Why is it believed that European civilization began with the island of Crete?

It is now accepted to read that the European civilization that exists at the moment originated from antiquity (the civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome). They gave birth to the concept of civil society, democracy, political activity. Accordingly, this gave impetus to the era preceding antiquity – the era of the Minoan civilization, which had a significant impact on Achaean Greece. Just the same Minoans were located on the island of Crete, which gives reason to believe that they gave rise to European civilization.