THE WORLD ATLAS

Chapter · Hellenistic Age

Rome and Han Rise

The world in 200 BCE

Around 200 BCE two new powers are rising at opposite ends of Eurasia. In the west, Rome has just defeated Hannibal at Zama and forced Carthage to surrender its empire, making Rome master of the western Mediterranean; now it turns east to fight Philip V of Macedon.

In the east, China was united by the First Emperor of Qin in 221 BCE, but his dynasty collapsed after his death; Liu Bang has founded the Han dynasty as Emperor Gaozu. This year, at Baideng, he was surrounded by the Xiongnu, the steppe confederation built by Modu Chanyu, and had to buy peace. Between them, the Seleucid king Antiochus III is restoring his empire and seizing southern Syria from the boy-king Ptolemy V of Egypt. Parthia and Greek Bactria grow in Iran and Central Asia, while the Mauryan Empire in India is in decline. In the Americas, Teotihuacan is beginning to grow in the Valley of Mexico.

Open the map in 200 BCE

The great powers

Region by region

Southern Africa

Khoisan hunter-gatherers still inhabit southern Africa, but iron-using Bantu farmers are moving south through East Africa, and the first sheep are reaching the region's herders.

Northern Africa

Ptolemy V, a child, reigns in Alexandria while his ministers lose southern Syria to the Seleucids and revolts break out in Upper Egypt. Carthage, defeated by Rome, keeps only its home territory in Tunisia, while Masinissa unites the Numidians and Mauretania rules the far west. The kingdom of Meroë flourishes in Nubia, and the Garamantes rule the Libyan Sahara.

Europe

The Roman Republic, victorious in the Second Punic War, rules Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and eastern and southern Spain, and declares war on Philip V of Macedon, head of the Hellenic League. Pergamon under Attalus I and Rhodes back Rome. Celtic tribes hold Gaul and central Europe, Germanic peoples the north, and Sarmatians and Scythians the steppe.

Middle East & South Asia

Antiochus III the Great rules the Seleucid Empire from Antioch, having just won the Battle of Panium. Parthia under Arsaces II rules north-eastern Iran, Nabataeans and the South Arabian kingdoms grow rich on the incense trade, and Greek Bactria under Euthydemus I expands toward India. The Mauryan Empire still rules much of India from Pataliputra, but it is shrinking and its last king will be overthrown around 185 BCE.

Northern & Central Asia

Greek Bactria holds the oases of the Oxus. On the steppe, Scythian, Sarmatian and Saka nomads roam from the Black Sea to the Tian Shan, while the Yuezhi in Gansu are under pressure from the newly powerful Xiongnu.

East Asia

Emperor Gaozu (Liu Bang) has just founded the Han dynasty and is building his capital at Chang'an. North of the Great Wall, Modu Chanyu has forged the Xiongnu into a great steppe empire. Zhao Tuo rules the breakaway kingdom of Nanyue in the south, Gojoseon holds north-western Korea, and Yayoi farmers spread across Japan.

Southeast Asia

Nanyue, ruled from Panyu (Guangzhou), will soon absorb the kingdom of Âu Lạc in northern Vietnam. Mon-Khmer, Tai and Malay peoples farm and trade across the region, and trade routes link India, Southeast Asia and southern China.

Northern North America

Dorset hunters live in the Arctic, the Norton tradition in Alaska, and forest hunters and Pacific coast fishing peoples across the rest of Canada.

Southern North America

Maya cities such as El Mirador are building huge pyramids, the Zapotecs rule Oaxaca from Monte Albán, and Teotihuacan is starting to grow. In the eastern woodlands, the Adena culture is giving way to the Hopewell tradition.

Northern South America

With the Chavín culture gone, regional cultures flourish in Peru, among them the Paracas on the south coast. Amazonian farmers and foragers and the Wankarani of the Bolivian plateau live in their own worlds.

Southern Cone

Hunter-gatherers live across the Pampas and Patagonia, and farming villages grow in north-west Argentina and northern Chile.

Australasia & Oceania

Aboriginal Australians and Papuan farmers live as before. Polynesians are settled in Tonga and Samoa, and the rest of the Pacific and New Zealand remain unsettled.

Events

  1. Qin Shi Huang unifies China as the First Emperor
  2. Hannibal crosses the Alps into Italy
  3. Modu becomes chanyu and builds the Xiongnu empire
  4. Liu Bang proclaimed emperor of Han; Scipio defeats Hannibal at Zama
  5. Xiongnu surround Emperor Gaozu at Baideng
  6. Antiochus III defeats the Ptolemies at Panium; Rome declares war on Macedon

Moments of this period

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Sources