The world in 500 BC
500 BC is the Persian Empire at its height, on the eve of the Persian Wars. This map shows the 45 states and peoples the data has for the world in that year.
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States and peoples in the world in 500 BC
Largest first, by area on this map.
- Achaemenid Empire
- Scythia
- Chu
- Kingdom of Kush
- Greek City-States
- Wu
- Jin
- Carthage
- Yue
- Qi
- Etruscans
- Hadhramaut
- Qin
- Sabaeans
- Yan
- Lu
- Macedonian Empire
- Magadha - Haryanka dynasty
- Song
- Peloponnesian League
- Olmec Civilization
- Later Zhou
- Wey
- Zhu
- Zheng
- Zapotec Civilization
- Janapada of Malla
- Chen
- Janapada of Kuru
- Janapada of Matsya
- Janapada of Surasena
- Xu
- Janapada of Vajji
- Janapada of Aśmaka
- Janapada of Pañcāla
- Janapada of Kosala
- Janapada of Kāśī
- Janapada of Avanti
- Teng
- Janapada of Cedī
- Cao
- Cai
- Janapada of Vatsa
- Roman Kingdom
- Roman Republic
New on the map since 600 BC
Achaemenid Empire · Yue · Magadha - Haryanka dynasty · Peloponnesian League · Zapotec Civilization · Roman Republic
Gone from the map by 400 BC
Wu · Jin · Magadha - Haryanka dynasty · Zhu · Janapada of Malla · Chen · Janapada of Kuru · Janapada of Matsya · Janapada of Surasena · Janapada of Vajji · Janapada of Pañcāla · Janapada of Kosala · Janapada of Kāśī · Janapada of Avanti · Teng · Janapada of Cedī · Cao · Cai · Janapada of Vatsa · Roman Kingdom
Animated maps of this time
The world in other years
Other regions in 500 BC
The outlines are coarse and follow the Cliopatria dataset: borders before modern surveys are estimates, and a blank area means the data has no state on record there, not that nobody lived there. A state that changed hands during the year can appear together with its successor.