| Variable | Definition |
|---|---|
| Polity | The Seshat Polity ID |
| Year(s) | The years for which we have the data. [negative = BCE] |
| Tag | [Evidenced, Disputed, Suspected, Inferred, Unknown] |
| Verified | A Seshat Expert has approved this piece of data. |
| Variable | Definition |
|---|---|
| bridge | The absence or presence of bridge for a polity. |
| # | Polity | Year(s) | Bridge | Description | Edit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 301 |
(Tunni Sultanate) |
Full Year Range of Tunni Sultanate is assumed. [800, 1200] |
present |
“Barawa has many two-story houses with bridges constructed over the streets, built so that women or the elderly could visit other houses without going down into the street.” §REF§ (Mukhtar 2003, 51) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2003. Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/TWITJWK4/items/J8WZB6VI/collection §REF§ | |
| 302 |
(Early Sultanate of Aussa) |
Full Year Range of Early Sultanate of Aussa is assumed. [1734, 1895] |
present |
“The main road runs along its western side and I later heard that on this road were bridges constructed in ancient times by the Arabs, which I should much like to have inspected.” §REF§ (Thesiger 1935, 16) Thesiger, Wifred. 1935. ‘The Awash River and the Aussa Sultanate.’ The Geographical Journal. Vol. 85:1. Pp 1-19 Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/APBB7BBK/library §REF§ | |
| 303 |
(Foys) |
Full Year Range of Foys is assumed. [1600, 1892] |
present |
“[A] passage was cut through the wood at Apoy; the gullies were filled up, and the hurdle bridges, over the swamps, were widened.” §REF§Alpern, S. B. (1999). Dahomey’s Royal Road. History in Africa, 26, 11–24: 13. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/J4ZASAV6/collection§REF§ | |
| 304 |
(Benin Empire) |
Full Year Range of Benin Empire is assumed. [1140, 1897] |
present |
“Since the thirteenth century, as Egharevba explains, “every Oba has to cross a bridge at Isekherhe quarter on his coronation day, and on the seventh day, fight with Ogiamien in memory of the victory of that day.”” §REF§Osadolor, O. B. (2001). The Military System of Benin Kingdom, c.1440–1897. University of Hamburg, Germany: 62. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4RZF5H5/collection§REF§ | |
| 305 |
(Buganda) |
Full Year Range of Buganda is assumed. [1700, 1894] |
present |
"By the nineteenth century, state labour was locally-organised. In much the same way that 'labour armies'20 were drafted to build enclosures for the kabaka, the ssaza chiefs and their subordinates commanded local labour on behalf o f the state. The primary function of this labour was the construction of roads and bridges, and occasionally public buildings, while the clearing of forest and bush were also common operations." §REF§(Reid 2010: 259) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.§REF§ | |
| 306 |
(Adal Sultanate) |
Full Year Range of Adal Sultanate is assumed. [1375, 1543] |
present |
Imām Ahmad led many military campaigns along the Awash River in present-day Ethiopia. “In 1531 he returned to the Shoan plateau by way of Dawaro, where he crushed the isolated resistance movements, and marched on to the upper waters of the Awash in pursuit of the emperor.” §REF§ (Tamrat 2008, 173) Tamrat, Taddesse. 2008. ‘Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Horn’ In the Cambridge History of Africa: c. 1050 – c.1600 vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 98-182. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Tamrat/titleCreatorYear/items/A68FCWWI/item-list §REF§ | |
| 307 |
(Middle and Late Nok) |
Full Year Range of Middle and Late Nok is assumed. [-1500, -901] |
absent |
"There are [...] no signs of communal construction activities, and no preserved facilities to store agricultural surplus. [...] It has to be considered that the preservation of features in Nok sites is generally poor and that the amount of data is not too large and regionally restricted to a rather small key study area."§REF§(Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 253) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/ES4TRU7R.§REF§ | |
| 308 |
(Middle and Late Nok) |
Full Year Range of Middle and Late Nok is assumed. [-900, 0] |
absent |
"There are [...] no signs of communal construction activities, and no preserved facilities to store agricultural surplus. [...] It has to be considered that the preservation of features in Nok sites is generally poor and that the amount of data is not too large and regionally restricted to a rather small key study area."§REF§(Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 253) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/ES4TRU7R.§REF§ | |
| 309 |
(Kanem) |
Full Year Range of Kanem is assumed. [800, 1379] |
unknown |
The near-absence of archaeologically identified settlements makes it particularly challenging to infer most building types. "While the historical sources provide a vague picture of the events of the first 500 years of the Kanem-Borno empire, archaeologically almost nothing is known. [...] Summing up, very little is known about the capitals or towns of the early Kanem- Borno empire. The locations of the earliest sites have been obscured under the southwardly protruding sands of the Sahara, and none of the later locations can be identified with certainty."§REF§(Gronenborn 2002: 104-110)§REF§ | |
| 310 |
(British Empire I) |
Full Year Range of British Empire I is assumed. [1690, 1849] |
present |
Present throughout the Empire.§REF§(Colquhoun 1811: 228-233) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ§REF§ |