During the Late Bronze Age, a western multicentered world-system formed that included the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt, and western Asia. The implosion of this system, starting in 1200 bce, along with the collapse of urban life and state disaggregation, broke the long-distance networks that had been in place since roughly 1600 bce. Then began a long period of turmoil marked by general political fragmentation. We know today that the “dark hole” from 1200 bce to the start of the first millennium bce was not quite as “dark” as has previously been thought; it was a period of transformation, and its duration needs to be shortened if we adopt the proposals made by some authors for a shorter chronology. Moreover, long-distance trade may have recovered as early as the twelfth century bce, on bases that are different from those previously holding sway. At that time, Cyprus took on a leading role in the eastern and central Mediterranean Sea.