Millennia: |
|
---|---|
Centuries: |
Bronze Age |
---|
↑ Chalcolithic |
Near East (c. 3300–1200 BC) South Asia (c. 3000– 1200 BC) Europe (c. 3200–600 BC)
China (c. 2000–700 BC) |
↓Iron Age |
Holocene Epoch |
---|
↑ |
Holocene |
The 3rd millennium BC spans the years 3000 through 2000 BC. This period of time corresponds to the Early to Middle Bronze Age, in which imperialism, or the desire to conquer, grew to prominence in the city-states of the Middle East and throughout Eurasia. The civilization of Ancient Egypt rose to a peak with the Old Kingdom. World population is estimated to have doubled in the course of the millennium, to some 30 million people.
Near East (c. 3300–1200 BC)
South Asia (c. 3000– 1200 BC)
Europe (c. 3200–600 BC)
China (c. 2000–700 BC)
arsenical bronze
writing, literature
sword, chariot
The Bronze Age occurred roughly between 3000 BC and 2500 BC. The previous millennium had seen the emergence of advanced, urbanized civilizations, new bronze metallurgy extending the productivity of agricultural work, and highly developed ways of communication in the form of writing. In the 3rd millennium BC, the growth of these riches, both intellectually and physically, became a source of contention on a political stage, and rulers sought the accumulation of more wealth and more power. Along with this came the first appearances of mega architecture, imperialism, organized absolutism and internal revolution.