The world in 1000 BCE

In 1000 BCE, the timeline shows 25 states, empires and colonies and 140 peoples across 12 regions. The most significant include Kingdom of Saba, Greek cities of Asia Minor, Phoenician city-states, Kuru Kingdom, Chu, Middle Assyrian Empire, Western Zhou and Dilmun.

See 1000 BCE on the interactive chart

What was happening around 1000 BCE

1050 BCE Phoenician alphabet, Middle East. Phoenician scribes use a 22-letter alphabet of consonants, conventionally dated from 1050 BCE. It becomes the ancestor of the Greek and Latin scripts and, through Aramaic, of Hebrew and Arabic.
1046 BCE Battle of Muye, East Asia. King Wu of Zhou defeats the last Shang king, Di Xin, ending the Shang. Later Zhou histories present the conquest as a transfer of the Mandate of Heaven.
1000 BCE Bantu farmers reach the Great Lakes, Central and Southern Africa. Bantu-speaking farmers of the Eastern Stream reach the Great Lakes, by 1000 BCE in some accounts and around 500 BCE in others. Their route, along the northern edge of the rainforest or the Ubangi River, is uncertain.
1000 BCE Iron spreads across the Ganges plain, South Asia. After about 1000 BCE iron axes and ploughs came into wide use, letting farmers clear the forests of the Ganges plain, where the kingdoms of the later Vedic age arose.
900 BCE Chavín de Huántar becomes a pilgrimage center, South America. The temple at Chavín becomes a pan-regional center where pilgrims come for rituals and an oracle, and Chavín art becomes the first widespread, recognizable artistic style in the Andes.

Central and Southern Africa

Eastern Bantu-speaking farmers c. 1000 BCE to 1300 CE
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

Nok culture c. 1500 BCE to 1 CE
Medjay, Blemmyes and Beja nomads c. 2300 BCE to the present
Cushitic-speaking peoples c. 2000 BCE to the present
Sahelian cereal farmers c. 1500 BCE to the present
West African yam and oil palm farmers c. 1500 BCE to the present
Amazigh (Berber) tribes c. 1400 BCE to the present
Middle Nile herders and farmers c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
Ethiopian highland farmers c. 3000 to 800 BCE
Saharan cattle pastoralists c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
Tropical forest hunter-gatherers c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
Tichitt culture c. 2200 to 200 BCE
Land of Punt c. 2500 to 980 BCE
Gajiganna culture c. 1800 to 400 BCE
Libu and Meshwesh c. 1390 to 945 BCE
Third Intermediate Period c. 1069 to 664 BCE

Europe

Nuragic civilization c. 1800 to 238 BCE
Nordic Bronze Age c. 1700 to 500 BCE
Urnfield culture c. 1300 to 750 BCE
Sami people c. 1000 BCE to the present
Thracians c. 1200 BCE to 46 CE
Talayotic culture c. 1300 to 123 BCE
Illyrians c. 1000 BCE to 9 CE
Bronze Age Gaul c. 1800 to 800 BCE
Italic peoples c. 1000 to 88 BCE
Lusatian culture c. 1300 to 500 BCE
Middle and Late Bronze Age Britain c. 1500 to 800 BCE
Atlantic Bronze Age c. 1300 to 700 BCE
Greek Dark Ages c. 1180 to 800 BCE
Bilozerka culture c. 1200 to 900 BCE
Proto-Villanovan culture c. 1200 to 900 BCE

Middle East

Kingdom of Saba c. 1000 BCE to 275 CE
Greek cities of Asia Minor c. 1050 to 133 BCE
Phoenician city-states c. 1200 to 332 BCE
Middle Assyrian Empire c. 1363 to 912 BCE
Dilmun c. 2800 to 538 BCE
Arabian pastoral nomads c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
Colchian culture c. 2700 to 700 BCE
Bronze Age peoples of Yemen c. 3000 to 1000 BCE
Aramaic-speaking Mesopotamians c. 1100 BCE to 700 CE
Zagros highland peoples c. 2400 to 669 BCE
Luwians c. 2000 to 700 BCE
Hurrians c. 2300 to 1000 BCE
Moab c. 1300 to 582 BCE
Tyre c. 1000 to 332 BCE
Philistines c. 1175 to 604 BCE
Neo-Elamite period c. 1100 to 539 BCE
Babylonia (Isin II and later dynasties) c. 1155 to 626 BCE
Iranian-speaking pastoralists c. 1200 to 700 BCE
Syro-Hittite states c. 1180 to 710 BCE
Nairi tribes c. 1240 to 780 BCE
Edom c. 1000 to 552 BCE
Aram-Damascus c. 1120 to 732 BCE
Aramean kingdoms c. 1100 to 720 BCE
Israelite tribes c. 1200 to 930 BCE

South Asia

Kuru Kingdom c. 1200 to 345 BCE
Munda-speaking peoples c. 1500 BCE to the present
Tibeto-Burman hill peoples c. 1000 BCE to the present
Foragers and early farmers of eastern India before 3200 to 700 BCE
Balangoda culture before 3200 to 900 BCE
Eastern Iranian peoples c. 1500 BCE to 1000 CE
Microlithic hunter-gatherers before 3200 to 1000 BCE
Foragers and early herders of the far south c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
Neolithic and Chalcolithic farmers of the Ganges c. 2500 to 1000 BCE
Megalithic culture of the Deccan c. 1200 to 100 BCE
Pandu culture c. 1600 to 750 BCE
Indo-Aryan clans of the Punjab c. 1100 to 320 BCE
Panchala c. 1100 to 350 BCE
Iron Age villages of western India c. 1200 to 500 BCE
Jorwe culture c. 1400 to 700 BCE
Tamil Iron Age c. 1000 to 300 BCE
Gandhara grave culture c. 1400 to 800 BCE
Painted Grey Ware culture c. 1200 to 600 BCE

Central and North Asia

Andronovo culture c. 2000 to 1000 BCE
Hunter-fishers of western Siberia before 3200 BCE to 1000 CE
Yukaghir peoples c. 1000 BCE to the present
Chukchi, Koryak and Itelmen peoples c. 1000 BCE to the present
Baikal hunter-fishers before 3200 to 1000 BCE
Yaz culture c. 1500 to 500 BCE
Slab grave culture c. 1300 to 300 BCE
Subeshi culture c. 1000 to 100 BCE
Andronovo herders of Dzungaria c. 1800 to 1000 BCE
Karasuk culture c. 1500 to 800 BCE
Deer stone and khirigsuur culture c. 1400 to 700 BCE

East Asia

Jomon culture before 3200 to 300 BCE
Chu c. 1030 to 223 BCE
Western Zhou 1046 to 771 BCE
Formosan Austronesian peoples before 3200 BCE to the present
Qiang peoples c. 1250 BCE to the present
Baiyue peoples c. 1000 BCE to 200 CE
Mumun pottery period c. 1500 to 300 BCE
Shu kingdom (Jinsha) c. 1150 to 316 BCE
Qi c. 1046 to 221 BCE
Yan c. 1046 to 222 BCE
Lu c. 1042 to 249 BCE
Jin (Zhou state) c. 1033 to 376 BCE
Xindian culture c. 1500 to 1000 BCE
Upper Xiajiadian culture c. 1000 to 600 BCE

Southeast Asia

Austronesian peoples c. 2200 BCE to 900 CE
Neolithic to Iron Age farmers of Thailand c. 2300 BCE to 500 CE
Ban Chiang culture c. 2000 BCE to 200 CE
Neolithic and Iron Age farmers of Cambodia c. 2000 BCE to 100 CE
Austronesian peoples of Sumatra and Malaya c. 1500 BCE to 500 CE
Austronesian farmers of Java and Wallacea c. 1500 BCE to 400 CE
Dong Son culture c. 1000 BCE to 100 CE
Philippine Negrito foragers c. 3200 BCE to the present
Orang Asli (Semang and Senoi) c. 1800 BCE to the present
Dayak peoples of Borneo c. 1000 BCE to the present
Plain of Jars culture c. 1000 BCE to 1200 CE
Bronze and Iron Age farmers of Burma c. 1500 to 200 BCE
Sa Huynh culture c. 1000 BCE to 200 CE
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
Northern Archaic tradition before 3200 BCE to 1000 CE
California Archaic hunter-gatherers before 3200 BCE to 500 CE
Plains Archaic hunters before 3200 to 500 BCE
Belle Glade culture c. 1000 BCE to 1700 CE
Eastern Archaic hunter-gatherers before 3200 to 1000 BCE
Locarno Beach and Marpole cultures c. 1800 BCE to 500 CE
Basketmaker culture c. 1500 BCE to 750 CE
Early Agricultural period farmers c. 2100 BCE to 50 CE
Woodland period cultures c. 1000 BCE to 1000 CE
Norton tradition c. 1000 BCE to 800 CE
Saqqaq culture c. 2500 to 800 BCE
Pre-Dorset c. 2500 to 850 BCE

Mesoamerica and Caribbean

Olmec civilization c. 1600 to 400 BCE
San Lorenzo phase (Olmec) c. 1400 to 900 BCE
Ortoiroid culture before 3200 to 400 BCE
Gran Coclé chiefdoms c. 1200 BCE to 1520 CE
Desert Archaic foragers before 3200 to 1000 BCE
Archaic foragers and gardeners of the isthmus before 3200 to 1000 BCE
Guayabo de Turrialba c. 1000 BCE to 1400 CE
Early farmers of the northern deserts c. 1500 BCE to 700 CE
San José Mogote c. 1500 to 500 BCE
Mokaya culture c. 1900 to 1000 BCE
Early Preclassic Maya villages c. 1200 to 600 BCE
Tlatilco culture c. 1250 to 800 BCE

South America

Fuegian canoe peoples (Yaghan, Kawésqar) before 3200 BCE to the present
Sambaqui shell-mound builders before 3200 BCE to 1000 CE
Interior Archaic hunter-gatherers before 3200 to 500 BCE
Pampas and Patagonian Archaic hunters before 3200 to 500 BCE
Amazonian Archaic foragers before 3200 to 1000 BCE
Barrancoid culture c. 1000 BCE to 650 CE
Chiripa culture c. 1400 to 100 BCE
Chorrera culture c. 1300 to 300 BCE
Cupisnique culture c. 1500 to 500 BCE
Casma valley centers (Sechín) c. 1800 to 900 BCE

Oceania

Aboriginal Australian peoples before 3200 BCE to the present
Lapita culture c. 1350 to 500 BCE
Papuan farmers and foragers before 3200 BCE to the present
Kuk Swamp agriculture before 3200 BCE to 1900 CE
Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples before 3200 BCE to the present
Uninhabited c. 3200 BCE to 1280 CE
Uninhabited c. 3200 BCE to 1000 CE
Uninhabited c. 3200 to 200 BCE
Pre-Latte Chamorro c. 1500 BCE to 900 CE

Questions

What countries existed in 1000 BCE?

The timeline shows 25 states, empires and colonies alive in 1000 BCE. Among the most significant: Kingdom of Saba, Greek cities of Asia Minor, Phoenician city-states, Kuru Kingdom, Chu, Middle Assyrian Empire, Western Zhou and Dilmun. The full list by region is on this page.

What was happening in the world in 1000 BCE?

Within 100 years of 1000 BCE, the timeline records Phoenician alphabet (1050 BCE), Battle of Muye (1046 BCE), Bantu farmers reach the Great Lakes (1000 BCE), Iron spreads across the Ganges plain (1000 BCE) and Chavín de Huántar becomes a pilgrimage center (900 BCE).

Which empires existed in 1000 BCE?

Middle Assyrian Empire.

Where do these dates come from?

Each row's dates were checked against the sources listed on that row's own page, mostly English Wikipedia articles, which cite the underlying scholarship. Dates that are uncertain are marked c.