That's usually described as being the great powers in Europe which emerged as Rome declined. One source for history on that is Edward Gibbon. At present, saying "the ten Kingdoms" kind of tends to date you, since there have been revolutions in France and Germany for example. If you're wondering where they got those maps and tribe names, they got them from Roman sources. Funnily enough, with Europe, the first histories and identifications of the indigenous or white people come from the colonizing Roman Army. Romans didn't say much about us, just noted who they thought we were in their duty reports.