The first recorded history of Kerala appears in the inscriptions of the Mauryan Emperor, Ashoka (269-232 B.C.).In these inscriptions, Ashoka refers to four independent kingdoms that lay to the south of his empire. These were the kingdoms of the Cholas, the Pandyas, the Keralaputrasand the Satiyaputras.Among them, the Keralaputras or the Cheras, as they were called, reigned over Malabar, Cochin and North Travancore – all part of present-day Kerala. They managed to maintain their independence because they were on good terms with the Great Maurya. Otherwise, Ashoka, who was a great empire builder, would surely have attempted to bring these kingdoms under his tutelage.
The four South Indian Kingdoms extended a hand of friendship towards the Mauryas. It was really Hobson’s choice for them, having already experienced the Mauryan onslaught during the reign of Ashoka’s predecessor, Bindusara (297-272 B.C.) >>>more

The first significant written account of Germany's inhabitants is Germania, written about A.D. 98 by the Roman historian Tacitus. The Germanic tribes he describes are believed to have come from Scandinavia to Germany about 100 B.C., perhaps induced to migrate by overpopulation. The Germanic tribes living to the west of the Rhine River and south of the Main River were soon subdued by the Romans and incorporated into the Roman Empire. Tribes living to the east and north of these rivers remained free but had more or less friendly relations with the Romans for several centuries. Beginning in the fourth century A.D., new westward migrations of eastern peoples caused the Germanic tribes to move into the Roman Empire, which by the late fifth century ceased to exist. >>>more