The Hittites were an Anatolian Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in north-central Anatolia in the early 2nd millennium BC. There they formed a series of polities, including the kingdom of Kussara, the Kanesh or Nesha Kingdom, and an empire centered on their capital, Hattusa. Known in modern times as the Hittite Empire, it reached its peak during the mid-14th century BC under Šuppiluliuma I, when it encompassed most of Anatolia and parts of northern Syria and Upper Mesopotamia, bordering the rival empires of the Hurri-Mitanni and Assyrians.