>>183600, >>183601, >>183602
Amazing Maps @amazingmap - At its peak under Emperor Trajan around 117 AD, the Roman Empire covered roughly 5 million km² (about 2 million sq mi). That sounds enormous, but the contiguous United States alone is still substantially larger by land area at about 8 million km² (3.1 million sq mi).
A big reason the empire appears so large on maps is that much of its territory wrapped around the Mediterranean Sea. Large stretches of the Roman world were coastline, which gave the empire access to some of the most economically valuable and densely populated regions of the ancient world without needing to control vast inland territory.
What made Rome extraordinary was less its sheer land area and more how interconnected it was for the ancient world. The empire controlled perhaps 60–70 million people at its peak, linked by roads, ports, trade routes and a shared political system stretching from Britain to the Middle East.
The Mediterranean itself functioned as the empire’s central highway. Moving goods or armies by sea was usually far faster and cheaper than transporting them over land, allowing Rome to govern a huge area remarkably efficiently for its time.
Its influence on language, law, architecture, religion and government lasted far longer than the empire itself, which is one reason the Roman Empire often feels geographically larger in history than it actually was.
https://x.com/amazingmap/status/2056102523920945254

Amazing Maps @amazingmap - The Roman Empire overlaid on the modern United States
https://x.com/amazingmap/status/2056095192533586294

Amazing Maps @amazingmap - The Māori names for European countries
https://x.com/amazingmap/status/2055977149988000147

Ambassador Mike Waltz @USAmbUN - Video: At the UN we are rallying the world - 120 countries so far - that no nation can respond to a conflict by throwing mines into international waters, charging tolls, and taking the global economy hostage.
https://x.com/USAmbUN/status/2055627561338597385