The 6th century BCE

Africa

1. 🇨🇲CMR

   Cameroon · Formation · c. 6th century BCE

   Rise of the Sao culture

   South of Lake Chad the Sao began building walled towns and producing distinctive terracotta and bronze artwork, forming one of the earliest known complex societies in the region.

   The Sao, the Bantu cradle and Cameroon's early peoples

   Sources: Sao civilisation (Wikipedia) · Cameroon (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇹🇩TCD

   Chad · Peoples & Migration · from c. 6th century BCE

   Rise of the Sao culture

   The Sao settled the lower Chari and southern Lake Chad, producing celebrated terracotta and bronze figures across more than 350 known sites before being absorbed by later states.

   Toumaï and the Sao

   Sources: Sao civilisation (Wikipedia) · The Ancient Sao Civilization in Central Africa (Ancient Origins)

Asia

1. 🇬🇪GEO

   Georgia · Formation · c. 6th century BCE

   Kingdom of Colchis flourishes

   On the Black Sea coast of western Georgia, the wealthy kingdom of Colchis, the land of the Golden Fleece in Greek myth, traded with the Greek world and developed a society famed for its metalwork.

   Colchis, Iberia and the Land of the Golden Fleece

   Sources: Colchis (ancient region) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Georgia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇫🇷FRA

   France · Formation · c. 600 BCE

   Foundation of Massalia (Marseille)

   Greek colonists from Phocaea establish a trading port — the oldest city in France.

   Gaul & Rome

   Sources: Marseille (Encyclopædia Britannica)

2. 🇮🇹ITA

   Italy · Politics & Power · c. 7th–6th centuries BCE

   Etruscan ascendancy in central Italy

   The Etruscans developed a sophisticated urban civilization in central Italy and, by tradition, supplied Rome with several of its kings before being gradually absorbed by the Roman state.

   Italic Peoples and the Rise of Rome

   Sources: Ancient Italic people (Etruscans, Latins, Samnites) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇲🇹MLT

   Malta · Peoples & Migration · from c. 6th century BCE

   Carthaginian Malta

   Following earlier Phoenician use of the islands as a trading station, the Carthaginians were firmly established in Malta by the sixth century BCE, leaving coins, inscriptions and Punic rock tombs.

   Phoenicians, Carthage, Rome and the Coming of Christianity

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

Africa

1. 🇸🇩SDN

   Sudan · Politics & Power · c. 593–590 BCE

   Capital moves to Meroe

   After Psamtik II of Egypt sacks Napata, the Kushite court shifts south to Meroe, beginning the Meroitic age of iron, script and pyramids.

   Nubia, Kerma and the Kingdom of Kush

   Sources: Kingdom of Kush (Wikipedia) · Sudan — The kingdom of Kush (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇵🇸PSE

   Palestine · War & Rupture

   Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem

   Neo-Babylonian forces under Nebuchadnezzar II captured Jerusalem and destroyed the First Temple, deporting much of the population to Babylon.

   Ancient Palestine: Canaan, the Philistines, and the Empires

   Sources: Palestine - region, history (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇮🇶IRQ

   Iraq · Culture & Ideas · c. 575 BCE

   Babylon at its height under Nebuchadnezzar II

   The Neo-Babylonian Empire reaches its zenith under Nebuchadnezzar II, who rebuilds Babylon with the Ishtar Gate and great walls; the ruined city, associated with the Hanging Gardens, is today a UNESCO World Heritage site.

   Sumer, Akkad and Babylon — the First Cities

   Sources: Babylon — UNESCO World Heritage List (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · History of Mesopotamia (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇳🇵NPL

   Nepal · Religion · 6th century BCE

   Birth of the Buddha at Lumbini

   Siddhartha Gautama, of the Shakya clan, is born at Lumbini to Queen Mayadevi and King Suddhodana of Kapilavastu; he later founds Buddhism.

   Lumbini and the Birth of the Buddha

   Sources: Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Asia

1. 🇨🇳CHN

   China · Culture & Ideas

   Lifetime of Confucius

   Confucius (551-479 BCE) teaches that social order rests on moral cultivation, ritual, and proper human relationships; his thought becomes the dominant ethical tradition of imperial China.

   Bronze Age Kingdoms and the Hundred Schools

   Sources: Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050-221 BCE), Teaching China with the Smithsonian (Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art) · China (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇮🇷IRN

   Iran · Formation · c. 550 BCE

   Cyrus the Great founds the Achaemenid Empire

   Cyrus II overthrows the Median king Astyages and unites the Medes and Persians, founding the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire — the first Persian world empire.

   Elam and the Achaemenid Empire

   Sources: Cyrus the Great (World History Encyclopedia) · Cyrus the Great (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇲🇨MCO

   Monaco · Formation · c. 550–500 BCE

   Monoikos named by Hecataeus

   The Greek geographer Hecataeus of Miletus refers to Monoikos as a Ligurian town, the earliest known mention of the site that would become Monaco; later the Phocaeans of Massalia developed it as a port.

   Monoikos: The Harbour of Hercules

   Sources: A port during Greek then Roman antiquity (Government of Monaco (gouv.mc)) · Monaco: Early History (GlobalSecurity.org)

Asia

1. 🇹🇷TUR

   Türkiye · Politics & Power · c. 547 BCE

   Fall of Lydia and Croesus

   The wealthy Lydian kingdom of western Anatolia, credited with pioneering coined money, fell to Cyrus the Great of Persia, bringing Anatolia under Persian rule.

   Greek, Roman and Byzantine Anatolia

   Sources: Anatolia (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇮🇷IRN

   Iran · Politics & Power

   Conquest of Babylon and the Cyrus Cylinder

   Cyrus captures Babylon and issues the Cyrus Cylinder, a Babylonian cuneiform document recording his restoration of temples and return of deported peoples, often hailed as an early charter of tolerance.

   Elam and the Achaemenid Empire

   Sources: The Cyrus Cylinder (The British Museum) · Cyrus the Great (World History Encyclopedia)

2. 🇮🇶IRQ

   Iraq · War & Rupture

   Cyrus the Great captures Babylon

   The Persian king Cyrus the Great takes Babylon, ending the Neo-Babylonian Empire and bringing Mesopotamia into the Achaemenid Persian realm as one of its richest provinces.

   Persians, Greeks and the Coming of Islam

   Sources: History of Mesopotamia (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Iraq — History (Encyclopædia Britannica)

3. 🇵🇸PSE

   Palestine · Politics & Power

   Persian rule under the Achaemenids

   Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and incorporated the region into the Persian Empire, permitting exiled communities to return.

   Ancient Palestine: Canaan, the Philistines, and the Empires

   Sources: Palestine - region, history (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇮🇷IRN

   Iran · Culture & Ideas · c. 518 BCE

   Darius I builds Persepolis

   Darius the Great organises the empire into satrapies, builds the Royal Road and standardised coinage, and begins the magnificent ceremonial capital of Persepolis, today a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

   Elam and the Achaemenid Empire

   Sources: Persepolis — UNESCO World Heritage List (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Cyrus the Great (World History Encyclopedia)

2. 🇵🇰PAK

   Pakistan · Colonisation · c. 518 BCE

   Achaemenid Persia annexes the Indus lands

   The Persian empire incorporates the Indus region as among its wealthiest provinces, bringing centralised administration and Aramaic writing to the area.

   Gandhara and the Ancient Empires

   Sources: Pakistan: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division) · Taxila (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇮🇹ITA

   Italy · Politics & Power · 509 BCE (traditional)

   Founding of the Roman Republic

   Tradition holds that the Romans expelled their last king and established a republic governed by elected magistrates and the Senate, conventionally dated to 509 BCE.

   Italic Peoples and the Rise of Rome

   Sources: Ancient Rome (World History Encyclopedia) · Italy (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇬🇷GRC

   Greece · Politics & Power · c. 508/507 BCE

   Cleisthenes founds Athenian democracy

   The Athenian statesman Cleisthenes reorganized the citizens into ten tribes and established popular institutions of self-rule, the system later called democracy and regarded as the first in the world.

   Archaic and Classical Greece

   Sources: Cleisthenes of Athens (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Ancient Greek Democracy (HISTORY (A&E Television Networks)) · Reforms of Cleisthenes (EBSCO Research Starters)