The world in the 20th century BCE

In the 20th century BCE (2000 to 1901 BCE), the timeline shows 16 states, empires and colonies and 137 peoples across 12 regions. The most significant include Minoan civilization, Ebla, Old Elamite period, Mari and Kingdom of Kerma.

Previous: 21st century BCE Next: 19th century BCE

Events

• 2000 BCE First spoke-wheeled chariots, Central and North Asia. Sintashta warriors are buried with light two-wheeled chariots, a technology that spreads within centuries to Egypt, India and China.

Central and Southern Africa

• Central African forest foragers c. 3200 BCE to the present
• San hunter-gatherers c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Khoisan hunter-gatherers c. 3200 BCE to 1100 CE
• Pastoral Neolithic herders c. 3000 BCE to 700 CE
• East African hunter-gatherers c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Lower Congo hunter-gatherers c. 3200 BCE to 500 CE
• Great Lakes hunter-gatherers c. 3200 BCE to 500 CE
• Pre-settlement Madagascar c. 3200 BCE to 400 CE

North and West Africa

• Kingdom of Kerma c. 2500 to 1500 BCE
• Middle Kingdom of Egypt c. 2055 to 1650 BCE
• Amazigh (Berber) tribes c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Cushitic-speaking pastoralists c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Medjay, Blemmyes and Beja nomads c. 2300 BCE to the present
• Middle Nile herders and farmers c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
• Saharan cattle pastoralists c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
• Tropical forest hunter-gatherers c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
• Ethiopian highland farmers c. 3000 to 980 BCE
• Tichitt culture c. 2200 to 400 BCE
• Land of Punt c. 2500 to 980 BCE
• Lake Chad fishers and herders c. 3200 to 1800 BCE
• Kintampo culture c. 2500 to 1400 BCE
• C-Group culture c. 2400 to 1550 BCE

Europe

• Minoan civilization c. 3100 to 1450 BCE
• Bell Beaker culture c. 2800 to 1800 BCE
• Unetice culture c. 2300 to 1600 BCE
• El Argar culture c. 2200 to 1550 BCE
• Narva culture c. 3200 to 1750 BCE
• Volosovo culture c. 3200 to 1800 BCE
• Early and Middle Helladic Greece c. 3200 to 1600 BCE
• Comb Ceramic culture c. 3200 to 2000 BCE
• Cycladic culture c. 3200 to 2000 BCE
• Beaker and Early Bronze Age Britain c. 2500 to 1500 BCE
• Wessex culture c. 2000 to 1400 BCE
• Armorican Tumulus culture c. 2000 to 1400 BCE
• Polada culture c. 2200 to 1600 BCE

Middle East

• Ebla c. 3000 to 1600 BCE
• Sumerians c. 3200 to 1800 BCE
• Old Elamite period c. 2700 to 1500 BCE
• Mari c. 2900 to 1761 BCE
• Zagros highland peoples c. 3200 to 800 BCE
• Arabian pastoral nomads c. 3200 to 900 BCE
• Dilmun c. 2800 to 544 BCE
• South Semitic peoples of Yemen c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
• Canaanites c. 3200 to 1150 BCE
• Troy c. 3000 to 1180 BCE
• Byblos c. 2800 to 1200 BCE
• Hurrians c. 2500 to 1000 BCE
• Helmand culture (Shahr-i Sokhta) c. 3200 to 1800 BCE
• Luwians c. 2000 to 700 BCE
• Early Bronze Age Anatolian towns c. 3200 to 2000 BCE
• Hattians c. 2500 to 1650 BCE
• Amorites c. 2400 to 1600 BCE
• Trialeti culture c. 2200 to 1500 BCE
• Wadi Suq culture c. 2000 to 1300 BCE
• Qatna c. 2000 to 1340 BCE
• Old Assyrian city-state c. 2025 to 1365 BCE
• Umm an-Nar culture c. 2600 to 2000 BCE
• Eshnunna c. 2028 to 1762 BCE
• Larsa c. 2025 to 1763 BCE
• Isin c. 2017 to 1794 BCE
• Assyrian trading colonies (Kanesh) c. 1950 to 1750 BCE

South Asia

• Indus Valley Civilization (Mature Harappan) c. 2600 to 1900 BCE
• Harappan Gujarat c. 2600 to 1900 BCE
• Balangoda culture c. 3200 to 900 BCE
• Microlithic hunter-gatherers c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
• Neolithic and Chalcolithic farmers of the Ganges c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
• Early Dravidian-speaking peoples c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
• Neolithic farmers of Bengal and Assam c. 3200 to 1500 BCE
• Deccan hunter-gatherers c. 3200 to 1500 BCE
• Southern Neolithic c. 3000 to 1200 BCE
• Ahar-Banas culture c. 3000 to 1500 BCE
• Helmand culture c. 3200 to 2000 BCE
• Bactria-Margiana culture (Dashly oasis) c. 2300 to 1700 BCE
• Ochre Coloured Pottery culture c. 2000 to 1500 BCE

Central and North Asia

• Andronovo culture c. 2000 to 900 BCE
• Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex c. 2300 to 1600 BCE
• Sintashta culture c. 2100 to 1800 BCE
• Uralic hunter-fishers of western Siberia c. 3200 BCE to 1000 CE
• Baikal hunter-fishers c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
• Early foragers and herders of Mongolia c. 3200 to 1400 BCE
• Namazga culture c. 3200 to 2000 BCE
• Ymyyakhtakh culture c. 2200 to 1300 BCE
• Chemurchek culture c. 2750 to 1900 BCE
• Okunev culture c. 2500 to 1800 BCE
• Xiaohe culture c. 2000 to 1300 BCE

East Asia

• Jomon culture c. 3200 to 300 BCE
• Longshan culture c. 3000 to 1900 BCE
• Xia dynasty (traditional) c. 2070 to 1600 BCE
• Formosan Austronesian peoples c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Neolithic farmers of the Tibetan plateau c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
• Amur and Ussuri foragers c. 3200 to 1100 BCE
• Jeulmun pottery period c. 3200 to 1500 BCE
• Qujialing and Shijiahe cultures c. 3200 to 2000 BCE
• Majiayao culture c. 3200 to 2000 BCE
• Baodun culture c. 2700 to 1700 BCE
• Qijia culture c. 2200 to 1600 BCE
• Lower Xiajiadian culture c. 2200 to 1600 BCE

Southeast Asia

• Austronesian peoples c. 2200 BCE to 900 CE
• Austroasiatic rice farmers c. 2000 BCE to 500 CE
• Ban Chiang culture c. 2000 BCE to 200 CE
• Austroasiatic rice farmers of the Mekong c. 2000 BCE to 100 CE
• Philippine Negrito foragers c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Orang Asli (Semang and Senoi) c. 2000 BCE to the present
• Neolithic and Bronze Age farmers of Burma c. 2000 to 200 BCE
• Pre-Austronesian foragers c. 3200 to 1500 BCE
• Hoabinhian foragers c. 3200 to 2000 BCE
• Hoabinhian foragers c. 3200 to 2000 BCE
• Hoabinhian foragers c. 3200 to 2000 BCE
• Neolithic cultures of northern Vietnam c. 3200 to 2000 BCE
• Hoabinhian foragers c. 3200 to 2000 BCE
• Phung Nguyen and Dong Dau cultures c. 2000 to 1000 BCE

North America

• Arctic Small Tool tradition c. 2500 to 800 BCE
• Unangan (Aleut) peoples c. 2500 BCE to the present
• California Archaic hunter-gatherers c. 3200 BCE to 500 CE
• Shield Archaic c. 3200 to 500 BCE
• Plains Archaic hunters c. 3200 to 500 BCE
• Maritime Archaic c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
• Eastern Archaic hunter-gatherers c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
• Early Agricultural period farmers c. 2100 BCE to 50 CE
• Pre-Dorset c. 2500 to 500 BCE
• Southwestern Archaic foragers c. 3200 to 1500 BCE
• Saqqaq culture c. 2500 to 800 BCE
• Early Pacific period cultures c. 3200 to 1800 BCE
• Northern Archaic tradition c. 3200 to 2000 BCE
• Independence I culture c. 2400 to 1800 BCE

Mesoamerica and Caribbean

• Casimiroid culture c. 3200 to 200 BCE
• Ortoiroid culture c. 3200 to 400 BCE
• Desert Archaic foragers c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
• Archaic foragers and gardeners of the isthmus c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
• Archaic maize farmers c. 3200 to 1200 BCE
• Archaic peoples of the Maya region c. 3200 to 1200 BCE
• Archaic foragers of Oaxaca and the Gulf c. 3200 to 1500 BCE
• Monagrillo culture c. 2500 to 1200 BCE

South America

• Caral-Supe (Norte Chico) c. 3000 to 1800 BCE
• Chinchorro culture c. 3200 to 1500 BCE
• Valdivia culture c. 3200 to 1800 BCE
• Fuegian canoe peoples (Yaghan, Kawésqar) c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Sambaqui shell-mound builders c. 3200 BCE to 1000 CE
• Interior Archaic hunter-gatherers c. 3200 to 500 BCE
• Pampas and Patagonian Archaic hunters c. 3200 to 500 BCE
• Mayo-Chinchipe culture c. 3200 to 500 BCE
• Amazonian Archaic foragers c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
• Northern Andean Archaic peoples c. 3200 to 1500 BCE
• Andean Archaic hunters and herders c. 3200 to 1500 BCE
• Archaic fishing villages of the Peruvian coast c. 3200 to 1800 BCE
• Kotosh religious tradition c. 2300 to 1200 BCE

Oceania

• Aboriginal Australian peoples c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Papuan farmers and foragers c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Kuk Swamp agriculture c. 3200 to 500 BCE
• Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Uninhabited c. 3200 BCE to 1280 CE
• Uninhabited c. 3200 BCE to 1000 CE
• Uninhabited c. 3200 to 100 BCE