During the Bronze Age, which spanned roughly from 3300 BCE to 1200 BCE, several powerful empires emerged, shaping the course of early civilization. In this collection of ten maps, we take a look at the empires that flourished in regions such as ancient Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, empires which have left behind remarkable legacies of influence on many later cultures.

These Bronze Age empires, while distinct in their cultures and achievements, shared common features such as centralized authority, complex economies, and monumental architecture. Though they eventually declined or were overtaken by new powers, their legacies endured, laying the foundation for the civilizations that followed.

Sumerian Civilization, c. 4300 - 2335 BCE

by Simeon Netchev
published on 02 March 2022

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A map illustrating the emergence of the Sumerian civilization around 6000 BCE from a collection of city-states on the floodplains of southern Mesopotamia, along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the area that was to later become the Akkadian Empire and then Babylonia.

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