Justice
Uncovering the World's First Cities
Researchers map the earliest Mesopotamian cities and find that many develop in surprising areas.
On an arc of land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf sits the birthplace of cities.
It's sometimes referred to as "the Cradle of Civilization," but it's more widely known as the Fertile Crescent. And fertile it was. The flowing Tigris and Euphrates rivers created rich agricultural opportunities for early humans, who settled in city-like structures as early as 4000 BC.