Centuries: 17th century BC - 16th century BC - 15th century BC

Decades: 1550s BC 1540s BC 1530s BC 1520s BC 1510s BC - 1500s BC - 1490s BC 1480s BC 1470s BC 1460s BC 1450s BC

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Events and trends

• Stonehenge built in Wiltshire, England
• The element Mercury has been discovered in Egyptian tombs dating from this decade
• Settlers from Crete, Greece move to Miletus, Turkey
• Early traces of Maya civilization developing in Belize
• The Phoenicians develop an alphabet - see Timeline of communication technology
• 1506 BC - Cecrops, legendary King of Athens, dies after a reign of 50 years. Having survived his own son, he is succeeded by Cranaus.
• Egypt conquers Nubia and the Levant (1504 BC - 1492 BC)
• Earliest evidence (from archaeological excavations) of a settlement at Aylesbury, England.
• 1500 BC - 100 BC - Indus valley civilization - series of raids or small scale migrations by the Aryans from the North-West of Indian subcontinent.

Significant people

• Thutmose II of Egypt, Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt (1518 - 1504 BC).
• Thutmose III of Egypt, Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt (1503 BC - 1450 BC).