The 4th millennium BCE

Africa

1. 🇳🇪NER

   Niger · Culture & Ideas · Holocene

   Rock art of a green Sahara

   Across the Aïr and Ténéré, engraved and painted rock art recorded cattle, giraffes and elephants, documenting a watered landscape utterly unlike the desert that exists today.

   The Green Sahara and the peoples of the Ténéré

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

Europe

1. 🇲🇹MLT

   Malta · Culture & Ideas · c. 3600–2500 BCE

   The Maltese temple culture flourishes

   A Neolithic society raised the temples of Hagar Qim, Mnajdra, Tarxien, Skorba and Ta' Hagrat in successive phases, creating monumental architecture without the use of metal tools.

   The Temple Builders and Prehistoric Malta

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

2. 🇲🇹MLT

   Malta · Culture & Ideas · c. 3600 BCE

   The temples of Ggantija raised on Gozo

   The two megalithic temples of Ggantija were built on Gozo, the South Temple around 3600 BCE, ranking among the oldest free-standing monumental buildings in the world.

   The Temple Builders and Prehistoric Malta

   Sources: The Megalithic Temples of Malta (World History Encyclopedia) · Ggantija Archaeological Park (Heritage Malta)

Africa

1. 🇨🇫CAF

   Central African Republic · Culture & Ideas · c. 3500–2700 BCE

   The megaliths of Bouar are raised

   Farmers near Bouar in the west erected multi-ton standing stones (tazunu), among the most important prehistoric monuments in Central Africa and evidence of organised Neolithic communities.

   Megaliths and Early Peoples

   Sources: Central African Republic — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of the Central African Republic (Kiddle Encyclopedia) · Bouar (megaliths) (Wikipedia)

2. 🇪🇬EGY

   Egypt · Formation · c. 3500 BCE

   Naqada cultures flourish in Upper Egypt

   Predynastic settlements in Upper Egypt develop social hierarchy, craft specialisation and long-distance trade, laying the groundwork for state formation.

   Predynastic Egypt and the Unification

   Sources: Narmer (World History Encyclopedia)

Asia

1. 🇹🇯TJK

   Tajikistan · Formation · c. 3500–2000 BCE

   The proto-urban settlement of Sarazm

   In the Zeravshan valley near Penjikent, Sarazm grows into one of the oldest proto-urban settlements in Central Asia, a centre of metallurgy and long-distance trade, later inscribed as Tajikistan's first UNESCO World Heritage Site (2010).

   Sogdiana, Bactria and the Silk Road

   Sources: Proto-urban Site of Sarazm — World Heritage List (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan: Country Studies (Federal Research Division, Library of Congress)

South America

1. 🇪🇨ECU

   Ecuador · Culture & Ideas · c. 3500 BCE

   The Valdivia ceramic culture

   On the Pacific coast the Valdivia people make fired-clay vessels and figurines among the oldest pottery in the Americas, evidence of early settled, farming village life.

   Valdivia Potters and the Chiefdoms of the Andes

   Sources: History of Ecuador (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇮🇷IRN

   Iran · Formation · c. 3200 BCE

   The kingdom of Elam and the city of Susa

   Elam, one of the earliest civilisations of the region, flourishes around its capital Susa in south-western Iran, trading and warring with Mesopotamia until Susa is sacked by the Assyrians around 647 BCE.

   Elam and the Achaemenid Empire

   Sources: Elam — ancient region, Iran (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Susa (World History Encyclopedia)

2. 🇮🇶IRQ

   Iraq · Culture & Ideas · c. 3200 BCE

   The Sumerians invent cuneiform writing

   In the Sumerian city of Uruk, scribes develop cuneiform — wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay — first to keep accounts and then to record law, literature and history, making Mesopotamia the cradle of the written word.

   Sumer, Akkad and Babylon — the First Cities

   Sources: How to write cuneiform (The British Museum) · Mesopotamia — collection gallery (The British Museum)

Africa

1. 🇪🇬EGY

   Egypt · Politics & Power · c. 3100 BCE

   Memphis founded as royal capital

   A new capital is established at Memphis near the meeting point of the Two Lands, becoming the administrative heart of early pharaonic Egypt.

   Predynastic Egypt and the Unification

   Sources: Narmer (World History Encyclopedia)

2. 🇪🇬EGY

   Egypt · Formation · c. 3100 BCE

   Unification under Narmer (Menes)

   Upper and Lower Egypt are united into a single kingdom under King Narmer, traditionally identified with Menes, inaugurating the First Dynasty and the dynastic state.

   Predynastic Egypt and the Unification

   Sources: Narmer (World History Encyclopedia)