The initial sailboats built by Sumerians had simple square sails on single masts, harnessing wind power for propulsion. Mesopotamian reed boats constitute the earliest known evidence for deliberately constructed sailing ships, dated to the early Neolithic culture of Sumer, about 5500 B.C. About 3500 years later Greeks and Romans would begin their maritime trading.
Sumer (or Šumer) was one of the early civilizations of the Ancient Near East, located in the southern part of Mesopotamia (southeastern Iraq) when that region was populated primarily by BLACK AFRICANS from the time of the earliest records in the mid-fourth millennium B.C.E. until the rise of Babylonia in the late third millennium B.C.E. The term "Sumerian" applies to all speakers of the Sumerian language. Sumer together with Ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley Civilization is considered the first settled society in the world to have manifested all the features needed to qualify fully as a "civilization." The development of the City-state as an organized social and political settlement enabled art, commerce, writing, and architecture, including the building of Temples (ziggurats) to flourish.
The Sumerian language represents the earliest known linguistic record. It emerged in archaeological findings dating back to around 3100 B.C. and prevailed in Mesopotamia for the subsequent millennium. By 2000 B.C., Akkadian largely supplanted it, yet Sumerian persisted as a cuneiform script for an additional two millennia.
Cuneiform script, initially utilized in pictorial tablets, emerged around 4000 B.C. Subsequently, it evolved into Akkadian and spread beyond Mesopotamia starting from 3000 B.C. Writing stands out as a significant cultural milestone of the Sumerians, enabling detailed documentation ranging from rulers to farmers and herders. The earliest known written laws trace back to 2400 B.C. in Ebla, where the Code of Er-Nammu was inscribed on tablets.
Sumer is acknowledged as the cradle of numerous civilizational "firsts," such as the invention of writing. The Sumerians referred to themselves as "the black-headed people," and in cuneiform, their territory was just "the land" or "the land of the black-headed people." In the biblical Book of Genesis, Sumer is identified as Shinar. The inhabitants of that era took pride in their blackness, much like the deities they revered; they considered it a significant blessing to be shielded from the sun, as evidenced by their dark black and brown skin tones. DNA evidence has proven the civilization of Sumer was the product of Black migrations from Africa’s Nile Valley who were the original indigenous population.
There’s an interesting detail related on the Sumerian King List about the individual who ruled just prior to Enmerkar—an individual named Meskiag-kasher (a strong “Cush” parallel). Kasher or Kosher means fit or proper in the earliest biblical translations. The King List mentions this ruler heading out to sea and disappearing. Could this have constituted an early Cushite/Sumerian migration to Africa, taking the Sumerian language along with them? And could this explain numerous similarities noted between the Bantu language of East Africa and the ancient Sumerian language?
Sumer, was one of the earliest civilizations on the planet, but there were other civilizations nearby. As those lands had little in the way of natural resources compared to Sumer, Mesopotamians were beholden to other civilizations. In order to survive, Mesopotamians needed to trade and enter into commercial relationships with other societies.
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