Administrative Level List
A viewset for viewing and editing Administrative Levels.
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{ "count": 570, "next": "https://seshat-db.com/api/sc/administrative-levels/?format=api&page=2", "previous": null, "results": [ { "id": 1, "polity": { "id": 134, "name": "af_ghur_principality", "long_name": "Ghur Principality", "start_year": 1025, "end_year": 1215 }, "year_from": 1200, "year_to": 1200, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 5, "administrative_level_to": 5, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>c1050 CE<br>\"The Sansabanis were only one amongst several chieftains at this time, and topographical gleanings from Bayhaqi (pp. 114-20), plus various details from Juzjani, show that they were petty rulers of the district of Mandes on the upper Harirud near modern Ahangaran.\"§REF§(Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids</a>§REF§<br>\"a family of petty chiefs from a backward region\"§REF§(Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids</a>§REF§<br>c1100 CE<br>Firuzkuh described as \"summer capital\". Single period of occupation of 75 years. Destroyed by Mongols 1223 CE, so origin c1148 CE.§REF§Thomas, David. Firuzkuh: the summer capital of the Ghurids <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.academia.edu/188837/Firuzkuh_the_summer_capital_of_the_Ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.academia.edu/188837/Firuzkuh_the_summer_capital_of_the_Ghurids</a>§REF§<br>\"Moḥammad’s son, Hasan, was the first Sansabani known to have an honorific title, namely Qotb-al-Din, but the history of the Ghurid dynasty, as it may now be fittingly styled, only becomes reasonably well known with the accession of ʿEzz-al-Din Hosayn b. Ḥasan (493-540/1100-46).\"§REF§(Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids</a>§REF§<br>Ruler of 1146 CE \"shared out his lands with his brothers on the basis of Guri tribal and patrimonial practice\"§REF§(Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids</a>§REF§<br>c1149-1161 CE ʿAlaʾ-al-Din Hosayn: \"Not content with being a mere malek or amir, according to Ebn al-Atir (Beirut, XI, p. 166), he now styled himself, after the Saljuqs and Ghaznavids, al-soltan al-moʿazzam and adopted the catr (q.v.) or ceremonial parasol as one of the insignia of royalty\"§REF§(Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids</a>§REF§<br>c1150 CE produced coins and determined their designation§REF§(Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids</a>§REF§ so must have had mints and control over currency.<br>c1200 CE<br>Late 12th CE Bosworth talks of branches: one based at Firuzkuh which raided west into Khorasan, at Gazna (after it was taken from the Turks) which was a base for attacking India, and Bamian which was a base for attacks into Central Asia.§REF§(Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids</a>§REF§<br>\"Although the earlier history of the Sansabani family had been full of feuds and disputes, the brothers maintained a partnership, with mutual amity and a division of spheres of activity and influence.\"§REF§(Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids</a>§REF§<br>1. Sultan at Gazna<br>Moʿezz-al-Dīn, installed at Gazna since 569/1173-74 with the title also of sultan\"§REF§(Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids</a>§REF§<br>1. Sultan? at Firuzukh<br><br>1. ? at Bamian<br><br>_Court governments_<br>Sophisticated enough at Firuzukh to build Minaret of Jam c1190 CE. Perhaps based on Persian/Central Asian models at this time.<br>\"As far as we can tell from the exiguous material in our sources, the hierarchy of Ghurid officials at Firuzkuh and Ghazna did not differ appreciably in its outlines from those maintained by other eastern Islamic dynasties. The wazir ('minister'), as elsewhere, headed the civil administration at Ghazna; we also read of the treasurer (khazin) and the overseer of public morality/inspector of the markets (muhtasib). The appointment of judges (quddat, sing. qadi) who enforced the religious law, the Shari'a, was also in the Sultan's hands.\"§REF§(Jackson 2003, 25) Jackson, Peter. 2003. The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History. Cambridge University Press.§REF§<br>2. Vizar<br>3. Divans (departments)4. Mint5. Mint worker<br>_Provincial government_<br><br>2. Vassals\"In the west, Giat-al-Din, often in concert with his brother, extended his suzerainty over the maleks of Nimruz or Sistan and even over the Kerman branch of the Saljuqs.\"§REF§(Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids</a>§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 2, "polity": { "id": 350, "name": "af_greco_bactrian_k", "long_name": "Greco-Bactrian Kingdom", "start_year": -256, "end_year": -125 }, "year_from": -200, "year_to": -200, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 5, "administrative_level_to": 6, "comment": null, "description": "Ai Khanoum had \"a Persian-style administrative center\" so earlier on multiple levels (departments and scribes) can be inferred from this apparatus.§REF§(Mori 2015, 93) Mori, A. in Hose M and Schenker D. 2015. A Companion to Greek Literature. John Wiley & Sons.§REF§<br>Fewer levels later on. By 126 BCE, according to the the Chinese chronicler Zhang Qian: \"Daxia (Bactria) is located ... south of the Gui (Oxus) river. Its people cultivate the land and have cities and houses. It has no great ruler but only a number of petty chiefs ruling the various cities. ... The capital is called the city of Lanshi (Bactra) and has a market where all sorts of goods are bought and sold.\" \"§REF§(www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/afgh02-06enl.html)§REF§<br>Based on the structure in place in the Seleucid empires, and assumed to have been adopted once the Satrap of Bactria became independent.§REF§Daryaee, Touraj, ed. <i>The Oxford handbook of Iranian history</i>. Oxford University Press, 2012. p. 158§REF§<br>1. King<br>2. Topio overseen by the dioikites3. Epistates4. Panchayat (council of elders.) §REF§\"History gives no information...about the lower levers of administration under Menander and his fellow Greek kinds in India\", George Woodcock, The Greeks in India (1966), pp. 106-107§REF§<br>Seleucus and his successors had maintained the policy of Alexander in appointing a satrap to oversee a province. Below this level, the hyparchy, roughly translated as prefecture. Below the level of Satrap the local elites who supported of the ruler were ranked as varying level of 'friends' based on favor or eunoia. Loyalty was enhanced further by the granting of vast land holding, villages, slaves and other wealth. Below this level was the topoi. This hierarchical group was overseen by officials called dioikites or oikonomos.§REF§Daryaee, Touraj, ed.<i>The Oxford handbook of Iranian history</i>. Oxford University Press, 2012. p. 158§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 3, "polity": { "id": 350, "name": "af_greco_bactrian_k", "long_name": "Greco-Bactrian Kingdom", "start_year": -256, "end_year": -125 }, "year_from": -150, "year_to": -150, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 4, "administrative_level_to": 4, "comment": null, "description": "Ai Khanoum had \"a Persian-style administrative center\" so earlier on multiple levels (departments and scribes) can be inferred from this apparatus.§REF§(Mori 2015, 93) Mori, A. in Hose M and Schenker D. 2015. A Companion to Greek Literature. John Wiley & Sons.§REF§<br>Fewer levels later on. By 126 BCE, according to the the Chinese chronicler Zhang Qian: \"Daxia (Bactria) is located ... south of the Gui (Oxus) river. Its people cultivate the land and have cities and houses. It has no great ruler but only a number of petty chiefs ruling the various cities. ... The capital is called the city of Lanshi (Bactra) and has a market where all sorts of goods are bought and sold.\" \"§REF§(www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/afgh02-06enl.html)§REF§<br>Based on the structure in place in the Seleucid empires, and assumed to have been adopted once the Satrap of Bactria became independent.§REF§Daryaee, Touraj, ed. <i>The Oxford handbook of Iranian history</i>. Oxford University Press, 2012. p. 158§REF§<br>1. King<br>2. Topio overseen by the dioikites3. Epistates4. Panchayat (council of elders.) §REF§\"History gives no information...about the lower levers of administration under Menander and his fellow Greek kinds in India\", George Woodcock, The Greeks in India (1966), pp. 106-107§REF§<br>Seleucus and his successors had maintained the policy of Alexander in appointing a satrap to oversee a province. Below this level, the hyparchy, roughly translated as prefecture. Below the level of Satrap the local elites who supported of the ruler were ranked as varying level of 'friends' based on favor or eunoia. Loyalty was enhanced further by the granting of vast land holding, villages, slaves and other wealth. Below this level was the topoi. This hierarchical group was overseen by officials called dioikites or oikonomos.§REF§Daryaee, Touraj, ed.<i>The Oxford handbook of Iranian history</i>. Oxford University Press, 2012. p. 158§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 4, "polity": { "id": 129, "name": "af_hephthalite_emp", "long_name": "Hephthalite Empire", "start_year": 408, "end_year": 561 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 4, "administrative_level_to": 5, "comment": null, "description": "Hephthalites produced coins. On that basis:<br>1. King<br>2. Advisor or government official3. Manager of a mint4. Mint worker<br>In general, Hephthalite ruler maintained control over his regions through lesser kings and pre-established dynasties.<br>India: pre-existing infrastructure of provincial government<br>After the Hephthalites conquered Gupta dynasty provinces in India their rulers came under Hephthalite control.§REF§(Bauer 2010, 182) Bauer, S W. 2010. The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. W. W. Norton & Company.§REF§ So they would have inherited whatever administrative structure was present in the former Gupta provinces.<br>Tarim Basin: vassals not provinces<br>\"the Hephthalites interferred minimally in the affairs of the Tarim cities after subduing them, contenting themselves with the extraction of tributes.\"§REF§(Starr 2015, 37) Starr, F S. 2015. Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland. Routledge.§REF§<br>unknown: 408-550 CE; 2: 550 CE §REF§Litvinsky B.A.,Guang-da Zhang , and Shabani Samghabadi R. (eds)History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Crossroads of Civilizations, p. 149§REF§<br>There seems to have was a great deal of autonomy in the Hepthalite kingdoms. This was the case in Chaganiyan, on the upper and middle reaches of the Surkhan Darya. There is some speculation that local administrative structures were maintained, but this does not have enough evidence for anything beyond the extraction of tribute. There is also some limited evidence of the titles of officials from gemstones. §REF§Litvinsky B.A.,Guang-da Zhang , and Shabani Samghabadi R. (eds)History of Civilizations of Central Asia, p. 149§REF§<br>Small family landholdings<br>Fraternal polyandry marriage \"it was the custom for women to adorn their hats with horns, one per husband.\" \"If a man had no brothers he would often adopt another man so as to be able to marry.\" More recently Tibetans who practiced this form of marriage did it \"to make sure that small family landholdings did not have to be divided among brothers. Instead all male offspring remained on their parents' land and worked it together as a single landholding. This system also limits population growth significantly since each generation produces the children of only one woman instead of offspring from the wives of all brothers.\" However, since the Hephthalite nomads did not have family farms they may have practiced this form of marriage for keeping the herds together and population control. Chinese records don't mention status of the presumably many unmarried Hephthalite women.§REF§(West 2009, 276-277) West, B A. 2009. Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing.§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 5, "polity": { "id": 281, "name": "af_kidarite_k", "long_name": "Kidarite Kingdom", "start_year": 388, "end_year": 477 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 3, "administrative_level_to": 5, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>1. King<br>Sources do not tell us whether the new Hephthalite polity was a dynastic regime change or a 'clash of armies'.§REF§(Zeimal 1996, 128) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf§REF§ \"It is known, however, that the name Kidara was kept, although now as an honorific title (meaning 'honoured', 'hero', 'valiant'), long after the Kidarite state had ceased to exist, just as the original Kidara used to style himself on coins Kusana Sahi (king of Kushan) many years after the fall of the Empire of the Kushans.\"§REF§(Zeimal 1996, 128) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf§REF§<br>Kidarites were a group of nomadic origin.§REF§(Zeimal 1996) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf§REF§<br>Chinese chronicle the Pei-shih claimed that the Kidarites \"'move around following their herds of cattle' .... On the other hand, it is known that there were Kidarite capitals both in Gandhara and Tokharistan, and thus that they lived in towns.\"§REF§(Zeimal 1996, 136) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf§REF§<br>\"more accurate to think of the Kidarite state not as a unified society but one with a clear distinction between the conquerers - the ruling group - and their subject peoples, the latter preserving their own traditions.\"§REF§(Zeimal 1996, 136) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf§REF§<br>_ Central Administration _<br>2. Top administrator<br>Kidarite rule \"coincided with ... the foundation of new cities such as Panjikent and Kushaniya. (The name of the latter probably indicates a Kidarite royal foundation, as neither the Great Kushans nor the Kushano-Sasanians had exerted control over that region.)\"§REF§(Grenet 2005) Grenet, Frantz. 2005. KIDARITES. Iranicaonline. www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kidarites§REF§<br>\"It is tempting to draw an analogy with the vast state of the Kushans. This is not only because the Kidarites claimed to be the successors ... ; a no less important factor is that the former nomadic invaders came into possession of vast territories inhabited by settled agricultural peoples with a culture and traditions dating back many centuries, just as had been the case with the Tokharians ... who created the Kushan Empire. It seems likely that the administrative and government structure created by the Kushans was left largely intact under the Kidarites.\"§REF§(Zeimal 1996, 132) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf§REF§3.4. Scribes<br>4. Manager of a MintThe Kidarite coinage was not a separate monetary system but \"an adaptation to the local issues in each area they conquered. In Sogdiana small silver coins were issued ... They followed the design of early Sogdian coins ... In Tokharistan gold inars were issued in the name of Kidara, following the gold coins of the Kushano-Sasanians ... The silver coins of Sasanian type can be attributed to Gandhara and the area around. ... In their Indian territories the Kidarites also issued gold coins based on the model of the Late Kushan dinars\".§REF§(Zeimal 1996, 132-134) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf§REF§<br>Economy was advanced enough that copper coinage was minted in quantities that implied it was used as 'small change'. Copper coin design was also an adaptation to existing currency in each region.§REF§(Zeimal 1996, 135) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf§REF§<br>The Kidarite monetary system \"created favourable conditions for maintaining the established traditions in local trades. ... flourishing international trade networks and wide trading links between various regions of the Kidarite state.\"§REF§(Zeimal 1996, 136) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf§REF§<br>5. Mint worker<br>_ Provincial government _<br>2.Clan and tribal organizations traditional to nomadic peoples were likely \"reflected in the administrative structure of the state\".§REF§(Zeimal 1996, 136) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf§REF§<br>Hephthalites<br>Western sources suggests the Hephthalites were \"a tribal group distinct from and apparently sometimes hostile to\" the Kidarites.§REF§(Zeimal 1996, 129) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf§REF§<br>Many instances when the Hephthalites were allies with the Sassanians against the Kidarites. Hephthalites also sided with Hormizd faction in dispute for Sassanian kingship.§REF§(Zeimal 1996, 130) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 6, "polity": { "id": 127, "name": "af_kushan_emp", "long_name": "Kushan Empire", "start_year": 35, "end_year": 319 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 4, "administrative_level_to": 5, "comment": null, "description": " levels<br>Widespread literacy in India among Buddhist monks and Brahmans who were recruited as administrators using their Kharosthi script.§REF§(Harmatta 1994, 425) Harmatta, J. Languages and literature in the Kushan Empire. in Harmatta, Janos. Puri, B. N. Etemadi, G. F. eds. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. UNESCO Publishing.§REF§<br>For example, \"putting in place an effective satrapy system was not within the capabilities of the Kushans. ... At Kashgar, Kanishka installed a king of his choice ... but after Kanishka's death, this kingdom also slipped out of Kushan control.\"§REF§(Samad 2011, 92) Samad, R. U. 2011. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Angora Publishing.§REF§<br>1. Kushana king.<br>Despite lower levels of administration, the Kushan king possessed unfettered powers. §REF§B. N. Mukherjee, 'The Rise and Fall of the Kushan Empire' (Calcutta, 1988), pp. 328-9;338;346-8§REF§<br>_Central government_<br>Within Greater Gandhara (northwest Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan) administration through the Buddhist establishment. Outside Greater Gandhara (Bactria, Sogdiana, Tarim Basin, Jumna Basin etc.) there was no such establishment to run the administration of the territories.§REF§(Samad 2011, 91) Samad, R. U. 2011. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Angora Publishing.§REF§<br>2. Mantriparishad (Council of ministers) or Mantriparishatpala (prime minister) <i>where is this from? is it inferred from later or earlier Indian systems? what is the evidence for this in the Kushan era?</i>\"The king seems to have possessed unfettered powers, as we find no reference in the Kushan records to any advisory body or to councillors corresponding to amatyas and sachivas of the Mauryan period.\"§REF§(Puri 1994, 254) Puri, B. N. The Kushans. in Harmatta, Janos. Puri, B. N. Etemadi, G. F. eds. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. UNESCO Publishing.§REF§<br>3.4.5<br>_Regions_<br>2. SatrapsInscriptions mention satraps and other officials have been found. \"Satraps are known for Kapisa (Begram), Manikyala (near Rawalpindi), Und (west of the Indus), Mathura, Varanasi, etc. There may have been satraps for other parts of the empire, but the evidence on this point is wanting.\"§REF§(Puri 1994, 254) Puri, B. N. The Kushans. in Harmatta, Janos. Puri, B. N. Etemadi, G. F. eds. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. UNESCO Publishing.§REF§<br>3. dandanayakas\"ksatrapas were definitely at a higher administrative level than the dandanayakas\" but the relationship between them is not known.§REF§(Puri 1994, 254) Puri, B. N. The Kushans. in Harmatta, Janos. Puri, B. N. Etemadi, G. F. eds. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. UNESCO Publishing.§REF§<br>4. gramika or padrapala (village head) / Commune\"The inscriptions mention two terms - 'gramika' and 'padrapala' - both signifying 'village headman', who collected the king's dues and took cognizance of crimes in his area. There is no information about the local government that we find later in the Gupta period.\"§REF§(Puri 1994, 254) Puri, B. N. The Kushans. in Harmatta, Janos. Puri, B. N. Etemadi, G. F. eds. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. UNESCO Publishing.§REF§<br>\"the commune occupied an important place in the socio-economic life of Cenral Asia and in the ancient East as a whole. This seems to have continued until the Early Middle Ages, for which evidence is available. Thus, the commune in Sogdiana was known as naf; it consisted of the aristocracy (azat, azatkar), merchants (xvakar), and free peasants (who were members of the commune) and craftsmen (karikar). Of these three categories in the naf the highest status was enjoyed by the azat, that is, persons of 'high and noble birth', the azatkar or free persons associated with the azat and the 'children of the azat of aristocratic, noble origin.' According to the written sources, the azat owned the land and the villages and were the chief retainers of the local and provincial rulers.\"§REF§(Mukhamedjanov 1994, 280) Mukhamedjanov, A R. Economy and Social System in Central Asia in the Kushan Age. in Harmatta J, Puri B N and Etemadi G F eds. 1994. History of civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. UNESCO.§REF§\"There is some evidence to show that communes owned whole irrigation systems and the regions irrigated by them, as well as settlements and grazing lands.\"§REF§(Mukhamedjanov 1994, 281) Mukhamedjanov, A R. Economy and Social System in Central Asia in the Kushan Age. in Harmatta J, Puri B N and Etemadi G F eds. 1994. History of civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. UNESCO.§REF§ \"the state and large land-holders, who tried to attach members of the commune to the land - a process that ultimately led to the emergence of feudalism in Central Asia.\"§REF§(Mukhamedjanov 1994, 281) Mukhamedjanov, A R. Economy and Social System in Central Asia in the Kushan Age. in Harmatta J, Puri B N and Etemadi G F eds. 1994. History of civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. UNESCO.§REF§<br>3. Khwarazm\"All but unknown today, the civilization of Khwarazm between AD 100 and 600 was a highly sophisticated society. Its capital and main religious center, Topraq Qala, in what is now western Uzbekistan, featured a walled, 1100-by-1600-foot rectilinear compound. Elegantly built, it consisted of grand three-storied palaces and temples.\"§REF§(Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.§REF§<br>4.<br>Yuezhi confederation organized into five major tribes which were led by yabgu (tribal chiefs). However, it might also be \"the five Kingdom were in fact not the Yuezhi people, but were the people in the state of Daxia. ... where each town carried out its affairs in its own way and was ruled by a so-called 'minor chief'. The Yuezhi did not wipe out these 'minor chiefs,' but 'made them all into their subjects' after they had conquered the state of Daxia.\"§REF§Katariya, Adesh. 2012. The Glorious History of Kushana Empire: Kushana Gurjar History. Adesh Katariya.§REF§ Daxia = Bactria. By turn of the millennium the Yuezhi \"had dominated Greco-Bactria for almost two centuries.\"§REF§Katariya, Adesh. 2012. The Glorious History of Kushana Empire: Kushana Gurjar History. Adesh Katariya.§REF§ \"State in Kangju/Sogdia \"acknowledged nominal sovereignty to the Yuezhi.\"§REF§Katariya, Adesh. 2012. The Glorious History of Kushana Empire: Kushana Gurjar History. Adesh Katariya.§REF§" }, { "id": 7, "polity": { "id": 422, "name": "cn_erligang", "long_name": "Erligang", "start_year": -1650, "end_year": -1250 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 3, "administrative_level_to": 4, "comment": null, "description": " levels. Several levels of territorial government, but difficult to establish in the absence of texts.<br>1. King<br>__Central government__<br>2. AdministratorsNo concrete evidence, but inferred from the following: \"The list of activities dependent on administration for the Erlitou state - agriculture, the construction of public buildings and city walls, the bronze industry, the army - is equally applicable to Erligang, but the scale of those activities had increased enormously.\"§REF§(Wang 2014, 179) Wang, Haicheng. 2014. Writing and the Ancient State: Early China in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge University Press.§REF§<br>3.4.<br>__Provincial government__<br>2. Local governorGrave of a \"chief\" or \"lord\" found at Dayangzhou. §REF§(Thorp 2013, 110) Thorp, Robert L. 2013. China in the Early Bronze Age: Shang Civilization.University of Pennsylvania Press.§REF§<br>\"Social stratification started developing in China prior to the Shang period and was largely solidified by the Shang dynasty. As previously discussed, settlement patterns are one kind of data that support this conclusion. The highest-ranking people would have lived in the cities, and the large capital city of Zhengzhou was where the king would have resided. The elite residents of smaller cities in other areas such as Panlongcheng, Yuanqu, and Yanshi would have been local governors or military leaders who were chosen by the Shang king.\" §REF§(Yuan 2013, 334)§REF§" }, { "id": 8, "polity": { "id": 421, "name": "cn_erlitou", "long_name": "Erlitou", "start_year": -1850, "end_year": -1600 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 3, "administrative_level_to": 3, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>1. Ruler or Priest<br>walls enclosed what has been called a \"palatial area\" but others contend this might be a location for ritual gathering.§REF§(Shelach and Jaffe 2014, 330)§REF§<br>2. Administrative planner\"The list of activities dependent on administration for the Erlitou state - agriculture, the construction of public buildings and city walls, the bronze industry, the army - is equally applicable to Erligang, but the scale of those activities had increased enormously.\"§REF§(Wang 2014, 179) Wang, Haicheng. 2014. Writing and the Ancient State: Early China in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge University Press.§REF§<br>\"The building of monumental architecture and the production of elite objects would have been inconceivable without some sort of systematic management of the city's resources. ... A similar response to administrative needs at Erlitou is certainly a possibility.\"§REF§(Wang 2014, 178) Wang, Haicheng. 2014. Writing and the Ancient State: Early China in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge University Press.§REF§<br>\"The palace city was about 11 ha and, during phase IV, was enclosed by rammed-earth walls about 2 m wide and surrounded by four large roads (Fig. 4). At least seven earthen platforms, ranging in size from about 300 to 9,600 m2, have been found inside this enclosure.\"§REF§(Shelach and Jaffe 2014, 344-345)§REF§ <i>We can infer that some sort of administrative system was required to maintain the courtyard, walls and roads of the palatial complex, whatever its actual function.</i><br>3. Scribe/worker\"While the Erlitou ceramic tradition was widespread, the mechanisms of this expansion are probably only indirectly related to political activity (if pots don’t equal people, they are even less representative of conquering armies or “state” administrators). The degree of centralization, mechanisms of political control, and social organization can only be guessed at or extrapolated through comparison with Zhengzhou and Anyang.\"§REF§(Campbell 2014, 62)§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 9, "polity": { "id": 471, "name": "cn_hmong_2", "long_name": "Hmong - Early Chinese", "start_year": 1895, "end_year": 1941 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 2, "administrative_level_to": 2, "comment": null, "description": " levels. According to the Ethnographic Atlas' variable 33 'Jurisdictional Hierarchy Beyond Local Community' there are 'Two levels (e.g., larger chiefdoms chiefdoms)' of administrative control-petty chiefs and local leaders.<br>[(6) the Chinese Central Government; (5) the Chinese Provincial Governments; (4) Senior Chinese Officials; (3) Yi officials;] (2) Hmong Petty Officials and Chiefs of Townships;(1) Village and Hamlet Headmen<br>On the village and hamlet levels, respected elders served as informal leaders: 'Respected knowledgeable elders, heads of family groups, and religious experts of both genders served as informal leaders. Among the more Sinicized, landlords and those who had some literacy in Chinese exercised power in the community. Under the present system, those who are members of the Communist party stand as the official leaders of the community.' §REF§Diamond, Norma: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Miao§REF§ 'The Ch'uan Miao are not a tribe with a political organization that includes the whole group. There are no tribal rulers, but they have local headmen, called gü leo or “old clubs,” who sometimes cooperate for the common good. These people are an ethnic group bound together by common language, ideals, and customs and by a strong sense of unity. They are very sociable and mutually helpful.' §REF§Graham, David Crockett 1954. “Songs And Stories Of The Ch’Uan Miao”, 4§REF§ 'Traditionally, the Miao had little political organization above the village level, and the highest position was that of village leader. In China the Miao have come under the political organization common to the whole of China; where minority populations are dense, they live in autonomous counties, townships, or prefectures, where a certain amount of self-representation is allowed.' §REF§<a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.britannica.com/topic/Miao\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.britannica.com/topic/Miao</a>§REF§ Rui also mentions chiefs of village clusters or townships, a position established by the Chinese, although the chronology is not quite clear: 'The Magpie Miao live in villages, occasionally compact but normally consisting of a cluster of separate hamlets. These are located on mountain slopes, usually far enough away from main transportation routes to be inaccessible and readily defensible. The Miao lack any political organization of their own, and are thoroughly integrated into the Chinese administrative system. The basic political, as well as economic and social unit, is the village. Villages are grouped into townships and divided into hamlets of about ten to twenty households each. The headmen of both the village and the hamlet are appointed by the chief of the township. The members of different villages or hamlets are bound principally by affinal ties. They may cooperate for the common good, but they lack any formal organization of an indigenous character. Disputes between members of the same hamlet are settled, if possible, within the hamlet. Those between members of different hamlets of the same village are adjudicated by a council composed of the village headman and the heads of the hamlets involved. If this council cannot effect a settlement, the litigants have a right to carry their dispute to the chief of the township or even to the Chinese court of the county.' §REF§Rui, Yifu 1960. “Magpie Miao Of Southern Szechuan”, 145§REF§ Hmong petty officials acting as intermediaries between Hmong communities and Chinese authorities had been set up during the Qing period already: 'When the Miao rebellion was put down in the first year of Chia Ch'ing /1796/, it was found that the policy of governing the Miao with Chinese was wrong. The then governor-general of Hunan and Kwangtung, Pi Yüan, submitted a plan to govern the Miao with Miao. \"[...] It is requested that from among the Miao who have submitted, and on whom were conferred the peacock feather decoration /for merit, in early Ch'ing times/, there be selected some intelligent, aware persons, to be appointed at each ying /military station/ as native second captain /shoupei/, lieutenant /ch'ien-tsung/, and sergeant or corporal /wai-wei/, such positions to be filled through the governor-general and governor's /tu-wu/ yamen /tu-wu ya-men/ and to be subject to the control of the civil and military authorities. When the various t'ang hsin in the Miao area have official despatches to send, they can order the said native petty officers to select Miao to question and send, and also to give them some cash and rations. When officials traveling on official business require servants, they may also recruit them from the Miao, and pay them wages according to the Chinese scales. It would appear that the 100-families village chief was originally inaugurated to discipline the Miao, but these men were unimportant and their powers limited, as that the Miao did not heed them. Moreover, among the Chinese holding such positions there were rapacious, unscrupulous rogues, whose mistreatment led to disturbances. This should naturally be explained, deliberated, and changed, so as to fix responsibility. During the recent campaign those submissive Miao who accompanied the army and won peacock feather awards are numerous, therefore from these select those who are intelligent and aware, and who have the support of the rest, and according to the customary set-up of t'u-kuan /officials governing aboriginal tribes in West China/, every Ying should have one or two men to be native second captains, under whom there should be native lieutenants and sergeants, for better control of the Miao. Their number will depend upon the number of villages put under control, and they shall be appointed by the governor-general and governor's yamen and also be under the control of regional officials. If there are fights, robberies and thefts among the Miao these native officers will be asked to make the arrests. On their inspection tours, the governor-general and governor and military officials should examine the merits and demerits of these officers and reward or punish them accordingly to demonstrate justice, following the recommendations memorialized by Governor-general Ho Lin. When the t'ang-hsin system of communication in the Miao area has been abolished, official communications should be despatched according to old methods so as to avoid delay. In the regions where the t'ang-hsin system exists as before, the local officials /t'u kuan/ should be asked to pick out honest Miao to be given the responsibility of delivering messages after being questioned, to be paid wages and rations from unallotted funds, according to the scale for t'un soldiers. When officials traveling on official business need servants, then order the said Miao to serve, and pay them wages according to recommendations memorialized.”' §REF§Ling, Shun-sheng, Yifu Ruey, and Lien-en Tsao 1947. “Report On An Investigation Of The Miao Of Western Hunan”, 152§REF§ Members of the higher social strata of Yi communities also served as more senior intermediaries: 'Opium was also an important feature of the economy until the 1920s: the Hua Miao grew it, but they had no control over its sale, and very few were attracted to its use. Most Hua Miao villages were tenant communities on lands held by Han or Hui, or more commonly in this area, by members of the elite strata of the Yi (also called Nosu or Black Yi). In the pacification of the region, large tracts of land were awarded to the Yi nobility by the expanding Chinese state. In return for the right to claim rentals and labor service, the Yi “native officials” (tu si) collected taxes for the state and generally maintained law and order within the boundaries of their estate holdings. This feudal system lasted until the 1920s. The Hua Miao met their obligations to these overlords by the forced growing of the opium poppy, payments in kind or in cash or a specified number of days of labor service (agricultural work, collecting of firewood, household service, transport work). However, as tenants they were free to move residence, to change landlords and to make their own marriage arrangements, rights that were not granted to the slave class within Yi society. Within the ethnic stratification of the area, the Hua Miao ranked below the Yi nobility and freeborn classes, and below the Hui and the Han, but their status was better than that of the Yi slaves-some of whom were Han who had been forced into slavery. Relations between the Hua Miao and their Yi overlords were tense but in general the Yi made no attempt to force the Hua Miao to assimilate to Yi cultural [Page 65] practices, and at times the Miao fled from the Han to the protection of the Yi.' §REF§Diamond, Norma 1993. “Ethnicity And The State: The Hua Miao Of Southwest China”, 64§REF§ Senior Chinese adminitrative officials were located in provincial capitals and district towns: 'Like Kweiyang, the hsien city of Lung-li was in an open plain, but a narrow one. The space between the mountains was sufficient for a walled town of one long street between the east and west gates and one or two on either side. There were fields outside the city walls. Its normal population was between three and four thousand, augmented during the war by the coming of some “companies” for the installation and repair of charcoal burners in motor lorries and the distillation of grain alcohol for fuel, an Army officers' training school, and the engineers' corps of the railway being built through the town from Kwangsi to Kweiyang. To it the people of the surrounding countryside, including at least three groups of Miao and the Chung-chia, went to market. It was also the seat of the hsien government and contained a middle school, postal and telegraph offices, and a cooperative bank, with all of which the non-Chinese, as well as the Chinese, had some dealings. A few of the more well-to-do families sent one of their boys to the middle school. Cases which could not be settled in the village or by the lien pao official, who was also a Chinese, were of necessity brought to the hsien court, as well as cases which involved both Miao and Chinese.' §REF§Mickey, Margaret Portia 1947. “Cowrie Shell Miao Of Kweichow”, 40b§REF§ We have assumed that these observations are true for the A-Hmao as well, despite of historical differences. [The A-Hmao group doesn't appear to have been directly involved in the more eastern Hmong rebellions, but it appears to have been increasingly subsumed by the Late Qing/Early Chinese in the aftermath of these rebellions.]" }, { "id": 10, "polity": { "id": 470, "name": "cn_hmong_1", "long_name": "Hmong - Late Qing", "start_year": 1701, "end_year": 1895 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 2, "administrative_level_to": 4, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>1: hereditary Yi family leader OR military appointee2. village headmen. 'These ‘native officials’ were remnants of the former tusi system, through which the Chinese imperial court granted titles to indigenous overlords to serve its indirect rule over the southwestern frontier. They survived the policy of gaitu guiliu (substituting posted officials for native officials) in the Qing dynasty, yet found themselves facing imminent threats from the Republican regime in the mid-1930s.'§REF§(Cheung Siu-woo (2003) Miao Identities, Indigenism and the Politics of Appropriation in Southwest China during the Republican Period. Asian Ethnicity. Vol. 4, Iss. 1, 2003)§REF§<br>1. Intermediary with Chinese state (tusi), then Hundred-household Heads (baihu); 2. Clan leaders; 3. Lineage leaders; 4. Village headmen.<br>Hmong representative in Chinese bureaucracy at the county, township, and village level. The main social organization structure in traditional Hmong society is the clan (Xeem) system, followed by a clan’s many lineages, and then the families within those lineages. §REF§Cha, D. 2003. Hmong American Concepts of Health, Healing, and Conventional Medicine. Psychology Press.§REF§ The Qing allowed the traditional village and lineage headmen of Hmong and other groups in the Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan to act as local officials of the empire, preserving some degree of traditional culture and social structure. §REF§(38)Crossley, P. 2010. The Wobbling Pivot, China since 1800: An Interpretive History. John Wiley & Sons.§REF§ In the seventeenth century, the early Qing rulers wanted to bring the land of the Hmong Frontier within reach. The native tusi alliance was partially abolished and the territory incorporated as the southwestern tip of Chenzhou Prefecture; by 1730 the program included “bringing chieftains into the system” (gaitu guiliu). The Hmong Frontier’s remaining native units were dismantled; the Qing retained aspects of the former chieftain system in the establishment of a new set of hereditary leaders known as “Hundred-household Heads” (baihu). §REF§(88)McMahon, D. 2014. Rethinking the Decline of China's Qing Dynasty: Imperial Activism and Borderland Management at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century. Routledge.§REF§" }, { "id": 11, "polity": { "id": 245, "name": "cn_jin_spring_and_autumn", "long_name": "Jin", "start_year": -780, "end_year": -404 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 4, "administrative_level_to": 4, "comment": null, "description": "1. Ruler2. Court officials (Chancellor, Secretaries, etc)3. Provincial / commandery governors; military generals; local elite lineages4. town heads<br><i>NB: unclear exactly how much administrative hierarchy there was at the local (town, village, etc) level, but the number 4 based on states during this period having short chains-of-command and less state penetration into the local levels relative to later periods after the ‘centralizing’ reforms of the Qi, Chu, and Qin (DH)</i>" }, { "id": 12, "polity": { "id": 420, "name": "cn_longshan", "long_name": "Longshan", "start_year": -3000, "end_year": -1900 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 3, "administrative_level_to": 4, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>1. King\"Issuing the calendar would have been the duty of the king. Associated ritual activities also would have taken place at the observatory. It is likely the king held ceremonies there by himself or entrusted officials to perform rituals on his behalf. This was not a public ritual building freely accessible to commoners.\"§REF§(He 2013, 268)§REF§<br>2. Top adviser and/or priest and/or someone who administered building and maintenance projects e.g. Yao's observatory <i>inferred</i>\"The walls indicate social differentiation in Longshan society for more than one reason. The resources needed for building a large walled settlement were far more than those used in ordinary settlements, thus requiring a very powerful central authority to organize the necessary labor. In addition, there is evidence at some sites for sacrifice of humans in rituals associated with the construction of wall foundations. For instance, in the western walled portion of Wangchenggang, 13 sacrificial pits filled with at least 17 human skeletons were found. The original number would have been more than this because of selective excavation.\" §REF§(Zhao 2013, 247)§REF§<br>3. Official astronomer\"recording time at Yao’s observatory was entrusted to the official astronomers of names Xi 羲 and He 和.”2\"§REF§(He 2013, 268)§REF§<br>4. Lower Level Advisers (Inferred)<br>" }, { "id": 13, "polity": { "id": 269, "name": "cn_ming_dyn", "long_name": "Great Ming", "start_year": 1368, "end_year": 1644 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 5, "administrative_level_to": 5, "comment": null, "description": " levels. Number equal to the levels comprising the provincial government, plus the Emperor.<br>1. Emperor<br><br>_Central government_<br>2. Grand Secretariatfollowing the Great Purge of 1380 CE \"All of the top positions of the Secretariat were abolished\". §REF§(Lorge 2005, 109)§REF§ The Hongwu Emperor \"established the roots of the Grand Secretariat when he employed members of the Hanlin Academy to help him with the workload he was saddled with after he abolished the executive posts in the Secretariat. Under Xuande the system became more regular with a complement of three or four grand secretaries drawn from the Hanlin Academy as assistants to the emperor. Still, the grand secretaries were not formally connected to the bureaucracy in a chain of command...\"§REF§(Lorge 2005, 120)§REF§<br>2. Secretariat six boards (Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice, and Works). §REF§(Pletcher 2010, 197)§REF§following the Great Purge of 1380 CE \"Without its top ranks, the heads of the Secretariat's six boards reported to the emperor personally.\"§REF§(Lorge 2005, 109)§REF§<br>2. Censorate §REF§(Pletcher 2010, 198)§REF§<br>_Provincial government_<br>2. ProvinceProvince: Ming had in total of 16 counties and a triad of provincial agencies known as the Three Offices: the Provincial Administration Commission, the Provincial Surveillance Commission, and the Regional Military Commission. §REF§(Brook, 2010, p.39)§REF§<br>3. Prefecture<br>4. County (Magistrate)County: The County was the lowest unit to which the central government appointed an official. Each county had one magistrate, who was always native of another province according to what was called the rule of avoidance, designed to prevent retrenchment of local power at the expense of center. The magistrate was responsible for overseeing the security and finances of anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000 people. When the burdens of a magistrate became too heavy, a county could be subdivided and new counties formed §REF§(Brook, 2010, p.40-41)§REF§<br>5. TownTown could be elevated to county status under some conditions. For instance, The Town of Tong-xiang south of Lake Tai, was elevated in 1430 CE in a major reorganization designed to improve fiscal operations in this densely populated region. §REF§(Brook, 2010, p.41)§REF§<br>_Local government_<br>5. Community (Community chief)<br>\"The entire population was divided into communities of 110 adjacent households as the basic unit of self-government and state control. Each year one of the heads of the ten wealthiest households held the position of community chief, who served as representative to the local magistrate and the local tax collector.§REF§(Lorge 2005, 110)§REF§<br>\"Each family was classified according to hereditary status - the chief categories being civilian, military, and artisan - and neighbouring families of the same category were organised into groups for purposes of self-government and mutual help and surveillance. Civilians were grouped into 'tithings' of 10 families, and these in turn were grouped into communities totaling 100 families, plus 10 additional prosperous households, which in annual rotation provided community chiefs, who were intermediaries between the citizenry at large and the formal agencies of government. This system of social organization, called lijia (later replaced by or coexistent with a local defense system called baojia), served to stablize, regulate, and indoctrinate the populace under relatively loose formal state supervision.\"§REF§(Pletcher 2010, 197)§REF§6. Ten households (Family head)\"The other 100 households were grouped into ten groups of ten, with each family head acting as representative for his group to the community chief on an annual rotation. Everyone in each group was responsible for the actions of the other members, creating a vast mutual surveillance system.\"§REF§(Lorge 2005, 110)§REF§<br>very similar to the Three Chiefs System of 486 CE" }, { "id": 14, "polity": { "id": 425, "name": "cn_northern_song_dyn", "long_name": "Northern Song", "start_year": 960, "end_year": 1127 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 7, "administrative_level_to": 8, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>1. Emperor<br>\"He assumed 'dictatorial' powers because only the sovereign, through the examination system, now controlled access to office. This new centralized bureaucracy of Sung was more beholden to the throne and so supported imperial power in a different manner and on a greater scale than had its medieval forebears.\"§REF§(Hartman 2015, 20)§REF§<br>\"Huang-ti and T'ien-tzu (Son of Heaven) were the most usual titles on the formal seals of Sung emperors.\"§REF§(Hartman 2015, 82)§REF§<br>2. Palace Domestic Service\"Like other major Sung institutions, the Palace Domestic Service dates from the reign of Chen-tsung. Organized in 1022 into six ministries with a plethora of subdivisions, it contained a total of 282 billeted positions. These six ministries were General Affairs, Ceremonies, Wardrobe, Food Service, Housekeeping, and Workshop Service.\"§REF§(Hartman 2015, 88)§REF§<br>\"In 1113, Emperor Hui-tsung, as a continuation of the Yuan-feng reforms of 1082, reorganized the Palace Domestic Service to mirror the organization of external government. The traditional six inner ministries of 1022 were reorganized into six divisions that corresponded to the external Six Ministries of the Department of State Affairs, and the top supervisory positions were recast as “inner councilors” (nei-tsai). As justification for this move, Hui-tsung’s edict declared that this new structure would facilitate “the disposition of matters submitted to the throne from the external Six Ministries.” This phrasing raises the interesting question whether, in addition to processing their own internal paperwork, the women also processed external documents coming to and from the emperor. There are tantalizing indications that this was probably the case.\"§REF§(Hartman 2015, 88-89)§REF§<br>\"Tenth-century Sung government was a hopeless patchwork of late T’ang administrative structure and ad hoc provincial institutions inherited from the military governors of the Five Dynasties.\" §REF§(Hartman 2015, 29)§REF§<br>_Central government_<br>Pre-1082 CE State Council (Military Affairs Commission / Secretariat-Chancellery)<br>2. Chief Councillor\"Initially, the Sung chief councilors were secondary in importance to the Military Affairs Commissioner. But, as soon as literati culture began to emerge in the early eleventh century, the first of the great chief councilors also emerged in the person of Lu I-chien.\" §REF§(Hartman 2015, 99)§REF§ \"the office of chief councilor was the pinnacle of the Sung bureaucracy, the chief officer charged with formulating and executing policy.\" §REF§(Hartman 2015, 98)§REF§<br>3. Five Offices (Wu fang) of the Secretariat-Chancellery staffed by clerks or assistant chief councillors collectively known as Bureau of Edicts (Chich-ch'ih yuan) §REF§(Hartman 2015, 99)§REF§<br>4. Clerks\"In the mid-eleventh century, the support staff at the Secretariat-Chancellery numbered at least two to three hundred clerks, although this number ballooned after the Yuan-feng reforms.\"§REF§(Hartman 2015, 101)§REF§<br>5-?. Lesser clerks\"They were staffed by professional clerks, who had their own hierarchy, but were not graded officials (shih ta-fu).\"§REF§(Hartman 2015, 101)§REF§<br>Post-1082 CE (Yuan-feng reform) Military Affairs Commission, Department of the Secretariat (Chung-shu sheng), Department of the Chancellery (Men-hsia sheng), Department of State Affairs. §REF§(Hartman 2015, 98-99)§REF§<br>2. Left Chief Councillor and Right Chief CouncillorSix Ministries under the Department of State Affairs divided into \"Left\" and \"Right\" groups) §REF§(Hartman 2015, 99)§REF§<br>Three Departments (San-sheng)§REF§(Hartman 2015, 37)§REF§ Illustrated by a T'ang saying often repeated in Sung texts: \"the Secretariat obtains the imperial will; the Chancellery resubmits the memorial; the Department of State Affairs (Shang-shu sheng) promulgates the action.\"§REF§(Hartman 2015, 37)§REF§<br>\"The Left Chief Councilor was Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs and concurrent Vice Director of the Chancellery (Shang-shu tso p'u-yeh chien men-hsia shih-lang). The Right Chief Councilor held a similar title but was concurrently Vice Director of the Secretariat (there were no directors).\"§REF§(Hartman 2015, 99-100)§REF§<br>3. Left and Right Assistant Directors of the Department of State Affairs\"The position of Assistant Chief Councilor was abolished, replaced by Left and Right Assistant Directors of the Department of State Affairs (Shang-shu tso yu-ch'eng).\"§REF§(Hartman 2015, 100)§REF§<br>4. Subunit of the Six Ministries (ssu)The Six Ministries had twenty-four subunits (ssu) §REF§(Hartman 2015, 101)§REF§<br>5. Clerks\"In the mid-eleventh century, the support staff at the Secretariat-Chancellery numbered at least two to three hundred clerks, although this number ballooned after the Yuan-feng reforms.\"§REF§(Hartman 2015, 101)§REF§<br>6-?.\"After 1082, two or three graded officials in each of the Six Ministries and their twenty-four subunits (ssu) supervised a much larger number of clerks.\"§REF§(Hartman 2015, 101)§REF§<br>Pre-1082 CE The Censorate and the Bureau of Policy Criticism.<br>2. Vice Censor-in-Chief (Yu-shih chung-ch'eng) of the Headquarters Bureau (T'ai-yuan). There was also The Palace Bureau (Tien-yuan) and The Investigation Bureau (Ch'a-yuan).\"... the major organs through which public opinion was to be funneled into court decision making. These institutions did not begin to assume their mature role in Sung government until the 1030s...\" §REF§(Hartman 2015, 38)§REF§<br>\"First, independently of other agencies, it gathered information and kept the emperor informed on conditions in the state. Second, it kept watch over the bureaucracy and enforced rules and standards for official conduct. In the metaphor of the state as a body, the censors were the \"eyes and ears\" of the sovereign.\"§REF§(Hartman 2015, 103)§REF§<br>\"there was no Censor-in-Chief; the post was always vacant\" §REF§(Hartman 2015, 104)§REF§<br>3. Attendant Censor (Shihyu-shih) of the Headquarters Bureau (T'ai-yuan) §REF§(Hartman 2015, 104)§REF§4. Head of subdivision within Headquarters Bureau (Palace Bureau / Investigation Bureau) §REF§(Hartman 2015, 104)§REF§<br>5. Clerk<br>6. Assistant clerk\"Within these three divisions there were eleven subdivisions with a total quota of forty-four clerks.\" §REF§(Hartman 2015, 104)§REF§<br>Rank grade classes in the civil-administrative structure (note: each of these classes are further sub-divided)§REF§(Hartman 2015, 61)§REF§<br>1. Ministers-in-attendance (shih ts'ung)<br>The Emperor \"personally made all appointments and personnel decisions concerning top officials. Such officials, known collectively as ministers-in-attendance, had personal-rank grades of eleven or above.\"§REF§(Hartman 2015, 84)§REF§<br>2. Senior directors (Ta ch'ing-chien)3. Directors (Lang-chung)4. Vice-directors (Yuan-wai-lang)5. Court officials (Ch'ao kuan)6. Capital Officials (Ching-kuan)7. Executory Class Officials (Hsuan-jen)<br>2. Finance Commissioners (san-ssu shih) in the State Finance Commission or Three Offices (San-ssu)\"The commissioners (sansishi) at the head of the State Finance Commission were carefully chosen by the court.\"§REF§(Liu 2015, 65)§REF§<br>The Salt and Iron Monopoly \"handled the production and distribution of military supplies, paid the salaries of military officials, supervised communications, collected commercial taxes, and ran the government monopolies, except for the wine monopoly.\"§REF§(Golas 2015, 145)§REF§<br>The Tax Bureau \"prepared annual financial reports and controlled receipts and disbursements, including the salaries of civil officials.\"§REF§(Golas 2015, 145)§REF§<br>The Census Bureau \"was responsible for population records, collected agricultural taxes, administered the wine monopoly, supervised long term storage of goods, and handled certain public-works projects.\"§REF§(Golas 2015, 145)§REF§<br>3. Assistant commissioner (san-ssu fu-shih)\"Various unsuccessful attempts were made to divide authority at the top among two or more commissioners, but it was not until the beginning of the eleventh century that a workable answer was found: a single finance commissioner (san-ssu shih), aided by an assistant commissioner (san-ssu fu-shih) and three administrative assistants (san-ssu p'an-kuan) in each of the three offices. The finance commissioners were answerable not to the chief councilors (tsai-hsiang) who headed the regular civil administration, but directly to the emperor.\"§REF§(Golas 2015, 146)§REF§<br>4. Three administrative assistants (san-ssu p'an-kuan)<br>4. Heads of the sub-units of the Three Officese.g. The Salt and Iron Monopoly included an Armaments Section (Chou an) prior to some later reforms.§REF§(Golas 2015, 153)§REF§<br>5. Clerk in sub-unit of the Three Offices -- inferred<br>6. Assistant clerk in sub-unit of the Three Offices -- inferred\"In 978, it was reported to have comprised 24 offices and employed over 1,000 clerks.\" §REF§(Liu 2015, 65)§REF§<br>5. Manager of state-owned production unit -- inferrede.g. Did the manager of a crossbow producing factory report to the Armaments Section chief?<br>local officials called \"jiandangguan (officials with supervision and administrative duties in financial and other economic issues), also performed finance and taxation work. They were primarily responsible for collecting commercial taxes, supervising salt and wine monopolies, and managing storehouses.\"§REF§(Liu 2015, 66)§REF§<br>6. State-owned production unit assistant manager -- inferred<br>7. State-owned production unit worker -- inferred<br>7. State monopoly agents\"... under the control of the counties, a large number of ch'ang-wu, monopoly or commercial tax installations, directed not by clerks or local notables but by regular officials, the state monopoly agents (chien-tang kuan).\"§REF§(Golas 2015, 148)§REF§<br>2. Institute of Academicians\"The academicians of the Institute composed the formal, important documents of imperial rule - notices of imperial appointments and promotions, amnesties, and foreign correspondence.\"§REF§(Hartman 2015, 92)§REF§<br>_Provincial government_<br>2. Circuits (lu) - Fiscal Commissioner (chuan-yun shih or ts'ao-ssu) / Judicial Commissioner (t'i-tien hsing-yu kung-shih or hsien-ssu) / Military Commissioner (ching-lueh an-fun shih or shuai-ssu)\"the entire empire was divided into circuits (lu or, for a short time, tao) which usually included eight to fifteen prefectures\"§REF§(Golas 2015, 143)§REF§<br>\"These circuits served in the first instance for the surveillance of affairs in the prefectures but increasingly tended to assume other roles such as general co-ordination and mobilization of a region's resources.\"§REF§(Golas 2015, 143)§REF§<br>\"The circuits defined the area of activity of a number of circuit commissioners whose offices were designated as supervisorates or surveillance agencies (chien-ssu).\" §REF§(Golas 2015, 144)§REF§<br>3. Vice Commissioners (fu-shih) §REF§(Golas 2015, 144)§REF§4. Administrative assistants (p'an-kuan) §REF§(Golas 2015, 144)§REF§<br>4. Winery \"directly run by officials\"Fiscal Commissioners \"checked the receipts from all wineries, ordered their immediate subordinates or officials from the prefectural offices to inspect specific wineries, determined which wineries would be directly run by officials and which would be leased out to private operators...\"§REF§(Golas 2015, 144)§REF§5. Winery management6-?. Winery staff<br>3. Prefect and Vice prefect (t'ung-pan) §REF§(Golas 2015, 147)§REF§ of a Prefecture (chou)§REF§(Tseng-yü and Wright 2009, 217)§REF§ Superior prefectures (fu)§REF§(Tseng-yü and Wright 2009, 217)§REF§\"At the prefectural level, many financial activities were handled not by the prefect but by the vice prefect (t'ung-pan).\" \"Vice prefects enjoyed approximate equality with prefects: they were permitted to memoralize the throne directly on prefectural affairs and their endorsement (chien-shu) was required on reports from the prefect.\" §REF§(Golas 2015, 147)§REF§<br>4. Prefectural court judge (t'ui kuan)§REF§(McKnight 2015, 267)§REF§<br>5. Clerk in a court §REF§(McKnight 2015, 266)§REF§<br>4. Magistrates and Vice magistrates in a County (hsien)\"counties (hsien), the lowest general administrative level of the government\" §REF§(Golas 2015, 141)§REF§<br>\"Much the same kind of independence was enjoyed at the county level by vice magistrates (hsien-ch'eng), who were appointed in counties of special importance.\" §REF§(Golas 2015, 147)§REF§<br>5. ClerksThe Granaries Policy (Ts'ang fa) (1070) put some previously unsalaried local clerks in local government on government salaries.§REF§(Golas 2015, 151)§REF§<br>County registrars (chu-pu) §REF§(McKnight 2015, 262)§REF§<br>5. State monopoly agents (chien-tang kuan) <i>-- may belong in the central government under The Salt and Iron Monopoly tree?</i>\"... under the control of the counties, a large number of ch'ang-wu, monopoly or commercial tax installations, directed not by clerks or local notables but by regular officials, the state monopoly agents (chien-tang kuan).\"§REF§(Golas 2015, 148)§REF§<br>5. County sheriff (hsing-wei)T'ai-tsu in 962 CE \"ordered that each county establish a county sheriff (hsing-wei) with a salary equal to that of the county registrars (chu-pu), though sheriffs stood below the registrars in the protocol order.\"§REF§(McKnight 2015, 262)§REF§<br>6. Clerks (chieh-chi) and Bowmen (kung-shou)\"These sheriffs, assisted by a body of clerks (chieh-chi) and bowmen (kung-shou), were to enforce the law in the countryside.\"§REF§(McKnight 2015, 262)§REF§<br>_Village level political structure of Emperor Shen-tsung and Wang An-shih_<br>6. Superior Security Group (ten ta? pao) lead by a fu-pao-cheng\"Emperor Shen-tsung and Wang An-shih promoted the pao-chia system at the village-level political structure. Every five households constituted one pao (security group) and were headed up by a security-group head (pao-chang); five pao formed a large pao headed by a large security-group head (ta pao-chang); and ten large pao formed a superior security group (tu-pao) headed by a superior security group head (fu-pao-cheng) and his assistant (fu tu-pao-cheng).\"§REF§(Tseng-yü and Wright 2009, 228)§REF§<br>7. fu tu-pao-cheng (assistant to fu-pao-cheng)<br>7. Large Security Group (five pao) ta? pao lead by a ta pao-chang<br>8. Security Group (every five households) pao lead by a pao-chang<br>" }, { "id": 15, "polity": { "id": 1, "name": "cn_qing_dyn_1", "long_name": "Early Qing", "start_year": 1644, "end_year": 1796 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 7, "administrative_level_to": 7, "comment": null, "description": " levels. This number equivalent to the number of levels in the provincial government, plus the Emperor.<br>1. Emperor\"During the Qing conquest of Ming China, the Manchus struck a deal with local elites that allowed them to rule the empire in return for non-interference in local affairs.\"§REF§(Lorge 2005, 172)§REF§<br>_Central government_<br>2. Grand Councilcreated by the Yongzheng emperor §REF§(Lorge 2005, 173)§REF§<br>\"the Qianlong emperor's reign saw the expansion of the Grand Council system begun by his father during the war against the Zunghars. The Grand Council was a tool of imperial centralization that allowed the emperor to bypass the official bureaucracy for many decisions, particularly in prosecuting wars.\"§REF§(Lorge 2005, 164)§REF§<br>3. Ministries<br>_Provincial government_<br>3. Zongdu (viceroy, governor general) or Xunfu (governor)In charge of provinces.<br>4. Officials in charge of taos5. PrefectsIn charge of prefectures.<br>6. County chiefs7. County magistrates8. Clerks to the above offices<br>The yamen of the district magistrate (usually the county magistrate, but sometimes prefecture or ting) was the lowest point in the official hierarchy.§REF§( Zhang, 2011, 63)§REF§ District Magistrate occupied position 7A in the Qing territorial administrative hierarchy. §REF§(57, Table 2.3) Guy, K. 2017. Qing Governors and Their Provinces: The Evolution of Territorial Administration in China, 1644-1796. University of Washington Press.§REF§ Mostern confirmed that county should be one level above district, since 'xiang' are subordinate to 'xian,' which is routinely translated to 'county.' §REF§(Mostern, Ruth. Personal Communication to Peter Turchin, Dan Hoyer, and Jill Levine. April 2020. Email)§REF§ There was a prefect level between county magistrates and provincial governors, while district magistrates were too low to be included in a prefecture so they were overseen directly by the provincial governor. Promotion from county magistrate to prefect was possible. §REF§(80-81) Guy, K. 2014. ‘Routine Promotions: Li Hu and the Dusty Byways of Empire. In, The Dynastic Centre and the Provinces: Agents and Interactions. BRILL.§REF§<br>\"Western Sichuan was controlled by hereditary chieftains with only the vaguest connections to the Qing government. These non-Han peoples were widely dispersed in mountainous terrain, where one of their main distinguishing features from the Qing court's perspective was their constant internecine fighting.\"§REF§(Lorge 2005, 166)§REF§" }, { "id": 16, "polity": { "id": 2, "name": "cn_qing_dyn_2", "long_name": "Late Qing", "start_year": 1796, "end_year": 1912 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 7, "administrative_level_to": 7, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>1. Emperor2. Central Government3. Provincial Government-general (Zongdu, viceroy)<br>3. Provincial Governor (Xunfu)4. Tao governor <i>inferred</i>5. Prefect <i>inferred</i>6. County governor7. District Magistrate<br>7. Official in charge of Prefecture/ Ting<br>The yamen of the district magistrate (usually the county magistrate, but sometimes prefecture or ting) was the lowest point in the official hierarchy.§REF§( Zhang, 2011, 63)§REF§<br>District Magistrate occupied position 7A in the Qing territorial administrative hierarchy. §REF§(57, Table 2.3) Guy, K. 2017. Qing Governors and Their Provinces: The Evolution of Territorial Administration in China, 1644-1796. University of Washington Press.§REF§ Mostern confirmed that county should be one level above district, since 'xiang' are subordinate to 'xian,' which is routinely translated to 'county.' §REF§(Mostern, Ruth. Personal Communication to Peter Turchin, Dan Hoyer, and Jill Levine. April 2020. Email)§REF§ There was a prefect level between county magistrates and provincial governors, while district magistrates were too low to be included in a prefecture so they were overseen directly by the provincial governor. Promotion from county magistrate to prefect was possible. §REF§(80-81) Guy, K. 2014. ‘Routine Promotions: Li Hu and the Dusty Byways of Empire. In, The Dynastic Centre and the Provinces: Agents and Interactions. BRILL.§REF§" }, { "id": 17, "polity": { "id": 243, "name": "cn_late_shang_dyn", "long_name": "Late Shang", "start_year": -1250, "end_year": -1045 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 4, "administrative_level_to": 5, "comment": null, "description": "\"The Shang political system was organized into a hierarchy, meaning that it had many levels of rank and many specialized functions and jobs, all passed down within a noble family.\"§REF§(The Shang Dynasty, 1600 to 1050 BCE. Spice Digest, Fall 2007. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://iis-db.stanford.edu/docs/117/ShangDynasty.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://iis-db.stanford.edu/docs/117/ShangDynasty.pdf</a>)§REF§<br>The state had to \"organize the mining of large quantities of ore for bronzework; wage military campaigns; construct city walls and palaces; or build elaborate tombs for themselves.\"§REF§(The Shang Dynasty, 1600 to 1050 BCE. Spice Digest, Fall 2007. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://iis-db.stanford.edu/docs/117/ShangDynasty.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://iis-db.stanford.edu/docs/117/ShangDynasty.pdf</a>)§REF§<br>1. King<br>_Central government_<br>2. Highest official in the administration3. Official who over-saw mining activities and possibly also bronze workshops<br>3. Official for transport\"As early as the Shang period, roads were controlled by a special official\"§REF§(Lindqvist 2009) Lindqvist, Cecilia. 2009. China: Empire of Living Symbols. Da Capo Press.§REF§<br>4. Bronze workshop manager <i>inferred level</i>\"Casting large objects was not easy; it required large crucibles and efficient furnaces. Casting some of the largest objects required coordinated melting in many crucibles similar to a modern factory.\"§REF§(Bavarian 2005) Bavarian, Behzad. July 2005. Unearthing Technology’s Influence on the Ancient Chinese Dynasties through Metallurgical Investigations, California State University. Northridge. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://library.csun.edu/docs/bavarian.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://library.csun.edu/docs/bavarian.pdf</a>§REF§<br>4. Mine manager <i>inferred level</i>5. Bronze worker <i>inferred level</i><br><br><br>_Provincial government_<br>2. Aristocratic leaders (local elite families).<br><br>Feudal state. Familial kingship: Elder brother - Younger brother, Father - Son. King ruled core lands.<br>King appointed officials. Government secretariate: Great Minister and Councillors. High officials to run palace affairs and feasts (included religious chroniclers and ceremonial specialists). Military officials.<br>Shang territory was not contiguous. Authority over outer regions closest to Anyang was delegated to aristocratic leaders who usually were linked to royal family through kinship ties. They supplied king manpower for military, tribute, workers for construction projects. Beyond aristocratic rulers were friendly tribal chieftains. §REF§(Roberts 2003)§REF§§REF§(Keay 2009)§REF§<br>Administration is used in a very loose sense, recognizing that officials, including local elite families ('local elite' probably more accurate than 'aristocratic') as well as members of the King's retinue in Anyang seem to have acted largely independently, contributing to the King's projects (including military campaigns, building, and religious activities) in order to participate in and to benefit from association with Anyang, rather than as dependents or non-elite officials directly controlled by the Kings.<br>" }, { "id": 18, "polity": { "id": 260, "name": "cn_sui_dyn", "long_name": "Sui Dynasty", "start_year": 581, "end_year": 618 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 5, "administrative_level_to": 5, "comment": null, "description": " levels. This number equal to the number of levels in the central government, plus the Emperor.<br>1. Emperor<br><br>2. Three preceptors (san shih) and the three dukes (san kung)\"At the top of the imperial service were the three preceptors (san shih) and the three dukes (san kung) who were supposed to be, after the model of the early Chou, supreme advisors of the emperor.\" However \"these were not functional offices, and they were often unfilled for long periods.\" §REF§(Wright 1979, 81)§REF§ Three preceptors was abolished by Yangdi.§REF§(Xiong 2006, 112)§REF§<br>2. Department of the Palace Library / Department of the Palace Domestic Service\"in charge of palace affairs and were practically left outside the core leadership.\"§REF§(Xiong 2006, 109)§REF§<br>_Central government_<br>2. Shangshu Ling (President) of the Department of State Affairs (Secretariat / Chancellery were the other two departments)\"as the most powerful position of the bureaucracy, it was rarely filled, so its lieutenants puye ... served de facto as heads of the department.\" §REF§(Xiong 2009, 438)§REF§<br>\"The Secretariat served as the originator of policy proposals, which were reviewed by the Chancellery before being sent to the executive branch - the Department of State Affairs - for implementation. But in practice, heads of the Department of State Affairs had major policy making responsibilities.\"§REF§(Xiong 2006, 109)§REF§<br>Wendi set up \"an oligarchic leadership under his direct control. Thus, three departments instead of a single one constituted the central nerve system of the government.\"§REF§(Xiong 2006, 110)§REF§<br>During the reign of Wendi the shangshu ling of the DSA \"only existed in name\", \"The two vice presidents of the Department of State Affairs, together with the heads of the Chancellery (menxia) and the Secretariat (neishi; zhongshu under the Tang), made up the top echelon leadership of the central government, known as chief ministers.\"§REF§(Xiong 2006, 110)§REF§<br>3. Shangshu Sheng (vice-president of the department)\"since the presidency (ling ...) virtually left unfilled, the vice-presidents (puye ...) were by default leaders of the department and the most powerful chief ministers.\" §REF§(Xiong 2009, 438)§REF§<br>4. Civil Office (Li-pu), Finance (Min-pu), Rites (Lǐ-pu), Army (Ping-pu), Justice (Hsing-pu), Public Works (Kung-pu).Under the jurisdiction of the Department of State Affairs were the six boards §REF§(Wright 1979, 82)§REF§<br>5. Sub-official<br>2. Censorate (Yu-shih t'ai)\"Beyond the structure of the three central ministries and the six boards, the Sui established other offices...\" §REF§(Wright 1979, 82)§REF§<br>2. Inspectorate General of the Water Works (Tu-shui t'ai)\"Beyond the structure of the three central ministries and the six boards, the Sui established other offices...\" §REF§(Wright 1979, 82)§REF§<br>2. Supervisory Office for the State University§REF§(Wright 1979, 82)§REF§\"All the principle officers of these bureaux had proscribed titles and a set number of subordinates at all levels, and the regulations specified the rank (p'in) required for each office.\"§REF§(Wright 1979, 82)§REF§<br>2. Inspectorate General of the Imperial Works§REF§(Wright 1979, 82)§REF§<br>2. Inspectorate General of the Imperial Ateliers§REF§(Wright 1979, 82)§REF§<br>2. Nine Courts (chiu ssu)Court of Imperial Sacrifices, Court of Imperial Banquets, Court of the Imperial Family (three examples)§REF§(Wright 1979, 82)§REF§<br>\"In essence, these central agencies often overlapped the Six Boards in function but were not nearly as powerful. However, unlike the Tang period when the None Courts were ranked lower bureaucratically and functioned as subordinate agencies to carry out directives of the Six Boards, the Sui Nine Courts were headed by officials with the same rank as the presidents of the Six Boards ...\"§REF§(Xiong 2006, 109)§REF§<br>reforms under Yangdi \"paved the way for the functional subordination of the Nine Courts to the Six Boards, a practice institutionalized under the Tang.\"§REF§(Xiong 2006, 111)§REF§<br>2. Delegate of Court Assembly\"Each prefecture (chou) sent a representative to a special assembly held in the presence of the emperor. While in the capital they were lodged in special quarters in the south-east part of the city. The assemblies were held on the fifteenth of the second, seventh and tenth moons. We know more about the function of the system under the T'ang, which held such assembles annually. The T'ang delegates were generally prefects or other ranking officials who were expected to bring to the capital their candidates for the official examinations plus tribute gifts for the emperor. An examination into the performance of the local officials in each local unit was held, and this was followed by an audience. In the Sui, the procedure was perhaps less elaborate, at least at the beginning of the dynasty.\"§REF§(Wright 1979, 91-92)§REF§<br>_Provincial government_<br>2. Circuit (dao)\"Under normal circumstances, a zongguan corresponded to a zhou ... (prefecture) in area. However, three zongguan (area commands - Luozhou ... (mainly in present-day Henan), Bingzhou ... (in present-day Shanxi), and Yizhou ... (the Southwest) - functioned as super area commands; each of them took charge of dozens of area commands. In 582, Wendi replaced these super area commands with the circuit (dao ...), with its head office known as the Branch of the Department of State Affairs (xingtai sheng ...), and converted Luozhou ..., Bingzhou, and Yizhou [Super] Area Commands into Henan ..., Hebei ..., and Xinan ..., Circuits, respectively.\"§REF§(Xiong 2006, 14)§REF§<br>\"Yangdi was the top administrator of the Bingzhou area whether as [superior] area commander of Bingzhou, or president of the Branch Department of State Affairs of Hebei ... Circuit (dao)\"§REF§(Xiong 2006, 14)§REF§<br>2. Prefectures (became Commanderies under Yangdi)\"From the Three Kingdoms through the Western Jin, a three-tier local government system, comprised of zhou ... (province), jun ... (region), and xian ... (county), was in place. After the fall of the Western Jin, the system continued to exist in name. However, both the zhou (renamed \"prefectures\") and jun (renamed \"commanderies\") shrank in size and increased in number. By Sui times, they were hardly distinguishable from one another. Wendi created a zhou-xian two-tier system by abolishing the jun. Yangdi then replaced zhou with jun.\" §REF§(Xiong 2009, 182)§REF§<br>3. xian<br>_Three Chiefs System_<br>\"A system of mutual surveillance to facilitate tax collection ad fulfillment of corvee and military duties. Proposed by Li Chong ..., it was first promulgated in Northern Wei in 486 in the name of Xiaowendi. Replacing the system of clan masters (zongzhu ...) at the grassroots level, it organized every five households into units known as lin (neighbourhoods). Five lin constituted a li ... (village), and five li, a dang ... (community). The heads (zhang) of lin, li, and dang were the three chiefs.\" §REF§(Xiong 2009, 501)§REF§<br>4. dang (community) lead by a zhang (chief)Constituted 125 households (five li) §REF§(Xiong 2009, 501)§REF§ perhaps 750 people<br>5. li (village) lead by a zhang (chief)Constituted 25 households (five lin) §REF§(Xiong 2009, 501)§REF§ perhaps 150 people<br>6. lin (neighbourhoods) lead by a zhang (chief)Constituted five households §REF§(Xiong 2009, 501)§REF§ perhaps 30 people?<br>Aristocratic ranks (before Yangdi changed it to prince - duke - marquis)§REF§(Xiong 2006, 112)§REF§<br>State Prince (guowang)<br>Commandery prince (junwang)<br>State duke (guogong)<br>Commandery duke (jungong)<br>County duke (xiangong)<br>Marquis (hou)<br>Earl (bo)<br>Viscount (zi)<br>Baron (nan)<br>" }, { "id": 19, "polity": { "id": 261, "name": "cn_tang_dyn_1", "long_name": "Tang Dynasty I", "start_year": 617, "end_year": 763 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 7, "administrative_level_to": 7, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>1. Emperor<br>\"whose power was, in theory, absolute.\" §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>_Central government_<br>2. Hall of Administrative Affairs / Chief Ministers' office (from 723 CE)Three chief ministers also called \"Hall of Administrative Affairs (Cheng-shih t'ang)\" an informal advisory group. §REF§(Dalby 1979, 590)§REF§<br>from 723 CE became an official government organ \"with a separate budget and seal\" Chief Ministers' office (Chung-shu Men-hsia) §REF§(Dalby 1979, 590)§REF§<br>2. Imperial Chancellery run by a Chief Minister\"it received reports, ratified nominations, controlled all the actions of the government\" §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>Hsuan-tsung (712-756 CE): \"it was not he who ruled during the latter period from about 740 but his Chancellor Li Lin fu (in office 736-752), who established himself an unchallenged master of the Empire.\"§REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 129)§REF§<br>heads of the three central ministries were \"chief ministers\" §REF§(Roberts 1996, 95)§REF§<br>Chief Minister (tsai-hsiang), Chancellery (Men-hsia sheng) §REF§(Dalby 1979, 590)§REF§<br>2. Imperial Secretariat run by a Chief Minister\"prepared and issued all the proclamations, edicts, etc.\" §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>Chief Minister (tsai-hsiang), Secretariat (Chung-shu sheng). §REF§(Dalby 1979, 590)§REF§<br>3? Board of Censors\"remained permanent from the T'ang on ... which had the duty of controlling and reporting on the actions of the officials.\"§REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>2. Department for State Affairs run by a Chief Minister\"supervised the six main executive ministries\" §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>Chief Minister (tsai-hsiang), Department of State Affairs (Shang-shu sheng) §REF§(Dalby 1979, 590)§REF§<br>3. Ministry of Officials (1) / Finances (2) / Rites (3) / Army (4) / Justice (5) / Public Works (6)<br>4. Sub-official within ministry e.g. under the Minister of Public Works <i>inferred</i><br>5. Lower-level official within specialization (roads or ditches etc.) <i>inferred</i>6. On site manager of e.g. the road works <i>inferred</i>7. On site laborer <i>inferred</i><br>3? Nine Offices and Five Bureauscontrolled \"special administrative fields and the affairs of the Imperial Court\"<br> ?. Coin mint (Supervisor)government directly controlled minting of coins §REF§(Roberts 1996, 94)§REF§<br> ?. Coin mint workergovernment directly controlled minting of coins §REF§(Roberts 1996, 94)§REF§<br>2. Delegate of Court Assembly\"Each prefecture (chou) sent a representative to a special assembly held in the presence of the emperor. While in the capital they were lodged in special quarters in the south-east part of the city. The assemblies were held on the fifteenth of the second, seventh and tenth moons. We know more about the function of the system under the T'ang, which held such assembles annually. The T'ang delegates were generally prefects or other ranking officials who were expected to bring to the capital their candidates for the official examinations plus tribute gifts for the emperor. An examination into the performance of the local officials in each local unit was held, and this was followed by an audience.\"§REF§(Wright 1979, 91-92)§REF§<br>_Provincial government_<br>2. Civil inspecting commissioner (from 733 CE) (previously Circuits)\"The T'ang reconstructed the administration of the country by creating ten large circuits (later raised to fifteen)...\" §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>ts'ai fang ch'u-chih shih \"were appointed in each of the fifteen new provinces (tao) into which the empire was divided.\"§REF§(Peterson 1979, 468)§REF§<br>\"in the years down to the rebellion the provincial inspectors tended to exercise more and more active authority over the prefectures and counties under their jurisdiction.\"§REF§(Peterson 1979, 468)§REF§<br>\"a permanent level of authority intermediate between central government and individual prefectures.\" However, they were purely advisory and inspection and had no executive powers or civil jurisdiction. \"They should not, therefore, be thought of as constituting an additional provincial level of administration.\"§REF§(Twitchett 1979, 404)§REF§<br>2. Prefectures (chou)\"the country was further divided into prefectures, chou (over 350) §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>\"the emperor made the selection of prefects his personal responsibility.\"§REF§(Roberts 1996, 89)§REF§<br>3. Head of provincial treasury<br>Merchants could redeem feiqian documents at provincial treasuries.§REF§(Cheng 2003, 10) Cheng, Linsun. Banking in Modern China: Entrepreneurs, Professional Managers, and the Development of Chinese Banks, 1897-1937. Cambridge University Press.§REF§4. Sub-manager in provincial treasury <i>inferred</i>5. Level in provincial treasury <i>inferred</i>6. Level in provincial treasury <i>inferred</i><br>3. Counties (hsien)\"and these in turn into around 1500 countries (hsien) §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>\"The really basic form of government, the only level with which the great majority of the population had any contact, was the county under the rule of a magistrate. This was also the lowest level at which the central bureaucracy functioned.\" §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118-119)§REF§<br>4. Districts (hsiang)\"while at the bottom were the districts (hsiang), around 16,000 in number. §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>5. EldersIn Guangzhou \"The foreigners lived in a prescribed quarter of the city, were ruled over by specially designated elders, and enjoyed some extraterritorial privileges.\" §REF§(Roberts 1996, 106)§REF§<br>2. Military governors (from early 8th century)\"the new standing armies required a new command structure which provided for the relatively independent operation of these armies over broad, designated frontier zones.\"§REF§(Peterson 1979, 466)§REF§<br>chieh-tu shih commanded a fan- or fang-chen. the position replaced the temporarily appointed commander, the protector-general and the governor-general. §REF§(Peterson 1979, 466)§REF§<br>\"In addition to his military responsibilities the new military governor also held broad civil power over local administration, finance and supply.\"§REF§(Peterson 1979, 466)§REF§<br>\"By 763 the provinces controlled by military (chieh-tu shih) and civil (kuan-ch'a shih) governors had formed a permanent tier of authority throughout the empire, interposed between central government and the old prefectures and counties. These provinces developed forms of autonomy and semi-autonomy...\"§REF§(Peterson 1979, 485)§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 20, "polity": { "id": 264, "name": "cn_tang_dyn_2", "long_name": "Tang Dynasty II", "start_year": 763, "end_year": 907 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 7, "administrative_level_to": 7, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>1. Emperor<br>In this period: \"Although they were formally ensconced on the throne... the T'ang emperors ruled only indirectly over much of the country. Real power became concentrated increasingly in the hands of the military governors; their number rose to fifty and in some regions the posts became hereditary.\"§REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 131)§REF§<br>2. The Department of the Inner Palace (Nei-shih sheng)The Department of the Inner Palace (Nei-shih sheng), staffed by eunuchs, in this period became the most important authority of the imperial household. The eunuchs initially acted as intermediaries between the Emperor and the bureaucracy, later became directly involved in central government, provincial appointments, succession disputes.§REF§(Dalby 1979, 571-572)§REF§<br>Is this the same thing as the \"inner court (nei-t'ing)\"? 820s/830s CE and last quarter of 9th century were the \"high points of their political influence\" §REF§(Dalby 1979, 587)§REF§<br>_Central government_<br>Despite reputation of this period as one of loss of central government control, the diary of a Japanese Buddhist monk, Ennin, suggests to some degree otherwise. Quoting E. O. Reischauer: \"The remarkable degree of centralized control still existing, the meticulous attention to written instructions from higher authorities, and the tremendous amount of paper work involved in even the smallest matters of administration are all the more striking just because this was a period of dynastic decline.\"§REF§(Roberts 1996, 102)§REF§<br>\"The activity of eunuchs in court politics was undoubtedly one of the distinguishing features of late T'ang history... their role in the first half of the dynasty had been very limited.\"§REF§(Dalby 1979, 571)§REF§<br>2. Hall of Administrative Affairs / Chief Ministers' office (from 723 CE)Three chief ministers also called \"Hall of Administrative Affairs (Cheng-shih t'ang)\" an informal advisory group. §REF§(Dalby 1979, 590)§REF§<br>from 723 CE became an official government organ \"with a separate budget and seal\" Chief Ministers' office (Chung-shu Men-hsia) §REF§(Dalby 1979, 590)§REF§<br>2. Imperial Chancellery run by a Chief Minister\"it received reports, ratified nominations, controlled all the actions of the government\" §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>heads of the three central ministries were \"chief ministers\" §REF§(Roberts 1996, 95)§REF§<br>Chief Minister (tsai-hsiang), Chancellery (Men-hsia sheng) §REF§(Dalby 1979, 590)§REF§<br>2. Imperial Secretariat run by a Chief Minister\"prepared and issued all the proclamations, edicts, etc.\" §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>Chief Minister (tsai-hsiang), Secretariat (Chung-shu sheng). §REF§(Dalby 1979, 590)§REF§<br>3? Board of Censors\"remained permanent from the T'ang on ... which had the duty of controlling and reporting on the actions of the officials.\"§REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>2. Department for State Affairs run by a Chief Minister\"supervised the six main executive ministries\" §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>Chief Minister (tsai-hsiang), Department of State Affairs (Shang-shu sheng) §REF§(Dalby 1979, 590)§REF§<br><br>3. Ministry of Officials (1) / Finances (2) / Rites (3) / Army (4) / Justice (5) / Public Works (6)<br>4. Sub-official within ministry e.g. under the Minister of Public Works <i>inferred</i><br>5. Lower-level official within specialization (roads or ditches etc.) <i>inferred</i>6. On site manager of e.g. the road works <i>inferred</i>7. On site laborer <i>inferred</i><br>3? Nine Offices and Five Bureauscontrolled \"special administrative fields and the affairs of the Imperial Court\"<br><br>4. Sub-official e.g. under the Minister of Finances<br>5. Heads of Salt and Iron Commission and Public Revenue Department of the Board of Finance\"After 765 two financial zones were established: one (technically called the Salt and Iron Commission) based in Yang-chou and in charge of the finances of central China and the Yangtze valley, the other (under the Public Revenue Department of the Board of Finance) in Chang'an, responsible for the north and for Szechwan.\"§REF§(Dalby 1979, 575-756)§REF§<br>6.The financial specialists who headed Salt and Iron Commission and Public Revenue Department of the Board of Finance: \"In the post-rebellion period, they developed the rudiments of professional standards and self-esteem, were permitted to recruit subordinates outside the regular system, and introduced thereby a new career track into the administration, one that remained in existence through northern Sung times.\"§REF§(Dalby 1979, 756)§REF§<br> ?. Coin mint (Supervisor)government directly controlled minting of coins §REF§(Roberts 1996, 94)§REF§<br> ?. Coin mint workergovernment directly controlled minting of coins §REF§(Roberts 1996, 94)§REF§<br>2. Delegate of Court Assembly\"Each prefecture (chou) sent a representative to a special assembly held in the presence of the emperor. While in the capital they were lodged in special quarters in the south-east part of the city. The assemblies were held on the fifteenth of the second, seventh and tenth moons. We know more about the function of the system under the T'ang, which held such assembles annually. The T'ang delegates were generally prefects or other ranking officials who were expected to bring to the capital their candidates for the official examinations plus tribute gifts for the emperor. An examination into the performance of the local officials in each local unit was held, and this was followed by an audience.\"§REF§(Wright 1979, 91-92)§REF§<br>_Provincial government_<br>\"By 763 the provinces controlled by military (chieh-tu shih) and civil (kuan-ch'a shih) governors had formed a permanent tier of authority throughout the empire, interposed between central government and the old prefectures and counties. These provinces developed forms of autonomy and semi-autonomy...\"§REF§(Peterson 1979, 485)§REF§<br>2. Military governors\"The T'ang government never recovered full control, particularly in the northern provinces ... the areas under the rule of the more independent military governors failed to follow the instructions of the central government...\"§REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 130)§REF§<br>\"the military governors retained most of the revenue of the areas under their control for themselves.\" §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 131)§REF§<br>\"The powerful decentralized provincial order which emerged in China after the middle of the eighth century was a direct result of the An Lu-shan rebellion of 755-63.\"§REF§(Peterson 1979, 464)§REF§<br>chieh-tu shih commanded a fan- or fang-chen. \"In addition to his military responsibilities the new military governor also held broad civil power over local administration, finance and supply.\"§REF§(Peterson 1979, 466)§REF§<br>2. Circuits\"The T'ang reconstructed the administration of the country by creating ten large circuits (later raised to fifteen)...\" §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>2. Civil inspecting commissioner (from 733 CE)ts'ai fang ch'u-chih shih \"were appointed in each of the fifteen new provinces (tao) into which the empire was divided.\"§REF§(Peterson 1979, 468)§REF§<br>3. Prefectures (chou)\"the country was further divided into prefectures, chou (over 350) §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>\"Half a century after the rebellion central government still did not control the provinces effectively. Some of them, particularly in the north and east, were entirely autonomous; others, although administered by court-appointed officials, were only partially controlled from the centre.\"§REF§(Roberts 1996, 101)§REF§<br>\"The independent provinces still recognised Tang sovereignty and the semi-autonomous ones still accepted appointments made by central government.\"§REF§(Roberts 1996, 104)§REF§<br>4. Counties (hsien)\"and these in turn into around 1500 countries (hsien) §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>\"The really basic form of government, the only level with which the great majority of the population had any contact, was the county under the rule of a magistrate. This was also the lowest level at which the central bureaucracy functioned.\" §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118-119)§REF§<br>5. Districts (hsiang)\"while at the bottom were the districts (hsiang), around 16,000 in number. §REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 118)§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 21, "polity": { "id": 251, "name": "cn_western_han_dyn", "long_name": "Western Han Empire", "start_year": -202, "end_year": 9 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 7, "administrative_level_to": 8, "comment": null, "description": " \"Interested readers should consult Hans Bielenstein for an excellent account of the Han bureaucracy structure and its changes over time.\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 63) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>1. Emperor<br>\"In comparison with Roman emperorship, the Han emperorship tended to be much more ritualistic and passive.\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 64) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§ However, some Emperors, such as Emperor Wu, could be \"active\" which made the Inner Court more important at those times.§REF§(Zhao 2015, 64-65) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>2. Six Masters of the Inner CourtThese positions usually filled by eunuchs.§REF§(Zhao 2015, 64) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>According to Loewe 1986a, the Inner Court advisors were separate and distinct from the Outer Court (Senior Advisors and Councilors) after the reforms of Qudi.§REF§(Loewe 1986a)§REF§ Zhao though claims that the Inner Court advisors and attendants were subordinate to the Outer Court. §REF§(Zhao 2015)§REF§<br>3. Officials with no specific administrative positions.§REF§(Zhao 2015, 64) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>2. Two Ministries of the Outer Court: \"the superintendent of the imperial clan and privy treasurer ... the officials of the Outer Court administrated the whole country.\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 64) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>_Central government_<br>Outer Court headed by Three Excellencies (san gong)<br>2. Chancellor§REF§(Zhao 2015, 65) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§ of government administration and some role in military<br>3. Grandee secretary§REF§(Zhao 2015, 65) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>4. Two Assistants and a Master of Records under the Grandee secretary§REF§(Zhao 2015, 65) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§5. Lower-level assistants under the control of the Two Assistants and Master of Records under the Grande secretary.§REF§(Zhao 2015, 65) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>2. Supreme Commandant§REF§(Zhao 2015, 65) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§ of military affairsPosition mostly held by civilians.§REF§(Zhao 2015, 65) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>2. Imperial Counselor§REF§(Zhao 2015, 65) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§ of censorial matters<br>3. Thirteen Bureaux (cao) of the Secretariat§REF§(Zhao 2015, 65) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§West Bureau (appointments), East Bureau (promotion, demotion, dismissal), Imperial Household, Memorials, Litigation, Communication and Standards (weights, measures, postal service), Military Transportation, Bandit Control, Criminal Executions, Soldiers, Gold (currency, state production monopolies), Granaries (levies, taxes, storage), Yellow Cabinet (records, supervision).§REF§(Zhao 2015, 65) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>3. Head of The Bureau for Communications and Standards4. Head of departmental division within postal service <i>inferred level</i>5. Lower-level official within postal service divisions <i>inferred level</i>6. On site managers of postal relay station <i>inferred level</i>7. On site workers at postal relay station e.g. messengers, stable hands etc. <i>inferred level</i><br>3. Head of The Bureau for Granaries4. Head of foodstuff divisions within The Bureau for Granaries <i>inferred level</i>5. Head of regional divisions within the foodstuff divisions <i>inferred level</i>6. Other lower-level positions within regional divisions <i>inferred level</i>7. On site managers of granaries <i>inferred level</i>8. On site workers at granaries <i>inferred level</i><br>3. Head of The Bureau for Gold4. Head of departmental division e.g. for iron production <i>inferred level</i>5. Sub-head within the department for iron production e.g. iron tools, weapons etc. <i>inferred level</i>6. Other lower-level positions within production type <i>inferred level</i>7. On site managers of production workshops <i>inferred level</i><br>_Provincial government_<br>2. Grand governor of a commandery (tai shou)§REF§(Zhao 2015, 67) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§\"In the late Western Han era, the country was divided into 13 provinces, with 103 commanderies, that in turn were divided into 1500-plus county-level government units.\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 66) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§ <i>the provinces were technical boundaries used for administrative purposes and were not under the control of an individual so do not count as an administrative level.</i> <i>-- check this note</i><br>3. Several lower-ranked officials such as Assistant, Master of Records, Privy Treasure and Chief Clerk.§REF§(Zhao 2015, 67) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>3. Head of Bureaus, which included \"Bureau of All Purposes, Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Banditry, Bureau of Decisions, Bureau of Consultation, and Bureau of Agriculture Promotion.\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 67) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§\"In the unearthed Donghai commandery documents dated to the late Western Han Dynasty, the total number of officials in that commandery is listed as 2,203, and most of these officials were grassroots personnel such as accessory clerk (492), chief of the officials' hostel (688), and dou-salary clerks (501).\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 63) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>4. Sub-manager within a division <i>inferred level</i>5. Scribe <i>inferred level</i>6. Accessory clerk <i>inferred at this level</i><br>2. Chief commandant (dou wei)\"The grand governor was also assisted by an equivalent rank (2,000-shi) official entitled chief commandant (dou wei) who was in charge of all the military-related matters including training the local troops and militia, suppressing bandits, and inspecting fortifications and beacons.\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 67) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>3. Heads of BureauUnder the chief commandant were \"associates and assistants, heads of various bureaus, and military officers with titles such as jajors, captains, and millarians.\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 67) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>4.<br>5.<br>3. County supervisors and Marquises (han-title holders) --- were Marquises directly appointed by Emperor?Regional inspectors. §REF§(Roberts 2003, 50)§REF§<br>\"We know that the Western Han Empire comprised 1,587 county-level government units at the time and the Donghai Commandery contained 38 counties.\"<br>4. district (xiang)<br>5. hamlet (li) chiefsFamilies grouped into \"mutually responsible units\" (5 - 10). These were organised into hamlets, which had a headman. Hamlets made up a commune, which had a chief. Multiple communes divided into districts/counties, which comprised the units of a commandery/prefecture. Only the last administrative level had outside-sourced, merit-appointed, salaried officials. §REF§(Keay 2009, 145)§REF§<br>Nine salary grades (in Shi)§REF§(Zhao 2015, 68) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§ suggests there could be up to nine administrative levels. However, perhaps we cannot directly infer this fact: might there be two officials at the same grade at different levels in a large department, or even grades skipped altogether, such as within a small but prestigious department?<br>10,000<br>2,000<br>1,000<br>600<br>400<br>300<br>200<br>100<br> ?? dou-salary clerks<br>" }, { "id": 22, "polity": { "id": 244, "name": "cn_western_zhou_dyn", "long_name": "Western Zhou", "start_year": -1122, "end_year": -771 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 4, "administrative_level_to": 5, "comment": null, "description": "1. King<br>\"Under the hierarchical clan system, the King of Zhou was also the head of Zhou Family, thus, the imperial and the clan power were integrated with each other, the imperial family and the state were closely related, and the grade of the ranks in clans paralleled those in politics. As a result the pyramids-shaped political ranks were developed, within which \"the king makes the duke his servant; the duke the senior officials; the senior officials the junior officials\" ...\"§REF§(Zhang 2014, 156) Zhang, Jinfan. 2014. The Tradition and Modern Transition of Chinese Law. Springer Science & Business Media.§REF§<br>2. zai (intendants), shanfu (provisioners), shi (scribes)\"At court affairs zai (intendants), and shanfu (provisioners) \"took out and brought in\" (chu na) the king's commands.\"§REF§(Shaughnessy 1999, 326) Shaughnessy \"Western Zhou History\" in Loewe, Michael. Shaughnessy, Edward L. 2009. The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge University Press.§REF§ Court scribes called shi.§REF§(Shaughnessy 1999, 326) Shaughnessy \"Western Zhou History\" in Loewe, Michael. Shaughnessy, Edward L. 2009. The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge University Press.§REF§<br>_Central government_<br>2. Prime MinisterMany scholars argue Western Zhou government had a Secretariat.§REF§(Feng 2006, 95 n30) Feng, Li. 2006. Landscape and Power in Early China: The Crisis and Fall of the Western Zhou 1045-771 BC. Cambridge University Press.§REF§<br>\"King Wen of Zhou appointed Jiang Shang as prime minister.\"§REF§(Zhang 2015, 142) Zhang, Qizhi. 2015. An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture. Springer.§REF§<br>\"Moreover, an un-earthed mid-Western Zhou bronze vessel (mugui) also contained inscriptions which recorded that the king was worried about corruption and abuse of power by his officials and, therefore, appointed a person named Mu to take charge of the censorial duty. This could be the forerunner of the censorial system fully developed in the Han bureaucracy.\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 58) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>3. Supervisor of Land.§REF§(Feng 2006, 101) Feng, Li. 2006. Landscape and Power in Early China: The Crisis and Fall of the Western Zhou 1045-771 BC. Cambridge University Press.§REF§<br>3. Supervisor of the Horsec950 BCE \"In place of the generic early Western Zhou hou, or regional \"lords,\" the most powerful figures came to be the Three Supervisors (can you si), the Supervisor of the Horse (sima), the Supervisor of Lands (situ), and Supervisor of Works (si gong)\".§REF§(Shaughnessy 1999, 326) Shaughnessy \"Western Zhou History\" in Loewe, Michael. Shaughnessy, Edward L. 2009. The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge University Press.§REF§<br>3. Supervisor of Works<br>\"By the mid-Western Zhou era, the Zhou government administration consisted of three separated functional divisions: royal household, civil administration, and military.\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 58) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§4. Official who managed roads within ministry of works <i>inferred level</i>\"As early as the Shang period, roads were controlled by a special official, and in the Zhou period, traffic had reached such proportions that regulations were introduced for particularly crowded crossroads and reckless driving was prohibited. ... they are said to have put roads into five categories: pedestrian roads for people and pack animals, roads for handcarts, roads for single carts, roads on which two carts could pass, and main roads wide enough to take three vehicles abreast.\"§REF§(Lindqvist 2009) Lindqvist, Cecilia. 2009. China: Empire of Living Symbols. Da Capo Press.§REF§<br>5. Scribe under the official who managed roads, within the ministry of works <i>inferred level</i><br>5. on site road works manager <i>inferred level</i><br>_ Provincial line_<br><i>appears to be room for a higher provincial level - did such exist?</i><br>2. 170 units, members of Zhou nobility as regional rulers\"It is said that when the Zhou dynasty was established around 1000 BC, about 1800 political units, referred to as states by some scholars, paid allegiance to the Zhou king. We may assume that these were mainly tribal units, clans, and federations of local units ruled by their chiefs and elders. In some cases warriors had established themselves as nobles and as commanders of garrison towns, which were at most fortified places like Panlongchang described above. Upon this agglomeration of small units the Zhou imposed their feudal system. About 170 units were formed with members of the Zhou nobility as the regional rulers, combining up to several dozens of the older units into new ones.\"§REF§(Schinz 1996, 74) Schinz, Alfred. 1996. The Magic Square: Cities in Ancient China. Edition Axel Menges.§REF§<br>3. units such as garrison towns, tribes, clans, federations of units<br>4. local headman<br>Note on periodization<br>\"In short, the archaeological excavations suggest that while the Zhou elite in the east enjoyed a highly identical bronze culture identical to that which is found in the Wei Valley, the pottery workshops on the eastern plain continued to produce old types of pottery according to local standards that had their origin in the Shang. ... from the very beginning the Western Zhou state faced a west-east division that emerged as the result of the Zhou conquest. ... the situation began to change some time during the mid-Western Zhou when the Zhou pottery types were gradually introduced to the eastern plain. ... The complete merging of the two pottery tradtions during the late Western Zhou reflects the eventual integration of the two regions, guided by a unified elite culture introduced soon after the Zhou conquest.\"§REF§(Feng 2006, 81-82) Feng, Li. 2006. Landscape and Power in Early China: The Crisis and Fall of the Western Zhou 1045-771 BC. Cambridge University Press.§REF§<br>2. Fiefdoms<br>Aristocrats given fiefdoms in exchange for loyalty, tribute and aid to a king. This feudal system is referred to as fengjian.§REF§(Kerr 2013, 21)§REF§ A poem in the Shijing that refers to this period reads: \"no land is not the king's land\" and \"there are none who are not the king's servants.\" Aristocrats also helped run a central government bureaucracy, originally created by the Duke of Zhou (with some inheritance from Shang as Shang officials were found employment). They were obliged to attend court, and supply manpower for military operations and construction projects.3. Mini-kingdomsAristocrats further sub-divided their domains among their own relatives, officials and courtiers based on oaths of allegiance (mini-kingdoms). However, the feudal relationship with the center was not an \"abstract concept\", as they usually rested on kinship ties, such as a marriage. Thus the realm of the Western Zhou was an \"extended household.\" However, by 771 BCE these kinship links were breaking down. §REF§(Roberts 2003, 14-16)§REF§§REF§(Cotterall 1995, 35-37)§REF§ The aristocratic system had a hierarchy of noble titles: gong (duke), hou (marquis), bo (earl), zi (viscount), nan (baron). By the 8th century BCE, at least 100 small states were in existence. Each had a walled capital, surrounded by a ring of farm land, which in turn was surrounded by barbarians. §REF§(Roberts 2003, 15)§REF§§REF§(Cotterall 1995, 35)§REF§<br>Bureaucracy has multiple levels of \"scribes\"?<br>\"Li is also able to find that, as the Western Zhou government developed, fewer and fewer official appointments were hereditary in nature. It became a routine that the appointees started their careers very young at junior levels, and then followed a lengthy path of promotion across various government divisions (experiences in the military being a plus), and finally to the top of government. The lengthy and in some cases complicated paths show that the Western Zhou government was hierarchical with layered ranks of officials.\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 58) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§" }, { "id": 23, "polity": { "id": 268, "name": "cn_yuan_dyn", "long_name": "Great Yuan", "start_year": 1271, "end_year": 1368 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 8, "administrative_level_to": 8, "comment": null, "description": " levels (number equivalent to the number of levels in the provincial government, plus the Emperor). The below is a simplification, though the administrative entities that have been left out were either outside \"the streamlined structure of civilian government\" or were at an equivalent level to other entities already present (e.g. the Branch Secretariat for Korea would have been at the same level as the eight principal Branch Secretariats), meaning that the number of levels coded would probably remain unchanged. For a very detailed description of the Yuan administrative system, see Endicott-West (1994).<br>1. Emperor<br>__Central Government__<br>2. Central Secretariat\"The Central Secretariat was the nerve center of the entire civilian bureaucracy. Most other agencies in the Yuan structure of communication and control were ultimately responsible to it. All memorials to the emperor, with the exception of those written by high-ranking military and censorial officials, for example, passed through the Central Secretariat. In turn, that office was empowered to make recommendations, draft regulations, and make responses subject to imperial approval. In addition to its role as communication center, the Central Secretariat controlled official appointments to virtually all civilian offices in the empire.\" §REF§(Endicott-West 1994, 588)§REF§ \"The top official in the Central Secretariat was the chung-shu ling, in Khubilai's reign a post assumed by the heir apparent. Because the chung-shu ling was most often left vacant throughout the Yuan, the next two subordinate officials, the councillor of the right (yu ch'eng-hsiang) and the councillor of the left (tso ch'eng-hsiang), were in effect the highest civil officials in the empire. They in turn had direct control over the six ministries, the ministries of Personnel (Li-pu), Revenue (Hu-pu), Rites (Li-pu), War (Ping-pu), Pun- ishments (Hsing-pu), and Works (Kung-pu.)\" §REF§(Endicott-West 1994, 589)§REF§<br>3. Ministry of Personnel\"Of the six ministries, all formally established under Khubilai, the Ministry of Personnel was arguably the most influential, by virtue of its power to appoint civilian officials throughout the empire. Regional and local officials, the only civilian officials with whom commoners might have had direct contact, were regularly evaluated by the Ministry of Personnel for promotion, demotion, and transfer once in office.\" §REF§(Endicott-West 1994, 589)§REF§<br>3. Ministry of Revenue\"The Ministry of Revenue was charged with overseeing population censuses, taxation records, state treasuries, currency, and government manufacturing. One of this ministry's most important duties was enforcing the numerous and elaborate Yiian regulations concerning paper currency. Because the Yiian government was committed to the empirewide circulation of paper notes, the procedures necessary for printing and administering paper currency were extensive. The government's deep concern is suggested by the fact that counterfeiting paper money was punishable by death.\" §REF§(Endicott-West 1994, 589)§REF§<br>3. Ministry of Rites\"In terms of political and economic authority, the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites was far more narrowly defined than that of either the Ministry of Personnel or the Ministry of Revenue. Court ceremonies, music, assemblies, and sacrifices came under its aegis, as did such matters as granting posthumous titles, provisioning the imperial kitchen, and manufacturing the imperial seals. The authority of the Ministry of Rites did, however, extend beyond the limited sphere of court etiquette into the realm of sumptuary regulations, marriage rites, mourning rites, and burial rites, all of which affected commoners to a certain degree. In addition, the ministry upheld the rights of the different ethnic groups in Yiian China to practice their own particular rituals and not to have to conform to Chinese standards. Uighurs, for example, were directed to conduct their mourning in accordance with their own regulations; if they were to ignore their own mourning customs and follow instead Chinese practices, they would be subject to confiscation of their property. The Ministry of Rites was also charged with administering the state schools and regulating religious establishments.\" §REF§(Endicott-West 1994, 589-590)§REF§<br>3. Ministry of War\"Of the six ministries, the Ministry of War was the least significant, as the real military authority in Yuan times resided in the Privy Council (Shu-mi yuan). The Privy Council, established in 1263, was at the pinnacle of a separate military bureaucracy, whereas the Ministry of War was subordinate to the Central Secretariat within the civilian bureaucracy. The insignificance of the Ministry of War is demonstrated by the fact that the Ping chih (Monograph on the military) in the Yuan shih (Official history of the Yuan) does not even mention the Ministry of War in its description of the structure of the Yuan military, instead stating that 'the Privy Council was set up to take 7 overall charge.' All military offices, including the imperial guard (su-wei), were ultimately responsible to the Privy Council in the military chain of command.\"<br>\"The main duties of the Ministry of War were to manage the population rosters of military colonies and postal personnel, manage the requisitioning of animals for military purposes, and oversee the provisioning of postal relay stations. By 1320, however, the Ministry of War had relinquished its jurisdiction over the postal relay stations to the Bureau of Transmission (T'ung-cheng yuan), which had been created in 1276 separate from the military bureaucracy to supervise the postal relay system. All in all, the powerlessness of the Ministry of War reflects the Mongols' discomfort at having their military establishment subordinate to a civil branch of government. By investing power in the Privy Council the Yuan rulers were able to keep military affairs separate and secret from the civilian bureaucracy. In fact, the description of the Privy Council in the Yuan shih opens with the observation that it was 'charged with responsibility over military armaments and secret [military] affairs throughout the empire'.\" §REF§(Endicott-West 1994, 589)§REF§<br>3. Ministry of Punishment\"The Ministry of Punishment's duties were drafting criminal laws, review- ing cases involving capital punishment, and registering criminals' dependents and confiscated goods. In comparison with that of earlier dynasties, the Yuan Ministry of Punishments gained in importance because it took over the responsibilities for judicial review that in previous times had rested with the Grand Court of Judicial Review (Ta-li ssu). The Grand Court originated in Northern Ch'i and Sui times and functioned as the highest legal agency in the Chinese empire, but it did not exist as such in Yuan times. For a brief time, from 1283 to 1285, a Grand Court existed in name only as a temporary redesignation of the Court of Justice for Uighurs (Tu-hu fu). Thus, by not having a Grand Court of Judicial Review, the Ministry of Punishments resolved and implemented legal decisions, which were subject only to an occasional revision by the Central Secretariat or the emperor himself.\" §REF§(Endicott-West 1994, 589-590)§REF§<br>3. Ministry of Works\"The sixth ministry, the Ministry of Works, supervised government work- shops, the repair of fortifications, the assignment and labor of government artisans, the evaluation of artisan officials, and the conscription of laborers for government projects.\" §REF§(Endicott-West 1994, 591)§REF§<br>__Provincial Government__<br>3. Branch Secretariats\"The permanently established Branch Secretariats (Hsing chung-shu sheng or hsing-sheng), which numbered eleven in all, were formally established during Khubilai's reign in order to manage the affairs of lesser territorial- administrative units, to pacify frontier areas, to manage the transport of grain, and to take overall charge of military and civil affairs at the regional level. They were directly answerable to the Central Secretariat in terms of the structure of communication and control. [...] Despite the consolidation of separate civil and military bureaucracies under Khubilai, civil and military jurisdictions were united at the level of the Branch Secretariats. The Branch Secretariats held authority over most garrison troops stationed throughout the empire, except in dire emergencies when Branch Privy Councils were temporarily established.\" §REF§(Endicott-West 1994, 592-593)§REF§<br>\"Yuan civilian government departed from earlier patterns and precedents in Chinese governmental history in the multiplicity of its levels of sub- metropolitan government and in the sheer number of civilian officials staffing those units of government. Thus, the levels of government subordinate to the Branch Secretariats were (in descending order): circuit (tao), route (lu), prefecture (san-fu or fu), subprefecture {chou), county (hsien), and special districts under the jurisdiction of lu or fu called lu-shih ssu. Not every unit was necessarily present on every level in the administrative hierarchy. In other words, eight of the eleven Branch Secretariats directly administered prefectures that were not subordinate to an intermediate route. In addition to administering seven routes, the Branch Secretariat of Kan-su (Kan-su teng- ch'u hsing chung-shu sheng) also directly administered two subprefectures.\" §REF§(Endicott-West 1994, 593-594)§REF§<br>4. Officials in charge of circuits\"Those circuits administered by Pacification Offices (Hsiian-wei ssu) were particularly important as coordinators of civil and military affairs at the regional level. The Pacification Offices themselves handled military affairs in frontier areas and supervised troop movement and provisioning at the local level.\" §REF§(Endicott-West 1994, 594)§REF§<br>5. Officials in charge of routes<br>6. Prefects<br>7. Sub-prefects<br>8. Officials in charge of special districts under the jurisdiction of routes or sub-prefectures.<br>8. Officials in charge of counties<br>9. Clerks serving under the officials in charge of each administrative unit" }, { "id": 24, "polity": { "id": 435, "name": "co_neguanje", "long_name": "Neguanje", "start_year": 250, "end_year": 1050 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 1, "administrative_level_to": 2, "comment": null, "description": " levels. probably unknown? at least one level.<br>\"Not much is known about the Neguanje social hierarchy. [...] Their iconography does not seem to indicate specific individuals. In the regional survey there was no occupation evidence for the period in the bay where the mound was excavated. This does not imply an abandonment of the bay, but rather, that the capacity of the individuals or special factions did not translate into the ability to attract populations. The leadership of individuals or special factions was not associated with central places or settlement hierarchies, at least in the study area.\" §REF§(Langebaek 2005, 117)§REF§" }, { "id": 25, "polity": { "id": 436, "name": "co_tairona", "long_name": "Tairona", "start_year": 1050, "end_year": 1524 }, "year_from": 1100, "year_to": 1400, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 1, "administrative_level_to": 2, "comment": null, "description": " levels. The administrative complexity described below applies to the pre-conquest period (1450-1525 CE)<br>At least three levels:<br>(1. Naoma. A ritual specialist with political power that could outrank caciques.)<br>2. Lord of the province3. Lord of a town (cacique)4. Lord of a barrio (neighbourhood) or subsidiary cacique<br>\"Spanish references to leaders in the 16th century documents suggest, at the very least, a four tiered civil political structure, with “caciques”, “capitanes”, “mandadores”, and “capitanes de guerra”, as well as designated leaders for neighborhoods or residential wards within larger towns (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1951: 88-89).\" §REF§(Giraldo 2010, 61)§REF§<br>\"Whatever the truth, Spanish sources suggest that the Tairona had a hierarchy of office- holders. Oviedo notes that the ruler of Bonda was “the Lord of all the caciques of that province” (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1953: 88), and for the Valle de la Caldera Father Pedro Simón wrote in 1628, “The towns [pueblos] would be about two hundred and fifty, and most of them obey a cacique called Guacanaoma, though there is not a single town that does not have its own Cacique or Mohan” (Simón 1882-92, 5: 192). Mohanes were native priests, and the significance of the naoma element in the cacique’s name is examined below. There is one possible mention of a female ruler, “a caciqua or principal woman among them” (Reichel- Dolmatoff 1951: 10), though the text is unclear about whether she was a ruler in her own right or simply a woman of high status, perhaps the wife of a chief. Some towns were divided into barrios, each of which had its subsidiary cacique (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1951: 88). Besides caciques, Spanish sources mention capitanes, principales (nobles), mandadores (commanders), and capitanes de guerra. Fray Pedro Simón (1882-92, 5: 197) also lists a pregonero (speaker or crier) who was second only to the chief. Spanish accounts do not list the duties and powers of all these officials, but it seems clear that there was a hierarchy of civil and military office- holders.\" §REF§(Bray 2003, 302)§REF§<br>\"The mohanes are undoubtedly priests (see Castellanos 1955, 2: 596), but the status of the naomas is less clear. Juan de Castellanos, writing in 1601, notes that naomas could hold political office and that they outranked ordinary caciques: “fifteen caciques, great señores, are subject to the command of the naoma called, it is said, Marocando” (Castellanos 1955, 2: 340). The same author also mentions a personage called Betoma, “whom they rec- ognized as a Naoma and who held command over all the caciques” (ibid.: 548). The political power of sixteenth-century naomas is not in doubt, but their priestly role remains ambiguous.\" §REF§(Bray 2003, 302)§REF§<br>\"We know that by the 16th century some leaders extended their political domain over other towns and lower ranking leaders, controlling great territories or “provinces”, as they were called by the Spanish. It is also true that no single leader exerted control over all the population and territory. This supposes a complicated sociopolitical arrangement, wherein different leaders probably competed with each other to extend their influence by way of alliances, trade partnerships and occasional skirmishes, so that their political power and authority increased or diminished accordingly.\" §REF§(Giraldo 2009, 15-16)§REF§" }, { "id": 26, "polity": { "id": 436, "name": "co_tairona", "long_name": "Tairona", "start_year": 1050, "end_year": 1524 }, "year_from": 1450, "year_to": 1524, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 3, "administrative_level_to": 3, "comment": null, "description": " levels. The administrative complexity described below applies to the pre-conquest period (1450-1525 CE)<br>At least three levels:<br>(1. Naoma. A ritual specialist with political power that could outrank caciques.)<br>2. Lord of the province3. Lord of a town (cacique)4. Lord of a barrio (neighbourhood) or subsidiary cacique<br>\"Spanish references to leaders in the 16th century documents suggest, at the very least, a four tiered civil political structure, with “caciques”, “capitanes”, “mandadores”, and “capitanes de guerra”, as well as designated leaders for neighborhoods or residential wards within larger towns (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1951: 88-89).\" §REF§(Giraldo 2010, 61)§REF§<br>\"Whatever the truth, Spanish sources suggest that the Tairona had a hierarchy of office- holders. Oviedo notes that the ruler of Bonda was “the Lord of all the caciques of that province” (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1953: 88), and for the Valle de la Caldera Father Pedro Simón wrote in 1628, “The towns [pueblos] would be about two hundred and fifty, and most of them obey a cacique called Guacanaoma, though there is not a single town that does not have its own Cacique or Mohan” (Simón 1882-92, 5: 192). Mohanes were native priests, and the significance of the naoma element in the cacique’s name is examined below. There is one possible mention of a female ruler, “a caciqua or principal woman among them” (Reichel- Dolmatoff 1951: 10), though the text is unclear about whether she was a ruler in her own right or simply a woman of high status, perhaps the wife of a chief. Some towns were divided into barrios, each of which had its subsidiary cacique (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1951: 88). Besides caciques, Spanish sources mention capitanes, principales (nobles), mandadores (commanders), and capitanes de guerra. Fray Pedro Simón (1882-92, 5: 197) also lists a pregonero (speaker or crier) who was second only to the chief. Spanish accounts do not list the duties and powers of all these officials, but it seems clear that there was a hierarchy of civil and military office- holders.\" §REF§(Bray 2003, 302)§REF§<br>\"The mohanes are undoubtedly priests (see Castellanos 1955, 2: 596), but the status of the naomas is less clear. Juan de Castellanos, writing in 1601, notes that naomas could hold political office and that they outranked ordinary caciques: “fifteen caciques, great señores, are subject to the command of the naoma called, it is said, Marocando” (Castellanos 1955, 2: 340). The same author also mentions a personage called Betoma, “whom they rec- ognized as a Naoma and who held command over all the caciques” (ibid.: 548). The political power of sixteenth-century naomas is not in doubt, but their priestly role remains ambiguous.\" §REF§(Bray 2003, 302)§REF§<br>\"We know that by the 16th century some leaders extended their political domain over other towns and lower ranking leaders, controlling great territories or “provinces”, as they were called by the Spanish. It is also true that no single leader exerted control over all the population and territory. This supposes a complicated sociopolitical arrangement, wherein different leaders probably competed with each other to extend their influence by way of alliances, trade partnerships and occasional skirmishes, so that their political power and authority increased or diminished accordingly.\" §REF§(Giraldo 2009, 15-16)§REF§" }, { "id": 27, "polity": { "id": 196, "name": "ec_shuar_1", "long_name": "Shuar - Colonial", "start_year": 1534, "end_year": 1830 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 1, "administrative_level_to": 2, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>1. Headmen doubling as Ad Hoc-Supralocal Leaders<br>2. Local Leaders (Kakaram) and Headmen or Chiefs (Kuraka)<br>Shuar political organization was local and informal: \"The Jivaro lack any formal political organization, although an informal form of leadership is found in the role of individuals referred to as UNYÄ (\"big\" or \"old\" men) or KAKARAM (\"powerful\" or \"powerful ones\") who are renown as killers in feuds or war, or exercise important shamanistic powers in the community. These individuals acquire their reputation in the community by being old enough to have grandchildren, and are friendly, honest, and generous in dealing with others in the society. Because of these characteristics the UNYÄ or KAKARAM are believed to possess great ARUTAM soul power and the ability to curse to death anyone who incurs their anger. Generally most neighborhoods have at least one or two UNYÄ as well as a few superior shamans who provide protection for their relatives or other individuals with whom they are on friendly terms.\"§REF§Beierle, John: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Jivaro§REF§<br>\"If we may speak of a ‘government’, it is a purely patriarchal one, the head of the family and the owner of the house being at the same time the ‘chief’ of this small community, theoretically even with absolute power. It is of particular interest to see how he exercises this power in practice.\"§REF§Karsten, Rafael 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru”, 251§REF§<br>\"The chief of this group is the one who by his endurance, his skill, his intelligence, his courage and also by luck imposes himself on the individuals of the neighborhood. His authority rests only on a tacit assent, carries no exterior emblem or sign, and in no case is transmitted by heredity to his descendants. His role is limited to the coordination of individual efforts in special circumstances. In times of peace he has no longer any special attributes. Occasionally, a peril or a common hate make allies of neighboring tribes, but these alliances are only temporary.\"§REF§Rivet, Paul 1907. “Jivaro Indians: Geographic, Historical And Ethnographic Research”, 611p§REF§<br>Some more prominent leaders emerged in times of war with external colonial powers, although even those arrangements were fluid. The following example relates to the Ecuadorian period, but it is possible that the Spanish also recognized overall leaders among the Shuar.\"Four or five years ago there was a strong chief on the Upano River named Tuki, known to the Ecuadoreans as José Grande. In the manner previously described, all of the curakas from Macas on the Upano River to Mendez on the Paute River became subchiefs under him until he was generally recognized as the strongest of all of the Jivaro curakas. However, he was beginning to grow old by this time and some of his subcurakas were strong men in their own right. About 2 years ago, Ambusha, who had been gradually gaining in power and becoming famous for his head-hunting activities, split off with his own group, taking several curakas and their men with him. A little later Utita did the same thing. At the time of the writer's visit (1931), although Tuki was recognized by the Government of Ecuador as being head chief of the Macas-Mendez region, actually he had lost all power excepting that over his own family group and was in reality no more than a capito. These divisions of the organization, if it may be termed such, took place apparently without any ill-feeling or formal announcements.\"§REF§Stirling, Matthew Williams 1938. “Historical And Ethnographical Material On The Jivaro Indians”, 40§REF§" }, { "id": 28, "polity": { "id": 197, "name": "ec_shuar_2", "long_name": "Shuar - Ecuadorian", "start_year": 1831, "end_year": 1931 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 1, "administrative_level_to": 2, "comment": null, "description": " levels. According to the Ethnographic Atlas' variable 33 'Jurisdictional Hierarchy Beyond Local Community' was ‘1’ or 'No levels (no political authority beyond community) (.0)'. SCCS variable 76 'Community Leadership' is coded as ‘1’ or ‘No centralized local leadership’. SCCS variable 237 'Jurisdictional Hierarchy Beyond Local Community' is coded as ‘1’ or 'No levels (no political authority beyond community)'.<br>1. Headmen doubling as Ad Hoc-Supralocal Leaders<br>2. Local Leaders (Kakaram) and Headmen or Chiefs (Kuraka)<br>Shuar political organization was local and informal: \"The Jivaro lack any formal political organization, although an informal form of leadership is found in the role of individuals referred to as UNYÄ (\"big\" or \"old\" men) or KAKARAM (\"powerful\" or \"powerful ones\") who are renown as killers in feuds or war, or exercise important shamanistic powers in the community. These individuals acquire their reputation in the community by being old enough to have grandchildren, and are friendly, honest, and generous in dealing with others in the society. Because of these characteristics the UNYÄ or KAKARAM are believed to possess great ARUTAM soul power and the ability to curse to death anyone who incurs their anger. Generally most neighborhoods have at least one or two UNYÄ as well as a few superior shamans who provide protection for their relatives or other individuals with whom they are on friendly terms.\"§REF§Beierle, John: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Jivaro§REF§<br>\"If we may speak of a ‘government’, it is a purely patriarchal one, the head of the family and the owner of the house being at the same time the ‘chief’ of this small community, theoretically even with absolute power. It is of particular interest to see how he exercises this power in practice.\"§REF§Karsten, Rafael 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru”, 251§REF§<br>\"The chief of this group is the one who by his endurance, his skill, his intelligence, his courage and also by luck imposes himself on the individuals of the neighborhood. His authority rests only on a tacit assent, carries no exterior emblem or sign, and in no case is transmitted by heredity to his descendants. His role is limited to the coordination of individual efforts in special circumstances. In times of peace he has no longer any special attributes. Occasionally, a peril or a common hate make allies of neighboring tribes, but these alliances are only temporary.\"§REF§Rivet, Paul 1907. “Jivaro Indians: Geographic, Historical And Ethnographic Research”, 611p§REF§<br>\"Often, too, a weak curaka, fearing that his group would not be able successfully to defend themselves against an attack from enemies, will voluntarily place himself and his group under the influence of the strong curaka in a loose sort of alliance. In this way the strong group tends to grow and to become even stronger until one curaka may have 8 or 10 lesser curakas more or less under his control. This state of affairs is usually not very permanent. Owing to the loose organization and lack of any real power on the part of the head curaka, the large group becomes unwieldy or develops diverse interests and it tends to split up again into independent units. Consequently, in as little as 2 or 3 years' time, the original head curaka may find that one or more of his former lieutenants are now stronger than he.\"§REF§Stirling, Matthew Williams 1938. “Historical And Ethnographical Material On The Jivaro Indians”, 39§REF§<br>Some more prominent leaders emerged in times of war with external colonial powers, although even those arrangements were fluid. The following example relates to the Ecuadorian period, but it is possible that the Spanish also recognized overall leaders among the Shuar.\"Four or five years ago there was a strong chief on the Upano River named Tuki, known to the Ecuadoreans as José Grande. In the manner previously described, all of the curakas from Macas on the Upano River to Mendez on the Paute River became subchiefs under him until he was generally recognized as the strongest of all of the Jivaro curakas. However, he was beginning to grow old by this time and some of his subcurakas were strong men in their own right. About 2 years ago, Ambusha, who had been gradually gaining in power and becoming famous for his head-hunting activities, split off with his own group, taking several curakas and their men with him. A little later Utita did the same thing. At the time of the writer's visit (1931), although Tuki was recognized by the Government of Ecuador as being head chief of the Macas-Mendez region, actually he had lost all power excepting that over his own family group and was in reality no more than a capito. These divisions of the organization, if it may be termed such, took place apparently without any ill-feeling or formal announcements.\"§REF§Stirling, Matthew Williams 1938. “Historical And Ethnographical Material On The Jivaro Indians”, 40§REF§" }, { "id": 29, "polity": { "id": 367, "name": "eg_ayyubid_sultanate", "long_name": "Ayyubid Sultanate", "start_year": 1171, "end_year": 1250 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 5, "administrative_level_to": 5, "comment": null, "description": "<br>1. Sultan of Egypt<br>The Sultan of Egypt had suzerainty over the other three kingdoms, and his writ was usually obeyed. §REF§(Lapidus 2012, 246)§REF§<br>Did not establish a \"central financial administration.\" §REF§(Humphreys 1977, 18)§REF§ Political elite probably numbered 50 aristocrats, out of a pool of about 350 candidates. The entire elite of all ranks numbered about 20,000. §REF§(Humphreys 1977, 24-25)§REF§<br>After Saladin's Empire, the polity was broken up into separate Kingdoms: Egypt, Damascus, Aleppo and Mosul, under hereditary rulers of the Ayyubid dynasty. The Sultan of Egypt was usually the most powerful, and an integrating force. He ruled Egypt via an existing bureaucracy and Syria by distribution of iqta's to military officers. §REF§(Lapidus 2002, 291)§REF§<br>_Central government line_<br>Saladin inherited a professional bureaucracy from the Fatimids.§REF§(Nicolle 2011) Nicolle, D. 2011. Saladin. Osprey Publishing.§REF§<br><br>2. Government ministries\"Imad al-Din actually described his own working relationship with Saladin: 'If he needed to draw up an official letter or divulge some confidential plan, he would sit me down and dictate the main outlines. Then I would leave and spend the night composing the letters. Early next day I would go and present them to him. If he decided to add or change something in the content he would bring my attention to the paragraph and tell me which passages. I would stay until I had put it all in order. When he had approved them in their final form, he would sign them and say \"Let us send them off without delay.\"<br>3.<br>4.<br>5. police?<br>_Provincial line_§REF§(Lapidus 2012, 246)§REF§<br>2. Egypt (governor: Muhafas)3. Nahi (District)4. Village level<br>2. Kingdom of DamascusProvincial administrators (governor: Muhafas) (called Amirs for Syria)3. ruled Syria by distribution of Iqta's to military officers §REF§(Lapidus 2002, 291)§REF§4. Village level<br>2. Kingdom of AleppoProvincial administrators (governor: Muhafas) (called Amirs for Syria)3. ruled Syria by distribution of Iqta's to military officers §REF§(Lapidus 2002, 291)§REF§4. Village level<br>2. Kingdom of MosulProvincial administrators (governor: Muhafas) (called Amirs for Syria)3. ... ? ...4. Village level<br>EWA: also had \"5. inferred: helpers of the village chiefs.\" Not included due to database wide methodological question.<br>" }, { "id": 30, "polity": { "id": 514, "name": "eg_dynasty_1", "long_name": "Egypt - Dynasty I", "start_year": -3100, "end_year": -2900 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 4, "administrative_level_to": 4, "comment": null, "description": "EWA: unknown<br>1. King<br>_ Administration at Memphis _<br>2. Overseers §REF§(Juan Carlos Moreno García, Invaders or just herders? Libyans in Egypt in the third and second millennia BCE, 3)§REF§Early use of writing suggests administration system from Dynasty 0. §REF§(Bard 2000, 75)§REF§<br>Djer introduced permanent institutions, royal domain got a name different from the king, division of labour and hierarchy increased.§REF§(Engel 2013, 20-38)§REF§<br><br>3. Overseers \"whose activities took place only in Lower Egypt\"\"Early Dynastic period, administrative seals and labels mention royal agricultural domains put under the authority of a very particular category of overseers whose activities took place only in Lower Egypt.\" §REF§(Juan Carlos Moreno García, Invaders or just herders? Libyans in Egypt in the third and second millennia BCE, 3)§REF§<br><br>4. Scribes §REF§(Bard 2000, 74)§REF§<br>_ Provincial administration _<br>2. Nomes §REF§(Bard 2000, 78)§REF§\"Other towns must have developed or been founded as administrative centres of the state throughout Egypt. ... At Hierakonpolis, an elaborately niched mud-brick facade within the town (Kom el-Ahmar) has been interpreted as the gateway to a 'palace,' possibly an administrative centre of the early state.\" §REF§(Bard 2000, 65)§REF§<br>Reign of Den: \"Settlements concentrated in areas where irrigation was easily manageable, and those were the districts that seem to have been organized as nomes first. ... The single institutions (domain, : hw.t pj-hr.w-msn.w) are more and more subdivided into several departments, and during the 2nd Dynasty villages are attached.\" §REF§(Engel 2013, 20-38)§REF§<br><br>3. ... ? ...<br>" }, { "id": 31, "polity": { "id": 515, "name": "eg_dynasty_2", "long_name": "Egypt - Dynasty II", "start_year": -2900, "end_year": -2687 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 4, "administrative_level_to": 4, "comment": null, "description": "1. King<br>\"We can infer that the territorial authority of the pharaoh during the early phases of the Old Kingdom existed as a combination of a network of local centers founded at strategic points and of local authorities tied to the monarchy in a more or less informal way, not necessarily designated by the rank and function titles so typical of the central royal administration, and with titles referring only rarely to activities carried out in a given, precise area.\" §REF§(Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 194)§REF§<br>_ Administration at Memphis _<br>2. Overseers §REF§(Juan Carlos Moreno García, Invaders or just herders? Libyans in Egypt in the third and second millennia BCE, 3)§REF§Early use of writing suggests administration system from Dynasty 0. §REF§(Bard 2000, 75)§REF§<br>Djer introduced permanent institutions, royal domain got a name different from the king, division of labour and hierarchy increased.§REF§(Engel 2013, 20-38)§REF§<br><br>3. Overseers \"whose activities took place only in Lower Egypt\"\"Early Dynastic period, administrative seals and labels mention royal agricultural domains put under the authority of a very particular category of overseers whose activities took place only in Lower Egypt.\" §REF§(Juan Carlos Moreno García, Invaders or just herders? Libyans in Egypt in the third and second millennia BCE, 3)§REF§<br><br>4. Scribes §REF§(Bard 2000, 74)§REF§<br>_ Provincial administration _<br>2. Royal centers §REF§(Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 190-192)§REF§\"territorial organization based more on a network of royal centers scattered all over the country than on a structure of provinces clearly marked out and controlled by local governors.\"§REF§(Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 190-192)§REF§<br>\"The discovery of thousands of seal stamps in the tomb of Khasekhemwy, the last king of the Second Dynasty, reveals the early existence of some kind of territorial organization, since some historical provinces are mentioned together with administrative titles and the names of the king (Engel 2006).\" §REF§(Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 190)§REF§<br>\"Ink inscriptions on vessels from the funerary complex of Pharaoh Djoser (about 2686-2667 BCE) and seal stamps from Elephantine dating from Dynasty III, reveal the existence of a network of royal agricultural centers(the Hwt-aAt being the most frequently attested whereas the Hwt are also mentioned) which coexisted with the pr “domains” of some individuals.\" §REF§(Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 190)§REF§<br>\"The ink texts from another enormous set of vessels, recovered at Abydos and dating from the Second Dynasty, confirm this model as they mention institutions named after the element Hwt, like the Hwt-nbw or the Hwt-wr(t) (Regulski 2004). It seems that the territorial organization of the kingdom consisted of a duality of agricultural centers belonging to the crown. The first of these were the Hwt-aAt and Hwt, which were administered by royal officials called HoA Hwt-aAt and HoA Hwt. The second were the pr domains administered by individuals whose links to the royal administration are poorly understood, since it is impossible to determine if they were local magnates who exercised a personal control over the territorial units called pr or if they were royal agents in charge of the administration of these circumscriptions.\"§REF§(Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 190)§REF§<br>\"Another problem is our ignorance of the exact geographical distribution of these centers and circumscriptions: were they evenly scattered over the country or were they only prevalent in specific regions because of their strategic and/or economic importance? As regards this important question, our understanding of the role of provincial governors or of specific nome leaders is rather limited. Only the sSm tA played an active role as can be inferred from their frequent mention in the ink inscriptions, but it is impossible to ascertain the geographical extent of their authority or the scope of their activities (Moreno García 1999:233-38).\"§REF§(Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 190)§REF§<br>\"Other towns must have developed or been founded as administrative centres of the state throughout Egypt. ... At Hierakonpolis, an elaborately niched mud-brick facade within the town (Kom el-Ahmar) has been interpreted as the gateway to a 'palace,' possibly an administrative centre of the early state.\" §REF§(Bard 2000, 65)§REF§<br>Reign of Den: \"Settlements concentrated in areas where irrigation was easily manageable, and those were the districts that seem to have been organized as nomes first. ... The single institutions (domain, : hw.t pj-hr.w-msn.w) are more and more subdivided into several departments, and during the 2nd Dynasty villages are attached.\" §REF§(Engel 2013, 20-38)§REF§<br>3. Managers of workshops within royal centers\"some of the institutions whose name is composed with the element Hwt were perhaps some kind of specialized royal workshop like the Hwt-mHa, Hwt-THnt, or Hwt-Smaw known from later inscriptions.\"§REF§(Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 191)§REF§<br>4. Specialist workers within workshops <i>inferred</i><br>" }, { "id": 32, "polity": { "id": 511, "name": "eg_naqada_1", "long_name": "Naqada I", "start_year": -3800, "end_year": -3550 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 1, "administrative_level_to": 3, "comment": null, "description": " Hierakonpolis and Abydos: \"some kind of “royal” authority or primitive chiefdom existed about 3700 BCE, well before the Predynastic kings of Abydos\" §REF§(Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, 188 cite: Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/15127.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/15127.html</a>)§REF§<br>At the end of Naqada I the villages started to unite, first creating chiefdoms/nome pre-states and in the Naqada III or even in the end of Naqada II - proto-states. The size of those polities varied and changed during the proces of state formation. That remains uncoded.<br>" }, { "id": 33, "polity": { "id": 512, "name": "eg_naqada_2", "long_name": "Naqada II", "start_year": -3550, "end_year": -3300 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 2, "administrative_level_to": 3, "comment": null, "description": " Gerzean: \"The hierarchy of chiefs amounted in essence to a hierarchical management system. Village chiefs were \"clients\" of a district chief, who in turn was a client to a regional chief. Clients owed loyalty to their superior chief (Mair, 1967).\" §REF§(Hassan 1988, 172)§REF§ Hierakonpolis and Abydos: \"some kind of “royal” authority or primitive chiefdom existed about 3700 BCE, well before the Predynastic kings of Abydos\" §REF§(Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, 188 cite: Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/15127.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/15127.html</a>)§REF§<br>1. ?Proto-king<br>1-2. Regional chief (was this the king?)<br>3. District chief<br>4. Village chief<br>" }, { "id": 34, "polity": { "id": 513, "name": "eg_naqada_3", "long_name": "Egypt - Dynasty 0", "start_year": -3300, "end_year": -3100 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 2, "administrative_level_to": 3, "comment": null, "description": " Gerzean: \"The hierarchy of chiefs amounted in essence to a hierarchical management system. Village chiefs were \"clients\" of a district chief, who in turn was a client to a regional chief. Clients owed loyalty to their superior chief (Mair, 1967).\" §REF§(Hassan 1988, 172)§REF§ Hierakonpolis and Abydos: \"some kind of “royal” authority or primitive chiefdom existed about 3700 BCE, well before the Predynastic kings of Abydos\" §REF§(Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, 188 cite: Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/15127.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/15127.html</a>)§REF§<br>1. ?Proto-king<br>1-2. Regional chief (was this the king level?)<br>3. District chief<br>4. Village chief<br>" }, { "id": 35, "polity": { "id": 109, "name": "eg_ptolemaic_k_1", "long_name": "Ptolemaic Kingdom I", "start_year": -305, "end_year": -217 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 6, "administrative_level_to": 6, "comment": null, "description": "<br>1. King<br><br>_ Central government line _<br>2. Highest ranking financial official<br>3. dioikekes (financial official) §REF§(Lloyd 2000, 404)§REF§ (but not highest ranking)§REF§(Manning 2015, Personal Communication)§REF§Central elite split over Ptolemais and Alexandria or Memphis<br>dioikekes had \"an army of subordinates\" (not listed) who presumably top 5 administrative levels? §REF§(Lloyd 2000, 404)§REF§4. eklogistes (accountant) or later idios logos (privy purse) §REF§(Lloyd 2000, 404)§REF§<br>5. ... ? ...6. ... ? ...<br>_ Provincial line _§REF§(Falivene, M R. 2009. Geography and Administration in Egypt (332 BCE-642 CE) in The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology. 521-540. Oxford University Press. Oxford.)§REF§<br>2. Governor of the Northbased at central government<br>2. Governor of the Southbased at central government. Ptolemais.<br>3. Strategoi district governorsin total 40 administration districts called oikononos §REF§(Manning 2015, Personal Communication)§REF§§REF§(Lloyd 2000, 404)§REF§<br>4. Royal land / Remitted land / land held by cleruchs / land held in gift / private land / city land §REF§(Lloyd 2000, 404-405)§REF§Lloyd (2000) lists these all at the same level.<br>4. Mayor of towns and mayors of villages. Komogrammtan epistates.§REF§(Manning 2015, Personal Communication)§REF§<br>5. Sometimes (depending on region) the mayors of towns and of villages are part of the same administrative level; sometimes the mayors of villages report to mayors of towns and thus constitute two separate administrative levels.<br>5. Village elders and local priesthoods - epistoles in temples §REF§(Manning 2015, Personal Communication)§REF§<ul><li><ul><li><ul><li>This overview is not necessarily reflecting reality for the whole of Egypt and for the whole of the period. Also, the data is tied to specific locations and too patchy for a general rule. However, as a rule the data represents the period after 280/270 better than the period 305bc-270bc. ***</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><br>_Alexandria_<br>Population Greeks and non-Greeks (native Egyptians, foreign immigrants)<br> ?. City governor\"A royal official \"in charge of the city\" ... is attested in the third century B.C. and later. This was a civilian rather than a military appointment.\" §REF§(Cohen 2006, 357)§REF§<br> ?. Secretary of the Council\"A fragmentary inscription dated to the mid-third century B.C. records a decree that provides evidence for the existence of a boule, secretary of the council, ekklesia\" §REF§(Cohen 2006, 357)§REF§<br> ?. Tribes\"The Alexandrian citizens were organized into tribes, demes, and phratries. It would appear - based on a papyrus of c. 265 B.C., which probably refers to Alexandria - that there were 5 tribes, 60 demes, and 720 phratries. It has been suggested that the five tribes corresponded to the five quarters in the city. Three tribal names are known: the dynastic names Berenike and Ptolemais. as well as Dionysia.\" §REF§(Cohen 2006, 356)§REF§<br> ?. Demes<br> ?. Phratries<br>_Ptolemais in the Thebaid_<br>Described by Strabo as \"the largest city of the Thebaid; he added that it was no smaller than Memphis and that its constitution was in the Greek manner... The papyrological and epigraphic evidence bears out Strabo's observation about the government.\" §REF§(Cohen 2006, 350)§REF§<br>Boule (Council of Citizens)Evidence for \"decrees passed by the boule and demos\" as well as ekklesia (assembly), prytaneis (executives of the boule), prytaneion, archiprytanis§REF§(Cohen 2006, 350)§REF§<br>grammateus (scribe?)<br>agones, agonothetes§REF§(Cohen 2006, 350)§REF§ (president of the sacred games)<br>gymnasiarch §REF§(Cohen 2006, 350)§REF§ (supervised games and contests)<br>tribes and demes.§REF§(Cohen 2006, 350)§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 36, "polity": { "id": 207, "name": "eg_ptolemaic_k_2", "long_name": "Ptolemaic Kingdom II", "start_year": -217, "end_year": -30 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 6, "administrative_level_to": 6, "comment": null, "description": "<br>1. King<br><br>_ Central government line _<br>2. Highest ranking financial official<br>3. dioikekes (financial official) §REF§(Lloyd 2000, 404)§REF§ (but not highest ranking)§REF§(Manning 2015, Personal Communication)§REF§Central elite split over Ptolemais and Alexandria or Memphis<br>dioikekes had \"an army of subordinates\" (not listed) who presumably top 5 administrative levels? §REF§(Lloyd 2000, 404)§REF§4. eklogistes (accountant) or later idios logos (privy purse) §REF§(Lloyd 2000, 404)§REF§<br>5. ... ? ...6. ... ? ...<br>_ Provincial line _§REF§(Falivene, M R. 2009. Geography and Administration in Egypt (332 BCE-642 CE) in The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology. 521-540. Oxford University Press. Oxford.)§REF§<br>2. Governor of the Northbased at central government<br>2. Governor of the Southbased at central government. Ptolemais.<br>3. Strategoi district governorsin total 40 administration districts called oikononos §REF§(Manning 2015, Personal Communication)§REF§§REF§(Lloyd 2000, 404)§REF§<br>4. Royal land / Remitted land / land held by cleruchs / land held in gift / private land / city land §REF§(Lloyd 2000, 404-405)§REF§Lloyd (2000) lists these all at the same level.<br>4. Mayor of towns and mayors of villages. Komogrammtan epistates.§REF§(Manning 2015, Personal Communication)§REF§<br>5. Sometimes (depending on region) the mayors of towns and of villages are part of the same administrative level; sometimes the mayors of villages report to mayors of towns and thus constitute two separate administrative levels.<br>5. Village elders and local priesthoods - epistoles in temples §REF§(Manning 2015, Personal Communication)§REF§<ul><li><ul><li><ul><li>This overview is not necessarily reflecting reality for the whole of Egypt and for the whole of the period. Also, the data is tied to specific locations and too patchy for a general rule. However, as a rule the data represents the period after 280/270 better than the period 305bc-270bc. ***</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><br>_Alexandria_<br>Population Greeks and non-Greeks (native Egyptians, foreign immigrants)<br> ?. City governor\"A royal official \"in charge of the city\" ... is attested in the third century B.C. and later. This was a civilian rather than a military appointment.\" §REF§(Cohen 2006, 357)§REF§<br> ?. Secretary of the Council\"A fragmentary inscription dated to the mid-third century B.C. records a decree that provides evidence for the existence of a boule, secretary of the council, ekklesia\" §REF§(Cohen 2006, 357)§REF§<br> ?. Tribes\"The Alexandrian citizens were organized into tribes, demes, and phratries. It would appear - based on a papyrus of c. 265 B.C., which probably refers to Alexandria - that there were 5 tribes, 60 demes, and 720 phratries. It has been suggested that the five tribes corresponded to the five quarters in the city. Three tribal names are known: the dynastic names Berenike and Ptolemais. as well as Dionysia.\" §REF§(Cohen 2006, 356)§REF§<br> ?. Demes<br> ?. Phratries<br>_Ptolemais in the Thebaid_<br>Described by Strabo as \"the largest city of the Thebaid; he added that it was no smaller than Memphis and that its constitution was in the Greek manner... The papyrological and epigraphic evidence bears out Strabo's observation about the government.\" §REF§(Cohen 2006, 350)§REF§<br>Boule (Council of Citizens)Evidence for \"decrees passed by the boule and demos\" as well as ekklesia (assembly), prytaneis (executives of the boule), prytaneion, archiprytanis§REF§(Cohen 2006, 350)§REF§<br>grammateus (scribe?)<br>agones, agonothetes§REF§(Cohen 2006, 350)§REF§ (president of the sacred games)<br>gymnasiarch §REF§(Cohen 2006, 350)§REF§ (supervised games and contests)<br>tribes and demes.§REF§(Cohen 2006, 350)§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 37, "polity": { "id": 518, "name": "eg_regions", "long_name": "Egypt - Period of the Regions", "start_year": -2150, "end_year": -2016 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 4, "administrative_level_to": 4, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>1. King<br>documented instances of officials who were responsible for a territory larger than a nome. Abihu governed: Abydos; Diospolis Parva; Dendera. §REF§(Seidlmayer 2003, 121)§REF§<br>had courtiers, known from their saff-tombs at el-Tarif §REF§(Lloyd 2010, 85)§REF§<br>_Centralized administrative system_<br>2a. High official such as Djari who was as a high official of King Wahankh Intef II. §REF§(Strudwick and Strudwick 1999, 24)§REF§3a. \"the fledgling Theban state created a centralized administrative system\"§REF§(Lloyd 2010, 84)§REF§4a. Scribes<br>_ Administration centers _<br>2a. Chief temple administrator (Priest?)\"over-powering influence of court-culture had faded\" §REF§(Seidlmayer 2003, 136)§REF§<br>\"great weakening of central government\" §REF§(Seidlmayer 2003, 136)§REF§<br>Provincial temples were administration centres and \"foci of loyalty\" of the people. §REF§(Seidlmayer 2003, 122)§REF§<br>_ Local government _<br><br>2b. ... ? ...Theban king Wahankh Intef II had a military officer called Djary who \"managed the southern most nomes for the king.\" §REF§(Seidlmayer 2003, 126)§REF§<br>\"The late Old Kingdom kings had transformed provincial rule ... by creating a new class of provincial administrators, i.e. the nomarchs ... Although these functionaries are not attested everywhere, they existed in most Upper Egyptian provinces and continue to appear throughout Upper Egypt in early First Intermediate Period documents. However, in the areas conquered by the Theban rulers ... the evidence for their existence gradually stops.\" §REF§(Lloyd 2010, 84)§REF§<br>3b. Village head?End 3rd millennium: \"contemporary priests and scribes proudly proclaim that they worked for simple village governors (hq3w), chiefs (hrjw-tp), and administrators (jmjw-r pr), they reveal the real importance of these authorities, usually hidden under the stereotypical iconography of the punished or bowing chief of a village.\"§REF§(Garcia 2013, 1055) Garcia, Juan Carlos Moreno \"The 'Other' Administration: Patronage, Factions, and Informal Networks of Power in Ancient Egypt\" in Garcia, Juan Carlos Moreno ed. 2013. Ancient Egyptian Administration. BRILL.§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 38, "polity": { "id": 520, "name": "eg_thebes_hyksos", "long_name": "Egypt - Thebes-Hyksos Period", "start_year": -1720, "end_year": -1567 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 5, "administrative_level_to": 6, "comment": null, "description": "<br>1. King<br>_13th Dynasty Royal Court_ §REF§(Grajetzki 2010, 305)§REF§ <i>nb: this is a Middle Kingdom dynasty</i><br>2. Vizier<br>3. Royal sealerincluding: treasurer, high steward, overseer of fields, overseer of troops, overseer of the compound, overseer of sealers4. ... ? ...<br>5. ... ? ...<br>_16th and 17th Dynasty Palace and Central Administration_<br>2. Vizier\"The vizier and overseers of sealed things continue to represent the highest civil and palace authorities attested during the 16th and 17th Dynasties.\" King's sons increased importance during 17th Dynasty. §REF§(Shirley 2013, 548)§REF§<br> ??. Overseer of the Sealers §REF§(Shirley 2013, 529)§REF§ - a level above the Overseer of Sealed Things?<br>3. Overseer of Sealed Things§REF§(Shirley 2013, 528)§REF§4. Deputy Overseer of Sealed Things§REF§(Shirley 2013, 528)§REF§5. Great scribe of the overseer of sealed things §REF§(Shirley 2013, 529)§REF§6. Scribe / Scribe of the document §REF§(Shirley 2013, 527, 530)§REF§<br>2. King's council?\"Saying things in the presence of His Majesty in his 'h by the council of the great ones who attend him.\" (Stele and tablet of King Kamose).§REF§(Pagliari 2012, 592) Pagliari, Giulia. 2012. Function and significance of ancient Egyptian royal palaces from the Middle Kingdom to the Saite period: a lexicographical study and its possible connection with the archaeological evidence. Ph.D. thesis. University of Birmingham.§REF§<br>2. King's Sons\"During the late 13th Dynasty the king's son title began to be used for officials given particular duties, principally military officials stationed at forts and garrisons, indicating both the level of their connection to the king, and presumably that they were responsible directly to him. This function seems to have carried over into the 16th and 17th Dynasties, when this title is attested with great frequency for individuals who were not likely to have been actual princes. The officials who bear it come from a variety of administrative areas: priests, governors, overseers of the gs-pr, and especially garrison commanders and other memebers of the military.\" §REF§(Shirley 2013, 553)§REF§<br>_ Central government line _ §REF§(EWA, Sept 2014)§REF§<br>2. Central elite<br>3. \"Overseer of works\" title in Theban Egypt §REF§(Bourriau 2003, 192)§REF§<br>4. Scribes<br>_ Provincial line _<br>2. Provincial governors (Theban region) (EWA: Local potentates)§REF§(EWA, Sept 2014)§REF§Governors §REF§(Shirley 2013, 556)§REF§ often garrison commanders during late 16th and 17th Dynasties. §REF§(Shirley 2013, 559)§REF§<br>In Theban Egypt \"At several towns the installation of garrison commanders in addition to governors, or one official holding both titles, indicates a general militarization of the provinces.\" Provincial court was closely connected to King's court at Thebes, with governors marrying princesses and often assigned specific duties. §REF§(Shirley 2013, 557)§REF§<br>Mayor of Elephantine (16th Dynasty Theban Egypt). Neferhotep responsible to king for the region Thebes to Elephantine. §REF§(Bourriau 2003, 194-195)§REF§<br>3. maybe \"Sons of the king\" (=City governors)Mayor was the highest local administrator in Theban Egypt. Could also hold position of garrison commander. §REF§(Maree 2010, 266)§REF§<br>4. Scribes<br>" }, { "id": 39, "polity": { "id": 57, "name": "fm_truk_1", "long_name": "Chuuk - Early Truk", "start_year": 1775, "end_year": 1886 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 2, "administrative_level_to": 2, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>1. District Chiefs<br>2. Village and Lineage Headmen<br>The Chuukese/Trukese were divided into multiple clans and lineages: 'Chuuk's population is divided into a number of dispersed, matrilineal clans. Within any one district the several lineages are usually but not always of different clans. There are also personal kindreds. As a principle of clan and lineage membership, descent is matrilineal, but otherwise kinship is reckoned bilaterally.' §REF§Goodenough, Ward and Skoggard 1999) Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5IETI75E\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5IETI75E</a>.§REF§ 'The domestic unit was an extended family, based on the women of a lineage or sublineage. It consisted of at least one experienced older woman and two more younger women of childbearing age together with their husbands. Unmarried sons and brothers slept apart in their lineage's meeting house. Extended family households continued through the periods of foreign administration.' §REF§Goodenough, Ward and Skoggard 1999) Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5IETI75E\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5IETI75E</a>.§REF§ District chiefs were chosen from the dominant lineage of an area: 'In each district the lineage with title to its space held the chiefship. The several lineages with full or residual title to plots of soil had full residential rights. Lineages with only provisional titles to plots of soil in grant from other lineages had only conditional residential rights. Lineages with full residential rights maintained symbolic hearths where, with their client lineages, they prepared food to present to the chief in recognition of his lineage's ownership of the space.' §REF§Goodenough, Ward and Skoggard 1999) Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5IETI75E\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5IETI75E</a>.§REF§ 'A district chiefship was divided between the oldest man in the senior female line in the chiefly lineage and the oldest man in the lineage generally. The latter was executive chief, or \"chief of talk,\" and the former symbolic chief, or \"chief of food.\" Food presentations were made to the symbolic chief. Sometimes the symbolic and executive functions fell to the same individual; often they did not. The symbolic chief was surrounded by his lineage brothers and by his sons, who acted as his agents. These followers and his sisters and daughters were of chiefly rank, distinct from commoners. Through conquest, a lineage might gain the chiefship in more than one district and establish a junior branch as the chiefly lineage in the conquered district. The now subordinate district rendered food presentations to the superordinate one. Most districts were linked in two rival leagues based on competing schools of magic and ritual relating to war, politics, and rhetoric. A chief's authority derived from two things. His lineage's ownership of the district's space entitled him to presentations of first fruits at stated times of the year. More importantly, it gave him authority over the conservation and use of the district's food resources. His authority also derived from his connection with the sky world, its gods, and their superhuman power to accomplish purposes. There was, therefore, a degree of sacredness associated with chiefs.' §REF§Goodenough, Ward and Skoggard 1999) Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5IETI75E\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5IETI75E</a>.§REF§ Traditionally, authority did not extend beyond the atoll and was shared among multiple chiefs on one island. Chuuk was somewhat more fragmented than other Micronesian societies: 'Throughout most of Micronesia the maximum independent autonomous political unit was the high island or the atoll, often subdivided into more than one polity. At the time of European contact, Satawan Atoll in the Mortlocks had four separate communities, each with its own leader, which sometimes fought one another. Palau had two confederations of villages or districts, each independent of the other, and the villages themselves had considerable autonomy. Pohnpei had five petty states, although traditions of a unified rule for the whole island are apparent from an earlier period. Chuuk was extremely fragmented politically, with several independent communities on each of the six larger high islands. The Marshalls and the Gilberts had larger polities and integrated groups of separate atolls under a high chief; these expansionist states achieved their fullest development after the introduction of firearms by Europeans.' §REF§(Kahn, Fischer and Kiste 2017) Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XHZTEDKE\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XHZTEDKE</a>.§REF§ There was a degree of differentiation between chiefs and ritual specialists: 'No regular religious duties were attached to the chief’s office. They were performed, instead, by various specialists. A chief was concerned, however, that the proper specialists [Page 144] engage in their respective activities at appropriate times, at least when the welfare of the entire district was involved. He also used to set the times for dances, which were a popular form of entertainment before the missionaries banned them.' §REF§Goodenough, Ward Hunt 1951. “Property, Kin, And Community On Truk”, 143§REF§ We have assumed that the institution of district chief predates the colonial period." }, { "id": 40, "polity": { "id": 448, "name": "fr_atlantic_complex", "long_name": "Atlantic Complex", "start_year": -2200, "end_year": -1000 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 1, "administrative_level_to": 2, "comment": null, "description": " levels. \"The production of bronze objects has suggested to many scholars that, just as trade became more complex, sociopolitical organization may have become more complex as well. This idea seems to be reinforced by the presence of fortified towns, suggesting some degree of political integration, at least at a local level. Unfortunately, there is little formal data on sociopolitical organization for the Earlier Bronze Age. Scholars analyzing the contents of burials have suggested a two-tiered division was present in Earlier Bronze Age society, with one tier being \"elites\" buried with considerable wealth, the other being commoners buried with very few goods. Most scholars believe that such differences were probably achieved during the life of the individual, particularly since many of the \"elite\" burials contain goods associated with warriors. However, both women and men, and even some children, were buried in the \"elite\" style, suggesting that ascribed status differences may have been present.\" §REF§(Peregrine 2001, 413)§REF§" }, { "id": 41, "polity": { "id": 447, "name": "fr_beaker_eba", "long_name": "Beaker Culture", "start_year": -3200, "end_year": -2000 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 1, "administrative_level_to": 1, "comment": null, "description": " levels. Probably unknown. At least one can be inferred for a fortified settlement.<br>\"Political Organization. It seems that, at least in some areas, there was a significant increase of social disparity and, as a consequence, an increase in the number of communities with a stratified social structure and the beginning of leadership. However, in other areas, it seems that tribal structures remained, but it is possible that they were hierarchical in some way. There were different types of hierarchies, with different levels of division of work, but nowadays we cannot be sure of the exact level of division of labor.\" §REF§(Clop Garcia 2001, 28)§REF§" }, { "id": 42, "polity": { "id": 461, "name": "fr_bourbon_k_2", "long_name": "French Kingdom - Late Bourbon", "start_year": 1660, "end_year": 1815 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 6, "administrative_level_to": 6, "comment": null, "description": " levels. §REF§(Ladurie 1991 130-)§REF§§REF§(Briggs 1998)§REF§<br>1. King<br>Following the death of Cardinal Mazarin, on March 10th 1661 Louis XIV established personal rule.<br>_Central government_<br>2. Prime Minister. Cardinal Fleury \"defacto Prime Minister\" from 1726-1743 CE §REF§(Ladurie 1991, 338)§REF§ at other times, Councils of state were dominated by the Controleur general des finances e.g. Colbert.3. Heads of the councils of state. Conseil d'en haut (Ministers of State. Advised the king on important matters, such as religion, diplomacy and war); Conseil royal des finances (Controleur general des finances (e.g. Colbert from 1665 CE) generally made the decisions which were later approved by the king); Conseil des depeches (the Chancellor, who was excluded from Conseil d'en haut by Louis XIV, continued to play an important role in this council); Conseil de conscience; Conseillers d'etat; Maitres des requetes; Conseil d'Etat prive or Conseil des parties; Conseil d'Etat et des finances.4. Lesser bureaucrats5.<br>2. Parlements3. 13* regional judicial bodies - including Parlement of Paris, Parlement of Toulouse - that were courts of appeal and implemented the king's law in the regions. *Unreferenced<br><br>_Provincial government_<br>X. Superintendant (office abolished with the arrest of Fouquet 1661 CE§REF§(Briggs 1998, 137)§REF§)<br><br>2. Intendants3. Sub-delegates (had greater role from 1680s CE)§REF§(Briggs 1998, 152)§REF§<br>Position of provincial intendant was a rotated position, however the period of stay increased after 1666-1669 CE.<br>role expanded 1680s CE §REF§(Briggs 1998, 152)§REF§<br>3. Rulers of provincial estates4. Members of regional assembly5. permanent officials (syndics)<br>In Languedoc the estates collected taxes and ran their own administration (regional assemblies) with permanent officials (syndics).<br>3. Provincial governors<br>4. Seigneurs<br>5. Municipal government<br>6. ParishIn rural communities priests were government agents who made public announcements, had a legal (e.g. issuing monitoires) and administrative role (e.g. intendant questionnaires) and mediated in certain disputes. §REF§(Briggs 1998, 174)§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 43, "polity": { "id": 309, "name": "fr_carolingian_emp_1", "long_name": "Carolingian Empire I", "start_year": 752, "end_year": 840 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 4, "administrative_level_to": 4, "comment": null, "description": "<br>1. King<br>_Court institution_<br>Philip II (1180-1223 CE) had \"a small group of close counsellers who held offices with particular, if not always specialized, functions. Philip also employed royal agents in the demesne, and outside, to carry on the routine work of government and to enforce the changes which he introduced./ We speak of departments, and we know of the existence of a chancery and a chamber, but we should be mistaken to see these as entirely separated organizations. Household departments do not emerge until the reign of St Louis, but they were in the process of formation in Philip's time. The close counsellors and the clerks could still move from one area of the administration to another, and often did.../ Central government was organized under a few major officials: the chancellor, the seneschal, the butler, the chamberlain and the constable. These originated as household officials with specific functions. By the beginning of the twelfth century these offices had been taken over by leading magnates. Under Philip, one or two magnates held such titles ... But the trend was to pass office, and sometimes title, to more humble men and their professional staff, for example marshals assisting the constables.\"§REF§(Bradbury 2013, 249) Jim Bradbury. 2015. Philip Augustus: King of France 1180-1223. Routledge.§REF§<br>2.3.4.<br>_Neustria and Austrasia_<br>2. Subkingdom / areas were ruled by an Archbishopdirectly appointed by the king and non-hereditary position<br>Usually this extra level filled in as 'subkingdoms' and these positions were often held by family members, e.g. Italy, Acquitania, and Bavaria.<br>2. Missi Dominici/Vasi Dominici3. Notables/lords/mayors/vicars.DB: How do 'comes/count' fit into this story? Are they relevant?<br>4. PagiDB: How do 'pagus' fit into this story? Are they relevant?<br>" }, { "id": 44, "polity": { "id": 452, "name": "fr_hallstatt_d", "long_name": "Hallstatt D", "start_year": -600, "end_year": -475 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 3, "administrative_level_to": 4, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>\"In their influential paper, Frankenstein and Rowlands [propose] the existence of a four-tiered hierarchy of chieftains, consisting of a paramount chieftain, \"vassal chiefs,\" \"sub-chiefs,\" and \"village chiefs.\" Bintliff (1984) agreed with this suggesting \"the spacing of centres suggests large territories and even \"proto-state\" structures, to be linked perhaps to the emergence of paramount chiefs or princes from an aristocratic stratum scattered throughout the region. The paramounts associated with the major putative centres and their particularly impressive burials, seem to have dominated numerous district chiefs whose rich tumuli are found at various points around the suggested territory of each princedom.\"§REF§(Arnold and Gibson 1995, 6-7)§REF§<br>1. Paramount chieftain<br><br>2. Vassal chief<br>3. Sub-chief<br>4. Village chief<br>" }, { "id": 45, "polity": { "id": 456, "name": "fr_merovingian_emp_3", "long_name": "Proto-Carolingian", "start_year": 687, "end_year": 751 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 4, "administrative_level_to": 5, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>1. King<br>Basic territorial divisions (622 CE onwards 2 divisions East / West)Neustria - centred on the Seine and Oise rivers.<br>Burgundy<br>Austrasia - based on the Rhine and Meuse<br>Acquitane - usually had unique status §REF§(Wood 1994, 146)§REF§<br>_Court institution_<br>It was a peripatetic institution §REF§(Wood 1994, 150-153)§REF§<br>2. Senior Palace official was known as \"Mayor of the Palace\" §REF§(Halsall 2003, 28)§REF§ maior domus §REF§(Wood 1994, 150-153)§REF§3. Treasurer §REF§(Wood 1994, 150-153)§REF§4. Notaries and scribes<br>640s CE and onwards Mayors of the Palace dominate the court. Kings lost control to mayors and magnates. §REF§(Bachrach 1972, 109-112)§REF§<br>Comes palatii §REF§(Wood 1994, 150-153)§REF§<br>Magnates known as Obtimates, consulted by king at annual gathering around March 1st. §REF§(Wood 1994, 104)§REF§<br><br>_Regional government_<br>2. Maior domus (Burgundy) / Mayor of the Palace (Autrasia)Under Chlothar II (584-629 CE, reign from 613 CE) Burgundy had a maior domus (regional official). this official was at level below the court in Paris and in later years was alternately removed, then reinstated. also dux / duchy / districts §REF§(Wood 1994, 144-145 and 236)§REF§<br>The region of Austrasia had its own Mayor of the Palace §REF§(Medieval France: An Encylopedia 1995, 157)§REF§<br>2. Dukes and Bishops (directly appointed by king)\"Many bishops owed their position to the king\" and \"were royal servants with no known connections with their sees.\" §REF§(Wood 1994, 78)§REF§<br>Aristocrats dependent on patronage from king. §REF§(Halsall in Wood ed. 1998, 149)§REF§<br>Group of cities and counts could be placed under a duke (for military and administrative purposes). §REF§(Bachrach 1972, 67)§REF§<br>Magnates (dux?) and Church (bishops)<br>Individuals in charge of multiple civitates? called dux (pl. duces). §REF§(Wood 1994, 61)§REF§<br>Alternative ruling structures had been innovated such as dukedom (higher scale) and the pagi (lower scale).§REF§(Loseby in Wood ed. 1998, 245-249)§REF§<br>Aquitaine - duchy, dux/duces. Merovingians claimed over-lordship in Southern England 550s CE. §REF§(Wood 1994, 176)§REF§<br>3. Comes (count) of the Civitas (city-district)4. local law-men called rachinburgi §REF§(Wood 1994, 107)§REF§Merovingians maintained existing Roman administrative systems where possible. Gregory of Tours (538-594 CE) writings show cities are the basic units of the administrative system. §REF§(Loseby in Wood ed. 1998, 245-249)§REF§<br>City archives: defensor, curator, magister, militum. Known from Formularies from a few civitates but no evidence uniform across polity. Senior official of civitas was the comes (pl. comites) or count (lit. \"companion). Heard law-suits, enforced justice, lead the military. In north graphiones instead of comes. §REF§(Wood 1994, 60)§REF§ Civitas administration \"provided dominant source of tax revenue\" and some of the manpower for the army. §REF§(Wood 1994, 64)§REF§<br>In sixth century the role of the Roman curiales had been taken over by a single official appointed by the Merovingian king, the \"count\" or the \"grafio\" in the Frankish homelands. This official - where present the most important city official - had its origins in the Roman imperial comes civitatis. The first such official in Gaul is known from 471 CE. They executed judicial and administrative functions and sent the king his tax revenue. Rule through these city officials gradually spread across Gaul in the post-Roman period.<br>Gregory of Tours refers to \"leading officials\" who could be members of a local council.§REF§(Loseby in Wood ed. 1998, 245-249)§REF§<br>Gregory of Tours' region in central Gaul likely had longest persisting continuity with Roman structures of city-based rule. These were the \"basic building-blocks of which the various Merovingian regna were composed.\" However, in Frankish regions the rule-through-city framework may have been less pervasive. §REF§(Loseby in Wood ed. 1998, 245-249)§REF§<br>Internal administrative regions due to the city based taxation system. The \"guiding imperative behind the divisions would appear to be the sharing out of the profits from various forms of taxation\" on the civitas §REF§(Loseby in Wood ed. 1998, 245-249)§REF§<br>5. City archives two levels? e.g. manager and assistant <i>inferred level</i><br>4. PagiSub-division of the civitates. Replaces civitates in some parts of Gaul §REF§(Halsall 2003, 48)§REF§<br>Alternative ruling structures had been innovated such as dukedom (higher scale) and the pagi (lower scale).§REF§(Loseby in Wood ed. 1998, 245-249)§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 46, "polity": { "id": 453, "name": "fr_la_tene_a_b1", "long_name": "La Tene A-B1", "start_year": -475, "end_year": -325 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 3, "administrative_level_to": 3, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>1. King<br>Had a retinue of military/legal assistants<br>2. Tribal chiefTribes<br>3. Clan chiefPagus (Clan) / Family group §REF§(Collis 2003, 195)§REF§<br>Galatians, who migrated to Asia minor 279 BCE, also provide a possible insight into Gaulish social structure as they were closely observed by the Greeks. Chieftains (called a tetrach by the Greeks) lead each of the tribes each of which were divided into clans. Supra-tribal level of cooperation: the clans of all the tribes together appointed 300 senators \"to attend an annual assembly at a shrine.\" However they were rarely unified and eventually the chieftains became kings. The chieftains \"were assisted by three military advisers and a judge.\"§REF§(Allen 2007, 79-80)§REF§<br>\"At its lowest level, Celtic society was made up of extended families or clans that were grouped together to form territorially based tribes.\" If Ireland is representative, 3 levels of hierarchy: 1. family unit = fine. 2. five family units = clan. A number of clans in the same region = 3. tuath (tribe) ruled by a king.\" §REF§(Allen 2007, 62)§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 47, "polity": { "id": 455, "name": "fr_la_tene_c2_d", "long_name": "La Tene C2-D", "start_year": -175, "end_year": -27 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 3, "administrative_level_to": 4, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>1. King<br><br>2. Decision-making councilOppida fortified urban settlements from 150 BCE §REF§(Wells 1999, 49-54)§REF§<br>Caesar c50 BCE referred to the \"Gaullish council\" of the Parisii §REF§(Kruta 2004, 88)§REF§<br>Magistrate had the power to issue coins<br>Common political and religious institutions §REF§(Kruta 2004)§REF§<br>Centralised government §REF§(Kruta 2004, 115)§REF§<br>Effective political and administrative system that was equal to Rome §REF§(Kruta 2004, 115)§REF§<br>3. PagiPagus (Clan) / Family group §REF§(Collis 2003, 195)§REF§<br>Chiefs of tribes?<br>Cantons (according to Caesar)§REF§(Kruta 2004, 185)§REF§<br>4. Headmen?according to Caesar there was a sub-division below Pagi/Canton §REF§(Kruta 2004, 185)§REF§<br>Galatians, who migrated to Asia minor 279 BCE, also provide a possible insight into Gaulish social structure as they were closely observed by the Greeks. Chieftains (called a tetrach by the Greeks) lead each of the tribes each of which were divided into clans. Supra-tribal level of cooperation: the clans of all the tribes together appointed 300 senators \"to attend an annual assembly at a shrine.\" However they were rarely unified and eventually the chieftains became kings. The chieftains \"were assisted by three military advisers and a judge.\"§REF§(Allen 2007, 79-80)§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 48, "polity": { "id": 587, "name": "gb_british_emp_1", "long_name": "British Empire I", "start_year": 1690, "end_year": 1849 }, "year_from": 1780, "year_to": 1849, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 8, "administrative_level_to": 10, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>Central Government<br>1. Monarch<br>1. Prime Minister<br>2. High Ranking Members of Parliament: Chancellor, Treasurer, President of the King's Council, Chief Justice, Chief Baron§REF§(McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 264. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW</a>)§REF§<br>3. Members of the House of Lords§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§§REF§(McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 219. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW</a>)§REF§<br>3. Members of the House of Commons§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§§REF§(McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 219. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW</a>)§REF§<br>4-7. Masters, Secretaries, Clerks, other Minor Officials§REF§(McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 249. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW</a>)§REF§<br>Colonial Office<br>2. Colonial Secretary (Colonial Office at Whitehall from 1811)§REF§(Marshall 2001: 24. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IT2S8JJ3\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IT2S8JJ3</a>)§REF§<br>3. Officials in the Colonial Office§REF§(Marshall 2001: 24. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IT2S8JJ3\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IT2S8JJ3</a>)§REF§<br>4-7. Masters, Secretaries, Clerks, other Minor Officials§REF§(McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 249. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW</a>)§REF§<br>Judicial §REF§(McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 263-70. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW</a>)§REF§<br>2. Lord High Chancellor (chief judge of the Court of Chancery, member of the House of Lords)<br>3. High-level judges<br>4. Local judges<br>5. Sheriff<br>6. Clerk of the Peace<br>7. Coroner<br>8. Magistrate<br>9. High Constable<br>10. Minor officers: Petty Constable, Gaoler, Bailiff, Executioner<br>Local Government (UK)<br>3. UK regional administrative units<br>4. High ranking local officials (inferred)<br>5. Minor Officials, Clerks, etc. (inferred)<br>Colonial Government<br>3. Governor (Proconsuls, and Viceroys)<br>3. East India Company§REF§(Marshall 2001: 24. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IT2S8JJ3\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IT2S8JJ3</a>)§REF§<br>3. Protectorates<br>4. Colonial bureaucracies (e.g. Indian Civil Service)<br>4. Colonial executive and Legislative Councils<br>4. Indigenous rulers<br>5-9. Masters, Secretaries, Clerks, other Minor Officials (inferred)<br>5-9. Internal/Indigenous ruling sub-divisions (in India likely to be fairly extensive to village level: seven levels inferred in the preceding Mughal Empire, nine levels inferred in the Delhi Sultanate.)<br><ul><li>\"Unlike the Spanish and the French, the British never attempted to rule colonies directly from the metropole ... At the core of Imperial administration .... a series of essentially bilateral relationships which entailed constant negotiation rather than the imposition of rule and the acceptance of subjection.\"§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§</li><li>\"... governmental authority lagging behind, not leading, overseas expansion. ... the bureaucratic standard-bearers of British rule usually trailed in the wake of traders, missionaries, explorers, and settlers, and were charged, like firefighters or troubleshooters, with tidying up the chaos left by private entrepreneurs and trying to impose some order and regularity.\"§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§</li><li>Imperial agents: \"Even when the flow of information was speeded by clipper ships, then steamships and telegraphs, the fundamental bureaucratic problem remained the continuous adjustment of Imperial preferences and local practice. The mediating role was necessarily delegated to the men on the spot, principally the Governors, Proconsuls, and Viceroys who operated at the key point of interaction between directives emanating from London and pressures generated by conditions on the periphery.\"§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§ Initially military agents, then civilian: \"Military men, favoured after the French wars, were gradually replaced by civilians\".§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§</li><li>There was an Indian Civil Service containing about 2000 Europeans.§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§ In Uganda in the 1890s CE there were 25 British officials.§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§ \"With Western ambitions as well as Western acculturation, some 4,000 Indians served in the uncovenanted Indian Civil Service by 1868, but their advancement to senior posts was slow and unwelcome.\"§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§ Officials in India undertook \"statistical surveys\".§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§</li><li>Governor: \"The executive heads of administration in the more important crown colonies, and in some protectorates\". In less important places the top officials were called administrators or commissioners. \"The governors were appointed by the monarch (particularly in the early days of the Empire), by proprietors (in the case of proprietary colonies), or by the government and their duties varied considerably, some ruling as autocrats, others (especially as colonies moved toward independence) leaving most decision making to legislative councils composed of local residents. The monarch's representative in those British Overseas Territories that have a permanent population also holds the title of 'governor' and carries out the duties of head of state. Moreover, the British monarch is also - and independently - head of state of Australia and of Canada, appointed representatives to each state in the former and to each province in the latter. In Australia, these individuals are known as governors and in Canada as lieutenant-governors\".\"§REF§Kenneth J Panton. 2015. Historical Dictionary of the British Empire. Rowman & Littlefield. Lanham.§REF§</li><li>1784 CE: \"Parliament approves the India Act, which gives the government direct control over the political activities of the East India Company.\"§REF§Kenneth J Panton. 2015. Historical Dictionary of the British Empire. Rowman & Littlefield. Lanham.§REF§</li><li>\"colonial self-reliance operating through representative Assemblies had been adopted for Nova Scotia (1758), Prince Edward Island (1773), and New Brunswick (1784), and after 1791 the Canadas, though the powers of Governors and executives were nominally strengthened in the light of the American experience. In the conquered, ceded, and later settled colonies, however, more authoritarian regimes were established, involving Governors working initially with advisory Councils and then with nominated Executive and Legislative Councils, the latter pattern coming to be known as Crown Colony government.\"§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§ After Canadian rebellion \"political advance was sought through the Union of 1841 and a subsequent devolution of authority which facilitated local self-government operating under Cabinet conventions known as responsible government. Colonial politicians, enjoying the legitimacy of popular consent for their exercise of executive power, now provided acceptable collaborators who could be left to their own devices in matters of internal administration.\"§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§ \"maturing communities would normally pass, at different speeds according to different circumstances, from Crown Colony status to full self-government.\"§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§ During 1830s CE \"in Crown Colonies outside British North America, the Governor's advisory council was replaced by nominated Executive and Legislative Councils in Western Australia, the Cape, Trinidad, Mauritius, and Ceylon, thus bringing them in line with New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land (1825).\"§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§ \"Once British North America had forced open the gateway to self-government, Australians and New Zealanders were able to make a final dash for local autonomy, securing both representative institutions and responsible government in virtually one leap between 1850 and 1856. They then set about making local sovereignty a reality by eroding residual Imperial authority - Crown lands, fiscal and commercial policy, and internal securtiy - and by forging the political frameworks of the nations they were in the process of building.\"§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§ 1865 CE islands in the West Indies starting with Jamaica abandoned \"legislative independence in exchange for the security of direct government by the British Crown.\"§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§</li><li>Late 19th century many Protectorates created.§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§ \"Protectorates came to be administered as if they were colonies - and some were indeed redesignated as such - trends symbolized by the transfer of the Foreign Office's responsibilities to the Colonial OFfice between 1898 and 1905.\"§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§ \"By the 1890s, without the formality of annexation, the British authorities and local agents were freely establishing in Protectorates rudimentary frameworks of government involving courts, taxation, military 'pacification', displacement of indigenous rulers, and the issue of certificates for land titles which paved the way for Crown land rights and appropriation by European settlers.\"§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§</li><li>1783-1870 CE: British government largely non-interventionist due to \"the physical difficulties of communicating\" and \"partly from a lack of a strong bureaucracy\". \"Authority in Britain was divided between different bodies. Effectively from about 1812, a Colonial Office in Whitehall was responsible for the colonies. This was headed by a minister who became Colonial Secretary. ... For the most part it saw its function as responding to developments overseas rather than initiating new policies. India was always a separate concern. Until 1858 the British government did not exercise direct authority over it. Detailed administration was left to the old East India Company, subject to the supervision of a government department on major issues of policy. The administration both of India and of the colonies was responsible to Parliament.\"§REF§(Marshall 1996, 24) P J Marshall. 1783-1870: An Expanding Empire. P J Marshall. ed. 1996. The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.§REF§</li><li>\"Early British rule was very Indian in character. Once the British had succeeded in taking over an Indian state, they had neither the capacity nor the inclination to introduce radical changes in the way that it was run.\"§REF§(Marshall 1996, 22) P J Marshall. The British Empire at the End of the Eighteenth Century. P J Marshall. ed. 1996. The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.§REF§</li><li>\"An early administrative respect and tolerance for what were understood to be traditional Indian customs, laws, and religion were subsequently somewhat modified by calls from assorted utilitarians, liberal reformers, and evangelicals for the wholesale Anglicization of society. After the shock of the Indian Mutiny in 1857, however, enthusiasm for rapid Westernization was officially replaced by a deliberate distancing of British authority from the regenderation of Indian society and by a more pronounced insistence on Indian 'difference'.\"§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§</li><li>British administrators \"pragmatically sought accommodation with indigenous and emigrant societies\" and while there were some powerful personalities the execution of British rule \"was pursued chiefly through mediation with indigenous elites or collaborating groups possessing local influence\".§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§</li><li>After 1857 CE \"India's princes, as rulers of quasi-independent states, were thus integrated into the Imperial order with a recognized status and special privileges.§REF§(Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§</li></ul>" }, { "id": 49, "polity": { "id": 113, "name": "gh_akan", "long_name": "Akan - Pre-Ashanti", "start_year": 1501, "end_year": 1701 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 4, "administrative_level_to": 4, "comment": null, "description": " levels.<br>(1) rulers of Akan polities (Omanhene); (2) his female equivalent (Ohema) and a Council of Elders assisting him; (3) Chiefs of lineages/clans or district rulers (Ohene); (4) councils of village leaders (mpanyinfo, odekro, obaapanyin)<br>Central authority rests with the King, but the role of sub-chiefs who complement the hierarchy have developed over time. §REF§(89)Abdebayo, A. et al. 2014. Indigenous Conflict Management Strategies: Global Perspectives. Lexington Books.§REF§<br>According to Sarbah, Akan polities of the time shared many structural commonalities when it comes to political organization: 'The common origin of the inhabitants of the Fanti districts, Asanti, and wherever the Akan language is spoken, has been already shown. † The Customary Laws of the inhabitants of these places are in the main identical, and the national constitutions resemble each other in many points, although Asanti military organization had been [Page 3] developed in a greater degree. In fact, while the Fanti communities were gradually bringing under their sway smaller states, the Asanti king by conquests was extending his power over many lands. At one time all countries from Cape Mount in Liberia to the western boundary of Dahomey were, with few exceptions, under Asanti jurisdiction.' §REF§Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 2p§REF§ But polities differed in the degree of popular participation: 'According to some ancient writers, there are two forms of government at the Gold Coast, namely, Monarchical and Republican. The districts of Axim, Ahanta, Fanti, and others were, previous to the year 1700, considered to be commonwealths; whereas Commenda, at that time a very populous district, Effutu or Fetu, Asebu, and Accra, were of the first kind. Henry Meredith, whose work was published in 1811, describes the governments along the coast as partaking of various forms. At Appolonia it was monarchical and absolute; in Ahanta it was a kind of aristocracy; but in the Fanti country, and extending to Accra, it was composed of a strange number of forms; for in some places the government was vested in particular persons, whilst in others it was in the hands of the community. What struck him as strange in the Fanti districts was that they frequently changed their form of government on certain occasions by uniting together under particular persons for their general safety, giving implicit [Page 26] obedience to their leaders; but as soon as the object of their union was attained, they reverted to their independent units. What is undoubtedly true is, that for very many years the Fanti town and village communities have enjoyed independence in a greater degree than any other tribes on the Gold Coast. In Appolonia one finds that so much authority was vested in the Omanhene that writers frequently thought his power was absolute. But on examining the constitutions of these places, they will be found to be sprung from the same root; the monarchical form of government so mentioned is what is common in Wassaw and other inland districts, and the republican is simply the constitution of some of the sea-coast towns close to European settlements and forts. These coast towns are communities whose government is based on the system already described; the president is Ohene, and his office is elective. Each town is divided into several parts, for fighting purposes, called companies (Asafu). One of these companies acts as the Gyasi to the Ohene. The Tufuhene is responsible for the good order of all the fighting men; the orders of the Ohene and his council are communicated to them by the Tufuhene.' §REF§Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 25p§REF§ In general, public office was attached to stools: 'Before proceeding further, it is necessary to explain the origin of stools, whether family or public. Where the head of a family has more than one stool, he may give one to a member of the family on appointing him the Penin of a junior branch of the large family. The person so appointed thereby acquires possession of all the goods, chattels, and lands appurtenant to that stool. His own property becomes stool property, and is merged in whatever is given him. The children of the last stoolholder call him father, and the widows become his wives; each woman can, however, obtain her freedom on repayment of the Consawment money, that is, dowry. But a new stool is created in this wise: when the family of a man of wealth or influence on his death so will, they create a family stool which is named after the deceased. For this purpose the favourite chair of the deceased, generally a small one, which was in constant use by him, is cleaned, then rubbed all over with the blood of sheep, and finally smeared with a mixture of soot and eggs. The stool is afterwards wrapped in some skin and safely kept. During this consecration, libation is made and prayers are freely offered for the prosperity of the family, and that its members may, in time to come, attain greater influence and prominence. These stools are added to from time to time, but count is made of only the prominent ones. Too often the name of the original founder of the family is dropped for that of one of his successors of greater eminence. When an old stool is so decayed that it ought to be destroyed, it is burnt, and the ashes thereof are made into a paste with oil, blood, eggs, and other substances. The paste is then daubed on a new stool, which is [Page 13] consecrated as a family stool and named after the old one. When an old stool is lost a new one is specially made and consecrated.' §REF§Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. \"Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asant, And Other Akan Tribes of West Africe Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration of Early English Voyages, And A Stody Of The Rise of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.\", 12p§REF§ Akan polities were ruled by an Omanhene, assisted by multiple officials and councillors, including a female equivalent of his (Ohema): 'Omanhene is the head of the national life, and naturally president of the rulers of the people assembled either as a court for deciding cases or for legislation. The district, taken as a whole, is likewise considered as a body, whereof the Omanhene supports the head, and the next man in authority to him carries the foot. By virtue of his office, Omanhene has the right to be carried by four men or more, and uses three or more canopy umbrellas. At his installation a small sword, the insignia of his office, is handed to him, and he enjoys several other privileges. He is the commander-in-chief of all the fighting men of the district. His bodyguard and the immediate fighting men are called Gyasi. He is almost invariably a member of the Domtsifu or Intsin Company. Tufuhene is the man whose duty it is to command the fighting-men (from tuu, “to throw, e.g., arrows, etc.;” hence etuo, itur, “a gun”); a fighting leader, or commander. In some districts, and especially in the coast towns, Tufuhene is the next man in authority after Ohene.' §REF§Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 9§REF§ 'The several Akan peoples each consist of a single kingdom ruled by a king, OMANHENE (lit. \"state-chief\"). The king comes from whatever clan provides the royal line in a particular kingdom, and is chosen in rotation from one of this clan's kingly lineages (there are often other, non-kingly, lineages within a royal clan). He is elected by various officials, of which the most important is the OHEMMAA (or similar terms; lit. \"woman-chief\" and usually translated in the literature as \"queen-mother\") although she is typically not the actual mother but a senior woman of the clan, who \"knows\" genealogy and may have her own court and be assisted by various officials. Criteria for the selection of a king include assumed competence, general personality, and the fact that kingly lines usually rotate in providing the king. Once selected, the king is \"enstooled\"-that is, seated upon the stool of kingship. His former status is annulled symbolically, his debts and lawsuits are settled, his clothing and personal possessions st ored; he is then symbolically reborn and given the identity of one of his forebears. He assumes the royal name and title borne by that previous ruler. A king has his palace, in which work members of his court. Details vary considerably, but, in general, the royal officials comprise several categories: those from the royal clan itself; those representing the remainder of the people; and ritual officials, drummers, and others who were considered the \"children\" of the king, being recruited from many sources, including royal slaves, and often observing patrilineal descent. The king is a sacred person. He may not be observed eating or drinking and may not be heard to speak nor be spoken to publicly (speaking only through a spokesman or \"linguist,\" OKYEAME). He is covered from the sky by a royal umbrella, avoids contact with the earth by wearing royal sandals, and wears insignia of gold and elaborate and beautiful cloth of royal design. In the past, an Akan king held power over the life and death of his subjects and slaves. These powers were eroded during colonial rule, but today an Akan king remains extremely powerful, representing his people both politically an d ritually and acting as a focus for the identity of his kingdom. By far the most powerful is the king of Ashanti, who has the largest of all the Akan kingdoms, the Asantehene at Kumasi.' §REF§Gilbert, Michelle, Lagacé, Robert O. and Skoggard, Ian: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Akan§REF§ Councillors supported the ruler in his duties, but could also contain autocratic ambitions: 'The Council of the people is the only effective instrument or body which tempers the will or power of the ruler. For no discreet or wise ruler would undertake any matter of importance affecting his people, until it has been discussed at length in council, where freedom of speech and the publicity thereof give every facility for the expression of public opinion. In fact, it is the duty of every ruler first to summon his councillors, and then his people, when an occasion arises, in the same way as the head of a family calls the senior or elder members of his family and confers about the affairs and other business of the family. The principle is the same; the application thereof is only a matter of degree. The representative character of a councillor is well understood and appreciated by the people. The expression generally used by old councillors and other public men whose influence has waned, who are not considered to reflect current public opinion, or who do not command public confidence, is as follows: “Nya Oman ese nidu wont[unavailable]t[unavailable] n'anan mu,” meaning “the representatives of the people for the time being should not be interrupted too much nor without very good reason.”' §REF§Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. \"Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asant, And Other Akan Tribes of West Africe Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration of Early English Voyages, And A Stody Of The Rise of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.\", 11§REF§ Regional government and belonging to social categories operated through clan membership: 'Every aboriginal inhabitant of this country is a member of some clan, the relationship to which is traced through the mother. Take the case of a man who is about to build a separate home or settle on some portion of land of the tribe or clan: he will be accompanied by his wives, if any, also his mother, brothers, unmarried sisters, nephews and nieces who have left their fathers. The land on which this man with his people will settle may be either a portion of the virgin forest or where he had been farming before. When the brothers marry their wives join them, but their children are not members of this family. As the household increases and multiplies new houses are set up. In this smallest family group the Penin, or Egya, is the natural guardian of every member. The land on which the members dwell is family property. The Penin, as head [Page 5] of the family, represents all the members, holding and administering the property as a trustee for himself and them. If the family is so wealthy as to hold slaves and pawns (Ahubafu), they reside with their masters. When this family unit has grown large it is usual to appoint a person to “sit behind” the Penin. He must be a fit and proper person, generally one of the heritable blood relations (Dihyi); in some instances, however, a bondsman is selected. This second man acts as the spokesman of the Penin, assists him in settling disputes, takes a prominent part at the annual observance of the stool, or other festival, when, in the presence of the whole family, he makes the libation and offers the family sacrifice with prayers to the spirits of the departed ones.' §REF§Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 4p§REF§ Villages were governed by councils of elders or 'patriarchs': 'Most of the towns scattered over the whole of Guinea have grown from villages originally founded and occupied by single family groups. As each family gets larger and the households increase in number, the village community grows, and its general affairs are guided and controlled by the patriarch of the family, who, now headman of the [Page 4] village, is assisted by a council composed of the eldest members of each family group or household, and other fit and proper persons, who are generally old men.' §REF§Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 3p§REF§ As micro-settlements grew into villages, leadership would adjust accordingly: 'The Penin of the subsequent settlers exercises similar rights over his own people, and as the household grows larger so is that Penin assisted by a person “sitting behind” him. The founder of the village or his successor is now called Odzikuro (owner of the village), who, in looking after the village affairs, is assisted by the Penin of the new [Page 7] settlers, and thus arises the village council. The different family groups become the village community, and in all public matters the village council, composed of the Penin of each important household, acts, the Odzikuro being president of such council. The members of the village council have a spokesman (Kyiami, a linguist), whose office is hereditary, but is traced in the male line, for a son succeeds as linguist his father, and not his uncle. Land in possession of the founder of the village is family stool property. Land cleared and occupied by subsequent settlers who have joined the founder is the property of the subsequent settlers. Land acquired by the founder and the settlers together is held by the village community, and becomes attached to the stool of the person for the time being head of the village. All the inhabitants of the village have each of them a proportionate share in such lands as common property, without any possession or title to distinct portions. From the moment a tribal community settles down finally upon a definite tract of land, the land begins to be the basis of society in place of kinship. The Odzikuro, with the village council, has the control of such land, but each person has the right to cultivate any portion of it, and having done so or settled on it, he may not be removed by any single individual unless the council so decrees.' §REF§Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 6§REF§ 'In the small settlement which has so grown into a village community there will be subordinate stools belonging to the junior families, which are offshoots of the parent family. The holders reside in the village or in its neighbourhood, and are usually members of the village council. It will be found that the headman of the village community is generally a member of the family which founded the village, and has succeeded to that post by virtue of his right as head of the founder's family; but inasmuch as he rules over the whole community, the inhabitants, through the village council, have the right to reject any one proposed as headman if deemed unsuitable for the post, and, passing over the original family, can select a fit and proper person [Page 8] from another family whose connection with the village is ancient. And so all things being equal, preference is given to families according to priority of settlement.' §REF§Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 7§REF§ The headmen of multiple lineage branches would assume the position of clan-chief or district ruler (Ohene): 'Suppose the original founder of the village to be a junior member of the family, whose elder brother was the family stoolholder; there still will be seasons when he and those under him would have to take part in observing the annual custom of the family stool, and participate in the family festival. And where there are several subordinate branches of a similar nature, the stoolholder of the original family acquires a greater importance and influence, and is termed Ohene - a term which has been rendered indifferently in English, king, caboceer, head chief, chief, and even headman. The Ohene will now have under him ( a) his family: comprising (i.) members under his immediate control, and (ii.) subordinate family groups that have branched off from the parent family; ( b) settlers: (i.) family groups in the same village as the Ohene, and (ii.) family groups sprung from the aforesaid and living in other places. In addition to individual persons enjoying his protection, there may be among his retinue a whole family or village community, to or for whom money loans have been given. These swell the retinue of the Ohene, and are included in his own bodyguard (Gyasi), a portion of the fighting men of the village community. Like the others, the headman of the protected family or community attends the annual festival of the Ohene, and to the tribunal of the Ohene these vassals have the right to appeal. Moreover, the oath of the stool of the Ohene is binding on them. The whole community is now likened to a body of which the Ohene supports the head, and the next in authority to him the foot. The Ohene of the oldest ancestry and most powerful becomes by election or tacit consent of the other Ahenefu of the district or country Omanhene, that is, a king. In reference to his own particular jurisdiction he is Ohene, and as such he may not interfere in the domestic [Page 9] affairs of any other fellow-ohene, so far as they do not injuriously affect the district as a whole.' §REF§Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 8p§REF§ 'An Ohene is entitled to ride in a palanquin carried by two men and attended by two canopy umbrellas. An Odzikuro is the headman of a village. Penin is an elder, generally an old man of experience. Sahene is a man appointed to conduct war. A Safuhene is a captain of a company, and in some instances is a stoolholder. In fact, among the Akanfu, that is Asanti, Wassaw, Assin, Akim, and such like, each Ohene of the several towns and districts is referred to as the Safuhene of his Omanhene. The Gyasi are the bodyguard of an Ohene or Omanhene. They comprise, first, the blood relatives, especially the children and grandsons of the Ohene, and are called Bogyadom ( bogya, “blood”; dom, “troop”), who have the immediate custody of the stool; secondly, certain Asafuhenefu, with their men; thirdly, personal servants and domestic attendants (Gyasifu). The Gyasi perform the rites of the stool custom each year.' §REF§Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 9§REF§" }, { "id": 50, "polity": { "id": 114, "name": "gh_ashanti_emp", "long_name": "Ashanti Empire", "start_year": 1701, "end_year": 1895 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Administrative_level", "administrative_level_from": 6, "administrative_level_to": 6, "comment": null, "description": " levels. According to the Ethnographic Atlas' variable 33 'Jurisdictional Hierarchy Beyond Local Community' there are 'Two levels (e.g., larger chiefdoms) (.2)' of administrative control-Chiefs and Elders. SCCS variable 76 'Community Leadership' is coded as 'Single local leader and council' SCCS variable 237 'Jurisdictional Hierarchy Beyond Local Community' is coded as 'Two levels (e.g., larger chiefdoms)'<br>Central authority rests with the King, but the role of sub-chiefs who complement the hierarchy have developed over time. §REF§(89)Abdebayo, A. et al. 2014. Indigenous Conflict Management Strategies: Global Perspectives. Lexington Books.§REF§<br>(1) King (Asantehene), the chief executive of the polity and occupant of the Golden Stool;(2) Queen Mother (Asantehema), a mother's sister, grandmother, cousin or sister of the King and occupant of the Silver Stool, a Council of Elders from major lineages, and major officials of the capital, all of whom the Asantehene consulted with;(3) chief executives of core provinces of the Ashanti Union (Omanhene);(4) a corresponding structure of Ohema and a Council of Elders;(5) Chiefs of lineages;(6) councils of village leaders (mpanyinfo, odekro, obaapanyin)<br>Arhin describes the power hierarchy from the village upwards: 'Female stools complemented the hierarchy of male stools. In the village the elders, mpanyinfo, heads of the matrilineages, who constituted with the odekro the village council, had their aberewa or obaapanyin, who looked after the women's affairs. The odekro had an obaapanyin who was responsible for the affairs of the women of the village and was a member of the village council; the ohene, head of a division, and the omanhene, head of the autonomous political community, had their female counterparts known as ohemma, female ruler, who sat on their councils. The ohene and the ohemma were all of the same mogya, blood, or clan. The Asantehemma, the occupant of the female stool of the Kumasi state, and therefore of united Asante, since her male counterpart was ex officio the Asantehene, king of Asante, was a member of the Kotoko council, the executive committee or cabinet of the Asanteman Nhyiamu, general assembly of Asante rulers.' §REF§Arhin, Kwame 1983. “Peasants In 19Th-Century Asante”, 93§REF§ Major and minor chiefs were also summoned to council: 'Where the paramount King of a state summons the Head-Chiefs of provinces and chiefs of minor communities to attend a State Council, it is the privilege of the Councillors of the several communities composing the State, according to their rank and importance, to accompany their several Heads to the capital and to join in the “palaver,” or discussion, that will take place, the King in person presiding over the deliberations, supported by his own Councillors and principal Linguists. This is the full Parliament of the people, who are thus fully and duly represented in every way from the highest to the lowest. The commands which go forth from this assembly are binding upon every individual family of the entire State, from the most important province to the most insignificant hamlet, and the sanction operates equally upon all.' §REF§Hayford, J. E. Casely (Joseph Ephraim Casely) 1970. “Gold Coast Native Institutions With Thoughts Upon A Healthy Imperial Policy For The Gold Coast And Ashanti”, 66§REF§ The paramount executive authority was the Asantehene: 'The King is the Chief Executive Officer of the State, but not the Executive Council of the State. Such a council exists, and any acts done by the King without its concurrence are liable to be set aside.' §REF§Hayford, J. E. Casely (Joseph Ephraim Casely) 1970. “Gold Coast Native Institutions With Thoughts Upon A Healthy Imperial Policy For The Gold Coast And Ashanti”, 41§REF§ The attribution of concrete entities to a particular executive level is not always clear, though, especially in the early period: 'The state of the union that emerged after the War of Independence was obviously a very fluid one. The Asanteman is referred to as the Asante Aman Nnum, the Five Asante States, but there is no clear consensus about which states comprised the original union. [...] The fact of the matter seems to have been that the coalition against the Denkyira included what were no more than “estates” on the one hand, like Bekwae, and what were established states on the other, like Mampon, Dwaben, and Kumase itself. Some were to decline and some were to prosper; some were to become powerful components of the Asanteman and some were to become little more than their clients.' §REF§Wilks, Ivor 1993. “Forests Of Gold: Essays On The Akan And The Kingdom Of Asante”, 114§REF§ On the executive level it therefore seems best to go with the stool system: 'Every Asante village was a microcosm of the Asante economic, social, and political universe. Its population included both rulers and ruled, both “owners” of the land with the right of succession to the local, divisional, and state stools and free men grouped in other lineages with corporate interests in other political offices.' §REF§Arhin, Kwame 1983. “Peasants In 19Th-Century Asante”, 475§REF§ Only a few leaders in executive positions achieved the additional special status of Abrempon or 'big man': 'However many sikafo aspired to the award of the elephant tail, relatively few seem to have achieved it. Three successful nineteenth century claimants are well documented, namely, Gyaasewahene Opoku Frefre (died 1826), Ankobeahene Kwaku Tawia (died ca. 1850), and Manwerehene Kwasi Brantuo (died 1865). [...] I know of no female recipient of the honor. I do not think that women were disbarred by reason of their sex, rather that few if any achieved the necessary level of accumulation. [...] Those chiefs who were allowed to use elephant tails were called Abrempons. A chief who lives on his own land with his own subjects is known by the King as Abrempon.' §REF§Wilks, Ivor 1993. “Forests Of Gold: Essays On The Akan And The Kingdom Of Asante”, 141§REF§ The initiation required involved presentations of wealth as well as ritualized ceremonial. The Abrempon are excluded from the list above on the grounds of their precise position in the power hierarchy not being spelled out by the relevant sources." } ] }