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An Overview of Mesopotamia
Seven thousand years ago, wandering tribes settled in the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley in what is now Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. The land was called "Mesopotamia, which means "land between two rivers." The Sumerians were the first civilization of people in Mesopotamia. The Sumerians built cities that held beautiful palaces and temples. They were masterful craftsmen,and created goods that were sold in neighbouring lands. They built huge walls around their cities as protection from invaders.

The most powerful city-state in the region was Ur, a trade centre located on the Euphrates River near the Persian Gulf. Ur, as well as other Sumerian city-states, were ruled by a lugal, or king. The most important duty of the lugal was to win wars, which were fought often. There were some wealthy aristocrats, but most of the people worked for the king, in the army, in the ziggurat temple, or at a trade.

Sumerians developed the first known written language, called cuneiform, which means "wedge-shaped." Thanks to ancient scribes, we can see cuneiform writing on hardened clay tablets. The wedge-shaped symbols tell us about daily life in Sumeria.

Like Ur, Babylon was another large city-state in Mesopotamia that became very powerful. Hammurabi, an important king of Babylon, conquered the separate city-state of Sumeria to unite the two cities into a single nation. He also wrote down the laws stating the rights of the individual, known as the Code of Hammurabi.

The Babylonians were highly organized people. They studied astronomy and mathematics, and they developed the decimal system. The Babylonians designed the first calendar and divided years into weeks. They also divided the days into hours, minutes, and seconds.

The earliest records in Mesopotamia date back to around 3200 B.C. when Sumerians kept cuneiform accounts of their business dealings. In 2800 B.C. the Akkadians conquered Sumeria. The Semite tribes, who were the ancestors of Hebrews, Phoenicians, and Arabians, ruled the region for almost two thousand years. In 539 B.C., Mesopotamia was conquered by Alexander the Great.