A Short History of the World Read Free Page A

into the 20th century several Stone Age civilisations were still being discovered.
    Iron began to be used in significant quantities in the Middle East and south-east Europe around the 13th century BC, shortly after people discovered how to produce the necessary heat to smelt the iron ore from the rock. Much stronger and more ubiquitous than copper and tin, iron gradually overtook bronze as the most sought after metal. As with the Bronze Age, the Iron Age began at different times across the world, only reaching northern Europe around 600 BC.  
                                            

    The Hittites: Early Ironmongers (1400–1200 BC)
    Iron played a large part in the emergence of another major empire that surfaced in the second millennium BC – that of the Hittites. By the mid-14th century BC they had carved out an empire comprising present-day Turkey and parts of present-day Lebanon and Iraq. It was the Hittites who discovered how to smelt iron ore to make iron; this was recognised as an extremely important development as armies possessing more resilient iron weapons could vanquish those poorly armed with bronze. Although the Hittites sold iron tools to other countries, they opted not to share knowledge of how to make them, and it was this that made them the chief power in western Asia from roughly 1400 to 1200 BC.  

    The Olmecs of Central America (1400–400 BC)
    Over on the other side of the world, a civilisation of its own developed in Central America: that of the Olmecs. We know less about the Olmecs than we know about the major civilisations that developed in Asia as they left very few written records before all traces ceased in circa 400 BC for reasons unknown (although very possibly due to environmental change). We know that they had a calendar, carved gigantic stone heads, built large pyramid-like structures and that they traded extensively. Bloodletting and human sacrifice were a part of their religious life and the rituals and beliefs of the Olmecs formed the basis of the rituals and beliefs of the civilisations that would inhabit the area after them, including those of the Mayans and the Aztecs.

    The Invasion of the Sea Peoples (1200 BC)
    A turning point in the history of the old Mediterranean world came around 1200 BC, when a confederacy of predominantly sea-faring raiders from the north and the west emigrated eastwards, taking over Crete, attempting to invade Egypt and eventually settling in Canaan – an area corresponding roughly to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and southern Syria. Egyptian texts refer to them as the ‘Sea Peoples’.  
    The northern group of invaders settled on the coast of present-day Lebanon, an area that the Greeks later referred to as ‘Phoenicia’. The southern group of invaders, the Peleste, subsequently known as the Philistines, was prevented from entering Egypt and ended up in Canaan. Like other peoples in the region, the Philistines suffered the pressures of the great powers around them and disappeared from history in the 7th century BC, leaving only their name, Philistia (or Palestine), to designate the territory they had occupied.
    Today it remains unclear who the Sea Peoples were, from where they originally came 12 or even why they came. They may have migrated due to dramatic climate change, earthquakes, or famine, or may have been pushed out by invasions of other tribes from the north. Equally, they may simply have been one of successive waves of invaders looking for land. What we do know is that they wreaked havoc and destruction all the way down the east coast of the Mediterranean and that following violent conquests, they generally burnt cities to the ground.  

    The Hittites were one of a number of civilisations in the area that came to an abrupt end during this time and never again threatened their neighbours. From this time onwards, the history of ancient Egypt is also marked by gradual decline.

    The Hebrews
    It was