The world in 3000 BCE

In 3000 BCE, the timeline shows 4 states, empires and colonies and 123 peoples across 12 regions. The most significant include Ebla, Early Dynastic Egypt, Troy and Byblos.

See 3000 BCE on the interactive chart

What was happening around 3000 BCE

3100 BCE Unification of Egypt, North and West Africa. Narmer, seen by many scholars as the first king of a united Egypt, brings the Nile valley and the Delta under one crown, as the Narmer Palette may show. The capital moves to Memphis.
3100 BCE Stonehenge begun, Europe. The first phase of Stonehenge, a circular ditch and bank with a ring of pits, is dug on Salisbury Plain. The great sarsen stones are raised around 2500 BCE.
3100 BCE Liangzhu builds flood dams, East Asia. The Liangzhu people raise a system of earthen dams and levees northwest of their city, among the oldest large-scale water management works in the world.

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

Early Dynastic Egypt c. 3100 to 2686 BCE
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
Neolithic peoples of the Maghreb c. 3200 to 1400 BCE
Lake Chad fishers and herders c. 3200 to 1800 BCE
Laas Geel rock art before 3200 to 2500 BCE
A-Group culture before 3200 to 2900 BCE

Europe

Minoan civilization c. 3100 to 1450 BCE
Yamnaya culture before 3200 to 2600 BCE
Cucuteni-Trypillia culture before 3200 to 2950 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
Copper Age Italy before 3200 to 2200 BCE
Pitted Ware culture before 3200 to 2300 BCE
Cycladic culture c. 3100 to 2000 BCE
Neolithic Britain and Ireland before 3200 to 2500 BCE
Megalithic farmers of western Iberia before 3200 to 2500 BCE
Los Millares culture c. 3200 to 2200 BCE
Cotofeni culture before 3200 to 2500 BCE
Baden culture before 3200 to 2700 BCE
Vucedol culture c. 3000 to 2200 BCE
Funnelbeaker culture before 3200 to 2800 BCE
Globular Amphora culture before 3200 to 2800 BCE
Maykop culture before 3200 to 3000 BCE

Middle East

Ebla c. 3000 to 1600 BCE
Sumerians c. 3100 to 2000 BCE
Arabian pastoral nomads c. 3200 to 1000 BCE
Bronze Age peoples of Yemen c. 3000 to 1000 BCE
Troy c. 3000 to 1180 BCE
Byblos c. 3000 to 1200 BCE
Kura-Araxes culture before 3200 to 2000 BCE
Early Bronze Age Anatolian towns c. 3000 to 2000 BCE
Helmand culture (Shahr-i Sokhta) c. 3200 to 2300 BCE
Jiroft culture c. 3000 to 2200 BCE
Hafit culture c. 3200 to 2600 BCE
Maykop culture before 3200 to 3000 BCE
Proto-Elamite period c. 3100 to 2700 BCE
Arslantepe (Late Uruk period) before 3200 to 3000 BCE
'En Esur before 3200 to 3000 BCE
Jemdet Nasr period c. 3100 to 2900 BCE

South Asia

Mehrgarh and Baluchistan farmers before 3200 to 2600 BCE
Early Harappan phase before 3200 to 2600 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
Helmand culture before 3200 to 2350 BCE

Central and North Asia

Afanasievo culture before 3200 to 2500 BCE
Yamnaya culture (Ural steppe) before 3200 to 2600 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
Foragers of Xinjiang before 3200 to 2500 BCE
Belkachi culture c. 3000 to 2200 BCE

East Asia

Jomon culture before 3200 to 300 BCE
Longshan culture c. 3000 to 1900 BCE
Liangzhu culture before 3200 to 2300 BCE
Hongshan culture before 3200 to 2900 BCE
Yangshao culture before 3200 to 3000 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
Dawenkou culture before 3200 to 2600 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

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
Maritime Archaic before 3200 to 1500 BCE
Shield Archaic before 3200 to 1500 BCE
Southwestern Archaic foragers before 3200 to 1500 BCE
Early Pacific period cultures before 3200 to 1800 BCE
Watson Brake mounds before 3200 to 2800 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
Casimiroid culture before 3200 to 2165 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 3000 BCE?

The timeline shows 4 states, empires and colonies alive in 3000 BCE. Among the most significant: Ebla, Early Dynastic Egypt, Troy and Byblos. The full list by region is on this page.

What was happening in the world in 3000 BCE?

Within 100 years of 3000 BCE, the timeline records Unification of Egypt (3100 BCE), Stonehenge begun (3100 BCE) and Liangzhu builds flood dams (3100 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.