Migration, Settlement, and Demography from Prehistory to 600 BCE

The first human settlers in North America arrived during the most recent ice age. They crossed over a land bridge in the Bering Strait from Asia to modern-day Alaska. This took place approximately fifteen thousand years ago. From there human beings rapidly migrated and settled across the whole of the Americas.

You must pay careful attention to the time period. Only Çatalhöyük existed during that specific time frame in the Neolithic Period.

The Indus Valley civilization (also called the Harappan Civilization) arose in modern-day Pakistan (in the Indus Valley) approximately five thousand years ago.

The Aryans arrived on the Indian subcontinent in 1,500 BCE. The Aryans were a nomadic people who had come from either Europe, Iran, or Central Asia, or possibly a combination of all three. They established the caste system in India and ensured that they would be placed at the top of the social hierarchy.

The Xia Dynasty in China reigned from approximately 2,000 BCE until approximately 1,600 BCE. Writing was invented in China sometime between 1,500 BCE and 1,100 BCE, making the Shang Dynasty the first dynasty in the recorded history of China. All of our modern understanding of the Xia Dynasty comes from Shang historians, writing at least a few hundred years after the decline of the Xia.

The Etruscans were a community indigenous to the Italian peninsula conquered Rome early in its existence. Although Rome was able to overthrow them eventually, Rome's subjection left an indelible mark on the Roman psyche.

The Etruscans spread their culture to the Romans, but through military expansion, not pacifistic expansion.

The Etruscans were not involved the Trojan war.

The Etruscans had been assimilated by the Romans by the time that the Eastern Roman empire came into existence.

The Roman army developed the maniple system of fighting long after the Etruscans disappeared as an independent, and cohesive, cultural group.

The Aryans were nomadic people, possibly from Europe, Iran, or Central Asia, who settled in northern India at the beginning of the Vedic Age.

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were the two major cities of the bronze age Indus Valley civilization (also sometimes called the Harappan civilization).

The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt existed from 2,050 BCE until 1,800 BCE It was a time of relatively weak leadership in Egypt and is generally less noteworthy than the Old or New Kingdoms. The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt collapsed following the invasion of the Hyksos people. The Hyksos were able to easily conquer the Egyptians, but they did not have an easy time ruling. After one hundred years of Hyksos rule, the Egyptians rebelled and overthrew their conquerors, thus establishing the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt.

The Paleolithic Era refers to the history of humanity before the Agricultural Revolution. During the Paleolithic Era the vast majority of humans lived in small, nomadic group of hunter-gatherers. Society could not yet support large groups and agriculture was not developed until the Neolithic Revolution circa ten thousand years ago.