1600s BC

Centuries: 18th century BC – 17th century BC – 16th century BC

Decades: 1650s BC 1640s BC 1630s BC 1620s BC 1610s BC – 1600s BC – 1590s BC 1580s BC 1570s BC 1560s BC 1550s BC

Events and trends

• Egypt: End of Fourteenth Dynasty
• The creation of one of the oldest surviving astronomical documents, a copy of which was found in the Babylonian library of Ashurbanipal: a 21-year record of the appearances of Venus (which the early Babylonians called Nindaranna).
• The end of the Indus Valley civilization
• The overthrow of the ruling Amorite dynasty in Aleppo, Syria
• The date of the earliest discovered rubber balls
• Egypt conquered by Asian tribes known as the Hyksos – see History of ancient Israel and Judah
• Shang Dynasty instituted in China

Significant people