Civilization existed on earth

We human beings are the superior creature. As well, we have been using our brains to deal with the problems and challenges. And the history of humanity(civilization) is kind of an interesting subject. The everyday lives of ancient men and women were free from – linguistically, socially and most of the time technologically.

In the course of human evolution, the idea of living in a group became a very useful and practical lifestyle. From such small groups, communities start. Then came the societies which became a civilization. The human mentality and psychology led to this huge change. Therefore, it is still a popular topic among the historians and anthropologist.

Thus, to correctly map the oldest of the civilizations, it becomes necessary to go deep into the civilization.

Beware! We are not including the civilizations which are unreal due to myths and beliefs. This includes Atlantis, Rama civilization, Babylon and much more who gives an impact of some kind supernatural beings.

Let’s take a look at the top 10 civilizations that ever existed on earth.

10. The Incas Civilization

The Incas were the largest Empire in the Pre-Columbian era during the 16th century. Tawantinsuyu – the civilization is also known as The Inca Empire from 1438 C.E to 1533 C.E. This civilization flourished in the areas of present day Ecuador, Peru and Chile. It’s administrative, military and political center located in Cusco which lies in modern-day Peru.

The Incas had their societies pretty well established, and the empire was in a rapid bloom since its beginning. The Incas were devout followers of the Sun God Inti. The “Sapa Inca” meaning the child of the Sun was their king.

The first Inca emperor Pachacuti transformed it from a modest village to a great city. He went to expand the tradition of ancestor worship. But, when the king died, his son got all the power. Among his other relatives, wealth use to distribute. In return preserve his mummy and sustain his political influence. This significantly led to a sudden rise in power of the Incas. The Incas went on to become great builders and went on to build fortresses. The sites like Machu Picchu and the city of Cusco that still stand to this day.

9. The Aztecs Civilization

The Aztecs came around the time when the Incas were appearing as the powerful contenders in South America. Around the 1200s and early 1300s, the people used to live in three big rival cities – Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. Around 1325, these rivals created an alliance and a new state was formed in the Valley of Mexico. Thus Aztecs changed themselves to Mexica. When the influential civilization in Mexico and Central America – the Mayans were falling, Aztecs took a giant rise.

The city of Tenochtitlan was the military power, that conquest new territories. In Aztec empire, Local governments would remain in place but were forced to pay varying amounts of tribute to the Triple Alliance. In the early 1500s, the Aztec civilization was indeed at the height of its power. But then, the arrival of Spanish led a huge battle between the Incas and Spanish in 1521. A defeat in this decisive battle eventually led to the fall of the once famous Aztec empire.

8. The Roman Civilization

We all know about Roman Civilization which came into the picture during the 6th century BC. Roman empire was full of magic and myths. Remus and Romulus, the twin sons of Mars built the city of Rome. But in terms of power, the Romans ruled over the biggest land in that era, surrounding the modern day Britain, continental Europe, most of northern Africa, Western Asia, and the Mediterranean islands.

Early Rome was governed by kings, but after only seven of them had ruled, the Romans took power over their own city and ruled themselves. They then instead had a council known as the ‘senate’ which ruled over them. From this point on one speaks of the ‘Roman Republic’. Rome also saw the rise and fall of some of the g reatest emperors in human civilization, like Julius Caesar, Trajan, and Augustus. But eventually, the empire of Rome became so vast that it simply was not possible to bring it within a single rule. Millions of barbarians from the north and east of Europe threw the Roman Empire.

7. The Persian Civilization

Once the ancient Persian civilization was the most powerful empire in the world. Though only in power for a little over 200 years, the Persians conquered lands that covered over 2 million square miles. From the southern portions of Egypt to parts of Greece and then east to parts of India, the Persian Empire was known for its military strength and wise rulers. The Empire owned abundant sources of fertile farmland, water, and gold. The Persians highly worshiped their fire-god, Zoroaster. King Cyrus II, also known as Cyrus the Great, came into power and unified the entire Persian Kingdom. Then he went on to conquer ancient Babylon.

In fact, his conquest was so rapid that by the end of 533 BC, he had already invaded India, far in the east. SATRAP, their regulator usually rule every single land. And even when Cyrus passed away, his bloodline continued the ruthless expansion and even fought in the now legendary battle with the brave Spartans. Ancient Persia ruled all over central Asia, much of Europe and Egypt. But it all changed when the legendary soldier of Macedon, Alexander the great, brought the whole Persian Empire down to its knees and effectively ended the civilization in 530 BC.

6. The Greek Civilization

The ancient Greeks may not have been the oldest civilization, but they were one of the most influential civilizations to have ever existed in the world. The rise of ancient Greece came from Cycladic and Minoan civilization (2700 BC – 1500 BC), there is evidence of burials found in the Franchthi Cave in Argolid, Greece that dates back to around 7250 BC. It, in fact, was an era of philosophical, political, scientific and artistic accomplishments that shaped a history with an unprecedented impact on Western civilization.

These periods also saw a number of ancient Greeks come into the limelight – many of them changed the ways of the world forever. The Greeks created the ancient Olympics, the concept of democracy and a senate. They created the basis for modern geometry, biology, physics, and whatnot. Pythagoras, Archimedes, Socrates, Euclid, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, the history books are full of such names whose inventions, theories, beliefs, and heroics have had a significant influence on subsequent civilizations.

5. The Chinese Civilization

Ancient China – also known as Han China, holds one of the most diverse histories. The Yellow river civilization is said to be the mark of the entire Chinese civilization as this is where the earliest dynasties were based. Long lost ancient texts have given a few evidence of the potential existence belonging to the Xia Dynasty that endured way before the Shang Dynasty of 1700-1046BC. It was around 2700 BC that, Yellow Emperor began his rule and went on to rule mainland China.

In 2070 BC, the Xia dynasty became the first to rule the entire China as described in ancient historical texts. From then on, there came a number of dynasties that took control over China in different periods of time until the end of Qing dynasty in 1912 AD with the Xinhai revolution. It ended a four millennia history of ancient Chinese civilization that fascinates historians and commoners to this day. But it did not happen before they gave the world some of the most useful inventions and products such as gunpowder, paper, printing, the compass, alcohol, cannons and much more.

4. The Mayan Civilization

The ancient Mayan civilization flourished in Central America from about 2600 BC. The Maya are most likely the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica. By 700 BC, the Mayans had already devised their own way of writing which they used to create their own solar calendars carved in stone. They were likewise recognized for complex and extremely embellished formal architectural mastery, such as palaces, temple-pyramids, and observatories, almost all constructed without any metallic element. According to them, the world was created on August 11, 3114 BC and the supposed end was on December 21, 2012.

The ancient Mayans were culturally richer when compared to many of the contemporary civilizations. The Mayans and Aztecs both built pyramids, many of which are larger than those in Egypt. Autonomous societies built the Society of Mayan civilization. A remarkably sophisticated civilization made up of more than 19 million people, suddenly collapse sometime during the 8th or 9th centuries? Although the Mayan people never entirely disappeared—their descendants still live across Central America.

3. The Egyptian Civilization

Ancient Egypt is one of the oldest and culturally richest civilizations in this list. The ancient Egyptians are known for their prodigious culture, the ever standing pyramids and the Sphinx, the Pharaohs and the once a majestic civilization that resided by the banks of the river Nile. The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology) with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first Pharaoh.

The history of ancient Egypt occurred in a series of stable Kingdoms, separated by periods of relative instability known as Intermediate Periods: The Old Kingdom of the Early Bronze Age, the Middle Kingdom of the Middle Bronze Age and the New Kingdom of the Late Bronze Age. Ancient Egypt gave us the ever standing pyramids, the mummies that preserve the ancient Pharaohs to this day, the first of the solar calendars, Hieroglyphics and much more. Ancient Egypt reached its pinnacle toward the New Kingdom, where Pharaohs like Rameses the Great ruled with such authority that another contemporary civilization, the Nubians, also came under Egyptian rule

2. The Indus Valley Civilization

One of the oldest civilizations in this list, the Indus valley civilization lies at the very cradle of subsequent civilization that arose in the region of the Indus1 valley. This civilization flourished in areas extending from what today is northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India. Along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of three early civilizations of the Old World. The three the most widespread, covering an area of 1.25 million km. Entire populations of people were around the basins of the Indus River. It is one of the major rivers in Asia alon with Ghaggar-Hakra. It once used to course through northeast India and eastern Pakistan.

Also known as the Harappan civilization and the Mohenjo-Daro civilization – named after the excavation sites where the remains of the civilization were found, the peak phase of this civilization is said to have lasted from 2600 BC to around 1900 BC. It was a sophisticated and technologically advance urban culture. Additionally, Indus Valley Civilization was the first urban centers in the region. The people of the Indus Civilization achieved great accuracy in measuring length, mass, and time. And based on the artifacts found in excavations, it is evident the culture was rather rich in arts and crafts.

1. The Mesopotamian Civilization

And here it is, the first civilization ever on the face of planet earth since the evolution of humans. The origin of Mesopotamia dates back so far. There is no evidence of any other civilization before them. The timeline of ancient Mesopotamia is usually around 3300 BC – 750 BC. Mesopotamia is generally the first place where societies truly began to take shape.

It was somewhere around 8000 BC that people found the concept of agriculture and slowly started to domesticate animals for both the purpose of food as well as to assist in agriculture. People had already been creating art much before all that. But all this was part of human culture, not a human civilization. And then the Mesopotamians rose, refining, adding and formalizing all these systems, combining them to form the first civilization. They prospered in the regions of modern day Iraq – then known as Babylonia, Sumer and Assyria highlands.

Today’s culture and civilization have originated from evolution in human history. Each civilization here contributes in new inventions, ideas, cultures, philosophies, and lifestyles. The only question that still remains in the mind of people is how this all started and from where?