What Were the Key Elements Behind the Development of an Urban Culture in Ancient Mesopotamia?
In modern Iraq, located between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, is the region known as Mesopotamia, which translates as the land between two rivers. Archaeology undertaken over the last 150 years provides evidence that Mesopotamia was the first region to have cities, and therefore an urban culture, in the world. The first cities appeared between 4000 and 3500 B.C. and became the centers of Mesopotamian life.
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Agriculture and Domestication of Animals
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The domestication of animals, and indeed plants, led to a change in the way people lived their lives. Villages were established when nomadic peoples settled in one place to farm their animals and crops rather than move around with the seasons. There was a shift from the hunter/gatherer ethic to that of farmer/herder. Settlements were established on fertile lands where wheat and barley already grew wild, and where animals such as pigs, sheep and goats that could easily be domesticated already existed.
Environmental Conditions
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It is not absolutely certain why urbanization took hold in Mesopotamia but environmental conditions would almost certainly have played a part. Lack of rainfall in some areas of Mesopotamia, with rivers drying up in the hot summers, may have brought people to gather together in a common effort to irrigate the land. There is evidence of ditches and canals built to irrigate the farmland. Improvements in irrigation methods led to an increase in population due to successful agricultural production. The needs of a community were being addressed through the irrigation of the land.
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Migration of Peoples
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The reasons behind the development of urban cultures are not truly known but one reason could have been the perceived need of the nomadic peoples to gather together to create walled enclaves as protection from the vast expanse of land. People came together initially creating villages which in time expanded, in some cases to become the major cities of the region such as Babylon, Sumer and Uruk. The needs of a large community were considered as opposed to small, insular tribes, thereby resulting in urban development.
Trade and Government
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The formation of the fledgling cities saw an increase in trade and created the need for a system of government. City states were formed with a system of government that was a combination of monarchy and democracy. The leaders of each city state sought to establish their city as the primary hub in the region; growth of an urban culture occurred as a result. Ziggurats, palaces and walled environs were the key elements of urban living. Increased population within the walls of the cities was probably a result of the increasing competition between the towns.
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