In 985 AD, an initial wave of Vikings from Scandinavia establish two successful outposts along the fjords of Southern Greenland.

The Moche flourished in a narrow strip between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountains of Peru for 650 years. Sometimes referred to as the `Greeks of the Andes', the Moche may have founded the first South American state.

The Aztec Empire was the last great civilisation and dominant power in Mesoamerica in the 15th and 16th centuries. Its capital city, Tenochtitlan, was a huge trading centre that supported up to 140,000 people.

The Minoans, whom many consider the first European civilisation, flourished on the islands of the Aegean in the third and second millennia BCE before eventually disappearing around 1100 BC.

The Khmer Empire, founded at the beginning of the ninth century CE, was one of the most powerful states in Southeast Asia, covering much of Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Southern Vietnam.

Hundreds of years ago, sea-faring people called the Rapa Nui flourish on Easter Island, a small island at the easternmost edge of the Polynesian Islands.