Rise of Sumerian City-States

Mesopotamia means...

• a river

• between two rivers

• near the mountains

What is a city-state?

• An independent country that has its own ruler, laws, and farmland

• A country that depends on someone

• An empire

What factor made farming easy in the foothills of the Zagros mountains?

• Goats can live on dry grass

• There were canals

• The region had plenty of rain

What are the two main rivers in Mesopotamia?

• Tigris and Nile
• Tigris and Amazon
• Tigris and Euphrates
• Euphrates and Mississippi

What modern day country is Mesopotamia mostly in?

• India
• Egypt
• China
• Iraq

What was the purpose of irrigation?

• keep crops dry
• to provide water to crops
• provide indoor plumbing
• give people drinking water

What caused food shortages in the Zagros foothills?

• Overpopulation

• Change in climate

• Building terraces

How did the people in the Zagros foothills fix the problem of food shortages?

• They joined villages together

• They moved south to the plains

• They built canals

The environment of SUMER was...

• low and flat, with little rain

• Hilly and dry

• cold and included forests

Why did rivers flood in the spring?

• lack of rainfall

• Ice broke into bits

• Snow melted in the mountains where the rivers began