In 202 BC, empires were decided at both ends of Eurasia: Scipio defeated Hannibal at Zama, and Liu Bang founded the Han dynasty.
The events
- Battle of Zama202 BC · Zama. The Roman general Scipio defeated Hannibal in North Africa. Under the peace of 201 BC Carthage lost its fleet and overseas lands, and Rome became the leading power of the western Mediterranean.
- Founding of the Han dynasty202 BC · Chang'an. After the fall of Qin and his victory over Xiang Yu, Liu Bang proclaimed himself emperor (Gaozu) with his capital at Chang'an. The Han ruled for over four centuries, and the Chinese still call themselves the Han people.
More amazing facts
- 480 BC · 479 BC Confucius died in 479 BC — one year after the Greeks defeated the Persian fleet at Salamis.
- 323 BC · 322 BC India's Maurya Empire arose about a year after Alexander the Great died — and its founder, Chandragupta, is said to have met Alexander himself.
- 261 BC · 260 BC Almost simultaneously, Ashoka conquered Kalinga (261 BC) and repented the bloodshed, while China saw the Battle of Changping (260 BC), one of antiquity's bloodiest.
- 240 BC Around 240 BC, Eratosthenes measured the Earth's circumference in Egypt, while Chinese chroniclers made the first sure record of Halley's Comet.
- 36 BC · 31 BC The earliest known Long Count calendar date in Mesoamerica is 36 BC — just five years before the Battle of Actium.
- 79 · 200 A little over a century after Vesuvius buried Pompeii, across the ocean in Teotihuacan the Pyramid of the Sun rose — one of the largest pyramids in the world.