People love to debate history, especially when it comes to who was first. Last year, I made an episode about the oldest country in the world. I argued that the answer might be San Marino, because it has a long, continuous history as an independent state.
And the reaction from listeners was… quite intense! I received comments from people around the world saying things like: “No, Egypt is older!” or “China has been around for thousands of years!” or “What about Iran?”.
All of these arguments were interesting. But I think they were also missing something important: a country and a civilisation are not the same thing.
So today, instead of talking about the oldest country, we’re asking a deeper question: What is the world’s oldest civilisation?
This question is not easy to answer. In fact, it depends on how we define civilisation itself. And historians don’t always agree on that definition. But there is a popular idea called the Cradles of Civilisation. These are places in the world where human societies first grew into complex, organised, urban cultures.
So, in today’s episode, we’ll explore these ancient cradles, find out what makes a civilisation, and decide whether there really is one society we can call “the oldest civilisation in the world,” all while learning some new English vocabulary!
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Vocabulary
- Civilisation (n): an advanced and organised society with cities, government, culture, and technology.
- Ancient Egypt was one of the world’s first civilisations.
- Surplus (n): extra goods or food beyond what people need to survive.
- A surplus of crops allowed people to do other jobs besides farming.
- Writing system (n): a set of symbols used to record language and share information.
- The Sumerians developed a writing system called cuneiform.
- Urban (adj): relating to cities or large, populated areas.
- Urban centres grew as more people began living in cities.
- Hierarchical (adj): organised into levels of power, with some people higher than others.
- Ancient societies were often hierarchical, with rulers at the top.
- Agriculture (n): the practice of farming and producing food.
- Agriculture made it possible for large populations to live in one place.
- Continuous (adj): unbroken over a long period of time
- China is often described as the world’s oldest continuous civilisation.
What is a Civilisation?
Before we can decide which civilization is the oldest, we need to understand what a civilization actually is.
Historians, archeologists, and anthropologists don’t always agree on one exact definition of a civilization. Still, most experts would say that a civilization is an organized society with a few key features.
For example, civilizations usually [00:04:00] have cities where large groups of people live together; a government or some kind of political leadership; social structures, which means that people have different roles in the society; culture like religion, art, language, and technology; and often writing systems which allow them to record information.
When these different elements, these different features, come together, experts tend to say that smaller villages, communities, or societies become something more complex. This complex structure is a civilization.
Now, it’s really important to understand the difference between a “civilization” and a “country”, because this was the source of so many comments on that previous episode about the world’s oldest country.
A country, as we understand it today, is a [00:05:00] political entity with clearly defined borders. It has a government, legal system and a national identity. Countries are modern concepts. They’re not an ancient thing, they’re a modern thing.
Even if their culture is ancient, the official country might still be relatively new. Like India has a culture that is thousands of years old, but the modern independent country of India was founded in 1947.
A civilization is much broader. It doesn’t always have fixed borders, and it can exist when there is no one single government controlling everything. It refers to the development of culture, society, technology, and ideas over a long period of time.
A civilization might include multiple kingdoms, some city states, even empires. And those political systems [00:06:00] might rise and fall while the civilization continues.
So the question in this episode is not about modern borders or current governments, it’s about where organized human societies first started to grow into civilizations.
And to answer that question, we need to look at the idea of “Cradles of Civilization“.
Cradles of Civilisation
Cradle is the word we use for a baby’s bed. A cradle is the place where life begins.
So when we talk about the “cradle of civilization“, we are talking about the place, the places, where complex human societies were born.
This concept refers to specific regions in the ancient world where humans made a dramatic change in how they lived. Instead of moving from place to place as hunter gatherers or living in small farming villages, [00:07:00] people in these areas began forming large organized communities.
They built cities with thousands of people. And importantly, many of them invented writing. Once you can write things down, it makes it so much easier for your society to grow and advance and for history to begin.
A “cradle of civilization” is where we see this complete change in human life. Society becomes complex and structured. This could involve a few different things.
People learn to farm in large organized ways. Food production becomes large enough to create surplus. Surplus means more food than you need, which means that not everyone needs to be a farmer.
Cities grow, bringing people together in urban communities for the first time. Leaders, laws and systems appear. They form governments and [00:08:00] administration. Society might be hierarchical. This means people have different occupations, classes, and roles.
People begin to record information, either through writing or other systems of storage. And trade expands, spreading goods and ideas across the region.
What’s incredible is that this didn’t happen in just one place. Different cultures around the world made this leap, this jump, independently without copying each other. They developed their own civilizations in their own ways.
Historians now generally identify six regions where civilization first began.
Mesopotamia, which is modern Iraq and the surrounding region. Ancient Egypt, along the Nile River. The Indus Valley Civilization, which is now modern day [00:09:00] Pakistan and Northwest India. Ancient China around the Yellow River region. Mesoamerica, for example the Olmec culture in modern Mexico. And the Andean Civilizations like the Norte Chico in Peru.
So let’s take a deeper look at each of these civilizations.
Mesopotamia
If we were forced to choose one place that looks the most like the first civilizations, many historians would probably point to Mesopotamia.
Mesopotamia is a region that today lies mostly in Iraq, with parts of Syria, Turkey, Kuwait, and Iran. The name comes from Ancient Greek and literally means “the land between rivers“. Those rivers were the Tigris and the Euphrates, and they were the reason civilization could grow there.
Around 6,000 years ago, people living in that region [00:10:00] began using the rivers to irrigate crops. Irrigation allows people to produce more food than they need by using the water from the rivers.
When a society has surplus food, more food than they need, not everyone has to be a farmer. That means some people can focus on other tasks; building things, trading, making tools, studying astronomy, practicing religion, or being a leader.
Soon, small villages grew into the world’s first great cities. Uruk, possibly the first true city in history, may have had tens of thousands of people living there. This is an enormous number in the ancient world.
These cities were crowded and busy, with large temples, markets for trade, and systems to manage taxes and laws.
Around [00:11:00] 3,200 BCE, the Sumerians, one of the Mesopotamian kingdoms created a writing system called Cuneiform. In Cuneiform, symbols are pressed into clay tablets with a stylus.
Writing first helped record trade and taxes, and then over time it expanded to poetry, religion, and science. One of the oldest known stories in human history, the Epic of Gilgamesh, comes from Mesopotamia.
Mesopotamia also gave the world some of the earliest legal systems, including the Code of Hammurabi, which listed hundreds of laws with specific punishments.
Because of its early cities, complex government and the invention of writing, Mesopotamia is often called the world’s first civilization. But it wasn’t the only one developing at that time.
Ancient Egypt
Another civilization was rising along [00:12:00] one of the most important rivers in human history, the Nile. The Ancient Egyptian civilization slowly grew along the banks of the Nile,
where predictable flooding made farming possible. Every year, the Nile flooded and left behind good soil for farming. This meant farmers could grow more food than they needed, and just like in Mesopotamia, a surplus of food allowed society to become more complex.
Around 3,100 BCE, smaller kingdoms along the Nile were unified under a single ruler, traditionally believed to be King Namar. The union created one of the longest lasting civilizations the world has ever seen.
Egyptian civilization is famous for its architecture, especially the pyramids. These massive structures were [00:13:00] impressive and elaborate tombs, designed to protect the Pharaohs‘, the Egyptian king’s, bodies and help their soul travel to the afterlife.
Constructing them required advanced engineering, mathematics, and thousands of skilled workers. It also required government organization capable of planning and feeding and managing labor forces.
The Egyptians also developed hieroglyphics, one of the earliest writing systems. Hieroglyphs used pictures and symbols to represent sounds, ideas, and objects.
Writing was used for religion and trade and administration, and even history. Through writing, Egypt preserved stories about Gods and Pharaohs and also people’s everyday life.
While Mesopotamian cities often fought wars against each other, Egypt tended to be a little [00:14:00] bit different. Its geography protected it. There were deserts on both sides, the sea of the north and the river at its center. This isolation encouraged a long and consistent cultural tradition.
However, Egypt was not isolated forever. It definitely traded with its neighbors, exchanged goods and ideas and influenced societies across Africa and the Mediterranean.
Indus Valley Civilisation
Far to the east of Mesopotamia and Egypt, another civilization flourished along the banks of two major rivers: the Indus and the Saraswati (which is a river Scholars believe was once a great river, but has since dried up.)
The ancient society existed in what is now Pakistan and Northwest India, and is probably one of history’s most intriguing mysteries.
The Indus Valley Civilization began [00:15:00] developing around 3,300 BCE, and it reached its peak maybe around 2,600 BCE to 1,900 BCE.
The cities of the Indus Valley were very advanced, perhaps even more advanced than those in Mesopotamia or Egypt during the same period. Cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were built on a grid system. They had straight streets intersecting at right angles.
They had complex drainage and sewage systems that ran underneath the streets. This is something that wouldn’t appear in many parts of the world for thousands of years. Houses were made of bricks of standard sizes, which suggests that there was some kind of central planning.
In fact, some historians argue that no ancient civilization was better at urban planning than the Indus [00:16:00] Valley.
Trade was a major part of life in the Indus Valley. Archeologists have found tools and jewelry and pottery, and also seals used for commerce. These seals often show animals and symbols, which appears to be a writing system. But no one has ever been able to fully decipher the Indus script.
Without being able to read the writing of the Indus Valley, we know far less about them than we know about Egypt or Mesopotamia.
We don’t know if they had kings. We don’t know if they worshiped gods. And we don’t know how their society was ruled. There are no enormous palaces or giant temples. Instead, their cities seem very organized.
Some historians have suggested that power might have been decentralized. Maybe there was no one king, but we just don’t know.
Despite the mystery, the [00:17:00] people of the valley were clearly skilled in trade and technology, and of course, city planning. We also know that they traded with Mesopotamia by sea.
But around the year 1,900 BCE, their civilization declined. The reasons are not really known. Perhaps it was climate change. Maybe the rivers shifted. Or their trade networks collapsed.
Ancient China
As the Indus Civilization was growing and transforming, another ancient society was also beginning on the banks of a river further east.
This river was the Yellow River in modern day China. This is also a very fertile region, which saw the rise of farming communities thousands of years ago. Around the year 2000 BCE, these communities had grown into societies. Eventually, the societies formed one of the world’s [00:18:00] longest continuous civilizations.
The Yellow River is often called the Mother River of China. Its rich soil made agriculture possible. This river, however, was far more unpredictable than the rivers in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Yellow Rivers floods were sometimes violent and destructive.
Managing the river required cooperation and planning, and maybe this need for organization may have helped early rulers establish political authority and eventually a civilization.
Archeological evidence points to several early cultures and dynasties, including the Xia dynasty (which some historians debate whether it really existed), followed by the more clearly documented Shang Dynasty, around 1,600 BCE. The Shang rulers controlled territory, they had armies and they performed religious rituals.
They also [00:19:00] produced some of the earliest evidence of Chinese writing. We have found these symbols carved into animal bones and turtle shells. This early writing system eventually evolved into modern Chinese writing.
Rituals, ancestor worship, respect for hierarchy, and the idea that rulers governed with the approval of the gods were all central ideas in Ancient China. Later, these concepts evolved into modern Chinese philosophy and beliefs.
Chinese civilization also made advances in technology and crafts like bronze and silk production, pottery and early mathematics. Cities grew and economies expanded, and over the centuries, many different dynasties rose and fell.
But despite this, China maintained a remarkably continuous cultural identity. While [00:20:00] kingdoms collapsed and governments changed, and the civilization’s borders expanded and contracted, Chinese writing, art, philosophy and traditions have stayed connected across thousands of years.
This sets China apart from many of the other cradles of civilization.
Today it is sometimes claimed that China is the oldest continuous civilization, and I think there is definitely truth in that idea. You can trace modern China back to the same China that existed 2000 or 3000 years ago.
Mesoamerica
On the opposite side of the world, complex civilizations also began to emerge in the region we now call Mesoamerica. This is an area that includes modern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, parts of Honduras and El Salvador.
What makes Mesoamerica remarkable is that its civilizations [00:21:00] developed independently. They didn’t learn farming from the Middle East or writing from China. They created their own systems from the ground up.
The very first known civilization in this region was the Olmec, beginning around 1,600 to 1,400 BCE. The Olmec are often called the mother culture of Mesoamerica because many later societies including the Maya, Zapotec and the Aztec (which I have an episode on… the history of Mexico City), inherited aspects of their art, religion, and political organization from the Olmec. The Olmec constructed ceremonial centers with large platforms, plazas and temples.
What they are most famous for today is their enormous stone heads. These are giant sculptures weighing up to 50 tons and possibly represent their [00:22:00] rulers.
Farmers cultivated crops like maize (which is corn), beans, squash, and chili peppers. But instead of relying on river floods like Egypt or Mesopotamia, Mesoamerican societies developed complex techniques to deal with forests and hills and wetlands.
As societies grew, they also developed writing systems. The Maya script, which appeared later, is the most fully developed writing system in the Americas, but the Olmec may have used earlier forms of writing and recordkeeping too.
They created a calendar system and they made significant advances in astronomy and mathematics.
But Mesoamerica wasn’t the only complex civilization in the Americas.
Andean Civilisations
Further south on the Pacific coast of Peru, an even older culture grew. These ancient societies, known collectively as the [00:23:00] Andean Civilizations, began long before the rise of the famous Inca Empire. Their origins stretch back over 5,000 years, making them among the oldest civilizations in the world.
They also developed technology and society in a completely different way from the river based cultures of Africa, Europe, and Asia.
One of of the earliest and most surprising of these cultures was the Norte Chico, also called Caral, which dates from around 3000 BCE to 1,800 BCE.
What makes this culture remarkable is that it challenges all of our assumptions about what a civilization needs to survive. These people did not rely on large scale agriculture of grains.
Most societies had a grain, wheat or rice or [00:24:00] maize, but in Peru, they did not have some kind of basic grain. They also had no evidence of a writing system. Instead, they built their society around things like fishing.
The cities of Norte Chico featured platform mounds and plazas and large ceremonial structures, which suggest a kind of religion and leadership. They had complex irrigation systems that supported agriculture.
Interestingly, they don’t seem to have had much pottery or art. But their architecture reveals a high level of social organization.
Later Andean cultures built on these foundations. They constructed religious centers high in the Andes mountains. These societies created trade networks, bringing together coastal, highland and jungle communities.
Over thousands of years, Andean civilizations built [00:25:00] farms on mountain slopes, developed irrigation systems, and grew crops like potatoes and quinoa.
Without the wheel for transport or any large animals for pulling carts, they still managed to create complex societies. And while they didn’t really have writing, Andean cultures used a different method of keeping records.
They used knotted strings. These knotted strings stored information. Instead of writing with symbols or letters, they recorded numbers, maybe even stories using different colors, lengths, and types of knot.
The greatest expression, or the most famous version, of the Andean civilization came with the Inca Empire, which ruled over millions of people in South America.
Final Thought
After listening to today’s episode, hopefully you now understand that the question, “what is the world’s oldest civilization?” doesn’t have a single or simple answer. It depends on how you choose to measure oldest.
If we judge by the first large urban societies with writing, then Mesopotamia is usually considered the earliest. Cities like Uruk emerged over 5,000 years ago, along with the world’s first confirmed writing system. But also around the same time, about 5,000 years ago in South America, the Andean civilizations were also building their first cities. We just know a lot less about them.
But if we focus on continuous civilization. A culture that has evolved but never completely disappeared, then China is a strong contender.
China has thousands of years of recognizable cultural tradition and language [00:27:00] and historical records.
Maybe it’s more interesting to ask a different question. Why do we want to know which civilization was first?
History is not a competition. These ancient societies didn’t race to build pyramids or invent writing. They each developed according to their own local needs, their own environment, and their own ideas, their own creativity.
But what do you think? Which is the oldest civilization? Did I miss something in today’s episode?
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