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Sumer was located in southern Mesopotamia and likely gave rise to the world's earliest written language.
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Egyptian civilization, located in the Nile River valley, emerged almost simultaneously with Sumer. This civilization, famous for its pharaohs and pyramids, was a unified territorial state and is the longest-standing civilization on earth.
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A quipu, consisting of knotted cords, was used in Norte Chico and later by the Incas which pointed to cultural continuity in the Andes.
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The first known urban settlement in the Americas, located on the coast of current-day Peru.
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The high point of the pharaoh's power and the building of pyramids.
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Chinese civilization relied on a centralized state which was made evident by early dynasties.
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The Indus Valley civilization was highly unlike other early civilizations due to its lack of evidence of a political hierarchy or centralized state. The Central Asian civilization was strongly fortified and considered the center of the Eurasian-wide trade system.
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The legendary monarch Wu organized flood control projects that "mastered the waters and made them to flow in great channels".
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These cities were home to thousands of people and were richly built and well organized.
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Created in Mesopotamia. this is the earliest surviving piece of notable literature and the second oldest religious text.
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A code of laws and punishments for breaking them, was created in the Babylonian Empire which relied heavily on social status.
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These cities fell primarily due to environmental degradation caused by repeated irrigation and deforestation.
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substantially enlarged the Chinese state, erecting lavish tombs for their rulers, and burying thousands of human sacrificial victims to accompany them in the next world.
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A time of increased devotion to the state god and a period of political stability.
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During the New Kingdom period, Egypt extended its political control to Nubia, Palestine, and Syria, and became an empire.
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The youngest of the first civilizations, often regarded as the "mother civilization" of Mesoamerica and likely the creator of the first written language in the Americas.
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Enlarged the Chinese state and saw the emergence of a distinctive Chinese political ideology, featuring a ruler known as the Son of Heaven.
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The first known written language in the Americas was created.
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Located in Mesopotamia, this is one of the several empires which absorbed the cities of Sumer, one of the first civilizations.
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The Kushite king Piye invaded Egypt and gained control. The monarchs of Kush ruled Egypt for over a century.
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The Persian Empire started as a collection of semi-nomadic tribes who raised sheep, goats and cattle on the Iranian plateau