Africa is initiated via expansion from the dried Sahara, reaching West and East Africa. Later in the 2nd millennium, pastoralism and iron metallurgy spread to Central Africa via the Bantu migration. Kerma culture Savanna Pastoral Neolithic Nok culture Events 2000 BC – Seima-Turbino Phenomenon. 1700–1300 BC – Palace complex in Knossos, Crete, was built. 1700 BC earthquake damages palaces at Knossos and Phaistos. 1627 BC – Minoan eruption. 1600 BC–1360 BC – Egyptian domination over Canaan and Syria. 1575 BC – Nubian Kerma sacks Egypt. 1500 BC – Volcanic eruption at Thera. 1500 BC – Meteorite impact that formed the Kaali crater in Estonia. 1500 BC – Bantu expansion across central, eastern and southern Africa. 1520 BC – Egypt conquers Nubia. 1478 BC – Battle of Megiddo between Ancient Egyptians and the Canaanites. 1269 BC – Ramses II and Hattusilis III sign peace treaty. 1274 BC – Battle of Kadesh between Ancient Egyptians and Hittites. 1250 BC – destruction of Troy VII. 1045 BC – Zhou Dynasty founded in China. Inventions, discoveries, introductions Chinese Oracle bone script. Tumble polishing: Indians innvoted polishing method in the 10th century BC. Diamond drills: in the 12th century BC or 7th century BC, Indians not only innovated use of diamond tipped drills but also invented double diamond tipped drills for bead manufacturing. Phoenician alphabet. Nebra sky disk, oldest known visual representation of the cosmos. Discovery of new iron smelting and smithing techniques. Spoke-wheeled chariots. Languages In the history of the Egyptian language, the early 2nd millennium saw a transition from Old Egyptian to Middle Egyptian. As the most used written form of the Ancient Egyptian language, it is frequently (incorrectly) referred to simply as "Hieroglyphics". The earliest attested Indo-European language, the Hittite language, first appears in cuneiform in the 16th century BC (Anitta text), before disappearing from records in the 13th century BC. Hittite is the best known and the most studied language of the extinct Anatolian branch of Indo-European languages. The first Northwest Semitic language, Ugaritic, is attested in the 14th century BC. The first fully phonemic script Proto-Canaanite developed from Egyptian hieroglyphs, becoming the Phoenician alphabet by 1200 BC. The Phoenician alphabet was spread throughout the Mediterranean by Phoenician maritime traders and became one of the most widely used writing systems in the world, and the parent of virtually all alphabetic writing systems. The Phoenician language is also the first Canaanite language,