16th century BC

Events

1700 BC–1500 BC — Hurrian conquests.

• 1595 BC — Sack of Babylon by the Hittite king Mursilis I.
• 1570 BC - Cretan palaces at Knossos and other centres flourish despite disasters.
• 1567 BC — Egypt: End of Fifteenth Dynasty, end of Sixteenth Dynasty, end of Seventeenth Dynasty, start of Eighteenth Dynasty.
• 1550s BC — The city of Mycenae, located in the northeast Peloponnesus, comes to dominate the rest of Achaea, giving its name to Mycenaean civilization.
• 1556 BC — Cecrops builds or rebuilds Athens following the great flood of Deucalion and the end of the Golden age. He becomes the first of several Kings of Athens whose life account is considered part of Greek mythology.
• 1556 BC^* — Shang Dynasty of China established.
• 1550 BC — End of Seventeenth dynasty of Egypt, start of the Eighteenth Dynasty upon the coronation of Ahmose I (Low Chronology).
• 1530 BC — End of the First Dynasty of Babylon and the start of the Kassite Dynasty — see History of Iraq.
• 1525 BC — End of Fifteenth dynasty of Egypt.
• 1512 BC (approx.): the flood of Deucalion, according to O'Flaherty, Augustine, Eusebius, and Isidore (bishop of Seville).
• 1506 BC — Cecrops, legendary King of Athens, dies after a reign of 50 years. Having survived his own son, he is succeeded by Cranaus.
• 1504 BC — Egypt started to conquer Nubia and the Levant.
• 1500s BC — Vedic Civilization begins in India
• 1500s BC Many scholars date early parts of the Rig Veda to roughly the 16th century.
• 1500s BC - Queen Hatsheput in Egypte (18 dynasty).
• 1500s BC — The element Mercury has been discovered in Egyptian tombs dating from this decade.
• 1500s BC — Settlers from Crete, Greece move to Miletus, Turkey.
• 1500s BC — Early traces of Maya civilization developing in Belize.
• 1500s BC — The Phoenicians develop an alphabet — see Timeline of communication technology.
• 1500s BC — Earliest evidence (from archaeological excavations) of a settlement at Aylesbury, England.
• 1500 BC — Indo-Aryan migration is often dated to the 17th to 16th centuries.
• Unetice culture.

Significant persons

• King Cheng Tang of Shang of China, first ruler of Shang Dynasty, ruled China for 29 years since 1600 BC according to the Xia Shang Zhou Chronology Project.
• 1597 BC — Aaron born to Amram and his wife Jochebed (traditional date).
• Kamose, last Pharaoh of the 17th Dynasty of Egypt (1575 or 1573 BC–1550 BC).
• Ahmose I, Pharaoh and founder of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt (1550 BC–1525 BC).

References

Decades and years