Military Level List
A viewset for viewing and editing Military Levels.
GET /api/sc/military-levels/?page=2
{ "count": 364, "next": "https://seshatdata.com/api/sc/military-levels/?page=3", "previous": "https://seshatdata.com/api/sc/military-levels/", "results": [ { "id": 18, "year_from": 1100, "year_to": 1400, "description": " levels.<br>The following applies to the preconquest period (1450-1525 CE):<br>1. Mandadores (commanders)<br>2. Capitanes de guerra (war captains)3. Experienced warriors4. Individual soldier<br>\"Besides caciques, Spanish sources mention capitanes, principales (nobles), mandadores (commanders), and capitanes de guerra. Fray Pedro Simón (1882-92, 5: 197) also lists a pregonero (speaker or crier) who was second only to the chief. Spanish accounts do not list the duties and powers of all these officials, but it seems clear that there was a hierarchy of civil and military office- holders. One source mentions inheritance from father to son “en el oficio” (Bischof 1982- 83: 88). The texts also mention merchants, craftsmen, weavers, goldsmiths, carpenters, and farmers, and one recorded example refers to earned status. Simón (1882-92, 5: 198) describes a category of warriors “who had demonstrated their bravery on various occasions, and were allowed to wear their hair long, and tucked into their belts at the back,” a reminder that not all status symbols will be archaeologically identifiable.\" §REF§(Bray 2003, 302)§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "military_level", "military_level_from": 1, "military_level_to": 3, "polity": { "id": 436, "name": "CoTairo", "start_year": 1050, "end_year": 1524, "long_name": "Tairona", "new_name": "co_tairona", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The name Tairona is generally used in reference to the indigenous groups of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (a mountain range that stretches along Colombia's Caribbean coast) that came in contact with the Spanish in the sixteenth century, but it is also applied to the prehistoric societies that inhabited that same area, and which are mostly known through the artefacts they left behind. §REF§ (Bray 2003, 301) §REF§ Santiago Giraldo and Juana Saenz have recently estimated that the prehistoric Tairona phase started around 1050 and ended early in the sixteenth century, based on radiocarbon-dated goldwork and complete dated contexts. §REF§ (Giraldo 2015, personal communication) §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>At the time of the Spanish Conquest, the Tairona were organized into independent polities governed by a priestly class and a hierarchy of chiefs. §REF§ (Oyuela-Caycedo 2008, 423) §REF§ Most likely, this system began to emerge between the eleventh and the twelfth centuries, as suggested by the appearance of several new ceremonial buildings, new spaces dedicated to feasting activities, a general overhaul of the layout of settlements, and evidence for the expansion and intensification of agricultural activities. §REF§ (Giraldo 2010, 283) §REF§ <br>The population of a typical Tairona polity likely numbered in the hundreds of thousands, with conservative estimates of as much as 500,000 inhabitants. §REF§ (Langebaek 2005, 25-7) §REF§ §REF§ (Giraldo 2010, 57-58) §REF§ The largest settlements likely reached a population of a few hundred at the beginning of the Tairona phase, between a few hundred and 4,000 between the twelfth and the fourteenth centuries, and between 3,000 and 5,000 in the century immediately preceding the Spanish Conquest. §REF§ (Langebaek 2005, 25-7) §REF§ §REF§ (Giraldo 2010, 22-23, 110-111) §REF§ §REF§ (Giraldo 2014) §REF§ §REF§ (Oyuela-Caycedo 2008, 419-423) §REF§ §REF§ (Moore 2014, 395) §REF§ §REF§ (Giraldo 2009, 25) §REF§ ", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 31, "name": "North Colombia", "subregion": "Caribbean", "longitude": "-73.640388097900", "latitude": "10.780287182100", "capital_city": "Santa Marta", "nga_code": "CO", "fao_country": "Colombia", "world_region": "South America" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 21, "name": "Caribbean", "subregions_list": "Caribbean islands, Panama, coastal Columbia-Venezuela", "mac_region": { "id": 6, "name": "South America and Caribbean" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 340, "year_from": 1100, "year_to": 1750, "description": "levels. 1. Tapsoba and Widi-Naba :\"The army consisted of two divisions: the infantry under the Tapsoba (master of the bow) and the cavalry under the Widi-Naba.\" §REF§(Zahan 1967: 171) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TVIRPGXD/collection.§REF§ :2. Tapsobanamba \"The tapsoba of Oula became commander-in-chief of the entire army in the field and was assisted by three other tapsobanamba.\" §REF§(Zahan 1967: 172) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TVIRPGXD/collection.§REF§ :2. Adjutant to the Widi-Naba ::\"The cavalry under the Widi-Naba and his adjutant, the chief of the royal stables, was placed on the two wings of the infantry.\" §REF§(Zahan 1967: 172) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TVIRPGXD/collection.§REF§ ::3. Samade-naba \"In action the infantry were placed in the centre of the combined forces under the Samade-Naba.\" §REF§(Zahan 1967: 172) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TVIRPGXD/collection.§REF§ :::4. Section chiefs ::::\"In Yatenga there were eleven sections: the gunbearers’ section was commanded by the Bugure-Naba (chief of the powder) ; the ten other sections were commanded by the two Kom-Naba (chiefs of young men), the two Soba-Naba (chiefs of Bobo), the Kom-Naba and the Samade-Naba of Ziga, the Kom-Naba and Samade-Naba of Binsigay, and the Kom-Naba and Samade-Naba of Sissimba. The se last three towns were former capitals of the kingdom.\" §REF§(Zahan 1967: 172) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TVIRPGXD/collection.§REF§ ::::5. Soldiers", "note": null, "finalized": false, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": false, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "Military_level", "military_level_from": null, "military_level_to": null, "polity": { "id": 620, "name": "bf_mossi_k_1", "start_year": 1100, "end_year": 1897, "long_name": "Mossi", "new_name": "bf_mossi_k_1", "polity_tag": "POL_AFR_WEST", "general_description": null, "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": null, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 7, "name": "West Africa", "subregions_list": "From Senegal to Gabon (Tropical)", "mac_region": { "id": 2, "name": "Africa" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 342, "year_from": 1140, "year_to": 1439, "description": "levels. 1440CE–1600CE: 1) Oba, 2) Iyase (General Commander), 3) Ezomo, Edogun and Enogie (Metropolitan, Royal and Village regiments respectively), 4) Okakuo I (Metropolitan and Village regiments) and Ekegbian (Royal Regiment), 5) Okakuo II (Azukpogieva) (Metropolitan and Village regiments) and Iyoba Queen Mother’s Own Regiment (Royal Regiment), 6) Olotu Ivbiyokuo (Metropolitan and Village regiments), 7) Platoon commanders, 8) Iyokuo (The Warriors). §REF§Osadolor, O. B. (2001). The Military System of Benin Kingdom, c.1440–1897. University of Hamburg, Germany: 105. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4RZF5H5/collection§REF§1600CE–1800CE: 1) Iyase (Commander-in-Chief, 2) Ezomo, 3) Ologbosere, Edogun and Enigie (Metropolitan, Royal and Village regiments respectively), 4) Imaran, Ekegbian and Okakuo I (Metropolitan, Royal and Village regiments respectively), 5) Okakuo, Queen Mother’s own regiment and Okakuo II (Metropolitan, Royal and Village regiments respectively), 6) Olotu (Metropolitan Regiment) and Olotu Iyokuo (Village Regiment), 7) Platoon commanders, 8) Ivbiyokuo (The Warriors). §REF§Osadolor, O. B. (2001). The Military System of Benin Kingdom, c.1440–1897. University of Hamburg, Germany: 154. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4RZF5H5/collection§REF§ 1801CE–1897CE: 1) The War Council, 2) Iyase and Ezomo, 3) Edogun and Ologbosere, 4) Imaran, Ekegbian and Enigie (Metropolitan, Royal and Village regiments respectively), 5)Okakuo, Wueen Mother’s own regiment and Okakuo I (Metropolitan, Royal and Village regiments respectively), 6) Olotu Iyokuo (Metropolitan Regiment) and Okakuo II (Village Regiment), 7) Olotu Iyokuo (Village Regiment), 8) Platoon commanders, 9) Ivbiyokuo (The Warriors). §REF§Osadolor, O. B. (2001). The Military System of Benin Kingdom, c.1440–1897. University of Hamburg, Germany: 192. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4RZF5H5/collection§REF§ “The Ezɔmɔ’s position was unique. Though third in rank in its order, this was one of the great offices of state, and its holder most nearly approached kingly status. The wealth and prestige of successive Ezɔmɔ, remarked by many European visitors in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, was derived from their function as war captains, in which respect only the Iyasɛ equalled them. It was the Ezɔmɔ who took charge of most national campaigns, and their military activities enabled them to accumulate many slaves, subjects, and fiefs. However, this role had little to do with their Uzama status. They were directly responsible to the Oba, and there is no evidence that they regularly used their power in the interests of their order.” §REF§Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 17. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": false, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": false, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "Military_level", "military_level_from": null, "military_level_to": null, "polity": { "id": 672, "name": "ni_benin_emp", "start_year": 1140, "end_year": 1897, "long_name": "Benin Empire", "new_name": "ni_benin_emp", "polity_tag": "POL_AFR_WEST", "general_description": null, "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": null, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 7, "name": "West Africa", "subregions_list": "From Senegal to Gabon (Tropical)", "mac_region": { "id": 2, "name": "Africa" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 251, "year_from": 1200, "year_to": 1200, "description": " levels.<br>1. Sultan<br><br>1. The rank that Qutab-ud-din Albak had -- same rank?<br>When Muhammad Ghori was fighting the Turks in Central Asia c1200 CE, the expansion in India was continued by Qutab-ud-din Albak.§REF§(Nayak ????) Nayak, Ganeswar. ????. Political and Administrative History of Medieval India (1526-1707). SKCG College Paralakhemundi.§REF§<br>2. CommanderThere was a commander under Qutab-ud-din Albak who attacked Bihar in 1197 CE.§REF§(Nayak ????) Nayak, Ganeswar. ????. Political and Administrative History of Medieval India (1526-1707). SKCG College Paralakhemundi.§REF§<br>3. Officer?4. Officer5. Individual soldier", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "military_level", "military_level_from": 3, "military_level_to": 5, "polity": { "id": 134, "name": "AfGhurd", "start_year": 1025, "end_year": 1215, "long_name": "Ghur Principality", "new_name": "af_ghur_principality", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Ghurids were an Islamic Turkish dynasty that ruled the Persian Principality of Ghur between 1025-1215 CE. The peak of their power occurred with their defeat of the Ghaznavid Empire in 1186 CE. For the majority of its existence the Ghurid rulers were in a state of vassalage of the Ghaznavids and the sultans of the Seljuk Turks, to whom they sent tribute. §REF§ (Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids</a> §REF§ <br>While \"the early history of the Sansabani family had been full of feuds and disputes\" the successful rebellion against the Ghaznavids resulted in a legacy of at least a degree of cooperation. §REF§ (Bosworth 2012) Edmund C Bosworth. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids</a> §REF§ Bosworth (2012) talks of a polity with two power-bases: one at the newly-acquired Firuzkuh, at Gazna; the other at Bamian. §REF§ (Bosworth 2012) Edmund C Bosworth. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids</a> §REF§ <br>When Mo'ezz-al-Din, conquered Gazna he took the title of sultan. §REF§ (Bosworth 2012) Edmund C Bosworth. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids</a> §REF§ Government was based on the Persian model with a professional vizier who oversaw civil affairs. We also know of a treasurer (khazin), an overseer of public morality and inspector of the markets (muhtasib), and qadis who enforced the Shari'a law. §REF§ (Jackson 2003, 25) Peter Jackson. 2003. The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History. Cambridge University Press. §REF§ <br>Literary and artistic activities under the Ghurids were Persian in style and literature was sponsored by Ghurid sultans. §REF§ (Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids</a> §REF§ One of the major cultural achievements of the Ghurid period was the building of the double-helical Minaret of Jam c1190 CE.", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": "2023-10-23T16:25:02.654099Z", "home_nga": { "id": 13, "name": "Kachi Plain", "subregion": "Indo-Gangetic Plain", "longitude": "67.628836000000", "latitude": "29.377664000000", "capital_city": "Mehrgarh", "nga_code": "PK", "fao_country": "Pakistan", "world_region": "South Asia" }, "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": 92, "year_from": 1201, "year_to": 1262, "description": " levels.<br>(3) Chieftains; (2) Lieutenants; (1) Freemen and Armed Followers of Chiefs<br>'As there was no central government there was also no central army during the Icelandic Commonwealth. The chieftains (and sometimes the greater farmers) called up the free population on an ad hoc basis. Three levels are attested for the late Commonwealth. We have clear evidence of 13th century warlords commissioning lieutenants that commanded groups of retainers or units of conscripted warrior-farmers.' §REF§Árni Daniel Júlíusson and Axel Kristissen 2017, pers. comm. to E. Brandl and D. Mullins§REF§ Some Icelanders joined foreign armies abroad: 'Isolated in the North Atlantic, Iceland had few external conflicts. Individual Icelanders were occasionally involved in conflict when outside the country and also sometimes served in foreign militaries. During the late tenth century, the Norwegian king was a champion of the Christian movement in Iceland and often attempted to assert his influence, although this was largely limited to Icelanders in Norway. Likewise, the ultimately successful attempts to incorporate Iceland under the Norwegian monarchy were mostly played out through alliances with individual Icelanders.' §REF§Bolender, Douglas James and Beierle, John: eHRAF Cultural Summary for Early Icelanders§REF§ Chieftains relied on an entourage of armed followers: 'Those who had access to sufficient resources to support a household were the tax paying farmers. Each of them had to be a follower of a chieftain from his own quarter, and only the tax paying farmers could make the decision as to which he would follow. All of his dependents - tenants and renters - went with him. However they got it, chieftains were dependent on farmers for support - to feed their increasingly large personal followings or armies, to support them at assemblies, and to accompany them on raids on other chieftains or their followers. As we have seen, without such support, without the ability to mass force, claims to ownership of land, which defined the class system as well as the forms of appropriation, had no force. Farmers had to rely on some chieftain to be able to defend their claims to property, though, as we have seen, this might often lead to the loss of the property. Chieftains had to rely on farmers to enforce their followers' claims and their own, as well as to expand their territories into others'.' §REF§Durrenberger, E. Paul 1988. “Stratification Without A State: The Collapse Of The Icelandic Commonwealth\", 256§REF§ Armed supporters were required to enforce legal and political claims: 'Claims of inheritance were only worth as much as the armed support behind them. This follows from the fact that claims to ownership, property, were only worth as much as the armed support behind them. This meant that to assert any claim to ownership, whether by inheritance or any other means, one had to back the claim with armed force. Chieftains were focal points for concentrating force to protect and to forward claims to property.' §REF§Durrenberger, Paul E. 1988. “Stratification Without A State: The Collapse Of The Icelandic Commonwealth\", 258§REF§ 'In Commonwealth Iceland there was a system of extraction based on claims to ownership of property, on concepts of the unproblematic [Page 161] differential access to resources in favour of a chieftainly class. The chieftains were unwilling to subordinate themselves to state institutions to protect their privileged positions. The consequence was stratification without a state, the contradiction of an economic system based on property relationships without a congruent institutional system to enforce them. Ownership was as sound as the force one could muster to defend it. There was a complex system of law, but it was all just so much labyrinthine rhetoric in the face of the stark reality that power decided. As slavery diminished, claimants to land enlarged their holdings by using wage labour and tenancy arrangements to work them. To support their claims, they had to increase their power by enlarging their entourages.' §REF§Durrenberger, E. Paul, Dorothy Durrenberger, and Ástráður Eysteinsson 1988. “Economic Representation And Narrative Structure In Hœnsa-Þóris Saga”, 160§REF§ Chieftains also relied on farmers willing to support them economically and militarily: 'Relations between chieftains and farmers were not, however, smooth. Chieftains had their “own” estates to support their establishments, and some maintained followings of armed men, but this was a difficult proposition, since it added consumers to the household without adding production. The chieftains had to rely on their following of farmers to support them with both arms and supplies. This was one component of any farmer's household fund, his “rent” so to speak, his expenditures for travel and support for his chieftain, without which his chieftain or another would take his land and livestock. In addition, expeditions took labor from the farm and put the farmer's life at risk. Even so, a farmer's claims to land were not secure, since his chieftain might abandon him, another more powerful chieftain might claim his land, or simply take it, or a farmer might lose his land in a re-alignment of alliances among chieftains, which were frequent.' §REF§Durrenberger, Paul E. 1988. “Stratification Without A State: The Collapse Of The Icelandic Commonwealth\", 258§REF§ The interests of chieftains and farmers were often in conflict: 'There was a basic conflict between chieftains' increasing demands for demonstrations of force in support of claims to ownership and the subsistence demands, the economic roles, of farmers. Chieftains were not beyond using coercion to insure support as the following incident relates. [...] In spite of this contradiction, farmers had to rely on some chieftain in order to maintain their claims to land. While the inheritance customs codified in Grágás seem quite orderly in Hastrup's (1985) analysis, inheritance of land is often hotly disputed in the Saga of the Icelanders. One who wanted another's land could often find a third party with some inheritance claim, and acquire the claim on which to base a legitimation for taking the land.' §REF§Durrenberger, E. Paul 1988. “Stratification Without A State: The Collapse Of The Icelandic Commonwealth”, 256§REF§ Competition between chieftains was a major source of internal strife before the onset of the Norwegian period: 'It may be tempting to regard the Icelandic Commonwealth as a permanent structure, for, after all, it seems to be sealed in the poorly-dated or undated ‘ethnographic present’ of the sagas. But any social system is necessarily a product of history, representing a particular moment in time. We know for sure that the Commonwealth underwent important changes before it eventually ‘collapsed.’ Not only was there important ecological and demographic change and, as a result, mounting pressure on land (Gelsinger 1981; McGovern et al. 1988), access to resources was increasingly determined by the political manoeuvres and battles of competing goðar. According to the near contemporary Sturlunga saga, the battles between contesting leaders involved an ever larger number of men-no less than two thousand fought in the biggest one, at Örlygsstaðir in year 1238. To increase the number of followers, each goði had to maximize his fund of power at the cost of competitors. Feasts and gifts, a measure of the generosity of the goði, and the display of imported luxury goods, must have been an additional burden to the household, at a time of economic decline. One saga describes a large wedding feast extending through a whole week (SS 3, ch. 17:22). The only way to meet the costs involved was to collect taxes, hire additional labor, and seek further support from followers. With the Tithe Law, the tax law enacted in 1096, the ownership of churches became an important source of wealth and power. Furthermore, slavery seems to have disappeared early (see Karras, ch. 17), probably because recruiting freemen who had insufficient land was less costly than maintaining slaves. This meant that soon there was a reserve of labor; on one occasion, in 1208, a group of more than 300 unemployed people, many of whom were strong and healthy, followed a travelling bishop in the hope of some sustenance (see G. Karlsson 1975:27).' §REF§Pálsson, Gísli 1992. “Introduction: Text, Life, And Saga”, 15§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "military_level", "military_level_from": 3, "military_level_to": 3, "polity": { "id": 115, "name": "IsCommw", "start_year": 930, "end_year": 1262, "long_name": "Icelandic Commonwealth", "new_name": "is_icelandic_commonwealth", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "Settlers arrived in Iceland in significant numbers starting from the late 9th century CE, mostly from Norway and the Norse colonies in Scotland and Ireland, bringing with them many people indigenous to the latter. However, language and culture were strongly Norse.<br>The Icelandic Commonwealth (Icel. <i>íslenska þjóðveldið</i>), occasionally called 'free state' or 'republic' (not to be confused with the modern republic) was established in 930 CE according to 12th-century historical documents. It was the first polity to cover the whole of Iceland and the smaller surrounding islands. Its territory did not change during its lifetime.<br>Icelandic society during the Commonwealth was strongly rural and never developed significant urbanization. However, centres of power, wealth and learning gradually emerged in the two bishoprics, monasteries and the homes of the greatest secular lords.<br>Iceland was mostly pagan in the early period but Christianity was accepted in 1000 and the first bishopric established in 1056. This not only brought Iceland closer to Europe but also introduced European culture and learning, and from the early 12th century the Icelanders started to produce significant works of literature in the vernacular but written in the Latin alphabet (sagas). The sagas are usually (at least recently) considered the greatest achievement of the Commonwealth and they flourished in the 13th century (both before and after 1262). However, this was also a time of war and loss of independence, making it difficult to assign it a 'peak' status.<br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>There are no reliable figures for the total population in Iceland during this period. Common estimates range from 5,000-20,000 in 930 to 40,000-70,000 at the end. The only statistic that is somewhat reliable states that the number of tax-paying farmers around 1100 AD was 4,560. The relationship between this number and the whole population is uncertain.<br>The Commonwealth functioned as a federation of smaller political units with no fixed borders, the godords/chieftaincies (<i>goðorð</i>), with alliances between households led by a chieftain (<i>goði</i> or <i>goðorðsmaður</i>). Laws were common to all and there was a common judiciary system. In Lögrétta leaders of all the godords met once a year to decide on laws, forming the most important part of the proceedings of the <i>Alþingi</i> ('general assembly'), held in summer at Thingvellir. However, there was no common executive branch of government, leaving the godords quite autonomous.<br>The godords started to congeal into territorial lordships with fixed borders in the 12th century (the first one perhaps in the late 11th century), but this process was most rapid around 1200 CE and by 1220 they covered most of Iceland. These lordships functioned as practically independent tiny polities (or 'proto-states') and proceeded to fight each other for supremacy. The ensuing civil wars (<i>Sturlungaöld</i>) ended in 1262 when the Icelanders swore allegiance to the Norwegian crown.<br><i>This description was provided by Axel Kristinsson and edited by Jenny Reddish.</i>", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 3, "name": "Iceland", "subregion": "Northern Europe", "longitude": "-21.891497000000", "latitude": "64.133088000000", "capital_city": "Reykjavik", "nga_code": "IS", "fao_country": "Iceland", "world_region": "Europe" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 17, "name": "Northern Europe", "subregions_list": "Iceland, Scandinavia, Finland, Baltics", "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": 182, "year_from": 1300, "year_to": 1300, "description": " levels. <i>typically decimal system used.</i><br>1. Khan<br>2. General of 10,000 soldiers3. (General of 1,000 soldiers?)4. 1005. 106. Individual soldier<br>\"In accordance with Mongol tradition, Kebek Khan divided Transoxania into military-administrative districts, or tümens (in Per- sian orthography, tu ̄ma ̄n), that is, ‘10,000’ (the original meaning being a group of 10,000 fighting men or a territory providing that number of warriors). The holdings of many local landowners became tümens, and the landowners themselves hereditary governors.\" §REF§(Ashrafyan 1998, 324)§REF§<br>\"Along with this land Chaghadai was given a portion of the army,including four regiments of a thousand, each led by an important tribal commander.2\"§REF§(Forbes Manz 1983, 81)§REF§<br>\"The early Chaghadayid khans and their followers lived out in the steppe, but in the early fourteenth century the Chaghadayid Khan Kebeg (1318-1326) took up his residence in Transoxiana and began to take a more direct interest in the settled population. Kebeg undertook a number of reforms and is credited with organizing Transoxiana into tümens, regions supporting ten-thousand soldiers, of which seven were in the Samarqand region and nine in Ferghana.3\" §REF§(Forbes Manz 1983, 81)§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "military_level", "military_level_from": 4, "military_level_to": 6, "polity": { "id": 296, "name": "UzChagt", "start_year": 1263, "end_year": 1402, "long_name": "Chagatai Khanate", "new_name": "uz_chagatai_khanate", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "\"Under Kebeg's successor Tarmashirin Khan (1326-1334) the khan's more conservative and nomadic followers rebelled against his policy of assimilation with the settled population, and deposed the khan. In the disturbances which followed Tarmashirin's downfall the Chaghadayid khanate split into two parts; the western section, Transoxiana, became known as the Ulus Chaghatay, and the eastern section as Moghulistan.5\" §REF§ (Forbes Manz 1983, 82) §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": 13, "name": "Turkestan", "subregions_list": "Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakstan, Xinjiang", "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": 343, "year_from": 1440, "year_to": 1800, "description": "levels. 1440CE–1600CE: 1) Oba, 2) Iyase (General Commander), 3) Ezomo, Edogun and Enogie (Metropolitan, Royal and Village regiments respectively), 4) Okakuo I (Metropolitan and Village regiments) and Ekegbian (Royal Regiment), 5) Okakuo II (Azukpogieva) (Metropolitan and Village regiments) and Iyoba Queen Mother’s Own Regiment (Royal Regiment), 6) Olotu Ivbiyokuo (Metropolitan and Village regiments), 7) Platoon commanders, 8) Iyokuo (The Warriors). §REF§Osadolor, O. B. (2001). The Military System of Benin Kingdom, c.1440–1897. University of Hamburg, Germany: 105. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4RZF5H5/collection§REF§1600CE–1800CE: 1) Iyase (Commander-in-Chief, 2) Ezomo, 3) Ologbosere, Edogun and Enigie (Metropolitan, Royal and Village regiments respectively), 4) Imaran, Ekegbian and Okakuo I (Metropolitan, Royal and Village regiments respectively), 5) Okakuo, Queen Mother’s own regiment and Okakuo II (Metropolitan, Royal and Village regiments respectively), 6) Olotu (Metropolitan Regiment) and Olotu Iyokuo (Village Regiment), 7) Platoon commanders, 8) Ivbiyokuo (The Warriors). §REF§Osadolor, O. B. (2001). The Military System of Benin Kingdom, c.1440–1897. University of Hamburg, Germany: 154. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4RZF5H5/collection§REF§ 1801CE–1897CE: 1) The War Council, 2) Iyase and Ezomo, 3) Edogun and Ologbosere, 4) Imaran, Ekegbian and Enigie (Metropolitan, Royal and Village regiments respectively), 5)Okakuo, Wueen Mother’s own regiment and Okakuo I (Metropolitan, Royal and Village regiments respectively), 6) Olotu Iyokuo (Metropolitan Regiment) and Okakuo II (Village Regiment), 7) Olotu Iyokuo (Village Regiment), 8) Platoon commanders, 9) Ivbiyokuo (The Warriors). §REF§Osadolor, O. B. (2001). The Military System of Benin Kingdom, c.1440–1897. University of Hamburg, Germany: 192. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4RZF5H5/collection§REF§ “The Ezɔmɔ’s position was unique. Though third in rank in its order, this was one of the great offices of state, and its holder most nearly approached kingly status. The wealth and prestige of successive Ezɔmɔ, remarked by many European visitors in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, was derived from their function as war captains, in which respect only the Iyasɛ equalled them. It was the Ezɔmɔ who took charge of most national campaigns, and their military activities enabled them to accumulate many slaves, subjects, and fiefs. However, this role had little to do with their Uzama status. They were directly responsible to the Oba, and there is no evidence that they regularly used their power in the interests of their order.” §REF§Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 17. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": false, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": false, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "Military_level", "military_level_from": 8, "military_level_to": 8, "polity": { "id": 672, "name": "ni_benin_emp", "start_year": 1140, "end_year": 1897, "long_name": "Benin Empire", "new_name": "ni_benin_emp", "polity_tag": "POL_AFR_WEST", "general_description": null, "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": null, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 7, "name": "West Africa", "subregions_list": "From Senegal to Gabon (Tropical)", "mac_region": { "id": 2, "name": "Africa" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 19, "year_from": 1450, "year_to": 1524, "description": " levels.<br>The following applies to the preconquest period (1450-1525 CE):<br>1. Mandadores (commanders)<br>2. Capitanes de guerra (war captains)3. Experienced warriors4. Individual soldier<br>\"Besides caciques, Spanish sources mention capitanes, principales (nobles), mandadores (commanders), and capitanes de guerra. Fray Pedro Simón (1882-92, 5: 197) also lists a pregonero (speaker or crier) who was second only to the chief. Spanish accounts do not list the duties and powers of all these officials, but it seems clear that there was a hierarchy of civil and military office- holders. One source mentions inheritance from father to son “en el oficio” (Bischof 1982- 83: 88). The texts also mention merchants, craftsmen, weavers, goldsmiths, carpenters, and farmers, and one recorded example refers to earned status. Simón (1882-92, 5: 198) describes a category of warriors “who had demonstrated their bravery on various occasions, and were allowed to wear their hair long, and tucked into their belts at the back,” a reminder that not all status symbols will be archaeologically identifiable.\" §REF§(Bray 2003, 302)§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": "2023-08-02T13:46:49.377366Z", "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "military_level", "military_level_from": 4, "military_level_to": 4, "polity": { "id": 436, "name": "CoTairo", "start_year": 1050, "end_year": 1524, "long_name": "Tairona", "new_name": "co_tairona", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The name Tairona is generally used in reference to the indigenous groups of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (a mountain range that stretches along Colombia's Caribbean coast) that came in contact with the Spanish in the sixteenth century, but it is also applied to the prehistoric societies that inhabited that same area, and which are mostly known through the artefacts they left behind. §REF§ (Bray 2003, 301) §REF§ Santiago Giraldo and Juana Saenz have recently estimated that the prehistoric Tairona phase started around 1050 and ended early in the sixteenth century, based on radiocarbon-dated goldwork and complete dated contexts. §REF§ (Giraldo 2015, personal communication) §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>At the time of the Spanish Conquest, the Tairona were organized into independent polities governed by a priestly class and a hierarchy of chiefs. §REF§ (Oyuela-Caycedo 2008, 423) §REF§ Most likely, this system began to emerge between the eleventh and the twelfth centuries, as suggested by the appearance of several new ceremonial buildings, new spaces dedicated to feasting activities, a general overhaul of the layout of settlements, and evidence for the expansion and intensification of agricultural activities. §REF§ (Giraldo 2010, 283) §REF§ <br>The population of a typical Tairona polity likely numbered in the hundreds of thousands, with conservative estimates of as much as 500,000 inhabitants. §REF§ (Langebaek 2005, 25-7) §REF§ §REF§ (Giraldo 2010, 57-58) §REF§ The largest settlements likely reached a population of a few hundred at the beginning of the Tairona phase, between a few hundred and 4,000 between the twelfth and the fourteenth centuries, and between 3,000 and 5,000 in the century immediately preceding the Spanish Conquest. §REF§ (Langebaek 2005, 25-7) §REF§ §REF§ (Giraldo 2010, 22-23, 110-111) §REF§ §REF§ (Giraldo 2014) §REF§ §REF§ (Oyuela-Caycedo 2008, 419-423) §REF§ §REF§ (Moore 2014, 395) §REF§ §REF§ (Giraldo 2009, 25) §REF§ ", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 31, "name": "North Colombia", "subregion": "Caribbean", "longitude": "-73.640388097900", "latitude": "10.780287182100", "capital_city": "Santa Marta", "nga_code": "CO", "fao_country": "Colombia", "world_region": "South America" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 21, "name": "Caribbean", "subregions_list": "Caribbean islands, Panama, coastal Columbia-Venezuela", "mac_region": { "id": 6, "name": "South America and Caribbean" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 310, "year_from": 1716, "year_to": 1814, "description": ": 1. King\r\n:: 2. Officers\r\n::: 3. Knights\r\n:::: 4. Foot soldiers\r\n\r\n“As the agent of divine will and natural law, the king’s primary functions remained as they had been in the Middle Ages: to provide justice and to lead the country in war. As warlord, he enjoyed broad, and largely unquestioned, discretionary powers.”<ref>(Maltby 2009: 88) Maltby, William S. 2009. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SUSVXWVH</ref> “The knights and foot-soldiers who comprised the bulk of the crusading armies were rewarded with variable amounts of land, based on the ‘ox-gang’ (yugada), which was the field that a pair of oxen could plough in a day and which ranged in size from 3 to 22 hectares, according to the lie of the terrain and the depth of the soil.”<ref>(Casey 2002: 87) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT</ref>\r\n\r\nThere will undoubtedly be more military levels but at present they have not been found in the sources consulted.", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": "2023-08-24T09:32:44.859446Z", "modified_date": "2023-08-24T09:32:44.859459Z", "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "Military_level", "military_level_from": 4, "military_level_to": null, "polity": { "id": 570, "name": "es_spanish_emp_2", "start_year": 1716, "end_year": 1814, "long_name": "Spanish Empire II", "new_name": "es_spanish_emp_2", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": null, "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": "2023-08-23T12:08:55.435366Z", "home_nga": null, "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": 341, "year_from": 1751, "year_to": 1897, "description": "levels. 1. Tapsoba and Widi-Naba :\"The army consisted of two divisions: the infantry under the Tapsoba (master of the bow) and the cavalry under the Widi-Naba.\" §REF§(Zahan 1967: 171) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TVIRPGXD/collection.§REF§ :2. Tapsobanamba \"The tapsoba of Oula became commander-in-chief of the entire army in the field and was assisted by three other tapsobanamba.\" §REF§(Zahan 1967: 172) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TVIRPGXD/collection.§REF§ :2. Adjutant to the Widi-Naba ::\"The cavalry under the Widi-Naba and his adjutant, the chief of the royal stables, was placed on the two wings of the infantry.\" §REF§(Zahan 1967: 172) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TVIRPGXD/collection.§REF§ ::3. Samade-naba \"In action the infantry were placed in the centre of the combined forces under the Samade-Naba.\" §REF§(Zahan 1967: 172) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TVIRPGXD/collection.§REF§ :::4. Section chiefs ::::\"In Yatenga there were eleven sections: the gunbearers’ section was commanded by the Bugure-Naba (chief of the powder) ; the ten other sections were commanded by the two Kom-Naba (chiefs of young men), the two Soba-Naba (chiefs of Bobo), the Kom-Naba and the Samade-Naba of Ziga, the Kom-Naba and Samade-Naba of Binsigay, and the Kom-Naba and Samade-Naba of Sissimba. The se last three towns were former capitals of the kingdom.\" §REF§(Zahan 1967: 172) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TVIRPGXD/collection.§REF§ ::::5. Soldiers", "note": null, "finalized": false, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": false, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "Military_level", "military_level_from": 5, "military_level_to": 5, "polity": { "id": 620, "name": "bf_mossi_k_1", "start_year": 1100, "end_year": 1897, "long_name": "Mossi", "new_name": "bf_mossi_k_1", "polity_tag": "POL_AFR_WEST", "general_description": null, "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": null, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 7, "name": "West Africa", "subregions_list": "From Senegal to Gabon (Tropical)", "mac_region": { "id": 2, "name": "Africa" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] } ] }