The world in the 26th century BCE

In the 26th century BCE (2600 to 2501 BCE), the timeline shows 12 states, empires and colonies and 121 peoples across 12 regions. The most significant include Minoan civilization, Old Kingdom of Egypt, Ebla, Old Elamite period and Mari.

Previous: 27th century BCE Next: 25th century BCE

Events

• 2600 BCE Indus cities reach their height, South Asia. Mohenjo-daro and Harappa grow into planned cities of tens of thousands, with brick drains, granaries and standard weights shared across a huge area.
• 2600 BCE Caral builds the first cities of the Americas, South America. Platform mounds and sunken plazas rise at Caral in the Supe valley, part of a network of towns that traded cotton and fish between coast and valley.
• 2560 BCE Great Pyramid of Giza, North and West Africa. Khufu's pyramid at Giza is completed, 146 metres high and the tallest human-made structure on Earth for nearly 4,000 years.

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

• Old Kingdom of Egypt c. 2686 to 2181 BCE
• Amazigh (Berber) tribes c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Cushitic-speaking pastoralists c. 3200 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
• Lake Chad fishers and herders c. 3200 to 1800 BCE

Europe

• Minoan civilization c. 3100 to 1450 BCE
• Yamnaya culture c. 3200 to 2600 BCE
• Bell Beaker culture c. 2800 to 1800 BCE
• Corded Ware culture c. 3000 to 2350 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
• Copper Age Italy c. 3200 to 2200 BCE
• Cycladic culture c. 3200 to 2000 BCE
• Neolithic Britain and Ireland c. 3200 to 2500 BCE
• Neolithic farmers of Gaul c. 3200 to 2500 BCE
• Megalithic farmers of western Iberia c. 3200 to 2500 BCE
• Los Millares culture c. 3200 to 2200 BCE
• Cotofeni culture c. 3200 to 2500 BCE
• Pitted Ware culture c. 3200 to 2300 BCE
• Vucedol culture c. 3000 to 2200 BCE
• Fatyanovo-Balanovo culture c. 2800 to 2200 BCE
• Catacomb culture c. 2800 to 2200 BCE
• Battle Axe culture c. 2800 to 2300 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
• Helmand culture (Shahr-i Sokhta) c. 3200 to 1800 BCE
• Kura-Araxes culture c. 3200 to 2200 BCE
• Early Bronze Age Anatolian towns c. 3200 to 2000 BCE
• Jiroft culture c. 3000 to 2200 BCE
• Uruk c. 2900 to 2270 BCE
• Hafit culture c. 3200 to 2600 BCE
• Umm an-Nar culture c. 2600 to 2000 BCE
• Kish c. 2900 to 2334 BCE
• Umma c. 2600 to 2334 BCE
• Ur (First Dynasty) c. 2600 to 2340 BCE

South Asia

• Indus Valley Civilization (Mature Harappan) c. 2600 to 1900 BCE
• Mehrgarh and Baluchistan farmers c. 3200 to 2600 BCE
• Early Harappan phase c. 3200 to 2600 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

Central and North Asia

• Afanasievo culture c. 3200 to 2500 BCE
• Yamnaya culture (Ural steppe) c. 3200 to 2600 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
• Belkachi culture c. 3200 to 2200 BCE
• Foragers of Xinjiang c. 3200 to 2500 BCE
• Chemurchek culture c. 2750 to 1900 BCE
• Poltavka culture c. 2700 to 2100 BCE

East Asia

• Jomon culture c. 3200 to 300 BCE
• Longshan culture c. 3000 to 1900 BCE
• Liangzhu culture c. 3200 to 2300 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
• Dawenkou culture c. 3200 to 2600 BCE
• Xiaoheyan culture c. 3000 to 2200 BCE

Southeast Asia

• Philippine Negrito foragers c. 3200 BCE to the present
• 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

North America

• 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
• Southwestern Archaic foragers c. 3200 to 1500 BCE
• Early Pacific period cultures c. 3200 to 1800 BCE
• Northern Archaic tradition c. 3200 to 2000 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

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

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