• Middle East 1500 BC

The past thousand years have seen many upheavals in the Middle East, particularly in Mesopotamia and surrounding regions. Tribes from the fringes of the old civilizations have come in to create new states and empires: the Hittite, Mitanni and Babylonian empires are ruled by Indo-European speakers from the north and east. These states are joined by the New Kingdom of Egypt to form the leading powers of the region.

These centralized states are home to highly sophisticated - and already ancient - civilizations, with a complex commercial life, bureaucracies, and well-organized armies based on a new technology, the chariot. The struggles between them dominate the history of the Middle Eastern world at this period.

Related Timelines:
Timeline of World History

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