Transcript The Land Between Two Rivers - North Plainfield School

Chapter 3 Lesson 1
Objectives
 Locate the major river systems where the earliest
civilizations developed
 Describe the physical settings that supported
permanent settlements and early civilizations
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
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
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
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
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
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