16th century BC: Encyclopedia - 16th century BC

16th century BC

16th century BC - Overview

16th century BC - Events

• 1700 – 1500 BC -- Hurrian conquests.
• 1600 BC^* — Shang Dynasty of China established.
• 1595 BC - Sack of Babylon by the Hittite king Mursilis I.
• 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.
• 1539 BC - End of Seventeenth dynasty of Egypt, start of the Eighteenth Dynasty.
• 1539 BC - Approximate first use of the Valley of the Kings.
• 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 - Stonehenge built in Wiltshire, England.
• 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 - Indus valley civilization - The controversial Aryan Invasion Theory is often dated to 1500 BC. Many scholars date the Rig Veda to the period of 1900 to 1200 BC.
• Unetice culture.

16th century BC - Significant persons

• 汤 (pinyin: tāng) — 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 (1573 - 1570 BC).
• Ahmose I, Pharaoh and founder of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt (1570 - 1546 BC).
• Thutmose II of Egypt, Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt (1518 BC - 1504 BC).

Category: 16th century BC

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "16th century BC", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki