The Hittites, the Minoans, and the Mycenaeans, 2200–1000 B.C.E.

The first examples of Western civilization to emerge in the central Mediterranean region were located in Anatolia, dominated by the warlike Hittite kingdom (Map 1.1, page 6); on the large island of Crete and nearby islands, home to the Minoans; and on the Greek mainland, where the Mycenaeans grew rich from raiding and trade. As early as 6000 B.C.E., people from southwestern Asia, especially Anatolia, began migrating westward and southward to inhabit islands in the Mediterranean Sea. From this migration, the rich civilization of the Minoans gradually emerged on Crete and other islands in the Aegean Sea by around 2200 B.C.E. In mainland Greece, civilization eventually arose among peoples who had moved into the area thousands of years before, again most likely from southwestern Asia.

The Hittites, the Minoans, and the Mycenaeans had advanced military technologies, elaborate architecture, striking art, a desire for luxury, and extensive trade contacts with Egypt and the Near East. The Hittites, like the Egyptians, created a unified state under a single central authority. The Minoans and the Mycenaeans, like the Mesopotamians, established separate city-states. All three peoples inhabited a dangerous world in which repeated raids and violent disruptions lasting from around 1200 to 1000 B.C.E. ultimately destroyed their prosperous cultures. Nevertheless, their accomplishments paved the way for the later civilization of Greece, which greatly influenced Western civilization.