fight against enemies trying to invade them. King Sargon of Akkad did just that. He attacked Sumer around 2350 BCE, and created the world's first empire when he took all the independent city-states and put them under his own control. The Akkadian Empire, as it came to be called, only lasted about 200 years due to internal fighting, invasions, and famine (lack of food).
All in all there were three MAJOR reasons why Sumer fell:
1. Irrigation - it was wonderful right - well not for long.
The water used for irrigation had a little salt in it. When the water evaporated, the salt would be left in the soil. Then the crops would not grow. Farmers could not grow a surplus of food.
2. Political Changes - population growth lead to conflict
Population grew and grew and so did the cities. More and more land were added to them. Eventually there was no farm land for the cities. They began to fight over the land and then the water.
Wars broke out to see who was the strongest city-stat
* At first priests ruled the land. However, as war continued to break out, the head of the army took control. These military kings claimed they were close to God like the priests and they controlled the army giving them ultimate power.
3. Barbarians
Barbarians are people that live in a culture but are uncivilized. They wanted to share in the good things that civilization brought. However, instead of sharing they usually robbed and attacked city-states.
1. Irrigation - it was wonderful right - well not for long.
The water used for irrigation had a little salt in it. When the water evaporated, the salt would be left in the soil. Then the crops would not grow. Farmers could not grow a surplus of food.
2. Political Changes - population growth lead to conflict
Population grew and grew and so did the cities. More and more land were added to them. Eventually there was no farm land for the cities. They began to fight over the land and then the water.
Wars broke out to see who was the strongest city-stat
* At first priests ruled the land. However, as war continued to break out, the head of the army took control. These military kings claimed they were close to God like the priests and they controlled the army giving them ultimate power.
3. Barbarians
Barbarians are people that live in a culture but are uncivilized. They wanted to share in the good things that civilization brought. However, instead of sharing they usually robbed and attacked city-states.