Download Mesopotamia 8,000 BC

Mesopotamia
8,000 BC
Start with a story: imagine you are a
farmer living near Southwest Asia.
The yearly flood which makes farming
possible has not come. Now the village
is fighting for it’s life…!
Let’s connect!
• Think of a time when you’ve seen pictures
about a flood on TV or in the Newspapers.
Floods cause destruction by washing away
objects in their path. Do you think a flood can
also have good consequences?
• Copy down everything in RED.
Before & Now..
• Last week you learned…
– As people became better farmers, they settled
in large villages. Some settlements
developed complex villages with NEW ways
of life!
• This week you will learn…
– The geography of Mesopotamia influenced
where people settled and HOW they lived!
The Land between Two Rivers…
• The word “Mesopotamia” means the land
between two rivers.
– Mesopotamia is between the:
• Tigris River
• Euphrates River
Where in the world are we???
Let’s ZOOM in!
Asia
Africa
Tiny bit closer….
The Euphrates River
The Tigris & Euphrates
• Located in Southwest Asia
• Provide Water
• Good for travel
– Easier to move by boat in Ancient times
The Tigris & Euphrates
• Fertile Soil
– Every year it would rain and melt the snow in the
mountains, this caused the river to overflow!
• As the water flowed down the mountains it
picked up soil.
• When the rivers reached the plains water
overflowed onto the FLOOD PLAIN.
• A flood plain is flat land bordering the banks.
• The fine soil picked up by the overflowed river
created SILT
– Silt was fertile which means it was great for
growing crops!
Irrigation
6,000 BCE
Floods and droughts!
• A long period when too little rain falls is called a
drought.
• Mesopotamia was ARID (dry)
• Drought is BAD because durnig a drought the
Tigris & Euphrates water level would drop making
it hard for famers to water their crops!
• IF CROPS FAIL…the people Starve!
Irrigation
As early as 6000BCE Mesopotamian farmers took steps to
control water
they built walls to control water during floods
they built canals to carry water from rivers to the fields
This system of watering dry land is called IRRIGATION!
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