The cultures of Earthsea do not directly resemble those of our world, except insofar as there are general resemblances to any literate pre-industrial civilization.

The first well-known literate civilization in Europe was that of the Minoans.

The cultures of Earthsea are not direct analogues of those of our world, but are literate non-industrial civilizations.

This allows the study of peoples without any form of writing, as well as of literate civilizations.

All known literate civilizations, including ancient Greece and Rome, developed rules for proper social conduct.

The Indus River civilisation predates other literate civilisations on the Indian subcontinent, going back to about 2500.

It was the world's first literate civilization, and formed the first sets of written laws.

In ancient times Heilongjiang was far from any literate civilization, and information was sparse.

It was a very literate civilization for 1,000 years and produced a massive amount of literature.

Even within a literate civilization many events and important human practices are not officially recorded.