Gr 4 Mesopotamia PDF

Curriculum Connection Name: ________________________ 14 A3.1, A3.4, A3.5 Mesopotamia Villages began to develop outside of Africa and into Europe and the Middle East. The village o...

Curriculum Connection Name: ________________________ 14 A3.1, A3.4, A3.5 Mesopotamia Villages began to develop outside of Africa and into Europe and the Middle East. The village of Mesopotamia was formed in what is now between Iraq and Iran. The word Mesopotamia means land between two rivers, which makes it no surprise that it was a complex village located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The fertile land had rich soil which allowed plants to grow. With the melting of the glaciers each year, the rivers would commonly overflow, causing water to pour into the floodplain. A floodplain is land that borders rivers that water floods onto. This water would then seep into the flat land that farmers would plant on. Rivers The people didn’t settle between two rivers by accident. They knew that the rivers provided three very important things: (1) water for irrigation, (2) transportation routes, and (3) water for basic needs like drinking and bathing. Transportation Using boats on the river made it much easier to get around than walking by foot. It also allowed the movement of goods that could be traded. The water from the rivers were also used to help farmers. Irrigation The hardest part of being a farmer was predicting when rain would come to water the plants. Using the rivers to irrigate the farmland was an important step in human history as it gave the people control over their environment. They no longer had to wait for rain! Drought was a serious problem as it is a long period of time with no rain. They didn’t irrigate like we do today because they didn’t have the technology for sprinklers. Instead, they dug out canals that led to the areas they wanted water. As the water levels rose, the water traveled to the plants. When a drought happened, the water levels stayed low, which made irrigation impossible. This meant the mass watering system did not work and therefore, the plants would die, and people would starve. © Super Simple Sheets