18th century BC

Events

• 1800 BC: Beginning of the Nordic Bronze Age in the period system devised by Oscar Montelius.
• c. 1800 BC: Sedentary Mayan communities in Mesoamerica
• c. 1800 BC: Hyksos start to settle in the Nile Delta. They had the capital at Avaris in northeastern Nile Delta.
• 1800 BC: Adichanallur urn-burial site in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu. In 2004, a number of skeletons dating from around 3,800 years ago.
• 1800 BC: Beginning of the Indo-Aryan migration
• 1800 BC – 1700 BC: Decline of the Indus Valley civilisation
• 1800 BC – 1300 BC: Troy VI flourishes.
• c. 1792 BC – 1750 BC: (middle chronology) – Hammurabi rules Babylonia and has to deal with Mari, which he conquers late in his career.
• c. 1792 BC – 1750 BC: (middle chronology) – Stela of Hammurabi, from Susa (modern Shush, Iran) is made. It is now in Musée du Louvre, Paris.
• 1787 BC – 1784 BC: Amorite conquests of Uruk and Isin.
• 1786 BC: Egypt: Queen Sobekneferu dies. End of Twelfth Dynasty, start of Thirteenth Dynasty, start of Fourteenth Dynasty.
• 1779 BC: Zimrilim, the King of Mari, starts to rule.
• 1770 BC: Babylon, capital of Babylonia becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Thebes, capital of Egypt.
• 1766 BC: Shang conquest of the Xia dynasty. China.
• 1764 BC – 1750 BC: Wars of Hammurabi.
• 1757 BC: Mari sacked by Hammurabi. Zimrilim's palace is destroyed.
• 1757 BC: Zimrilim, the King of Mari, dies.
• 1750 BC: Hyksos occupation of Northern Egypt.
• 1750 BC: A colossal volcanic eruption at Mount Veniaminof, Alaska.
• c. 1750 BC: Vedic period starts in India.
• c. 1750 BC: Investiture of Zimrilim (Zimrilim, King of Mari, before the Goddess Ishtar), facsimile of a wall painting on mud plaster from the Zimrilim palace at Mari (modern Tell Hariri, Syria), Court 106, is made. It is now in Musée du Louvre, Paris.
• c. 1740 BC – c. 1720 BC: reigns of pharaoh Neferhotep I and his brother Sobekhotep IV, marking the apex of the Egyptian 13th Dynasty.
• 1749 BC – 1712 BC: Mesopotamian Rebellions.
• Early Unetice culture, beginning of the Bronze Age in Central Europe.
• Minoan civilization: phase II of the Middle period (MM II).
• c. 1700 BC: The last species of mammoth became extinct on Wrangel Island.
• c. 1700 BC: Indus Valley civilization comes to an end but is continued by the Cemetery H culture
• c. 1700 BC: Minoan Old Palace period ends and Minoan Second Palace (Neopalatial) period starts in Crete.
• c. 1700 BC: Aegean metalworkers are producing decorative objects rivaling those of Ancient Near East jewelers, whose techniques they seem to borrow.
• c. 1700 BC: Lila-Ir-Tash started to rule the Elamite Empire.
• c. 1700 BC: Bronze Age starts in China.
• c. 1700 BC: Shang dynasty starts in China.