Polity Scale Of Supracultural Interaction List
A viewset for viewing and editing Polity Scales of Supracultural Interaction.
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Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. §REF§ was the polity that ruled over much of mainland Southeast Asia after the decline of Funan. §REF§ (Southworth 2004, 324) William A. Southworth. 2004. 'Chenla', in <i>Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia</i>, edited by Keat Gin Ooi, 324-26. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. §REF§ As with Funan, this was likely not a unitary state, but rather a cluster of competing small city-states. §REF§ (Higham 2014, 831) Charles Higham. 2014. 'From the Iron Age to Angkor: New Light on the Origins of a State'. <i>Antiquity</i> 88: 822-35. §REF§ These states occupied much of modern Cambodia and northwestern Thailand, with sites all across the Mekong River Basin, and particularly dense clusters just before the river's delta, in the Tonlé Sap region, and in the Upper Mun Valley. §REF§ (Higham 2014, 831) Charles Higham. 2014. 'From the Iron Age to Angkor: New Light on the Origins of a State'. <i>Antiquity</i> 88: 822-35. §REF§ With respect to Chenla's chronological boundaries, many authors date its beginning to the mid-6th century, §REF§ (Higham 2014, 831) Charles Higham. 2014. 'From the Iron Age to Angkor: New Light on the Origins of a State'. <i>Antiquity</i> 88: 822-35. §REF§ that is, at the beginning of Funan's century-long decline. §REF§ (Hall 2010, 60-61) Kenneth R. Hall. 2010. <i>A History of Early Southeast Asia: Maritime Trade and Societal Development, 100-1500</i>. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. §REF§ This is the chronology we follow, although it is worth noting that, according to the Chinese records, Chenla only conquered Funan in the 7th century. §REF§ (Miksic 2007, 426-27) John N. Miksic. 2007. <i>Historical Dictionary of Ancient Southeast Asia</i>. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. §REF§ The Chenla era came to a close at the turn of the the 9th century with the beginning of the Angkor period, traditionally dated from Jayavarman II's coronation ceremony in 802 CE. §REF§ (Higham 2014, 254) Charles Higham. 2014. <i>Early Mainland Southeast Asia: From First Humans to Angkor</i>. Bangkok: River Books. §REF§ <br>Population and political organization<br>Although Chenla was probably a cluster of competing centres rather than a unitary polity, inscriptions suggest that there was an overall political hierarchy, at the top of which sat a <i>vrah kamraten</i>, that is, most likely, a deified ruler §REF§ (Higham 2014, 831) Charles Higham. 2014. 'From the Iron Age to Angkor: New Light on the Origins of a State'. <i>Antiquity</i> 88: 822-35. §REF§ Below this ruler, there was a series of elite ranks whose relationship to each other is not always clear, though no rank was higher than that of <i>pura</i>. §REF§ (Vickery 1998, 24) Michael Vickery. 1998. <i>Society, Economics, and Politics in pre-Angkor Cambodia: The 7th-8th Centuries</i>. Chicago: Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies. §REF§ At the local level, <i>poñ</i> (settlement chiefs) exercised their authority over individual temples, which were important economic as well as ritual centres for their sustaining populace. §REF§ (Higham 2014, 831-32) Charles Higham. 2014. 'From the Iron Age to Angkor: New Light on the Origins of a State'. <i>Antiquity</i> 88: 822-35. §REF§ <br>No overall population estimates could be found in the literature, but the largest settlement probably housed over 20,000 families, §REF§ (Higham 2014, 293) Charles Higham. 2014. <i>Early Mainland Southeast Asia: From First Humans to Angkor</i>. Bangkok: River Books. §REF§ and Chinese records describe Chenla as 'a wealthy and militarily powerful country with over 30 cities'. §REF§ (Coe 2003, 60) Michael Coe. 2003. <i>Angkor and the Khmer Civilization</i>. London: Thames & Hudson. §REF§ ", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": "2024-05-08T12:55:13.437877Z", "home_nga": { "id": 17, "name": "Cambodian Basin", "subregion": "Siam", "longitude": "103.866700000000", "latitude": "13.412500000000", "capital_city": "Angkor Wat", "nga_code": "KH", "fao_country": "Cambodia", "world_region": "Southeast Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 41, "name": "Mainland", "subregions_list": "Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, south Vietnam", "mac_region": { "id": 10, "name": "Southeast Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 42, "text": "a new_private_comment_text new approach for polity" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 114, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": null, "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "scale_of_supra-cultural_interaction", "scale_from": 2175000, "scale_to": 2175000, "polity": { "id": 45, "name": "ThRattn", "start_year": 1782, "end_year": 1873, "long_name": "Rattanakosin", "new_name": "th_rattanakosin", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "After the destruction of the city of Ayutthaya by the Burmese in 1767, the Chao Phraya Basin was briefly ruled by Phaya Taksin, a charismatic warrior-king of obscure origins who chose Thonburi as his capital, near Bangkok, an old Chinese trading settlement. In 1782, what remained of the old Ayutthaya aristocracy staged a coup and put their leader on the throne. This leader took the name of Rama I Chakri and moved the capital to Bangkok, known at the time as Rattanakosin or Krungthep. §REF§ (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 27, 31) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. <i>A History of Thailand</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ Under Rama I, the kingdom rapidly expanded to the south (where it extended its control to the Malay peninsula), the north (where Chiang Mai became a new tributary), and the east (taking control of Vientiane and much of Cambodia). §REF§ (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 27-28) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. <i>A History of Thailand</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ It could be said to have reached its peak between 1793 and 1810, when it found new stability, regained control over important Asian trade networks, and witnessed a literary florescence, with the translation of several classics from different Asian languages. §REF§ (Wyatt 1984, 154-55) David K. Wyatt. 1984. <i>Thailand: A Short History</i>. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. §REF§ Our 'ThRattn' polity spans the 89 years between 1782 and 1873, when Rama V began a comprehensive series of modernizing reforms. §REF§ (Wyatt 1984, 194) David K. Wyatt. 1984. <i>Thailand: A Short History</i>. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>The Rattanakosin kingdom was ruled by the Thai aristocracy. The king was simply a <i>primus inter pares</i> ‒ indeed, some kings, such as Rama II and Rama IV, actually retreated into a ritual role and left the administration of the kingdom entirely to the nobility. Even during the reign of more active kings, such as Rama I and Rama III, the aristocracy still monopolized the key posts in the central administration. However, the king always led the country in spiritual matters: he was seen as a <i>bodhisattva</i>, a spiritually superior superhuman being tasked with preserving Buddhism and aiding his subjects in their ascent toward <i>nirvana</i>, for example through moral laws banning sinful pursuits. §REF§ (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 31-32) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. <i>A History of Thailand</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ <br>Evidence for the size of this polity's population before 1911, the year of the first census, is sparse and unreliable. However, a reasonable estimate would be that, following slow growth beginning in the 1780s, the population reached just below 5 million by the middle of the 19th century. §REF§ (Dixon 2002, xxxii) Chris Dixon. 1999. <i>The Thai Economy: Uneven Development and Internationalisation</i>. London: Routledge. §REF§ It is not clear whether this estimate includes tributary states and cities.", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 17, "name": "Cambodian Basin", "subregion": "Siam", "longitude": "103.866700000000", "latitude": "13.412500000000", "capital_city": "Angkor Wat", "nga_code": "KH", "fao_country": "Cambodia", "world_region": "Southeast Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 41, "name": "Mainland", "subregions_list": "Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, south Vietnam", "mac_region": { "id": 10, "name": "Southeast Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 113, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": null, "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "scale_of_supra-cultural_interaction", "scale_from": 2175000, "scale_to": 2175000, "polity": { "id": 44, "name": "ThAyuth", "start_year": 1593, "end_year": 1767, "long_name": "Ayutthaya", "new_name": "th_ayutthaya", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The city of Ayutthaya was founded in 1351 CE in the Chao Phraya Basin, in modern-day Thailand, and soon emerged as a dominant force in the region, turning neighbouring <i>mueang</i>, or city-states, into its tributaries. §REF§ (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, xv, 7-13) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. <i>A History of Thailand</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ This was largely thanks to its advantageous geographical position, which allowed it to become an <i>entrepôt</i> where goods could be exchanged between China to the east, India and Arabia to the west, and the Malay archipelago to the south. §REF§ (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 10) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. <i>A History of Thailand</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ In 1569, Ayutthaya fell to the Burmese army. §REF§ (Wyatt 1984, 100) David K. Wyatt. 1984. <i>Thailand: A Short History</i>. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. §REF§ Here, we only consider the second phase of the polity's history, starting in 1593, when Ayutthaya regained its independence after defeating Burma at the Battle of Nong Sarai. §REF§ (Wyatt 1984, 103) David K. Wyatt. 1984. <i>Thailand: A Short History</i>. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. §REF§ The kingdom flourished throughout the 17th century, regaining its status as the dominant political and economic power of mainland Southeast Asia and ruling over Khmer, Lao, Lanna, and Shan. §REF§ (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 13-18) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. <i>A History of Thailand</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ The polity may have reached its peak under King Borommakot (reigned 1733‒1758): during this time, Ayutthaya faced no serious external threats (indeed, it made peace with Burma and consolidated its hold over Cambodia), and supplanted Sri Lanka as the preeminent centre of Buddhist culture. §REF§ (Wyatt 1984, 130-31) David K. Wyatt. 1984. <i>Thailand: A Short History</i>. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. §REF§ Shortly afterwards, however, hostilities with Burma resumed due to the ambitions of a new Burmese dynasty. In 1767, Ayutthaya was once again captured ‒ and this time, it was destroyed. §REF§ (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 21-22) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. <i>A History of Thailand</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ <br>A number of different spellings of Ayutthaya are in use, including Ayuthaya, Ayudhya, and Ayuthia. §REF§ (Ooi 2004, xxiii) Keat Gin Ooi. 2004. <i>Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia from Angkor Wat to East Timor</i>. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>In the Ayutthaya Kingdom, kings ruled over a society composed of a 'service nobility of maybe 2000 people and their families, and a mass of people bound to surrender some or all of their labour to the elite'. §REF§ (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 15) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. <i>A History of Thailand</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ There was a four-part administrative structure: one ministry was dedicated to the palace and the capital; one to military affairs and relations with tributary states and cities; one to trade, the treasury, and foreign communities; and one, made up of Brahmans, to ritual, astrology, and records. §REF§ (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 15) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. <i>A History of Thailand</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ <br>It is difficult to give a firm figure for the population of the kingdom as a whole. However, Ayutthaya may have been the largest city in Southeast Asia in the 17th and 18th centuries, §REF§ (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 13) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. <i>A History of Thailand</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ with perhaps 150,000 inhabitants in 1700 and 160,000 in 1750. §REF§ Christopher K. Chase-Dunn 2001, personal communication 2012 §REF§ ", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 17, "name": "Cambodian Basin", "subregion": "Siam", "longitude": "103.866700000000", "latitude": "13.412500000000", "capital_city": "Angkor Wat", "nga_code": "KH", "fao_country": "Cambodia", "world_region": "Southeast Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 41, "name": "Mainland", "subregions_list": "Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, south Vietnam", "mac_region": { "id": 10, "name": "Southeast Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 70, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": "km^2 very rough area of Roman Empire, plus extra territory where Roman 'cultural influence' felt", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "scale_of_supra-cultural_interaction", "scale_from": 17000000, "scale_to": 17000000, "polity": { "id": 70, "name": "ItRomPr", "start_year": -31, "end_year": 284, "long_name": "Roman Empire - Principate", "new_name": "it_roman_principate", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Roman Principate (31 BCE-284 CE) refers to the first period of the Roman Empire, when the de facto ruler was termed the <i>princeps</i>, or 'leading citizen'. The period begins with the victory of the first emperor, Augustus (then Octavian) over his rival Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE and ends with the accession of Diocletian after the 'crisis' of the 3rd century CE (235-284 CE). §REF§ (Boatwright et al. 2012) Mary T. Boatwright, Daniel J. Gargola, Noel Lenski and Richard J. A. Talbert. 2012. <i>The Romans. From Village to Empire: A History of Rome from Earliest Times to the End of the Western Empire</i>. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press. §REF§ <br>Retaining and solidifying many of the institutions, cultural forms, and economic base that had led to Rome's hegemonic position during the Republican period, the Empire became one of the largest, most long-lived, and most prosperous imperial states the world has ever known. Augustus established a dynasty lasting until the death of the Emperor Nero in 68 CE, after which followed a brief civil war between different potential successors. Despite repeated bouts of similar warfare during succession crises following the various dynasties that ruled the Principate, the Empire remained remarkably stable throughout this period. Rome was able to unite - and keep together - a huge swathe of territory encompassing all of western Europe, North Africa, Egypt, the eastern Mediterranean, most of Anatolia, and parts of the Near East. Integrating diverse regions into this single empire facilitated the spread of Roman institutions - notably its legal system, urban infrastructure, cultural forms, and political structure. It also promoted economic development by enabling the safe transport of goods and people to every corner of the empire. §REF§ (Bowman and Wilson 2009) Alan K. Bowman and Andrew Wilson. 2009. 'Quantifying the Roman Economy: Integration, Growth, Decline?', in <i>Quantifying the Roman Economy: Methods and Problems</i>, edited by Alan K. Bowman and Andrew Wilson, 3-86. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ It was during this period that Rome built some of its greatest structures: the Pantheon, the Coliseum, the imperial <i>fora</i> (market squares) in the heart of Rome, and many others. The Principate overall produced so much wealth and so many cultural achievements that the great 18th-century English historian Edward Gibbon proclaimed the Empire at its peak in the 2nd century CE to be 'the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous'. §REF§ (Gibbon [2003] 1869, 53) Edward Gibbon. [2003] 1869. <i>The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire</i>, edited by Hans-Friedrich Mueller. New York: Modern Library. §REF§ <br>In the late 3rd century CE, beginning after the end of the Severan Dynasty, the Principate nearly collapsed in the face of internal warfare and pressure from external foes, including the Sassanid Persian Empire and nomadic tribes from Germany and eastern Europe. Rome briefly lost control over parts of France, Britain, and southern Spain and suffered several significant losses in battle to the Sassanids. Under first the Emperor Aurelian (r. 270-275 CE) then Diocletian (r. 284-305), however, all territory was recovered and a series of administrative and economic reforms inaugurated a second phase of the Roman Empire, which we refer to as the Dominate (denoting the increasing centralization of authority and the development of a large bureaucratic apparatus).<br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>Nominally, there was no change in political organization between the Republican period and the Principate. The first princeps, Augustus, kept all Republican institutions and offices, including the Senate, intact. There was clear practical change in the power structure, however, as Augustus, and all emperors after him, asserted personal control over almost the entire Roman army and were granted unprecedented legislative, religious, and judicial powers to shape politics and Roman society at large. Whereas a defining principle of Republican governance was that no individual should be able to hold multiple offices simultaneously, amassing power in several domains (military, legislative, religious, and so on), emperors broke this tradition and drew their authority from numerous offices, titles, and the authority they carried. §REF§ (Noreña 2010) Carlos Noreña. 2010. 'The Early Imperial Monarchy', in <i>The Oxford Handbook of Roman Studies</i>, edited by A. Barchiesi and W. Scheidel, 533-46. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ <br>The Roman emperor was also generally one of the wealthiest people in the Principate, controlling huge agriculturally productive estates throughout the Empire, particularly in North Africa and Egypt. §REF§ (Kehoe 2007) Dennis P. Kehoe. 2007. <i>Law and the Rural Economy in the Roman Empire</i>. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. §REF§ In this period, state revenues were split between the 'public' treasury (<i>aerarium</i>) and an imperial treasury (<i>fiscus</i>) under the direct control of the emperor. §REF§ (Adkins and Adkins 1998, 45) Lesley Adkins and Roy A. Adkins. 1998. <i>Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome</i>. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ The Principate had a fairly limited reach, particularly outside of Italy, but the state did have some significant expenses which it met by collecting tax from the Empire's vast territory and large population, taking in rents from the imperial estates. In addition to paying the salaries of imperial officials - a relatively small expense as only limited central authority was exerted in the provinces (mainly the provincial governors and their retinue) - the emperor was responsible for financing a professional citizen army, the major state expense along with public works projects such as roads, aqueducts, and temples. The costs of these public works, though, were split between the personal fortune of the emperors who acted as patrons, particularly in Italy, and that of wealthy patrons in the provinces, who financed much of the urban growth in these regions. Further, beginning in the later Republican period and continuing throughout the Empire, the imperial state provided grain at reduced prices to citizens living in Rome; another considerable expense. §REF§ (Duncan-Jones 1994) Richard Duncan-Jones. 1994. <i>Money and Government in the Roman Empire</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ §REF§ (Scheidel 2015) Walter Scheidel. 2015. 'State Revenue and Expenditure in the Han and Roman Empires', in <i>State Power in Ancient China and Rome</i>, edited by Walter Scheidel, 150-80. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ §REF§ (Garnsey and Saller 1987) Peter Garnsey and Richard P. Saller. 1987. <i>The Roman Empire: Economy, Society, and Culture</i>. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. §REF§ <br>The Emperor was assisted by his directly appointed <i>consilium</i> (advisory council), which was often made up of freedmen (manumitted slaves) and personal slaves. §REF§ (Noreña 2010, 538) Carlos Noreña. 2010. 'The Early Imperial Monarchy', in <i>The Oxford Handbook of Roman Studies</i>, edited by A. Barchiesi and W. Scheidel, 533-46. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ §REF§ (Harries 2010) Jill Harries. 2010. 'Law', in <i>The Oxford Handbook of Roman Studies</i>, edited by Alessandro Barchiesi and Walter Scheidel, 637-50. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ The Senate, not the emperor, formally retained ultimate executive power and could override or critique the emperor's actions, but in practice this was quite rare and could be dangerous to the critic. §REF§ (Harris 2010) W. V. Harris. 2010. 'Power', in <i>The Oxford Handbook of Roman Studies</i>, edited by Alessandro Barchiesi and Walter Scheidel, 564-78. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ This centralized exercise of power by the Emperor, though, did not extend to the provinces, where the focus of imperial administration was squarely on securing revenue (cash and in-kind tax and rents on imperial properties) and maintaining peace, both internally and against potential external enemies, notably the powerful Persian Empires to the East. Roman provinces were governed by fairly autonomous officials (<i>procurator</i>, <i>curator</i>, <i>praefectus</i>, <i>proconsul</i>, etc.) and priests (<i>flamen</i>, etc.). §REF§ (Talbert 1996) Richard J. A. Talbert. 1996. 'The Senate and Senatorial and Equestrian Posts', in <i>The Cambridge Ancient History</i>, edited by Alan K. Bowman, Edward Champlin and Andrew Lintott, 324-43. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ §REF§ (Ando 2013) Clifford Ando. 2013. <i>Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire</i>. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. §REF§ Urbanization was also encouraged throughout the Empire; provincial cities were administered as 'mini-Rome's, with local urban equivalents of the Senate and most administrative, judicial, and religious magistracies. Roman cultural and infrastructural achievements were widely mimicked, with aqueducts, temples, theatres, bathhouses, and material culture (for example, particular ceramic forms, a culture of communal feasting, and the habit of publicizing achievements with inscribed stone tablets) adapted by numerous provincial towns and cities. §REF§ (Wilson 2011) Andrew Wilson. 2011. 'City Sizes and Urbanization in the Roman Empire', in <i>Settlement, Urbanization, and Population</i>, edited by Alan K. Bowman and Andrew Wilson, 161-95. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ This was true across the Empire, though particularly salient in the west, whereas Roman settlements in the East tended to retain many of their pre-Roman urban forms and cultural traditions. §REF§ (Boatwright 2000) Mary Taliaferro Boatwright. 2000. <i>Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire</i>. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. §REF§ §REF§ (Ando 2013) Clifford Ando. 2013. <i>Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire</i>. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. §REF§ <br>By the mid-2nd century CE, the city of Rome had reached over one million inhabitants, a significant feat for an ancient urban settlement. The population of the entire Empire is estimated at between 50 to over 60 million. §REF§ (Scheidel 2009) Walter Scheidel. 2009. 'Population and Demography', in <i>A Companion to Ancient History</i>, edited by A. Erskine, 234-45. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. §REF§ Estimating the number of state employees is an extremely difficult task, but one scholar has supposed that if the imperial government at its largest extent in the 4th century CE 'had somewhat over thirty thousand functionaries', then before this time a figure of 10,000-12,000 might be reasonable. §REF§ (Lendon 1997, 3) J. E. Lendon. 1997. <i>Empire of Honour: The Art of Government in the Roman World</i>. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ ", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 1, "name": "Latium", "subregion": "Southern Europe", "longitude": "12.486948000000", "latitude": "41.890407000000", "capital_city": "Rome", "nga_code": "IT", "fao_country": "Italy", "world_region": "Europe" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 18, "name": "Southern Europe", "subregions_list": "Iberia, Italy", "mac_region": { "id": 5, "name": "Europe" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 17, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": "km squared.<br>rough area of quasi-polity territory", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "scale_of_supra-cultural_interaction", "scale_from": 1000000, "scale_to": 1000000, "polity": { "id": 243, "name": "CnShang", "start_year": -1250, "end_year": -1045, "long_name": "Late Shang", "new_name": "cn_late_shang_dyn", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Late Shang Dynasty (1250-1045 BCE) was an extension of the Erligang culture based in Yinxu, near modern Anyang. The Late Shang were the last 12 kings of the dynasty, beginning with Pan Geng. Unlike in Erligang settlements, pottery, oracle bones and other artefacts showing a fully formed writing system have been found at Late Shang sites. This system included 'pictograms, ideograms, and phonograms'. §REF§ (San 2014, 19) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F</a>. §REF§ The oldest written records uncovered from Shang contexts date back to 1200 BCE. §REF§ (San 2014, 19) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F</a>. §REF§ <br>The civilization at Yinxu is considered to represent the golden age of the Shang Dynasty §REF§ (San 2014, 17) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F</a>. §REF§ and 11 major royal tombs have been uncovered there by archaeologists. §REF§ (San 2014, 17) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F</a>. §REF§ Pottery and bronze and jade work flourished in the Late Shang period. §REF§ (San 2014, 20) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F</a>. §REF§ The Late Shang also had a developed calendar system with 30 days in a month and 12 months (360 days) in a year. §REF§ (Encyclopedia Britannica 2017) “Shang Dynasty.” Encyclopedia Britannica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shang-dynasty\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shang-dynasty</a> Accessed May 29, 2017. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/8GNFD4WH\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/8GNFD4WH</a>. §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>The Late Shang were based on the North China Plain. The dynasty's territory stretched north to modern Shandong, south to Hebei, and west to Henan. §REF§ (San 2014, 16) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F</a>. §REF§ The Shang government was a feudal system in which the king and a class of military nobility ruled over the masses, who were mainly farmers. §REF§ (San 2014, 16, 21) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F</a>. §REF§ Shang kings also served as high priests. §REF§ (San 2014, 16) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F</a>) §REF§ The Late Shang were in constant conflict with surrounding settlements and with civilizations from the steppe. §REF§ (San 2014, 21) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F</a>. §REF§ <br>The population of the Late Shang Dynasty was around 5 million in 1045 BCE. §REF§ (McEvedy and Jones 1978, 170-72) McEvedy, Colin, and Richard Jones. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/6U4QZXCG/q/atlas%20of%20world%20population\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/6U4QZXCG/q/atlas%20of%20world%20population</a>. §REF§ The population of the Yinxu settlement in Anyang is unknown.", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": "", "created_date": null, "modified_date": "2024-01-04T15:29:41.622565Z", "home_nga": { "id": 20, "name": "Middle Yellow River Valley", "subregion": "North China", "longitude": "112.517587000000", "latitude": "34.701825000000", "capital_city": "Luoyang", "nga_code": "CN", "fao_country": "China", "world_region": "East Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 58, "name": "North China", "subregions_list": "North China without Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang", "mac_region": { "id": 4, "name": "East Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 47, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": "km squared. Very rough estimate.", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "scale_of_supra-cultural_interaction", "scale_from": 300000, "scale_to": 300000, "polity": { "id": 103, "name": "IlCanaa", "start_year": -2000, "end_year": -1175, "long_name": "Canaan", "new_name": "il_canaan", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "_Short description_<br>Very little is known about the ancient Canaanites and what is known is often through references given by other cultures (such as the Egyptians). Even combined with what is known and not known from archaeological work the overall picture of Canannite society should be taken as a very provisional one.<br>Canaanites seem to have lived between 2000-1175 BCE, from a time contemporary to the Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, the Canaanite Hyksos Period of Egypt and their expulsion, through the New Kingdom of Egypt, to the invasion of the Sea Peoples (which have often been associated with the destruction of Canaanite cities).<br>Outside of the city-state organization the Canaanites did not achieve any territorial centralization in the Levant. The Canaanites lived in hierarchical city-states that would form alliances and fight opposing coalitions of Canaanites. The region as a whole was under Egyptian control after the invasion of Thutmose III.<br>One tentative archaeological interpretation of Canaanite government holds that Canaanite regimes were more similar to an household <i>oikos</i> economy than a Mesopotamian-style redistributive state: \"in sharp contrast to both the Aegean and the entire ancient Near East, there is not a single indication that literate administration ever played any significant role in the [Middle Bronze Age] Canaanite economy.\" §REF§ (Yasur-Landau et al. 2015, 609). Assaf Yasur-Landau, Eric H. Cline, Andrew J. Koh, David Ben-Shlomo, Nimrod Marom, Alexandra Ratzlaff and Inbal Samet. 2015. \"Rethinking Canaanite Palaces? The Palatial Economy of Tel Kabri during the Middle Bronze Age.\" Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 40, No. 6: 607-625. §REF§ <br>However, it appears at least some Canaanites did use writing to record laws. Two fragments of a larger clay tablet (designated Hazor 18) were discovered in 2010 at Tel Hazor, that would possibly have contained as many as 20 or 30 laws (which in turn could have been part of a larger collection of law tablets) in a format similar to the Code of Hammurabi. An earlier tablet, Hazor 5, contains part of the description of a lawsuit, judged by the king personally. §REF§ (Horowitz, Oshima, Vukosavovic 2012) Wayne Horowitz, Oshima Takayoshi and Filip Vukosavovic. 2012. \"Hazor 18: Fragments of a Cuneiform Law Collection from Hazor.\" Israel Exploration Journal, Vol. 62, No. 2: 158-176. §REF§ It is likely that at least some Canaanite polities would have had formal law codes.<br>The population of the Canaanites probably never exceeded much beyond 50,000 people in a single polity, though more were likely present towards the end of the period than at the beginning.<br><br/>_Oren's long description_<br>During the Bronze Age, Canaan was composed of dozens of \"city-states,\" some strong enough to lead regional confederations against each other or against outside invaders. These city-states appear to have been significantly institutionalized, featuring standing armies, bureaucracies and public works, and official cults. The social structure was highly unequal; most of the land was concentrated in the hands of the small ruling class, with the vast majority of inhabitants being serfs, slaves, or landless vagabonds or nomads. The economy depended heavily on trade, with intensive agriculture of staples such as wine and oil meant for export in exchange for prestige goods such as imported pottery, and tin for making bronze.<br>Canaan of the Middle and Late Bronze was by no means a unified entity, even as its polities shared significant cultural elements. The varying landscape carried with it different geopolitical conditions for each local polity, strongly conditioning the development of each one and its various political/strategic needs. \"The Coastal Plain, the setting for the region's largest political and economic centers, conventionally seen as the hearth of Canaanite civilization, emerges as a hodge-podge of polities with highly variable structures and their attendant political connotations. The Jordan Rift, normally seen as a smaller-scale backwater off the Mediterranean littoral, features settlement patterns most consistent with a series of highly integrated peer polities or city-states, and subregional political coherence. In contrast to both of these lowland areas, the settlement clusters of the Hill Country are more dispersed, with consistent evidence of less settlement integration. When considered structurally, these results suggest three fundamentally different bases for political development in a region normally viewed as a single, albeit fractious, social and cultural entity during the Late Bronze Age. These distinctions help illuminate the foundations of the particularly volatile political dynamics of the southern Levant.\" §REF§ Savage/Falconer (2003:42). §REF§ <br>During the Middle Bronze, Canaanite polities were wealthy and powerful enough to extend their influence into the Egyptian Delta (via the so-called \"Hyksos). However, the end of the Middle Bronze is marked by the campaign of Thutmose I, who expelled the Hyksos and then campaigned into Canaan proper, imposing Egyptian overlordship over many of the Canaanite cities. As the Late Bronze progressed, Canaanite cities were marked with increasing social turmoil, wracked by repeated uprisings against Egyptian officials or against local elites, and facing periodic invasions from the sea or pressure from the Hittite Empire. The politics of this period are somewhat better understood thanks to the finding of the Amarna Letters, some 350 clay tablets of Egyptian diplomatic correspondence that date to about the middle of the 14th Century BCE. Many of them are from Canaanite \"mayors,\" sending groveling obeisances to the Pharaoh and pleading for military assistance in the face of urgent threats. Finally, during the 12th Century BCE, a series of poorly-understood calamities and city destructions brought the Bronze Age Canaanite civilization to a close; it would be succeeded by the Phoenicians to the north, and the Israelites in the Judean highlands.<br>(A word of caution is in order about coding methodology. Much of the evidence we have about this polity comes from archaeological finds. However, the brute fact of an archaeological artifact is often used as the basis for considerable interpretation and conjecture. Methods have been improving over time, but still some archaeologists tend to leap far ahead of what the evidence will support. Additionally, the meaning of many finds is hotly disputed by archaeologists, each faction insisting for its point of view: \"When any scholar defends the correctness or appropriateness of a singular point of view, or set of data, everything else tends to be analyzed accordingly - alternative views are intensely criticized, dismissed, or ignored entirely, while complementary views or evidence are presented with little critical reflection. Whether the evidence is archaeological or scientific, often it is only partial or ambiguous and so becomes easy to interpret or manipulate in a manner that serves to perpetuate a preconceived idea or point of view. The outcome is often a selective filtering of data and related information and an unwillingness to contemplate or envisage a counter position.\" §REF§ Knapp/Manning (2016:101). §REF§ <br>This is a particular problem with regard to establishing chronologies. While on a given archaeological site researchers are (usually) able to determine the boundaries of relative temporal layers, tying those layers to an absolute timeline, or even fitting them into a relative relationship with the layers of other sites, is a fraught business; and when the time period in question is as far back as the Middle Bronze, the available evidence becomes correspondingly scarcer and more difficult to correlate with each other. Unfortunately, many researchers are too quick to claim certainty where none exists. §REF§ See extensive discussion in Knapp/Manning (2016). §REF§ <br>In short, every data point that is backed up with archaeology must be considered provisional, and new discoveries can totally upend our picture of what happened—as can new interpretations that correct erroneous early interpretations, a <a class=\"external text\" href=\"http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~fisher/hst140/MotelOfMysteries.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">constant danger</a> with motivated archaeologists.)", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 10, "name": "Galilee", "subregion": "Levant-Mesopotamia", "longitude": "35.303500000000", "latitude": "32.699600000000", "capital_city": "Nazareth", "nga_code": "IL", "fao_country": "Israel", "world_region": "Southwest Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 61, "name": "Levant", "subregions_list": "Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria", "mac_region": { "id": 11, "name": "Southwest Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 7, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": "km squared. Trading. Warfare.", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "scale_of_supra-cultural_interaction", "scale_from": 3000000, "scale_to": 4000000, "polity": { "id": 254, "name": "CnErJin", "start_year": 265, "end_year": 317, "long_name": "Western Jin", "new_name": "cn_western_jin_dyn", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Western Jin dynasty (House of Sima, Jin dynasty) briefly reunified China after the Three Kingdoms period, but was marked by political turmoil and internal rebellion. Sima Yan overthrew Cao Wei emperor Cao Huan in 265 CE and declared himself the Western Jin emperor.§REF§ (San 2014, 145) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F)\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F)</a> §REF§ In its 280 CE conquest of Eastern Wu, Western Jin dynasty ended the Three Kingdoms period and reunified China.§REF§ (San 2014, 145) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F)\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F)</a> §REF§ However, the central government was in almost constant turmoil because of internal conflict and corruption.§REF§ (San 2014, 145) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F)\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F)</a> §REF§ A series of rebellions of princes against imperial authority known as the Revolts of the Imperial Princes (291-306 CE) weakened the central government and led to the Disorder of the Five Tribes (304-316 CE), a large uprising of northern nomadic tribes.§REF§ (San 2014, 146) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F)\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F)</a> §REF§ In 316 CE, an imperial Jin prince fled south when a Xiongnu chief attacked the Western Jin capital of Luoyang. The prince went on to found the Eastern Jin dynasty in present day Nanjing.§REF§ (Theobald, 2000a) Theobald, U. 2000a. “Jin Dynasty (265-420).” Chinaknowledge.de <a href=\"http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin.html\">http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin.html</a> Accessed June 17, 2017. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DTQ5UTD5\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DTQ5UTD5</a> §REF§ §REF§ (San 2014, 146) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F)\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F)</a> §REF§<br>The territory of the Western Jin empire was close to the size of the Han empire.§REF§ (Theobald 2011a) Theobald, U. 2011a. “Chinese History- Jin Period Geography.” Chinaknowledge.de. <a href=\"http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin-map.html\">http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin-map.html</a> Accessed June 17, 2017. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/VJ4ZVERD\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/VJ4ZVERD</a> §REF§ We have estimated that Western Jin polity territory covered 4.5 million square kilometers in 300 CE.<br>Despite the political turmoil of the period, advancements made in agriculture, craftsmanship, architecture, medicine, astronomy, and mathematics.§REF§ (Theobald 2011b) Theobald, U. 2011b. “Chinese History- Science, Technology, and Inventions of the Three Kingdoms, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties.” Chinaknowledge.de. <a href=\"http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin-tech.html\">http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin-tech.html</a> Accessed June 17, 2017. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/T5FAI5I6\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/T5FAI5I6</a> §REF§ Buddhism continued to spread throughout China, and Daoism was revived and seen as a more well-defined religion.§REF§ (Theobald, 2000a) Theobald, U. 2000a. “Jin Dynasty (265-420).” Chinaknowledge.de<a href=\"http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin.html\">http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin.html</a> Accessed June 17, 2017. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DTQ5UTD5\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DTQ5UTD5</a> §REF§ There were many writers, poets and artists from the time of the Jin and the period is often seen as the first period for traditional Chinese art.§REF§ (Theobald, 2000a) Theobald, U. 2000a. “Jin Dynasty (265-420).” Chinaknowledge.de <a href=\"http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin.html\">http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin.html</a> Accessed June 17, 2017. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DTQ5UTD5\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DTQ5UTD5</a> §REF§<br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>The Western Jin maintained many administrative structures of the Han. The empire was divided into provinces and semi-autonomous kingdoms.§REF§ (Theobald 2011a) Theobald, U. 2011a. “Chinese History- Jin Period Geography.” Chinaknowledge.de. <a href=\"http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin-map.html\">http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin-map.html</a> Accessed June 17, 2017. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/VJ4ZVERD\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/VJ4ZVERD</a> §REF§ However the Western Jin operated as a neo-feudal society.§REF§ (Theobald, 2000a) Theobald, U. 2000a. “Jin Dynasty (265-420).” Chinaknowledge.de<a href=\"http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin.html\">http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin.html</a> Accessed June 17, 2017. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DTQ5UTD5\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DTQ5UTD5</a> §REF§ Military rulers governed with the support of relatives, and Confucian values gradually disappeared from the central government and the education system.§REF§ (Theobald, 2000a) Theobald, U. 2000a. “Jin Dynasty (265-420).” Chinaknowledge.de <a href=\"http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin.html\">http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin.html</a> Accessed June 17, 2017. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DTQ5UTD5\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DTQ5UTD5</a> §REF§ The weak central government struggled to control the non-Chinese tribes living in the empire.§REF§ (Theobald, 2000a) Theobald, U. 2000a. “Jin Dynasty (265-420).” Chinaknowledge.de<a href=\"http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin.html\">http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/jin.html</a> Accessed June 17, 2017. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DTQ5UTD5\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DTQ5UTD5</a> §REF§<br>The population of the Western Jin empire was recorded as 16.16 million in a 280 CE census.§REF§ (Graff 2002, 35)Graff, D A. 2002. Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900. Routledge. London. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/NUJQCRPA\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/NUJQCRPA</a> §REF§The population of Luoyang was 600,000 people in 300 CE.§REF§ (Graff 2002, 50 )Graff, D A. 2002. Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900. Routledge. London. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/NUJQCRPA\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/NUJQCRPA</a> §REF§", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": "", "created_date": null, "modified_date": "2024-01-04T15:43:48.030844Z", "home_nga": { "id": 20, "name": "Middle Yellow River Valley", "subregion": "North China", "longitude": "112.517587000000", "latitude": "34.701825000000", "capital_city": "Luoyang", "nga_code": "CN", "fao_country": "China", "world_region": "East Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 58, "name": "North China", "subregions_list": "North China without Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang", "mac_region": { "id": 4, "name": "East Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 3, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": "km squared. Total area of Eurasian nomadic, Persian and Indian cultural regions would be on the scale of 9 million km2 (core regions of these areas).", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "scale_of_supra-cultural_interaction", "scale_from": 9000000, "scale_to": 9000000, "polity": { "id": 281, "name": "AfKidar", "start_year": 388, "end_year": 477, "long_name": "Kidarite Kingdom", "new_name": "af_kidarite_k", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Kidarite state in Central Asia (~ 388-477 CE) may have lasted less than 100 years, but its earliest phase under the suzerainty of the Sassanid Empire is not well known. §REF§ (Zeimal 1996, 125) E. V. Zeimal. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf §REF§ \"It has been suggested that they conquered K'ang-chu and Sogdiana in c. 300 but the literary sources have not yet been corroborated by the archaeological evidence.\" §REF§ (Zeimal 1996, 124-125) E V Zeimal. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf §REF§ <br>The most influential ruler of the Kidarites was perhaps king Kidara: narrative sources place him in the c420s CE but numismatists agree his rule began c390 CE. §REF§ (Grenet 2005) Frantz Grenet. 2005. KIDARITES. Iranicaonline. www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kidarites §REF§ The Chinese chronicle Peo-Shih (Annals of the Wei Dynasty) say Kidara held \"vast territories to the north and south of the Hindu Kush\" and his most imporant city was near Peshawar, probably Purushapura, §REF§ (Zeimal 1996, 126) E V Zeimal. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf §REF§ the late capital of the Kushan Empire.<br>Much like the Kushan Empire little is known about how exactly they ruled their territories. The Kidarites founded new cities (Panjikent and Kushaniya), Kushaniya being a royal foundation §REF§ (Grenet 2005) Frantz Grenet. 2005. KIDARITES. Iranicaonline. www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kidarites §REF§ that shows that the Kidarites attempted to draw some of their legitimacy from the preceding Kushan period. Zeimal (1996) concludes that \"It seems likely that the administrative and government structure created by the Kushans was left largely intact under the Kidarites.\" §REF§ (Zeimal 1996, 132) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. §REF§ ", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 23, "name": "Sogdiana", "subregion": "Turkestan", "longitude": "66.938170000000", "latitude": "39.631284000000", "capital_city": "Samarkand", "nga_code": "UZ", "fao_country": "Uzbekistan", "world_region": "Central Eurasia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 8, "name": "Afghanistan", "subregions_list": "Afghanistan", "mac_region": { "id": 3, "name": "Central and Northern Eurasia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 119, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": "km squared. To the East, Christianity extended not only into the Middle East, but also as far as Central Asia, India and China. Westernmost reach was Ireland. In Africa present as far south as Ethiopia.§REF§(Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences. Personal Communication.§REF§ Expansion to the north and west into Scandinavia and Russia in this period increased the total area under Christendom.<br>", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "scale_of_supra-cultural_interaction", "scale_from": 20000000, "scale_to": 25000000, "polity": { "id": 76, "name": "TrByzM3", "start_year": 1073, "end_year": 1204, "long_name": "Byzantine Empire III", "new_name": "tr_byzantine_emp_3", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Byzantine period (1073-1204 CE) began with Michael VII Ducas (r.1071-1078 CE §REF§ (Haussig 1971, Chronological Table) H W Haussig. J M Hussey, trans. 1971. History of Byzantine Civilization. Thames and Hudson. §REF§ and ended in disintegration with court in-fighting over the regency agenda for Manuel's heir Alexios II §REF§ (Holmes 2008, 276) E Jeffreys. J Haldon. R Cormack. eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. §REF§ , which preceded the devastating 1204 CE conquest of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade. §REF§ (Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences §REF§ The state had controlled about 500,000 km2 territory and upwards of 6 million people.<br>In ideology the Byzantine Empire carried the Roman worldview of its rightful domain of influence. Byzantine Emperors \"recognized neither the western Frankish Empire nor the Bulgarian Emperor\" and \"never gave up its claims to universal rule. It claimed to be at the apex of the family of kings; it was the father, they were the sons.\" §REF§ (Haussig 1971, 201) H W Haussig. J M Hussey, trans. 1971. History of Byzantine Civilization. Thames and Hudson. §REF§ The reality was that, although the state could maintain a professional army of over 100,000 soldiers, §REF§ (Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences) §REF§ increasingly the Byzantine state was dependent on allies for the the projection of military power. \"Emperors from the time of Basil II found it cheaper to call upon allies and dependents, such as Venice, to supply warships, than to pay for an expensive standing fleet at Constantinople.\" §REF§ (Haldon 2008, 560) E Jeffreys. J Haldon. R Cormack. eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. §REF§ <br>Nevertheless the Byzantine government was, in terms of sophistication, with its legion of professional officials employed on state salary, a cut-above that which was present in the western states of the middle ages. §REF§ (Haussig 1971, 54) Haussig, H W. trans Hussey, J M. 1971. History of Byzantine Civilization. Thames and Hudson. §REF§ §REF§ (Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences) §REF§ The Emperor headed a complex imperial government that was led by a Mesazon (Prime minister) who had secretaries and an official called Master of Petitions who took feedback from the people. Provinces were governed by doukes (provincial governors) who had provincial administrations staffed with multiple levels of fiscal administrators. §REF§ (Haldon 2008, 550) E Jeffreys. J Haldon. R Cormack. eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. §REF§ ", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 4, "name": "Crete", "subregion": "Southeastern Europe", "longitude": "25.144200000000", "latitude": "35.338700000000", "capital_city": "Heraklion", "nga_code": "GR", "fao_country": "Greece", "world_region": "Europe" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 43, "name": "Anatolia-Caucasus", "subregions_list": "Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan", "mac_region": { "id": 11, "name": "Southwest Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 118, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": "km squared. To the East, Christianity extended not only into the Middle East, but also as far as Central Asia, India and China. Westernmost reach was Ireland. In Africa present as far south as Ethiopia.§REF§(Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences. Personal Communication.§REF§ During this period in the Middle East, partly in response to Byzantine military campaigns, conditions became less conducive for non-Muslims living under Islam. In 923 CE \"a year-long wave of persecutions by Muslims against Christians swept through the Middle East. Atrocities were committed in Egypt, Syria and Palestine; in Ascalon, Caesarea and Jerusalem churches were destroyed.\"§REF§(Haag 2012) Haag, M. 2012. The Tragedy of the Templars: The Rise and Fall of the Crusader States. Profile Books.§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "scale_of_supra-cultural_interaction", "scale_from": 15000000, "scale_to": 20000000, "polity": { "id": 75, "name": "TrByzM2", "start_year": 867, "end_year": 1072, "long_name": "Byzantine Empire II", "new_name": "tr_byzantine_emp_2", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The phase of the Byzantine Empire from 867-1072 CE is commonly known as the Macedonian Dynasty (867-1056 CE), which the dates approximate. The Byzantine culture of the period was a military and aristocratic one with palaces serving \"not only as imperial residences but also as administrative centres. They were placed prominently in the centre of cities and surpassed all other public buildings in scale and ostentation.\" §REF§ (Bakirtzis 2008, 374) E Jeffreys. J Haldon. R Cormack. eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. §REF§ <br>In the previous period the Byzantines responded to the Arab conquests with the creation of themes, whose local commander governors could raise taxes, that enabled the Byzantine elites and their thematic armies to respond more rapidly to external threats with the result of less centralized control. In this era the powers of the themes were drawn back: the number of officials within the thematic administrations increased and by the end of the period the strategos, military governor, was replaced by a krites (judge). §REF§ (Cheynet 2008, 522) E Jeffreys. J Haldon. R Cormack. eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. §REF§ In the early eleventh century Basil II brought in a professional army directed from Constantinople called the tagmata, which lead to the disappearance of the thematic armies. §REF§ (Cheynet 2008, 521) E Jeffreys. J Haldon. R Cormack. eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. §REF§ <br>The professional Byzantine civil service and palace staff was \"relatively small, and mostly composed of humble clerks or custodians\", although there were some very rich bureaucrats and dignitaries. §REF§ (Treadgold 1997, 552) Warren Treadgold. 1997. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press. Stanford. §REF§ In the 10th CE the most important official was the Grand Chamberlain, who worked in the Great Palace, and was especially influential during periods of regency or when the Emperor was on military campaign. §REF§ (Treadgold 1997, 550) Warren Treadgold. 1997. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press. Stanford. §REF§ <br>A significant codification of Byzantine law occurred in this period when Leo VI (886-912 CE) in six volumes and sixty books (variously called the Exavivlos or the Vasilika (Basilika)) presented in the Greek language \"virtually all the laws in the Justinian Corpus, arranged here (as it had not been before) in a systematic manner.\" §REF§ (Gregory 2010, 253-254) Timothy E Gregory. 2010. A History of Byzantium. Second Edition. Wiley-Blackwell. Chichester. §REF§ A resurgence of literature began, in the early ninth CE, after the Iconoclasm had motivated copying and reading of religious literature. Intellectuals began to receive government positions under \"iconoclast emperors\". Emperor Theophilus founded Magnaura Palace school, \"the empire's first known public school since the reign of Heraclius.\" §REF§ (Treadgold 1997, 559-561) Warren Treadgold. 1997. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press. Stanford. §REF§ <br>The peak of Byzantine military power and international prestige was under Emperor Basil II who conquered the Bulgarian Empire and continued Byzantine expansion into Syria and Armenia. §REF§ (Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Johannes Preiser-Kapeller. Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences §REF§", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": "", "created_date": null, "modified_date": "2024-01-08T15:48:32.982101Z", "home_nga": { "id": 11, "name": "Konya Plain", "subregion": "Anatolia-Caucasus", "longitude": "32.521164000000", "latitude": "37.877845000000", "capital_city": "Konya", "nga_code": "TR", "fao_country": "Turkey", "world_region": "Southwest Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 43, "name": "Anatolia-Caucasus", "subregions_list": "Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan", "mac_region": { "id": 11, "name": "Southwest Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] } ] }