2nd millennium BC

Millennia:	3rd millennium BC 2nd millennium BC 1st millennium BC
Centuries:	20th century BC 19th century BC 18th century BC 17th century BC 16th century BC 15th century BC 14th century BC 13th century BC 12th century BC 11th century BC

The 2nd millennium BC marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age.

Its first half is dominated by the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and Babylonia. The alphabet develops. Indo-Iranian migration onto the Iranian plateau and onto the Indian subcontinent propagates the use of the chariot. Chariot warfare and population movements lead to violent changes at the center of the millennium, a new order emerges with Greek dominance of the Aegean and the rise of the Hittite Empire. The end of the millennium sees the transition to the Iron Age. World population begins to rise steadily, reaching some 50 million towards 1000 BC.

Overview

Middle Bronze Age

Spending much of their energies in trying to recuperate from the chaotic situation that existed at the turn of the millennium, the most powerful civilizations of the time, Egypt and Mesopotamia, turned their attention to more modest goals. The Pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and their contemporary Kings of Babylon, of Amorite origin, brought good governance without much tyranny, and favoured elegant art and architecture. Farther east, the Indus Valley civilization was in a period of decline, possibly as a result of intense, ruinous flooding.

Egypt and Babylonia's military tactics were still based on foot soldiers transporting their equipment on donkeys. Combined with a weak economy and difficulty in maintaining order, this was a fragile situation that crumbled under the pressure of external forces they could not oppose.

Unrest of the 16th century

About a century before the middle of the millennium, bands of Indo-European invaders came from the Central Asian plains and swept through Western Asia and Northeast Africa. They were riding fast two-wheeled chariots powered by horses, a system of weaponry developed earlier in the context of plains warfare. This tool of war was unknown among the classical civilizations. Egypt and Babylonia's foot soldiers were unable to defend against the invaders: in 1630 BC, the Hyksos swept into the Nile Delta, and in 1595 BC, the Hittites swept into Mesopotamia.

Late Bronze Age

The peoples in place were quick to adapt to the new tactics, and a new international situation resulted from the change. Though during most of the second half of the 2nd millennium BC several regional powers competed relentlessly for hegemony, many developments occurred: there was new emphasis on grandiose architecture, new clothing fashions, vivid diplomatic correspondence on clay tablets, renewed economic exchanges, and the New Kingdom of Egypt played the role of the main superpower. Among the great states of the time, only Babylon refrained from taking part in battles, mainly due to its new position as the world's religious and intellectual capital.

The Bronze Age civilization at its final period of time, displayed all its characteristic social traits: low level of urbanization, small cities centered on temples or royal palaces, strict separation of classes between an illiterate mass of peasants and craftsmen, and a powerful military elite, knowledge of writing and education reserved to a tiny minority of scribes, and pronounced aristocratic life.

Near the end of the 2nd millennium BC, new waves of barbarians, this time riding on horseback, wholly destroyed the Bronze Age world, and were to be followed by waves of social changes that marked the beginning of different times. Also contributing to the changes were the Sea Peoples, ship-faring raiders of the Mediterranean.

Civilizations, kingdoms and dynasties

The civilizations, kingdoms and dynasties in this section are organized according to the United Nations geoscheme

Kingdoms and civilizations of the 2nd millennium BC

Africa	America	Asia	Europe	Oceania
Middle Kingdom of Egypt Kerma culture	Olmec	Andronovo culture Babylon Canaanite Civilization Elam Erlitou culture Hittites Old Kingdom in Anatolia Kuru Kingdom Oxus civilization Shang Dynasty Wucheng culture Zhou Dynasty	Aegean civilization Beaker culture Cycladic culture Helladic period Minoan civilization Mycenaean civilization Terramare culture Tumulus culture Unetice culture Urnfield culture

Events

The events in this section are organized according to the United Nations geoscheme.
It is difficult to pinpoint the exact year or even the correct century for many events of the 2nd Millennium BC.

Events of the 2nd millennium BC

	Africa	America	Asia	Europe	Oceania
20th century BC
19th century BC			1877 BC Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed (legendary)
	Africa	America	Asia	Europe	Oceania
18th century BC				c. 1700 BC earthquake damages palaces at Knossos and Phaistos.
17th century BC			1686 BC Israelites descend into Egypt (legendary) c. 1600 BC Shang Dynasty founded in China.	1627 Minoan eruption
	Africa	America	Asia	Europe	Oceania
16th century BC	c. 1520 BC Egypt conquers Nubia. c. 1500 BC First Bantu expansion out of West Africa c. 1575 BC Nubian Kerma sacks Egypt
15th century BC			1478 BC Battle of Megiddo 1476 BC Israelites leave Egypt (legendary)
	Africa	America	Asia	Europe	Oceania
14th century BC			Battle of Ten Kings
13th century BC	1269 BC Ramses II and Hattusilis III sign peace treaty.		1274 BC Battle of Kadesh Founding of Judaism	1235 BC Athens founded.
	Africa	America	Asia	Europe	Oceania
12th century BC			1184 BC Fall of Troy
11th century BC			1045 BC Zhou Dynasty founded in China. 1041 David reigns as king of Israel (traditional)		Austronesian peoples discover Polynesia

Women figure in Menhir

The gilded side of the Trundholm sun chariot.

After eruption a volcano, today Thera

The Kadesh peace agreement—on display at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum—is believed to be the earliest international agreement

• c. 2000 BC—Seima-Turbino Phenomenon originating in the Altai Mountains leads to rapid and massive migrations westward across the Urals into north-eastern Europe and eastward into China and South-east Asia
• c. 1700 BC–1300 BC—Palace complex in Knossos, Crete, was built.
• c. 1600 BC–1360 BC Egyptian domination over Canaan and Syria.

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

Inventions, discoveries and introductions

Communication	Math and Science	Agriculture	Transportation	Warfare
monotheism (Atenism) historical Vedic religion (Rigveda) Chinese ideograms alphabet	Nebra sky disk the world's oldest visual representation of the cosmos Chinese record the earliest known sighting of a comet discovery of iron smelting and smithing techniques	Introduction of the Peach from China to Persia and Europe	wagons	Wheeled chariots

Significant people

The people in this section are organized according to the United Nations geoscheme

Significant people of the 2nd millennium BC

	Africa	America	Asia	Europe	Oceania
20th century BC
19th century BC			Abraham (legendary)
	Africa	America	Asia	Europe	Oceania
18th century BC
17th century BC			Hammurabi Tang of Shang
	Africa	America	Asia	Europe	Oceania
16th century BC	Kamose Ahmose I Amenhotep I Thutmose I
15th century BC	Thutmose II Thutmose III Hatshepsut Amenhotep II Thutmose IV
	Africa	America	Asia	Europe	Oceania
14th century BC	Amenhotep III Akhenaten Smenkhkare Tutankhamun Ay Horemheb
13th century BC	Ramesses I Seti I Ramesses II Merneptah		Shalmaneser I Moses (legendary)	Theseus (legendary)
	Africa	America	Asia	Europe	Oceania
12th century BC			King Wen of Zhou Parikshit	Achilles
11th century BC			King Wu of Zhou Duke of Zhou

Biblical

• The biblical patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, in the Genesis narrative are set in the early-to-mid-2nd millennium.
• The Exodus and Moses are set in the late 2nd millennium (possibly the Amarna Period, see also Osarseph, Moses and Monotheism).

Fiction

• The Canadian–American speculative fiction author S.M. Stirling has written a trilogy (the Nantucket series) set in Bronze Age era, circa the 1250s BC. The trilogy describes the conflict between the different factions of the population of the island of Nantucket after an unknown phenomenon ("The Event") transports them into the past—some trying to dominate the world for their own benefit, others trying to better it—and the different Bronze Age civilizations.

Accuracy of dates

Please see the article on Chronology of the ancient Near East for more discussion regarding the accuracy and resolution of dates for events of the 2nd millennium BC in the Near East (Babylon, etc.).

Centuries and Decades

20th century BC	1990s BC	1980s BC	1970s BC	1960s BC	1950s BC	1940s BC	1930s BC	1920s BC	1910s BC	1900s BC
19th century BC	1890s BC	1880s BC	1870s BC	1860s BC	1850s BC	1840s BC	1830s BC	1820s BC	1810s BC	1800s BC
18th century BC	1790s BC	1780s BC	1770s BC	1760s BC	1750s BC	1740s BC	1730s BC	1720s BC	1710s BC	1700s BC
17th century BC	1690s BC	1680s BC	1670s BC	1660s BC	1650s BC	1640s BC	1630s BC	1620s BC	1610s BC	1600s BC
16th century BC	1590s BC	1580s BC	1570s BC	1560s BC	1550s BC	1540s BC	1530s BC	1520s BC	1510s BC	1500s BC
15th century BC	1490s BC	1480s BC	1470s BC	1460s BC	1450s BC	1440s BC	1430s BC	1420s BC	1410s BC	1400s BC
14th century BC	1390s BC	1380s BC	1370s BC	1360s BC	1350s BC	1340s BC	1330s BC	1320s BC	1310s BC	1300s BC
13th century BC	1290s BC	1280s BC	1270s BC	1260s BC	1250s BC	1240s BC	1230s BC	1220s BC	1210s BC	1200s BC
12th century BC	1190s BC	1180s BC	1170s BC	1160s BC	1150s BC	1140s BC	1130s BC	1120s BC	1110s BC	1100s BC
11th century BC	1090s BC	1080s BC	1070s BC	1060s BC	1050s BC	1040s BC	1030s BC	1020s BC	1010s BC	1000s BC

See also

Holocene Epoch
↑ Pleistocene
Holocene
Preboreal (10.3–9 ka) Boreal (9–7.5 ka) Atlantic (7.5–5 ka) Subboreal (5–2.5 ka) Subatlantic (2.5 ka–present)