The cradle of civilization refers to countries or places that saw the birth of the earliest civilization, i.e. ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon, ancient China and ancient India, sometimes ancient Greece is also included. The significance of the ancient civilization lies not in the time of their foundation but the modern civilization they bred. In other words, these places are the creation points. Scholars believe that ancient civilizations were founded near the river, because stable water supplies make the development of agriculture and commerce easier. However, historians believe that ancient civilizations started first in the mountains and then spread to the river basin. As for social systems of the ancient civilizations, ancient Babylon and ancient Egypt adopted slavery system, ancient Indian the caste system while ancient Chinese adopted the feudal system and the well-field system before the Warring States period.
