Most Important Events Related to the Development of Civilization

Mesopotamia The Start of a Truly Urban Civilization

3000 BCE

Mesopotamia started the first truly urban civilization. They did this by using two rivers, Tigris and Euphrates. These rivers gave fertile land to the people and made agriculture much more reliable and efficient. The people built city-states and managed the waters.

Mesopotamia The First System of Writing

3000 BCE

The first writing system was called cuneiform. This system was first developed to keep track of tax records. Cuneiform started out as just symbols but it soon evolved into both photographic and symbols. This writing system was the start of writing and its creation advanced western civilizations.

The Start of The Bronze Age (3000-1100 BCE)

3000 BCE

This point in time has some of the most impactful moments in history. The bronze age gave a lot of advancements in western civilization. It was the start of trade routes and how it was politically, culturally, and economically vital to the success of civilizations. It also revolutionized warfare and made it easier to farm because of the harder tools.

The Egyptian Empire (2680-1150)

2680 BCE

The Egyptian empire was one of the most important empires to the development of western civilization. They made advancements in many different fields and created structures that seemed imposable to build. Such structures would be the pyramids and some advancements would be papyrus to write on.

The First Signs of Law and Government

1780 BCE

Hammurabi's law code was one of the first if not the first laws created in the ancient world. These laws gave light to the idea of law and order for large civilizations and shows a form of government. These laws were detailed and had different consequences for different social classes.

Phoenicians Developed a Syllabic Alphabet

1300 BCE

The Phoenicians were known for there trading but that wasn't the most important thing they did. The most important and long lasting effect that Phoenicians contributed to was their creation of a syllabic alphabet. The reason this was very impactful was because this type of writing was the basis of the Greek and Roman writing.

End of The Bronze Age

1100 BCE

The end of the bronze age caused a lot of disaster for powerful empires. The reason for the end of the bronze age was some environmental and some human involvement. There was strong scientific evidence that the climate changed and there were more droughts causing problems and ending the bronze age.

The Start of The Iron Age

1100 BCE

The start of the iron age was slow and there was still a lot of bronze being used. The iron age at the start was a lot of getting trade back together after the disasters that struck during the end of the bronze age. Most empires were not fully iron tools for a long time because of how hard it was to make iron tools that endured in battle.

The Rise of The Assyrian Empire

880 BCE

King Ashurnasirpal II took advantage of the political break down after the bronze age ended and began wars to capture Mesopotamia and Canaan. The Assyrians used ruthless tactics to rule their military and to carry out their attacks. They were feared for their brutality and they pushed their borders all the way to Mediterranean in the west and to Persia in the east.

The Jewish Diaspora

586 BCE

The Jews rose up against the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Babylonians ended up burning down there temples and enslaving the Jews. When the Babylonian Empire fell to Persia the Jews were free some stayed but others left traveling around following the same religious practices and passing it on to others.