Events from the 2000s BC

Cornwall tin mining begins - essential for bronze production, traded across Europe to Mediterranean

Minoan wine culture at peak - elaborate wine vessels, palace wine storage, ritual wine drinking at Knossos

Cinnamon from Ceylon used in Egyptian embalming - spices worth more than gold, 3000-mile trade route already established

Apples spread along Silk Road from Kazakhstan - traders carry seeds, natural hybridization creates sweeter varieties