List of political entities in the 5th century BC facts for kids

Imagine a "state" as a big, organized community of people living together. These communities have a leader, rules, and different groups of people doing different jobs. The creation of these states was a huge step in human history!

Archaeologists, who study ancient times, talk about two main types of states:

• Primary states are like the very first ones. They grew all by themselves, without being influenced by other states that already existed.
• Secondary states came later. They formed because they were near primary states and learned from them through trade, wars, or sharing ideas.

The earliest primary states appeared in places like Mesopotamia (around 3700 BC), Egypt (around 3300 BC), and the Indus Valley (around 2500 BC). Later, secondary states like the Hittites in Anatolia or the Minoan and Mycenaean states in the Aegean region started to form.

Today, when we talk about a "sovereign state," we mean a country that governs itself and isn't controlled by another country. This idea became common around the 1500s. Before that, leaders were often kings or emperors who ruled over their lands, sometimes with the help of powerful nobles.

This article lists some of the important states that existed between 500 BC and 401 BC.

Ancient States and Empires (500-401 BC)

Map of the world in 500 BC

Many different states and empires existed during this time. Some were very large, like the Achaemenid Empire, while others were smaller kingdoms or city-states. They often traded with each other, sometimes fought, and shared ideas.

Here is a list of some of these important states:

See also

• List of Bronze Age states
• List of Iron Age states
• List of Classical Age states
• List of states during Late Antiquity
• List of states during the Middle Ages