Final answer:
The two earliest known urban communities were Uruk in Sumer and Eridu, believed by some to be the world's first city. They emerged due to intensive agriculture and trade, and featured urban planning, specialized labor, and governed societies.
Step-by-step explanation:
The first settlements that can be definitively called cities emerged in Sumer (southern Mesopotamia). Among these was Uruk, notable for its significant size and population around 3000 BCE. Sumerian civilization was marked by the introduction of irrigation agriculture, which facilitated the growth of Uruk into a bustling urban center. The other early city of prominence was Eridu, deemed by some as the world's first city, where Ubaidian farmers, Semitic-speaking pastoralists, and fishermen amalgamated cultures.
While Uruk and Eridu in Mesopotamia were major urban centers, there were also early cities like Jericho in the Middle East, which date back even further, around 10,000 BCE. Jericho was a significant early urban community, along with Çatalhöyük in modern Turkey. These cities were characterized by urban planning, craft specializations, and the centralization of power, laying the groundwork for future cities and civilizations.
Agricultural surpluses produced in these regions supported the rise of these large settlements. Uruk, for its part, evolved from a village to a town to become a city, housing tens of thousands and demonstrating sophisticated societal structures with monumental architecture, specialized craftspeople, and a centralized government under a king.