The world in the 2nd century

In the 2nd century (101 to 200 CE), the timeline shows 76 states, empires and colonies and 116 peoples across 12 regions. The most significant include Kingdom of Aksum, Moche (Mochica), Teotihuacan, Parthian Empire and Roman Empire.

Previous: 1st century Next: 3rd century

Events

• 105 Cai Lun presents paper, East Asia. The court eunuch Cai Lun reports a method of making paper from bark, hemp and rags to the Han emperor, and paper spreads across Asia.
• 127 Kanishka becomes Kushan emperor, South Asia. Kanishka's reign starts a new era. He patronizes Buddhism, and his empire links Rome, Parthia and Han China through the trade routes of Bactria and Gandhara.
• 184 Yellow Turban rebellion, East Asia. A Daoist millenarian movement rises across north China. The warlords who suppress it end up dividing the Han empire among themselves.
• 200 Pyramid of the Sun completed, Mesoamerica and Caribbean. Teotihuacan finishes its largest monument, about 65 m tall, over a cave that was a sacred place before the city grew.

Central and Southern Africa

• Western Bantu-speaking farmers c. 1000 BCE to 1400 CE
• Eastern Bantu-speaking farmers c. 1000 BCE to 1300 CE
• Central African forest foragers c. 3200 BCE to the present
• San hunter-gatherers c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Khoisan hunter-gatherers c. 3200 BCE to 1100 CE
• Pastoral Neolithic herders c. 3000 BCE to 700 CE
• Khoekhoe herders c. 100 BCE to 1904 CE
• Bantu farmers of the Congo basin c. 500 BCE to 1500 CE
• Urewe culture c. 500 BCE to 600 CE
• Iron Age farmers of the Zambezi c. 200 to 1000 CE
• East African hunter-gatherers c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Lower Congo hunter-gatherers c. 3200 BCE to 500 CE
• Great Lakes hunter-gatherers c. 3200 BCE to 500 CE
• Pre-settlement Madagascar c. 3200 BCE to 400 CE
• Coastal Bantu farmers (Kwale ware) c. 100 to 800 CE

North and West Africa

• Kingdom of Aksum c. 100 to 940 CE
• Kingdom of Kush (Meroitic period) c. 300 BCE to 350 CE
• Roman Africa 146 BCE to 439 CE
• Roman Egypt 30 BCE to 395 CE
• Amazigh (Berber) tribes c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Cushitic-speaking pastoralists c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Medjay, Blemmyes and Beja nomads c. 2300 BCE to the present
• Sahelian cereal farmers c. 1500 BCE to the present
• West African yam and oil palm farmers c. 1500 BCE to the present
• Chadic-speaking farmers c. 1000 BCE to the present
• Sao culture c. 500 BCE to 1600 CE
• Jenne-Jeno (Middle Niger towns) c. 250 BCE to 1400 CE
• Garamantes c. 500 BCE to 700 CE

Europe

• Roman Empire 27 BCE to 395 CE
• Gaelic Ireland c. 500 BCE to 1607 CE
• Roman Hispania 218 BCE to 472 CE
• Sarmatians c. 300 BCE to 375 CE
• Germanic tribes of Germania c. 100 BCE to 500 CE
• Roman Gaul 50 BCE to 486 CE
• Roman Britain 43 to 410 CE
• Dacian Kingdom c. 82 BCE to 106 CE
• Sami people c. 1000 BCE to the present
• Volga Finnic peoples c. 1800 BCE to 1100 CE
• Baltic Finnic tribes c. 1500 BCE to 1250 CE
• Basques (Vascones) c. 500 BCE to the present
• Baltic tribes c. 1000 BCE to 1290 CE
• Bosporan Kingdom c. 480 BCE to 370 CE
• Przeworsk culture c. 300 BCE to 450 CE
• Old Saxons c. 100 to 804 CE
• Getae and Dacians c. 500 BCE to 106 CE
• Roman Macedonia and Achaea 146 BCE to 395 CE
• Roman Iron Age (Scandinavia) c. 1 to 400 CE
• Wielbark culture c. 1 to 400 CE
• Roman Dacia 106 to 275 CE

Middle East

• Parthian Empire 247 BCE to 224 CE
• Kingdom of Saba c. 1000 BCE to 275 CE
• Kingdom of Iberia (Kartli) c. 302 BCE to 580 CE
• Himyarite Kingdom c. 110 BCE to 525 CE
• Roman Anatolia 133 BCE to 395 CE
• Roman Syria and Judaea 64 BCE to 395 CE
• Arsacid Armenia 52 to 428 CE
• Palmyra c. 50 BCE to 273 CE
• Nabataean Kingdom c. 168 BCE to 106 CE
• Arab Bedouin tribes c. 900 BCE to the present
• Aramaic-speaking Mesopotamians c. 1100 BCE to 700 CE
• Kingdom of Hadramawt c. 800 BCE to 300 CE
• Kingdom of Qataban c. 800 BCE to 200 CE
• Gerrha c. 650 BCE to 300 CE
• Caucasian Albania c. 150 BCE to 705 CE
• Lazica (Egrisi) c. 100 to 697 CE
• Atropatene c. 323 BCE to 226 CE
• Kingdom of Persis c. 280 BCE to 224 CE
• Osroene c. 132 BCE to 244 CE
• Elymais c. 147 BCE to 221 CE
• Characene c. 141 BCE to 222 CE
• Hatra c. 117 to 241 CE

South Asia

• Kushan Empire c. 30 to 375 CE
• Anuradhapura Kingdom 377 BCE to 1017 CE
• Western Satraps c. 35 to 415 CE
• Satavahana dynasty c. 100 BCE to 220 CE
• Munda-speaking peoples c. 1500 BCE to the present
• Tibeto-Burman hill peoples c. 1000 BCE to the present
• Vedda people c. 900 BCE to the present
• Eastern Iranian peoples c. 1500 BCE to 1000 CE
• Early Cholas c. 300 BCE to 300 CE
• Early Cheras c. 300 BCE to 300 CE
• Yaudheya confederacy c. 200 BCE to 350 CE
• Early Pandyas c. 300 BCE to 250 CE
• Kuninda Kingdom c. 200 BCE to 300 CE
• Malava Republic c. 150 BCE to 350 CE
• Indo-Parthian Kingdom c. 19 to 226 CE

Central and North Asia

• Sogdiana c. 545 BCE to 722 CE
• Kingdom of Khotan c. 200 BCE to 1006 CE
• Kushan Empire c. 30 to 375 CE
• Xianbei state c. 93 to 234 CE
• Uralic hunter-fishers of western Siberia c. 3200 BCE to 1000 CE
• Yukaghir peoples c. 1000 BCE to the present
• Chukchi, Koryak and Itelmen peoples c. 1000 BCE to the present
• Kingdom of Kucha c. 100 BCE to 840 CE
• Ancient Chorasmia c. 600 BCE to 305 CE
• Old Bering Sea culture c. 200 BCE to 600 CE
• Kangju c. 200 BCE to 450 CE
• Jushi kingdom c. 200 BCE to 450 CE
• Loulan (Shanshan) c. 176 BCE to 445 CE
• Wusun c. 160 BCE to 450 CE
• Tashtyk culture c. 100 BCE to 450 CE
• Han Protectorate of the Western Regions c. 60 BCE to 107 CE

East Asia

• Eastern Han 25 to 220 CE
• Silla 57 BCE to 668 CE
• Goguryeo 37 BCE to 668 CE
• Baekje 18 BCE to 660 CE
• Yayoi period c. 300 BCE to 250 CE
• Formosan Austronesian peoples c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Qiang peoples c. 1300 BCE to the present
• Sushen and Yilou c. 1100 BCE to 400 CE
• Baiyue peoples c. 1000 BCE to 200 CE
• Zhangzhung c. 500 BCE to 644 CE
• Epi-Jomon culture c. 300 BCE to 700 CE
• Buyeo c. 200 BCE to 494 CE
• Gaya confederacy c. 42 to 562 CE
• Samhan confederacies c. 100 BCE to 350 CE
• Lelang Commandery 108 BCE to 313 CE
• Yamatai c. 180 to 266 CE

Southeast Asia

• Austronesian peoples c. 2200 BCE to 900 CE
• Austroasiatic rice farmers c. 2000 BCE to 500 CE
• Ban Chiang culture c. 2000 BCE to 200 CE
• Austronesian peoples of Sumatra and Malaya c. 1500 BCE to 500 CE
• Austronesian farmers of Java and Wallacea c. 1500 BCE to 400 CE
• Champa c. 192 to 1832 CE
• Pyu city-states c. 200 BCE to 1050 CE
• Second Chinese domination 43 to 544 CE
• Funan c. 68 to 550 CE
• Philippine Negrito foragers c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Orang Asli (Semang and Senoi) c. 2000 BCE to the present
• Dayak peoples of Borneo c. 1000 BCE to the present
• Langkasuka c. 100 to 1400 CE
• Sa Huynh culture c. 1000 BCE to 200 CE
• Plain of Jars culture c. 500 BCE to 500 CE
• Buni culture c. 400 BCE to 500 CE

North America

• Dorset culture c. 500 BCE to 1300 CE
• Mogollon culture c. 200 to 1450 CE
• Hopewell tradition c. 100 BCE to 500 CE
• Unangan (Aleut) peoples c. 2500 BCE to the present
• California Archaic hunter-gatherers c. 3200 BCE to 500 CE
• Dene (Northern Athabaskan) peoples c. 500 BCE to the present
• Locarno Beach and Marpole cultures c. 1800 BCE to 500 CE
• Basketmaker culture c. 1500 BCE to 750 CE
• Woodland period cultures c. 1000 BCE to 1000 CE
• Norton tradition c. 1000 BCE to 800 CE
• Laurel complex c. 500 BCE to 1000 CE
• Plains Woodland cultures c. 500 BCE to 900 CE
• Fremont culture c. 1 to 1300 CE

Mesoamerica and Caribbean

• Teotihuacan c. 100 BCE to 550 CE
• Chibchan chiefdoms (Costa Rica and Panama) c. 500 BCE to 1570 CE
• Zapotec state (Monte Albán) c. 500 BCE to 850 CE
• Saladoid culture c. 500 BCE to 600 CE
• Tikal (Mutal) c. 90 to 900 CE
• El Mirador c. 600 BCE to 150 CE
• Guayabo de Turrialba c. 1000 BCE to 1400 CE
• Early farmers of the northern deserts c. 1500 BCE to 700 CE
• Greater Nicoya cultures c. 500 BCE to 1522 CE
• Cholula c. 300 BCE to 1519 CE
• Kaminaljuyu c. 800 BCE to 800 CE
• Gran Coclé chiefdoms c. 1 to 1520 CE
• Teuchitlán tradition c. 300 BCE to 900 CE
• Cuicuilco c. 800 BCE to 250 CE
• Chalchihuites culture c. 200 to 1100 CE
• Epi-Olmec culture c. 300 BCE to 250 CE

South America

• Moche (Mochica) c. 100 to 800 CE
• Nazca culture c. 100 BCE to 800 CE
• Fuegian canoe peoples (Yaghan, Kawésqar) c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Sambaqui shell-mound builders c. 3200 BCE to 1000 CE
• Jê peoples c. 1 CE to the present
• Patagonian peoples (Tehuelche, Selk'nam) c. 1 CE to the present
• Barrancoid culture c. 1000 BCE to 1000 CE
• Quimbaya culture c. 1 to 1550 CE
• Tairona c. 200 to 1600 CE
• Zenú culture c. 200 BCE to 1000 CE
• Upano valley settlements c. 500 BCE to 600 CE
• Formative cultures of northwest Argentina c. 500 BCE to 600 CE
• Tumaco-La Tolita culture c. 600 BCE to 400 CE
• San Agustín culture c. 1 to 900 CE
• Pukara culture c. 400 BCE to 300 CE
• Recuay culture c. 1 to 700 CE
• El Molle culture c. 1 to 700 CE
• Lima culture c. 100 to 650 CE

Oceania

• Aboriginal Australian peoples c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Papuan farmers and foragers c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Ancestral Polynesian society c. 850 BCE to 1000 CE
• Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples c. 3200 BCE to the present
• Uninhabited c. 3200 BCE to 1280 CE
• Uninhabited c. 3200 BCE to 1000 CE
• Torres Strait Islanders c. 500 BCE to the present
• Island Melanesian societies c. 500 BCE to the present
• Pre-Latte Chamorro c. 1500 BCE to 900 CE
• Fijian chiefdoms c. 500 BCE to 1874 CE
• Eastern Micronesian islanders c. 100 BCE to the present