Life – a user's manual Part II - Boksidan

500 years later, the Roman Empire fell to a fragment consisting of its former eastern part (Eastern Roman
Empire = Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Egypt). Eastern Roman Empire existed until
the 1400s, but the boundaries were often changed and during the latter part it was called the Byzantine
Empire. The majority of the Roman Empires Western European cities were reduced or disappeared. The
Han-Empire had also disappeared, and in its place there were three rival Chinese kingdoms. Moreover, there
were organized kingdoms in the current Iran and Iraq (Sassandinska kingdom), India and Japan.
Around 700 the first North American cities were built in the Mississippi Valley.
Japan
England
Spain
China
Portugal
Austria
Denmark
France
Sweden
Figure 2. The larger nations that, in reasonably orderly form, existed in 1000, and still do, and their approximate
contemporary borders. In addition to these larger kingdoms there was Ethiopia, whose former borders I do
not know.
The city of Timbuktu (in the central African country of Mali) was founded in 1100.
In 1255 Prague and Stockholm became cities.
In the current Peru, Incas expanded their empire and the Aztecs expanded in Central America. The Aztecs
were farmers and they lived in western Mexico, but in the early 1300s, they were forced to move to what is
now Mexico City, two marshy islands in Texoco Sea. The city was built of stone and was connected to the
mainland by a number of bridges. The area around the city was drained and there was fertile land that gave
such great harvests that the population could grow significantly and even feed a professional army. This, and
some other American cultures, was thus relatively high standing regarding building technology. But they
could not make iron and besides Incas (who used bronze objects) metals was used only for decoration. They
lacked also wheeled vehicles and pull, riding and pack animals (besides that llamas were used for carrying
loads in Peru).
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