Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
As the climate in the Middle East changed beginning around 7000 B.C., conditions emerged that were conducive to a more complex and advanced form of civilization in both Egypt and Mesopotamia. The process began when the swampy valleys of the Nile in Egypt and of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia became drier, producing riverine lands that were both habitable and fertile, and attracting settlers armed with the newly-developed techniques of agriculture. This migration was – further encouraged by the gradual transformation of the once hospitable grasslands of these regions into deserts. Human population became increasingly concentrated into pockets of settlement scattered along the banks of the great rivers.
These rivers profoundly shaped the way of life along their banks. In Mesopotamia, the management of water in conditions of unpredictable drought, flood and storm became the central economic and social challenge. Villagers began early to build simple earthworks, dikes, canals and ditches to control the waters and reduce the opposing dangers of drought during the dry season (usually the spring) and flooding at harvest time.
Such efforts required a degree of cooperation among large numbers of people that had not previously existed. The individual village containing only dozen or so houses and families, was economically vulnerable; but when several villages, probably under the direction of a council of elders, learned to share their human resources in the building of a coordinated network of water-control systems, the safety, stability, and prosperity of all improved. In this new cooperation, the seeds of the great Mesopotamia civilizations were being sown.
(a) What was the impact of climate changes on the valleys of the Nile in Egypt and on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia? How did these changes affect the advancement of civilizations?
(b) Why did human population get concentrated along the river banks?
(c) How did the settlers cope with the conditions of drought, floods and storms?
(d) What were the factors that helped in bringing about stability, safety and prosperity?
(e) Find words in the passage which mean the following:
(i) Suitable for people to live in
(ii) Long periods of time when there is little or no rain
(a) The impact of climate changes on the valleys of the Nile in Egypt and on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia was the transformation of swampy valleys into habitable and fertile riverine lands due to increased aridity. These changes attracted settlers who brought with __________ __________ ______ __________ _________ ______ ________ ____ _____.
____ _______ ___ ___ ___ ____ _______ ________ _____ ______ ________ _________.
___ _______ ___ __________ __________ ______ ________ ____ _________.
_______ __________ __________ ________ __________ ____.
__________ ______ _________ _________ ___ ____ _____ _____ __________ _________ ________ ______.
_____ _____ _________ _________ ____ _____ _____ ___ _____ ______.
____ ______ ________ ___ _________ ________ ____ ______ ____ ________.
____ _________ _____ ___ ______.
____ ___ __________ ____ _____ _____.
_________ ________ _____ ________ ______ ___ __________ _____ ____ _________ _________.
____ _____ ______ _____ ____ ______ ____ _____ _____ ____ ______.
________ ____ __________ ___ ______ _______ ______ _______ _____ _________ ___.
_______ ___ ________ _______ ___.
_____ ____ ______ _____ ___ ____ ____ _______ ___ _________.
______ _______ ______ ________ ________ _________.
___ ________ ______ ________ ________ _________ _____ _________.
_____ _______ ________ __________ _____ ____ __________ _____ ________ _________ _____ ___.
____ ______ _____ ________ __________ ______ _____ ___ _________.
_____ ___ __________ _________ _______ ___ ________ _____ ______ ___ ______.
_______ __________ ____ ____ ___ ______ ____ ____ ____ ____.
____ _______ _________ _____ ________.
________ ___ _____ _____ _____ __________.
____ _____ ___ _____ _______ __________ ______ ____.
___ ________ _________ ________ ____ ________ _________.
______ _______ ____ _______ ___ ________.
_______ ______ _____ __________ ________.
____ _______ _____ _________ ___ _______ ____ ___ ___ __________.
______ _____ ________ _____ ____.
Get Full Answer on WhatsApp