Question: In the 1st century CE, who ruled much of North Africa, the Middle East and the continent where the region that shares a border with Champagne-Ardenne is located?

<P0-S0> from the 1880s to 1914, the european powers expanded their control across the african continent, competing with each other for africa’s land and resources. <P0-S1> great britain controlled various colonial holdings in east africa that spanned the length of the african continent from egypt in the north to south africa. <P0-S2> the french gained major ground in west africa, and the portuguese held colonies in southern africa. <P0-S3> germany, italy, and spain established a small number of colonies at various points throughout the continent, which included german east africa (tanganyika) and german southwest africa for germany, eritrea and libya for italy, and the canary islands and rio de oro in northwestern africa for spain. <P0-S4> finally, for king leopold (ruled from 1865–1909), there was the large “piece of that great african cake” known as the congo, which, unfortunately for the native congolese, became his personal fiefdom to do with as he pleased in central africa. <P0-S5> by 1914, almost the entire continent was under european control. <P0-S6> liberia, which was settled by freed american slaves in the 1820s, and abyssinia (ethiopia) in eastern africa were the last remaining independent african states. <P0-S7> (john merriman, a history of modern europe, volume two: from the french revolution to the present, third edition (new york: w. w. norton & company, 2010), pp. <P0-S8> 819–859). <SEP> <P1-S0> The greater region maintained an industrial eminence into the 20th century, after coal replaced charcoal in metallurgy. <P1-S1> The trees and rivers of the Ardennes provided the charcoal industry assets that enabled the great industrial period of Wallonia in the 18th and 19th centuries, when it was arguably the second great industrial region of the world, after England. <SEP> <P2-S0> north dakota is in the u.s. region known as the great plains. <P2-S1> the state shares the red river of the north with minnesota to the east. <P2-S2> south dakota is to the south, montana is to the west, and the canadian provinces of saskatchewan and manitoba are to the north. <P2-S3> north dakota is situated near the middle of north america with a stone marker in rugby, north dakota marking the ``geographic center of the north american continent ''. <P2-S4> with an area of 70,762 square miles (183,273 km), north dakota is the 19th largest state. <SEP> <P3-S0> The reforms introduced by Augustus during his long reign stabilized the empire after the turmoil of the previous century's civil wars. <P3-S1> Later in the century the Julio - Claudian dynasty, which had been founded by Augustus, came to an end with the suicide of Nero in AD 68. <P3-S2> There followed the famous Year of Four Emperors, a brief period of civil war and instability, which was finally brought to an end by Vespasian, ninth Roman emperor, and founder of the Flavian dynasty. <P3-S3> The Roman Empire generally experienced a period of prosperity and dominance in this period and the First Century is remembered as part of the Empire's golden age. <P3-S4> During this period, Europe, North Africa and the Near East fell under increasing domination by the Roman Empire, which continued expanding, most notably conquering Britain under the emperor Claudius (AD 43). <SEP> <P4-S0> Science and technology in Wallonia, the southern region of Belgium (Europe), is well developed with the presence of several universities and research institutes.