Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution, Neolithic Demographic Transition, Agricultural Revolution, or First Agricultural Revolution was the wide-scale transition of many human cultures during the Neolithic period from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, making an larger population possible. These settled communities permitted humans to observe and experiment with plants to learn how they grew and developed; this new knowledge led to the domestication of plants. Archaeological data indicates that the domestication of various types of plants and animals happened in separate locations worldwide, starting in the geological epoch of the Holocene around 12,500 years ago, it was the world's first verifiable revolution in agriculture. The Neolithic Revolution narrowed the diversity of foods available, resulting in a downturn in the quality of human nutrition; the Neolithic Revolution involved far more than the adoption of a limited set of food-producing techniques. During the next millennia it would transform the small and mobile groups of hunter-gatherers that had hitherto dominated human pre-history into sedentary societies based in built-up villages and towns.
These societies radically modified their natural environment by means of specialized food-crop cultivation, with activities such as irrigation and deforestation which allowed the production of surplus food. Other developments found widely are the domestication of animals, polished stone tools, rectangular houses; these developments, sometimes called the Neolithic package, provided the basis for centralized administrations and political structures, hierarchical ideologies, depersonalized systems of knowledge, densely populated settlements and division of labour, more trade, the development of non-portable art and architecture, property ownership. The earliest known civilization developed in Sumer in southern Mesopotamia; the relationship of the above-mentioned Neolithic characteristics to the onset of agriculture, their sequence of emergence, empirical relation to each other at various Neolithic sites remains the subject of academic debate, varies from place to place, rather than being the outcome of universal laws of social evolution.
The Levant saw the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BCE, followed by sites in the wider Fertile Crescent. The term Neolithic Revolution was coined in 1923 by V. Gordon Childe to describe the first in a series of agricultural revolutions in Middle Eastern history; the period is described as a "revolution" to denote its importance, the great significance and degree of change affecting the communities in which new agricultural practices were adopted and refined. The beginning of this process in different regions has been dated from 10,000 to 8,000 BC in the Fertile Crescent and 8000 BC in the Kuk Early Agricultural Site of Melanesia; this transition everywhere seems associated with a change from a nomadic hunter-gatherer way of life to a more settled, agrarian-based one, with the inception of the domestication of various plant and animal species—depending on the species locally available, also influenced by local culture. Recent archaeological research suggests that in some regions such as the Southeast Asian peninsula, the transition from hunter-gatherer to agriculturalist was not linear, but region-specific.
There are several competing theories as to the factors that drove populations to take up agriculture. The most prominent of these are: The Oasis Theory proposed by Raphael Pumpelly in 1908, popularized by V. Gordon Childe in 1928 and summarised in Childe's book Man Makes Himself; this theory maintains that as the climate got drier due to the Atlantic depressions shifting northward, communities contracted to oases where they were forced into close association with animals, which were domesticated together with planting of seeds. However, today this theory has little support amongst archaeologists because subsequent climate data suggests that the region was getting wetter rather than drier; the Hilly Flanks hypothesis, proposed by Robert Braidwood in 1948, suggests that agriculture began in the hilly flanks of the Taurus and Zagros mountains, where the climate was not drier as Childe had believed, fertile land supported a variety of plants and animals amenable to domestication. The Feasting model by Brian Hayden suggests that agriculture was driven by ostentatious displays of power, such as giving feasts, to exert dominance.
This required assembling large quantities of food. The Demographic theories proposed by Carl Sauer and adapted by Lewis Binford and Kent Flannery posit an sedentary population that expanded up to the carrying capacity of the local environment and required more food than could be gathered. Various social and economic factors helped drive the need for food; the evolutionary/intentionality theory, developed by David Rindos and others, views agriculture as an evolutionary adaptation of plants and humans. Starting with domestication by protection of wild plants, it led to specialization of location and full-fledged domestication. Peter Richerson, Robert Boyd, Robert Bettinger make a case for the development of agriculture coinciding with an stable climate at the beginning of the Holocene. Ronald Wright's book and Massey Lecture Series A Short History of Progress popularized this hypothesis; the postulated Younger Dryas impact event, claimed to be in part responsible for megafauna extinction and ending the last glacial period, could have provided circumstances that required the evolution
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with'the encouragement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, London, is a registered charity. Members of the society are known as fellows and are entitled to use the post-nominal letters FSA after their names. Fellows are elected by existing members of the society, to be elected persons shall be "excelling in the knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other nations" and be "desirous to promote the honour and emoluments of the Society." The society retains a selective election procedure, in comparison with many other learned societies. Nominations for fellowship can come only from existing fellows of the society, must be signed by at least five and up to twelve existing fellows, certifying that, from their personal knowledge, the candidate would make a worthy fellow. Elections occur by anonymous ballot, a candidate must achieve a ratio of two'yes' votes for every'no' vote cast by fellows participating in the ballot to be elected as a fellow.
Fellowship is thus regarded as recognition of significant achievement in the fields of archaeology, antiquities and heritage. The first secretary for the society was William Stukeley; as of 2017, the society has a membership of 3,055 fellows. A precursor organisation, the College of Antiquaries, was founded c. 1586 and functioned as a debating society until it was forbidden to do so by King James I in 1614. The first informal meeting of the modern Society of Antiquaries occurred at the Bear Tavern on The Strand on 5 December 1707; this early group, conceived by John Talman, John Bagford, Humfrey Wanley, sought a charter from Queen Anne for the study of British antiquities. The proposal for the society was to be advanced by Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford, but his dismissal from government caused it to become idle; the formalisation of proceedings occurred in 1717, the first minutes at the Mitre Tavern, Fleet Street, are dated 1 January 1718. Those attending these meetings examined objects, gave talks, discussed theories of historical sites.
Reports on the dilapidation of significant buildings were produced. The society was concerned with the topics of heraldry and historical documents. In 1751, a successful application for a charter of incorporation was sought by its long-serving vice president Joseph Ayloffe, which allowed the society to own property; the society began to gather large collections of manuscripts and artefacts, housing such gifts and bequests while a proper institution for them did not exist. The acquisition of a large group of important paintings in 1828 preceded the establishment of the National Portrait Gallery by some 30 years. A gift of Thomas Kenwich, which included portraits of Edward IV, Mary Tudor, two of Richard III, reveal anti-Tudor bias in their portrayal. Following the London Blitz, the society organized many of the excavations of Roman and medieval ruins exposed by the bombing of the City, with annual surveys performed every year between 1946 and 1962. Among other finds, they discovered the unknown London citadel in the northwest corner of the London Wall.
The findings were summarized in 1968 by W. F. Grimes. In 2007, the society celebrated its tercentennial year with an exhibition at the Royal Academy entitled Making History: Antiquaries in Britain 1707-2007; the tercentenary was marked by two substantial publications: a collection of seventeen scholarly essays on the parallel themes of the history of the society itself and changing interpretations of the material relics of the past over the three centuries of its existence. The society's library is the major archaeological research library in the UK. Having acquired material since the early 18th century, the Library's present holdings number more than 100,000 books and around 800 received periodical titles; the catalogue include rare drawings and manuscripts, such as the inventory of all Henry VIII's possessions at the time of his death. As the oldest archaeological library in the country, the Library holds an outstanding collection of British county histories, a fine collection of 18th- and 19th-century books on the antiquities of Britain and other countries and an exceptionally wide-ranging collection of periodical titles with runs dating back to the early to mid-19th century.
In 1718, the society began to publish a series of illustrated papers on ancient buildings and artefacts those of Britain and written by members of the society, under the title Vetusta Monumenta. The series continued to appear on an irregular basis until 1906; the papers were published in a folio format, were notable for the inclusion of finely engraved views and reproductions of artefacts. An engraver was employed by the society from its inception – the earliest were George Vertue, James Basire and successors – labouring to produce the copperplate used in the printing of the folio editions; the prints were large and appealing, were intended to satisfy popular demand for archæological subject matter. A fellow of the society, Richard Gough, sought to expand and improve publication of the society's research, motivated by the steady dilapidation of examples
University of Southampton
The University of Southampton is a research university located in Southampton, England. The university's origins date back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862. In 1902, the Institution developed into the Hartley University College, awarding degrees from the University of London. On 29 April 1952, the institution was granted full university status, allowing it to award its own degrees. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities in Britain. In the most recent Research Excellence Framework the university was ranked 18th in the United Kingdom for average quality of research submitted, 11th for research power and 8th for research intensity; the university has seven teaching campuses. The main campus is located in the Highfield area of Southampton and is supplemented by four other campuses within the city: Avenue Campus housing the Faculty of Humanities, the National Oceanography Centre housing courses in Ocean and Earth Sciences, Southampton General Hospital offering courses in Medicine and Health Sciences, Boldrewood Campus an engineering and maritime technology campus housing the university's strategic ally Lloyd's Register.
In addition, the university operates a School of Art based in nearby Winchester and an international branch in Malaysia offering courses in Engineering. Each campus is equipped with its own library facilities; the University of Southampton has 17,535 undergraduate and 7,650 postgraduate students, making it the largest university by higher education students in the South East region. The University of Southampton Students' Union, provides support and social activities for the students ranging from involvement in the Union's four media outlets to any of the 200 affiliated societies and 80 sports; the university owns and operates a sports ground at nearby Wide Lane for use by students and operates a sports centre on the main campus. The University of Southampton has its origin as the Hartley Institution, formed in 1862 from a benefaction by Henry Robinson Hartley. Hartley had inherited a fortune from two generations of successful wine merchants. At his death in 1850, he left a bequest of £103,000 to the Southampton Corporation for the study and advancement of the sciences in his property on Southampton's High Street, in the city centre.
Hartley was an eccentric straggler, who had little liking of the new age docks and railways in Southampton. He did not desire to create a college for many but a cultural centre for Southampton's intellectual elite. After lengthy legal challenges to the Bequest, a public debate as to how best interpret the language of his Will, the Southampton Corporation choose to create the Institute. On 15 October 1862, the Hartley Institute was opened by the Prime Minister Lord Palmerston in a major civic occasion which exceeded in splendor anything that anyone in the town could remember. After initial years of financial struggle, the Hartley Institute became the Hartley College in 1883; this move was followed by increasing numbers of students, teaching staff, an expansion of the facilities and registered lodgings for students. In 1902, the Hartley College became the Hartley University college, a degree awarding branch of the University of London; this was after inspection of the teaching and finances by the University College Grants Committee, donations from Council members.
An increase in student numbers in the following years motivated fund raising efforts to move the college to greenfield land around Back Lane in the Highfield area of Southampton. On 20 June 1914, Viscount Haldane opened the new site of the renamed Southampton University College. However, the outbreak of the First World War six weeks meant no lectures could take place there, as the buildings were handed over by the college authorities for use as a military hospital. To cope with the volume of casualties, wooden huts were erected at the rear of the building; these were donated to university by the War Office after the end of fighting, in time for the transfer from the high street premises in 1920. At this time, Highfield Hall, a former country house and overlooking Southampton Common, for which a lease had earlier been secured, commenced use as a halls of residence for female students. South Hill, on what is now the Glen Eyre Halls Complex was acquired, along with South Stoneham House to house male students.
Further expansion through the 1920s and 1930s was made possible through private donors, such as the two daughters of Edward Turner Sims for the construction of the university library, from the people of Southampton, enabling new buildings on both sides of University Road. During World War II the university suffered damage in the Southampton Blitz with bombs landing on the campus and its halls of residence; the college decided against evacuation, instead expanding its Engineering Department, School of Navigation and developing a new School of Radio Telegraphy. Halls of residence were used to house Polish and American troops. After the war, departments such as Electronics grew under the influence of Erich Zepler and the Institute of Sound and Vibration was established. On 29 April 1952, Queen Elizabeth II granted the University of Southampton a Royal Charter, the first to be given to a university during her reign, which enabled it to award degrees. Six faculties were created: Arts, Engineering, Economics and Law.
The first University of Southampton degrees were awarded on 4 July 1953, following the appointment of the Duke of We
The Cambridge Union
The Cambridge Union Society referred to as the Cambridge Union, is a debating and free speech society in Cambridge and the largest society at the University of Cambridge. It is the oldest continuously running debating society in the world. Additionally, the Cambridge Union has served as a model for the foundation of similar societies at several other prominent universities, including the Oxford Union and the Yale Political Union; the Union is a private society with membership open to all students of Cambridge University, more Anglia Ruskin University. The Cambridge Union is a registered charity and is separate from the Cambridge University Students' Union; the Union has hosted political and other figures in its chamber, both state- and international-based, including the Dalai Lama, President Ronald Reagan, Professor Germaine Greer, Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, Clint Eastwood. Speakers from the 21st century include academics Slavoj Žižek, Richard Dawkins, Rowan Williams, former British prime minister John Major, former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf and comedian Stephen Fry, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, Olympic legend Lord Coe and activist Russell Brand, presidential candidate and Senator Bernie Sanders and actor Sir Ian McKellen.
Previous students involved in the Cambridge Union have included Arianna Huffington, the famous economist John Maynard Keynes. The Cambridge Union was founded on 13 February 1815. Several years after it was founded, on 24 March 1817, the Union was temporarily shut down by the University. In 1821 the Union was allowed under strict guidelines; the Union's Bridge Street premises were designed by Alfred Waterhouse and formally opened on 30 October 1866. An additional wing was added several decades later; the future radical Liberal politician, Sir Charles Dilke, was the President chiefly responsible for construction. Included among the building's many rooms are the debating chamber, a dining room, snooker room, the Keynes Library and various offices. Although Cambridge escaped undamaged from the widespread bombing destruction of World War II, the Union's building was hit by a bomb dropped during one attack; the explosion caused extensive damage to the Union's library. The Union is a self-funded charity that owns and has full control over its private property and buildings in the Cambridge city centre.
It enjoys strong relations with the university, allows other student societies to hire rooms for a nominal cost. Guests are sometimes admitted to Union events for a charge. After more than 200 years, The Cambridge Union is best known for its debates, which receive national and international media attention; the top members of its debating team compete internationally against other top debating societies. The Union organises talks by visiting speakers and a wide array of events throughout the academic year; the Cambridge Union is sometimes confused with the Cambridge University Students' Union, the student representative body set up in 1971. Although The Cambridge Union has never functioned as a students' union in the modern sense, it did affiliate to the UK's National Union of Students in 1924. In 2015 the Union celebrated its bicentenary; this included special debates and parties in Cambridge and, for the first time in its history, in London. In January 2015 the Union announced a £9.5m refurbishment project to begin in late 2016 to address major structural problems and to expand existing facilities, subject to approval by planners, to include a new Wine Bar on the ground floor and a Jazz & Comedy Club in the basement.
It announced a plan to use the revenue generated from the new building to reduce membership fees to make the Union more accessible to students from lower income backgrounds, to increase the size of its competitive debating activities for disadvantaged children and students. The development was to be financed through the leasing of disused parts of its site to Trinity College in a deal worth £4.5 million. Planning permission was received in 2016, a fundraising campaign to cover the remaining cost was to be launched on 11 March 2017 with a special debate between Jon Snow and Nick Robinson. Construction on the major redevelopment project is scheduled to begin in Michaelmas 2018; the Cambridge Union receives no formal funding from the University and raises funds for event expenses and building maintenance through membership fees and sponsorship. Membership is open to students at the University of Anglia Ruskin University. Members are able to bring guests to certain functions provided that the guests would not be allowed to purchase membership.
Social events and events organised by external bodies are open to the public, with discounts for Union members. The Union launched online membership in late 2015, which allowed any student around the world access to live streams of events for an annual subscription; the Union awards honorary memberships to distinguished individuals. Honorary members include: The Union puts on a wide variety of events for its members, but is best known for its Thursday night debates and individual speaker events. In both of these, leading figures from public life are invited to discuss something of interest to the membership. One of the Union's most famous debates in recent years was between Richard Dawkins and Rowan Williams in February 2013, on the motion,'This House Believes Religion ha
Cyclades
The Cyclades are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups; the name refers to the islands around the sacred island of Delos. The largest island of the Cyclades is Naxos; the significant Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Cycladic culture is best known for its schematic, flat idols carved out of the islands' pure white marble centuries before the great Middle Bronze Age Minoan civilization arose in Crete to the south. A distinctive Neolithic culture amalgamating Anatolian and mainland Greek elements arose in the western Aegean before 4000 BCE, based on emmer and wild-type barley and goats, tuna that were speared from small boats. Excavated sites include Saliagos and Kephala with signs of copperworking, Each of the small Cycladic islands could support no more than a few thousand people, though Late Cycladic boat models show that fifty oarsmen could be assembled from the scattered communities, when the organized palace-culture of Crete arose, the islands faded into insignificance, with the exception of Delos, which retained its archaic reputation as a sanctuary throughout antiquity and until the emergence of Christianity.
The first archaeological excavations of the 1880s were followed by systematic work by the British School at Athens and by Christos Tsountas, who investigated burial sites on several islands in 1898–1899 and coined the term "Cycladic civilization". Interest lagged picked up in the mid-20th century, as collectors competed for the modern-looking figures that seemed so similar to sculpture by Jean Arp or Constantin Brâncuși. Sites were looted and a brisk trade in forgeries arose; the context for many of these Cycladic figurines has been destroyed and their meaning may never be understood. Another intriguing and mysterious object is that of the Cycladic frying pans. More accurate archaeology has revealed the broad outlines of a farming and seafaring culture that had immigrated from Anatolia c. 5000 BCE. Early Cycladic culture evolved in three phases, between c. 3300 – 2000 BCE, when it was swamped in the rising influence of Minoan Crete. The culture of mainland Greece contemporary with Cycladic culture is known as the Helladic period.
In recent decades the Cyclades have become popular with European and other tourists, as a result there have been problems with erosion and water shortages. The Cyclades comprise about 220 islands, the major ones being Amorgos, Andros, Delos, Kea, Kythnos, Mykonos, Paros, Serifos, Sikinos, Syros and Thira or Santoríni. There are many minor islands including Donousa, Gyaros, Koufonisia, Makronisos and Schoinousa; the name "Cyclades" refers to the islands forming a circle around the sacred island of Delos. Most of the smaller islands are uninhabited. Ermoupoli on Syros is the chief town and administrative center of the former prefecture; the islands are peaks of a submerged mountainous terrain, with the exception of two volcanic islands and Santorini. The climate is dry and mild, but with the exception of Naxos the soil is not fertile. Cooler temperatures are in higher elevations and do not receive wintry weather; the Cyclades are bounded to the south by the Sea of Crete. The Cyclades Prefecture was one of the prefectures of Greece.
As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the prefecture was abolished, its territory was divided into nine regional units of the South Aegean region: Andros Kea-Kythnos Milos Mykonos Naxos Paros Thira Syros Tinos The prefecture was subdivided into the following municipalities and communities. These have been reorganised at the 2011 Kallikratis reform as well. Province of Amorgos: Amorgos Province of Andros: Andros Province of Kea: Ioulis Province of Milos: Milos Province of Naxos: Naxos Province of Paros: Paroikia Province of Syros: Ermoupoli Province of Tinos: Tinos Province of Thira: ThiraNote: Provinces no longer hold any legal status in Greece. Local specialities of the Cyclades include: Brantada Fava santorinis Fourtalia Kalasouna Kalogeros Kakavia Ladopita Louza, similar to the Cypriot lountza Mastelo Strapatsada Lazarakia Melopita Aegean cat Nisiotika music Santorini wine Mosaics of Delos J. A. MacGillivray and R. L. N. Barber, The Prehistoric Cyclades 1984. R. L. N. Barber, The Cyclades in the Bronze Age 1987.
Peter Saundry, C. Michael Hogan & Steve Baum. 2011. Sea of Crete. Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. M. Pidwirny & C. J. Cleveland. National Council for Science and Environment. Washington DC. Jeremy B. Rutter, "The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean": Lessons 2 and 4: chronology, bibliography Cyclades The Official website of the Greek National Tourism Organisation
Sheffield Brightside (UK Parliament constituency)
Sheffield, Brightside was a parliamentary constituency in the City of Sheffield. Created for the 1885 general election, replaced at the 2010 general election by the new constituency of Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, it elected one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, using the first-past-the-post voting system. In its first fifty years, Brightside returned a variety of Liberal and Labour MPs. However, from 1945 onwards, it became one of the Labour Party's safest seats in the United Kingdom, it was represented by David Blunkett from 1987 until its abolition, he continued to hold the successor seat until he retired in 2015, becoming the seat's longest serving MP. 1885-1918: The Municipal Borough of Sheffield ward of Brightside. 1918-1950: The County Borough of Sheffield wards of Brightside and Burngreave. 1950-1983: The County Borough of Sheffield wards of Brightside, Firth Park, Nether Shire, Southey Green. 1983-2010: The City of Sheffield wards of Brightside, Firth Park, Nether Shire and Southey Green.
Sheffield Brightside covered the north of the city. It bordered the constituencies of Rotherham, Sheffield Central, Sheffield Heeley and Sheffield Hillsborough. Following their review of parliamentary representation in South Yorkshire, the Boundary Commission for England recommended that Sheffield Brightside should gain all of Burngreave and Hillsborough wards, with Walkley moving to Sheffield Central, that the constituency be renamed Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough. Sheffield Brightside was created in 1885 when the former Sheffield constituency was split into five constituencies. Mundella was appointed President of the Board of Trade. Mundella was appointed President of the Board of Trade. Mundella's death caused a by-election. List of Parliamentary constituencies in South Yorkshire Sheffield Brightside BBC News, Election 2005 Sheffield Brightside BBC News, Vote 2001 Election history - Sheffield Brightside The Guardian Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" Political Science Resources Election results from 1951 to present F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918 - 1949 F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950 - 1970 Sheffield General Election Results 1945 - 2001, Sheffield City Council
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, in some areas proto-writing, other early features of urban civilization. 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. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by producing bronze by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Bronze itself is harder and more durable than other metals available at the time, allowing Bronze Age civilizations to gain a technological advantage. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact that there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition. Although the Iron Age followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic.
Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing. According to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the earliest viable writing systems; the overall period is characterized by widespread use of bronze, though the place and time of the introduction and development of bronze technology were not universally synchronous. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques. Tin must be mined and smelted separately added to molten copper to make bronze alloy; the Bronze Age was a time of developing trade networks. A 2013 report suggests that the earliest tin-alloy bronze dates to the mid-5th millennium BC in a Vinča culture site in Pločnik, although this culture is not conventionally considered part of the Bronze Age; the dating of the foil has been disputed. Western Asia and the Near East was the first region to enter the Bronze Age, which began with the rise of the Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer in the mid 4th millennium BC.
Cultures in the ancient Near East practiced intensive year-round agriculture, developed a writing system, invented the potter's wheel, created a centralized government, written law codes and nation states and empires, embarked on advanced architectural projects, introduced social stratification and civil administration and practiced organized warfare and religion. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and astrology. Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The Ancient Near East Bronze Age can be divided as following: The Hittite Empire was established in Hattusa in northern Anatolia from the 18th century BC. In the 14th century BC, the Hittite Kingdom was at its height, encompassing central Anatolia, southwestern Syria as far as Ugarit, upper Mesopotamia. After 1180 BC, amid general turmoil in the Levant conjectured to have been associated with the sudden arrival of the Sea Peoples, the kingdom disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until as late as the 8th century BC.
Arzawa in Western Anatolia during the second half of the second millennium BC extended along southern Anatolia in a belt that reaches from near the Turkish Lakes Region to the Aegean coast. Arzawa was the western neighbor – sometimes a rival and sometimes a vassal – of the Middle and New Hittite Kingdoms; the Assuwa league was a confederation of states in western Anatolia, defeated by the Hittites under an earlier Tudhaliya I, around 1400 BC. Arzawa has been associated with the much more obscure Assuwa located to its north, it bordered it, may be an alternative term for it. In Ancient Egypt the Bronze Age begins in the Protodynastic period, c. 3150 BC. The archaic early Bronze Age of Egypt, known as the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt follows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt, c. 3100 BC. It is taken to include the First and Second Dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period of Egypt until about 2686 BC, or the beginning of the Old Kingdom. With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Abydos to Memphis with a unified Egypt ruled by an Egyptian god-king.
Abydos remained the major holy land in the south. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization, such as art and many aspects of religion, took shape during the Early Dynastic period. Memphis in the Early Bronze Age was the largest city of the time; the Old Kingdom of the regional Bronze Age is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley. The First Intermediate Period of Egypt described as a "dark period" in ancient Egyptian history, spanned about 100 years after the end of the Old Kingdom from about 2181 to 2055 BC. Little monumental evidence survives from this period from the early part of it; the First Intermediate Period was a dynamic time when the rule of Egypt was divided between two competing power bases: Heracleopolis in Lower Egypt and Thebes in Upper Egypt. These two kingdoms would come into conflict, with the Theban kings conquering the north, resulting in the reunification of Egypt under a single ruler during the second part of the 11th Dynasty.
The Middle Kingdom of Egypt laste
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United Kingdom
Royal Air Force