370. What is the World’s Oldest Civilisation? (English Vocabulary Lesson)
Thinking in English
What defines a civilisation
Tom lists features of civilisations: cities, government, social structure, culture and writing systems.
People love to debate history, especially when it comes to who was first. Last year, I made an episode about the oldest country in the world. I argued that the answer might be San Marino, because it has a long, continuous history as an independent state.
And the reaction from listeners was… quite intense! I received comments from people around the world saying things like: “No, Egypt is older!” or “China has been around for thousands of years!” or “What about Iran?”.
All of these arguments were interesting. But I think they were also missing something important: a country and a civilisation are not the same thing.
So today, instead of talking about the oldest country, we’re asking a deeper question: What is the world’s oldest civilisation?
This question is not easy to answer. In fact, it depends on how we define civilisation itself. And historians don’t always agree on that definition. But there is a popular idea called the Cradles of Civilisation. These are places in the world where human societies first grew into complex, organised, urban cultures.
So, in today’s episode, we’ll explore these ancient cradles, find out what makes a civilisation, and decide whether there really is one society we can call “the oldest civilisation in the world,” all while learning some new English vocabulary!
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