20th century BC

One hundred years, from 2000 BC to 1901 BC

Millennium
2nd millennium BC
Centuries
21st century BC 20th century BC 19th century BC
Timelines
21st century BC 20th century BC 19th century BC
State leaders
21st century BC 20th century BC 19th century BC
Decades
1990s BC 1980s BC 1970s BC 1960s BC 1950s BC 1940s BC 1930s BC 1920s BC 1910s BC 1900s BC
Categories:
Births – Deaths Establishments – Disestablishments
v t e

The 20th century BC was a century that lasted from the year 2000 BC to 1901 BC.

The period of the 2nd Millennium BC

Events

The pyramid ruin of Amenemhet I at Lisht. He was the founder of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt

c. 2000 BC:
- Farmers and herders traveled south from Ethiopia and settled in Kenya.
- Dawn of the Capacha Culture in modern-day Colima, Mexico.
- Humans settle in Matanchén, modern day Nayarit, Mexico
- Arrival of the ancestors of the Latins in Italy.
- Town of Mantua was founded.
- First of the Minoan palaces on Crete. Site of palace complex Knossos started to become occupied.
- Bronze Age began in north Ancient China.
- Middle Jōmon period ended in Japan.
- Decline of Harappan civilization began.
- The Harappa Torso was sculpted by a member of the Indus Valley culture.^[1]
- Vessel, from Asahi Mound, Toyama Prefecture, was made. Jōmon period. It is now kept at Collection of Tokyo University.
- Dogū, from Kurokoma, Yamanashi Prefecture, was made. Jōmon period. It is now kept at Tokyo National Museum.
- Stonehenge construction largely completed.
- Dawn of the Lal-lo and Gattaran Shell Middens pilings in the Philippines.
- Horses were tamed and used for transport.
- The last woolly mammoth goes extinct on Wrangel island.
c. 2000 BC – 1900 BC: the "Priest-king torso" was sculpted at Mohenjo-Daro, part of the Indus Valley civilization.^[2]
c. 1995 BC: Pharaoh Mentuhotep II, Eleventh dynasty of Egypt dies.
c. 1995 BC: Egypt: Pharaoh Mentuhotep IV died. End of Eleventh Dynasty. Pharaoh Amenemhat I started to rule. Start of Twelfth Dynasty.
c. 1985 BC: Political authority became less centralized in Ancient Egypt.
c. 1985 BC – 1795 BC:
- Rock-cut tombs at Beni Hasan were made. Twelfth Dynasty.
- "Hippopotamus", from the tomb of Senbi (governor) (Tomb B.3) at Meir was made. Twelfth Dynasty. It is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
1974 BC: Erishum I became the thirty-third ruler of Assyria.
1953 BC: Senusret I launches a military campaign against Lower Nubia and conquers the region down to the Second Cataract.
February 27, 1953 BC: A very close alignment of the naked-eye planets took place in which these planets are together in a span of 4.3 degrees.
March 5, 1953 BC: A computer calculated alignment of the naked-eye planets took place in a new moon, and in spring season, and is believed by researchers from NASA, to be the starting event for the Chinese calendar, as they followed descriptions from a 1st Century B.C. Chinese passage "Hong Fan Zhuan" by 'Liu Xiang', to search for this astronomical event being described to have happened about 2000 BC at Pegasus constellation (Yingshi).
c. 1942 BC: The so-called king of Leubingen (today part of Sömmerda) was buried in a large barrow within a 66-foot-wide (20 m) stone cairn inside a ring ditch.
1932 BC: Amorite conquest of Ur.
c. 1928 BC – 1895 BC: "Harvest scene", tempera facsimile by Nina de Garis Davies of wall painting in the tomb of Khnumhotep II, Beni Hasan. Twelfth Dynasty.
c. 1920 BC: Jishi Gorge flood. It may have sparked the beginning of the first Chinese dynasty (Xia, Erlitou culture) ^[3]
1913 BC – 1903 BC: Egyptian-Nubian war.
c. 1900 BC: Shalim-ahum and his son Ilu-shuma began to rule the city of Assur at around this time.

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

c. 2000 BC: Glass appears.
2000 BC: In the Old Assyrian Empire, the Sumerian cuneiform had evolved into Old Assyrian cuneiform, with many modifications to Sumerian orthography.
c. 1900 BC: Cacao is domesticated by the Mokaya in Guatemala.^[4]

Sovereign states

References

^ The Harappa Torso is now kept at the National Museum in New Delhi, India.
^ The "Priest-king torso" is now kept at the National Museum of Pakistan, in Karachi.
^ "Massive flood may have led to China's earliest empire". 2016-08-04.
^ Watson, Traci (22 January 2013). "Earliest Evidence of Chocolate in North America". Science. Retrieved 3 March 2014.

Decades and years

20th century BC
22nd century BC ← 21st century BC ← ↔ → 19th century BC → 18th century BC

2000s BC	2009 BC	2008 BC	2007 BC	2006 BC	2005 BC	2004 BC	2003 BC	2002 BC	2001 BC	2000 BC
1990s BC	1999 BC	1998 BC	1997 BC	1996 BC	1995 BC	1994 BC	1993 BC	1992 BC	1991 BC	1990 BC
1980s BC	1989 BC	1988 BC	1987 BC	1986 BC	1985 BC	1984 BC	1983 BC	1982 BC	1981 BC	1980 BC
1970s BC	1979 BC	1978 BC	1977 BC	1976 BC	1975 BC	1974 BC	1973 BC	1972 BC	1971 BC	1970 BC
1960s BC	1969 BC	1968 BC	1967 BC	1966 BC	1965 BC	1964 BC	1963 BC	1962 BC	1961 BC	1960 BC
1950s BC	1959 BC	1958 BC	1957 BC	1956 BC	1955 BC	1954 BC	1953 BC	1952 BC	1951 BC	1950 BC
1940s BC	1949 BC	1948 BC	1947 BC	1946 BC	1945 BC	1944 BC	1943 BC	1942 BC	1941 BC	1940 BC
1930s BC	1939 BC	1938 BC	1937 BC	1936 BC	1935 BC	1934 BC	1933 BC	1932 BC	1931 BC	1930 BC
1920s BC	1929 BC	1928 BC	1927 BC	1926 BC	1925 BC	1924 BC	1923 BC	1922 BC	1921 BC	1920 BC
1910s BC	1919 BC	1918 BC	1917 BC	1916 BC	1915 BC	1914 BC	1913 BC	1912 BC	1911 BC	1910 BC
1900s BC	1909 BC	1908 BC	1907 BC	1906 BC	1905 BC	1904 BC	1903 BC	1902 BC	1901 BC	1900 BC
1890s BC	1899 BC	1898 BC	1897 BC	1896 BC	1895 BC	1894 BC	1893 BC	1892 BC	1891 BC	1890 BC

Centuries and millennia

Millennium	Century
BC (BCE)
4th	40th	39th	38th	37th	36th	35th	34th	33rd	32nd	31st
3rd	30th	29th	28th	27th	26th	25th	24th	23rd	22nd	21st
2nd	20th	19th	18th	17th	16th	15th	14th	13th	12th	11th
1st	10th	9th	8th	7th	6th	5th	4th	3rd	2nd	1st
AD (CE)
1st	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
2nd	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th
3rd	21st	22nd	23rd	24th	25th	26th	27th	28th	29th	30th