Several great civilizations had already become established around the world, including the originals found in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, China, Egypt, and Norte Chico. From these birth grounds, the ingredients of civilization began spreading further across the globe: across the Mediterranean from Egypt through Canaan and Turkey into Greece, home of the Minoan civilization, the oldest in Europe; from China into Southeast Asia where the Hồng Bàng Dynasty was founded in modern Vietnam; and into the Iranian plateau where the Elam civilization developed from Mesopotamian influence. The influence of these already great cultures would slowly creep through the rest of the world, much of which was still the home of hunter-gatherer populations. This would happen through the creation of trade networks across the land, but also as a result of the growing ambitions of those who sought to spread their influence by force. This allowed for greater security across growing empires, while at the same time making them more susceptible to the enemy from within.
There remained a large degree of peace in Egypt during the Old Kingdom, due in large part to the stable government that was in place, in addition to the absence of any serious threats coming from outside its borders. The Egyptians were at the time much more advanced than their nearest neighbours, and they carried out a number of military expeditions into Libya, Nubia, and Canaan. With this prevailing peace came an excellence in art and architecture, as already seen from of the pyramids. But by 2500 BCE there was even more to admire with the construction of what remains the largest monolith statue in the world, the Great Sphinx. The project was orchestrated by Khafra, the son of the now late Khufu, it what would become the oldest known monument in the world.
The Egyptians held trading expeditions to foreign lands, building massive ships in order to sail through the sea. Their ships were built with Byblos cedar and held together with rope and plant matter, and were most likely used on their journeys to the land of Punt. The location of Punt has never been confirmed to this day, though it is expected to be somewhere near the southern boundary of the Red Sea, with possible candidates being modern Somalia, Djibouti, and/or Yemen. It was here where they traded for many valuable commodities, such as gold, ivory, and wild animals.
It is possible that the Egyptians traded as far afield as the Indus Valley, where an extensive trading network was being put together. The Harappans had their own boats for transport, with canals and docks being found along the coastline. The oldest dock found in the world in fact comes from Lothal, a seaside community in modern Gujarat. It was originally a small village before being destroyed by floods, at which point the Harappans expanded it during reconstruction, while also constructing a dockyard for the purpose of trading. It was also by this time that the Indus script was first used, the earliest writing in the region that consists of over four hundred characters and that is still undecipherable by today’s scholars. Among their writing include images, mainly of local wildlife in addition to what may be the earliest known depiction of the Hindu god Shiva.
Meanwhile in Mesopotamia, two distinct cultures were becoming evident: the Sumerian city-states to the south, each competing with each other over power and influence, and the Akkadians, a Semitic people from the north. Taking advantage of their disarray, Sargon the Great commenced his conquest of Sumer in 2271 BCE with the Battle of Uruk. His attack on the city was successful, leading him to tear the city to the ground. This turn of events finally caused the remaining city-states to unite under the leadership of Lugal Zagesi of Umma, but it was already too late. The Sumerians were completely defeated, and the Akkadian Empire, the first of its kind in the world, was born.
The empire was ruled from the capital of Akkad, a city which had yet to be found though it is rumoured to be beneath modern Baghdad. From here, the Akkadian language spread throughout the empire, quickly replacing Sumerian as the lingua franca in the south. To further secure his power, Sargon replaced the leaders of the Sumerian city-states with his own soldiers, who had already proved their loyalty to him. As his sons succeeded him, the empire’s reach spread even further, pushing the Elamites further east while also conquering lands to the north and west all the way to Anatolia. The empire was at its largest under the rule of Naram-Sin, and remained as such for nearly one hundred fifty years.
In the Americas, the Norte Chico remained the only prominent civilization of the time, meaning that they did not have to contest with threats from outside their borders like their Old World counterparts were. They were a seemingly peaceful people with no indications of weapons or war, however they did have religion. The oldest religious icon in the Americas has been dated to 2250 BCE in this region, and consisted of a humanoid figure holding a staff in one hand an a snake in the other. The Norte Chico were the only independently formed civilization in the world that was based around the fishing industry instead of agriculture. Nonetheless people were still growing cotton for use in fishing nets, and it was for this reason that communities started being found further inland. They built irrigation canals to assist in farming the cotton, which in turn was used to make clothing, as well as fishing nets. The farmers and fishers were thus dependent on one another to make a living, farmer providing the means to catch the fish, and the farmer providing a food source for the cotton producers.
By 2200 BCE the world’s civilizations were advancing rapidly, but that all changed just as quickly due to a worldwide aridification event. This led to a massive drought spreading through much of the ancient world and lasting for a century, ultimately leading to the collapse of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley Civilization, while large floodwaters were meanwhile sweeping the Chinese countryside.
In Egypt the drought prevented the Nile from providing its seasonal floods, thus resulting in a period of famine and disease. The pharaohs were unaccustomed to such disasters after centuries of prosperity, and wealth was already seriously diminished as a result of all the grandiose pyramid and monument building. The influence of power was also much less centralized in earlier times, with the ever growing following of the Sun God Ra. By the time the drought began, more sun temples than pyramids were being built, leading to a decline in the pharaoh’s divine status. In the end, the kingdom was unable to sustain itself, ultimately collapsing in 2181 BCE as Egypt entered a dark period lasting for over a century. Without a central power base, a number of independent states began rising throughout the region, each vying for control over the whole area. Artwork and statues depicting the rules of the old kingdom were destroyed, as Nubia and Sinai both broke away from the crumbling kingdom. Eventually two power centres came into prominence, one in Hierakonpolis in Lower Egypt, and the other in Thebes in Upper Egypt.
The Akkadian Empire was being bombarded with outside attacks, as its leader Shar-Kali-Sharri was unable to defend his inheritance. After his death in 2198 BCE there was a power struggle over succession, during which time a number of former Sumerian city-states were able to reestablish their independence. However their successes were short lasted, as by 2154 BCE the region was invaded by the Gutians, originating from the Zagros mountains in Iran. The Akkadian Empire was already suffering from a period of decline to the drought and shaky leadership which was unable to defend itself. The Gutians deployed hit-and-run tactics that crippled the Akkadians, eventually shrinking the size of the once great empire all the way to the gates of Akkad. It was essentially reduced to a city-state, with two more leaders of Akkad being recorded before the city was completely destroyed in 2115 BCE, where it remains lost to this day.
In the Indus Valley, the Harappans began abandoning their cities in drought-ravaged regions in favour of less arid regions of the Indian subcontinent. The third Hồng dynasty was meanwhile ruling in Xích Quỷ, which was now renamed to Văn Lang as the capital was moved to Phong Châu, in modern Vietnam’s Phú Thọ Province. In China, the Yellow river was plaguing the region with floodwaters, leaving Gun, a descendent of the Yellow Emperor, tasked with finding a solution. He dammed up the river, and was successful for a time, but ultimately the waters proved too strong. His son Yu eventually took over the project, examining his father’s failures while coming up with a new solution. He finally drafted a series of irrigation canals meant to bring the water back out to sea, commencing a project that would last thirteen years.
During this time Yu refused to return home, despite his having a wife and newborn child. He put aside his own interests in order to help the entire community, and after thirteen long years he was finally successful. And with the land no longer being destroyed by the excess water, he was able to help his people further by aiding in the development of the land, by planting crops and breeding animals. This made his tribe grow stronger, as territory and influence expanded into neighbouring regions under his leadership. This life of dedication to his people finally earned him the throne, a position that he initially declined. He later accepted the offer however, making his capital at Anyi in modern Shanxi province. Yu began a trend of royal hereditary, with kings being chosen based on blood rather than capability, and thus the era of Chinese dynasties was born. In 2070 BCE Yu became the founder of the Xia Dynasty, the oldest of its kind in China.
Around the same time in Egypt, the two main rivals were still fighting for overall control, when the ruler of Lower Egypt was killed while attempting to conquer new territory. This was the chance that Upper Egypt needed, as leader Mentuhotep II began his slow annexation of the north. By 2050 BCE Egypt was finally reunified, giving birth to the Middle Kingdom. Mentuhotep II made Egypt strong again, retaking the Sinai while holding a number of campaigns against Nubia in the south and Canaan to the east.
In Mesopotamia, the new Gutian rulers, nomads by trade, were finding themselves unaccustomed to the Sumerians’ civilization, and incapable of agriculture or irrigation. This resulted in widespread famine, which weakened the region for decades to come. Finally, in 2047 BCE, the Sumerians were at long last able to overthrow their oppressors, with Utu-hengal being the first Sumerian king after over two hundred years of foreign rule. But it was Ur-Nammu who would create the new ruling dynasty, the Neo-Sumerian Empire, with its capital of Ur. It encompassed a much wider area than before Sargon of Akkad ever sets his sights on it, spreading from Semitic Assyria to the north all the way to Elam, a region quickly captured by the Sumerians after its own quick collapse at the hands of the Gutians.
By the end of the millennium in Greece, the Minoan civilization was flourishing, eventually enveloping the nearby Cycladic peoples as a vast Mediterranean trade network. Their architecture was rising in prominence with the construction of palaces across their realm of influence, as the earliest and perhaps most famous stories of Greek mythology were being written. And they weren’t alone in their prosperity, as the new Egyptian Old Kingdom, Neo-Sumerian Empire, and Xia Dynasty began to thrive after finally breaking free from environmental hardship. The future seemed bright, but with the knowledge of how things had been, it could only represent the calm before the storm.
To be continued in Part 6: The Calm Before The Storm
Figure 1: Lothal dock by Rama’s Arrow CC BY-SA
Figure 2: Great Sphinx 2010 3 by Wknight94 CC BY-SA
Figure 3: Gizeh Sonnenbarke BW 2 by Berthold Werner CC BY-SA
Figure 4: IndusValleySeals by World Imaging CC BY-SA
Figure 5: Sargon of Akkad by Iraqi Directorate General of Antiquities CC0
Figure 6: King Yu of Xia by National Palace Museum, Taipei CC0
Figure 7: MentuhotepII by Metropolitan Museum of Art CC0
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