The World's Oldest Ancient Civilizations
We humans were not always like this, we had to go through a long period of progress. The first man lived alone in caves, then after making progress he learned to live together. In this sequence of changes, humans learned to live in groups and acquired human qualities and civilization or we can say, humanity. There was a time when humans built civilizations and after that, we humans became so civilized and successful. Therefore, to understand the earth and human development, these civilizations also have to be understood. Let's take a look at some ancient civilizations.
The Incan Civilization (1438 AD - 1533 AD)
The Inca Empire, which stretched from the top to the bottom of the Andes mountain range in South America. Its center was Peru, while present-day Colombia, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina were also a part of this empire. The Incan civilization was a well-established and prosperous society. The Incas were devotees of the sun and their king was know as "Sapa Inca" which meant child of the Sun. This was the largest empire in South America gained a lot of fame due to its foods, textiles, gold-silver and cocoa. The interesting thing was that at that time they had neither any market nor any currency. The people of Incas were great builders, they built forts and sites like Machu Picchu and the city of Cusco which still stand today. It is believed that in 1532 AD, the famous Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro ended the Inca Empire. On the other hand, the second opinion says that about 90 percent of the Inca civilization ended due to Influenza and smallpox disease unknowingly spread by European invaders.
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The Inca Empire Credit:-Culture Club via Getty Images |
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Machu Picchu |
The Greek Civilization (1200 BC - 323 BC)
Ancient Greek civilization is considered one of the greatest civilizations in history. Ancient Greek was divided into many small kingdoms. Government and law were different in all these states, but culture and living were the same. The two big cities of ancient Greece were Athens and Sparta. The Greeks made significant contributions to philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. Literature and theater were important aspects of Greek culture and influenced modern drama. The Greeks were known for their sophisticated sculpture and architecture. Pythagoras, Archimedes, Socrates, Euclid, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, history books are full of names whose discoveries, theories, beliefs and bravery have had a significant impact on later civilizations.
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Acropolis of Athens,Greece |
The Roman Civilization (550 BC - 465 AD)
The Roman Empire was a powerful and important civilization that ruled most of Europe for about 1 thousand years. The empire was the third phase of ancient Rome. Rome was ruled first by Roman kings, then by the Roman Republic, then by an emperor. The culture of ancient Rome spread throughout Europe during this time. Even today, a glimpse of Roman culture can be clearly seen on a large part of the western world. The basis of today's governments, engineering, architecture, language and literature of the western world has come from the ancient Rome civilization itself.
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Giovanni Pauolo Panini - Fantasy View with the Pantheon and other Monuments of Ancient Rome Credit :- www.wikimedia.org |
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The Roman Empire- Street scene with vendors Credit :- gettyimages.in |
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The Roman Empire Credit: gettyimages.in |
The Maya Civilization (2600 BC - 900 AD)
The Maya Civilization was an ancient civilization on the American continent. This civilization was spread mainly in southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and parts of El Salvador. Even today, the area has been inhabited by the Maya community for over two thousand years. The people of Maya civilization were very good in the field of art, mathematics, architecture, astrology and writing etc. Which is also known as the golden age of artistic development. Agricultural areas and cities developed during this time. The most notable buildings of this civilization are the pyramids which they built as religious centers,"The Chichen Itza" in Mexico is one such example. The Maya civilization created a calendar describing various religious festivals and astronomical events. This is called the calendar of Maya civilization. You may not know, but it was predicted in the calendar of Maya civilization that the world would end in 2012. However, this prediction was proved wrong. There are many opinions of researchers on why the Mayan civilization came to an end. Some believe that this civilization collapsed due to foreign invasion or rebellion, some say that this civilization ended due to natural disasters such as drought or epidemic.
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Mayan Monument Circa 500 AD, A monument to Mayan warriors at Oaxaca in Mexico. Credit:- Hulton Archive/Getty Images |
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The Chichen Itza |
The Indus Valley Civilization (3300 BC - 1300 BC)
The ancient history of India begins with the Indus Valley Civilization, which we also know as the Harappan Civilization. This civilization was spread around 2500 BC in the western part of South Asia, which is presently known as Pakistan and Western India. In 1920, two ancient cities namely Harappa and Mohenjodaro were discovered from the remains from the excavations of the Indus Valley by the Archaeological Department of India.The urbanization system of these cities was very well planned. The economy of the Indus Valley Civilization was based on agriculture which was also supported by trade and commerce. The people of the Indus Valley Civilization achieved great accuracy in measuring length, mass, and time, and based on the artifacts found in the excavations, it is clear that the culture was also rich in arts and crafts. There are many reasons for the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization have been suggested by archeologists, but the exact cause is still unknown.
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| Ruins of archaeological site of Harappa Credit:- DeAgostini/Getty Images |
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| Mohenjo daro Credit:- gettyimages.in |
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Steatite seal with humped bull, Indus Valley, Mohenjo-Daro |
These were some ancient civilizations which have a big hand in what we are today, they taught us a lot which we use in our daily life. We will know about some more such civilizations in the next article. I hope you have enjoyed knowing about some of the ancient civilizations of our world.
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