Cradles of civilization in the context of Social stratification

The Middle East, or the Near East, was one of the cradles of civilization: after the Neolithic Revolution and the adoption of agriculture, many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations were created there. Since ancient times, the Middle East has had several lingua franca: Akkadian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Arabic. The Sumerians, around the 5th millennium BC, were among the first to develop a civilization. By 3150 BC, Egyptian civilization unified under its first pharaoh. Mesopotamia hosted powerful empires, notably Assyria which lasted for 1,500 years. For centuries after the 7th century BC, the region was dominated by Persian powers like the Achaemenid Empire.

In the 1st century BC, the Roman Republic conquered most of the region, and its successor, the Roman Empire, that ruled from the 6th to 15th centuries AD referred to as the Byzantine Empire, grew significantly more. Roman pagan religions were replaced by Christianity in the 4th century AD. From the 3rd to 7th centuries, Rome ruled alongside the Sasanian Empire. From the 7th century, Islam spread rapidly, expanding Arab identity in the region. The Seljuk dynasty displaced Arab dominance in the 11th century, followed by the Mongol Empire in the 13th century.

Mexico's culture emerged from the culture of the Spanish Empire and the preexisting indigenous cultures of Mexico. Mexican culture is described as the 'child' of both western and Native American civilizations. Other minor influences include those from other regions of Europe, Africa and also Asia.

First inhabited more than 10,000 years ago, the cultures that developed in Mexico became one of the cradles of civilization. During the 300-year rule by the Spanish, Mexico was a crossroads for the people and cultures of Europe, America, West Africa, and with minor influences from parts of Asia. Starting in the late 19th century, the government of independent Mexico has actively promoted cultural fusion (mestizaje) and shared cultural traits in order to create a national identity. Despite this base layer of shared Mexican identity and wider Latin American culture, the big and varied geography of Mexico and the many different indigenous cultures create more of a cultural mosaic, comparable to the heterogeneity of countries like India or China.