First, the Levante, Egypt and Mesopotamia are not the cradle of humanity but the cradle of civilisation. The Cradle of Humankind is a but further south in South Africa with significant findings for three early genera of homo.

Second, if one talked about the Cradle of Humankind that wouldn't be history but prehistory.

Third, Siberia and most parts of Canada nowadays are frozen, uninhabitable wastelands during winter.

Fourth, if we talked the cradle of civilisation (what this meme is most likely about) we would also need to talk about the different climatic conditions 5000-6000 years ago and also where exactly these civilisations developed: on relatively narrow strips of fertile land around the rivers of Euphrates, Tigris and Nile.

[–] Danquebec@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Good points but we should also be careful to distinguish the cradles of agriculture and the cradles of civilization. They're two very different things and are a long time apart.

Every region's history is different yet somewhat similar, but here I'll focus on the region referred to in the meme.

About twelve thousand years ago, in the Levant and then in the Zagros mountains, people have broadened their diet and became settled. This allowed them to domesticate domesticable plants and animals. Agriculture was born.

About five thousand years ago, people brought domesticates to river valleys and exploited their banks, which wasn't necessarily an easy feat.

At least in Mesopotamia, it required irrigation.

In Egypt, I'm less clear on this time period but it seems to be tied to domesticates arriving in the region and desertification.

In both cases however, high productivity allowed high population, and the fact that people couldn't really flee attempts at taxing production, imposing corvée, and other forms of forced requirements allowed primary states to emerge.