Town Planning: The discovery of the Sumerian city of Ur has shed light on the lives of the early Mesopotamians. The Mesopotamian cities fell short in terms of town planning as compared to the Harappan centres but followed a uniform pattern nevertheless. The city was divided into three parts - the sacred area, the walled city on a mound and the outer town. The sacred area consisted of the temple tower or the ziggurat dedicated to the patron god of the city. There were also smaller temples of other gods. This area also had the storehouse as well as the offices. People resided in the walled city and the outer town areas. Houses were constructed along the streets, and each house had a central courtyard with rooms attached around it.

World history education helps us better understand how and why the world got to be the way it is. It gives attention to the histories of nations, civilizations, and other groups and the differences among them.

The Prussian King William I was proclaimed the German Emperor after its unification.

Mathematical contribution

• Tables with multiplication and division
• Square
• Square route tables
• Tables of compound interest
• Problem regarding
• A field of area
• Volume of water

• Writing was used not only for keeping records, but also for making dictionaries, giving legal validity to land transfers, narrating the deeds of kings, and announcing the changes a king had made in the customary laws of the land.

Mesopotamian Writing:

• The first Mesopotamian tablets, written around 3200 BCE, contained picture-like signs and numbers.
• Writing began when society needed to keep records of transactions – because in city life transactions occurred at different times, and involved many people and a variety of goods
• Mesopotamians wrote on tablets of clay.

1. Ur was one of the earliest cities to have been excavated in Mesopotamia. Narrow winding streets indicate that wheeled carts could not have reached many of the houses. Sacks of grain and firewood would have arrived on donkey-back. Narrow winding streets and the irregular shapes of house plots also indicate an absence of town planning.

Examples of primary sources are as follows: Artefacts, documents, diary, autobiography, etc. The literary works of the medieval periods which include the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire. Archaeological remains of Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire.

1. After 2000 BCE the royal capital of Mari flourished. Mari stands not on the southern plain with its highly productive agriculture but much further upstream on the Euphrates.  Here agriculture and animal rearing were carried out close to each other in this region.
2. Herders need to exchange young animals,cheese, leather and meat in return for grain,metal tools, etc., and the manure of a penned flock is also of great use to a farmer. Yet, at the same time, there may be conflict between the regions.
3. In Mesopotamian nomadic communities of the western desert filtered into the prosperous agricultural heartland. Shepherds would bring their flocks into the sown area in the summer.
4. Such groups would come in as herders, harvest labourersor hired soldiers, occasionally become prosperous, and settle down. A few gained the power to establish their own rule. These included the Akkadians, Amorites,Assyrians and Aramaeans.
5. The kings of Mari, however, had to be vigilant; herders of various tribes were allowed to move in the kingdom, but they were watched.The camps of herders are mentioned frequently in letters between kings and officials. In one letter, an officer writes to the king that he has been seeing frequent fire signals at night – sent by one camp to another – and he suspects that a raid or an attack is being planned.
6. Located on the Euphrates in a prime position for trade – in wood,copper, tin, oil, wine, and various other goods that were carried in boats along the Euphrates – between the south and the mineral rich uplands of Turkey, Syria and Lebanon.
7. Boats carrying grinding stones, wood, and wine and oil jars, would stop at Mari on their way to the southern cities. Officers of this town would go aboard, inspect the cargo and levy a charge of about one-tenth the value of the goods before allowing the boat to continue downstream.
8. Thus, although the kingdom of Mari was not militarily strong, but it was exceptionally prosperous.

1. Early settlers (their origins are unknown) began to build and rebuild temples at selected spots in their villages. The earliest known temple was a small shrine made of unbaked bricks. Temples were the residences of various gods : of the Moon God of Ur, or of Inanna the Goddess of Love and War Constructed in brick temples became larger over time, with several rooms around open courtyards.

2. The god was the focus of worship : to him or her people brought grain, curd and fish (the floors of some early temples had thick layers of fish bones). The god was also the theoretical owner of the agricultural fields, the fisheries, and the herds of the local community.

3. Organiser of production at a level the household, employer of merchants and keeper of written records of distributions and allotments of grain, plough animals, bread, beer, fish, etc., the temple gradually developed its activities and became the main urban institution. But there was also another factor on the scene.

During his life time Muhammad enjoyed supreme power and respect in the society. He had supreme religious as well as political rights. After his death the Caliphs succeeded to this position. Below them came in order the scholars and writers, traders, Physicist, Qazi and teacher. In a way they constituted the middle class of the society. Third order consisted of the peasants and artisans and at the lowest ring came the slaves.

The wealth and influence of an individual in society was calculated on the basis of slaves owned by him. But the slaves enjoyed the opportunity of advancing on the basis of their merit. They were neither considered untouchable nor were looked down upon. Women had to live in Purdah. Islamic society continued to have the traditions of polygamy and easy divorce, though women had the right to read and write. On the whole Islam could not make the social life of Arabia very progressive.

Teachings of Islam:

• God, i.e. Allah is one. He is omnipresent and omnipotent.
• People should lead a simple life.

• Reciting Kalma (holy chants), Namaz (prayer), Roza (fast), Zakat (alms tax) and Hajj are five pillars of Islam.

A city or a town is a place where food production is not the main contributor to the economy. City people cease to be self-sufficient and depend on the products or services of other (city or village) people. The division of labor is a mark of urban life. There must be a social organization in place. Organized trade and storage is needed because of need of various raw materials for manufacturers in the city. Many different activities need to be coordinated. In such a system, some people give commands that other obey. Urban economies often require keeping of written records.