When it comes to the "four ancient civilizations", we must first commemorate Liang Qichao. Because the saying of "four ancient civilizations" was put forward by Liang Qichao, an outstanding figure and scholar in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. At that time, the great powers invaded China, and the sons and daughters of the Chinese land needed encouragement, so Liang Qichao wrote the "Pacific Song of the Twentieth Century". China has a long history, and Liang Qichao warned the sons and daughters of China to cherish our historical heritage. The "Four Ancient Civilization Motherlands" proposed by Liang Qichao in the era of river civilization in this song are the early prototypes of the "Four Great Ancient Civilizations" theory.
In the poem "Pacific Song of the Twentieth Century", written in 1900, Liang Qichao proposed that human civilization has experienced three eras: the first is the "era of river civilization", which consists of four "ancient civilization motherlands" of China, India, Egypt and Asia Minor (Turkey plus two river basins). The second generation is the "era of inland sea civilization", which is composed of the Mediterranean Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Yellow Sea, the Bohai Sea and other surrounding civilizations. The third generation is the "Age of Ocean civilization", which emerged with Columbus's discovery of the New World.
Of course, at the time Liang Qichao wrote this poem, the ancient Indian civilization had not yet been discovered, and it was not until 1924 that archaeologists discovered a "more ancient Indian civilization", that is, the Indus river civilization. When Liang Qichao wrote this poem, he said that the Indian civilization was the Ganges civilization established after the Aryan conquest of India.
Ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon, ancient India, ancient China. These four ancient civilizations have a lot in common, and the latitude is near 30 degrees north latitude, and they all guard the big river. That is to say, the climate is mild and the water source is sufficient, which is a necessary condition for the birth of civilization. The biggest thing these four civilizations have in common is that they are all original.
The West also has the saying of "cradle of civilization", there are: the Fertile Crescent, the Indus River civilization, and the Yellow River Yangtze River civilization. Westerners believe that civilizations in these places developed independently.
Of course, in Liang Qichao's time, the archaeology of the Americas did not unfold much, so he did not know the ancient civilization of the Americas.
In fact, the history of the Fertile Crescent civilization is very long, in more than 10,000 years BC, the Fertile Crescent has entered the Neolithic Age. Around 9000 BC, the world's first city, Jericho, appeared in what is now Palestine, in the West Bank, north of the Dead Sea.
First look at the Two Rivers civilization
The Fertile Crescent later developed into the Two Rivers Civilization and the Nile Civilization, which have the oldest history and are also very brilliant. More than 5,000 years BC, the Two Rivers civilization began to appear in the early city-states established by the Sumerians, including Elidus and Ur. According to archaeological findings, Elido was one of the largest cities in the world at the time, but there were only about 4,000 people living in the city.
By more than 3,000 years BC, the Two Rivers Basin had fully entered the age of the city-state. Countless large and small city-states appeared, these Sumerian city-states, for the sake of status, constant wars, similar to the Warring States. From 3000 BC to about 2600 BC, it was the Uruks who dominated the two river basins, and at this time the Sumerian culture developed by leaps and bounds. The famous cuneiform script, the oldest script in the world, also appeared during the reign of Uruk.
By around 2300 BC, Sumerian rule over the Two Rivers was overthrown by the Akkadians, who established the world's first empire, the Akkadian Empire. At this time, the two rivers civilization in the narrow sense had perished. Hundreds of years later, the Akkadian Empire collapsed and was replaced by Assyria and Babylon, which was often used to represent the Two Rivers civilization because Babylon was more splendid and the Code of Hammurabi was born.
Subsequently, around 1595 BC, Babylon perished. At this time, the Shang Dynasty of the Yellow River civilization had just been established, so the ancient Babylonian civilization was much earlier than the ancient Chinese civilization.
Let's look at the ancient Egyptian civilization.
Around 4000 BC, the ancient Egyptians began to establish a series of city-states on the lower Nile, until around 3100 BC, Egypt was unified, with the capital at Memphis (near present-day Cairo). This predates the legendary Xia Dynasty in China by 1,000 years. In the years that followed, Egyptian historians began to mark the dynastic order with serial numbers, which lasted until more than 30. The pyramids and mummies of ancient Egypt that we are familiar with appeared in this period.
After the unification of Egypt, there was friction with the civilization of the Two Rivers Valley, the most famous of which was the Battle of Kadishi in 1274 BC. The battle was one of a series of battles between the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt and the Hittite Empire in Asia Minor for dominion over Syria, and around the end of May 1274 BC, the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II led 2,000 chariots and nearly 16,000 infantry to compete with the Hittite king Muwathari II for the Hittite main base in Syria and the military fortress of Kadishi on the orent river.
This was also the beginning of the rise and fall of ancient Egypt. In 525 BC, in 343 BC, ancient Egypt was conquered by an empire called Persia, a branch of the Two Rivers civilization. When the Persian Empire was strong, Macedonia was also developing. By 332 BC, Alexander, the king of ancient Greece, had captured Egypt! After Alexander's death, in 305 BC, his general Ptolemaic established the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. The founder of the Ptolemaic kingdom, Ptolemy I, established himself as king and proclaimed himself an Egyptian pharaoh, and Egypt entered the Hellenistic era.
The Ptolemaic dynasty ruled Egypt until 30 BC, when Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, the famous Cleopatra, committed suicide in defeat. At this point, the ancient Egyptian civilization was completely extinct.
Look at the Indus civilization.
The history of the Indus civilization appeared later than the Fertile Crescent. From 3300 BC to 2600 BC, it was a relatively mature stage of the Indus civilization, and many larger city-states appeared, such as Harappa and Mohenzo-Daro. Around 1500 BC, the Aryans in the northwest moved south, conquered the Indus Valley, and then moved the center of civilization east to the Ganges Valley, forming the Ganges Civilization. Ancient Indian civilization also disappeared as the Aryans moved south.
Judging from the emergence and demise of the Two Rivers Basin Civilization, the Nile River Civilization, and the Indus River Civilization, they all predate the ancient Chinese civilization. Our early civilizations, such as the Xia Dynasty, lacked archaeological support. The earliest record of civilization that can be matched by history books and archaeology is the Shang Dynasty, which began in 1600 BC.
The ancient Babylonian civilization perished around 1595 BC, the ancient Egyptian civilization perished after BC, and the ancient Indian civilization perished around 1500 BC. Only Chinese civilization has continued to this day. That is to say, the four major ancient civilizations, China appeared the latest, but our civilization and the other three major comparisons, the first: also original, second: the only ancient civilization that continues to this day, so China's civilization and other three major civilizations alongside the "four" has been recognized by the people of the world.