ConquestHeld by forceMesopotamia
Cyrus the Great takes Babylon
- Control taken
- 539 BCE
- Made official
- Never
Never formalized
Persia absorbs the Neo-Babylonian Empire, including Mesopotamia and the Levant, in a single campaign.
See it on the 500 BCE mapApproximate borders
The world in 500 BCE
The Achaemenid Persian Empire stretches from the Aegean to the Indus, the largest state the world has yet seen. Greek city-states and Rome are small players on its western edge.
Explore 500 BCE on the mapLargest in 500 BCE
Areas calculated from the map outlines (≈). Share of Earth's land area including Antarctica.
| # | State or people | Area | Share of land |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Khoisan | 11,734,614 km² (4,530,760 sq mi) | 7.9% |
| 2 | Saharan pastoral nomads | 10,296,453 km² (3,975,483 sq mi) | 6.9% |
| 3 | Australian aboriginal hunter-gatherers | 7,602,370 km² (2,935,292 sq mi) | 5.1% |
| 4 | Paleo-Siberian hunter-gatherers | 7,295,326 km² (2,816,741 sq mi) | 4.9% |
| 5 | West African cereal farmers | 6,033,497 km² (2,329,546 sq mi) | 4.1% |
| 6 | Achaemenid Empire | 5,951,256 km² (2,297,793 sq mi) | 4.0% |
| 7 | Arctic marine mammal hunters | 5,834,245 km² (2,252,615 sq mi) | 3.9% |
| 8 | Proto-Altaic pastoralists | 4,994,425 km² (1,928,358 sq mi) | 3.4% |
| 9 | Savanna hunter-gatherers | 4,816,290 km² (1,859,580 sq mi) | 3.2% |
| 10 | Manioc farmers | 4,764,577 km² (1,839,614 sq mi) | 3.2% |
| 11 | Subarctic forest hunter-gatherers | 4,322,918 km² (1,669,088 sq mi) | 2.9% |
| 12 | Amazon hunter-gatherers | 4,287,400 km² (1,655,374 sq mi) | 2.9% |
What changed since 700 BCE
Comparing the two snapshots. Some differences reflect improved mapping rather than real events, especially before 1500.
Grew the most
- Austronesians1,281k km² → 1,425k km²
- Greek city-states142k km² → 246k km²
Shrank the most
- Papuan neolithic farmers1,045k km² → 884k km²
- Milograd culture188k km² → 98k km²
- Illyrians222k km² → 198k km²
Appeared
- Achaemenid Empire5,951k km²
- Zhou states1,554k km²
- Hindu kingdoms1,415k km²
- Iron Age megalith cultures958k km²
- Carthaginian Empire629k km²
- Meroe310k km²
- Plain-Pottery culture257k km²
- Adena Culture226k km²
Disappeared
- Karasuk culture4,342k km²
- Tibetans3,326k km²
- Iranian pastoralists2,835k km²
- Arabian pastoral nomads2,618k km²
- Vedic Aryans2,556k km²
- Austro-Asiatic rice cultures2,213k km²
- Sinic1,720k km²
- Urnfield cultures1,699k km²
Land that changed hands, 700 BCE – 500 BCE
ConquestHeld by forceEgypt
Persia conquers Egypt
- Control taken
- 525 BCE
- Made official
- Never
Never formalized
Cambyses II defeats Psamtik III at Pelusium, making the Achaemenid Empire the largest the world had yet seen.
See it on the 500 BCE map