The 2nd millennium BCE

Africa

1. 🇳🇦NAM

   Namibia · Culture & Ideas · c. 2000 years ago

   The engravings of Twyfelfontein

   San artists pecked thousands of petroglyphs into the sandstone at Twyfelfontein over roughly two thousand years, depicting animals and tracks bound up with hunter-gatherer ritual; the site was inscribed by UNESCO in 2007.

   First peoples: the San, Khoekhoe, Damara and the engravings of Twyfelfontein

   Sources: Twyfelfontein (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Twyfelfontein or /Ui-//aes (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Twyfelfontein (Wikipedia)

2. 🇿🇦ZAF

   South Africa · Peoples & Migration · c. 1st millennium BCE

   San and Khoekhoe of the subcontinent

   The San, hunter-gatherers present for tens of thousands of years, were joined around two thousand years ago by the herding Khoekhoe, together forming the long-established Khoisan societies of the region.

   Early peoples: San, Khoekhoe and the Bantu-speaking kingdoms

   Sources: South Africa (country, history and government) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Cradle of Humankind (South African History Online)

Asia

1. 🇰🇼KWT

   Kuwait · Formation · c. 2000 BCE

   Dilmun settlement on Failaka

   Failaka island became a flourishing outpost of the Bronze Age Dilmun trading culture, with a town, temple, palace, and one of the largest concentrations of Dilmun seals known.

   Failaka: Dilmun and the Greek Island of Ikaros

   Sources: Failaka Island: A Palimpsest of Human Civilizations (Tentative List) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Sa'ad and Sae'ed Area in Failaka Island (Tentative List) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

2. 🇴🇲OMN

   Oman · Economy & Trade · 2nd-1st millennium BCE

   The frankincense trade flourishes in Dhofar

   The resin of the Boswellia sacra tree, harvested in Dhofar, became one of antiquity's great luxury goods, carried by caravan and ship from southern Arabia to the Mediterranean.

   Magan, Copper and the Land of Frankincense

   Sources: Land of Frankincense (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Ancient Oman: Archaeological Digs and Historical Discoveries in the Sultanate of Oman (Library of Congress)

3. 🇶🇦QAT

   Qatar · Economy & Trade · from antiquity

   Pearling and fishing villages on the Gulf coast

   The peninsula's people lived from pearl diving, fishing and seasonal Bedouin herding, with pearls the great export carried across the Indian Ocean and Arabia from the early Islamic period and earlier.

   Pearls, Tribes and the Town of Al Zubarah

   Sources: Al Zubarah Archaeological Site (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Persian Gulf States: Country Studies (Qatar) (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

Europe

1. 🇬🇷GRC

   Greece · Formation · c. 2000–1450 BCE

   Rise of the Minoan palaces on Crete

   The Minoan civilization built great palace complexes at Knossos and elsewhere on Crete, Europe's first advanced civilization, sustained by trade and a sophisticated artistic and administrative culture.

   Minoan, Mycenaean and the Bronze Age Aegean

   Sources: Minoan Civilization (World History Encyclopedia) · Minoan civilization (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇮🇳IND

   India · Catastrophe · c. 1900 BCE

   Decline of the Harappan cities

   The major cities are gradually abandoned as weakening monsoons and shifting rivers undermine the agricultural base, marking the end of the civilisation's urban phase.

   The Indus Valley Civilisation

   Sources: Indus Valley Civilization (World History Encyclopedia) · Indus Valley Civilisation (Wikipedia)

2. 🇵🇰PAK

   Pakistan · Catastrophe · c. 1900 BCE

   Decline of the Harappan cities

   The major cities are gradually abandoned as weakening monsoons and shifting rivers undermine the agricultural base, ending the civilisation's urban phase.

   The Indus Valley Civilisation

   Sources: Indus civilization (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇸🇾SYR

   Syria · Politics & Power · early 2nd millennium BCE

   Mari and the palace of Zimri-Lim

   The Euphrates city of Mari flourishes as a planned trading capital, its palace archives preserving thousands of diplomatic letters, until Hammurabi of Babylon destroys it in the 18th century BCE.

   Ebla, Mari, Ugarit and the First Alphabet

   Sources: Mari — ancient city, Syria (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇮🇶IRQ

   Iraq · Politics & Power · c. 1755 BCE

   Hammurabi issues his law code

   Hammurabi, sixth king of Babylon, unifies much of Mesopotamia and promulgates the Code of Hammurabi, 282 laws inscribed on a diorite stela — one of the most complete legal collections of the ancient world.

   Sumer, Akkad and Babylon — the First Cities

   Sources: Hammurabi — king of Babylonia (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Code of Hammurabi (Encyclopædia Britannica) · The Code of Hammurabi (Musée du Louvre)

Asia

1. 🇹🇷TUR

   Türkiye · Politics & Power · 17th century BCE

   Hattusa becomes the Hittite capital

   King Hattusilis I established Hattusa in north-central Anatolia as the capital of the Hittite kingdom, the seat of a Bronze Age empire that would rival Egypt.

   Ancient Anatolia: Çatalhöyük, the Hittites and Troy

   Sources: The Hittites (World History Encyclopedia) · Anatolia (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇨🇳CHN

   China · Formation · c. 1600 BCE

   Shang dynasty rules the Yellow River valley

   The Shang, the first Chinese dynasty with historical records, governs from cities such as Anyang and produces ritual bronzes and the oracle-bone script, the earliest known Chinese writing.

   Bronze Age Kingdoms and the Hundred Schools

   Sources: China (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050-221 BCE), Teaching China with the Smithsonian (Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art) · Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Europe

1. 🇬🇷GRC

   Greece · Formation · c. 1600 BCE

   Flourishing of Mycenaean civilization

   Fortified palace-citadels such as Mycenae and Pylos rose on the mainland, ruled by warrior elites who were the first attested Greek-speakers and traded across the eastern Mediterranean.

   Minoan, Mycenaean and the Bronze Age Aegean

   Sources: Mycenaean Civilization (World History Encyclopedia) · Mycenaean civilization (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇳🇬NGA

   Nigeria · Formation · c. 1500 BCE

   Rise of the Nok culture

   On the central Nigerian plateau the Nok culture emerged, producing distinctive terracotta sculpture and, in its later phases, smelting iron — among the earliest such traditions in sub-Saharan Africa.

   The Nok culture and Nigeria's early societies

   Sources: Nok Terracottas (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History) (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) · Nigeria (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · A Chronology of the Central Nigerian Nok Culture, 1500 BC to the Beginning of the Common Era (Peter Breunig and Nicole Rupp (academic study))

Asia

1. 🇮🇳IND

   India · Religion · c. 1500 BCE

   Composition of the Rigveda

   The Rigveda, the oldest Vedic text and a foundational scripture of Hinduism, is composed in early Sanskrit and preserved through oral tradition.

   The Vedic Age and the Great Religions

   Sources: Rigveda (Wikipedia) · Vedic religion (Research Starters) (EBSCO)

North America

1. 🇧🇿BLZ

   Belize · Formation · c. 1500 BCE

   Maya settlement of the lowlands

   Maya-speaking peoples settled the lowland forests and river valleys of present-day Belize, founding farming villages that over centuries grew into towns and cities across the heart of the Maya world.

   The land of the Maya

   Sources: History of Belize (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Guyana and Belize: Country Studies (Federal Research Division) (Library of Congress) · Our History (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Belize)

Oceania

1. 🇦🇺AUS

   Australia · Culture & Ideas · before European contact

   Hundreds of nations and languages

   By the time of European contact the continent was home to hundreds of distinct nations speaking around 250 languages, sustaining complex law, kinship, trade, art, and spiritual systems centred on connection to Country.

   Aboriginal Australia: the world's oldest continuous cultures

   Sources: Australian Aboriginal peoples (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Defining Moments: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history (National Museum of Australia)

Africa

1. 🇸🇴SOM

   Somalia · Economy & Trade · c. 1470 BCE

   Hatshepsut's expedition to Punt

   Reliefs at Queen Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahri record a major Egyptian trading voyage to the Land of Punt, returning with myrrh trees, incense, gold and ivory—the most celebrated ancient evidence of the trade.

   The Land of Punt and the Ancient Incense Coast

   Sources: Punt (ancient region, Africa) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Punt (World History Encyclopedia)

Europe

1. 🇬🇷GRC

   Greece · Culture & Ideas · c. 1450 BCE

   Linear B and Mycenaean control of Crete

   Mycenaeans adapted Minoan script into Linear B to write an early form of Greek and extended their authority to Knossos, as Minoan power on Crete waned.

   Minoan, Mycenaean and the Bronze Age Aegean

   Sources: Mycenaean Civilization (World History Encyclopedia) · Minoan civilization (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇸🇾SYR

   Syria · Culture & Ideas · c. 1400 BCE

   The Ugaritic alphabet

   At the coastal city of Ugarit, scribes devise a cuneiform alphabet of about 30 signs — one of the earliest alphabetic writing systems in history, ancestral in spirit to later Semitic and Mediterranean alphabets.

   Ebla, Mari, Ugarit and the First Alphabet

   Sources: Ugaritic alphabet (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇪🇬EGY

   Egypt · Religion · c. 1336 BCE

   Tutankhamun restores the old gods

   The young Tutankhamun reverses Akhenaten's Aten cult and restores traditional Egyptian religion; his intact tomb, found in 1922, made him world-famous.

   The Pharaonic Kingdoms

   Sources: Ancient Egypt: The Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇪🇬EGY

   Egypt · War & Rupture · c. 1274 BCE

   Battle of Kadesh

   Ramses II confronts the Hittites at Kadesh in Syria; the ensuing accord is among the earliest documented peace treaties.

   The Pharaonic Kingdoms

   Sources: Ancient Egypt: The Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇹🇷TUR

   Türkiye · War & Rupture · c. 1274 BCE

   Battle of Kadesh and the Hittite–Egyptian treaty

   The Hittites under Muwatalli II fought Ramesses II of Egypt at Kadesh; the conflict ended in one of history's earliest surviving peace treaties between the two empires.

   Ancient Anatolia: Çatalhöyük, the Hittites and Troy

   Sources: The Hittites (World History Encyclopedia) · Anatolia (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇹🇷TUR

   Türkiye · Culture & Ideas · c. 13th century BCE

   Troy of the Iliad

   The fortified city at Hisarlık (Troy VI–VII) corresponds to the era of the Trojan War remembered in Homer's Iliad; the layered ruins were excavated from 1870 and inscribed by UNESCO in 1998.

   Ancient Anatolia: Çatalhöyük, the Hittites and Troy

   Sources: Archaeological Site of Troy (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Troy (World History Encyclopedia)

Asia

1. 🇨🇳CHN

   China · Culture & Ideas · c. 1200 BCE

   Oracle-bone divination records

   Shang diviners inscribe questions to ancestors and deities on ox bones and turtle shells; these inscriptions are the oldest unambiguous Chinese writing and a primary source for early history.

   Bronze Age Kingdoms and the Hundred Schools

   Sources: China (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇨🇾CYP

   Cyprus · Peoples & Migration · from c. 1200 BCE

   Greek settlement and the city-kingdoms

   After the collapse of Mycenaean Greece, Greek-speaking settlers established the city-kingdoms of Cyprus, among them Salamis, Kition and Paphos, making Greek the island's predominant language.

   Neolithic Settlers, Greek City-Kingdoms and the Cult of Aphrodite

   Sources: Cyprus: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Paphos (World Heritage List, inscribed 1980) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

3. 🇨🇾CYP

   Cyprus · Religion · from c. 12th c. BCE

   The sanctuary of Aphrodite at Paphos

   Old Paphos became the principal centre of the worship of Aphrodite, whose temple bore witness to one of the oldest Mycenaean settlements and drew pilgrims from across the Greek world.

   Neolithic Settlers, Greek City-Kingdoms and the Cult of Aphrodite

   Sources: Paphos (World Heritage List, inscribed 1980) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Paphos (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

4. 🇯🇴JOR

   Jordan · Formation · c. 1200 BCE

   Ammon, Moab and Edom emerge

   As the Iron Age began, three settled kingdoms took shape on the plateau east of the Jordan, each with its own capital, language and national god, controlling the caravan trade of the King's Highway.

   The Kingdoms East of the Jordan: Ammon, Moab and Edom

   Sources: Jordan: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Jordan: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

Europe

1. 🇬🇷GRC

   Greece · Catastrophe · c. 1200–1100 BCE

   Bronze Age collapse and the Greek Dark Ages

   The Mycenaean palaces were destroyed and writing was lost in the wider Bronze Age collapse, ushering in centuries of decline known as the Greek Dark Ages.

   Minoan, Mycenaean and the Bronze Age Aegean

   Sources: Bronze Age Aegean (World History Encyclopedia) · Mycenaean civilization (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇲🇽MEX

   Mexico · Formation · c. 1200 BCE

   Olmec civilisation flourishes

   The Olmec arise on the Gulf coast as the first complex society of Mesoamerica, carving colossal stone heads and shaping a cultural template inherited by later peoples.

   Mesoamerican Civilisations

   Sources: Olmec (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇹🇷TUR

   Türkiye · Catastrophe · c. 1180 BCE

   Bronze Age collapse

   Around 1200–1180 BCE the Hittite state and Hattusa were destroyed amid the wider collapse of eastern Mediterranean civilisations, ending Anatolia's first great imperial age.

   Ancient Anatolia: Çatalhöyük, the Hittites and Troy

   Sources: The Hittites (World History Encyclopedia) · Anatolia (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇵🇸PSE

   Palestine · Peoples & Migration · c. 12th century BCE

   Arrival of the Philistines

   The Philistines settled the southern coastal plain, founding cities such as Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ashdod; their name would later give the land the name 'Palestine'.

   Ancient Palestine: Canaan, the Philistines, and the Empires

   Sources: Philistine - people (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Philistines (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇪🇸ESP

   Spain · Formation · c. 1100 BCE

   Phoenician colonisation of the coast

   Phoenician traders founded Gadir (modern Cádiz) and other settlements, drawing Iberia into Mediterranean commerce and bringing eastern goods, writing and urban contact to the peninsula.

   Iberia: Celts, Phoenicians, Rome and the Visigoths

   Sources: Spain (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇸🇩SDN

   Sudan · Formation · c. 1070 BCE

   Kush independent at Napata

   As Egypt's New Kingdom collapses, Kush re-emerges as an independent kingdom centred on Napata, near Gebel Barkal.

   Nubia, Kerma and the Kingdom of Kush

   Sources: Kingdom of Kush (Wikipedia) · Sudan — The kingdom of Kush (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇨🇳CHN

   China · Politics & Power · c. 1046 BCE

   Zhou conquest and the Mandate of Heaven

   King Wu of Zhou defeats the Shang at the Battle of Muye and founds the Zhou dynasty, justifying the overthrow with the Mandate of Heaven, a doctrine of morally conditional rule that endures for millennia.

   Bronze Age Kingdoms and the Hundred Schools

   Sources: Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050-221 BCE), Teaching China with the Smithsonian (Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art) · Zhou Dynasty (World History Encyclopedia)