The Fall of Civilization 2000 1000 BC Annotolian

The Fall of Civilization 2000 -1000 BC

Annotolian Plateau and Rise of the Hittites 1800 -1500 BC Annotolian Plateau Seasonal extremes Desert patches between cultivated patches Rise of the Hittites 1800 -1500 BC Dominated trade Controlled iron mines

Hittite Empire

Society and Politics Combined farming and herding Benefits: fertilizing, milk increase human productivity Efficiency= pop boom, man power, urbanization Roles of women limited Sex seen as sinful Women as diviners and healers

Famine and disease from drought Can’t expand into more fertile regions Egypt Mesopotamia Disappears 1210 BC

The Aegean World and Crete The Aegean World Small Islands Mountains Peninsula Peloponnese Crete 2/3 mountains Little arable land Earthquakes

Mediterranean

Minoan civilization c. 2000 BC Centered at Knossos Huge food storage center Origin of Minotaur/Labyrinth legends Internal warfare Often destroyed by earthquakes Little known Linear A unreadable

Mycenean Civilization c. 1500 BC Mainland Greece Trading power Baltic states (amber) Scandinavia (tin to make bronze) Both civilizations abandoned by 1100 BC Earthquakes invasions

Egypt in Crisis 1500 BC Hyksos invade from Libya Become absorbed into Egyptian culture Finally expelled Usual fate of nomads conquering sedentary culture Egypt protected by desert and sea Difficult to invade Makes less vigilant

Hyksos

Egypt in Crisis (continued) Sea peoples invade 1190 BC Defeated by Ramses III “The Great” Had conquered lands in Syria and Mesopotamia Driven by famine During same time period Harappa finally disappears Basic dilemma Population exceeds food distribution As society crumbles, invaders take advantage

Ramses III "The Great"

China 1045 -700 BC Shang culture expanded beyond borders Technology Trade Zhou further north expand Conquer Shang in 1045 BC Many smaller states around Zhou invent “mandate of heaven” Transferable divine right Dynastic virture

Zhou China

Americas Many small settlements fail to unite El Nino (1 or 2 per decade) (reversal of current) Drown crops Divert fish Chavin emerges in mid elevation Trade power Animistic religion

El Nino Currents

Mesoamerica Olmecs c. 2000 -300 BC Southern Mexico Farming not trade Beans, maize, squash Tiered cultivation mounds Precursors to step pyramids

Olmec Civilization

First Civilizations Fall Nearly all civilizations disappear by 1000 BC Egypt survives but must abandon Nubian outposts Old Kingdom Egypt ends c. 2000 BC Middle Kingdom Egypt ends with overthrow of Hyksos