Special Purpose Site List
A viewset for viewing and editing Special Purpose Sites.
GET /api/sc/special-purpose-sites/
{ "count": 69, "next": "https://seshatdata.com/api/sc/special-purpose-sites/?page=2", "previous": null, "results": [ { "id": 56, "year_from": 1390, "year_to": 1844, "description": " E.g. Trading emporia. The quote below suggest that trade emporia were likely present. During the reign of Gawi Nechocho (1845CE -1854 CE) new trade routes were established. “It is said that, because of his daughter’s marriage to the king of Gera, a trade route was opened up to Gondar.” §REF§ (Orent 1970, 279) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/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": "Special_purpose_site", "special_purpose_site": "unknown", "polity": { "id": 650, "name": "et_kaffa_k", "start_year": 1390, "end_year": 1897, "long_name": "Kingdom of Kaffa", "new_name": "et_kaffa_k", "polity_tag": "POL_AFR_EAST", "general_description": "The Kingdom of Kaffa held power in southwest Ethiopia. In the late fourteenth century, the Minjo kings of Kaffa took over the throne of the Mato Dynasty and formed the Kingdom of Kaffa in 1390 CE. In total, there were between sixteen to nineteen Kaffa monarchs during the existence of the kingdom. The capital of the Kingdom of Kaffa was at Bonga, and eventually the kingdom acquired a second capital at Anderacha. The Kingdom of Kaffa controlled vast areas of land, establishing trade networks as far as Gondar in the north of Ethiopia during the mid-nineteenth century. The kingdom was home to a diverse range of forty-eight clans who practiced Islam, Christianity and indigenous religions. Kaffa was also divided into eighteen districts which were organized under minor administrative figures. The kingdom finally collapsed in 1897 when the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II conquered Kaffa territory. §REF§ (Orent 1970, 263-293) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection</a> §REF§", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": null, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 2, "name": "East Africa", "subregions_list": "Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, So Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea", "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": 57, "year_from": 1845, "year_to": 1854, "description": " E.g. Trading emporia. The quote below suggest that trade emporia were likely present. During the reign of Gawi Nechocho (1845CE -1854 CE) new trade routes were established. “It is said that, because of his daughter’s marriage to the king of Gera, a trade route was opened up to Gondar.” §REF§ (Orent 1970, 279) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/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": "Special_purpose_site", "special_purpose_site": "present", "polity": { "id": 650, "name": "et_kaffa_k", "start_year": 1390, "end_year": 1897, "long_name": "Kingdom of Kaffa", "new_name": "et_kaffa_k", "polity_tag": "POL_AFR_EAST", "general_description": "The Kingdom of Kaffa held power in southwest Ethiopia. In the late fourteenth century, the Minjo kings of Kaffa took over the throne of the Mato Dynasty and formed the Kingdom of Kaffa in 1390 CE. In total, there were between sixteen to nineteen Kaffa monarchs during the existence of the kingdom. The capital of the Kingdom of Kaffa was at Bonga, and eventually the kingdom acquired a second capital at Anderacha. The Kingdom of Kaffa controlled vast areas of land, establishing trade networks as far as Gondar in the north of Ethiopia during the mid-nineteenth century. The kingdom was home to a diverse range of forty-eight clans who practiced Islam, Christianity and indigenous religions. Kaffa was also divided into eighteen districts which were organized under minor administrative figures. The kingdom finally collapsed in 1897 when the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II conquered Kaffa territory. §REF§ (Orent 1970, 263-293) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection</a> §REF§", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": null, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 2, "name": "East Africa", "subregions_list": "Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, So Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea", "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": 23, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": " Burial sites: Given the intimate connection between Islam and daily life in the Sokoto Caliphate, one would assume that the burial practices common across the Islamic world would have been followed. No source reviewed specifically mentions this in detail, but graveyards and at least one tomb are mentioned. “In this Sokoto was very different from the situation in Kano, Katsina, or Zaria where the capital city existed with well-built houses and a \"palace,\" great long walls and political institutions. Title-holders had their large houses and areas of responsibility, Islamic courts were in place, as were great mosques, saints' tombs, and burial sites; marketplaces were already in operation (see Moody 1969). The new jihadi authorities in the great cities thus had simply to take over the relevant offices and even move into the official residences. New clan mosques might be built locally within the city, but otherwise everything was already in place (Zahradeen 1983:57-66): only the conquered population had to be persuaded, perhaps intimidated, into accepting the new regime - and that, the shaikh in Sokoto had suggested, could if necessary be done with force or threats of force: symbolically he sent his new commander in Kano a knife (Palmer 1928:128).” §REF§Last, Murray. “Contradictions in Creating a Jihadi Capital: Sokoto in the Nineteenth Century and Its Legacy.” African Studies Review, vol. 56, no. 2, 2013, pp. 1–20: 11–12. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5RUPN5VI/collection§REF§ “The trees in a house's graveyard may house cattle egrets whose droppings make excellent fertilizer for onions; small fire finches (known as bayin Allah , \"slaves of Allah\") come into rooms where students sit studying Islamic texts, and doves nest under the edges of thatch roofs.” §REF§Last, Murray. “Contradictions in Creating a Jihadi Capital: Sokoto in the Nineteenth Century and Its Legacy.” African Studies Review, vol. 56, no. 2, 2013, pp. 1–20: 12. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5RUPN5VI/collection§REF§ “In short, Sokoto city may have been the capital of a great polity but it was also a rural town. It lacked monuments or monumental architecture, and it was short of ceremonial space; its layout was not designed to impress or intimidate, though the streets were regularly laid out and well built - unusually so, said Clapperton (1828,ii:377). The shaikh's tomb (hubbare) is his old, originally suburban house in which he also had a tent (laima); his mosque was nearby - low, plain, and many-pillared, so unlike the splendid mosque built in 1836 for the emir in Zaria, or the huge ancient mosque in Rano with its high, bulky minaret.” §REF§Last, Murray. “Contradictions in Creating a Jihadi Capital: Sokoto in the Nineteenth Century and Its Legacy.” African Studies Review, vol. 56, no. 2, 2013, pp. 1–20: 12–13. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5RUPN5VI/collection§REF§ Possibly trading emporia: “One of the most striking features of the caliphal system was the emergence of new political centres, many of which also became centres of agricultural production, manufacturing and trade. Sokoto itself was transformed from a small hamlet in 1809 into one of the largest cities in the Central Sudan, with a population of about 100,000 by the end of the century. The city became noted for its heterogeneous wards and its many celebrated artisans, traders and scholars.30 Many other cities such as Gusau, Kaura-Namoda, Gwadabawa and Illela grew up in the metropolitan region, all with substantial populations drawn from all parts of Western and Central Sudan and Sahel. Outside the Rima Basin, several new towns were built, Bauchi, Ja-lingo and Yola to name but three, all of which grew into large cosmopolitan settlements which drew traders, artisans and peasant cultivators from all over their respective regions.” §REF§Chafe, Kabiru Sulaiman. “Challenges to the Hegemony of the Sokoto Caliphate: A Preliminary Examination.” Paideuma, vol. 40, 1994, pp. 99–109: 104. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZANHCUFH/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": "Special_purpose_site", "special_purpose_site": "present", "polity": { "id": 666, "name": "ni_sokoto_cal", "start_year": 1804, "end_year": 1904, "long_name": "Sokoto Caliphate", "new_name": "ni_sokoto_cal", "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": 49, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": " Trading emporia. The following quote suggests that trading emporia was likely present. “The main trade routes throughout this period of history were the trans-Saharan caravan routes of the interior through which gold, salt, and slaves passed.” §REF§ (McLaughlin 2008, 83) McLaughlin, Fiona. 2008. ‘Senegal: The Emergence of a National Lingua Franca’. In Languages and National Identity in Africa. Edited by Andrew Simpson. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/7VBFQ96V/collection §REF§", "note": null, "finalized": false, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": false, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "Special_purpose_site", "special_purpose_site": "present", "polity": { "id": 681, "name": "se_great_fulo_emp", "start_year": 1490, "end_year": 1776, "long_name": "Denyanke Kingdom", "new_name": "se_great_fulo_emp", "polity_tag": "POL_AFR_WEST", "general_description": "The Empire of Great Fulo was established in 1490 CE by the Fula leader Tengella as he rebelled against the Songhay Empire. Tengella was killed in battle by the Songhay and was succeeded by his son Koli Tengella. Koli Tengella along with his troops invaded the Fuuta Tooro region in northern Senegal and established the empire there. Through Koli Tengella all the other Fulo kings were descended, and thus from Koli Tengella’s legacy the Denianke or Denyanke Dynasty was formed. §REF§ (Ba Konare 2021, 32) Ba Konare, Dougoukolo Alpha Oumar. 2021. National Narratives of Mali: Fula Communities in Times of Crisis. Minneapolis: Lexington Books. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/F4IZCXAQ/collection\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/F4IZCXAQ/collection</a> §REF§ The Empire of the Great Fulo was important in the trans-Sahara trade and also the slave trade with Europeans. §REF§ (Fage 2008, 508) Fage, J.D. 2008. ‘Upper and Lower Guinea.’ In The Cambridge History of Africa c. 1050 – c.1600. Edited by Roland Oliver. Vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9V3CTHZ9/collection\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9V3CTHZ9/collection</a> §REF§ In 1776 CE, the Empire of the Great Fulo and the Danianke Dynasty ended and was taken over by the Imamate of Fuuta Tooro. §REF§ (Klein 1972, 429) Klein, Martin A. 1972. ‘Social and Economic Factors in the Muslim Revolution in Senegambia.’ The Journal of Africa History. Vol. 13:3. Pp 419-441. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZJRN8UJ8/collection\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZJRN8UJ8/collection</a> §REF§", "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": 2, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": " \"So far, excavations have revealed four categories of Nok sites: settlements, ritual sites, iron-smelting sites or furnaces, and burial sites.\" §REF§(Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 248) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/ES4TRU7R.§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": "Special_purpose_site", "special_purpose_site": "present", "polity": { "id": 615, "name": "ni_nok_2", "start_year": -900, "end_year": 0, "long_name": "Middle and Late Nok", "new_name": "ni_nok_2", "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": 3, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": " \"Specialized iron production shifted from the inhabitants of Mound 4 to those at Mound 11, and iron smelting remained set at a distance from the settlement, but now 250 m to the west of Mound 11.\"§REF§(Dueppen 2012: 30)§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": "Special_purpose_site", "special_purpose_site": "present", "polity": { "id": 617, "name": "bf_west_burkina_faso_red_2", "start_year": 1100, "end_year": 1400, "long_name": "West Burkina Faso Red II and III", "new_name": "bf_west_burkina_faso_red_2", "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": 58, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": null, "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": "Special_purpose_site", "special_purpose_site": "present", "polity": { "id": 569, "name": "mx_mexico_1", "start_year": 1810, "end_year": 1920, "long_name": "Early United Mexican States", "new_name": "mx_mexico_1", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "<br>'''General'''<br>This tumultuous and violent period marked by revolution and war begins following the downfall of the rule of ‘New Spain’ and the Spanish monarchy, and the Mexican Wars of Independence. “In April 1808, as French forces marched into Madrid, a sequel at Aranjuez seemed to succeed. By May, Napoleon held both Spanish Bourbons captive in Bayonne. The fall of the Spanish monarchy to its invasive ally set the stage for Mexico City’s summer of politics. Spain’s empire and New Spain would never be the same.”§REF§(Tutino 2018: 150) Tutino, John. 2018. Mexico City, 1808: Power Sovereignty, and Silver in an Age of War and Revolution. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Z5SZU2AP§REF§ “Then escalating conflicts exploded in insurgencies in September of 1810. Authorities set in power by armed force faced a people in arms. Unprecedented violence drove political conflicts begun by provincial elites while tens of thousands took arms to claim the necessities of survival in the core regions of silver capitalism. The regime of mediation disabled by the coup of 1808 dissolved in political and social violence beginning in 1810. Silver capitalism broke quickly. As conflicts continued, Spain’s empire fell as New Spain became Mexico in 1821.”§REF§(Tutino 2018: 230) Tutino, John. 2018. Mexico City, 1808: Power Sovereignty, and Silver in an Age of War and Revolution. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Z5SZU2AP§REF§ “Mexico was born in political and social violence, every faction proclaiming a vision of popular sovereignty backed by armed power. In that conflictive process, the silver economy and regime of mediation that for centuries had made New Spain wealthy, stable, and central to global capitalism were destroyed. The Mexican nation that emerged would be plagued by violence and instability unknown in New Spain before the crises and transformations of 1808–1810.”§REF§(Tutino 2018: 248) Tutino, John. 2018. Mexico City, 1808: Power Sovereignty, and Silver in an Age of War and Revolution. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Z5SZU2AP§REF§ “The new nation that came out of the conflicts of 1808 to 1821, briefly a Mexican monarchy, then a republic from 1824, searched simultaneously for a new polity and a new economy.”§REF§(Tutino 2018: 252) Tutino, John. 2018. Mexico City, 1808: Power Sovereignty, and Silver in an Age of War and Revolution. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Z5SZU2AP§REF§ <br>This polity is bookend by the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920)<br>'''Politics'''<br>“Political instability continued for decades after independence. From 1821 to 1867, Mexico had 56 administrations (Ponzio, 2005), and in the 55 years between independence and the Porfi riato, the presidency changed hands 75 times as a result of the continuous struggle between the conservative and liberal factions (Haber, 1989). In contrast, the United States had 13 administrations in the 52 years between 1817 and 1869 (Ponzio, 2005). Between 1824 and 1867, the average term of a president in Mexico was 15 months, 7 months for both the ministers of war and justice, and less than 5 months for the ministers of finance and foreign relations (Ponzio, 2005). The generalized episodes of civil unrest and violence reduced the population, disrupted mining and agricultural production, and severely curtailed trade and communications, thus further fragmenting the linkages among different regions. In addition, the struggle for independence brought about a temporary dismantling of the monetary union. A particularly disastrous consequence of the prolonged civil strife was the loss to the United States of half of Mexico’s national territory in the mid-19th century.”§REF§(Moreno-Brid and Ros 2009: 31-32) Moreno-Brid, Juan Carlos and Ros, Jaime. 2009. Development and Growth in the Mexican Economy: A Historical Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/PZXKGTTV§REF§<br>“Porfirio Díaz’s [r. 1884-1910] first re-election to the presidency in 1884 marked a significant watershed in the political evolution of the regime. As a foretaste of what was to come, Díaz was unopposed in the election. Thereafter, a dual process of consolidation and transformation took place in the regime. While many of the mechanisms and tactics of political pragmatism continued to be employed in the attempt to mediate and manage factional divisions, the personal and patriarchal authority of the president at the apex of the hierarchy of power became gradually consolidated, and increasingly uncontested… Although the regime became increasingly centralized and authoritarian, nevertheless important constraints existed on presidential authority. In other words, Díaz never enjoyed the absolute political control that his critics have argued, because the process of centralization and consolidation was always contested, challenged and resisted at a variety of levels. Political factionalism, dissidence, and rebellion remained constant during the era.”§REF§(Garner 2011: 297-298) Garner, Paul. 2011. “The Civilian and the General, 1867–1911,” in A Companion to Mexican History and Culture, ed. William H. Beezley. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. 288–301. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/EMSG558V§REF§", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": null, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 23, "name": "Mexico", "subregions_list": "Mexico", "mac_region": { "id": 7, "name": "North America" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 4, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": " Quarries and enclosures are, at least, known to have been present at the site, though most other categories appear to be either absent or unknown. “…the available evidence shows that the builders of Great Zimbabwe extracted granite from quarries scattered in various localities around the site….” §REF§ (Chirikure 2021, 119) Shadreck Chirikure, Great Zimbabwe: Reclaiming a ‘Confiscated’ Past (Routledge, 2021). Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MWWKAGSJ/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": "Special_purpose_site", "special_purpose_site": "present", "polity": { "id": 624, "name": "zi_great_zimbabwe", "start_year": 1270, "end_year": 1550, "long_name": "Great Zimbabwe", "new_name": "zi_great_zimbabwe", "polity_tag": "POL_AFR_SA", "general_description": null, "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": null, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 6, "name": "Southern Africa", "subregions_list": "Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and south", "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": 59, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": null, "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": "Special_purpose_site", "special_purpose_site": "present", "polity": { "id": 576, "name": "us_chaco_bonito_3", "start_year": 1101, "end_year": 1140, "long_name": "Chaco Canyon - Late Bonito phase", "new_name": "us_chaco_bonito_3", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "<br>“Chaco Canyon is a remote and lonely place in northwest New Mexico that stretches for about 20 miles between high sandstone cliffs. The wind whips clouds of dry, sandy soil through the olive green greasewood bushes scattered across the canyon floor and swirls around the ragged walls of the silent ruins of ancient buildings that once rang with shouting and laughter. A thousand years ago, people lived in the canyon in 11 ‘great houses’, each one of them big enough to provide homes for an entire village. These long-ago people dug ditches to carry water to their fields of corn, beans, and squash. They constructed wide, straight roads to connect with the world outside the canyon. They built circular underground rooms called kivas, where they gathered to perform special rituals and ceremonies.”§REF§(Vivian and Anderson 2002: 8-9) Vivian, R. Gwinn and Anderson, Margaret. 2002. Chaco Canyon, Digging for the Past. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/996XW2NW§REF§<br>“By 1050, Chaco had become the ceremonial, administrative, and economic center of the San Juan Basin. Its sphere of influence was extensive. Dozens of great houses in Chaco Canyon were connected by roads to more than 150 great houses throughout the region. It is thought that the great houses were not traditional farming villages occupied by large populations. They may instead have been impressive examples of \"public architecture\" that were used periodically during times of ceremony, commerce, and trading when temporary populations came to the canyon for these events.<br>What was at the heart of this great social experiment? Pueblo descendants say that Chaco was a special gathering place where many peoples and clans converged to share their ceremonies, traditions, and knowledge. Chaco is central to the origins of several Navajo clans and ceremonies. Chaco is also an enduring enigma for researchers. Was Chaco the hub of a turquoise-trading network established to acquire macaws, copper bells, shells, and other commodities from distant lands? Did Chaco distribute food and resources to growing populations when the climate failed them? Was Chaco \"the center place,\" binding a region together by a shared vision? We may never fully understand Chaco.”§REF§(“History & Culture - Chaco Culture”) “History & Culture - Chaco Culture” U.S. National Park Service, accessed May 08, 2023, https://www.nps.gov/chcu/learn/historyculture/index.htm. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GB3X6QCR§REF§<br>“From about AD 1000 - 1150, Chacoan culture presided over much of the Four Corners region. The Chacoan people created an urban center of spectacular public architecture by employing formal design, astronomical alignments, geometry, unique masonry, landscaping, and engineering techniques that allowed multi-storied construction for the first time in the American Southwest. The people built monumental public and ceremonial buildings in the canyon. The buildings were massive, multi-storied masonry structures of rooms, kivas, terraces, and plazas. The largest building-Pueblo Bonito-is estimated to have contained over 600 rooms and rose four, possibly five, stories high. Hundreds of miles of formal roads radiated out from the canyon and linked Chaco to distant communities.”§REF§(“Chaco Culture”) “Chaco Culture” NPS Museum Collections, accessed May 8, 2023, https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/chcu/index1.html. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NMRVDA5I§REF§<br>“In the 1100s and 1200s, change came to Chaco as new construction slowed and Chaco's role as a regional center shifted. Chaco's influence continued at Aztec, Mesa Verde, the Chuska Mountains, and other centers to the north, south, and west. In time, the people shifted away from Chacoan ways, migrated to new areas, reorganized their world, and eventually interacted with foreign cultures. Their descendants are the modern Southwest Indians. Many Southwest Indian people look upon Chaco as an important stop along their clans' sacred migration paths-a spiritual place to be honored and respected.”§REF§(“History & Culture - Chaco Culture”) “History & Culture - Chaco Culture” U.S. National Park Service, accessed May 08, 2023, https://www.nps.gov/chcu/learn/historyculture/index.htm. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GB3X6QCR§REF§<br>“Classic Chacoan and Mimbres society was brilliant, vibrant, and brief. Beginning around A.D. 1100, after only 150 to 200 years of good times, decline set in. People moved out of the warm, scrubby basins to upland areas of mixed piñon/ponderosa forest where new farmsteads were built. Some groups resettled near long-abandoned villages in surrounding highlands, while others pioneered in remote, forested districts like the Upper Gila drainage or the area around Bandelier National Monument north of Santa Fe.”§REF§(Stuart 2009: 106) Stuart, David E. 2009. The Ancient Southwest: Chaco Canyon, Bandelier, and Mesa Verde. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/X4CQDXF9§REF§", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": null, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 25, "name": "Western North America", "subregions_list": "West Coast, the Rockies, and the American SouthWest", "mac_region": { "id": 7, "name": "North America" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 6, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": " Ceremonial sites. “The sustained Tamil impetus to wholesale temple renovation may also be partly responsible for the limited number of surviving structural monument from the far south in Pandyanadu before the twelfth, or even sixteenth, centuries. The region is well known for the many substantial rock-cut caves with monumental sculpture, but though ruled over by the Pandyans from their capital of Madurai from the sixth to the early fourteenth centuries as contemporaries of the Cholas there are very few surviving structural temples from this period in Pandyanadu compared with the Kaveri region.” §REF§ (Branfoot 2013, 46) Branfoot, Crispin 2013. ‘Remaking the past: Tamil sacred landscape and temple renovations’. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. Vol 76: 1. Pp. 21-47. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/392CRT4K/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": "Special_purpose_site", "special_purpose_site": "present", "polity": { "id": 627, "name": "in_pandya_emp_3", "start_year": 1250, "end_year": 1323, "long_name": "Pandya Empire", "new_name": "in_pandya_emp_3", "polity_tag": "POL_SA_SI", "general_description": "“The Pandyan dynasty and the goddess Minakshi serve as excellent examples of the Dravidian model of kingship and of the Sankritization process. The royal Pandyan dynasty is mentioned in texts dating from the fourth century BCE and the dynastic title lasted, in one form or another through a series of families, for about 1,500 years. They were based in the dry upland interior of the Tamil-speaking region. While the Pandyans did not customarily build dams, they developed a distinctive technology of two specific types of piston valves to control water flow from the reservoir sluices.” §REF§ (Fisher 2018, 74) Fisher, Michael H. 2018. An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/MIEG8XAK/collection\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/MIEG8XAK/collection</a> §REF§", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": "2024-06-05T11:33:21.454578Z", "home_nga": null, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 40, "name": "Southern South Asia", "subregions_list": "Southern India and Sri Lanka", "mac_region": { "id": 9, "name": "South Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 55, "text": "a new_private_comment_text new approach for polity" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] } ] }