The 2nd century

Africa

1. 🇩🇿DZA

   Algeria · Culture & Ideas · c. 100 CE

   Trajan founds Timgad

   The emperor Trajan establishes Timgad (Thamugadi) as a Roman colony; its grid plan, forum, theatre and arch survive as one of the best-preserved Roman towns.

   Numidia, Carthage and Roman Africa

   Sources: Timgad (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · The Splendours of Roman Algeria (World History Encyclopedia)

2. 🇪🇷ERI

   Eritrea · Formation · c. 1st-2nd century CE

   Aksum emerges as a Red Sea trading empire

   Aksum consolidates control of the northern highlands and the port of Adulis, growing into a major commercial power linking Rome, Arabia and India.

   Aksum, Adulis and the Red Sea Trade

   Sources: Aksumite Empire (New World Encyclopedia) · History of Eritrea (Wikipedia)

3. 🇪🇹ETH

   Ethiopia · Formation · c. 1st–2nd century CE

   Aksum emerges as a trading empire

   Aksum consolidates control of the northern highlands and the Red Sea port of Adulis, growing into a major commercial power linking Rome, Arabia and India.

   The Kingdom of Aksum and Early Christianity

   Sources: Aksum — World Heritage Centre (UNESCO) · Kingdom of Aksum (World History Encyclopedia)

4. 🇱🇾LBY

   Libya · Economy & Trade · 1st–4th centuries CE

   Garamantes flourish in the Fezzan

   From their capital at Garama, the Garamantes sustain a desert kingdom through foggara irrigation and command of trans-Saharan trade.

   The Garamantes and the Arab-Islamic Conquest

   Sources: Garamantes (Wikipedia) · Fezzan (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

5. 🇸🇴SOM

   Somalia · Peoples & Migration · 1st millennium CE

   Cushitic pastoralists spread across the Horn

   Cushitic-speaking herding peoples, ancestral to the Somalis, expand across the arid interior of the Horn of Africa, establishing the pastoral, clan-based society that would endure into modern times.

   The Land of Punt and the Ancient Incense Coast

   Sources: Somalia (country and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Somalia (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇮🇶IRQ

   Iraq · Culture & Ideas · 1st–2nd century CE

   Hatra, capital of an Arab kingdom

   Under Parthian influence the fortified city of Hatra flourishes as the capital of a small Arab kingdom, twice withstanding Roman sieges before falling in the 3rd century; its ruins are now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

   Persians, Greeks and the Coming of Islam

   Sources: Hatra — UNESCO World Heritage List (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

2. 🇯🇴JOR

   Jordan · Culture & Ideas · 1st - 2nd century CE

   Jerash flourishes as a Roman city

   Gerasa was rebuilt with colonnaded streets, an oval forum, temples and theatres, becoming one of the wealthiest cities of the Roman Near East and leaving ruins still visible today.

   Rome, the Decapolis and Byzantine Christianity

   Sources: Jordan: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇲🇹MLT

   Malta · Politics & Power · 1st–2nd century CE

   Roman municipium

   Under Rome the Maltese were allowed to coin money, send delegations to Rome and manage their own affairs, and the islands were granted the status of a Roman municipium.

   Phoenicians, Carthage, Rome and the Coming of Christianity

   Sources: Malta: History, Language, Map, People (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇲🇽MEX

   Mexico · Culture & Ideas · 1st-7th c. CE

   Teotihuacan, city of the gods

   Teotihuacan grows into a metropolis of monumental pyramids and a planned ceremonial axis, dominating central Mexico before its decline around 550-650 CE.

   Mesoamerican Civilisations

   Sources: Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Pyramid of the Sun (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇵🇪PER

   Peru · Culture & Ideas · c. 100-700 CE

   Moche and Nazca cultures

   The Moche of the north coast create realistic pottery and adobe pyramids, while the Nazca of the southern deserts inscribe their giant lines and geoglyphs.

   Caral and the Great Andean Civilisations

   Sources: Lines and Geoglyphs of Nasca and Pampas de Jumana (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Peru: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇷🇴ROU

   Romania · War & Rupture · 101–102 CE

   Trajan's first Dacian war

   The emperor Trajan invaded Dacia and forced King Decebalus to terms, installing a Roman garrison in the Dacian capital at Sarmizegetusa.

   Dacia and Rome: the Latin foundation

   Sources: Trajan: Military campaigns (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Decebalus (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇯🇴JOR

   Jordan · War & Rupture · 106 CE

   Rome annexes the Nabataean kingdom

   The emperor Trajan absorbed the Nabataean realm as the province of Arabia Petraea, ending Nabataean independence as Roman power extended across the region.

   The Nabataeans and the Rose-Red City of Petra

   Sources: Petra (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Jordan: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇸🇦SAU

   Saudi Arabia · War & Rupture · 106 CE

   Rome annexes the Nabataean kingdom

   The Roman Empire absorbed the Nabataean realm, after which Hegra and the northern caravan cities gradually declined as trade routes shifted.

   Ancient Arabia and the Caravan Kingdoms

   Sources: Hegra Archaeological Site (al-Hijr / Madain Salih) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · The Arabian Peninsula: A cradle of ancient kingdoms (Al Majalla)

Europe

1. 🇷🇴ROU

   Romania · War & Rupture · 106 CE

   Conquest of Dacia and the Roman province

   In a second war Trajan subdued the whole country; Decebalus killed himself, and Dacia became a Roman province whose colonists made Latin its language, the root of Romanian.

   Dacia and Rome: the Latin foundation

   Sources: Decebalus (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Dacia (World History Encyclopedia) · History of Romania (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇷🇴ROU

   Romania · Culture & Ideas · 113 CE

   Trajan's Column commemorates the conquest

   The Dacian wars were commemorated in Rome on Trajan's Column, a 38-metre marble monument whose spiral frieze of more than 2,600 figures narrates the two campaigns against the Dacians.

   Dacia and Rome: the Latin foundation

   Sources: Trajan's Column (World History Encyclopedia)

Asia

1. 🇦🇫AFG

   Afghanistan · Culture & Ideas · 2nd century CE

   The Kushan empire and Gandhara art

   Under rulers such as Kanishka the Kushans build an empire across Bactria and Gandhara, spreading Buddhism along the Silk Road and giving rise to the Greco-Buddhist Gandhara school of sculpture.

   Bactria, Gandhara and the Buddhist Age

   Sources: Kushan dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The Kushan Empire (International Dunhuang Programme, British Library)

2. 🇵🇰PAK

   Pakistan · Culture & Ideas · c. 127 CE

   Kanishka and the Gandhara golden age

   Under the Kushan emperor Kanishka, ruling from Peshawar, Mahayana Buddhism and the Greco-Buddhist Gandhara school of art flourish, depicting the Buddha in human form.

   Gandhara and the Ancient Empires

   Sources: Kanishka, Kushan emperor (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Taxila (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇵🇸PSE

   Palestine · Politics & Power · c. 135 CE

   Province renamed Syria Palaestina

   After crushing the Bar Kokhba revolt, the emperor Hadrian renamed the province Syria Palaestina, formalising the name 'Palestine' in Roman administration.

   Roman, Byzantine, and the Name "Palaestina"

   Sources: Syria Palaestina (Wikipedia) · Palestine - region, history (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇻🇦VAT

   Vatican City · Religion · c. 2nd century

   The Trophy of Gaius marks the grave

   About a century after Peter's death a small funerary monument, later known as the Trophy of Gaius, was built over the burial site and became a place of veneration.

   The Tomb of Peter and the First Basilica

   Sources: The Tomb of Saint Peter (Fabbrica di San Pietro / basilicasanpietro.va)

Africa

1. 🇱🇾LBY

   Libya · Culture & Ideas · 193–211 CE

   Leptis Magna's golden age under Septimius Severus

   The emperor Septimius Severus, born at Leptis Magna, lavishes monuments on his home city, making it one of the foremost ports of Roman Africa.

   Phoenician Tripolitania, Greek Cyrene and Roman Rule

   Sources: Leptis Magna (Wikipedia) · Archaeological Site of Leptis Magna (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)