Thousands of years ago, humans stopped wandering in search of food and began to settle down in one place. These early settlements eventually grew into the world’s first great civilizations. Most of these ancient societies developed near large rivers. Rivers provided fresh water for drinking, rich soil for farming, and a convenient way to travel and trade.
One of the earliest civilizations started in Mesopotamia, a region located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East. To grow crops in the dry climate, the people invented irrigation, which is a system of canals that carries water from rivers to dry fields. The Sumerians of Mesopotamia also created one of the world's first writing systems, called cuneiform, by pressing wedge-shaped marks into wet clay tablets. Nearby, the ancient Egyptians thrived along the mighty Nile River, building giant stone pyramids as tombs for their rulers, the pharaohs.
Farther east, along the Indus River in Asia, another advanced civilization flourished. The Indus Valley people were incredible city planners. They designed cities with organized grid streets, sturdy brick homes, and even complex underground drainage systems that worked like early plumbing. Meanwhile, in the tropical rainforests of Mesoamerica, the Maya civilization built spectacular stone temples and developed a complex system of mathematics and astronomy to track the stars.
Though these ancient cultures existed thousands of years ago, their incredible inventions still shape our lives. From the design of our modern cities to the calendars we use to track the days, the legacy of these early innovators lives on.
