1224 Chronology by Region2000 B.C.E. – 1000 B.C.E.
1000 B.C.E. – 500 B.C.E.
ca. 2000 B.C.E.: Date assigned to the
remains of cities in Mauritania, Africa’s
oldest cities.
ca. 2000–ca. 1000 B.C.E.: Emergence of
Bantu language and its spread through-
out much of Africa in what is called the
Bantu Migration.
ca. 1700 B.C.E.: Date of the world’s oldest
mathematical document, on Egyptian
papyrus.
ca. 1400 B.C.E.: Africa passes directly
from the Stone Age to the Iron Age,
skipping the Bronze Age important in
other world cultures.
ca. 1380 B.C.E.: Egyptians complete con-
struction of a canal linking the Nile River
and the Red Sea.
ca. 1323 B.C.E.: Death of Egypt’s King
Tutankhamen.ca. 1000–ca. 100 B.C.E.: The kingdom
of Kush fl ourishes in Sudan.
ca. 800 B.C.E.: North African city of
Carthage founded by the Phoenicians.
ca. 600 B.C.E.: The Sahel, south of the
Sahara Desert, emerges as the site of
numerous cities along an east–west
trading route; Phoenician seafarers cir-
cumnavigate Africa.
ca. 580 B.C.E.: Africans fi rst produce iron,
in Meroë.AFRICA
ca. 2000 B.C.E.: The Epic of Gilgamesh,
written in cuneiform, is the world’s oldest
epic poem; its story of a great fl ood and
an ark is believed to be the origin of the
story of Noah’s fl ood narrated in the
biblical book of Genesis.
ca. 1800 B.C.E.: First taboos against
eating pork develop in the Near East.
ca. 1850 B.C.E.: Judaism is founded by
Abraham, a Mesopotamian prince.
ca. 1750 B.C.E.: Babylon’s king
Hammurabi dies.
ca. 1700 B.C.E.: Syria and Palestine
develop the fi rst alphabet; windmills fi rst
used by Babylonians.
ca. 1275 B.C.E.: Beginning of the 40-year-
long Israelite migration from Egypt to the
Near East, commonly called the Exodus
and recorded in the Old Testament book
of the same name.
ca. 1141 B.C.E.: The Jewish Ark of the
Covenant is seized by the Philistines.
ca. 1124 B.C.E.: Nebuchadnezzar I
becomes king of Babylon.961 B.C.E.: The Great Temple of Jerusalem
is constructed under the leadership of
King Solomon.
ca. 800 B.C.E.: Babylonian astronomers
discover how to predict lunar eclipses.
ca. 700 B.C.E.: Cities in the Near East
build aqueducts to provide water to their
populations.
ca. 689 B.C.E.: The Assyrians destroy the
city of Babylon, but the city is rebuilt and
in the next century is one of the great cit-
ies of the world.
ca. 600 B.C.E.: The religion Zoroastrian-
ism found by Zoroaster in Persia.
ca. 587 B.C.E.: The Great Temple of Jeru-
salem is destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar;
temple is rebuilt ca. 516 B.C.E.THE MIDDLE EAST
3000 B.C.E. – 2000 B.C.E.
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