A civilization is a complex human society with its well-developed social organizations with evolving characteristics of cultural and technological development at a particular time. Civilizations depict the past and the basis of an economy.
Many people think of the Greeks or Romans as the first ancient civilizations because these nations have been around for a long time and shaped modern society. In fact, many other civilizations have been around even longer than the Greeks or Romans. Here are some of the earliest civilizations around the world:
Mesopotamia (Circa 3500 BCE – 500 BCE)
Mesopotamia is believed to be the first civilization. The origins of this civilizations date back to untraceable ancient timelines that there is no known evidence. Mesopotamia was located on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers banks, now famous as Iraq and Kuwait. People lived in small settlements and gradually transformed into farming communities because the regular floods made the soil fertile, and the access to freshwater made it easier to irrigate crops.
As their communities expanded, Mesopotamia got famous for its lucrative trade and establishment of various industries such as masonry, metalwork, leatherwork, building stones, and skilled craftsmanship. The civilization also became a crossroad of the Egyptian and Indus Valley civilization, making Mesopotamia a melting pot of languages and cultures and religion, trade, law, and knowledge. Mesopotamia is famously associated with ancient cultures, including Assyrians, Akkadians, Sumerians, and Babylonians.
The Indus Valley Civilization (Circa 3300 BCE – 1900 BCE)
The Indus Valley Civilization is also known as Harappan Civilization, and it was the first urban civilization in South Asia. The valley extends from modern-day Northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and some regions of Northwest India. Around 7000 B.C. It is an archaeological site that reflects the early signs of urbanization and farming settlements.
The civilization consists of two large cities: Harrapa and Mohenjo-Daro, discovered in 1921 and 1922 in the Sindh and Punjab regions. It has more than 100 towns and villages on a relatively small scale and has estimated dimensions of 1.6 kilometers square. It is also possible that Harappa succeeded Mohenjo-Daro, which is known to have been devastated more than once by exceptional floods.
The Indus Valley Civilization evolved from villagers using the Mesopotamian model of irrigation and agriculture with sufficient skills to reap the advantages of the spacious and fertile land situated near the Indus River.
The Harrapans built numerous sprawling cities notable for their urban planning, efficient water supply systems, elaborate drainage systems, and a large concentration of non-residential buildings. Archaeological evidence indicates that when the trade with Mesopotamia ended, the civilization started to decline.
The remains of the civilization indicate remarkable organization since they have developed well-ordered wastewater drainage and trash collecting system, public baths and granaries, and religious places. Their cultures were also rich in arts and crafts.
The Indigenous Peoples Of Australia (Circa 50,000 BCE)
The indigenous people of Australia are more commonly known as Aboriginal Australians. Historians and archeologists often credited the Mesopotamians as the first civilization, but the new research shows that Aboriginal Australians are one of the oldest known civilizations on Earth. The Aborigines can trace their ancestries back to about 75,000 years ago but became a distinct genetic group around 50,000 years ago.
These people have been the first people in Australia. Though initially split into two groups, present-day Australia has 250 language groups. Those aboriginal people already inhabited Australia when the British army started colonizing the island and the Torres Strait Islanders, descendants.
The island inhabitants came from Southeast Asia and were hunters and gatherers, which they developed while living as a nomad. Scholars also argue over the evidence of their early agriculture and aquaculture practices. A genetic study has revealed that modern Australians are all related to ancestors that were members of the district population that first emerged about 50,000 years ago.