Mesopotamian civilisation was one of the 'Cradles of Civilisation' and the oldest civilisation in the world. The civilisation was believed to have began starting 8000 BCE between the two rivers, river Tigris and river Euphrates. Thus, the name 'Mesopotamia' means "Land between two rivers." The civilisation emerged with several important cities such as Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia, Sumer, etc. Today, the location of the civilisation is known by the name of the country called 'Iraq.'
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Factors for emergence/rise of Mesopotamian civilisation:
1. The Fertile Crescent (Fertile land)
Mesopotamia's soil was uniquely
fertile, which gave humans reason to settle in the region and begin farming. As
early as 5,800 B.C.E., people were living in the area known as the
"Fertile Crescent" to take advantage of the rich soil. The soil's
richness came from runoff from nearby mountains, which regularly deposited
nutritious silt onto the river floodplain. This region stretched from
modern-day Kuwait and Iraq northward to Turkey. Before the settlement of
Mesopotamia, neolithic humans were largely hunters and gatherers who did
sporadic farming. Mesopotamia's unique fertility allowed humans to settle in
one place to farm.
2. Trade Routes
Mesopotamia's rivers and location
in central Asia supported extensive trade routes. In the time of Mesopotamia,
smaller civilizations existed to the west in Europe and North Africa and to the
east in India. For these regions to trade, they needed to traverse
Mesopotamia's territory between them. This allowed Mesopotamia to access
resources not native to its region, like timber and precious metals. In turn,
Mesopotamia developed key aspects of civilization, like a token system to keep
trading records.
3. Tigris and Euphrates (Rivers)
While Mesopotamia's soil was
fertile, the region's semiarid climate didn't have much rainfall, with less than
ten inches annually. This initially made farming difficult. Two major rivers in
the region -- the Tigris and Euphrates -- provided a source of water that
enabled wide-scale farming. Irrigation provided Mesopotamian civilization with
the ability to stretch the river's waters into farm lands.
4. Flat With Few Mountains
The Mesopotamian region is
relatively flat with few mountains and few forests. This made the people who
lived there vulnerable to foreign invasion and conquest, because there were few
natural places to hide. Vulnerability spurred the development of major organizational
aspects of human civilization like government, professional warfare and
concepts of empire. By the first millennium B.C.E., the region was home to the
world's first multinational empire, the Assyrian Empire. Assyria introduced
government innovations such as dividing its empire into provinces.
Mesopotamia's geography also made governance challenging, and numerous
rebellions occurred in the early millennia.
Characteristic Features of Mesopotamian Civilisation
1. Politics, leadership and Laws.
The city states of Mesopotamia were mostly ruled by the rulers known by the different titles such as Lugal, en or ensi. Hammurabi was one of the famous king in Mesopotamia who developed a law called Hammurabi Code. The code of Hammurabi was known as "tooth for tooth, eye for an eye" which mean the punishment was given to the crime committed by the person.
Mesopotamian civilisation had government system where people assembled to discuss the important matters led by the rulers in their own city states. They also had the taxation system as well as the laws related to the criminal and civil cases.
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