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Jim Williams · CC BY-SA 3.0 igo
Landmark Middle East archaeological

Axum

400 BCE – still standing

Ancient capital of the Aksumite Empire with towering obelisks

See it on the timeline

Wikipedia

The opening of the article, and a way into the rest of it without leaving the site.

Axum on Wikipedia.

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Who held this ground

Borders from dated snapshots, up to a century apart; precision varies.

Reconstruction

  1. Before it was built (3000 BCE–500 BCE)
  2. West African cereal farmers (400 BCE–323 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  3. Damot (300 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  4. West African cereal farmers (200 BCE–100 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  5. Axum (1 BCE–900 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  6. No border recorded here in this snapshot (1000 CE–1100 CE)
  7. Zagwe dynasty (1200 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  8. No border recorded here in this snapshot (1279 CE–1400 CE)
  9. Ethiopia (1492 CE–1900 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  10. Abyssinia (1914 CE) Border precision: Defined
  11. Ethiopia (1920 CE–1930 CE) Border precision: Defined
  12. Ethiopia (Italy) (1938 CE) Border precision: Defined
  13. Ethiopia (1945 CE–2026 CE) Border precision: Defined
Border precision
  • Defined
  • Approximate

Elsewhere in Middle East at the time

Records whose own span overlaps this one, found by the same test the canvas draws with. The bar under each card is where it sits inside this one.

See the whole view

Landmark · Middle East

Petra

300 BCE – still standing

Polity · Middle East

Iran

Founded 1920 CE · attested to 2026 CE

Trade route · Middle East

Nile River Trade

3000 BCE – 30 BCE

Conflict · Middle East

Eritrean–Ethiopian War

1998 CE – 2000 CE

Landmark · Middle East

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

600 BCE – 320 BCE

Polity · Middle East

Meroe

Attested 500 BCE – 400 CE

Trade route · Middle East

Egyptian Red Sea Trade

2500 BCE – 30 BCE

Conflict · Middle East

2026 Iran War

2026 CE

Dated moments inside this span

Events the timeline places between 400 BCE and 2026 CE.

400 BCE Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion 332 BCE Siege of Tyre 331 BCE Alexandria 322 BCE Wars of the Diadochi 300 BCE Petra

And in the rest of the world

Records running through the same years, on the other side of the map.

Colosseum Landmark · Europe 80 CE – still standing Tibet Polity · South Asia 1000 CE – 1960 CE Mesoamerican Trade Network Trade route · Americas 1200 BCE – 1521 CE World War I Conflict · Europe 1914 CE – 1918 CE Socrates Figure · Greece 470 BCE – 399 BCE Chichen Itza Landmark · Americas 600 CE – still standing
Image credits 6 pictures from Wikimedia Commons