Final answer:
The first city in Mesopotamia was Eridu, followed closely by Uruk, which emerged around 3000 BCE. These cities were built on the economic foundations of intensive irrigation agriculture that allowed a division of labor and governmental oversight, leading to innovations like cuneiform writing.
Step-by-step explanation:
The first city to emerge in Mesopotamia is commonly recognized as Uruk. By 3000 BCE, Uruk had established itself as a walled city with an extensive area of over two square miles and a population of about a hundred thousand inhabitants. Eridu, meanwhile, is often cited as the world's first city, with its origins dating back even further. Mesopotamia's position as the cradle of civilization is attributed to its early urbanization, complex societies, and the development of the earliest known system of writing, among other advances. However, several city-states in Mesopotamia around 3000 BCE managed the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and brought forth a vibrant urban culture.
The rise of cities such as Uruk and Eridu was primarily due to the surplus produced by intensive irrigation agriculture, which required a large labor force and a central government to maintain and direct efforts such as canal building and temple construction. This economic basis paved the way for a division of labor, monumental architecture, and technological advancements like the invention of cuneiform writing.