Breakthroughs Made by the First civilizations 5000 Years ago and Their importance

          First great civilizations began in a region in the Fertile Crescent called Mesopotamia. The first great civilization was Sumer, but followed by other great civilizations in that region after Sumer collapsed, such as Akkad. The river Tigris and Euphrates benefited in the beginning of these civilizations. These civilizations made many breakthroughs in terms of technology, writing and mathematics. These breakthroughs were very important.

            Mesopotamians made many technological breakthroughs. One of the first technological breakthroughs was mastering the river. Even-though, the two rivers flowed through the region, the area was harsh, and therefore, farmers had to master irrigation methods to bring water to remote lands. The farmers had to dug canals to safe guard their lands. Also, farmers found way to drain swaps to obtain fertile land. These methods were used in later civilization as farming techniques. Mesopotamians also learned to use the river as means of transports. Which means they were the first civilizations to use sailing boats for transporting goods. These were very important as in later ages for merchants to transport goods and emperors to conquer lands. This also helped in transporting raw materials such as metals and timber as Mesopotamia lack these materials.

            Another technological breakthrough came with farmers trying to use of metal tools for farming. The first metals used were copper as farmers discovered how to extract copper from oxide ores. Then they used bronze as they discovered that copper mixing with tin improved. One of these first tools was the plow which was a metal stick pulled by a rope. Bronze was later used to make weapons, such as swords, daggers, spears, and maces, armors and crafts. Other breakthroughs leading from this are glass and lamp making. These discoveries are very important as metals are used by all the civilizations in later ages for various purposes. Today, metal tools and objects are widely used.

            The discovery of the wheel was a technological breakthrough, which happened in Mesopotamia. This helped in transportation of goods on land in Mesopotamia. Wheels were also used in war chariots in later ages. Invention of this led to the invention of the potter’s wheel. This helped in making symmetrical products such as pots in a relatively short period of time. The potter’s wheel was also called the first true mechanical device. Textile weaving is another discovery, which led from this. Discovery of the wheel was very important as this led to many more discoveries in later ages such as war chariots, horse carriages and even vehicles in the modern age.

            Another technological breakthrough was the use of labor. As first farmers settled in, they had used extra people available on the field. This meant enemies or traitors who were captured were put to work on the fields. This was important because this led to surplus production of food, which created merchants and other professions besides farming. This was also used as a punishment to pay off debt. Laborers also became important when it comes to building infrastructure in cities. Laborers were used in later civilization to maintain the economy and a form of justice, so that other people could work on other professions. In later ages, labor was an occupation that built many colossal monuments and buildings.

Another important technological breakthrough is cities. The first civilizations used clay to construct large buildings, which were architectural breakthroughs at that time. There were places decorated with hundreds of kilograms of these very expensive metals. There were temples, which had authority over people in a certain region of the city. There was a proper economic system and justice. There was a proper way of welfare. Also, there was urban planning within the cities. These were important in later ages as these acted as a base for civilization. Later cities that came up were related to the culture in Mesopotamia.

Mesopotamia had the most important breakthrough in writing. They were the first to discover writing. This system of writing was called cuneiform. At first this was in the form of pictures of concrete things such as a person’s face, a sheep or a star. These pictographs also represented ideas. This evolved into phonetic writing. This was written by reed stylus on soft clay tablets. This discovery was very important, as it was the beginning of the recorded history. This writing system was adopted by many other civilizations in the later ages. This discovery led to writing the first literature. The literature ranges from hero epics to wisdom writing. One of the famous ones written in Mesopotamia was the Epic of Gilgamesh, which recounts the exploits of a heroic ruler of Uruk, who lived about 2700 B.C.E

Mesopotamia had many Mathematical breakthroughs. Mesopotamians made breakthroughs in arithmetic, geometry and algebra. Mesopotamians had mathematical tablets for multiplication, division and for square and cube roots for ease of computing with numbers. They had the knowledge to solve linear and quadratic equations. They also had carried out geometrical calculations. They use theorems that were later discovered to exist by people of later ages such as the theorem proposed by Pythagoras. They used a sexagismal system of counting based on the unit 60. Presently this system is used in computing divisions of time and angles. They also discovered a principal of giving numbers a value according to their position in a series. They also had calendar based on seven-day week. These mathematical breakthroughs were used by later civilizations.

              To conclude, as the first great civilizations, Mesopotamians made major breakthroughs in technology, writing and mathematics. Many of these breakthroughs acted as a foundation for civilizations in later ages. Civilizations of later generations used these to make other breakthroughs. Things that we take for granted could not have happen without the breakthroughs by the first civilizations. Some of these are even used today.