<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The term "cradle of civilization" refers to locations where, according to current arc gical data, civilization is understood to have emerged . Current thinking is that there was no single "cradle", but several civilizations that developed independently, with the Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt) understood to be the earliest . Other civilizations arose in Asia among cultures situated along large river valleys, notably the Indus River in the Indian subcontinent and the Yellow River in China . The extent to which there was significant influence between the early civilizations of the Near East and those of East Asia is disputed . Scholars accept that the civilizations of Mesoamerica, mainly in modern Mexico, and Norte Chico in present - day Peru emerged independently from those in Eurasia . </P> <P> Scholars have defined civilization using various criteria such as the use of writing, cities, a class - based society, agriculture, animal husbandry, public buildings, metallurgy, and monumental architecture . The term cradle of civilization has frequently been applied to a variety of cultures and areas, in particular the Ancient Near Eastern Chalcolithic (Ubaid period) and Fertile Crescent, Ancient India and Ancient China . It has also been applied to ancient Anatolia, the Levant and Iran, and used to refer to culture predecessors--such as Ancient Greece as the predecessor of Western Civilization--even when such sites are not understood as an independent development of civilization, as well as within national rhetoric . </P>

When did the first civilizations in the world arise