The "land between the rivers" (Tigris and Euphrates); birthplace of writing, cities, and law. Home to Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria.

The world's first urban civilization, in the southernmost part of Mesopotamia. Cities included Ur, Uruk, Eridu, and Lagash.

Region of northern Mesopotamia and capital city of Sargon of Akkad's empire — the world's first multi-ethnic empire.

Mesopotamian kingdom centered on the city of Babylon. Under Hammurabi, produced the earliest comprehensive law code.

Mesopotamian empire centered in northern Iraq. At its height under Tiglath-Pileser III and Ashurbanipal, it dominated the entire Middle East.

Ancient civilization east of Mesopotamia; rival and trading partner of Sumer and Babylon. Capital at Susa.

The largest empire of the ancient world under Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes, stretching from Greece to India.

Iranian empire that destroyed Assyria (with Babylon) in 612 BCE before being absorbed by Cyrus the Great.

Iranian empire that succeeded the Seleucids and rivaled Rome for three centuries, controlling the Silk Road.

The last pre-Islamic Persian empire; a peer rival to Rome and Byzantium, patron of Zoroastrianism and Persian culture.

Bronze Age region between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, inhabited by Canaanites; later the setting of Israelite history.

Maritime civilization of city-states (Tyre, Sidon, Byblos) that invented the alphabet and founded Carthage.

Southern Hebrew kingdom after the split from Israel; later a Roman province. Center of Judaism and the birth of Christianity.

Arab trading kingdom whose capital Petra (in modern Jordan) controlled lucrative caravan routes. Famous for rock-cut architecture.

"Fertile Arabia" — the prosperous southern Arabian kingdoms (Saba/Sheba, Himyar) that controlled the frankincense and myrrh trade.

Broad term for the eastern Mediterranean coastlands — a crossroads of civilizations, empires, and trade routes throughout history.

The large peninsula forming most of modern Turkey; home to Hittites, Lydians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and Seljuks before becoming the core of modern Turkey.

Bronze Age Anatolian empire that fought Egypt to a stalemate at Kadesh and mastered iron smelting.

Anatolian kingdom credited with inventing coinage (~600 BCE). Its last king Croesus became proverbial for wealth.

Greek settlements on the western coast of Anatolia; birthplace of philosophy (Thales, Heraclitus, Anaximander).

Region between the Aegean, Black Sea, and Danube; contested among Greeks, Macedonians, and Romans before Roman annexation.

Greek-speaking kingdom north of Greece that under Philip II and Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire.

Region of the western Balkans inhabited by Illyrian tribes; conquered by Rome after prolonged wars.

Kingdom of the Dacians conquered by Emperor Trajan in 106 CE; Romanization gave rise to the Romanian language.

Phoenician colony that became the dominant maritime power of the western Mediterranean before destruction by Rome.

Berber kingdom in North Africa; King Jugurtha was a formidable opponent of Rome before defeat. Later a Roman province.

Berber kingdom west of Numidia; absorbed into the Roman Empire under Emperor Claudius as two provinces.

Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Conquered during the Punic Wars; birthplace of emperors Trajan and Hadrian.

Muslim-ruled territory of the Iberian Peninsula; at its height a center of learning, philosophy, and cultural synthesis.

Greek and later Roman region of North Africa centered on the city of Cyrene; major source of silphium plant.

Roman province encompassing Celtic peoples west of the Rhine; conquered by Julius Caesar 58–50 BCE. Romanization gave rise to French culture.

Roman province covering most of modern England and Wales. Hadrian's Wall marked its northern frontier.

Roman term for the territory north of Hadrian's Wall, never conquered. Home to Pictish and other Celtic peoples.

Roman name for the island never conquered by Rome; center of Celtic Christian culture in the early medieval period.

Roman term for the territory east of the Rhine and north of the Danube; never fully conquered (see: Battle of Teutoburg Forest, 9 CE).

Roman province along the middle Danube; key frontier against Germanic and steppe peoples.

Kingdom in Central Europe; core of the Holy Roman Empire and Habsburg domains; site of the Defenestration of Prague that triggered the Thirty Years' War.

Kingdom and duchy in western Europe; at its height a rival to France and a major cultural center.

Germanic state that grew from the Baltic coast to dominate northern Germany and unite the German Empire in 1871.

Crusader state and later Duchy on the eastern Baltic coast; site of Baltic German colonization.

Medieval Slavic federation centered on Kyiv; the cultural and political ancestor of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.

Nomadic Iranian-speaking empire of the Eurasian steppe; famous for horse warfare and gold craftsmanship.

Nomadic Iranian confederation that succeeded Scythia on the Pontic steppe; frequently mentioned in Roman sources.

Central European plateau long contested among Hungarians, Romanians, and Saxons; core of the Hungarian Kingdom.

Two Danubian principalities under Ottoman suzerainty that united in 1859 to form Romania.

Region north of the Hindu Kush; a crossroads of Greek, Persian, Indian, and Chinese culture. Capital at Bactra (modern Balkh).

Central Asian civilization of merchant city-states (Samarkand, Bukhara) that dominated Silk Road commerce for a millennium.

Roman/Persian term for the land "beyond the Oxus River" — one of the most cosmopolitan regions of the ancient world.

Flourishing Buddhist kingdom at the crossroads of India, Central Asia, and China. Famous for Greco-Buddhist sculpture.

The "land of five rivers" — one of the most fertile and fought-over regions in Asian history; Alexander's easternmost conquest.

Persian/Mughal term for the Indian subcontinent, particularly the Indo-Gangetic Plain.

The elevated plateau forming the southern and central Indian peninsula; home to Satavahana, Rashtrakuta, Vijayanagara, and Bijapur kingdoms.

Island kingdom south of India; center of Theravada Buddhism and major entrepôt in Indian Ocean trade. Name changed to Sri Lanka in 1972.

Medieval European name for northern China, derived from "Khitan" — the Liao Dynasty rulers Europeans first heard of.

Homeland of the Manchu people who founded the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) and ruled all of China for nearly three centuries.

Portuguese name for the island ("beautiful island"); later a Japanese colony (1895–1945), now the seat of the Republic of China.

Last Korean dynasty before Japanese annexation; Confucian state that created Hangul script and produced distinctive ceramic arts.

Indianized coastal kingdom of central Vietnam; long rival of the Khmer and Vietnamese kingdoms.

Southeast Asian empire centered at Angkor; built Angkor Wat, the world's largest religious monument.

Kingdom of mainland Southeast Asia; one of the few Asian nations never colonized by Europeans. Renamed Thailand in 1939.

Buddhist civilization that built thousands of temples at Pagan; later colonized by Britain as "Burma"; renamed Myanmar in 1989.

Dutch colonial territory encompassing over 17,000 islands; the world's largest colonial possession by area at its height.

French colonial federation in mainland Southeast Asia; dissolved after the First Indochina War and the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

Civilization south of Egypt along the Nile; at its height the Kushite 25th Dynasty ruled all of Egypt. Capital moved from Napata to Meroë.

Ethiopian trading empire that adopted Christianity (~340 CE) and rivaled Rome and Persia in power. One of the ancient world's four great powers.

Mysterious trading partner of ancient Egypt, source of myrrh, frankincense, ebony, and gold. Its precise location remains debated.

First major West African empire; controlled trans-Saharan gold and salt trade. Unrelated geographically to the modern country of Ghana.

West African empire at its height under Mansa Musa (r. 1312–1337); controlled most of West Africa's gold production.

Largest empire in West African history; Timbuktu was a great center of Islamic scholarship under Askia Muhammad.

Powerful West African kingdom in the Niger Delta area; renowned for its bronze castings and ivory carvings.

British colonial territory named after Cecil Rhodes. Southern Rhodesia declared unilateral independence in 1965; became Zimbabwe in 1980.

Historic name for the Ethiopian highland empire; used in European sources until the mid-20th century.

Personal property of King Leopold II of Belgium; scene of extreme colonial violence and forced labor. Became Belgian Congo, then Zaire, then DRC.

Mesoamerican empire centered at Tenochtitlán (modern Mexico City); conquered by Hernán Cortés with indigenous allies.

Advanced Mesoamerican civilization with writing, astronomy, and monumental architecture. Classic period cities include Tikal and Palenque.

Largest empire in pre-Columbian America, stretching 4,300 km along the Andes. Conquered by Francisco Pizarro.

Spanish colonial viceroyalty; the largest and most populous of Spain's American territories.

French colonial territory in North America; lost to Britain after the Seven Years' War.

Norse settlement in North America established by Leif Erikson — the first European contact with the Americas, five centuries before Columbus.