Which is considered as the oldest civilization of the world?

Which is considered as the oldest civilization of the world? Correct Answer Mesopotamian

The correct answer is Mesopotamian.

Key Points

• Mesopotamian Civilization
  • Mesopotamia is the oldest civilization in the world civilization. Hence, Option 1 is correct.
  • Located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, its name means between (meso) rivers (potamos).
  • Today, the region encompasses Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey, and Syria. For thousands of years, the early people lived in small settlements which eventually transformed into a scattering of farming communities around 8000 BCE.
  • Built on fertile land, the idea of agriculture soon developed alongside the domestication of animals.
  • These communities expanded into what we consider cities, Uruk being the first one around 3500 BCE. At its height, it was home to approximately 50,000 people.
  • In addition to agriculture, Mesopotamia is known for its lucrative trade and the establishment of various industries, including masonry, metalwork, and leatherwork. Historians even consider its people responsible for the invention of the wheel.
  • However, the region was seized by the Persians around 539 BCE. By the time Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire some two hundred years later, most of the Mesopotamian cities and culture had been supplanted.

Important Points

• Mesopotamian Civilization (4000 BC - 6th Cen. BC)
• Egyptian Civilization (3400 BC - 1000 BC)
• Harappan Civilization (2500 BC - 1750 BC)
• Chinese Civilization (1765 BC - 250 BC)

Additional Information

• Egyptian Civilization
  • Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River, situated in the place that is now the country Egypt.
  • The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River valley for agriculture.
• Harappa Civilization
  • Indus civilization, also called Indus valley civilization or Harappan civilization, is the earliest known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent.
  • The nuclear dates of the civilization appear to be about 2500–1700 BCE, though the southern sites may have lasted later into the 2nd-millennium BCE.
• Chinese Civilization
  • The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty, during king Wu Ding's reign, who was mentioned as the twenty-first Shang king by the same.