It began around 1700 BCE and lasted about 500 years, during the Late Bronze Age. The Hittites arrived in Anatolia sometime around 2000 B.C. Given the Caucasus route, one of the first encounters of the Hittites with native Anatolians must have been at or near the city of Divrigi.
Later Divrigi was taken by the Hittites. Archeological evidence shows that after the initial take-over, the Hittites immediately undertook to subdue and dominate the surrounding area. The result was the establishment of the small state of Kussara. The most important consequence of the establishment of the state of Kussara for the eventual establishment of a Hittite Empire was control of the only remaining tin routes between east and west.
The Hittites conquered much of Anatolia as well as northern Syria and the western edge of Mesopotamia. From its foundation the kingdom broadened its influence reaching to the west and southeast of Anatolia and even to Northern Syria and left a permanent influence in this vast area.
The nucleus of the kingdom was formed by the Land of Hatti proper, the Upper and Lower Lands, and the neighboring territories of Kizuwatna and Tarhuntassa. This area was populated not only by Hittites, speaking “Nesili”, the language of Nesha, but also by Luwians and Palaians, speaking parentage languages of Indo-European lineage, Hurrians (notably in Kizuwatna) and, to an extent difficult to discern, ancient Hattians, the original inhabitants of the region.
The Hittite Empire was quite large and at times very powerful. Through absorbing neighboring peoples the society that resulted was a multi-cultural one in many respects. However, the Hittite kingdom rapidly deteriorated from the beginning of the 12thcentury B.C. , and for various reasons it finally collapsed.
Empire
of Hittite (c.1680 BC–c. 1178 BC)
