Great Wall of China
Qin Shi Huang links old walls into one line against nomads
Qin Shi Huang ordered the border walls of the former states joined into one line against the Xiongnu nomads, at the cost of tens of thousands of lives. Later dynasties, above all the Ming, rebuilt it, and with all its branches it exceeds 20,000 km.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 3rd century BC
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 218 BC Hannibal crosses the Alps — 4 years earlier
- 216 BC Battle of Cannae — 2 years earlier
Alive at the time
- Archimedes (aged 73)
- Qin Shi Huang (aged 45)
- Hannibal (aged 33)
- Eratosthenes (aged 62)
- Liu Bang (Emperor Gaozu of Han) (aged 42)
- Scipio Africanus (aged 22)
- Empress Lü (Lü Zhi) (aged 27)
- Cato the Elder (aged 20)
- Modu Chanyu (aged 20)