The founding of the Hittite Empire is attributed by tradition to either Labarna I or Hattusili I (it is debated whether this is the same person or not), who had conquered the area south and north of Hattusa.

Labarna had not been the first in line to the throne.

PU-Sarruma designated Labarna as his successor after his own sons revolted against him.

Upon PU-Sarruma's death, Labarna and Papahdilmah, one of PU-Sarruma's sons, contended for the throne, with Labarna emerging victorious.

What little is known about him is culled mainly from the Edict of Telipinu, which states that he overwhelmed his enemies and "made them borders of the sea", a statement which may refer to conquests as far as the Mediterranean coast in the south, and the Black Sea in the north.

He installed his sons as governors in several cities including Tuwanuwa, Hupisna, Landa, and Lusna (the identities of these cities are uncertain, but thought to perhaps be Tyana, Heraclea Cybistra, Laranda, and Lystra).

Through his conquests, he was responsible for laying the groundwork for the Hittite empire that was to come.

Labarna was actually a title of the early Hittite rulers, rather than a personal name.

Given the lack of contemporary references, and the fact that Hattusili I also used the title Labarna, some modern scholars have proposed that later Hittite historians mistook references to Labarna as being a separate king before Hattusili I.

According to this theory, Labarna and Hattusili I were really one and the same ruler.

Labarnas’s successor Hattusilis, who rules the Hitttites from about 1650, apparently establishes his capital in the fortress city of Hattusa (Boğazkale), the reoccupied site of the Assyrian merchant colony destroyed in 1720.

The Egyptians reveal their use of a decimal system in one of the earliest extant mathematical textbooks, the so-called Rhind papyrus, written about 1650.

Egyptian mathematicians represent the decimal unit by a single line, and tens, hundreds, and thousands by hieroglyphic symbols.

The Egyptians use repeated doubling for multiplication.

Except for the fraction 2/3, for which there is a special hieroglyph, all fractions are written as unit fractions of the form 1/n.

A cooling of world climate, lasting several years and recorded in tree-rings all over the world, begins in the year 1627 BCE.

It might have been caused by the eruption of Thera in the Aegean or the Avellino eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Sea level peaks at one meter above the twentieth-century level during the Rottnest transgression, beginning in 1600 BCE and lasting for six centuries.

Austronesian peoples are believed to have settled in the Fijian islands some thirty-five hundred years ago, with Melanesians following around a thousand years later.

Most authorities agree that they originated in Southeast Asia and came via Indonesia.

Groups from southeastern Asia, primarily speakers of the languages (now) classified as Malayo-Polynesian, begin to spread out to nearby Pacific Islands from about 1500 BCE.

Human habitation in Saipan, the second largest of the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, dates from this time.

Excavations at Ban Chiang, a site in present Thailand, plus survey and excavation at sites such as Non Nok Tha, Ban Pak Top, Ban Tong, and Don Klang, have demonstrated that Southeast Asia had developed a sophisticated metallurgical industry as early as the first half of the second millennium BCE.

Maritime East Asia (1629–1486 BCE): Rise and Consolidation of the Shang Dynasty

Between 1629 BCE and 1486 BCE, Maritime East Asia—comprising lower Primorsky Krai, the Korean Peninsula, the Japanese Archipelago below northern Hokkaido, Taiwan, and southern, central, and northeastern China—experiences a pivotal transition with the fall of the quasi-legendary Xia Dynasty and the rise of the historically attested Shang Dynasty. This era is marked by significant cultural advancements, including the introduction of sophisticated bronze metallurgy, the establishment of Chinese writing, and the formation of distinct social hierarchies, laying lasting foundations for Chinese civilization.

Fall of the Xia Dynasty

According to traditional Chinese historical accounts—including the Xia Shang Zhou Chronology Project—the Xia Dynasty’s last ruler, Jie, reigns for fifty-two years until approximately 1618 BCE. Jie’s oppressive and corrupt rule, characterized by tyranny and cruelty, precipitates the dynasty’s downfall. Later historical records, particularly the Bamboo Annals, describe catastrophic natural phenomena during Jie's final years, including unusual climatic events such as frost in July, heavy rains, crop failures, and an anomalous "yellow fog" accompanied by dim sunlight and multiple suns appearing simultaneously. Modern scientists speculate that these phenomena could have been related to volcanic events, notably the Thera eruption, linking environmental disturbances to historical upheaval.

Ultimately, Jie is overthrown by Tang of Shang at the pivotal Battle of Mingtiao, marking the end of Xia dominance and the beginning of a new era under the Shang Dynasty.

Rise and Expansion of the Shang Dynasty

Emerging prominently around 1600 BCE, the Shang Dynasty establishes dominance in North China’s Henan region, absorbing smaller kingdoms including the remnants of the Xia state. Archaeological evidence and historical texts—particularly Sima Qian’s Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian) and later Zhou Dynasty documents—indicate the Shang people share an ethnic affinity with the Huaxia peoples of the Yellow River basin.

The Shang society is fundamentally agrarian, supplemented by hunting and animal husbandry, and characterized by advanced urban centers supporting complex social stratification. Notably, the Shang Dynasty represents an early Chinese "slave society," structured hierarchically from the king and ruling elite—including royal family members, nobility, priesthood, and specialized artisans—down to the urban craftspeople, village agriculturists, and, at the bottom, enslaved populations.

Bronze Metallurgy and Cultural Achievements

During this period, sophisticated bronze metallurgy rapidly develops, transforming Shang society. Bronze-casting technology, previously undocumented at this level of sophistication in China, emerges fully formed, enabling the production of intricate ritual vessels, ceremonial weapons, and artistic objects. Shang bronze-working also enhances the crafting of jade artifacts, integrating multiple advanced artistic practices.

Development of Early Chinese Writing

The Shang Dynasty is critically significant for developing an early and fully operational system of Chinese writing. This script, evident in surviving inscriptions on bronze artifacts, oracle bones (turtle shells, cattle scapulae, and other bones), pottery, jade, and other media, indicates a complex writing system already mature by this period. Although the direct antecedents of Shang script remain obscure, it is widely assumed to have evolved from earlier hieroglyphic forms, attesting to a long period of development.

These oracle bone inscriptions represent China's earliest substantial corpus of recorded written characters, providing invaluable insights into Shang society, religion, governance, and daily life.

Religious Practices and Social Organization

Shang religion prominently features worship of the supreme deity Shangdi (Shang-ti), alongside rituals and prayers directed toward ancestral spirits. Ritual practice includes human sacrifice, reflecting beliefs about the afterlife, divine favor, and dynastic legitimacy. The Shang’s distinct religious and social systems solidify political cohesion, enforce hierarchical relationships, and reinforce the centralized authority of the king.

Legacy of the Era: Foundations of Historic Chinese Civilization

Thus, between 1629 and 1486 BCE, Maritime East Asia witnesses profound historical transformation as the Shang Dynasty supplants Xia, bringing advances in bronze metallurgy, sophisticated writing systems, hierarchical social structures, and centralized governance. These developments shape the essential foundations of historic Chinese civilization, significantly influencing subsequent cultural and political evolution in the region.

The last ruler of the Xia Dynasty ruled China for fifty-two years until 1618 BCE, according to the Xia Shang Zhou Chronology Project.

According to legend, Tang of Shang overthrew Jie of Xia in the Battle of Mingtiao.

According to the Shiji, the Shang had a long history, and there are different theories about their origin.

An analysis of bones from the remains of Shang people showed a Huaxia (Yellow River area) ethnic origin.

Their civilization was based on agriculture and augmented by hunting and animal husbandry, and in addition to war, the Shang also practiced human sacrifice.

Beginning around 1600, the Shang dynasty takes over a number of petty kingdoms including the Xia and controls a loose confederation of settlement groups in the Henan region of North China.

The Shang have a fully developed system of writing as attested on bronze inscriptions, oracle bones, and a small number of other writings on pottery, jade and other stones, horn, etc.

Their writing system's complexity and sophistication indicates an earlier period of development, but direct evidence of that development is still lacking.

(Chinese writing is thought to descend from a hieroglyphic script.)

Achieving political unification during the sixteenth century, the Shang dynasty maintains cultural continuity in matters of literary functions, as well as social, religious, economic, and governmental controls.

A slave society is apparently emplaced in China under the Shang dynasty, whose urban centers anchor the first true Chinese civilization.

The Shang state employs numerous specialists and distinguishes between commoners, the priesthood, the royal family, the nobility and, almost certainly, the slaves.

Power in Chinese society under the Shang emperors flows from them to the ruling elite, including feudatory landowners and commanders of the organized soldiery, down to the urban artisans and village agriculturists, with enslaved people at the bottom.

Sophisticated bronze metallurgy develops in China in the sixteenth century BCE.

Complex bronze-casting technology (previously undocumented in China) spreads rapidly under the Shang, whose artisans use metal tools in the carving of jade.

The supreme god of the Shangs is Shangdi (Shang-ti), to whom they pray, supplemented by prayers to ancestral spirits.

Eastern Southeast Europe (1629–1486 BCE): Thracian Origins and Early Metallurgy

Migratory Indo-Europeans intermixed with native Neolithic peoples to form the Thracians, settling in the Carpathian-Danube region. Though Thracian origins remain obscure due to a lack of written records, archaeological evidence suggests their development from indigenous and Indo-European groups around 1500 BCE. Thracian tribes would eventually inhabit lands from the Carpathian Mountains southward to the Adriatic and Aegean Seas. Meanwhile, smiths in the eastern Balkans began working locally mined gold and silver after about 1450 BCE, and trade routes extended to northern Europe and the Aegean.