Journeys Across Geographical Landscapes
Aakangshika Dutta
THE STORY OF THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS: FROM MESOPOTAMIA TO THE AZTECS Subhadra Sen Gupta. Illustrated by Devashish Verma Talking Cub/Speaking Tiger Books, 2021, 264 pp., 499.00
April 2022, volume 46, No 4

Did you know?
The Chinese were the first civilization to introduce the concept of exams?
The Indus Valley Civilization was perhaps the cleanest and most organized of all civilizations?
There used to be an Inca king who would dust himself with gold?

Subhadra Sen Gupta covers a very vast geography of all the five continents in a little over 250 pages. These are histories that have been retold in many ways by different historians several times over. Subhadra Sen Gupta brings in novel fun facts towards the end of every chapter on a civilization.

The book begins with a comprehensive overview and a strong introduction to why we should understand what went into making our present. Subhadra Sen Gupta, in her inimitable style, takes us on a journey around the world and offers a great many nuggets of information about the world’s earliest civilizations. We read about the Egyptian rulers who built lavish tombs for their afterlife; about Greece, the first European civilization that gave us philosophers and mathematicians as well as the cherished concept of democracy; builders, architects, gladiators and warring emperors of Rome; and about Africa, the continent where gold and libraries abounded. The movement of people, their trading practices and cultures and the way their cities and towns were developed are incredibly diverse from the Sumerians and Urs to those from the Indus Valley to Chinese civilizations.  There are many mini sections within every chapter that we would have studied or read about in our school textbooks as well, making this a complementary read for children especially in middle school.

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