This animation illustrates the rise, spread, and fall of kingdoms between the years of 3100 BCE and 500 CE. The beginning of the series is with the unification of Egypt (green) and the establishment of the Mesopotamian city-states (blue dots), it ends when the (yellow) Roman empire is overrun by the (black) Germanic tribes. Each "change" represents the new world order as it stood at the centennial (with one exception); every individual map can be viewed by following the links below.

 
 

Map links for the following dates:  3100-2200 BCE  2100-1700 BCE  1600-1200 BCE  1100-700 BCE  600-100 BCE  1-500 CE  to the other pages:  to the main ancient history page  to the main educational resources page  to the Stutz's welcome page

 
 

The exception is the map from 300BCE. Alexander the Great died in 323BCE; his empire fell apart before the turn of the century. I took the liberty, however, of including his conquests in the animation: by strictly following the rules I'd set he would never have appeared- and that simply will not do!