The 3rd millennium BCE

Africa

1. 🇬🇦GAB

   Gabon · Peoples & Migration · deep prehistory

   Forest hunter-gatherers of the Ogooué

   Rainforest hunter-gatherers, ancestors of peoples such as the Babongo and Baka, inhabited the equatorial forest of present-day Gabon, living by hunting, fishing and gathering and trading with later farming communities.

   Forest peoples and the Bantu migrations

   Sources: History of Gabon (Encyclopædia Britannica) · History of Gabon (Wikipedia) · Gabon — People (GlobalSecurity.org)

2. 🇰🇪KEN

   Kenya · Peoples & Migration · c. 3rd millennium BCE

   Cushitic pastoralists enter the north

   Southern Cushitic-speaking herders move into the arid lands of northern Kenya, among the earliest food-producing communities in the region.

   Cradle of Humankind: the Turkana Basin

   Sources: History of Kenya (Wikipedia)

3. 🇸🇸SDS

   South Sudan · Peoples & Migration · c. 3000 BCE

   Cattle-herding cultures in the Sudd

   Archaeological evidence indicates transhumant cattle-raising societies established in the Sudd marshlands of the upper White Nile.

   Peoples of the Upper Nile

   Sources: History of South Sudan (Wikipedia) · Precolonial History of South Sudan (Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History)

Asia

1. 🇱🇧LBN

   Lebanon · Formation · c. 3000 BCE

   Byblos trades cedar with Egypt

   Byblos flourishes as a port exporting Lebanese cedar to Egypt, beginning a record of urban habitation that makes it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

   Phoenicia: Byblos, Sidon and Tyre

   Sources: Byblos (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Byblos, Ancient Phoenician City (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇴🇲OMN

   Oman · Culture & Ideas · 3rd millennium BCE

   Beehive tombs and towers at Bat

   The Bronze Age communities of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn raised monumental stone towers and dry-stone beehive tombs, later inscribed by UNESCO in 1988 as the most complete such collection in the world.

   Magan, Copper and the Land of Frankincense

   Sources: Archaeological Sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

3. 🇵🇸PSE

   Palestine · Formation · c. 3000 BCE

   Canaanite city-states of the Bronze Age

   Walled Canaanite towns flourished across the southern Levant, trading with Egypt and Mesopotamia and forming the region's earliest urban civilisation.

   Ancient Palestine: Canaan, the Philistines, and the Empires

   Sources: Palestine - region, history (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Canaan (Wikipedia)

4. 🇸🇦SAU

   Saudi Arabia · Economy & Trade · c. 3000 BCE

   The Dilmun trading culture flourishes

   Around the eastern shores of the Arabian Peninsula, the Dilmun culture became a hub linking Mesopotamia with the Indus valley, remembered in Sumerian literature as a land of prosperity and long life.

   Ancient Arabia and the Caravan Kingdoms

   Sources: The Arabian Peninsula: A cradle of ancient kingdoms (Al Majalla)

5. 🇦🇪ARE

   United Arab Emirates · Culture & Ideas · c. 3rd millennium BCE

   Hafit-period tombs near Jebel Hafit

   Beehive-shaped stone tombs of the Hafit period appear on the slopes of Jebel Hafit near Al Ain, the earliest monumental architecture of the region and a marker of settled life at the desert's edge.

   Bronze Age Oases and the Pearling Coast

   Sources: Cultural Sites of Al Ain (Hafit, Hili, Bidaa Bint Saud and Oases Areas) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Six new sites inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List (2011) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Europe

1. 🇲🇹MLT

   Malta · Religion · c. 3300–2500 BCE

   The Hal Saflieni Hypogeum

   A vast underground necropolis was cut on three levels into the limestone, holding the remains of about 7,000 people and the famous Sleeping Lady figurine.

   The Temple Builders and Prehistoric Malta

   Sources: The Megalithic Temples of Malta (World History Encyclopedia) · The Sleeping Lady (World History Encyclopedia)

South America

1. 🇵🇪PER

   Peru · Formation · c. 3000-1800 BCE

   The Sacred City of Caral-Supe

   On the central coast the monumental city of Caral rises, with pyramids and sunken plazas, among the oldest urban centres of the Americas and the heart of the Norte Chico tradition.

   Caral and the Great Andean Civilisations

   Sources: Sacred City of Caral-Supe (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Peru: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇸🇷SUR

   Suriname · Peoples & Migration · by c. 3000 BCE

   Indigenous settlement

   Arawak, Carib, and other Indigenous peoples occupy the coast and interior of present-day Suriname over many centuries.

   Indigenous Peoples and Early Contact

   Sources: Suriname: People (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Suriname: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇺🇾URY

   Uruguay · Peoples & Migration · by c. 3000 BCE

   Indigenous peoples of the grasslands

   The Charrua and other hunting and gathering peoples occupy the plains north of the Rio de la Plata over many millennia, well before any European arrival.

   The Charrua and the Banda Oriental

   Sources: Charrua (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Uruguay (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇻🇳VNM

   Vietnam · Formation · c. 2879 BCE (traditional)

   Legendary founding of Van Lang

   Vietnamese tradition dates the kingdom of Van Lang and its line of Hung kings to 2879 BCE; the historical Bronze Age Dong Son culture of the Red River delta flourished in the first millennium BCE.

   Legendary Origins and a Thousand Years of Chinese Rule

   Sources: Hung Vuong (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Vietnam (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇪🇬EGY

   Egypt · Culture & Ideas · c. 2630 BCE

   Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara

   Imhotep designs the Step Pyramid for King Djoser, the first monumental stone structure in Egypt and a prototype for the pyramids to come.

   The Pharaonic Kingdoms

   Sources: Ancient Egypt: The Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Asia

1. 🇮🇳IND

   India · Formation · c. 2600 BCE

   Mature urban phase of the Indus cities

   Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and hundreds of other settlements reach their peak, with grid-planned streets, advanced drainage and standardised weights across a vast trading network.

   The Indus Valley Civilisation

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

2. 🇮🇳IND

   India · Culture & Ideas · c. 2600 BCE

   Mohenjo-daro flourishes

   Mohenjo-daro, on the Indus in modern Pakistan, becomes one of the civilisation's largest cities and is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its Great Bath and citadel.

   The Indus Valley Civilisation

   Sources: Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Indus Valley Civilization (World History Encyclopedia)

3. 🇵🇰PAK

   Pakistan · Formation · c. 2600 BCE

   Mature phase of the Indus cities

   Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and hundreds of other settlements reach their peak, with grid-planned streets, advanced drainage and standardised weights across a vast trading network.

   The Indus Valley Civilisation

   Sources: Indus civilization (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Mohenjo-daro (Encyclopædia Britannica)

4. 🇵🇰PAK

   Pakistan · Culture & Ideas · c. 2600 BCE

   Mohenjo-daro flourishes

   On the right bank of the Indus in Sindh, Mohenjo-daro becomes one of the civilisation's largest cities, renowned for its citadel and Great Bath; it is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

   The Indus Valley Civilisation

   Sources: Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Mohenjo-daro (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇪🇬EGY

   Egypt · Culture & Ideas · c. 2560 BCE

   Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza

   King Khufu raises the Great Pyramid at Giza, the largest of the pyramids and the sole surviving wonder of the ancient world.

   The Pharaonic Kingdoms

   Sources: Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Ancient Egypt: The Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇳🇪NER

   Niger · Catastrophe · c. 2500 BCE

   The desert returns

   As the climate dried, the lakes retreated and the Sahara hardened into desert, pushing human settlement and trade southward toward the Sahel.

   The Green Sahara and the peoples of the Ténéré

   Sources: History of Niger (Wikipedia) · Archaeology of the Green Sahara (NigerHeritage)

2. 🇸🇴SOM

   Somalia · Economy & Trade · c. 2500 BCE

   Egyptian trade with Punt begins

   Egyptian records attest trading contact with Punt from the Old Kingdom onward, drawing the Horn of Africa into pharaonic commerce in aromatic resins and luxury goods.

   The Land of Punt and the Ancient Incense Coast

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

Asia

1. 🇦🇪ARE

   United Arab Emirates · Culture & Ideas · c. 2500 BCE

   The Umm an-Nar culture flourishes

   Named for an island off Abu Dhabi, the Umm an-Nar culture built circular communal tombs, fortified towers and agricultural settlements at Hili, trading copper and goods with Mesopotamia and the Indus valley.

   Bronze Age Oases and the Pearling Coast

   Sources: The Bronze Age Sites of Hili (Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi) · Cultural Sites of Al Ain (Hafit, Hili, Bidaa Bint Saud and Oases Areas) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Europe

1. 🇲🇹MLT

   Malta · Catastrophe · c. 2500 BCE

   The temple builders disappear

   Around 2500 BCE the temple-building culture came to an end for reasons still debated, and a new Bronze Age population succeeded the people who had raised the great monuments.

   The Temple Builders and Prehistoric Malta

   Sources: The Megalithic Temples of Malta (World History Encyclopedia)

North America

1. 🇬🇱GRL

   Greenland · Peoples & Migration · c. 2500 BCE

   The Saqqaq settle Greenland

   The Saqqaq, the earliest known people in Greenland, migrated from Arctic North America and spread along the coasts as caribou and seal hunters, beginning more than four millennia of continuous Arctic settlement.

   The First Peoples: Saqqaq, Dorset and Thule

   Sources: Aasivissuit–Nipisat. Inuit Hunting Ground between Ice and Sea (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Greenland: History (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇸🇩SDN

   Sudan · Formation · c. 2500–1500 BCE

   The Kerma culture

   The city-state of Kerma dominates the middle Nile, one of the earliest urban civilisations in sub-Saharan Africa and a rival of pharaonic Egypt.

   Nubia, Kerma and the Kingdom of Kush

   Sources: Kingdom of Kush (Wikipedia) · The Kingdom of Kush (World History Encyclopedia)

Asia

1. 🇸🇾SYR

   Syria · Formation · c. 2600–2240 BCE

   The kingdom of Ebla

   Ebla dominates northern Syria, trading and corresponding with Egypt, Sumer and Mesopotamia; its cuneiform royal archives, rediscovered in the 20th century, reveal a literate Bronze Age state.

   Ebla, Mari, Ugarit and the First Alphabet

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

Asia

1. 🇮🇶IRQ

   Iraq · Formation · c. 2334 BCE

   Sargon founds the Akkadian Empire

   Sargon of Akkad unites the Sumerian city-states under one ruler, creating what is often called history's first empire, with its capital at Akkad and a Semitic-speaking dynasty.

   Sumer, Akkad and Babylon — the First Cities

   Sources: Sargon — king of Akkad (Encyclopædia Britannica) · History of Mesopotamia (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇰🇵PRK

   North Korea · Formation · 2333 BCE (legendary)

   Legendary founding of Gojoseon

   According to the Samguk yusa, the mythical Dangun establishes Gojoseon, traditionally regarded as the first Korean kingdom and a shared origin point for both Koreas.

   Shared Korean Heritage

   Sources: Korea (history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Gojoseon (World History Encyclopedia)

2. 🇰🇷KOR

   South Korea · Formation · 2333 BCE (legendary)

   Legendary founding of Gojoseon

   According to the Samguk yusa, the mythical Dangun establishes Gojoseon, traditionally regarded as the first Korean kingdom; the date is commemorated as National Foundation Day.

   Gojoseon and the Three Kingdoms

   Sources: Korea (history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Gojoseon (World History Encyclopedia)

Asia

1. 🇴🇲OMN

   Oman · Economy & Trade · c. 2300 BCE

   Magan supplies copper to Mesopotamia

   Sumerian texts record a land called Magan, identified with Oman, as a source of copper and diorite carried by sea to the city-states of Mesopotamia.

   Magan, Copper and the Land of Frankincense

   Sources: Ancient Oman: Archaeological Digs and Historical Discoveries in the Sultanate of Oman (Library of Congress) · Oman: The early period (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇹🇲TKM

   Turkmenistan · Formation · c. 2300 BCE

   The Margiana oasis civilisation (BMAC)

   The Bronze Age Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex flourished in the southern Karakum oases, its Margiana centre at Gonur Depe — monumental architecture, irrigation farming and fine metalwork later excavated by Viktor Sarianidi.

   Ancient Oases: Margiana and Parthian Nisa

   Sources: Turkmenistan (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Turkmenistan: A Country Study (in 'Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan: Country Studies') (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

Africa

1. 🇪🇬EGY

   Egypt · Politics & Power · c. 2055 BCE

   Mentuhotep II reunifies Egypt

   Mentuhotep II of Thebes defeats the rival Heracleopolitan kings and reunites Egypt, inaugurating the Middle Kingdom.

   The Pharaonic Kingdoms

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