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The Rise of Sumerian City-States 4.1 Introduction Small Neolithic villages grew into large, complex cites. These villages were located in Mesopotamia, now modern day Iraq. Mesopotamia means, “Land between two rivers.” The two main rivers of the Fertile Crescent are the Tigris and Euphrates. Early cities had their own rulers, and farmland, which provided food for the city. 4.2 Mesopotamia: A Difficult Environment The northern part of Mesopotamia was hilly and received rain. The southern part had low plains, was flat and had little rain. On the plains it was very hard to find building supplies. Four main problems for Mesopotamians were: 1. Food shortages 2. Uncontrolled water supply on the plains 3. Problems maintaining and building systems that provided water 4. Attacks from neighboring communities 4.3 Food Shortages in the Hills Zargos Mountains in northern Mesopotamia is where people began farming. The foothills were a good place to farm because of the mild weather and plentiful rain. Lots of stones for tool making and timber for building shelters. All of these good conditions made Mesopotamia grow. Because there were so many people there wasn’t enough food. To the south of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers ran the flat plains. Most of the time the plains were a very hard place to live but in the spring the rivers flooded. Farms might be successful here. People moved out of the foothills and onto the plains. This was called Sumer. The people who lived here were called Sumerians. 4.4 Uncontrolled Water Supply in the River Valley One of the many problems in Sumer was the uncontrolled water supply. Unexpected floods from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers could wash away crops that had been planted. Most of the year the sun baked the soil and it was hard stone. Farmers needed a way to control the water supply. The invented irrigation systems ( a means of supplying land with water) for their fields. They built levees ( a wall of earth built to prevent a river from flooding its banks) to prevent flooding. Over time they built dams, canals. These helped store water for later use. 4.5 Building and Maintaining a Complex Irrigation System Problems arose: how to maintain irrigation systems. Irrigation systems carried water through villages from the rivers to the fields. Canals became clogged with silt and often had to be cleaned. Farmers now had to live close together so they could care for the irrigations systems. As Sumerians worked together, communities grew larger and turned into towns and cities of thousands. 4.6 Attacks by Neighboring Communities As cities grew people fought over water. People upriver built new canals and blocked other canals People in the cities downriver did not get the water they needed. Disputes started and were often very serious. Sumerians began to build strong walls made of mud bricks, they also dug motes to prevent enemies from entering their cities. Most people lived inside the city walls but farms were outside the city walls. Farmers fled their fields for protection inside the city walls. The walled cities of Sumer were called city-states and they were like independent countries. 4.7 From Small Farming Villages to Large City-States Beginning about 3500 B.C.E., Sumerians went from living in small farming villages to living in large, walled cities. Mesopotamia moved from the foothills to the river valley. Problem: To much or too little water. To control the water Sumerians built irrigations systems. In order to build these complex water systems they had to work together They lived in larger communities leading to the first cities. City-States were like their own countries and sometimes they fought each other. They built walls and moats around their cities.