Final answer:
The Palace of Knossos, located in Crete, is the first instance of a highly developed, urban culture in the Western hemisphere. It was an important trade route on the Mediterranean Sea and the political and ceremonial center of the Minoan culture.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Palace of Knossos, located in Crete from ca. 1600-1400 B.C.E., is the first instance of a highly developed, urban culture in the Western hemisphere. It is the subject of the question.
Knossos was an important trade route on the Mediterranean Sea and a city-state with a population of 100,000 people living around the palace. The palace, covering over 80 hectares, was the political and ceremonial center of the Minoan culture.
Linear B clay tablets discovered on the Greek mainland led historians to conclude that Greeks from the mainland conquered Crete and rebuilt Knossos after the palaces on the island were destroyed sometime around 1500 BCE.