How did the Sumerians contribute to the world?
The Sumerians were a group of people that live in the southern-most part of Mesopotamia, located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The Sumerians faced some hardships, but due to some innovations they made life easier. They invented irrigation systems, a writing style to help communicate, and also a number system. I'm going to tell you all about it.
Irrigation
The Sumerians relied heavily on the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers for water to put on crops. In the spring the rivers would flood and would destroy crops and villages. The Sumerians created a solution to their problem. They created an irrigation system that consisted of a series of canals that the rivers would fill up in the spring, instead of destroying their homes. What caused the flooding of the rivers? Well in the early spring and summer seasons snow would melt off of mountains nearby, causing the rivers to flood.
The Sumerians relied heavily on the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers for water to put on crops. In the spring the rivers would flood and would destroy crops and villages. The Sumerians created a solution to their problem. They created an irrigation system that consisted of a series of canals that the rivers would fill up in the spring, instead of destroying their homes. What caused the flooding of the rivers? Well in the early spring and summer seasons snow would melt off of mountains nearby, causing the rivers to flood.
Writing
The Sumerians created the first style of writing called Cuneiform. Because drawing curves and lines in clay is difficult they would usually use wedge shapes. The Sumerians had clay tokens they would use. The tokens usually had pictures on them.
Mathematics
The Sumerians created the sexagesimal system. It's a number system with a base of 60, which could be counted manually using the knuckles of one of their hands and 5 fingers of the other one.
For more information on mathematics click on this link: http://www.storyofmathematics.com/sumerian.html
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