What is a society? • A group of people living together, dependent on one another, is a society. • There are no other requirements to make a society.

• We are not studying societies. • We are studying civilizations. • Civilizations are a society in an advanced state of social development.

The stretch of land along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers known as Mesopotamia, was the first place in the world where humans settled in villages and started farming, around 10,000 BC.

Cradles of Civilization

People often speak of the Fertile Crescent as the birthplace of civilization.

In truth, civilizations appeared throughout the world, at different times and in different places. Many of these arose independently in the Fertile Crescent, the Indus Valley, the Yellow River in China as well as in Mesoamerica and South America.

Changing weather meant many people settled along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In and around these rivers, there is easy access to water and the land is fertile. It was far easier to grow crops here than on the dry, desert landscape beyond.

This land is called the Fertile Crescent because of its crescent-like shape. The image above extends the Fertile Crescent to the Nile River Delta.

There is a reason many ancient civilizations developed near sources of water like rivers.

In fertile Mesopotamia, controlling water through irrigation meant you could grow crops at all times and avoid flooding. This led to a bigger supply of food, and thus more people, but also more trade. This led the Sumerians and Akkadians to build the first cities