Western Civilization I / Unit 1 WC1 0006 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Mesopotamia: Two Rivers, One Problem
Captions available
The idea
Mesopotamia means between the rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates in present-day Iraq. The rivers flooded unpredictably, and the anchor notes the southern plain falls only fifty meters in five hundred kilometers, so floods shifted the riverbeds themselves.
In practice
Levees, canals and dikes needed coordination, and coordination needed leaders.
Where people slip
This hydraulic theory is one explanation of the state. Video 0020 weighs three.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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