location where civilization is understood to have independently emerged
A cradle of civilization is a location where civilization is understood to have independently emerged. According to current thinking, there was no single "cradle" of civilization; instead, several cradles of civilization developed independently. Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient India and Ancient China are believed to be the earliest in the Old World.[1][2][3] The extent to which there was significant influence between the early civilizations of the Near East and India with the Chinese civilization of East Asia (Far East) is disputed. Scholars accept that the civilizations of Mesoamerica, that mainly existed in modern-day Mexico, and the civilization in Norte Chico, a region in the north-central coastal region of Peru which rivals in age the civilizations of the Old World, emerged independently.[4]
Scholars have defined civilization by using various criteria such as the use of writing, cities, a class-based society, agriculture, animal husbandry, public buildings, metallurgy, and monumental architecture.[5][6] 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 Iranian plateau, and used to refer to culture predecessors—such as Ancient Greece as the predecessor of Western civilization.[7]