Due to its central geographic location in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, Italy has historically been home to myriad peoples and cultures, such as the Italic peoples, the Etruscans, the Celts, the Greeks, and other ancient peoples. The Latins formed the Roman Kingdom in the 8th century BC, which eventually became a republic with a government of the Senate and the People. The Roman Republic initially conquered and assimilated its neighbors on the Italian peninsula, eventually expanding and conquering parts of Europe, North Africa, and Asia. By the first century BC, the Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became a leading cultural, political and religious center, inaugurating the Pax Romana, a period of more than 200 years during which Italy's law, technology, economy, art, and literature developed.