Cradles of Civilization

Current scholarship generally identifies six sites where civilization emerged independently: Mesopotamia (Iraq, Syria, and Kuwait, including regions along the Turkish-Syrian and Iran–Iraq borders), the Nile River (Africa), the Indus River (Asia), the Yellow River (China), the Central Andes (southern Ecuador, Peru, western Bolivia, and northern and central Argentina, and Chile), and Mesoamerica (from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica).

Historic times are separated from prehistoric times when records of the past begin to be kept for the benefit of future generations; that is, with the development of writing.

The earliest signs of a process leading to sedentary culture can be found in the Levant (from ISIL fame) to as early as 12,000 BC. The Levant is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the eastern Mediterranean, including all of the eastern Mediterranean with its islands, including all of the countries along the eastern Mediterranean shores, extending from Greece to Cyrenaica (Eastern Lybia).

Modern meaning includes Syria-Palestine or the region of Syria bounded by the Taurus Mountains of Turkey in the North, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and the north Arabian Desert and Mesopotamia in the east. Today, Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey are sometimes considered Levant countries.

The first cities to house several tens of thousands were Memphis and Uruk, by 3000 BC.