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=9
{ "count": 499, "next": "https://seshat-db.com/api/general/polity-degree-of-centralizations/?format=api&page=10", "previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/general/polity-degree-of-centralizations/?format=api&page=8", "results": [ { "id": 401, "polity": { "id": 465, "name": "uz_khwarasm_1", "long_name": "Ancient Khwarazm", "start_year": -1000, "end_year": -521 }, "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": " 'Discussing the problems of pre-Achaemenian Khorezm, S. P. Tolstov considered that this ancient realm was a tribal confederation of chiefdoms that gradually evolved into a state'.§REF§(Askarov 1992, 447) A. Askarov. 1992. 'The Beginning of the Iron Age in Transoxania', in <i>History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol 1: The Dawn of Civilization: Earliest Times to 700 B.C.</i>, edited by A. H. Dani and V. M. Masson, 441-58. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.§REF§ Abazov says: 'Khwarezm, likely one of the oldest political entities in the territories of Central Asia, was situated between Sogdiana and the Aral Sea. It was probably a loose confederation of settled and seminomadic groups'.§REF§(Abazov 2008, xxxii) Rafis Abazov. 2008. <i>The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Central Asia</i>. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.§REF§" }, { "id": 402, "polity": { "id": 464, "name": "uz_koktepe_1", "long_name": "Koktepe I", "start_year": -1400, "end_year": -1000 }, "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": 403, "polity": { "id": 466, "name": "uz_koktepe_2", "long_name": "Koktepe II", "start_year": -750, "end_year": -550 }, "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": "\"Reflecting the major social and political development of the region, this monumental architecture is evidence of a strong local state organization. The inner buildings of these courtyards are at present difficult to reconstruct. Although this question has still to be resolved, it would seem that the courtyards of Koktepe housed earlier religious and administrative institutions.\"§REF§(Rapin 2007, 35) Rapin, Claude. \"Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period.\" in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy.§REF§" }, { "id": 404, "polity": { "id": 287, "name": "uz_samanid_emp", "long_name": "Samanid Empire", "start_year": 819, "end_year": 999 }, "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": "\"Compared to the Tahirids, the Samanids were a very centralized dynasty, and the growth of the bureaucracy paralleled a growth of cities.\"§REF§(Frye 1975, 153) Frye, Richard Nelson. 1975. The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.§REF§" }, { "id": 405, "polity": { "id": 468, "name": "uz_sogdiana_city_states", "long_name": "Sogdiana - City-States Period", "start_year": 604, "end_year": 711 }, "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": "City state principalities e.g. in Bukhara and Samarkand. \"Sogdiana was not unified, and several Sogdian city-states shared the Zarafshan and adjacent valleys. Samarkand was certainly the principal political power: it occasionally managed to secure control of certain small cities,33 and its king claimed the title of “King of Sogdiana, Sovereign of Samarkand” (sgwdy’nk MLK’ sm’rkndc MR’Y ). Each city had its particular aristocracy, and the cas- tles of the nobles made the Sogdian countryside bristle with many fortified towns around which the population was organized. The nobles drew vast revenues from the land and possessed properties in both town and country.\" §REF§(De la Vaissière 2005, 167)§REF§" }, { "id": 406, "polity": { "id": 370, "name": "uz_timurid_emp", "long_name": "Timurid Empire", "start_year": 1370, "end_year": 1526 }, "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": "Did not take the title of \"Khan\" because he was not in the family of Genghis Khan: \"he maintained the charade that he was a governor under the Chagatai khan, when in reality he was the supreme power.\"§REF§(Khan 2003, 33) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.§REF§" }, { "id": 407, "polity": { "id": 370, "name": "uz_timurid_emp", "long_name": "Timurid Empire", "start_year": 1370, "end_year": 1526 }, "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": "Did not take the title of \"Khan\" because he was not in the family of Genghis Khan: \"he maintained the charade that he was a governor under the Chagatai khan, when in reality he was the supreme power.\"§REF§(Khan 2003, 33) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.§REF§" }, { "id": 408, "polity": { "id": 370, "name": "uz_timurid_emp", "long_name": "Timurid Empire", "start_year": 1370, "end_year": 1526 }, "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": "Did not take the title of \"Khan\" because he was not in the family of Genghis Khan: \"he maintained the charade that he was a governor under the Chagatai khan, when in reality he was the supreme power.\"§REF§(Khan 2003, 33) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.§REF§" }, { "id": 409, "polity": { "id": 353, "name": "ye_himyar_1", "long_name": "Himyar I", "start_year": 270, "end_year": 340 }, "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": "In the Middle Period 1-400 CE: \"the state organization of the Himyarite South appears to be significantly stronger than that of the Sabaean North\" and tribes were less important there.§REF§(Korotayev 1996, 10) Andrey Vitalyevhich Korotayev. 1996. Pre-Islamic Yemen. Socio-political Organization of the Sabaean Cultural Area in the 2nd and 3rd Centuries AD. Harrassowitz Verlag. Wiesbaden.§REF§" }, { "id": 410, "polity": { "id": 354, "name": "ye_himyar_2", "long_name": "Himyar II", "start_year": 378, "end_year": 525 }, "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": "In the Middle Period 1-400 CE: \"the state organization of the Himyarite South appears to be significantly stronger than that of the Sabaean North\" and tribes were less important there.§REF§(Korotayev 1996, 10) Andrey Vitalyevhich Korotayev. 1996. Pre-Islamic Yemen. Socio-political Organization of the Sabaean Cultural Area in the 2nd and 3rd Centuries AD. Harrassowitz Verlag. Wiesbaden.§REF§" }, { "id": 411, "polity": { "id": 541, "name": "ye_qasimid_dyn", "long_name": "Yemen - Qasimid Dynasty", "start_year": 1637, "end_year": 1805 }, "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": " Tribal leaders held lands, collected taxes, and defended forts, enabling them to form a power base in their own right: 'Whatever setbacks they suffered, however, Bayt al-Ahmar were not displaced permanently. In the year after Abu 'Alamah's rising, when the Sharif of Abu 'Arish and a rival claimant to the Imamate were active in the north-west, they were again a power to be reckoned with.\" Certainly they collected taxes as well as rents in the nineteenth century, and local memory credits them with taking revenue even from coastal towns in the north Tihamah, They retain considerable lands in the west to the present day.' §REF§Dresch, Paul 1989. \"Tribes, Government and History in Yemen\", 206§REF§" }, { "id": 412, "polity": { "id": 539, "name": "ye_qatabanian_commonwealth", "long_name": "Qatabanian Commonwealth", "start_year": -450, "end_year": -111 }, "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": " \"Until the end of the third century AD, when the kingdom of Ḥimyar, which had just expelled an Ethiopian invasion, annexed the kingdom of Sabaʾ and conquered Ḥaḍramawt (Ch. 3), South Arabia was divided between numerous kingdoms\".§REF§(Robin 2015: 94) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In <i>Arabs and Empires before Islam</i>, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3</a>.§REF§" }, { "id": 413, "polity": { "id": 368, "name": "ye_rasulid_dyn", "long_name": "Rasulid Dynasty", "start_year": 1229, "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": "unitary state", "comment": null, "description": "<br>" }, { "id": 414, "polity": { "id": 538, "name": "ye_sabaean_commonwealth", "long_name": "Sabaean Commonwealth", "start_year": -800, "end_year": -451 }, "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": " \"Until the end of the third century AD, when the kingdom of Ḥimyar, which had just expelled an Ethiopian invasion, annexed the kingdom of Sabaʾ and conquered Ḥaḍramawt (Ch. 3), South Arabia was divided between numerous kingdoms\".§REF§(Robin 2015: 94) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In <i>Arabs and Empires before Islam</i>, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZMFH42PE\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZMFH42PE</a>.§REF§" }, { "id": 415, "polity": { "id": 372, "name": "ye_tahirid_dyn", "long_name": "Yemen - Tahirid Dynasty", "start_year": 1454, "end_year": 1517 }, "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": null }, { "id": 416, "polity": { "id": 365, "name": "ye_warlords", "long_name": "Yemen - Era of Warlords", "start_year": 1038, "end_year": 1174 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "uncoded", "comment": null, "description": "\"From the foregoing brief account, it may be seen that in one sense there was a Yemeni polity during these troubled centuries. At no time did the values and objectives of would-be rulers and of the population at large agree. Tribes, dynasties, and religious leaders nevertheless acted frequently, if intermittently, over most of Yemen's territory ... The ad hoc, evanescent coalitions formed are characteristic of a segmental pattern of authority, and thus of weakness of the political system as a whole. Some dynasties - the Sulayhids, the Zuray'ids, the Najab - succeeded in assembling substantial material resources, and were wealthy by the standards of the time; but they failed in the essential task of mobilizing the human energies needed to build and defend a viable Yemeni state. This consequent debility made Yemen an attractive target for foreign ambitions, and the country was in fact to become a family colony of the Ayyubids.\"§REF§(Stookey 1978, 99) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 417, "polity": { "id": 359, "name": "ye_ziyad_dyn", "long_name": "Yemen Ziyadid Dynasty", "start_year": 822, "end_year": 1037 }, "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 Ziyadi state was firmly entrenched in the Tinhama, and enjoyed loose suzerainty over a sultan at Aden, whose authority extended eastward along the coast. The Banu Ziyad, on the other hand, had no influence in the highlands.\"§REF§(Stookey 1978, 54) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.§REF§<br>Tihama = coastal plain.<br>\"For a century and a half no central power of consequence existed in the Yemen inland from the Tihama. Most of the local rulers invoked the Abbasid caliph in the Friday prayers; they repressed overt manifestations of Ismaili sentiment, but offered no persuaive ideological alternative.\"§REF§(Stookey 1978, 57) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.§REF§" }, { "id": 418, "polity": { "id": 650, "name": "et_kaffa_k", "long_name": "Kingdom of Kaffa", "start_year": 1390, "end_year": 1897 }, "year_from": 1390, "year_to": 1529, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "This quote has a date range of around 1530 CE- 1897 CE as indicated by Orent. “Each of these clans was allowed to maintain its autonomy with its own ruler (referred to as tato or king in the legends) who was responsible to the King of Kafa.” §REF§ (Orent 1970, 269) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection §REF§" }, { "id": 419, "polity": { "id": 650, "name": "et_kaffa_k", "long_name": "Kingdom of Kaffa", "start_year": 1390, "end_year": 1897 }, "year_from": 1530, "year_to": 1897, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "loose", "comment": null, "description": "This quote has a date range of around 1530 CE- 1897 CE as indicated by Orent. “Each of these clans was allowed to maintain its autonomy with its own ruler (referred to as tato or king in the legends) who was responsible to the King of Kafa.” §REF§ (Orent 1970, 269) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection §REF§" }, { "id": 420, "polity": { "id": 672, "name": "ni_benin_emp", "long_name": "Benin Empire", "start_year": 1140, "end_year": 1897 }, "year_from": 1180, "year_to": 1428, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "loose", "comment": null, "description": "“Relationships between the village and palace hierarchies prior to 1320 - under the first Benin dynasty - were maintained and reinforced through the mechanism of minimal allegiance and redistributive tribute. […] The emergence of the second dynasty in c. 1320-1347 did not, initially at least, fundamentally alter the political, social, and / or economic balance in the state.” §REF§Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 406–407. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection§REF§ “Oba Ewedo (c. 1374-1401) took major initiatives to establish a more hierarchical central administration and remove the monarchy from Uzama domination. Ewedo established an autonomous palace protected by a loyal standing army and maintained by an independent tribute network (Egharevba 1968, 9-10). The ability of the Oba to demand and receive tribute from the village Onojie, thus circumventing Uzama domination, was apparently based upon the development of coercive authority. This newfound capability enabled the Oba to restrict the authority and prestige of the Uzama and impose the new central administration forcefully. The Uzama Nihinron, naturally enough, objected violently, but the coercive power of the monarchy forced ultimate acquiescence (Egharevba 1968, 10). The creation of a drastically altered and expanded political hierarchy in c. 1374- 1401 marked a significant change in the economic and social development of Benin and concomitantly established the Oba as paramount authority in the state. However, ‘... as the state organization became more centralized it began to use the concept of territorial power ... the prestige of the sovereign never completely effaced the tribopatriarchal authority. At most, the kingship took the form of a superimposed bureaucracy which nonetheless respected the structure of rural life (Coquery-Vidrovitch 1976, 92).’” §REF§Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 408. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection§REF§ Oba Ewuare built on the work started by Oba Eweko (c. 1374–1401) to move the Benin Empire towards increased centralization. “Oba Ewuare seems to have transformed Benin from a segmentary tribute paying formation into a national trading structure. The incorporation of the majority of Edo-speaking people in the Benin political framework established a national character for the state, a polity ruled by a dynasty that was becoming progressively Edo-speaking. The dominant mode of production in the new social formation was still the village Otu system, and tribute remained one of the principle supports for the national elite. However, under Oba Ewuare (c. 1428-1455), commercial revenues and levies were appropriated at an increased rate. According to Webster's typology for Africa, the basis of primary support for the elite determined the classification of the social formation (1982, 2). The concern for trade, the management of commercial enterprise, and the control of major trade routes contributed to the expansion of trade and commerce. This development provided the opportunity for elite support that may have been greater in value than that extracted from allegiance, supportive, and redistributive tribute. It seems, therefore, that Oba Ewuare transformed Benin from a tribute-based social formation to a national trading state.” §REF§Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 414. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection§REF§ “In fact, the transformation of the segmentary redistributive social formation into a highly exploitative centralised administration had taken only three generations. From about 1374 to 1455, therefore, Benin had experienced a rather dramatic shift toward centralised coercive state exploitation, clear evidence of a transformation from a redistributive social formation to a highly organised tribute paying structure. Real tribute paying social formations suggest a dual economy - enclave and hinterland - and the process of underdeveloping the hinterland begins. The next generation (c. 1455-1482) in the development of this centralised exploitative political structure was even more dramatic than all previous generations combined. The reign of Oba Ewuare witnessed a drastic increase in the state bureaucracy; Ewuare appointed no less than seventeen new officials to the palace administration (Egharevba 1960, 78-79). Ewuare went even further in his reorganisation of the state by annexing the Ishan chiefdoms and incorporating them as vassal tributary village clusters (Okojie 1960, 209; Miller 1983).” §REF§Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 412. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection§REF§ “It is useful to distinguish what we may call the Benin kingdom from the outlying territories which at various times accepted the Oba’s suzerainty. […] Generally speaking, the Benin kingdom may be defined as the area within which the Oba was recognized as the sole human arbiter of life and death. Within it no one could be put to death without his consent, and any person accused of a capital offence had to be brought before his court.” §REF§Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 3. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection§REF§ “From about 1293 to 1536, Benin evolved from a segmentary redistributive chiefdom to a centralised imperial power.” §REF§Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 402. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection§REF§ “It is possible to see not only a major evolution in the political and economic structures of Benin from about 1293 to 1536 but also major changes in power relations, social structures, and economic organisation. The state had evolved from a segmentary redistributive social formation to a centralised tributary state. Subsequent economic and political policy further transformed the society into a major regional partner in long distance trade, into a conquest state, and ultimately into an imperial trading formation.” §REF§Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 421–422. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection§REF§ “In the late fifteenth century Benin was a well-established state with a large army conducting long campaigns far afield. It was already approaching the peak of its power and prosperity. By the late sixteenth century its frontiers had reached out westwards along the coast to beyond Lagos, north-west through the country of the Ekiti Yoruba to Ottun, where there was a boundary with Oyo, and eastwards to the Niger. Thus, it embraced considerable populations of eastern Yoruba and western Ibo. The former largely retained their characteristically Yoruba political systems. Their titles, regalia, and ceremonial forms were influenced by Benin, but these were matters of style rather than structure. Within a limited framework of controls exercised by the Oba—tribute, assistance in war, facilities for Edo traders—they enjoyed internal autonomy. Many western Ibo groups developed into small centralized states in which Benin-type institutions, copied with varying degrees of similitude, were superimposed on and accommodated to local social forms. Most of their chiefs (obi) accepted the Oba’s suzerainty, but others, some of them founded by dissident groups from Benin itself, lay beyond his control.” §REF§Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 5. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection§REF§ “The last three centuries of Benin’s independence saw a gradual shrinking of the area from which its government could enforce delivery of tribute and military service and secure safe passage for Benin traders, though this decline was by no means uninterrupted. During the eighteenth century there were many campaigns aimed at maintaining control over the western Ibo area. In Osemwende’s reign, in the early nineteenth century, control over the Ekiti Yoruba to the north was reconsolidated. Throughout the nineteenth century this latter area was the most important, though not the only, hinterland for Benin traders.” §REF§Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 4. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection§REF§ “Benin warriors played some part in the Ekiti wars, but on a freelance basis; they took advantage of the confused situation to raid for slaves and loot. They sent gifts to the Oba, for they were dependent on the Benin route for their supplies. In return he occasionally dispatched reinforcements to help them, but his control over them was minimal. In the 1880s the official Benin army, under the Ezɔmɔ, was occupied subduing rebellious villages on the very north-west borders of the kingdom itself, no more than fifty miles from the capital.” §REF§Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 7. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection§REF§ “Their territories consisted only of the villages or hamlets in which they lived with, in some cases, one or more villages farther afield; but in the internal affairs of these territories the Oba ought not to interfere. Their inhabitants were subjects of the Uzama rather than of the Oba. Freemen of Uzebu, for example, were eviɛn-Ezɔmɔ rather than eviɛn-Ɔba.” §REF§Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 15. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection§REF§ “Thus, it becomes necessary to differentiate between the \"state\" of Benin and Benin proper.' For the state, in fact, consisted of many \"independent communities\" which \"were seldom at peace,\" which enjoyed \"very full powers of local government,\" and which \"were left pretty much alone to work out their own destinies\". [I9] The peoples of the territory between Bonny and Lagos constituted a \"state,\" only insofar as their tribute and services were rendered to the Oba of Benin.” §REF§Graham, J. D. (1965). The Slave Trade, Depopulation and Human Sacrifice in Benin History: The General Approach. Cahiers d’Études Africaines, 5(18), 317–334: 320. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/4AS9CVZH/collection§REF§ “But, since the \"state\" of Benin was thoroughly decentralized, it existed only insofar as outlying provinces paid their due tribute to the Oba. The fluid situation in which the Benin \"state\" existed defies precise definition of the extent of that state”. §REF§Graham, J. D. (1965). The Slave Trade, Depopulation and Human Sacrifice in Benin History: The General Approach. Cahiers d’Études Africaines, 5(18), 317–334: 331. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/4AS9CVZH/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 421, "polity": { "id": 672, "name": "ni_benin_emp", "long_name": "Benin Empire", "start_year": 1140, "end_year": 1897 }, "year_from": 1428, "year_to": 1897, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "“Relationships between the village and palace hierarchies prior to 1320 - under the first Benin dynasty - were maintained and reinforced through the mechanism of minimal allegiance and redistributive tribute. […] The emergence of the second dynasty in c. 1320-1347 did not, initially at least, fundamentally alter the political, social, and / or economic balance in the state.” §REF§Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 406–407. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection§REF§ “Oba Ewedo (c. 1374-1401) took major initiatives to establish a more hierarchical central administration and remove the monarchy from Uzama domination. Ewedo established an autonomous palace protected by a loyal standing army and maintained by an independent tribute network (Egharevba 1968, 9-10). The ability of the Oba to demand and receive tribute from the village Onojie, thus circumventing Uzama domination, was apparently based upon the development of coercive authority. This newfound capability enabled the Oba to restrict the authority and prestige of the Uzama and impose the new central administration forcefully. The Uzama Nihinron, naturally enough, objected violently, but the coercive power of the monarchy forced ultimate acquiescence (Egharevba 1968, 10). The creation of a drastically altered and expanded political hierarchy in c. 1374- 1401 marked a significant change in the economic and social development of Benin and concomitantly established the Oba as paramount authority in the state. However, ‘... as the state organization became more centralized it began to use the concept of territorial power ... the prestige of the sovereign never completely effaced the tribopatriarchal authority. At most, the kingship took the form of a superimposed bureaucracy which nonetheless respected the structure of rural life (Coquery-Vidrovitch 1976, 92).’” §REF§Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 408. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection§REF§ Oba Ewuare built on the work started by Oba Eweko (c. 1374–1401) to move the Benin Empire towards increased centralization. “Oba Ewuare seems to have transformed Benin from a segmentary tribute paying formation into a national trading structure. The incorporation of the majority of Edo-speaking people in the Benin political framework established a national character for the state, a polity ruled by a dynasty that was becoming progressively Edo-speaking. The dominant mode of production in the new social formation was still the village Otu system, and tribute remained one of the principle supports for the national elite. However, under Oba Ewuare (c. 1428-1455), commercial revenues and levies were appropriated at an increased rate. According to Webster's typology for Africa, the basis of primary support for the elite determined the classification of the social formation (1982, 2). The concern for trade, the management of commercial enterprise, and the control of major trade routes contributed to the expansion of trade and commerce. This development provided the opportunity for elite support that may have been greater in value than that extracted from allegiance, supportive, and redistributive tribute. It seems, therefore, that Oba Ewuare transformed Benin from a tribute-based social formation to a national trading state.” §REF§Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 414. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection§REF§ “In fact, the transformation of the segmentary redistributive social formation into a highly exploitative centralised administration had taken only three generations. From about 1374 to 1455, therefore, Benin had experienced a rather dramatic shift toward centralised coercive state exploitation, clear evidence of a transformation from a redistributive social formation to a highly organised tribute paying structure. Real tribute paying social formations suggest a dual economy - enclave and hinterland - and the process of underdeveloping the hinterland begins. The next generation (c. 1455-1482) in the development of this centralised exploitative political structure was even more dramatic than all previous generations combined. The reign of Oba Ewuare witnessed a drastic increase in the state bureaucracy; Ewuare appointed no less than seventeen new officials to the palace administration (Egharevba 1960, 78-79). Ewuare went even further in his reorganisation of the state by annexing the Ishan chiefdoms and incorporating them as vassal tributary village clusters (Okojie 1960, 209; Miller 1983).” §REF§Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 412. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection§REF§ “It is useful to distinguish what we may call the Benin kingdom from the outlying territories which at various times accepted the Oba’s suzerainty. […] Generally speaking, the Benin kingdom may be defined as the area within which the Oba was recognized as the sole human arbiter of life and death. Within it no one could be put to death without his consent, and any person accused of a capital offence had to be brought before his court.” §REF§Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 3. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection§REF§ “From about 1293 to 1536, Benin evolved from a segmentary redistributive chiefdom to a centralised imperial power.” §REF§Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 402. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection§REF§ “It is possible to see not only a major evolution in the political and economic structures of Benin from about 1293 to 1536 but also major changes in power relations, social structures, and economic organisation. The state had evolved from a segmentary redistributive social formation to a centralised tributary state. Subsequent economic and political policy further transformed the society into a major regional partner in long distance trade, into a conquest state, and ultimately into an imperial trading formation.” §REF§Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 421–422. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection§REF§ “In the late fifteenth century Benin was a well-established state with a large army conducting long campaigns far afield. It was already approaching the peak of its power and prosperity. By the late sixteenth century its frontiers had reached out westwards along the coast to beyond Lagos, north-west through the country of the Ekiti Yoruba to Ottun, where there was a boundary with Oyo, and eastwards to the Niger. Thus, it embraced considerable populations of eastern Yoruba and western Ibo. The former largely retained their characteristically Yoruba political systems. Their titles, regalia, and ceremonial forms were influenced by Benin, but these were matters of style rather than structure. Within a limited framework of controls exercised by the Oba—tribute, assistance in war, facilities for Edo traders—they enjoyed internal autonomy. Many western Ibo groups developed into small centralized states in which Benin-type institutions, copied with varying degrees of similitude, were superimposed on and accommodated to local social forms. Most of their chiefs (obi) accepted the Oba’s suzerainty, but others, some of them founded by dissident groups from Benin itself, lay beyond his control.” §REF§Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 5. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection§REF§ “The last three centuries of Benin’s independence saw a gradual shrinking of the area from which its government could enforce delivery of tribute and military service and secure safe passage for Benin traders, though this decline was by no means uninterrupted. During the eighteenth century there were many campaigns aimed at maintaining control over the western Ibo area. In Osemwende’s reign, in the early nineteenth century, control over the Ekiti Yoruba to the north was reconsolidated. Throughout the nineteenth century this latter area was the most important, though not the only, hinterland for Benin traders.” §REF§Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 4. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection§REF§ “Benin warriors played some part in the Ekiti wars, but on a freelance basis; they took advantage of the confused situation to raid for slaves and loot. They sent gifts to the Oba, for they were dependent on the Benin route for their supplies. In return he occasionally dispatched reinforcements to help them, but his control over them was minimal. In the 1880s the official Benin army, under the Ezɔmɔ, was occupied subduing rebellious villages on the very north-west borders of the kingdom itself, no more than fifty miles from the capital.” §REF§Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 7. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection§REF§ “Their territories consisted only of the villages or hamlets in which they lived with, in some cases, one or more villages farther afield; but in the internal affairs of these territories the Oba ought not to interfere. Their inhabitants were subjects of the Uzama rather than of the Oba. Freemen of Uzebu, for example, were eviɛn-Ezɔmɔ rather than eviɛn-Ɔba.” §REF§Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 15. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection§REF§ “Thus, it becomes necessary to differentiate between the \"state\" of Benin and Benin proper.' For the state, in fact, consisted of many \"independent communities\" which \"were seldom at peace,\" which enjoyed \"very full powers of local government,\" and which \"were left pretty much alone to work out their own destinies\". [I9] The peoples of the territory between Bonny and Lagos constituted a \"state,\" only insofar as their tribute and services were rendered to the Oba of Benin.” §REF§Graham, J. D. (1965). The Slave Trade, Depopulation and Human Sacrifice in Benin History: The General Approach. Cahiers d’Études Africaines, 5(18), 317–334: 320. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/4AS9CVZH/collection§REF§ “But, since the \"state\" of Benin was thoroughly decentralized, it existed only insofar as outlying provinces paid their due tribute to the Oba. The fluid situation in which the Benin \"state\" existed defies precise definition of the extent of that state”. §REF§Graham, J. D. (1965). The Slave Trade, Depopulation and Human Sacrifice in Benin History: The General Approach. Cahiers d’Études Africaines, 5(18), 317–334: 331. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/4AS9CVZH/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 422, "polity": { "id": 687, "name": "Early Niynginya", "long_name": "Kingdom of Nyinginya", "start_year": 1650, "end_year": 1897 }, "year_from": 1650, "year_to": 1720, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "nominal", "comment": null, "description": "\"During Ndori’s reign a large part of the realm was divided into small chiefdoms headed by allies who were not ritualists but who had still welcomed him into the country. All these chiefs were probably linked to the king by an ubuhake contract since such a contract would have reified their submission to and alliance with him. In accordance with the ubuhake contract, they would then have sent tribute in food, objects, or cattle to the court according to its needs. The local chiefs (abatware) could not be deposed, kept their own intore, and governed their lands without any interference by the court. They waged private wars and vendetta without any restriction at all. [...] The main ritualists also still held territories that were totally free. [...] All these ritualist lands were exempt from royal authority in return for the ritual obligations owed by their chiefs.\"§REF§(Vansina 2004: 64) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.§REF§ \"The curtain rises around 1720 and reveals the following scene: Gisanura is king, but the great chiefs Mpaka in Nduga and Mayaga, Mpumba at Gishubi in Ndiza, Kogota in Rukoma from Kamonyi to Ruhanga, Kazakanyabuseri in Marangara around Kabgayi, and Rugabyi, son of Bwakiya, in the Burembo of Ndiza are all independent. Those are all the chiefs south of the middle Nyabarongo save for Busanza in the far south. But Gisanura succeeds in convincing them to recognize him as overlord, allowing them to remain lords in their lands. [...] But starting with Gisanura the kings and their courts attempted to obtain a stronger hold over their subjects and succeeded in this endeavor. It was an enterprise of long duration, which was grounded in part in the strength of the royal armies, but consisted mainly in the seizure of those great herds that constituted the wealth and power of the lords. [...] At the outset of the century, five great territorial lords controlled southern central Rwanda. At its conclusion, none remained. Barring only the domains of the Tsobe ritualists, all great territorial masses had disappeared. During the century, a genuine centralization had occurred, resulting from the institutions of the royal ubuhake and the armies, which had become multiple and permanent. This centralization benefited the whole court, the elites as much as the king. The descendants of those great lords of yore were co-opted by a system that promised them more wealth and more influence than they could ever have acquired by themselves. And, finally, let us not forget that the modest dimensions of the country, no part of which was more than a three days’ walk at most from central Rukoma, made such a centralization feasible.\"§REF§(Vansina 2004: 68, 95) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.§REF§" }, { "id": 423, "polity": { "id": 687, "name": "Early Niynginya", "long_name": "Kingdom of Nyinginya", "start_year": 1650, "end_year": 1897 }, "year_from": 1736, "year_to": 1796, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": true, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "nominal", "comment": null, "description": "\"During Ndori’s reign a large part of the realm was divided into small chiefdoms headed by allies who were not ritualists but who had still welcomed him into the country. All these chiefs were probably linked to the king by an ubuhake contract since such a contract would have reified their submission to and alliance with him. In accordance with the ubuhake contract, they would then have sent tribute in food, objects, or cattle to the court according to its needs. The local chiefs (abatware) could not be deposed, kept their own intore, and governed their lands without any interference by the court. They waged private wars and vendetta without any restriction at all. [...] The main ritualists also still held territories that were totally free. [...] All these ritualist lands were exempt from royal authority in return for the ritual obligations owed by their chiefs.\"§REF§(Vansina 2004: 64) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.§REF§ \"The curtain rises around 1720 and reveals the following scene: Gisanura is king, but the great chiefs Mpaka in Nduga and Mayaga, Mpumba at Gishubi in Ndiza, Kogota in Rukoma from Kamonyi to Ruhanga, Kazakanyabuseri in Marangara around Kabgayi, and Rugabyi, son of Bwakiya, in the Burembo of Ndiza are all independent. Those are all the chiefs south of the middle Nyabarongo save for Busanza in the far south. But Gisanura succeeds in convincing them to recognize him as overlord, allowing them to remain lords in their lands. [...] But starting with Gisanura the kings and their courts attempted to obtain a stronger hold over their subjects and succeeded in this endeavor. It was an enterprise of long duration, which was grounded in part in the strength of the royal armies, but consisted mainly in the seizure of those great herds that constituted the wealth and power of the lords. [...] At the outset of the century, five great territorial lords controlled southern central Rwanda. At its conclusion, none remained. Barring only the domains of the Tsobe ritualists, all great territorial masses had disappeared. During the century, a genuine centralization had occurred, resulting from the institutions of the royal ubuhake and the armies, which had become multiple and permanent. This centralization benefited the whole court, the elites as much as the king. The descendants of those great lords of yore were co-opted by a system that promised them more wealth and more influence than they could ever have acquired by themselves. And, finally, let us not forget that the modest dimensions of the country, no part of which was more than a three days’ walk at most from central Rukoma, made such a centralization feasible.\"§REF§(Vansina 2004: 68, 95) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.§REF§" }, { "id": 424, "polity": { "id": 687, "name": "Early Niynginya", "long_name": "Kingdom of Nyinginya", "start_year": 1650, "end_year": 1897 }, "year_from": 1736, "year_to": 1796, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": true, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "unitary state", "comment": null, "description": "\"During Ndori’s reign a large part of the realm was divided into small chiefdoms headed by allies who were not ritualists but who had still welcomed him into the country. All these chiefs were probably linked to the king by an ubuhake contract since such a contract would have reified their submission to and alliance with him. In accordance with the ubuhake contract, they would then have sent tribute in food, objects, or cattle to the court according to its needs. The local chiefs (abatware) could not be deposed, kept their own intore, and governed their lands without any interference by the court. They waged private wars and vendetta without any restriction at all. [...] The main ritualists also still held territories that were totally free. [...] All these ritualist lands were exempt from royal authority in return for the ritual obligations owed by their chiefs.\"§REF§(Vansina 2004: 64) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.§REF§ \"The curtain rises around 1720 and reveals the following scene: Gisanura is king, but the great chiefs Mpaka in Nduga and Mayaga, Mpumba at Gishubi in Ndiza, Kogota in Rukoma from Kamonyi to Ruhanga, Kazakanyabuseri in Marangara around Kabgayi, and Rugabyi, son of Bwakiya, in the Burembo of Ndiza are all independent. Those are all the chiefs south of the middle Nyabarongo save for Busanza in the far south. But Gisanura succeeds in convincing them to recognize him as overlord, allowing them to remain lords in their lands. [...] But starting with Gisanura the kings and their courts attempted to obtain a stronger hold over their subjects and succeeded in this endeavor. It was an enterprise of long duration, which was grounded in part in the strength of the royal armies, but consisted mainly in the seizure of those great herds that constituted the wealth and power of the lords. [...] At the outset of the century, five great territorial lords controlled southern central Rwanda. At its conclusion, none remained. Barring only the domains of the Tsobe ritualists, all great territorial masses had disappeared. During the century, a genuine centralization had occurred, resulting from the institutions of the royal ubuhake and the armies, which had become multiple and permanent. This centralization benefited the whole court, the elites as much as the king. The descendants of those great lords of yore were co-opted by a system that promised them more wealth and more influence than they could ever have acquired by themselves. And, finally, let us not forget that the modest dimensions of the country, no part of which was more than a three days’ walk at most from central Rukoma, made such a centralization feasible.\"§REF§(Vansina 2004: 68, 95) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.§REF§" }, { "id": 425, "polity": { "id": 687, "name": "Early Niynginya", "long_name": "Kingdom of Nyinginya", "start_year": 1650, "end_year": 1897 }, "year_from": 1797, "year_to": 1897, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "unitary state", "comment": null, "description": "\"During Ndori’s reign a large part of the realm was divided into small chiefdoms headed by allies who were not ritualists but who had still welcomed him into the country. All these chiefs were probably linked to the king by an ubuhake contract since such a contract would have reified their submission to and alliance with him. In accordance with the ubuhake contract, they would then have sent tribute in food, objects, or cattle to the court according to its needs. The local chiefs (abatware) could not be deposed, kept their own intore, and governed their lands without any interference by the court. They waged private wars and vendetta without any restriction at all. [...] The main ritualists also still held territories that were totally free. [...] All these ritualist lands were exempt from royal authority in return for the ritual obligations owed by their chiefs.\"§REF§(Vansina 2004: 64) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.§REF§ \"The curtain rises around 1720 and reveals the following scene: Gisanura is king, but the great chiefs Mpaka in Nduga and Mayaga, Mpumba at Gishubi in Ndiza, Kogota in Rukoma from Kamonyi to Ruhanga, Kazakanyabuseri in Marangara around Kabgayi, and Rugabyi, son of Bwakiya, in the Burembo of Ndiza are all independent. Those are all the chiefs south of the middle Nyabarongo save for Busanza in the far south. But Gisanura succeeds in convincing them to recognize him as overlord, allowing them to remain lords in their lands. [...] But starting with Gisanura the kings and their courts attempted to obtain a stronger hold over their subjects and succeeded in this endeavor. It was an enterprise of long duration, which was grounded in part in the strength of the royal armies, but consisted mainly in the seizure of those great herds that constituted the wealth and power of the lords. [...] At the outset of the century, five great territorial lords controlled southern central Rwanda. At its conclusion, none remained. Barring only the domains of the Tsobe ritualists, all great territorial masses had disappeared. During the century, a genuine centralization had occurred, resulting from the institutions of the royal ubuhake and the armies, which had become multiple and permanent. This centralization benefited the whole court, the elites as much as the king. The descendants of those great lords of yore were co-opted by a system that promised them more wealth and more influence than they could ever have acquired by themselves. And, finally, let us not forget that the modest dimensions of the country, no part of which was more than a three days’ walk at most from central Rukoma, made such a centralization feasible.\"§REF§(Vansina 2004: 68, 95) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.§REF§" }, { "id": 426, "polity": { "id": 607, "name": "si_early_modern_interior", "long_name": "Early Modern Sierra Leone", "start_year": 1650, "end_year": 1896 }, "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": "\"Polities centered on charismatic leaders in larger towns who extended limited control over surrounding villages and, sometimes, other larger settlements. On a classificatory continuum the Limba and Kuranko polities were structurally more akin to political organizations sometimes classed as “simple chiefdoms,” with a slightly greater degree of centralization emerging among the Yalunka in the nineteenth century (Fried 1967; also see de Barros this volume; Johnson andEarle 2000; Service 1975:74–80, 104–64). Simple chiefdoms (following Fried 1967) are characterized by a principal settlement surrounded by smaller villages, with a total population in the thousands. [...] Within the Yalunka area, precolonial sociopolitical organization was somewhat different, exhibiting a greater degree of centralized authority. During the eighteenth century the political situation may have been similar to that noted in the neighboring Limba and Kuranko areas, with spheres of influence centered on the principal towns of Kamba, Musaia, Sinkunia, and Falaba. By 1800, however, under the Samura of Falaba, these settlements had coalesced into what Fyle (1976, 1979b) refers to as the Solima Yalunka kingdom. Falaba emerged as a regional, judicial, and administrative center with the Manga, or king of Falaba, as its leader (Fyle 1979b:49–64; also see Donald 1968:9–12, 44–55). Important cases were tried at Falaba, and all trading and redistribution was supervised by the Manga (Fyle 1979b 55, 84, 88; also see Donald 1968:46–49). The kingdom could also bring wayward towns into line with military force (Donald 1968:58–59, 122–23; Fyle 1979b:41–44). Solima came to include all of the Yalunka chiefdoms of modern-day Koinadugu and Yalunka settlements now in the Republic of Guinea to the north and Kuranko Sengbe Chiefdom to the south (Fyle 1976: 111; 1979b: 13; Laing 1825: 346–47). Yet the power of Falaba and the Manga was not absolute. Important decisions of state could not be made without representatives of the other towns, and leaders met regularly at Falaba to decide matters of policy (Fyle 1979b:53–55; also see Laing 1825:356–67). As in the case with Limba and Kuranko towns, the Yalunka settlements of Musaia, Sinkunia, and Falaba seem to have independently undertaken negotiations with Samori Touré, the British, and the French (e.g., Donald 1968:59–61; Lipschutz 1973:85–92, 106, 125–26).\" §REF§(DeCorse 2012: 285) Seshat URL: .§REF§" }, { "id": 427, "polity": { "id": 608, "name": "gm_kaabu_emp", "long_name": "Kaabu", "start_year": 1500, "end_year": 1867 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": true, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "confederated state", "comment": null, "description": "\"This was a federation with some 30 provinces, three of which were pre-eminent and held monarchical power which rotated between them.\"§REF§(Green 2009: 94) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/V2GTBN8A/collection.§REF§ \"Bertrand-Bocandé was informed that Kaabu comprised twelve states (\"pays\"): Goussala; Toumanna; Kankoumba; Chagnia; Manna; Sama; Gansala; Payonko; Niapai; Pakis; Jamaral; and Kantor.\" §REF§(Brooks 2007: 56) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TT7FC2RX/collection.§REF§ \" One of the most important aspects of this document is that it does not support an interpretation of Kaabu’s power as overly centralised. There was clearly substantial freedom of movement by Luso-African traders – the so-called “Christian whites” of the document. The document implies that they traded with many different groups among the “many nations” of the hinterland, something which again would not support an interpretation of Kaabu as a centralised commercial state. This apparent freedom of trade would also imply a relative independence for the lineage chiefs who traded with the Atlantic traders – something which is confirmed by the second document I want to look at.\"§REF§(Green 2009: 104) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/V2GTBN8A/collection.§REF§ Note the following, however: \"In their essay, Cornelia Giesing and Eduardo Costa Dias present an analysis of how the political memory of Kaabu came to be composed within the cross-cultural trading communities (Jakhanké and Mandinka Muslim). Combining early European written sources and a wealth of oral documents, as well as the locally-written Tarikh Mandinka (Giesing and Vydrine 2007), from Bijini near Geba, the authors argue that Kaabu as political entity associated with Mali is difficult to assess historically. The institutional memory is in actuality that of a 'pagan' empire, viewed retrospectively through the filter of nineteenth-century Islamization. Symbolically, Kaabu may be understood as a reference to the economic and cultural unity of southern Senegambia.\"§REF§(Mark and Da Silva Horta 2007: 3) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/DJ8UINUI/collection.§REF§" }, { "id": 428, "polity": { "id": 608, "name": "gm_kaabu_emp", "long_name": "Kaabu", "start_year": 1500, "end_year": 1867 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": true, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Polity_degree_of_centralization", "degree_of_centralization": "quasi-polity", "comment": null, "description": "\"This was a federation with some 30 provinces, three of which were pre-eminent and held monarchical power which rotated between them.\"§REF§(Green 2009: 94) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/V2GTBN8A/collection.§REF§ \"Bertrand-Bocandé was informed that Kaabu comprised twelve states (\"pays\"): Goussala; Toumanna; Kankoumba; Chagnia; Manna; Sama; Gansala; Payonko; Niapai; Pakis; Jamaral; and Kantor.\" §REF§(Brooks 2007: 56) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TT7FC2RX/collection.§REF§ \" One of the most important aspects of this document is that it does not support an interpretation of Kaabu’s power as overly centralised. There was clearly substantial freedom of movement by Luso-African traders – the so-called “Christian whites” of the document. The document implies that they traded with many different groups among the “many nations” of the hinterland, something which again would not support an interpretation of Kaabu as a centralised commercial state. This apparent freedom of trade would also imply a relative independence for the lineage chiefs who traded with the Atlantic traders – something which is confirmed by the second document I want to look at.\"§REF§(Green 2009: 104) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/V2GTBN8A/collection.§REF§ Note the following, however: \"In their essay, Cornelia Giesing and Eduardo Costa Dias present an analysis of how the political memory of Kaabu came to be composed within the cross-cultural trading communities (Jakhanké and Mandinka Muslim). Combining early European written sources and a wealth of oral documents, as well as the locally-written Tarikh Mandinka (Giesing and Vydrine 2007), from Bijini near Geba, the authors argue that Kaabu as political entity associated with Mali is difficult to assess historically. The institutional memory is in actuality that of a 'pagan' empire, viewed retrospectively through the filter of nineteenth-century Islamization. Symbolically, Kaabu may be understood as a reference to the economic and cultural unity of southern Senegambia.\"§REF§(Mark and Da Silva Horta 2007: 3) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/DJ8UINUI/collection.§REF§" }, { "id": 429, "polity": { "id": 609, "name": "si_freetown_1", "long_name": "Freetown", "start_year": 1787, "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": "unitary state", "comment": null, "description": "" }, { "id": 430, "polity": { "id": 610, "name": "gu_futa_jallon", "long_name": "Futa Jallon", "start_year": 1725, "end_year": 1896 }, "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": "\"From the beginning, the power of the Almamy, with his seat at Timbo, was limited by the wide autonomy granted to the chiefs of the provinces of Labe, Buriya, Timbi, Kebaali, Kollade, Koyin, Fugumba and Fode Haaji and also by the existence of a Council of Ancients acting as a parliament at Fugumba, the religious capital.\" §REF§(Barry 1999: 291) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/SU25S5BX/items/24W2293H/item-list§REF§" }, { "id": 431, "polity": { "id": 611, "name": "si_mane_emp", "long_name": "Mane", "start_year": 1550, "end_year": 1650 }, "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 Mane generals and captains, on the basis of apportioned Sierra Leone among themselves, and 'kings'. There were four principal kingdoms: the Bulloms, which extended from Tagrin Point northwards, the Idolos islands; secondly, the kingdom of Logos about Port Loko; thirdly, the kingdom of Sierra stretched south from the Sierra Leone channel until fourth kingdom, that of Sherbro. Within each of these kingdoms there were subdivisions, whose rulers sometimes wielded great power, as in the case of Tora, who commanded only the islands of the Sierra Leone channel but who by 1605 was the eldest survivor of the Manes. This gave him the status and authority of a king, though he was subject to Fatima, king of the northern Bulloms.//\"Strictly speaking, a number of the petty rulers called 'kings' by the Europeans should really be regarded as 'chiefs'. It was a pyramidal structure of government: the chiefs owed allegiance to the local kings, who themselves supposedly paid deference to the kings of the 'metropolis' at Cape Mount, who in turn paid tribute to an overlord who remained behind.\" §REF§(Rodney 1967: 227) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/G8G96NVQ/collection.§REF§" }, { "id": 432, "polity": { "id": 612, "name": "ni_nok_1", "long_name": "Middle and Late Nok", "start_year": -1500, "end_year": -901 }, "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 demonstrated by the uniformity of their material culture and their presumed belief system, most prominently reflected by the terracotta sculptures, external contacts within their culture must have existed. However, such a larger social network apparently was not organised and maintained in a way as to infer social inequality, social hierarchies or other signs of internal demarcation traceable by available archaeological data. None of the numerous excavations brought to light architectural remains of specified buildings or the spatial organisation of housing areas that might have been occupied by high-ranking members of the community. Further, among the admittedly few features interpreted as graves there is no evidence of any heterogeneity pointing to a difference between burials of elite members or commoners. Nowhere, an accumulation of valuable objects neither of iron nor any other materials signifying inequality in terms of property or prosperity was found.\" §REF§(Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 252) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/ES4TRU7R.§REF§" }, { "id": 433, "polity": { "id": 613, "name": "bf_west_burkina_faso_yellow_5", "long_name": "West Burkina Faso Yellow I", "start_year": 100, "end_year": 500 }, "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": "\"For the first 400 years of the settlement's history, Kirikongo was a single economically generalized social group (Figure 6). The occupants were self-sufficient farmers who cultivated grains and herded livestock, smelted and forged iron, opportunistically hunted, lived in puddled earthen structures with pounded clay floors, and fished in the seasonal drainages. [...] Since Kirikongo did not grow (at least not significantly) for over 400 years, it is likely that extra-community fissioning continually occurred to contribute to regional population growth, and it is also likely that Kirikongo itself was the result of budding from a previous homestead. However, with the small scale of settlement, the inhabitants of individual homesteads must have interacted with a wider community for social and demographic reasons. [...] It may be that generalized single-kin homesteads like Kirikongo were the societal model for a post-LSA expansion of farming peoples along the Nakambe (White Volta) and Mouhoun (Black Volta) River basins. A homestead settlement pattern would fit well with the transitional nature of early sedentary life, where societies are shifting from generalized reciprocity to more restricted and formalized group membership, and single-kin communities like Kirikongo's house (Mound 4) would be roughly the size of a band.”§REF§(Dueppen 2012: 27, 32) §REF§" }, { "id": 434, "polity": { "id": 615, "name": "ni_nok_2", "long_name": "Middle and Late Nok", "start_year": -900, "end_year": 0 }, "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 demonstrated by the uniformity of their material culture and their presumed belief system, most prominently reflected by the terracotta sculptures, external contacts within their culture must have existed. However, such a larger social network apparently was not organised and maintained in a way as to infer social inequality, social hierarchies or other signs of internal demarcation traceable by available archaeological data. None of the numerous excavations brought to light architectural remains of specified buildings or the spatial organisation of housing areas that might have been occupied by high-ranking members of the community. Further, among the admittedly few features interpreted as graves there is no evidence of any heterogeneity pointing to a difference between burials of elite members or commoners. Nowhere, an accumulation of valuable objects neither of iron nor any other materials signifying inequality in terms of property or prosperity was found.\" §REF§(Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 252) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/ES4TRU7R.§REF§" }, { "id": 435, "polity": { "id": 616, "name": "si_pre_sape", "long_name": "Pre-Sape Sierra Leone", "start_year": 600, "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": "quasi-polity", "comment": null, "description": "" }, { "id": 436, "polity": { "id": 617, "name": "bf_west_burkina_faso_red_2", "long_name": "West Burkina Faso Red II and III", "start_year": 1100, "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": "quasi-polity", "comment": null, "description": "" }, { "id": 437, "polity": { "id": 618, "name": "bf_west_burkina_faso_red_4", "long_name": "West Burkina Faso Red IV", "start_year": 1401, "end_year": 1500 }, "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": 438, "polity": { "id": 619, "name": "bf_west_burkina_faso_red_1", "long_name": "West Burkina Faso Red I", "start_year": 701, "end_year": 1100 }, "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": 439, "polity": { "id": 620, "name": "bf_mossi_k_1", "long_name": "Mossi", "start_year": 1100, "end_year": 1897 }, "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": "\"[T]here are several Mossi kingdoms linked by a common ancestry. Primus inter pares, the Ouagadougou kingdom eclipsed all others. Yet Ouagadougou should not be regarded as the capital of an alleged Mossi 'empire', as there was considerable autonomy, and even infighting, among the different kingdoms and principalities.\"§REF§(Englebert 2018: 11) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/52JWRCUI/collection.§REF§" }, { "id": 440, "polity": { "id": 621, "name": "si_sape", "long_name": "Sape", "start_year": 1400, "end_year": 1550 }, "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 Sapes in no sense constituted a unitary state, and this was of crucial importance when they faced the Mane invaders.\"§REF§(Rodney 1967: 219) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/G8G96NVQ/collection.§REF§" }, { "id": 441, "polity": { "id": 622, "name": "bf_west_burkina_faso_yellow_6", "long_name": "West Burkina Faso Yellow II", "start_year": 501, "end_year": 700 }, "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 the following quotes suggests, houses where still highly independent, and differientiation was emerging within settlements rather than between them. \"While houses were still highly independent, even producing their own pottery, a formalized village structure was likely present with both cadet and senior social segments, founded upon common descent with a common ancestor.\"§REF§(Dueppen 2012: 28)§REF§" }, { "id": 442, "polity": { "id": 623, "name": "zi_toutswe", "long_name": "Toutswe", "start_year": 700, "end_year": 1250 }, "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": "No actual evidence of the political machinery operating between the capital of Toutswemogela and its subordinate settlements has been found in the literature examined for this sheet, as of this time (17/08/2021). The similar scale of the three discovered Level 1 settlements in this area suggest to Denbow that the Toutswe tradition may have been more decentralized, and consequently its major centers more economically and politically independent than those of its contemporaries, but this is only a hypothesis. “In the Toutswe region, such [competitive] relations may have existed between Toutswe and the two other [Level 1] settlements (Bosutswe and Shoshong) located approximately one hundred kilometres from Toutswe. Their spatial separation… and the clustering of satellite… communities around each… suggests that each may represent the core of a competing system outside… direct control…. It is possible that each cluster was a separate, autonomous or semi-autonomous unit. By contract, Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe have no equals in size (and thus importance) during their respective time periods.” §REF§ (Denbow 1986; 23) James Denbow, “A New Look at the Later Prehistory of the Kalahari,” in The Journal of African History Vol. 27, No.1 (1986): 3-28. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/X3DXN8CW/collection §REF§" }, { "id": 443, "polity": { "id": 625, "name": "zi_torwa_rozvi", "long_name": "Torwa-Rozvi", "start_year": 1494, "end_year": 1850 }, "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": "Appears to have been a loosely-controlled confederacy of chiefdoms, the rulers demanding tribute and allegiance but exercising little greater control. Note that the level of continuity between the Torwa and Rozvi is marked by the continuance of institutions and even elite families, so very little in the structure of governance seems likely to have changed. “… the Rozvi mambo (king)… did not have a monopoly over foreign trade because his vassals paid tribute in ‘cloth, beads, hoes, axes, gold, ivory, skins, cattle, tobacco, foodstuffs and whatever else the various regions could produce’ …. These… items would have had to be acquired through regional exchange mechanisms prior to paying vassalage…. One of the primary ways in which senior Rozvi rulers (mambos) maintained control over the provinces was through the provincial ruler, who in most cases also belonged to the same lineage as the mambos. The subjects of the Rozvi state paid taxes in the form of annual tribute known as mupeta wamambo …. Importantly, historical sources confirm that tribute, if not forthcoming, was exacted through armed force, suggesting that the military played an important role in the power of the mambos…//… rotational succession in the Mutapa and Torwa–Changamire states was in operation by the sixteenth century (contra Huffman 2015). Through a process of rotational succession, power moved from one of these houses to another (see the Mutapa dynastic lists in Beach 1994). After the death of a king, succession often passed to someone who lived in a different district. Control of the distribution and redistribution of land gave kings the power to levy tribute on any production involving underground or aboveground activities. Most kings did not move into the capitals of their predecessors…. There is no record suggesting that all the Mutapa kings listed by Beach (1994) lived in one palace. In fact, there are numerous drystone-walled sites named after former Mutapa kings, such asKasekete, Mutota and Matope, and there are stone-walled sites in every district…//… The political system of … Torwa–Changamire… was not a highly centralised system but a loose confederacy of provinces, districts and villages that were united in their allegiance to the king …. The authority and legitimacy of rulers was underlined by their relationship to ancestry, lineage and kinship. Although there were frequent disputes, leading to succession wars, in principle rulers were appointed through ancestry and were considered to have a divine connection to the land and the people, with the health of the rulers intrinsically linked to health of the region and vice versa…. Although appointed… [the] rulers, the authority and legitimacy of local chiefs derived from their subjects, many of whom were their relatives, and not from their position in relation to the… rulers; local support and tribute were key to the maintenance of regional power structures.” §REF§ (Chirikure & Moffett 2018, 18-29) Abigail Moffett & Shadreck Chirikure, “Exotica in Context: Reconfiguring Prestige, Power and Wealth in the Southern African Iron Age,” in Journal of World Prehistory Vol. 29 No. 3 (2016). Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z29GV5VQ/item-list §REF§. “Portuguese documents referring to Khami suggest a civil war that involved a Portuguese warlord who was able to assist a Togwa aspirant to the throne before himself retiring to the north-east in 1644. There are no other clear references to any Togwa rulers, but we do know of some dominant Togwa houses, such as those of Tumbare and Chihunduru/Chiwundura, because of the power they subsequently wielded in the Rozvi state as part of the non-moyo Rozvi ruling elite.” §REF§ (Mazarire 2009, 17) Gerald C. Mazarire, “Reflections on Pre-Colonial Zimbabwe, c. 850-1880s,” in Becoming Zimbabwe: A History from the Pre-colonial Period to 2008, eds. Brian Raftopoulos & A.S. Mlambo (Harare, Weaver: 2009). Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/B9TK7GP8/item-details §REF§. “Both the Torwa and the Rozvi appear to have spoken the Kalanga dialect of Shona and they likely shared the same general worldview in terms of socio-political organisation and use of space….” §REF§ (Pikirayi 2013, 294) Innocent Pikirayi, “Stone Architecture and the Development of Power in the Zimbabwe Tradition AD 1270-1830,” in Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa Vol. 48 no. 2 (2013): 282-300. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/K3ENN8GP/item-list §REF§. “The Rozvi at Khami and Danamombe were at the center of a much larger Rozvi confederacy.” §REF§ (Schoeman 2017) Maria Schoeman, “Political Complexity North and South of the Zambezi River,” in Oxford Research Encyclopedias Online (2017). Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/IXQJ656P/item-details§REF§. “The Manyika were apparently politically subordinate to the Changamires, for they say that they sent tribute to the Rozvi kings on an annual or semiannual basis. The Changamires confirmed their kings, though they did not choose them.” §REF§ (Waite 1987, 202) Gloria Waite, “Public Health in Pre-Colonial East-Central Africa,” in Social Science & Medicine Vol. 24, No. 3 (1987): 197-208. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4Z9DU9S/item-list §REF§." }, { "id": 444, "polity": { "id": 626, "name": "zi_mutapa", "long_name": "Mutapa", "start_year": 1450, "end_year": 1880 }, "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": "Power based on a feudalist principle of clientship, the Nyai system, and constantly varied in its extent and level of control as different rulers succeeded to control of the polity through various means, and the capital of the polity shifted with every new ruler, producing centers of power and peripheries that varied every generation. “Politically [Mutapa] was unstable as seen by quick successions and the civil wars fought between houses contending for the throne. Smaller, semi-independent polities controlled by some subrulers emerged in Dande and Chidima. Despite these, [Mutapa] survived because of its military strength, and ability to adapt….” §REF§ (Pikirayi 2005, 1057) Innocent Pikirayi, “Mutapa State, 1450-1884,” in Encyclopedia of African History Vol. 2, ed. Kevin Shillington (Fitzroy Dearborn, 2005): 1056-1058. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AWA9ZT5B/item-details §REF§ “The Mutapa dynasty appears to have arisen out of the nyai process…. The… period of political consolidation, was achieved through the gradual expansion… of the principle of clientship.” §REF§ (Mazarire 2009, 14) Gerald C. Mazarire, “Reflections on Pre-Colonial Zimbabwe, c. 850-1880s,” in Becoming Zimbabwe: A History from the Pre-colonial Period to 2008, eds. Brian Raftopoulos & A.S. Mlambo (Harare, Weaver: 2009). Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/B9TK7GP8/item-details §REF§ “Under this succession system, rotation implied that, when a new leader ascended the throne, they did not move into the homestead of their predecessor (see Chirikure et al. 2012). Instead, they ruled from their own home, which became the centre of power. This means that capitals within the state shifted, and that the status of units such as provinces and districts changed depending on the political alignment of the day…. In practice, this principle of political succession was sometimes shortcircuitedthrough military coups and deaths and in cases where rightful successors might not have left offspring. However, an understanding of Mutapa history and archaeology suggests that, in most cases, the principle was that no king ruled from the centre of their predecessor.” §REF§ (Chirikure et al. 2017, 48) Shadreck Chirikure et al., “No Big Brother Here: Heterarchy, Shona Political Succession and the Relationship Between Great Zimbabwe and Khami, Southern Africa,” in Cambridge Archaeological Journal Vol. 28 No. 1 (2017): 45-66. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/X54CISW6/item-details §REF§" }, { "id": 445, "polity": { "id": 627, "name": "in_pandya_emp_3", "long_name": "Pandya Empire", "start_year": 1216, "end_year": 1323 }, "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 quote. “The Madurai Pandyas established their authority in Tirunelveli, where the political system was rooted in irrigated nadus, and especially in the villages along the Tambraparni. Their kingdom was not based on a bureaucratic, centralized administration, but on a great number of ritualized alliances. Kings displayed their strength, wealth, and generosity as widely as they could, tying themselves in the process to dominant landed groups and petty chiefs. The Pandyas headed a segmentary domain whose core was river-irrigated paddy lands.” §REF§ Ludden 1979, 355) Ludden, David. 1979. ‘Patronage and Irrigation in Tamil Nadu: A Long-term View’. The Indian Economic & Social History Review. Vol 16: 3. Pp. 347-365. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/G7TWCIIW/collection §REF§" }, { "id": 446, "polity": { "id": 629, "name": "sl_anuradhapura_4", "long_name": "Anurādhapura IV", "start_year": 614, "end_year": 1017 }, "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. “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§ “Lists of officials which occur in inscriptions of the ninth and tenth centuries, when the irrigation network of Sri Lanka was most extensive and highly developed, have been cited as evidence of a hydraulic bureaucracy. Quite clearly the services of men with a high degree of technical skill were necessary for the construction of large and complex irrigation works, for their maintenance in good repair, and for the regulation of irrigation water to fields. [...] On the contrary, hydraulic society as it developed in Sri Lanka was not a centralised despotism, rigidly authoritarian and highly bureaucratic, but had many of the attributes of a feudal society, with power devolving on monastic institutions and the gentry. [...] Income-producing irrigation units, such as tanks and canals, and the fields fed by them paid a tax—bojakapathi—probably paid in kind. This the king sometimes granted to individuals as renumeration for services rendered to the state. Such grants were also made to the saṅgha. In a society in which irrigation was of such crucial significance, water was treated as a precious commodity which could be bought and sold as it passes through the tanks, the canals and fields, with the ‘owner’ or tanks (vapi-hamika) imposing a charge for the water that passed through and in turn paying for the water that came in. Because he had the largest of the tanks as his special preserve, and a controlling interest in the whole irrigation system, the king was the prime beneficiary of this levy on water. Until the beginning of the seventh century AD, this payment was called dakapathi. It was paid to the king as well as collected by private ‘owners’ of small reservoirs and canals. In the ninth and tenth centuries, the payment for the share of water made to the king was called diyadedum, and it was termed diyadada in the time of the Polonnaruva kings. In addition to the right to dakapathi, the king claimed a share of the produce from all occupied and cultivated land. Unoccupied waste, both fallow and cultivable, was regarded as being in the king’s ‘possession’, and over these—forests and waste lands, cleared and cultivated—he could grant virtually complete ‘proprietary’ rights to any individual or institution if he so wished.” §REF§ (De Silva 1981, 33, 36-37) 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§ “Inscriptions mainly from the ninth century AD, contain references to a type of tenure known as pamuṇu or paraveṇi, which in the context of the land tenure system of that time conveyed the meaning of heritable right to perpetuity. Religious and charitable institutions received pamuṇu property in at least three ways, namely royal grant, purchase and inheritance (inheritance of land was normally within a framework of kinship). The king also granted pamuṇu rights to individuals, usually are rewards. Pamuṇu were subject to no service except in cases where the king stipulated at the time of the grant that a comparatively small payment shall be made to a religious or charitable institution.” §REF§ (De Silva 1981, 37) 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 result was that while the corps of officials in the bureaucracy and in the court kept increasing in number, they did not, for much of the period of the Anurādhapura kings, develop into a baronial class, a feudal aristocracy with very large areas of the country’s agricultural land parcelled out among them. By the ninth century, however, this picture begins to change. The inscriptions of this period refer to a form of tenure known as divel—property granted to officials or functionaries in the employment of the state or of monasteries. (A divel holding from a monastery would be no more than the grant of the revenue of the land allotted to a functionary). Divel holdings were, in effect, property rights bestowed on an individual as subsistence in return for services rendered to the grantor, and were terminable on the death of an employee or at the will of the granting authority. The recipient of a divel holding got the revenue which the king or a monastery had enjoyed earlier. […] Divel tenure was thus doubly significant; it marked a strengthening of rights to private property, and the emergence of a trend towards feudal rights, and of a class of landlord-officials who became a powerful group of intermediaries between the cultivators and royal authority.” §REF§ (De Silva 1981, 38) 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§" }, { "id": 447, "polity": { "id": 629, "name": "sl_anuradhapura_4", "long_name": "Anurādhapura IV", "start_year": 614, "end_year": 1017 }, "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": "Inferred from the following quotes. “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§ “Lists of officials which occur in inscriptions of the ninth and tenth centuries, when the irrigation network of Sri Lanka was most extensive and highly developed, have been cited as evidence of a hydraulic bureaucracy. Quite clearly the services of men with a high degree of technical skill were necessary for the construction of large and complex irrigation works, for their maintenance in good repair, and for the regulation of irrigation water to fields. [...] On the contrary, hydraulic society as it developed in Sri Lanka was not a centralised despotism, rigidly authoritarian and highly bureaucratic, but had many of the attributes of a feudal society, with power devolving on monastic institutions and the gentry. [...] Income-producing irrigation units, such as tanks and canals, and the fields fed by them paid a tax—bojakapathi—probably paid in kind. This the king sometimes granted to individuals as renumeration for services rendered to the state. Such grants were also made to the saṅgha. In a society in which irrigation was of such crucial significance, water was treated as a precious commodity which could be bought and sold as it passes through the tanks, the canals and fields, with the ‘owner’ or tanks (vapi-hamika) imposing a charge for the water that passed through and in turn paying for the water that came in. Because he had the largest of the tanks as his special preserve, and a controlling interest in the whole irrigation system, the king was the prime beneficiary of this levy on water. Until the beginning of the seventh century AD, this payment was called dakapathi. It was paid to the king as well as collected by private ‘owners’ of small reservoirs and canals. In the ninth and tenth centuries, the payment for the share of water made to the king was called diyadedum, and it was termed diyadada in the time of the Polonnaruva kings. In addition to the right to dakapathi, the king claimed a share of the produce from all occupied and cultivated land. Unoccupied waste, both fallow and cultivable, was regarded as being in the king’s ‘possession’, and over these—forests and waste lands, cleared and cultivated—he could grant virtually complete ‘proprietary’ rights to any individual or institution if he so wished.” §REF§ (De Silva 1981, 33, 36-37) 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§ “Inscriptions mainly from the ninth century AD, contain references to a type of tenure known as pamuṇu or paraveṇi, which in the context of the land tenure system of that time conveyed the meaning of heritable right to perpetuity. Religious and charitable institutions received pamuṇu property in at least three ways, namely royal grant, purchase and inheritance (inheritance of land was normally within a framework of kinship). The king also granted pamuṇu rights to individuals, usually are rewards. Pamuṇu were subject to no service except in cases where the king stipulated at the time of the grant that a comparatively small payment shall be made to a religious or charitable institution.” §REF§ (De Silva 1981, 37) 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 result was that while the corps of officials in the bureaucracy and in the court kept increasing in number, they did not, for much of the period of the Anurādhapura kings, develop into a baronial class, a feudal aristocracy with very large areas of the country’s agricultural land parcelled out among them. By the ninth century, however, this picture begins to change. The inscriptions of this period refer to a form of tenure known as divel—property granted to officials or functionaries in the employment of the state or of monasteries. (A divel holding from a monastery would be no more than the grant of the revenue of the land allotted to a functionary). Divel holdings were, in effect, property rights bestowed on an individual as subsistence in return for services rendered to the grantor, and were terminable on the death of an employee or at the will of the granting authority. The recipient of a divel holding got the revenue which the king or a monastery had enjoyed earlier. […] Divel tenure was thus doubly significant; it marked a strengthening of rights to private property, and the emergence of a trend towards feudal rights, and of a class of landlord-officials who became a powerful group of intermediaries between the cultivators and royal authority.” §REF§ (De Silva 1981, 38) 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§" }, { "id": 448, "polity": { "id": 630, "name": "sl_polonnaruva", "long_name": "Polonnaruwa", "start_year": 1070, "end_year": 1255 }, "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 by the following quote. “Once the political unification of the island had been re-established, Parākramabāhu followed Vijayabāhu I in keeping a tight check on separatist tendencies in the island, especially in Rohaṇa where particularism was a deeply ingrained political tradition. Rohaṇa did not accept its loss of autonomy without a struggle, and Parākramabāhu faced a formidable rebellion there in 1160 which he put down with great severity (there was a rebellion in the Rājaraṭa as well in 1168 and this too was ruthlessly crushed). All vestiges of its former autonomy were now purposefully eliminated, and as a result there was, in the heyday of the Polonnaruva kingdom, much less tolerance of particularism than under the Anurādhapura kings. As we shall see, the country was to pay dearly for this over-centralisation of authority in Polonnaruva.” §REF§ (De Silva 1981, 62) 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§" }, { "id": 449, "polity": { "id": 631, "name": "sl_anuradhapura_3", "long_name": "Anurādhapura III", "start_year": 428, "end_year": 614 }, "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. “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": 450, "polity": { "id": 632, "name": "nl_dutch_emp_1", "long_name": "Dutch Empire", "start_year": 1648, "end_year": 1795 }, "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 Republic was a loose confederacy with little in the form of national political institutions. As Schama put it, ‘Indeed national unification in the case of the Dutch is a contradiction in terms since they had come into being as a nation expressly to avoid becoming a state’ (Schama, 1989, p. 62). Power rested firmly in the hands of the individual provinces.\" §REF§(Andeweg and Irwin 1993: 9) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/M8ENXX8G/collection.§REF§ \"The Dutch state of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was a federation with little centralization. It was sometimes even threatened with disintegration, its main divisive elements being provincial separatism, rivalry among urban oligarchies, competition among the government colleges of the central bureaucracy in The Hague, and the dualist position of the Stadtholder.\" §REF§(t'Hart 1989: 663) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/B9DVQGBS/collection.§REF§" } ] }