Sumer: The Cradle of Civilization

"Sumer was the southernmost region of ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day southern Iraq and parts of Kuwait), which has long been considered the cradle of civilization. The name comes from Akkadian, the language of the north of Mesopotamia, and means "land of the civilized kings." Sumer is recognized as the birthplace of many of the 'firsts' of civilization, including writing and the development of the city."

"The Sumerians called themselves "the black-headed people," and their land, in cuneiform script, was simply "the land" or "the land of the black-headed people," and, in the biblical book of Genesis, Sumer is known as Shinar. According to the Sumerian King List, when the gods first gave human beings the gifts necessary for cultivating society, they did so by establishing the city of Eridu in the region of Sumer."

Sumer occupied southern Mesopotamia (modern southern Iraq and parts of Kuwait) and served as the cradle of many early civilizational developments. The Akkadian name means land of the civilized kings. The Sumerians called themselves the black-headed people and their land was rendered in cuneiform as the land of the black-headed people; the Bible names the region Shinar. The Sumerian King List credits Eridu with the divine establishment of ordered society, though Uruk is held as the oldest city. Earlier inhabitants, the Ubaid or Proto-Euphrateans, transitioned from hunting to agriculture during the Ubaid period (circa 6500–4000 BCE). Excavations have uncovered stone tools from that period.

Read at World History Encyclopedia