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1488 BCE

This year falls in the Middle and Late Bronze Age (c. 2000–1200 BCE). Kingdoms in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia and the Aegean trade, make treaties and fight across the eastern Mediterranean, and late in the period Shang China leaves the earliest known Chinese writing. The era ends with the collapse of several of these states around 1200 BCE.

Within fifteen years

Ruler · Middle and Late Bronze Age · EgyptThutmose IIIr. c. 1479–c. 1425 BCPharaoh of Egypt from about 1479 to 1425 BC, who built the Egyptian Empire to its greatest extent. He led at least sixteen campaigns into Syria and Palestine, winning the Battle of Megiddo in about 1457 BC. Egypt under him drew tribute from the Euphrates to Nubia.

Civilization · Iron Age · PhoeniciaPhoeniciac. 1500–300 BCEPhoenicia was a seafaring civilization of the Levantine coast, never one state but a string of city states. Its sailors traded across the Mediterranean and founded Carthage. Its alphabet became the ancestor of nearly all alphabets used today.