The earliest civilizations in history were in Mesopotamia (meh-suh-puh-TAY-mee-uh) in what is now Iraq and Syria.
They existed for about 3,000 years, from around 3500 BCE to 500 BCE. What made these civilizations so special? They were the first to do a lot of things! They invented new farming tools and methods. They also came up with the idea of hours and minutes. They studied the stars in the sky and developed ways to do math and build buildings. They had doctors and courts and even a form of education.
