First Cities Revealed

The world's earliest cities emerged in Mesopotamia around 4000 BCE, in the fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates. These were not simple villages that grew large. They were planned settlements with specialized labor, administrative buildings, and irrigation systems that required coordinated effort.

The transition from village to city was not just about size. Cities required specialization: full-time priests, potters, metalworkers, and scribes who produced no food. By around 3000 BCE, Uruk held tens of thousands of people — perhaps 40,000 at its peak, more than any settlement the world had seen.