Human Heritage: A World HistoryChapter 3: MesopotamiaMesopotamiaChapter 3 explores the earliest known civilizations which developed along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Groups of people migrated into the area from the north and the south. They found the land rich and fertile, and the rivers provided water and food. In ancient times, the area where these groups settled was called Mesopotamia, meaning "the land between the rivers." Section 1 describes how religion, family life, and city-state government influenced Sumer, the first known civilization in the world. Section 2 focuses on other Mesopotamian civilizations that developed after Sumer. Sargon I of Akkad conquered the Sumerians and created the world's first empire. Hammurabi conquered Akkad and Sumer and established the Babylonian empire. Section 3 explains how the inventions, customs, and ideas of the Sumerian culture and the Babylonian culture contributed to other civilizations. |  |
