How did the very first cities grow up in ancient Mesopotamia?
Mud, Rivers, Cities
How did the very first cities grow up in ancient Mesopotamia?
Long, long ago — about six thousand years ago — there were no cities anywhere on Earth. Then, in a hot, flat land between two great rivers, the very first ones bloomed. We call that land Mesopotamia, a Greek word that simply means "between the rivers." So how did a handful of mud houses grow into the world's first cities? It started, of all things, with mud and water.
The two rivers were the Tigris and the Euphrates, and every year they flooded. When the water pulled back, it left behind a gift: a layer of dark, soft, ridiculously rich soil. Plant a seed in that mud and it practically leaps out of the ground. Farmers noticed. And where food grows easily, people stay.
