List of Bronze Age states

The Bronze Age is a period, 3300 - 1200 BC, characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze and proto-writing, and other features of urban civilization, circa 3300 BC to 1200 BC. The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, for classifying and studying ancient societies. Ancient civilizations can be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period. but in some parts of the world, the Copper Age served as a transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age.

Development of states

The development of states—large-scale, populous, politically centralized, and socially stratified polities/societies governed by powerful rulers marks one of the major milestones in the evolution of human societies. Archaeologists often distinguish between primary (or pristine) states and secondary states. Primary states evolved independently through largely internal developmental processes rather than through the influence of any other pre-existing state. The earliest known primary states appeared in Mesopatamia c. 3700 BC, during the end of the Neolithic period, in Egypt c. 3300 BC, in the Indus Valley c. 2500 BC, India c. 1700 BC, and in China c. 1600 BC. As they interacted with their less developed neighbors through trade, warfare, migration, and more generalized ideological influences, the primary states directly or indirectly fostered the emergence of secondary states in surrounding areas, for example, the Hittites in Anatolia, the Minoan and Mycenaean states of the Aegean, or the Nubian kingdoms in the Sudan. Professor Gil Stein at the University of Chicago Oriental Institute states "The excavations and archaeological surveys of the last few decades have vastly increased both the quantity and quality of what we know about ancient states and urbanism. Archaeologists have broadened the scope of their research beyond the traditional focus on rulers and urban elites. Current research now aims at understanding the role of urban commoners, craft specialists, and village-based farmers in the overall organization of ancient states and societies. Given the immense geographical scope encompassed by the term 'the Ancient World'".^[1] This list's the main types state that existed in Africa, Americas, Central Asia, East Asia, Europe, Eurasian Steppe, South Asia, and West Asia, from the beginning of the Bronze Age to the beginning of Iron Age, a period of approximately 2,000 years.

Africa

Map of the world in the late Bronze Age, 1300 BC

Americas

Europe

North and West

South and East

Eurasian Steppe and Central Asia

East Asia

Approximate location of the territory of the Shang Kingdom within China

South Asia

Extent of various city states of the Harrapa Civilization by researcher Rajesh Rao.

West Asia

The Hittite Empire shown in blue late Bronze Age, 1400 BC

Types of state

See also

References

External links

• A Chronology of World Political History
• Empires Throughout History
• Ancient Asia Minor-Anatolia
• History Files
• Regnal Chronologies Ancient States
• Livius Ancient History Articles
• World History Maps (individual) from 1300 BC to 1500 AD