Mesopotamia Flashcards
(30 cards)
Which river is pretty much south of Mesopotamia?
The Euphrates river
Which river is pretty much north of Mesopotamia?
The Tigris river
The Euphrates river is ___ of Mesopotamia.
South
The Tigris river is ___ of Mesopotamia.
North
Where is Mesopotamia located?
Between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
What does ‘Mesopotamia’ mean?
The land between the rivers
Meso = middle/ between
I guess the ‘potamia’ part is ‘river’ or something
What is the geography and climate of northern Mesopotamia like?
Hilly, received rain
What is the geography and climate of southern Mesopotamia like?
Low plains, harsh sun, little rain.
Either flooded or was too dry due to rivers
How many problems/ solutions did the Mesopotamians face?
4 problems, 4 solutions
What was problem #1?
Food shortages in Zagros mountain foothills
What was problem #2?
Uncontrollable rivers, they would flood and dry up
What was problem #3?
The irrigation system was too complicated to maintain, and silt would often clog it.
What was problem #4?
The cities would get into fights with each other over the water.
What was the solution to problem #1?
The Mesopotamians moved from the foothills to what is now Sumer, some plains in southern Mesopotamia.
What was the solution to problem #2?
The Mesopotamians put together a super complicated but effective irrigation system.
What was the solution to problem #3?
All of the villages worked together, and eventually they became towns, then cities!
What was the solution to problem #4?
The cities eventually had enough with each other, so they built walls around themselves. This was how city-states were formed!
Mesopotamia
In ancient times, the geographic area located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
Tigris River
One of the two largest rivers in Southwest Asia that flow from the mountains in Turkey to the Persian Gulf
Euphrates River
One of the two largest rivers in Southwest Asia that flow from mountains in Turkey to the Persian Gulf
Sumer
An area in southern Mesopotamia, where cities first appeared
irrigation
A means of supplying land with water
levee
A wall of earth built to prevent a river from flooding its banks
silt
Fine particles of rock
