The world in 2000 BCE

In 2000 BCE, the timeline shows 14 states, empires and colonies and 138 peoples across 12 regions. The most significant include Ebla, Old Elamite period, Mari, Kingdom of Kerma, Middle Kingdom of Egypt, Dilmun, Troy and Byblos.

See 2000 BCE on the interactive chart

What was happening around 2000 BCE

2100 BCE Maize reaches the Southwest, North America. Maize from Mexico appears in Arizona and New Mexico, and within a millennium farmers in the Tucson Basin are digging irrigation canals.
2004 BCE Elamites sack Ur, Middle East. An Elamite army destroys Ur and carries off its last king, Ibbi-Sin, ending the Third Dynasty of Ur. The Lament for Ur mourns the city's fall.
2000 BCE Earliest known spoke-wheeled chariots, Central and North Asia. Sintashta warriors are buried with light two-wheeled chariots, the earliest known, though some scholars class them as carts. Chariots later spread across the Old World and reached Egypt around 1650 BCE.
1900 BCE Indus cities decline, South Asia. From around 1900 BCE, as the monsoon weakened and rivers dried up, the Indus cities declined. Most were abandoned by 1700 BCE, and people moved east toward the Ganges basin.

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
Medjay, Blemmyes and Beja nomads c. 2300 BCE to the present
Cushitic-speaking peoples c. 2000 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
Neolithic peoples of the Maghreb c. 3200 to 1400 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 before 3200 to 1750 BCE
Early and Middle Helladic Greece c. 3200 to 1550 BCE
Comb Ceramic culture before 3200 to 2000 BCE
Volosovo culture c. 3000 to 1500 BCE
Neolithic farmers of Gaul before 3200 to 2000 BCE
Cycladic culture c. 3100 to 2000 BCE
Beaker and Early Bronze Age Britain c. 2500 to 1500 BCE
Armorican Tumulus culture c. 2150 to 1350 BCE
Wessex culture c. 2000 to 1400 BCE
Polada culture c. 2200 to 1600 BCE
Catacomb culture c. 2500 to 1950 BCE

Middle East

Ebla c. 3000 to 1600 BCE
Old Elamite period c. 2700 to 1500 BCE
Mari c. 2900 to 1761 BCE
Sumerians c. 3100 to 2000 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
Troy c. 3000 to 1180 BCE
Byblos c. 3000 to 1200 BCE
Zagros highland peoples c. 2400 to 669 BCE
Kura-Araxes culture before 3200 to 2000 BCE
Luwians c. 2000 to 700 BCE
Hurrians c. 2300 to 1000 BCE
Early Bronze Age Anatolian towns c. 3000 to 2000 BCE
Amorites c. 2500 to 1600 BCE
Canaanites c. 2000 to 1150 BCE
Hattians c. 2500 to 1700 BCE
Trialeti culture c. 2200 to 1500 BCE
Wadi Suq culture c. 2000 to 1300 BCE
Old Assyrian city-state c. 2025 to 1363 BCE
Qatna c. 2000 to 1340 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 1792 BCE

South Asia

Indus Valley Civilization (Mature Harappan) c. 2600 to 1900 BCE
Harappan Gujarat c. 2600 to 1900 BCE
Foragers and early farmers of eastern India before 3200 to 700 BCE
Balangoda culture before 3200 to 900 BCE
Microlithic hunter-gatherers before 3200 to 1000 BCE
Foragers and early herders of the far south c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
Deccan hunter-gatherers before 3200 to 1500 BCE
Southern Neolithic c. 3000 to 1200 BCE
Ahar-Banas culture c. 3000 to 1500 BCE
Neolithic and Chalcolithic farmers of the Ganges c. 2500 to 1000 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 1000 BCE
Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex c. 2500 to 1700 BCE
Sintashta culture c. 2200 to 1800 BCE
Hunter-fishers of western Siberia before 3200 BCE to 1000 CE
Baikal hunter-fishers before 3200 to 1000 BCE
Early foragers and herders of Mongolia before 3200 to 1400 BCE
Namazga culture before 3200 to 2000 BCE
Ymyyakhtakh culture c. 2200 to 1300 BCE
Chemurchek culture c. 2750 to 1900 BCE
Okunev culture c. 2600 to 1800 BCE
Xiaohe culture c. 2000 to 1600 BCE

East Asia

Jomon culture before 3200 to 300 BCE
Longshan culture c. 3000 to 1900 BCE
Xia dynasty (traditional) c. 2070 to 1600 BCE
Formosan Austronesian peoples before 3200 BCE to the present
Amur and Ussuri foragers before 3200 to 1100 BCE
Jeulmun pottery period before 3200 to 1500 BCE
Xiaoheyan culture before 3200 to 2000 BCE
Qujialing and Shijiahe cultures before 3200 to 2000 BCE
Karuo culture before 3200 to 2000 BCE
Majiayao culture before 3200 to 2000 BCE
Baodun culture c. 2700 to 1700 BCE
Qijia culture c. 2400 to 1600 BCE
Lower Xiajiadian culture c. 2200 to 1600 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
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
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
Eastern Archaic hunter-gatherers before 3200 to 1000 BCE
Early Agricultural period farmers c. 2100 BCE to 50 CE
Maritime Archaic before 3200 to 1500 BCE
Shield Archaic before 3200 to 1500 BCE
Southwestern Archaic foragers before 3200 to 1500 BCE
Saqqaq culture c. 2500 to 800 BCE
Early Pacific period cultures before 3200 to 1800 BCE
Pre-Dorset c. 2500 to 850 BCE
Independence I culture c. 2400 to 1800 BCE

Mesoamerica and Caribbean

Ortoiroid culture before 3200 to 400 BCE
Desert Archaic foragers before 3200 to 1000 BCE
Archaic foragers and gardeners of the isthmus before 3200 to 1000 BCE
Archaic maize farmers before 3200 to 2000 BCE
Archaic foragers of Oaxaca and the Gulf before 3200 to 2000 BCE
Archaic peoples of the Maya region before 3200 to 2000 BCE
Monagrillo culture c. 2500 to 1200 BCE

South America

Caral-Supe (Norte Chico) c. 3000 to 1800 BCE
Chinchorro culture before 3200 to 1500 BCE
Valdivia culture before 3200 to 1800 BCE
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
Northern Andean Archaic peoples before 3200 to 1500 BCE
Andean Archaic hunters and herders before 3200 to 1500 BCE
Mayo-Chinchipe culture before 3200 to 1700 BCE
Archaic fishing villages of the Peruvian coast before 3200 to 1800 BCE
Kotosh religious tradition c. 3000 to 1800 BCE

Oceania

Aboriginal Australian peoples before 3200 BCE to the present
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

Questions

What countries existed in 2000 BCE?

The timeline shows 14 states, empires and colonies alive in 2000 BCE. Among the most significant: Ebla, Old Elamite period, Mari, Kingdom of Kerma, Middle Kingdom of Egypt, Dilmun, Troy and Byblos. The full list by region is on this page.

What was happening in the world in 2000 BCE?

Within 100 years of 2000 BCE, the timeline records Maize reaches the Southwest (2100 BCE), Elamites sack Ur (2004 BCE), Earliest known spoke-wheeled chariots (2000 BCE) and Indus cities decline (1900 BCE).

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.