Polity Degree Of Centralization List
A viewset for viewing and editing Polity Degrees of Centralization.
GET /api/general/polity-degree-of-centralizations/?format=api&page=10
{ "count": 499, "next": null, "previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/general/polity-degree-of-centralizations/?format=api&page=9", "results": [ { "id": 451, "polity": { "id": 633, "name": "sl_anuradhapura_1", "long_name": "Anurādhapura I", "start_year": -300, "end_year": 70 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "nominal", "comment": null, "description": "Inferred from the following quotes. “In the early centuries of the Anurādhapura kingdom, there is little or no evidence of a regular army, except for a small body of soldiers who guarded the palace and the capital city. Though a regular force was established with the passage of time with foreign—largely South Indian—mercenaries as a component element in it, this was still far from being a standing army which would have been used on a regular basis to impose the will of the ‘central’ authority over recalcitrant provinces for the purpose of serving as an efficient mechanism of control over such provinces from Anurādhapura. The inscriptions of this period reveal the existence of a sabhā or council of ministers. It is impossible to determine whether this developed from the earlier institution known as ämati pahaja or whether it was something completely new. Nor have we any clear picture of the functions of this council. […] One important theme emerges from this: the comparative weakness of the central authority vis-à-vis the outlying provinces under the Anurādhapura kings generally. Thus the Sinhalese kingdom was not a highly centralized structure but one in which a balance of political forces incorporated a tolerance of particularism. This held true for the whole history of the Anuradhapura kingdom”. §REF§ (De Silva 1981, 22, 23) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection §REF§ “The records relating to the Anuradhapura Period (fourth century BC to the end of the 10th century AD) give a convincing basis to the fact that the ancient Sri Lankan state had matured and evolved to the point that sophisticated city planning (for example, of the capital Anuradhapura) coexisted with a mode of highly decentralized governance. It would be a fair generalization to say that the Anuradhapura civilization was founded on a pattern of autonomous villages. While the king was the all-powerful ruler and custodian of all land, day-to- day life was controlled by a decentralized village administration.” §REF§ (Sirivardana 2004, 228) Wignaraja, Ponna and Susil Sirivardana. 2004. Pro-Poor Growth and Governance in South Asia: Decentralization and Participatory Development. New Delhi: Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd. Seshat URL:https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/UBZVJ7PT/collection §REF§" }, { "id": 452, "polity": { "id": 635, "name": "sl_anuradhapura_2", "long_name": "Anurādhapura II", "start_year": 70, "end_year": 428 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "nominal", "comment": null, "description": "Inferred from the following quotes. “In the early centuries of the Anurādhapura kingdom, there is little or no evidence of a regular army, except for a small body of soldiers who guarded the palace and the capital city. Though a regular force was established with the passage of time with foreign—largely South Indian—mercenaries as a component element in it, this was still far from being a standing army which would have been used on a regular basis to impose the will of the ‘central’ authority over recalcitrant provinces for the purpose of serving as an efficient mechanism of control over such provinces from Anurādhapura. The inscriptions of this period reveal the existence of a sabhā or council of ministers. It is impossible to determine whether this developed from the earlier institution known as ämati pahaja or whether it was something completely new. Nor have we any clear picture of the functions of this council.” §REF§ (De Silva 1981, 22) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection §REF§ “One important theme emerges from this: the comparative weakness of the central authority vis-à-vis the outlying provinces under the Anurādhapura kings generally. Thus the Sinhalese kingdom was not a highly centralized structure but one in which a balance of political forces incorporated a tolerance of particularism. This held true for the whole history of the Anuradhapura kingdom”. §REF§ (De Silva 1981, 23) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection §REF§ “The records relating to the Anuradhapura Period (fourth century BC to the end of the 10th century AD) give a convincing basis to the fact that the ancient Sri Lankan state had matured and evolved to the point that sophisticated city planning (for example, of the capital Anuradhapura) coexisted with a mode of highly decentralized governance. It would be a fair generalization to say that the Anuradhapura civilization was founded on a pattern of autonomous villages. While the king was the all-powerful ruler and custodian of all land, day-to- day life was controlled by a decentralized village administration.” §REF§(Sirivardana 2004, 228) Wignaraja, Ponna and Susil Sirivardana. 2004. Pro-Poor Growth and Governance in South Asia: Decentralization and Participatory Development. New Delhi: Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd. Seshat URL:https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/UBZVJ7PT/collection §REF§" }, { "id": 453, "polity": { "id": 636, "name": "et_jimma_k", "long_name": "Kingdom of Jimma", "start_year": 1790, "end_year": 1932 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "unitary state", "comment": null, "description": "“The king held all rights to appoint, transfer, promote and demote officials, and he could devise new positions or mark off new districts.” §REF§ (Lewis 2001, 81) Lewis, Herbert S. 2001. Jimma Abba Jifar, an Oromo Monarchy: Ethiopia, 1830-1932. Lawrenceville, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NRZVWSCD/collection §REF§ “The king of Jimma Abba Jifar directed much of the economic life of the kingdom. There were two major aspects to this control. One was the collection of revenues by which the king added to his own wealth and finance his administration and political operations […] The other was the administration of marketing trade, and artisanry in which Abba Jiffar and his predecessors played a big role. The kings were the patrons and overseers of the craft specialists, the foreign traders and the markets.” §REF§ (Lewis 2001, 93-94) Lewis, Herbert S. 2001. Jimma Abba Jifar, an Oromo Monarchy: Ethiopia, 1830-1932. Lawrenceville, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NRZVWSCD/collection §REF§" }, { "id": 454, "polity": { "id": 637, "name": "so_adal_sultanate", "long_name": "Adal Sultanate", "start_year": 1375, "end_year": 1543 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "“In the 11th century, the sultanate expanded southwards to the boundaries of modern Kenya and included most of the Islamic territories of the Horn of Africa. The growth of the sultanate in territory and population required the establishment of emirates and subdivisions. From the early 1200s, there were seven Islamic emirates: Ifat, Dawaro, Arabini, Hadya, Sharkha, Bali, and Dara. Muslim geographers called them Mamalik al-Tiraz al-Islami (the Hemstitch kingdoms of Islam), because they were the buffer line between Christian Abyssinian and Islamic Somalia in the Horn of Africa.” §REF§ (Mukhtar 2016, Encylopedia of Empire) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2016. ‘Adal Sultanate.’ In J. Mackenzie Encyclopedia of Empire. Wiley. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FM8D55XW/library §REF§" }, { "id": 455, "polity": { "id": 639, "name": "so_ajuran_sultanate", "long_name": "Ajuran Sultanate", "start_year": 1250, "end_year": 1700 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "“The Ajuran was the leading clan of a confederacy, including the Muzaffar dynasty of Mogadishu, the Hawiye-affiliated clans, and the Reewin clans.” §REF§ (Mukhtar 2003, 35) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2003. Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Mukhtar/titleCreatorYear/items/J8WZB6VI/item-list §REF§" }, { "id": 456, "polity": { "id": 643, "name": "et_showa_sultanate", "long_name": "Shoa Sultanate", "start_year": 1108, "end_year": 1285 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "“Its Arabic chronicle, published by Enrico Cerulli, gives the impression that, towards the end of its history at any rate, the so-called ‘Sultanate of Shoa’ was merely a loose confederation of petty Muslim principalities.” §REF§ (Tamrat 2008, 140) 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§" }, { "id": 457, "polity": { "id": 655, "name": "ni_proto_yoruba", "long_name": "Proto-Yoruba", "start_year": 301, "end_year": 649 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "quasi-polity", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 458, "polity": { "id": 657, "name": "ni_formative_yoruba", "long_name": "Late Formative Yoruba", "start_year": 650, "end_year": 1049 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "quasi-polity", "comment": null, "description": "\"As population and settlements increased in the circumscribed rim of the Ifè Bowl, competition for land and resources among the Houses intensified during the last centuries of the Early Formative period, perhaps as early as AD 600. The competitions spurred some of these Houses to build alliances with one another and against other Houses. The alliances resulted in the merging of two or more Houses under a wide range of arrangements. These processes resulted in the birth of the “mega-House” as a new organizational structure. This meant that some of the Houses that had acted as autonomous corporate units lost some of their autonomy in order to become members of a larger sociopolitical unit. Of course, mega-Houses were also formed through forceful incorporation of weak Houses into stronger ones. This development led to the increasing specialization and elaboration of political leadership and to a heightened territorial sensibility. In Ifè oral traditions, thirteen mega-Houses are remembered to have existed during this period of political engineering. These are Ìdó, Ìdèta, Ìloràn, Ìlóròmú, Ìjùgbè, Ìmojùbì, Ìráyè, Ìwìnrìn, Odin, Òkè Àwo, Òkè-Ojà, Omológun, and Parakin (fig. 2.4). Each of these mega-House polities, what Ade Obayemi called “mini-states,” was a federation of contiguous Houses separated by stretches of woods that ranged in distance from a few hundred meters to about a kilometer, but a recognizable ruler from an alpha House governed each of these mega-Houses as a corporate unit. The Ìjùgbè mega-House, for example, comprised Ìjùgbè—the alpha House—and four minor Houses: Eranyiba, Igbogbe, Ipa, and Ita-Asin, each with its own leader, who was also its chief priest. All the leaders of the four corporate houses reported to Obaléjùgbè, “the Lord or Leader of Ìjùgbè.”\"§REF§(Ogundiran 2020: 53)§REF§" }, { "id": 459, "polity": { "id": 658, "name": "ni_kwararafa", "long_name": "Kwararafa", "start_year": 596, "end_year": 1820 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "loose", "comment": null, "description": "“By 1820, a Jukun dynasty based at Wukari, south of the Benue, had taken control of what was left of the Kwararafa state. With this transformation, the martial state of Kwararafa had finally come to an end. The Jukun inherited the political power of Kwararafa, but not its martial tradition. The far-flung confederacy had become the homogenous Jukun kingdom of Wukari.” §REF§Shillington, K., ed. (2005). Encyclopedia of African History (1st Ed., Vol. 1–3). Fitzroy Dearborn: 248. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AWA9ZT5B/collection§REF§ “The identification of Jukun, Apa, Kwana and Kwararafa goes back to at least the mid-nineteenth century, but modern Jukun have no memory of Kwararafa or a supposedly martial past, and Kwararafa invasions ended mysteriously in the seventeenth century. In the nineteenth, the Jukun lived, not in a unified kingdom, but in a number of small communities in the Benue valley. It is possible that Kwararafa was a generic name for non-Muslim peoples from Dar al-Harb, the Land of Unbelief. It may well have been a multi-ethnic federation, which acted together for specific purposes and then disbanded.” §REF§Isichei, E. (1997). A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press: 235. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z4GK27CI/collection§REF§ “Saad Abubakar contended that the Jukun were possibly part of the legendary Kwararafa which was an ancient kingdom or possibly an empire which flourished in the Benue region several centuries before it was succeeded by the kingdom of Wukari. This position was further established by J.M. Freemantle when he asserted that the Jukun kingdom of Kwararafa at one time or the other extended from the 12th meridian to the Niger, South to the Cross River and North to the borders of Bornu and the varying limits of the central Hausa State. At various times, its suzerainty extended over Kano, the Alago Kingdom of Doma, the Igbira Kindom of Kwatto and the dominions of the Ata-gara. These claims suggested that “Kwararafa” existed as an empire, or at best a confederation, in which groups of semi-independent chiefdoms were knitted together.” §REF§Zhema, S. (2017). A History of the Social and Political Organization of the Jukun of Wukari Division, c.1596–1960 [Benue State University]: 72. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/U667CC36/collection§REF§ “Abubakar further observes that while the external activities of the Jukun are well known, virtually nothing is known about their internal organization before the 19th century. He therefore suggest that prior to the 16thcentury, the Jukun lived not under a central authority but in small communities, each independent of the other. He surmises that probably as from that century, a powerful military class emerged among them, possibly to counter Borno’s expansionist policy. Consequently, with a highly efficient cavalry, (horses being obtained from Hausa land,) the various independent Jukun communities were unified under the control of military men. The Jukun began a career of distant military raids against Hausaland to the North-west and Borno to the North-east. Over time, the Jukun were opened to new alien influence and were, consequently, compelled to migrate. Abubakar suggests that the coming of new immigrants, the Pabur in the west and Chamba in the east, completed the process of Jukun decline. With the collapse of the military that had previously held sway over the various groups, the Jukun reverted to their previous arrangement as autonomous communities. This process started probably from the 17th century when Aku Katakpa founded Puje in 1660.” §REF§Zhema, S. (2017). A History of the Social and Political Organization of the Jukun of Wukari Division, c.1596–1960 [Benue State University]: 27. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/U667CC36/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 460, "polity": { "id": 659, "name": "ni_allada_k", "long_name": "Allada", "start_year": 1100, "end_year": 1724 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": true, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "unitary state", "comment": null, "description": "“Like Allada and Hueda to the south, Dahomey was only weakly centralized in the seventeenth century, yet expanded significantly during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.” §REF§Monroe, J. C. (2007). Continuity, Revolution or Evolution on the Slave Coast of West Africa? Royal Architecture and Political Order in Precolonial Dahomey. The Journal of African History, 48(3), 349–373: 364. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ASTPFKNP/collection§REF§ “By the mid-15th century, the population of Allada had reached approximately 30,000 people. It seems likely that the collection of small settlements up to this time organized themselves politically along decentralized lines, meaning that they ruled by consensus rather than granting sovereignty to a leader or king. Demographic growth, however, likely necessitated a transition to political centralization. Legends suggest that three brothers who had descended from people in what is now the city of Allada split the region into three parts and administered rule as kings. The first, Kokpon, remained in the capital city and became the ruler of the Allada kingdom. His brothers Do-Aklin and Te-Agdanlin allegedly left the city to establish their own kingdoms of Dahomey and Little Ardra, respectively, in what is now the city of Porto Novo.” §REF§Aderinto, Saheed. African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations. ABC-CLIO, 2017: 8. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/EB5TWDG7/collection§REF§ “[…] under Allada earlier, the state had been conceived as an enlarged kin-group, comprising a federation of essentially autonomous related lineages (with the king's authority therefore necessarily limited), whereas Dahomey in contrast stood for a new conception, basing authority on the right of conquest rather than consanguinity or inheritance, and stressing the absolute and unmediated authority of the king over his subjects.” §REF§Law, Robin. “‘My Head Belongs to the King’: On the Political and Ritual Significance of Decapitation in Pre-Colonial Dahomey.” The Journal of African History, vol. 30, no. 3, 1989, pp. 399–415: 399. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5335RH4I/collection§REF§ A commonwealth-style system seems to have been present before Allada fell to the Dahomey. About Agaja, of Dahomey: “His attack on Allada, the ancient Aja kingdom to the south, on March 30, 1724, marked the beginning of the Dahomean domination of Aja and the effective collapse of the commonwealth system in the region.” §REF§Aderinto, Saheed. African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations. ABC- CLIO, 2017: 55. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/EB5TWDG7/collection§REF§ “In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries the 'Slave Coast' of West Africa suffered increasingly severe problems of disorder, which seem to have been in large part a consequence of the impact of the Atlantic slave trade. These disorders involved not only wars among the major states but also (in at least some cases) the weakening of political authority within states. The most obvious aspect of this dissolution of authority was the decline in the power of the kingdom of Allada, which had earlier exercised some degree of suzerainty over most if not all of the other states in the area. Among the tributaries of Allada which repudiated its authority was the kingdom of Whydah (Hueda), on the coast to the south-west, which was already effectively independent by the 1680s, and which even went to war with Allada in 1691-92 and again in 1714-17. The kingdom of Fon, or Dahomey, in the interior north of Allada, was originally also a dependency of Allada, but is recorded to have revolted and asserted its independence in 1715.” §REF§Law, Robin. “Ideologies of Royal Power: The Dissolution and Reconstruction of Political Authority on the ‘Slave Coast’, 1680-1750.” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, vol. 57, no. 3, 1987, pp. 321–44: 321. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/VJPWCBM6/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 461, "polity": { "id": 659, "name": "ni_allada_k", "long_name": "Allada", "start_year": 1100, "end_year": 1724 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": true, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "loose", "comment": null, "description": "“Like Allada and Hueda to the south, Dahomey was only weakly centralized in the seventeenth century, yet expanded significantly during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.” §REF§Monroe, J. C. (2007). Continuity, Revolution or Evolution on the Slave Coast of West Africa? Royal Architecture and Political Order in Precolonial Dahomey. The Journal of African History, 48(3), 349–373: 364. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ASTPFKNP/collection§REF§ “By the mid-15th century, the population of Allada had reached approximately 30,000 people. It seems likely that the collection of small settlements up to this time organized themselves politically along decentralized lines, meaning that they ruled by consensus rather than granting sovereignty to a leader or king. Demographic growth, however, likely necessitated a transition to political centralization. Legends suggest that three brothers who had descended from people in what is now the city of Allada split the region into three parts and administered rule as kings. The first, Kokpon, remained in the capital city and became the ruler of the Allada kingdom. His brothers Do-Aklin and Te-Agdanlin allegedly left the city to establish their own kingdoms of Dahomey and Little Ardra, respectively, in what is now the city of Porto Novo.” §REF§Aderinto, Saheed. African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations. ABC-CLIO, 2017: 8. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/EB5TWDG7/collection§REF§ “[…] under Allada earlier, the state had been conceived as an enlarged kin-group, comprising a federation of essentially autonomous related lineages (with the king's authority therefore necessarily limited), whereas Dahomey in contrast stood for a new conception, basing authority on the right of conquest rather than consanguinity or inheritance, and stressing the absolute and unmediated authority of the king over his subjects.” §REF§Law, Robin. “‘My Head Belongs to the King’: On the Political and Ritual Significance of Decapitation in Pre-Colonial Dahomey.” The Journal of African History, vol. 30, no. 3, 1989, pp. 399–415: 399. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5335RH4I/collection§REF§ A commonwealth-style system seems to have been present before Allada fell to the Dahomey. About Agaja, of Dahomey: “His attack on Allada, the ancient Aja kingdom to the south, on March 30, 1724, marked the beginning of the Dahomean domination of Aja and the effective collapse of the commonwealth system in the region.” §REF§Aderinto, Saheed. African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations. ABC- CLIO, 2017: 55. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/EB5TWDG7/collection§REF§ “In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries the 'Slave Coast' of West Africa suffered increasingly severe problems of disorder, which seem to have been in large part a consequence of the impact of the Atlantic slave trade. These disorders involved not only wars among the major states but also (in at least some cases) the weakening of political authority within states. The most obvious aspect of this dissolution of authority was the decline in the power of the kingdom of Allada, which had earlier exercised some degree of suzerainty over most if not all of the other states in the area. Among the tributaries of Allada which repudiated its authority was the kingdom of Whydah (Hueda), on the coast to the south-west, which was already effectively independent by the 1680s, and which even went to war with Allada in 1691-92 and again in 1714-17. The kingdom of Fon, or Dahomey, in the interior north of Allada, was originally also a dependency of Allada, but is recorded to have revolted and asserted its independence in 1715.” §REF§Law, Robin. “Ideologies of Royal Power: The Dissolution and Reconstruction of Political Authority on the ‘Slave Coast’, 1680-1750.” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, vol. 57, no. 3, 1987, pp. 321–44: 321. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/VJPWCBM6/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 462, "polity": { "id": 661, "name": "ni_oyo_emp_2", "long_name": "Ilú-ọba Ọ̀yọ́", "start_year": 1601, "end_year": 1835 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "Vassal states and a centralised system were present. “A combination of internal and external factors was responsible for the decline of Oyo after the death of King Abiodun in 1789. One notable external factor was the increasing power of its provincial and vassal states, which began to break away because the central government could not effectively administer the expanding empire. Provincial chiefs and warriors who were required to respect the order of the alaafin began to carve out part of the empire for themselves.” §REF§Aderinto, Saheed. African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations. ABC-CLIO, 2017: 246. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/EB5TWDG7/note/U7W4UF33/collection§REF§ Rulers of provincial towns “usually” appointed by the central authorities. “The appointment of [provincial towns’] rulers was usually ratified by the alaafin. Provincial towns were also required to send representatives to the Oyo metropolis during important festivals. Similarly, the alaafin would appoint a local representative (ajele) to monitor and oversee the affairs of provincial towns in order to maintain his interest.” §REF§Aderinto, Saheed. African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations. ABC-CLIO, 2017: 246. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/EB5TWDG7/note/U7W4UF33/collection§REF§ Though some of the outer parts of the Empire had their own rulers, they may still have an ajele (Egbado Corridor), and still paid taxes to the central government and to follow Oyo orders and give access to markets (Ajaland). “Provincial towns of the empire were allowed autonomy in their internal affairs alone; the central government controlled external affairs throughout the empire. But it was ensured, through the stationing of ajele (resident officials), that provincial towns did not conduct their internal affairs to the detriment of the Alafin and his government.” §REF§Atanda, J. A. ‘The Fall of the Old Ọyọ Empire: A Re-Consideration of its Cause’. Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria vol.5, no.4 (June 1971): 480–481. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NR9MAEAE/collection§REF§ “Except in the conduct of external relations, the implementation of capital punishment and the recruitment of the head chief, each subsidiary polity in a typical central Yoruba state (including tribute-paying polities) enjoyed autonomy in the conduct of its political affairs. The authority of the central states over their subsidiary polities was exercised mostly in raising manpower for military campaigns and revenue collection”. §REF§Ejiogu, EC. ‘State Building in the Niger Basin in the Common Era and Beyond, 1000–Mid 1800s: The Case of Yorubaland’. Journal of Asian and African Studies vol.46, no.6 (1 December 2011): 598. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H2CJNHP/collection§REF§ As power shifted in the region, the nature of the empire also changed. Though the Oyo Empire still existed in 1835, it was past its peak and now subordinate to some states which has previously been tributary states of Oyo. “There is abundant literature on the establishment of Ilorin, but it must be emphasized that it was formerly a military outpost of Oyo until Afonja declared it an independent state. Afonja, the military leader of Oyo empire had earlier been sent to Iwere by Alaafin Aole. Though, Iwere was captured, Afonja refused to go back to Oyo; instead he came to Ilorin, where he embarked upon his secessionist career (Danmole et al, 1985: 21 - 26). Afonja was helped in his secessionist bid by the Islamic zealots from the newly established Sokoto Caliphate. […] d, Abd al-Salam applied and got a flag from the Emir of Gwandu to spread Islam to the south. Thus, he became the first emir of Ilorin in about 1823. Ilorin's determination to survive as a muslim state amidst its hostile neighbours led to the creation of a military state with soldiers and civilians participating in the war of expansion. Ilorin soon began to expand at the expense of Oyo until 1840 when it was defeated at Oshogbo by Ibadan. The emergence of Ilorin indeed upset the military power in the region. The incessant raids on Oyo empire and the subordinate states in the 1820s and 1830s constituted a great threat to many states. […] Oyo's Specific Reasons Oyo Empire had every reason to go into a military alliance with Borgu. As we have mentioned earlier, this was an empire that had enjoyed great power and influence until the late 18th century when it started to decline. At the beginning of the 19th century, it was already a vassal state to Ilorin. Several attempts were made to re-assert Oyo hegemony over Ilorin.” §REF§ Akinwumi, O. D. (1992). The Oyo-Borgu Military Alliance of 1835: A Case Study in the Pre-Colonial Military History. Transafrican Journal of History, 21, 159–170: 161–162. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/J42GPW63/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 463, "polity": { "id": 662, "name": "ni_whydah_k", "long_name": "Whydah", "start_year": 1671, "end_year": 1727 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "“What is clear is that those chiefs who served as governors of subordinate villages of the kingdom enjoyed a considerable degree of autonomy in their local administration: as was noted in the 1690s, ‘these in the King's absence and in their Vice-royalties, command as arbitrarily and keep up as great state as the King himself.' The governors exercised an independent local judicial authority in minor cases, acted as spokesmen before the king on behalf of those under their government, and transmitted their tribute to him. They also raised contingents of soldiers for the national army, and commanded them in battle. The king's power in practice was clearly limited by that of these provincial governors, and its effectiveness dependent upon their cooperation.” §REF§Law, Robin. “‘The Common People Were Divided’: Monarchy, Aristocracy and Political Factionalism in the Kingdom of Whydah, 1671-1727.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 23, no. 2, 1990, pp. 201–29: 208–209. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/8JKAH2V5/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 464, "polity": { "id": 663, "name": "ni_oyo_emp_1", "long_name": "Oyo", "start_year": 1300, "end_year": 1535 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "\"Contexts that could shed light on the dynamics of social structure and hierarchies in the metropolis, such as the royal burial site of Oyo monarchs and the residences of the elite population, have not been investigated. The mapping of the palace structures has not been followed by systematic excavations (Soper, 1992); and questions of the economy, military system, and ideology of the empire have not been addressed archaeologically, although their general patterns are known from historical studies (e.g, Johnson, 1921; Law, 1977).\"§REF§(Ogundiran 2005: 151-152)§REF§ Regarding this period, however, one of the historical studies mentioned in this quote also notes: \"Of the earliestperiod of Oyo history, before the sixteenth century, very little is known.\"§REF§(Law 1977: 33)§REF§ Law does not then go on to provide specific information directly relevant to this variable." }, { "id": 465, "polity": { "id": 664, "name": "ni_proto_yoruboid", "long_name": "Proto-Yoruboid", "start_year": -300, "end_year": 300 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "quasi-polity", "comment": null, "description": "The following quote, which refers to changes in the Late Formative period, suggests that, at this time, people were largely organized into single independent households or hamlets. \"As a result, a new social configuration featuring formalized association and integration of multiple households under a single leadership became necessary as a means of organizing and safeguarding land and labor. It was the beginning of a departure from the two- to three-generation households and hamlets that had been the preferred unit of social organization in the preceding centuries.\"§REF§(Ogundiran 2020: 47-48)§REF§" }, { "id": 466, "polity": { "id": 665, "name": "ni_aro", "long_name": "Aro", "start_year": 1690, "end_year": 1902 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "Arochukwu exerted the most cultural and mercantile control in Aro. “Regrettably, there is no such collection of the oral traditions of the villages and towns making up the home chiefdom of Arochukwu, which would have been more relevant and reliable for the study of the Aro than the reports of British colonial officers.”. §REF§Nwauwa, A. O. (1992). On Aro Colonial Primary Source Material: A Critique of the Historiography. History in Africa, 19, 377–385: 384. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/DINGJJC2/collection§REF§ “The Aro confederacy emerged uniquely as a state in southeastern Nigeria in ca. 1690–1720, according to the dating structure worked out by the author (Nwauwa 1990). Three heterogeneous ethnic groups, namely, the Igbo, Ibibio, and Akpa were confederated to form Aro state or chiefdom (Arochukwu).” §REF§Nwauwa, A. O. (1995). The Evolution of the Aro Confederacy in Southeastern Nigeria, 1690–1720. A Theoretical Synthesis of State Formation Process in Africa. Anthropos, 90(4/6), 353–364: 353. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/G4DWA3GQ/collection §REF§ “He noted that the Aro indigenous system was founded on a \"clan\" basis whereby matters of importance were deliberated on by a special body fully representative of the whole chiefdom while allowing each town the power to regulate purely domestic affairs.” §REF§Nwauwa, A. O. (1992). On Aro Colonial Primary Source Material: A Critique of the Historiography. History in Africa, 19, 377–385: 383. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/DINGJJC2/collection§REF§ “Before the foundation of Arochukwu confederacy, the Igbo and the Ibibio of the area operated a political system - village republicanism - based on gerontocracy. However, the end of Igbo-Ibibio hostilities, following the victory of Igbo-Akpa alliance against the Ibibio, culminated in the foundation of the Aro chiefdom comprising elements of the three ethnic groups. Thus, the political system which ultimately emerged - federation under one authority - appeared to be an ostensible aberration of the traditional Igbo-Ibibio system based on kinship. In the emergent organization, there was a king (chief) with a council of representatives of the various towns.” §REF§Nwauwa, A. O. (1995). The Evolution of the Aro Confederacy in Southeastern Nigeria, 1690–1720. A Theoretical Synthesis of State Formation Process in Africa. Anthropos, 90(4/6), 353–364: 356. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/G4DWA3GQ/collection §REF§ “Politically, the Igbo no doubt might have lacked large-scale organizations in the structure of kingdom and empires. However their socio-political system operated within the frame work of what could in the present times be described as a democracy and republicanism. In other words, the Igbo system lacked authoritarian and monarchical tendencies common then among a number of indigenous people of Africa.” §REF§Nwaezeigwe, D. N. T. (2013). THE ARO AND THE CONCEPT OF ARO-OKIGBO: FACTS AND FALACIES OF A HISTRIONIC IGBO HEGEMONY. 15, 12: 2. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TU5APW74/collection§REF§ “The Aro evolved a confederate political system headed by a hereditary leadership”. §REF§Nwauwa, A. O. (1990). The Dating of the Aro Chiefdom: A Synthesis of Correlated Genealogies. History in Africa, 17, 227–245: 227. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TEXMFD2H/collection§REF§ “The most famous account of the Arochukwu tradition of origin has it that the land of Arochukwu was initially inhabited by Ibibio people that arrived in the area at about 300 AD from the Benue valley and founded the early settlements of Obong Okon Ita and Ibom. Many years passed before the first Igbo group led by Agwu Inobia and who referred to themselves as Ezeagwu group came along and pressed into the Ibibio occupied territory and founded several other settlements. The Igbo settler group (Ezeagwu) and their Ibibio landlords became entangled in war over who would possess the land, but there was a stalemate. In reaction, the Eze-Agwu clan invited a priest named Nnachi from Edda clan of northeastern Igbo land and another group from the east of Cross River came through Nnachi (Onwuejeogwu, 1981). These people were identified as Akpa people. Akpa forces led by Osim and Akuma Nnubi helped the Igbo group to capture the rest of the area. The capturing of the entire area led to the formation of an alliance of nineteen (19) new and old settlements in the area known as the Arochukwu kingdom around 1650-1700.” §REF§Chidume, C., & Nmaju, U. (2019). The Aro Hegemony: Dissecting The Myth And Reality. 8, 76–87: 76–77. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/WJ5NDV5U/collection§REF§ “The Aro confederacy is another instance of regional institution in precolonial West Africa. The Aro Confederacy evolved between 1690 and 1700 in South Eastern Nigeria, as a confederated union held together by a symbolic oracle, the Aro Oracle (the Long Juju), based at Arochukwu. It was comprised of three ethnic groups, Ibibio, the Akpa, and Igbo all previously independent.58 The Aro Oracle became a viable integrating institution in the region. Through its mystical power, it established constitutive conditions for smooth regional socio-economic and religious interactions.” §REF§ Izuagie, L. (2014). Pre-Colonial Regionalism in West Africa. Journal of Transatlantic Studies, 4(1), 21–42: 31. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/R2STQVZV/collection§REF§Though Arochukwu was dominant, largely because of the Ibini-Ukpabi oracle, the Aro confederacy was largely acephalous and had no strongly centralised governance. “According to oral tradition, the Aro chiefdom was founded as a consequence of the intermingling of three distinct groups: the Ibibio, Igbo, and Akpa. The chiefdom was a product of interethnic rivalry. Aro traditions vary in respect to the details of the conflict. However, the various traditions agree on the essential features of the crises in relation to the Igbo-Ibibio strife and the subsequent interference of the Akpa group. According to the traditions the original inhabitants of the Aro area were the acephalous Ibibio. They were said to have possessed an oracle, Ibini-Ukpabi, which was of very local significance prior to the foundation of Arochukwu. In the previous decades the Igbo came to settle among the Ibibio of the region as land-hungry immigrants, slaves and traders. Subsequently these migrant Igbo tended to dominate the indigenous Ibibio, who resented them. The resultant hostilities degenerated into disorder.” §REF§Nwauwa, A. O. (1990). The Dating of the Aro Chiefdom: A Synthesis of Correlated Genealogies. History in Africa, 17, 227–245: 228. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TEXMFD2H/collection§REF§ “At the height of their economic prosperity and influence, Arochukwu people founded satellite settlements outside their native homeland (but not tributary States) scattered in different parts of Igbo land. Some of the better-known settlements include Arondizogu, Aro-Okigwe, Aro-Ezinachi, Aro-Amuro, Aro-Ihube, Aro-Obinikpa, Aro-Ubahu etc (Imo State); Aro-Okporoenyi (Umuahia), Aro-Ngwa, Aro-Isuochi (Abia State); Aro-Ajalli (Anambra); Aro-Abakaliki (Ebonyi); Aro-Ngwo (Enugu) and Aro-Ikwerre in River State.” §REF§Chidume, C., & Nmaju, U. (2019). The Aro Hegemony: Dissecting The Myth And Reality. 8, 76–87: 78. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/WJ5NDV5U/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 467, "polity": { "id": 666, "name": "ni_sokoto_cal", "long_name": "Sokoto Caliphate", "start_year": 1804, "end_year": 1904 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "loose", "comment": null, "description": "“The Sokoto caliphate originated in 1804, when the Fulbe Islamic scholar Shehu Usumanu dan Fodio declared an Islamic reformist movement, or jihad, in northern Nigeria. The state that he founded eventually spread to encompass all of northern Nigeria, the northern Republic of Benin, and southern Niger, with the Shehu as caliph, or spiritual and political leader. In 1806 the various groups of seminomadic pastoral Fulbe residing in northern Cameroon joined the jihad under the leadership of the respected Islamic scholar Modibo Adama. The region was incorporated into the larger caliphate as the emirate of Adamawa, named after its founder. The various Fulbe leaders of the region founded subemirates, owing allegiance to the emir, or governor, Modibo Adama and ultimately to the caliph. Throughout the history of the caliphate, however, there was tension between the centralized rule of the caliph and the autonomy of the local rulers.” §REF§Delancey, Mark D. “The Spread of the Sooro: Symbols of Power in the Sokoto Caliphate.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 71, no. 2, 2012, pp. 168–75: 168–169. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/87XHFF23/collection§REF§ “The Sokoto Caliphate emerged from the amalgamation of over 30 emirates in 1812 through a series of jihads that began in 1804 and were led by a Fulani named Usman dan Fodio. The jihads were carried out by Usman and 14 flag bearers chosen by him. The caliphate was organized into semiautonomous emirates that ceded religious authority to the caliph, seated in Sokoto. The old Hausa aristocracy was replaced by a Fulani one, but with a revival of Islam and expansion of literacy.” §REF§Falola, Toyin, and Ann Genova. Historical Dictionary of Nigeria. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2009: 331. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SJAIVKDW/collection§REF§ “To assess how far the ideals of the leadership were actually put into practice, one must bear in mind the political and social configuration of the Sokoto Caliphate. Direct central administration was confined to the metropolitan districts in the heartland of the Sokoto-Rima Basin, the region formerly occupied by the pre-jihad kingdoms of Kebbi, Zamfara and Gobir. The emirates which comprised the rest of the Caliphate owed the central authority a looser form of allegiance. The policy prescriptions of the central leadership were thus addressed largely to the metropolitan districts, although they were also intended to provide guidelines for the emirs as the representatives of the Caliph in the emirates. In practice, the emirates tended to evolve their own forms of government.” §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§ “Though the taxation system was regularized by the Caliphate from being extortionist and overburdening as it used to be by sanctioning only those taxes which were legislated by the Shariah, the mode of assessment, collection and administration also became flawed as time went by.” §REF§Okene, Ahmed Adam, and Shukri B. Ahmad. “Ibn Khaldun, Cyclical Theory and the Rise and Fall of Sokoto Caliphate, Nigeria West Africa.” International Journal of Business and Social Science, vol. 2, no. 4, 2011, pp. 80–91: 88. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/H7J2NC37/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 468, "polity": { "id": 667, "name": "ni_igala_k", "long_name": "Igala", "start_year": 1600, "end_year": 1900 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "“It seems clear that many larger states — Igala, Benin and the Yoruba kingdoms among them — grew out of the fusion of small polities into a larger conglomerate, a transition which may well have occurred, in at least some cases, in the fifteenth century.” §REF§Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press, 1997: 243. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z4GK27CI/collection§REF§ “The distinction between towns and villages located in Great States and those outside them is more apparent than real. In a very real sense, the power of the court did not extend far beyond the capital and historical maps — including those in this book — which suggest blocks of territory like modern nations, where the impact of government is equally felt everywhere, are misleading. Distant towns sent tribute, which was sometimes essentially symbolic and a description of the Lunda empire in Central Africa is much more widely applicable: ‘a chain of political islands in a sea of woodlands occupied mostly by dispersed villagers recognising no overlord at all.” §REF§ Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press, 1997: 243. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z4GK27CI/collection§REF§ “Nri and Aguleri are part of the Umueri clan, a cluster of Igbo village groups which traces its origins to a sky being called En, and, significantly, includes (from the viewpoint of its Igbo members) the neighbour kingdom of Igala.” §REF§ Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press, 1997: 246. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z4GK27CI/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 469, "polity": { "id": 668, "name": "ni_nri_k", "long_name": "Ọ̀ràézè Ǹrì", "start_year": 1043, "end_year": 1911 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "nominal", "comment": null, "description": "“Especially the case of Nri has fuelled both academic and popular imagination, because the stirring archaeological findings at Igbo-Ukwu seem to suggest to some authors (especially Onwuejeogwu 1980, 1981; see also Hahn-Waanders 1985, Grau 1993) the existence of a one thousand year-old tradition of Nri sacral kingship and 'hegemony' over large parts of Igboland.” §REF§Harneit-Sievers, A. (1998). Igbo ‘Traditional Rulers’: Chieftaincy and the State in Southeastern Nigeria. Africa Spectrum, 33(1), 57–79: 59–60. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TUHHXK22/collection§REF§ “As regards these leadership positions, a common feature is their high degree of local diversity, in two ways: First, the rules by which an individual obtained a position differed from place to place. Second, while certain Igbo communities (especially Nri and Arochukwu) exerted a certain wide-range commercial or ritual influence, the leaders even of these communities did not exert direct power outside of their own community.” §REF§Harneit-Sievers, A. (1998). Igbo ‘Traditional Rulers’: Chieftaincy and the State in Southeastern Nigeria. Africa Spectrum, 33(1), 57–79: 60. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TUHHXK22/collection§REF§ “The Kingdom of Nri (1043–1911) was the West African medieval state of the Nri Igbo, a subgroup of the Igbo people, and is the oldest kingdom in Nigeria. The Kingdom of Nri was unusual in the history of world government in that its leader exercised no military power over his subjects. The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over much of Igboland, and was administered by a priest-king called the eze Nri. The eze Nri managed trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Igbo people, and was the possessor of divine authority in religious matters.” §REF§Ngara, C. A. (n.d.). An Ethnohistorical Account Of Pre-Colonial Africa, African Kingdoms And African Historical States. 25:11. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/UJG3ED8W/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 470, "polity": { "id": 669, "name": "ni_hausa_k", "long_name": "Hausa bakwai", "start_year": 900, "end_year": 1808 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "quasi-polity", "comment": null, "description": "“Bawo, who succeeded his father, had six sons, three sets of twins, who became the rulers of Kano and Daura, Gobir and Zazzau (Zegzeg or Zaria) and Katsina and Rano respectively. Together with Biram, which was ruled by Bayajidda's son by the Bornu princess, these seven states formed the hausa bakwai (the seven Hausa states). Karbogari's sons established another seven states, namely Kebbi, Zamfara, Gwari, Jukun (Kwararafa), Yoruba, Nupe and Yawuri, which were together called banza bakwai (the seven bastards or worthless ones).” §REF§Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann; University of California Press: 270. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection§REF§ “The Hausa Kingdoms were organized under a hereditary chief, or emir, who was advised by a council of title-holders. The kingdom, or emirate, was divided into districts, with each under a district head. The Hausa kingdom, or emirate, structure, for the most part, remained unaltered during the 19th century. These first seven kingdoms are referred to as the Hausa bakwai (“Hausa states”) or Habe kingdoms. Of these seven, the most influential were Kano and Zazzau. Hausa oral tradition also says that Bayajidda had several illegitimate children, who founded seven kingdoms: Gwari, Kebbi, Kwararafa, Nupe, Zamfara, Yoruba, and Jukun. These kingdoms are referred to as the banza bakwai (“bastard states”). Some oral sources identify these kingdoms as being not of blood relation to Bayajidda or the Hausa. Much more evidence exists for this version. Scholars may exclude Zamfara and Kwararafa and include Yauri and Borgu in the list of seven states. Historians often describe these Hausa Kingdoms as city-states.” §REF§Falola, Toyin, and Ann Genova. Historical Dictionary of Nigeria. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2009: 149. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SJAIVKDW/collection§REF§ “It was in Rumfa's reign that the first war took place with Katsina; this lasted eleven years, with neither side gaining the upper hand. His successors, Abdüjjähi (1499-1509) and Muhammad Kisoki (1509-65) continued his policy and, although they fought without much success against Katsina, they defeated Zaria. The growing might of Bornu still loomed menacingly over Hausaland, and Kano was not spared the humiliation of its sarki before the mai, but it managed on other occasions to defend its territory.” §REF§Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann; University of California Press: 273. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 471, "polity": { "id": 670, "name": "ni_bornu_emp", "long_name": "Kanem-Borno", "start_year": 1380, "end_year": 1893 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "“Even though it is difficult to generalize the nature of political power for more than 1000 years of history, some features seem to have been present throughout the history of Bornu. The royal family was at the heart of the political system meaning that the head of the Sayfawa family was also the mai. It seems that to prevent wars of succession, the chiroma, generally the eldest son or the brother of the mai, was designated during the lifetime of the mai. Members of the royal family were also important office-holders. For example, the magira, the queen mother, held for a long time the highest number of fiefs in the kingdom while the first wife of the mai, the gumsu, was responsible for the palace duties with the three other wives of the mai (Cohen 1967). As a consequence, the stability of the empire was synonymous with the stability of the royal family. However, political power was not solely in the hands of the ruling family as members of the council were also in charge of political affairs. It appears that there were around twelve members in this council and that apart from the descendants of the close advisors of the first Sayfawas, their office was not hereditary. It would be difficult to attribute a specific role to each of the members of the council over the centuries but some office-holders seem to exert the same roles. For example, the mainin kenandi was the Islamic advisor of the mai whereas the kaigama was in charge of the armies of Kanem-Bornu. This highly structured political system could also be found in the territorial organization of the kingdom. Indeed, the empire of KanemBornu was organized territorially and divided into different administrative regions. For example, the galadima was supposed to be the viceroy of the Western part of the kingdom. He had his own capital at Nguru and when present in Birni Gazagarmo was a full member of the council (Alkali 1983). One of the striking features of the empire of Kanem-Bornu was its complex territorial organization which allowed it to survive for more than a millennium. Diplomatic correspondence and oral history confirm that the Kanem-Bornu Empire was an empire with different types of borders. Some of them may have been rather vague, such as those along the Saharan trade route, whereas others could have been precisely delimited, such as the borders south of Lake Chad with the Bagirmi or westwards with the Hausa states. Moreover, the core of Bornu and the newly conquered regions had sensibly different territorial structures. In metropolitan Bornu, a double fief system enabled the mais and later the shehus to levy taxes and troops in their empire. The first one was a personal fief where the fief-holder, the chima jilibe, owned a fief over people, the second one was territorial: here the fief-holder, the chima chidibe, was in charge of a specific territory. This system enabled the empire to control its sedentary population as well as incorporating its nomadic or semi-nomadic subjects such as the Shuwa Arabs. This administrative structure was present in metropolitan Bornu whereas the satellite regions were still administered by a local ruler. For example, the sultanate of Zinder was semiautonomous but still part of the Kanem-Bornu Empire until the middle of the 19th century.” §REF§Hiribarren, V. (2016). Kanem-Bornu Empire. In N. Dalziel & J. M. MacKenzie (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Empire (pp. 1–6). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.: 4. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/KNHK5ANQ/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 472, "polity": { "id": 671, "name": "ni_dahomey_k", "long_name": "Foys", "start_year": 1715, "end_year": 1894 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "unitary state", "comment": null, "description": "“The success of the kings of Dahomey, in origin rebels with no traditional claim to authority, in winning acceptance of the legitimacy of their rule and uniting the conquered communities in a new sense of national identity, is remarkable. The successful consolidation of the Dahomian monarchy in the eighteenth century, it seems clear, cannot be adequately explained solely by the exercise of the coercive powers of the state, and its physical liquidation of rivals to and opponents of its authority, but requires consideration also of the sphere of ideology.” §REF§Law, R. (1989). ‘My Head Belongs to the King’: On the Political and Ritual Significance of Decapitation in Pre-Colonial Dahomey. The Journal of African History, 30(3), 399–415: 399. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5335RH4I/collection§REF§ “Thus, provincial governors were royal agents: they were responsible for public order, collecting taxes, providing military quotas, maintaining national highways, and settling all land disputes.” §REF§Lombard, J. (1976). The Kingdom of Dahomey. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 70–92). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 76. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/T6WTVSHZ/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 473, "polity": { "id": 673, "name": "ni_wukari_fed", "long_name": "Wukari Federation", "start_year": 1820, "end_year": 1899 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "“The list of the State offices among the Jukun Wapa of Wukari seemed inexhaustible. It is a clear indication that it was an elaborate political system that gave detail to virtually all aspect of political organization. With respect to the political system of the other Jukun chieftaincies, it was obvious that they were strikingly similar to that of Wukari but without the latter’s titles. Each had its chief surrounded by counselors comprising elders and religious dignitaries under an official equivalent to the Abo of Wukari. It was in this regard that C.K Meek concluded that the various Jukun groups were organized under a loosely knit confederacy composed of a number of semi-independent chiefdoms, the heads of which recognized the supremacy of the king of Kwararafa and later of Wukari.” §REF§Zhema, S. (2017). A History of the Social and Political Organization of the Jukun of Wukari Division, c.1596–1960 [Benue State University]: 128. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/U667CC36/collection§REF§ “The identification of Jukun, Apa, Kwana and Kwararafa goes back to at least the mid-nineteenth century, but modern Jukun have no memory of Kwararafa or a supposedly martial past, and Kwararafa invasions ended mysteriously in the seventeenth century. In the nineteenth, the Jukun lived, not in a unified kingdom, but in a number of small communities in the Benue valley. It is possible that Kwararafa was a generic name for non-Muslim peoples from Dar al-Harb, the Land of Unbelief. It may well have been a multi-ethnic federation, which acted together for specific purposes and then disbanded.” §REF§Isichei, E. (1997). A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press: 235. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z4GK27CI/collection§REF§ “C.K. Meek suggested that the of political organization of the Jukun people of Wukari Division might be described as a theocracy, based on the conception that the king was the representative of the gods and the divinely appointed intermediary between them and the people. ‘It follows, therefore, that the Jukun system of government is in theory at least, of a highly despotic character. The king is supreme. His decisions have a divine authority and there is then no appeal. Before the advent of British Government, he had the power of life and death. As head of a spiritual principality, which included a number of nominally independent chiefdoms, he could order the deposition or execution of chiefs who disobeyed his behest.’ The Aku-Uka of Wukari, who is the supreme ruler of the Jukun people, exercised political cum religious influence on other Jukun communities, yet these Jukun communities maintained certain degrees of their uniqueness. In this sense, one could liken the political system that existed among the Jukun before the advent of Colonial rule to a confederal system.” §REF§Zhema, S. (2017). A History of the Social and Political Organization of the Jukun of Wukari Division, c.1596–1960 [Benue State University]: 122. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/U667CC36/collection§REF§ “Ministers were unable to make their offices hereditary; the only strictly hereditary offices in the Jukun constitution were cere- monial and priestly ones with minimal secular powers. Although some of the ministers were territorial chiefs economically independent of the king, their ad- ministrative ' fiefs ' were attached to their offices, so they were unable to claim lasting ties of personal allegiance from outlying parts of the state.” §REF§ Young, M. W. (1966). The Divine Kingship of the Jukun: A Re-Evaluation of Some Theories. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 36(2), 135–153: 141. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NTI9GQMF/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 474, "polity": { "id": 679, "name": "se_jolof_emp", "long_name": "Jolof Empire", "start_year": 1360, "end_year": 1549 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "“The empire’s territories included the Wolof provinces of Jolof, Waalo, Kajoor, and Bawol and the Sereer provinces of Siin and Saalum, all of which later became independent kingdoms.” §REF§ (Aderinto 2017, 281) Aderinto, Saheed. 2017. African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/4E8Q8Z29/collection §REF§" }, { "id": 475, "polity": { "id": 683, "name": "ug_buganda_k_2", "long_name": "Buganda II", "start_year": 1717, "end_year": 1894 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "unitary state", "comment": null, "description": "\"Most African kingdoms have ill-defined frontiers, a wide borderland where the king's commands may or may not be obeyed, but Buganda, as has been well said, had 'sharp edges; one was either in it or outside it'. Royal power was exercised close to the border not much less effectively than within a mile of the palace. Beyond the border there was a wide domain of influence and depredation but not government. Kings Kamaanya, Ssuuna and Muteesa launched regular raids into these areas, interfered in succession disputes so as to secure pliant rulers, sometimes exacted tribute, but did not incorporate them into their own system.\" §REF§(Wrigley 2002: 66) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/DNKVW9WZ/collection.§REF§" }, { "id": 476, "polity": { "id": 686, "name": "tz_karagwe_k", "long_name": "Karagwe", "start_year": 1500, "end_year": 1916 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "unitary state", "comment": null, "description": "The following quote suggests a high level of centralisation. \"In these chiefdoms, and especially in Karagwe, the pastoralists, known as Hima, held a distinct social predominance which may have resulted from their ability to make cultivators their clients by loaning cattle. Yet the kings attempted to exert an independent authority over both classes of men, prohibiting blood feuds between clans, appointing royal relatives as sub-chiefs and village headmen occupying nyarubanja estates, waginga long and largely successful struggle to control the mediums of the kubandwa cult which dominated local religion, and organising elaborate courts at which each clan performed a specialised function. In Karagwe, unlike Ufipa, villagers did not even elect their headmen or allocate land. It was Tanganyika's most stratified and authoritarian society, and its cultivators' misery struck several early visitors.\"§REF§(Iliffe 1979: 24-25) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.§REF§" }, { "id": 477, "polity": { "id": 688, "name": "ug_nkore_k_1", "long_name": "Nkore", "start_year": 1450, "end_year": 1749 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "quasi-polity", "comment": null, "description": "\"Indeed, considering what is recorded it seems fairly certain that following Nkuba's consolidation of personal power over the Hima clans until the eventful reign of Ntare IV (1699-1727/26), the absence of historical information stems from the fact that few people in Ankole then or since would recognize the society of the first ten generations as either an historical or political unit much less as a state. Nkuba and his successors emerge dimly from the spare record as what Ruhinda himself was — a wandering herdsman and warrior. The Mugabe (king) of later years was at this stage merely the leading member of the central clan of a cluster of pastoral clans — the giver of gifts of cattle as his title literally implies rather than the monarch or ruler (Mukama) of a sovereign state.\"§REF§(Steinhart 1978: 136) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.§REF§" }, { "id": 478, "polity": { "id": 690, "name": "bu_burundi_k", "long_name": "Burundi", "start_year": 1680, "end_year": 1903 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "loose", "comment": null, "description": "\"Though Ntare Rugamba is said to have doubled the area of the country, the administrative legacy of Ntare's rule was at least as important history to Burundi political history as were his military exploits. With such rapid expansion, Ntare relied on his sons as administrators: he was strong enough to set up his sons, but not strong enough to incorporate these regions fully within central control. [...] During the late nineteenth century, under the reign of Mwezi Gisabo, a four- tiered system of administration emerged: a central area around Muramvya under the control of the king; an area under the administration of his sons or brothers most closely allied to the king; a broad swath further east and south administered by Batare chiefs, the descendants of Ntare; and another zone, covering the western and northwestern areas of the country, under the administration of others, not Baganwa (in fact, they were mostly Hutu authorities). (See Figure 8.) From this pattern, three types of political relations emerged. Administrative authorities in the east and south- east, often Batare (descendants of Ntare Rugamba), simply retained their administrative autonomy while acknowledging nominal central court ritual hegemony. Those in the northeast more characteristically undertook open revolt, often by those who sought to overthrow Mwezi. [...] In the northwest, by contrast, pretenders to royal power had more tenuous claims to Ganwa identity; they drew on local traditions of resistance and benefited from the resources of the Lake Tanganyika trade network (as well as support from other states such as the Shi kingdoms west of Lake Kivu).\" §REF§(Newbury 2001: 283-284) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/J5A6DM3P/collection.§REF§" }, { "id": 479, "polity": { "id": 696, "name": "tz_buhayo_k", "long_name": "Buhaya", "start_year": 1700, "end_year": 1890 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "quasi-polity", "comment": null, "description": "\"Karagwe, Nkore, and Buhaya formed small neighboring states to the major kingdoms of Bunyoro and Buganda in the Great Lakes region. Karagwe and Nkore were individual polities, while Buhaya refers to an area along the western side of Lake Victoria in which seven small states were recognized: Kiamutwara, Kiziba, Ihangiro, Kihanja, Bugabo, Maruku, and Missenye.\"§REF§(Shillington 2005: 591) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AWA9ZT5B/collection.§REF§" }, { "id": 480, "polity": { "id": 571, "name": "ru_romanov_dyn_2", "long_name": "Russian Empire, Romanov Dynasty II", "start_year": 1776, "end_year": 1917 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "unitary state", "comment": null, "description": "Russian empire during the Romanov period was a highly centralized state.§REF§“A History of Russia by Kluchevsky V. O.: Fine Hardcover (1911)“A History of Russia by Kluchevsky V. O.: Fine Hardcover (1911)<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/L3XAFANG\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: L3XAFANG</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 481, "polity": { "id": 600, "name": "ru_romanov_dyn_1", "long_name": "Russian Empire, Romanov Dynasty I", "start_year": 1614, "end_year": 1775 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "unitary state", "comment": null, "description": "Russian empire during the Romanov period was a highly centralized state.§REF§“A History of Russia by Kluchevsky V. O.: Fine Hardcover (1911)“A History of Russia by Kluchevsky V. O.: Fine Hardcover (1911)<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/L3XAFANG\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: L3XAFANG</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 484, "polity": { "id": 598, "name": "cz_bohemian_k_1", "long_name": "Kingdom of Bohemia - Přemyslid Dynasty", "start_year": 1198, "end_year": 1309 }, "year_from": 1198, "year_to": 1253, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "The Přemyslid rulers worked to centralize authority but faced challenges from the powerful nobility and the fragmented nature of medieval governance up until the rule of Ottokar II who significantly increased efforts of centralisation.§REF§Jörg K. Hoensch, Geschichte Böhmens: von der slavischen Landnahme bis zur Gegenwart.<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/APL977ZI\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: APL977ZI</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 487, "polity": { "id": 801, "name": "de_hohenzollern_1", "long_name": "Electorate of Brandenburg", "start_year": 1415, "end_year": 1618 }, "year_from": 1415, "year_to": 1539, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "loose", "comment": null, "description": "The Electorate of Brandenburg's degree of centralization saw gradual increases during this period, particularly as the Hohenzollerns worked to consolidate their control over the territory and diminish the power of the local nobility, known as the Junkers.\r\n\r\nInitially, the Hohenzollerns faced a fragmented state with significant autonomy held by local nobles. Frederick I, the first Hohenzollern Elector of Brandenburg, and his successors worked to centralize authority but were often constrained by the power of the estates.\r\n\r\nAlbert Achilles's establishment of the Dispositio Achillea in 1473, which ensured that Brandenburg would remain united under a single ruler, was a crucial step towards centralization.\r\nJoachim II introduced the Lutheran Reformation to Brandenburg in 1539, which, alongside centralizing religious authority, also allowed for the consolidation of secular power as church properties were secularized and brought under Elector control.\r\n\r\nAfter 1656 the outright bypassing of the Estate rule and the establishment of new governance structures by the territorial lord mark a definitive move towards a 'unitary state'.\r\n\r\n§REF§Johannes Schultze, Die Mark Brandenburg, 2e ed. (Berlin: Duncker und Humblot, 1989).<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TBJ2MH6T\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: TBJ2MH6T</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 488, "polity": { "id": 801, "name": "de_hohenzollern_1", "long_name": "Electorate of Brandenburg", "start_year": 1415, "end_year": 1618 }, "year_from": 1539, "year_to": 1618, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "" }, { "id": 494, "polity": { "id": 330, "name": "pl_teutonic_order", "long_name": "State of the Teutonic Order", "start_year": 1300, "end_year": 1400 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "unitary state", "comment": null, "description": "The organization of the Teutonic Order was highly structured, with the Grand Master at the top of the hierarchy exercising significant control over the territories and military orders within the state.§REF§Jürgen Sarnowsky, Der Deutsche Orden, 3., durchgesehene Auflage., C.H. Beck Wissen 2428 (München: C.H.Beck, 2022).<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QW4M9YTP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: QW4M9YTP</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 495, "polity": { "id": 797, "name": "de_empire_1", "long_name": "Holy Roman Empire - Ottonian-Salian Dynasty", "start_year": 919, "end_year": 1125 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "" }, { "id": 496, "polity": { "id": 799, "name": "de_empire_2", "long_name": "Holy Roman Empire - Hohenstaufen and Welf Dynasties", "start_year": 1126, "end_year": 1254 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "loose", "comment": null, "description": "" }, { "id": 497, "polity": { "id": 803, "name": "de_bavaria_1", "long_name": "Electorate of Bavaria", "start_year": 1623, "end_year": 1806 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "unitary state", "comment": null, "description": "Maximilian I, through various reforms, rehabilitated the country financially and made it economically productive. By eliminating the Landstände's rights of participation, he became the actual founder of absolutist rule in Bavaria. §REF§Biographie, “Maximilian I. - Deutsche Biographie.<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/J73E62FS\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: J73E62FS</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 498, "polity": { "id": 317, "name": "pl_piast_dyn_1", "long_name": "Polish Kingdom - Piast Dynasty", "start_year": 963, "end_year": 1138 }, "year_from": 966, "year_to": 1138, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "unitary state", "comment": null, "description": "During Mieszko I's reign and continuing through the rule of Bolesław III Wrymouth, Poland could be considered a unitary state evidenced by the adoption of Christianity, the establishment of a centralized church structure, and the consolidation of territories under a central authority.§REF§Eduard Mühle, Die Piasten: Polen im Mittelalter, Bsr 2709 (München: Verlag C.H. Beck, 2011).<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/EVZQ25XL\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: EVZQ25XL</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 501, "polity": { "id": 809, "name": "pl_piast_dyn_2", "long_name": "Polish Kingdom - Piast Dynasty Fragmented Period", "start_year": 1139, "end_year": 1382 }, "year_from": 1320, "year_to": 1370, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "unitary state", "comment": null, "description": "With the coronation of Władysław I as king in 1320 and the subsequent reign of Casimir III the Great, Poland once again moved toward the structure of a unitary state. Casimir III's made extensive reforms and centralization efforts, including legal and administrative reforms.§REF§Norman Davies, God’s Playground: A History of Poland: In Two Volumes, Rev. ed. (Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/LUJ3NYJU\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: LUJ3NYJU</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 502, "polity": { "id": 809, "name": "pl_piast_dyn_2", "long_name": "Polish Kingdom - Piast Dynasty Fragmented Period", "start_year": 1139, "end_year": 1382 }, "year_from": 1139, "year_to": 1320, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "none", "comment": null, "description": "After the death of Bolesław III Wrymouth in 1138, the Kingdom of Poland entered a period of feudal fragmentation that lasted for nearly two centuries.§REF§Norman Davies, God’s Playground: A History of Poland: In Two Volumes, Rev. ed. (Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/LUJ3NYJU\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: LUJ3NYJU</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 503, "polity": { "id": 810, "name": "hu_arpad_dyn", "long_name": "Hungary Kingdom - Árpád Dynasty", "start_year": 1000, "end_year": 1301 }, "year_from": 1000, "year_to": 1150, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "loose", "comment": null, "description": "The formation of the Hungarian state under the leadership of Árpád and his successors involved the unification of various Magyar tribes and the establishment of a Christian monarchy under Stephen I. The governance structure was still evolving, with significant autonomy retained by tribal leaders and the early nobility.§REF§Pál Engel, The Realm of St. Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526 (London ; New York, NY: I.B. Tauris, 2005).<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9BBKM3AR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9BBKM3AR</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 504, "polity": { "id": 810, "name": "hu_arpad_dyn", "long_name": "Hungary Kingdom - Árpád Dynasty", "start_year": 1000, "end_year": 1301 }, "year_from": 1222, "year_to": 1301, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "The issuance of the Golden Bull by Andrew II marked a significant shift towards a \"confederated state\" , explicitly limiting the power of the monarchy in favor of greater rights and autonomy for the nobility.§REF§Pál Engel, The Realm of St. Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526 (London ; New York, NY: I.B. Tauris, 2005).<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9BBKM3AR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9BBKM3AR</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 505, "polity": { "id": 798, "name": "de_east_francia", "long_name": "East Francia", "start_year": 842, "end_year": 919 }, "year_from": 842, "year_to": 880, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "loose", "comment": null, "description": "The central government exerted some control over military matters and international relations, but regional rulers enjoyed significant autonomy in governing their territories. This period saw the Carolingian empire's gradual fragmentation, where loyalty to the central authority was often nominal, and regional rulers held the real power in their lands.§REF§Carlrichard Brühl et al., Die Geburt zweier Völker: Deutsche und Franzosen (9. - 11. Jahrhundert) (Köln Weimar Wien: Böhlau, 2001).<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JNUIX7CZ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: JNUIX7CZ</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 506, "polity": { "id": 798, "name": "de_east_francia", "long_name": "East Francia", "start_year": 842, "end_year": 919 }, "year_from": 880, "year_to": 911, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "East Francia moved towards a more \"confederated state\", particularly during the reign of Arnulf of Carinthia. While regional dukes and nobles still held considerable power, there was a concerted effort by the central authority to assert greater control over the realm. This period saw the establishment of more hereditary rule and the beginnings of the feudal system, where the central authority recognized the hereditary rights of regional lords in exchange for military and political support. The central government had some influence over regional taxation and governance, but regions enjoyed a high degree of autonomy.§REF§Carlrichard Brühl et al., Die Geburt zweier Völker: Deutsche und Franzosen (9. - 11. Jahrhundert) (Köln Weimar Wien: Böhlau, 2001).<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JNUIX7CZ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: JNUIX7CZ</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 507, "polity": { "id": 567, "name": "at_habsburg_2", "long_name": "Austria - Habsburg Dynasty II", "start_year": 1649, "end_year": 1918 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "nominal", "comment": null, "description": "" }, { "id": 508, "polity": { "id": 574, "name": "gb_anglo_saxon_1", "long_name": "Anglo-Saxon England I", "start_year": 410, "end_year": 926 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "quasi-polity", "comment": null, "description": "" }, { "id": 509, "polity": { "id": 800, "name": "de_empire_3", "long_name": "Holy Roman Empire - Fragmented Period", "start_year": 1255, "end_year": 1453 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "loose", "comment": null, "description": "" }, { "id": 510, "polity": { "id": 586, "name": "gb_england_norman", "long_name": "Norman England", "start_year": 1066, "end_year": 1153 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": "While the king had overarching authority, regional lords (barons and earls) governed their territories with a high degree of autonomy in local matters. Regional governance was a mix of royal appointments and hereditary positions:\r\nSheriffs were appointed by the king and represented the Crown’s authority in local jurisdictions.\r\nEarls and barons, however, were often hereditary and wielded considerable power within their domains, especially in areas like taxation and governance. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/MXKV3EU2\">[webpage_Home | Domesday Book]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JISXN2HM\">[Carpenter 2003]</a>", "description": "" } ] }