Mesopotamia+Two

[|Mesopotamia] is the spot between the Tigris and Euphrates [|Rivers] and was once a thriving land which is widely believed to be one of the first civilizations ever. That fact means it existed since the Bronze Age and it had empires like Sumer, Akkadian, and Babylonian and Assyrian, though it was the Sumerians who established the world’s first civilizations around 3500 B.C. The indigenous people, Sumerians dominated Mesopotamia since 3100 BC they fell to Acheamadid Empire in 532 BC. It is located in modern day Iraq, north-eastern Syria, south-eastern Turkey and south-western Iran. Mesopotamia was a very famous ancient civilization though it was not the only one, along with Mesopotamia there was Ancient Greece and also Ancient Egypt.
 * Overview**

Rulers
There were many rulers of Mesopotamia over the lands history. The first people, the indigenous people, the Sumerians claimed this land theirs. They ruled since the lands birth in 3100 BC to the fall in 532 BC. They fell to the Acheamadid Empire. Again Mesopotamia switched empires this time falling in 332 BC. The empire of Acheamadid fell to the famous Alexander the great. When Alexander died the Parthian empire took over. In 150 BC Mesopotamia became the battling ground between the Parthians and the Romans. The Parthians prevailed and kept their land.



The [|Rivers]
The two famous rivers famous for so called creating Mesopotamia are the Tigris, and the Euphrates. The Tigris is the eastern most rivers. It has its headwaters in the mountains of present day Armenia. The waters flow right through Iraq, the river then unites with the Euphrates and spills into the Persian Gulf. The Tigris River is 1,850 kilometers long. The Tigris unites with the Euphrates in present day Bastra. Tigris is Indigma for "running water". This can be interpreted for swiftly moving. The Euphrates River is the western most rivers. It also gets its headwaters from the Armenian mountains. The Euphrates River is the longest and the most famous river in Western Asia. Tigris River

Climate
Mesopotamia has many extreme climates. Some areas in Mesopotamia only gets 200 mm of rain a year while some other areas get up to 800 mm of rain each year. As you can tell the changes can be quite jurassic. In summer, some areas are very hot and dry. Irrigation was very important in the dry seasons for those areas. In spring, it rains a lot and the rivers flood. So in the spring irrigation is not that much of a problem, the rain water is their source of irrigation. It leaves the soil very fertile after many years because of the nutrients that were washed up. The temperatures got up to a high of 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists have discovered that the climate of Baghdad. The chart on the left is a chart that shws the average temperatures in Baghdad( Mesopotamia).The chart on the lest is the annual rainfall of Baghdad per month. As you can see from the right chart that in July, August, and September there is no rainfall at all. This poses the problem of irrigating the fields. Also in the left chart you can see that the temperatures in Mesopotamia got quite hot making water for consuption a necessity. Baghdad temperature(left) and precipitation chart (right)

Geography
Mesopotamia has many different regions. The whole of Mesopotamia measures 500kmX 240km. Most of the land in Mesopotamia was very fertile because it is volcanic and the floods. Northern Mesopotamia has many hills and plains, Southern Mesopotamia os mostly made up of marshy lands and barren plains. In Northern Mesopotamia it is very good for [|farming] and crops like grains. The yields are extremely high for the crops. Mesopotamia does not have many forests especially in Babylonia where wood has to be imported. Mesopotamia also doesn't have metallic ores. This is a map of the ancient environment, Mesopotamia.

Eikorn- a kind if wheat grown in acient Mesopotamia

Adaptation
The people of Mesopotamia had to adapt quite a bit if they came from colder climate. First of all the climate in the summer was horrendous. If you were a farmer the huge problem of irrigating your fields was posed. For the spring time they got it easy without having to do anything other then watch the rain water their fields. Though for summer it was tougher. If they were near one of the two rivers it was common for them to use the river water to irrigate their fields. There is many different ways that people think they got water if they w eren't near the rivers. It is possible that they collected rain water. It is possible that they walked to the river to collect their water but this doesn't seem plausible. I think that the most plausible idea was the water well. An invention where a pipe is dug deep into the ground where it reaches the water table. It then extracts water from the water table. The water comes up and can be used for many things such as washing a car, washing vegetables,brushing your teeth,or maybe watering fields.hey also could have gotten the water from an aqueduct that is nearby. Also seeing as the crops were not growing as much in the summer their eating habits changed. They would eat less so that they would have enough for the next day. The farmers who worked the hardest tend to eat the least so that their family could still live.

Inventions
The Sumerians were very inventive people they created things that affected life to this day. They invented the cosmetics such as make-up and pipes. They also invented the first written language, sailboats and time that is divided into twelve month calender, and many other things such as glass, water clocks, razors, kilns plough and harps. Among them there is for sure the most changing invention, the wheel. all of these inventions made us a stronger civilization. We were able to invent cars because the wheel was invented. We were able to farm the fields thanks to the invention of the plough. Of course with all of these inventions came the the ability to trade. Trading was a great way to get your necessities.

Collapse of Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia was very powerful. Too powerful and many people. Overgrowing had contrbuted to the collapse. Climate change can also be a factor.But the civilization collapsed. contaminated farm fields were a possible reason. The Mesopotamians draw water for the rivers which contains salt. As the water evaporates, it leaves behind small amounts of salt. Over time, the fields will become too salty to grow crops and it will die. With out the crops, the people also die out.

Modern Lessons
In Mesopotamia it rained a lot in the spring.With the rivers flooding over they needed some way to stop them. They had built dams and aqueducts. People in modern day life use these techniques as well. The Hoover Dam, Finland's aqueduct and many more. Though the most famous would have to be the Three Georges dam. It was huge and was built to protect the villages that would be destroyed in the flood. Even my community receives all of our water from a dam. Also in the droughts of the summer the dam will hold the water. Many people will get buckets of water and carry them home. This same behaviour occurs in third world countries such as Africa. These are a few of the modern lessons learned by modern day people from Mesopotamia. Along with these other modern lessons there is the fishing lesson. The people of Mesopotamia used weaves as nets. If they lived near the Persian gulf it was common to go on a boat and set nets to catch fish. These techniques that are used quite commonly in modern day. Also they would trade the fish. People these days trade their catch of fish for money.

Resources
[|Collapse of Mesopotamia] [|Geography and climate of Mesopotamia] [|Geography of Mesopotamia] [|The Collapse] [|**Wikipedia**]

Pictures
[|Baghdad Chart] [|Euphrates River] [|Map of Mesopotamia] [|Tigris River] [|Einkorn picture]

Wiki Link
Mesopotamia Eight Mesopotamia Six