The 21st century BC was a

century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

that lasted from the year 2100 BC to 2001 BC.

Events

Note: all dates from this long ago should be regarded as either approximate or conjectural; there are no absolutely certain dates, and multiple competing reconstructed chronologies, for this time period. * c. 2150 – 2040 BC – The First Intermediate Period of Egypt, a period of decline in Egyptian central power. * c. 2112 – 2004 BC – The

Third Dynasty of Ur The Third Dynasty of Ur, also called the Neo-Sumerian Empire, refers to a 22nd to 21st century Common Era, BC (middle chronology) Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur and a short-lived territorial-political state which some historians c ...

. Administrative power in Ur is pushed far, with an Ensi, an appointed civil servant, at the head of the constituencies. A meticulous and finicky bureaucracy manages, counts and controls the whole administration, which is as much concerned with the economy as with war or the service of the gods. The weight of such an administration arguably contributed to the collapse of the empire. The documentation of the Third Dynasty of Ur does not attest to the existence of private property, but rather a state organization of agricultural production, an image perhaps distorted because the texts come from the state's administrative management and not from private archives. This documentation hardly ever concerns the gardens and palm groves but only the cereal fields, exploited in the form of large production units, even if small tenures are granted as a salary. A whole manufacturing activity was grafted onto the domain. * c. 2100 – 2000 BC: **

Epic poetry An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...

is written in the Sumerian language, including the ''

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, and is regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts. The literary history of Gilgamesh ...

''. ** In

Chalcolithic Europe The European Chalcolithic, the Chalcolithic (also Eneolithic, Copper Age) period of Prehistoric Europe, lasted roughly from 5000 to 2000 BC, developing from the preceding Neolithic period. It was a period of Megalithic culture, the appearance o ...

, the two circles of

bluestone Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including: * basalt in Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand * dolerites in Tasmania, Australia; and in Britain (including Stonehenge) * felds ...

s that form the inner part of

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...

are erected. **

Shahr-e Sukhteh Shahr-e Sukhteh ( fa, شهر سوخته, meaning " heBurnt City"), c. 3200–2350 BCE, also spelled as ''Shahr-e Sūkhté'' and ''Shahr-i Sōkhta'', is an archaeological site of a sizable Bronze Age urban settlement, associated with the Helmand ...

, "The Burnt City", is abandoned. * c. 2100 – 1900 BC: The beginning of the Middle

Minoan civilization The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450BC ...

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

. Bronze metallurgy and the

potter's wheel In pottery, a potter's wheel is a machine used in the shaping (known as throwing) of clay into round ceramic ware. The wheel may also be used during the process of trimming excess clay from leather-hard dried ware that is stiff but malleable, a ...

are introduced, as are Cretan hieroglyphs. * c. 2100 – 1800 BC – The Sintashta culture emerges in the northern

Eurasian Steppe The Eurasian Steppe, also simply called the Great Steppe or the steppes, is the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia in the temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands biome. It stretches through Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Transnistri ...

. * c. 2070 BC –

Yu the Great Yu the Great (大禹) was a legendary king in ancient China who was famed for his introduction of flood control, his establishment of the Xia dynasty which inaugurated dynastic rule in China, and his upright moral character. He figures prominen ...

established the

Xia dynasty The Xia dynasty () is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, the Xia dynasty was established by the legendary Yu the Great, after Shun, the last of the Five Emperors, gave the throne to him. In tradi ...

. * c. 2050 BC – The beginning of the Middle

Kerma culture The Kerma culture or Kerma kingdom was an early civilization centered in Kerma, Sudan. It flourished from around 2500 BC to 1500 BC in ancient Nubia. The Kerma culture was based in the southern part of Nubia, or "Upper Nubia" (in parts of present ...

Upper Nubia Upper Nubia is the southernmost part of Nubia, upstream on the Nile from Lower Nubia. It is so called because the Nile flows north, so it is further upstream and of higher elevation in relation to Lower Nubia. The extension of ''Upper Nubia'' is ra ...

. * c. 2040 BC –

Mentuhotep II Mentuhotep II ( egy, Mn- ṯw-ḥtp, meaning " Mentu is satisfied"), also known under his prenomen Nebhepetre ( egy, Nb- ḥpt- Rˁ, meaning "The Lord of the rudder is Ra"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the sixth ruler of the Eleventh Dyn ...

, ruler of the

Eleventh Dynasty The Eleventh Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty XI) is a well-attested group of rulers. Its earlier members before Pharaoh Mentuhotep II are grouped with the four preceding dynasties to form the First Intermediate Period, whereas the late ...

in Thebes, completes the reunification of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

following his victory over the pharaohs of Herakleopolis, which marks the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. * c. 2000 BC – The earliest bronze age artifacts in Southeast Asia are found in Ban Chiang site in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, without the presence of a militaristic or urbanized state.

References

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