The Rise of Sumer:

The Sumerians were the first people to migrate to Mesopotamia, where they created a great civilization. Around 5,500 years ago, the Sumerians built the first cities along the rivers in Lower Mesopotamia. The people who lived there specialized in different occupations, cooperated with other peoples, and made many advances in technology. The wheel, plow, and writing system, which we call cuneiform, are examples of their achievements. The farmers in Sumer created levees to hold back the floods from their fields and cut canals to channel river water to their fields. The use of levees and canals is called irrigation, another Sumerian invention.

Farmers in Mesopotamia got water from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Sometimes, though, it rained too much, causing the rivers to flood. While the floods could destroy crops, they also left the land covered with silt, a rich soil that is perfect for farming.

By using irrigation, farmers could grow large amounts of food. The people of Mesopotamia had a surplus of food; as a result, not everyone needed to farm. Some people could become artisans. An artisan is a person who makes goods, such as cloth, tools, or weapons. People began to live together in places that helped them trade their goods with others. Before long, the small Neolithic villages grew into cities. By 3000 B.C.E, many cities had started and developed in Sumer, a region in southern Mesopotamia.

From Settlements to City-States:

The small settlements and Neolithic villages grew into large cities over time. As they grew, they formed into city-states, where the city's government would rule the city and the land around it. City-states were independent of one another and often fought. Governments built high walls around their cities for protection. Farmland was outside the walls, but people would retreat to the city when invaders came. There were many city-states throughout Sumer. The most powerful city-states included Eridu, Bad-tibura, Shuruppak, Uruk, Sippar, and Ur. Eridu is thought to be the first of the major cities formed and is one of the oldest cities in the world.

Sumerian Civilization:

The people of Sumer were called Sumerians. They built many cities surrounded by deserts. Deserts were brutal to travel across. As a result, each city stood alone.

As cities grew, they gained control of the land around them. In this way, they formed city-states. Each city-state had its own government. It was not part of a larger nation. Historians believe that a large wall surrounded each city-state. Sometimes Sumerian city-states fought each other for control of the river water, a valuable resource. Each city-state needed an army to protect itself from its neighbors; however, they traded with each other during times of peace.

The Sumerian people had a common language, and they worshiped many gods. This type of belief is called polytheism. Each city-state, though, claimed one god as its own. The city-state built a large temple called a ziggurat, a large pyramid-shaped building with a temple at the top, dedicated to a Sumerian deity to honor their chosen god. A temple is a building used to worship a god or many gods.

People in Sumer were divided into three social classes. The upper class included kings, priests, warriors, and government workers and were the most powerful and wealthy of Sumerian society. The largest class was the middle class, made up of farmers, fishermen, and artisans. The lowest of Sumerian social classes was that of the enslaved people made up the lowest class. They had no money and no power.

Sumerian Contributions:

Sumerian inventions are some of the most important contributions to humanity. The first form of written language, known as cuneiform, originated in Sumer. The Sumerian number system, based around the number 60, is the basis of the 60 minute hour and 360 degrees in a circle. Advancement in mathematics helped develop the first wheeled vehicles, sun-dried bricks, and irrigation for farming. The impact of these inventions has shaped the development of human civilization.

Literature can also trace its origin to the Sumerian people, as the oldest known written story called The Epic of Gilgamesh comes from Sumer. The long-form poem tells the sometimes mythical tale of a real King, Gilgamesh of Uruk.