Where Did The First Civilization Arise?

Evidence for the existence of modern humans and their settlements goes back at least 25,000 years in the form of tools, early art etc. However, "civilization" in the sense of larger, complex and settled communities only emerged much later. Probably the earliest of these communities developed in the "Fertile Crescent" in the Near East, where the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates rivers, as well as the warm climate, allowed agriculture to flourish about 10,000 years ago.
Early cities, like Jericho on the River Jordan, and Catal Huyuk in what is now Eastern Turkey, grew up around this time; by 6250 BCE, Catal Huyuk had a population of at least 6000 and a highly developed culture. Meanwhile, communities were developing along the River Nile; over time, these joined together, becoming "upper and lower Egypt" by 3500 BCE, and forming a united Egypt in 2920. At about this time, the Sumerian city-states of Mesopotamia (now Iraq), also flourished. the Indus Valley, in what is now Pakistan, contained another ancient civilization which ended about 3500 years ago, possibly because of flooding.

It is true that Mesopatamia which means land between the rivers is thought by most to be the cradle of all civilization. It now is known as Iraq

It was Mesopotamia and Egypt because we see ancient Egyptian structures and found items of Mesopotamia. The structures and item's date back about 5,000 yo 10,000 years ago. Also how could it be Atlantis if there are no actual findings, and do you think an entire civilization would sink into the ocean and never come back. I mean really :)

I thought before it all started on the fertile crescent but now china is considerably a candidate. I've been searching it for days now. I've found out that the oldest pre-civilized Neolithic cultures found in China to date are the Pengtoushan, the Jiahu, and the Peiligang, all dated to about 7000 BC. Pengtoushan has been difficult to date and has a date variance from 9000 BC to 5500 BC, but it was at this site that remains of domesticated rice dated at about 7000 BC were found. At Jiahu, some of the earliest evidence of rice cultivation was found. Another notable discovery at Jiahu was playable tonal flutes, dated around 7000 BC to 6600 BC. Peiligang was one of the earliest cultures in China to make pottery. Both Jiahu and Peiligang developed millet farming, animal husbandry, storage and redistribution of crops.

All I've written above are from very credible resources

There has been a lot of controversy on this matter.

A good reference, which I'm reading at the moment would be "Fingerprints of the Gods"

It starts out with a very good argument of the earliest recorded maps of the globe.
The most intriguing is 'The Bauche Map' published in 1737, shows the southern 'Antarctica' as it would have looked if it wasn't covered by any ice at all. The topography of Antarctica wasn't surveyed until 1958.
The map that the eighteenth-century French geographer Philippe Bauche was a compilation of maps. But how could he acquire a map of Antarctica is it would have been maybe 15,000 years?
This says that there must have been some sort of intelligent culture that must have been around to see this... And not only see it but have the capacity to record it and map it.

It was a fertile valley where many of the first humans lived, and it was therefore a natural place to make the change from hunter-gatherer to farmer. As farmers must abandon the nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle, they band together for protection and mutual benefit, and build cities.

I am  not all that convinced that africa, middle east or africa where the first so-called civilized civilizations. There is plenty of evidence that north america and south america were populated prior to the dates africa for the bering strait theory. However, mainstream academics do not want to rewrite or change history to protect popular myths based on outdated discoveries.

I believe it was indeed in the fertile crescent; you must remember that civilization has several distinct characteristics (which I can't remember), so some of the early communities which wordy mentioned may not be technically considered civilizations. One of the earliest was Sumer, which developed in Mesopotamia (the "fertile crescent" between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers), which developed sometime in the 4th century BCE.

While there is some debate, the Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer which officially is thought to have commenced approximately 4000-3500 BC, is deemed to be the world's first civilization. There have been claims that it ended at 2334 BC following the rise of Akkad.

Sumer (or Šumer) was situated in the southern region of Mesopotamia (which is currently south-eastern Iraq). This civilizations belonging to the Ancient Near East lasted from the period of the earliest records dating in the middle of the 4th millennium BC up to the rise of Babylonia which took place in the latter 3rd millennium BC. Note that the word "Sumerian" is used to refer to speakers of the Sumerian language.

Sumer along with Ancient Egypt as well as the Indus Valley Civilization would be regarded as the world's first settled society to have exhibited all the qualities and features required to meet the criteria of a "civilization".

Actually it's Atlantis.

Its egypt

Near river valleys

My friend says god made it all 6000 yrs ago so it can't be earlier than that. (yes that was a joke- one of those so sad it's funny kind of jokes)

Maybe the earliest civilization was started by the Sumerians, who settled around the fertile crescent because it was a good area to grow food and it was easy to find water because of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
I'm not that sure.

Mesopotamia is considered to be the first civilization of the world. It is referred to the land that is located between the river Tigris and River Euphrates. This place currently occupies modern Iraq, Northeaster Syria and Southwestern Turkey and also Khuzestan Province of Iraq. It was ruled in different times by different rulers or regimes like Sumer Empire, Neo Assyrian Empire, Achaemenid Empire and most the Persian rule and then the Islamic rule.

In Mesopotamia

Achaemenid Empire is actually  Persian Empire.
Mesopatamia was where first came to be Persia(Iran) then now Iraq

Maybe the earliest civilization on Earth wasn't of humans. The lizard folk will rise again!!!!!