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Age 2 of 6 3000 BCE – 1200 BCE

The Bronze Age, 3000–1200 BCE

1,800 years · 384 records · 58 dated moments

The first states worth drawing a border around.

Open the canvas here The atlas at 2000 BCE

River valleys, the first cities, and the first polities the atlas can place: Egypt, Sumer and Akkad, the Indus, Shang China, Minoan and Mycenaean Greece. Their bars are attestation windows a century wide, because that is the resolution the historical border snapshots have. Landmarks here are the ones still standing.

The states the atlas drew most often

The polities the canvas draws first in this age, when it has room for only a few.

All 115 polities

Middle East

Egypt

Attested 3000 BCE – 2026 CE

Americas

Maya chiefdoms and states

2000 BCE – 1521 CE

Americas

Chorrera

Attested 1500 BCE – 100 BCE

Africa

Khoiasan

Attested 1500 BCE – 1500 CE

Europe

Greek city-states

Attested 1500 BCE – 300 BCE

Middle East

Saba

Attested 1500 BCE – 100 BCE

Europe

Celts

Founded 1200 BCE · attested to 100 BCE

Europe

Saami

Attested 1500 BCE – 700 CE

Best-evidenced conflicts

Ranked the way the war lane ranks them: the ones the canvas draws first.

All 20 conflicts

Middle East

Unification of Egypt

3100 BCE – 2950 BCE

Egyptian unification was a gradual process associated with Narmer and the First Dynasty, not a single securely documented conquest.

Middle East

Campaigns of Thutmose III

1457 BCE – 1425 BCE

Thutmose III conducted 14 military campaigns in the Levant, crushing a Canaanite rebellion at Megiddo — the first battle recorded in reliable detail — and extending Egypt to its greatest territorial extent.

Middle East

Sea Peoples Invasions

1208 BCE – 1178 BCE

A coalition of seafaring peoples attacked and destroyed multiple Bronze Age civilisations. The Hittite Empire collapsed, Egypt was severely weakened, and the Late Bronze Age Collapse reshaped the ancient world.

Middle East

Early Sumerian City-State Wars

2900 BCE – 2350 BCE

Early Dynastic Sumerian cities competed for territory and resources. This is a period overview, not a single dated war.

Middle East

Umma–Lagash Border War

2500 BCE – 2350 BCE

The earliest well-documented interstate war. Eannatum of Lagash defeated Umma and conquered all of Sumer, recorded on the Stele of the Vultures — the oldest known war monument.

Middle East

Akkadian Empire Conquests

2334 BCE – 2279 BCE

Sargon of Akkad conquered all of Sumer and much of Mesopotamia, creating the world's first known empire. He defeated Lugalzagesi of Umma and extended Akkadian control from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean.

Middle East

Gutian Invasion of Akkad

2154 BCE – 2112 BCE

Barbarian Gutian tribes from the Zagros Mountains overwhelmed the declining Akkadian Empire, plunging Mesopotamia into a dark age until the Sumerian renaissance under Ur-Nammu.

Middle East

Egyptian Reunification (Middle Kingdom)

2055 BCE – 2016 BCE

After the First Intermediate Period split Egypt, Mentuhotep II of Thebes conquered Herakleopolis and reunified the country, founding the Middle Kingdom.

Still standing, and who was alive

Landmarks standing during this age, and people who lived in it.

All 240 landmarks All 3 figures

Landmark · Americas

Grand Canyon

3000 BCE – still standing

Immense gorge carved by the Colorado River over millions of years

Landmark · Oceania

Great Barrier Reef

3000 BCE – still standing

World's largest coral reef system, visible from space

Landmark · Europe

Plitvice Lakes

3000 BCE – still standing

Cascading chain of sixteen turquoise lakes connected by waterfalls in the Croatian highlands

Landmark · Europe

Giant's Causeway

3000 BCE – still standing

40,000 interlocking basalt columns formed by ancient volcanic eruptions on the Northern Irish coast

Figure · Mesopotamia

Sargon of Akkad

2334 BCE – 2279 BCE

The man who built the world's first empire — from a basket on the Euphrates to the throne of Akkad. How a cupbearer overthrew a king, conquered Sumer, and forged an empire that stretched from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.

Figure · Egypt / Sinai / Canaan

Moses

1391 BCE – 1271 BCE

The prince of Egypt who became a fugitive shepherd, confronted the most powerful ruler on earth, and led an enslaved nation to freedom — told in his own words.

Figure · Egypt

Nefertiti

1370 BCE – 1330 BCE

The queen who helped overthrow a thousand years of Egyptian religion, ruled as equal to a pharaoh, and vanished from history — leaving behind the most recognised face in the ancient world.

Dated moments

16 of 58, spread evenly across the age.

All 58 dated moments
3000 BCE Göbekli Tepe Europe 3000 BCE Newgrange Europe 3000 BCE Mount Kailash South Asia 3000 BCE Damascus Middle East 3000 BCE Laas Geel Africa 2700 BCE Saqqara Middle East 2500 BCE Mohenjo-daro South Asia 2400 BCE Lothal South Asia 2154 BCE Gutian Invasion of Akkad Middle East 2000 BCE Knossos Europe 2000 BCE Rice Terraces of Banaue East Asia 1600 BCE Mycenae Europe 1550 BCE Mitanni–Hittite Rivalry Europe 1470 BCE Temple of Hatshepsut Middle East 1400 BCE Thimlich Ohinga Africa 1208 BCE Sea Peoples Invasions Middle East
Image credits12 pictures from Wikimedia Commons