Mesopotamia+(Sumerians,+Hittites,+Babylonians,+Assyrians)

 Mesopotamia means land between the two rivers (which provided water and transportation). It was a series of independent city-states (cities that ran themselves and had their own government, rulers, law, religion, etc. with no legal ties to other cities) lying between the Tigrus and Euphrates Rivers. • The yearly flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers created rich soil allowing for good agriculture and early civilizations. However, the flood was unpredictable. • New agricultural technique arose, such as irrigation through building dams, channels, walls, and ditches. These led to the rise of cities, religion, writing, science and math. • Mesopotamia built temples and held religious festivals to please the gods. • Hammurabi’s Code organized all laws, but was very harsh. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." • Mesopotamian's wrote using cuneiform. Cuneiform was first used to keep track of trade. • Main city-states included Sumer (considered the first civilization which included specialized workers, record keeping, religion, government) Babylon, and Assyria. • Sargon of Akkad had the first empire (a group of cities and people brought under one ruler).