The World’s Oldest Known City – Oldest City in the World – and the 2 Million Years Old Turkana Boy

Rev. Harry Leakey and his wife Mary Leakey must have been a package by Her Majesty the Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to the people of Africa. The mission was to introduce God to the Africans. By 1900, Harry and Mary were already in Nairobi under the umbrella of the Church Missionary Society. The task was well executed - converting the Africans to Christianity up to the current level of more than 85% Christians.

Whilst in Kenya, Harry and his wife Mary gave birth to a son whom they called Louis Leakey. In an attempt to introduce Louis to Christianity, the dad Harry and mum Mary must have introduced Louis to the story of Adam and Eve. Louis must have found this story of creation and origin of man very interesting that he set to devote his entire life studying the origin of man. Louis became an archaeologist and naturalist and set himself in establishing human evolutionary development. It was Louis who in his natural philosophy theory asserted that Charles Darwin’ theory of evolution was accurate and went ahead in trying to prove Darwin’s hypothesis that man must have arisen in Africa. Yes, he had to prove Darwin’s hypothesis when he was still a devoted Christian.

In the meantime, Louis and his wife (also Mary) gave birth to Richard Leakey. Richard inherited the trait of his father and went on to become a paleontologist, a conservationist and a politician. Richard Leakey must have been born very lucky - At 11, Richard fell from his horse and broke his skull and leg. At 35, Richard had a terminal kidney disease and received a kidney transplant to full health. At 40, Richard Leakey lost both his legs when his propeller-driven plane crashed and still survived, walking on artificial limbs. Richard must have had a lucky life but does Richard Leakey believe in God? Ask him that question for you will get an answer

In 1984, Richard Leakey, together with Kamoya Kimeu, went on to discover the Turkana Boy, a nearly complete skeleton of a 12-year-old hominid boy who died 1.5 million years ago in the early Pleistocene. The Turkana boy was 5 ft 3 in tall when he died. This Homo ergaster/Homo erectus had a greater ability to run than the Kenyans long distance runners. The Turkana boy lived a harsh and demanding lifestyle and must have had deep melanin to survive in open land under such conditions. The boy was an accomplished hunter and gatherer.

One Sunday morning, the Turkana boy may have gathered a few fruits and must have headed to the nearby city of Turkana or Lodwar to entice young girls. Since the Turkana boy had narrower thoracic vertebrae to make complex speech as we do, he must have used signs to communicate effectively with his girlfriends in Turkana city. Ask Aya Katz how you may have developed a language having evolved from the Turkana boy – she can lecture you on this subject until breakfast tomorrow morning.

Each one of us would like his city to hold the title of the oldest city in the world. The Turkana boy would also have wished so. Unfortunately, the Turkana boy did not keep good records. It was the Arabs, the Greeks and the Romans who did keep good records. This therefore means we have to abandon the Turkana boy and his would-be city and feature the cities of Damascus, Byblos, Jericho, Varanasi, etc as the competitors for the title of the oldest city in the world.

Damascus is the word’s oldest city in the world. It’s the cultural and religious center of the Levant. Today, the city has a population of about 2 millions. Damascus is in southwestern Syria. Damascus was first settled as early as 7000 years before Christ. Compare this with the Turkana boy who was here no less than 1,500,000 years before Christ.

Below is a listing of the world’s oldest cities. If you do not find your city here, do not worry. The truth is you must have originated from somewhere where there was a city, based on the definition of a city by your ancestors

1. Van - Turkey
2. Jericho- West Bank
3. Byblos - Lebanon
4. Susa - Iran
5. Sidon - Lebanon
6. Medinat Al-Fayoum - Egypt
7. Plovdiv - Bulgaria
8. Gaziantep - Turkey
9. Rayy - Iran
10. Beirut - Lebanon
11. Jerusalem - Israel
12. Tyre - Lebanon
13. Arbil - Iraq
14. Kirkuk - Iraq
15. Jaffa - Israel
16. Aleppo - Syria
17. Balkh - Afghanistan
18. Chania Crete - Greece
19. Larnaca - Cyprus
20. ThebesBoeotia - Greece
21. Athens - Greece
22. Lisbon - Portugal
23. Cádiz Andalusia - Spain
24. Varanasi - India
25. Xi'an - China
26. Chios - Greece
27. Mytilene - Greece
28. Anuradhapura - Sri Lanka
29. Nijmegen - Netherlands
30. Naples- Italy
31. Hamadan - Iran
32. Yerevan - Armenia
33. Ujjain - India
34. Rome - Italy
35. Corfu - Greece
36. Samarqand - Uzbekistan
37. Varna - Bulgaria
38. Istanbul - Turkey
39. Durrës - Albania
40. Berat - Albania
41. Kavala - Greece
42. Mangalia - Romania
43. Constanţa - Romania
44. Mantua - Italy
45. Herat - Afghanistan
46. Delhi - India
47. Madurai - India
48. Beijing - China
49. Ife - Nigeria
50. Patna - India
51. Vaisali - India
52. Rajagriha - India
53. Serres - Greece
54. Veria - Greece
55. Rhodes- Greece
56. Belgrade - Serbia
57. Shkodër - Albania
58. Thessaloniki - Greece
59. Ohrid - Macedonia
60. Paris - France
61. Guangzhou - China
62. Zürich - Switzerland
63. Trier - Germany
64. Chur - Switzerland
65. Solothurn - Switzerland
66. London – UK

Good. Now that my city is listed here, I still do not think I am any fortunate than the Turkana boy, or what do you think?.

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