This chart attempts to track the ages of major Empires, Kingdoms and Dynasties of the world. Civilization lengths are rarely precise and not meant to indicate importance or power. The age of Civilizations are valuable in this chart to track relative simultaneous existences, important historical dates and synergistic relationships. -- Rules to define the age of a Civilization: Move of Capital. Example: Move of Roman Capital from Rome to Byzantium. Change in government type. Example: Transition of Ottoman Caliphate to Republic of Turkey. Occupations resulting in permanent structural changes to administration of cities/region. Example: Korea Significant transitions in geographic location. -- Maps provided attempt to show maximum sphere of influence. However these are obviously highly debatable and are just meant to emphasis regional distribution and cultural impact. -- The Anatolian Peninsula is considered to be part of the Middle East.