Pre-Columbian era
The earliest known civilization is the Olmec. This civilization established the cultural blueprint by which all succeeding indigenous civilizations would follow in Mexico. Pre-Olmec civilization began with the production of pottery in abundance, around 2300 BCE in the Grijalva River delta. Between 1600 and 1500 BCE, the Olmec civilization had begun, with the consolidation of power at their capital, a site today known as San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán near the coast in southeast Veracruz. The Olmec influence extended across Mexico, into Central America, and along the Gulf of Mexico. They transformed many peoples' thinking toward a new way of government, pyramid-temples, writing, astronomy, art, mathematics, economics, and religion. Their achievements paved the way for the Maya civilization and the civilizations in central Mexico.
Ancient history
The first civilization emerged in Sumer in the southern region of Mesopotamia now part of modern-day Iraq. By 3,000 B.C, Sumerian city states had collectively formed civilization, with government, religion, diversity of labor and writing. Among the city states Ur was among the most significant.
In the 24th century BC, the Akkadian Empire was founded in Mesopotamia. From Sumer, civilization and Bronze smelting spread westward to Egypt, Minoa and the Hittites.