Homeland of Roman civilization, which, from its beginnings as a settlement of Latin peasants on the banks of the River Tiber around 1000 BC, grew to be the centre of the greatest empire of the ancient world. From about 500 to 300 BC, Roman ways quickly began to dominate the whole of Italy and the Mediterranean fringe and, from about 200 BC to the late 5th century AD, Rome controlled vast territories in Europe, Africa, and Asia.