The world map (2000 BC)

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Just before 2000 BC, there seems to have been a terrible drought in northern Africa and Asia. States collapsed all over the place. In Egypt, the Old Kingdom collapsed into the First Intermediate period. In India, the Harappan civilization came to an end. In West Asia, the Akkadian Empire fell apart. And further north, in Central Asia, the Indo-Europeans began their great migration all over Europe and South Asia.

The Ancient Near East marks the metamorphosis from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age.

In the first half of the millennium, the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and Babylonia dominated all the cultures of Ancient Near Easterns. The alphabet develops.

The Babylonians created a mathematical system based on units of 60. They also split a circle into 360 units.

The stone palaces at Knossos and Malia were constructed on Crete around 2000 BC. The palaces were created to help maintain the temperature as cool as possible. They also had indoor plumbing.

At the center of the millennium, a new ruling emerges, with Mycenaean Greek domination of the Aegean and the advance of the Hittite Empire. The end of the millennium witnessed the Bronze Age collapse and the shift to the Iron Age.

Other parts of the world are still in the prehistoric period. The Beaker culture introduced the Bronze Age in Europe, probably associated with Indo-European expansion.

The Indo-Iranian expansion approaches the Persian plateau and onto the Indian subcontinent, increasing the chariot’s use.

Mesoamerica enters the Olmec (Pre-Classic) period. North America is in the late Archaic phase. In Maritime Southeast Asia, the Austronesian expansion approaches Micronesia. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the Bantu spread starts.

The world population grew steadily, probably exceeding the 100 million mark for the first time.

The map below created by East Asia history shows the world in 2000 BC.