Specialized Government Building List
A viewset for viewing and editing Specialized Government Buildings.
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{ "count": 479, "next": null, "previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/sc/specialized-government-buildings/?format=api&page=9", "results": [ { "id": 451, "polity": { "id": 235, "name": "my_malacca_sultanate_22222", "long_name": "Malacca Sultanate", "start_year": 1270, "end_year": 1415 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Arabian style government? With the trade revenue may have had a treasury building. \"Muslim sultanates were formed, and were dominated by a hereditary aristocracy which purported to be of Arab origin, while the mass of the population was Ethiopian\".§REF§(Cerulli 1992, 281) E. Cerulli. Ethiopia's relations with the Muslim world. I Hrbek ed. 1992. General History of Africa. Abridged Edition. III Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century. James Currey. California.§REF§ \"Ifat was the richest of Ethiopia's Muslim provinces. One of the reasons for this wealth was the production of khat, which already was being exported to Yemen.\"§REF§(Shinn and Ofcansky 2013, 225) David H Shinn. Thomas P Ofcansky. 2013. Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia. 2nd Edition. Scarecrow Press. Lanham.§REF§ \"The three Muslim States of Ifat, Hadya and Fatajar occupied the strategic positions that provided footholds for further penetration of Islamic commerce and learning into the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia.\"§REF§(Teferra 1990) Daniel Teferra. 1990. Social history and theoretical analyses of the economy of Ethiopia. Edwin Mellen Press.§REF§ \"This Muslim territory was important because of its strategic position on the trade routes between the central highlands and the sea, especially the port of Zeila in present-day Somaliland.\"§REF§(Shinn and Ofcansky 2013, 225) David H Shinn. Thomas P Ofcansky. 2013. Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia. 2nd Edition. Scarecrow Press. Lanham.§REF§" }, { "id": 452, "polity": { "id": 209, "name": "ma_mauretania", "long_name": "Mauretania", "start_year": -125, "end_year": 44 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Mauretania certainly had coinage during the reign of Bocchus II in the mid-first century BCE.§REF§(Sayles 1998, 115) Wayne G Sayles. 1998. Ancient Coin Collecting IV. Roman Provincial Coins. Krause Publications. Iola.§REF§" }, { "id": 453, "polity": { "id": 52, "name": "pa_monagrillo", "long_name": "Monagrillo", "start_year": -3000, "end_year": -1300 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "absent", "comment": "'No architectural remains are known from Mon[a]grillo, although excavators reported the presence of clay briquettes showing pole or reed impressions. However, the foundations of simple structures have been identified at the nearby site of Zapotal, which may have been a small village.' <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6ERS93SR\">[Hoopes_Peregrine_Ember 2001, p. 112]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 454, "polity": { "id": 530, "name": "mx_monte_alban_5_a", "long_name": "Monte Alban V Early Postclassic", "start_year": 900, "end_year": 1099 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "An impressive 'amount and variety of public/institutional architecture [was] constructed between B.C. 300 and A.D. 800 in and around the Main Plaza at Monte Alban',§REF§Charles Spencer, pers. comm., January 2018.§REF§ while Gary Feinman suspects that 16th-century governance in the region may have been centred around palaces (i.e. elite residences, not exclusively administrative buildings). For this intermediate, Postclassic period, we do not have enough evidence to discern whether there were specialized government buildings." }, { "id": 455, "polity": { "id": 531, "name": "mx_monte_alban_5_b", "long_name": "Monte Alban V Late Postclassic", "start_year": 1101, "end_year": 1520 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "An impressive 'amount and variety of public/institutional architecture [was] constructed between B.C. 300 and A.D. 800 in and around the Main Plaza at Monte Alban',§REF§Charles Spencer, pers. comm., January 2018.§REF§ while Gary Feinman suspects that 16th-century governance in the region may have been centred around palaces (i.e. elite residences, not exclusively administrative buildings). For this intermediate, Postclassic period, we do not have enough evidence to discern whether there were specialized government buildings." }, { "id": 456, "polity": { "id": 206, "name": "dz_numidia", "long_name": "Numidia", "start_year": -220, "end_year": -46 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "present", "comment": null, "description": "\"Operating in the manner of Hellenistic kings, they founded capital cities, built monumental tombs, issued coinage, assembled armies\".§REF§(Klingshirn 2012, 29) Wlliam E Klingshirn. Cultural Geography. Mark Vessey. ed. 2012. A Companion to Augustine. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Chichester.§REF§ Mint building for coinage.;;" }, { "id": 457, "polity": { "id": 542, "name": "tr_ottoman_emp_4_copy", "long_name": "Yemen - Ottoman period", "start_year": 1873, "end_year": 1920 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "absent", "comment": null, "description": "Imamic notables and tribal shaykhs often governed from their homes: 'The 1970s marked a time of rapid \"institution building\", as political scientists put it. And, contrary to what the political rhetoric of the time would have us believe, such institutions were in fact erected on the earlier introduction of printing and the modern arts of government. But these institutions of the Republic did not as yet obscure just how limited bureaucratic development had been prior to 1962, the date of the overthrow of the Imamate, when even at the pinnacle of government the model of rule had been that of a dynastic house (daulah in Yemeni dialectal usage). Brothers, sons and cousins of the Imam served as ministers and commanders; foreign trade was essentially a family monopoly; the court, not the administrative department, was the site of Imamic legal judgment. True, the Imam's domestic space was grand: unlike the households of most other men it contained both slaves and servants. So too, the houses of powerful political figures might include an independent reception room, with an entrance separate from the house, known as mahkamah or hukuma, a place of judgment. In the later years of the Imamate, modernist jurists deplored the way justice was administered: judges, who were paid at best a scant salary, accepted monies directly from the litigants; court was held early in the day by the door of the judge's home and later in the afternoon in his reception rooms. If this was true of state office-holders, it was all the more so in the case of shaikhly government. A shaikh governed from his house.' §REF§Mundy, Martha 1995.\"Domestic Government: Kinship, Community and Polity in North Yemen\", 2p§REF§ Dresch mentions Turkish courts and garrisons, though: 'With the Turkish occupation (1872-1918), the dramatic events that historians record shift in part from the west and south into the tribes‘ own territory. The political reality was complex, and at most points up to 1918 the Turks found support from Yemenis, not least from certain northern shaykhs whose fortunes were bound up with the Turkish presence. The clerk of the San’a’ court learned Turkish. Many if the ‘ulama’ supported the Turks even when the Imam’s fight against them was at its height, and he ambiguities of resisting the Turkish Sultan, who himself was seen to be beset by Christendom, were usually marked. None the less there was sustained resistance in the north. Tribes and Imams fought the Turks repeatedly, and the dynasty of Imams emerged that was to rule Yemen until the 1960s.’ §REF§Dresch, Paul 1989. “Tribes, Government, and History in Yemen”, 219§REF§ We have assumed that most Yemenis had little to no access to these institutions." }, { "id": 458, "polity": { "id": 301, "name": "uz_shaybanid_k", "long_name": "Shaybanid Kingdom", "start_year": 1500, "end_year": 1598 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "present", "comment": "Mints. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Y5WAMMAL\">[webpage_Stephen Album Rare Coins - Specialists...]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 459, "polity": { "id": 237, "name": "ml_songhai_1", "long_name": "Songhai Empire", "start_year": 1376, "end_year": 1493 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "unknown", "comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT", "description": null }, { "id": 460, "polity": { "id": 259, "name": "cn_southern_qi_dyn", "long_name": "Southern Qi State", "start_year": 479, "end_year": 502 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "present", "comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT", "description": null }, { "id": 461, "polity": { "id": 380, "name": "th_sukhotai", "long_name": "Sukhotai", "start_year": 1238, "end_year": 1419 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Markeplace? \"Ramhamhaeng felt it necessary to emphasize the nature of the marketplace by combining foreign nomenclature with the Thai terminology, perhaps signifying that this permanent marketplace was something new in the Thai experience. Significantly, rooftiles have been recovered in the area identified as Sukhothai's marketplace.\"§REF§(Wicks 1992, 172) Robert S Wicks. Money, Markets, And Trade In Early Southeast Asia. The Development of Indigenous Monetary Systems To AD 1400. Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications.§REF§" }, { "id": 462, "polity": { "id": 217, "name": "dz_tahert", "long_name": "Tahert", "start_year": 761, "end_year": 909 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Prison. \"Life at Tahert was conducted in a perpetual state of religious fervor. The theocratic community enforced a high standard of social behavior by physical punishment and imprisonment.\"§REF§(Lapidus 2002, 302) Ira M Lapidus. 2002. A History of Islamic Societies. Second Edition. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.§REF§" }, { "id": 463, "polity": { "id": 271, "name": "ua_skythian_k_3", "long_name": "Third Scythian Kingdom", "start_year": -429, "end_year": -225 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "present", "comment": null, "description": "When the Scythians imposed direct rule on the Greek city of Olbian they likely ruled from permanent buildings.<br>\"Olbian coins with non-Greek names such as Arichos and Eminakos suggest that the Scythians replaced their Greek puppet tyrants and imposed their own administrators on the city.\"§REF§(Burstein 2010, 141) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.§REF§" }, { "id": 464, "polity": { "id": 230, "name": "dz_tlemcen", "long_name": "Tlemcen", "start_year": 1235, "end_year": 1554 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Well-developed bureaucracy§REF§(Bourn and Park 2016, 20) Aomar Bourn. Thomas K Park. 2016. Historical Dictionary of Morocco. Rowman & Littlefield. Lantham.§REF§ and minted its own coinage.§REF§Numismatic Fine Arts Inc. Numismatic Fine Arts, Inc. & Bank Leu AG Present an Unreserved Mail Bid and Public Auction Featuring the Garrett Collection: Ancient Roman (from Republic to Tetrarchy), Latin American, Far Eastern, Islamic, Indian, Canadian, Australian & African Coins. John Hopkins University.§REF§" }, { "id": 465, "polity": { "id": 276, "name": "cn_tuyuhun", "long_name": "Tuyuhun", "start_year": 300, "end_year": 663 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "present", "comment": null, "description": "\"Their administration was based on the Chinese model and made use of Chinese writing.\"§REF§(Pan 1997, 45) Yihong Pan. 1997. Son of Heaven and Heavenly Qaghan: Sui-Tang China and Its Neighbors. Western Washington University.§REF§" }, { "id": 466, "polity": { "id": 240, "name": "ma_wattasid_dyn", "long_name": "Wattasid", "start_year": 1465, "end_year": 1554 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Armory? \"The battle of Ma'mura in which a large Portuguese land and naval force was destroyed by Moroccan artillery and cavalry indicated to all that Morocco was modernizing its military as well.\"§REF§(Boum and Park 2016, 489) Aomar Boum. Thomas K Park. 2016. Historical Dictionary of Morocco. Rowman & Littlefield.§REF§ Government mints: \"Known Wattasid coins include a few extremely rare gold coins and also square silver dirhams and half dirhams, still following the Almohad standard of roughly 1.5 grams.\"§REF§(Syed, Akhtar and Usmani eds. 2011, 149) Muzaffar Husain Syed. Syed Saud Akhtar. B D Usmani. eds. 2011. Concise History of Islam. Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. New Delhi.§REF§" }, { "id": 467, "polity": { "id": 291, "name": "cn_xixia", "long_name": "Xixia", "start_year": 1032, "end_year": 1227 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Mints for coinage.§REF§(? 2002, 321) ?. 2002. The Numismatic Chronicle. Volume 162. Royal Numismatic Society.§REF§ \"Xixia, with a history of 190 years, had ten lords, a vast and stable territory and well-formulated institutions and laws.\"§REF§(? 2006, 178) ? 2006. China Tibetology. Issues 6-11. Office for the Journal China Tibetology.§REF§" }, { "id": 468, "polity": { "id": 279, "name": "kz_yueban", "long_name": "Yueban", "start_year": 350, "end_year": 450 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "The Yueban were part of northern Xiongnu, who inhabited in the upper Hi River during the fourth and fifth centuries.\"§REF§(Li and Hansen 2003, 63) Jian Li. Valerie Hansen. 2003. The glory of the silk road: art from ancient China. The Dayton Art Institute.§REF§ \"From limited references in the Beishi (Northern histories) and the Weishu (History of the Wei), we know that the Yueban had a well-developed kingdom, with a population of two hundred thousand that spanned thousands of kilometers, in the area north of Kucha.\"§REF§(Li and Hansen 2003, 63) Jian Li. Valerie Hansen. 2003. The glory of the silk road: art from ancient China. The Dayton Art Institute.§REF§" }, { "id": 469, "polity": { "id": 227, "name": "et_zagwe", "long_name": "Zagwe", "start_year": 1137, "end_year": 1269 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "\"The Zagwe dynasty produced no coinage, inscriptions, or apparently even chronicles.\"§REF§(Shinn and Ofcansky 2013, 433) David H Shinn. Thomas P Ofcansky. 2013. Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia. 2nd Edition. Scarecrow Press. Lanham.§REF§ \"The Amharic language developed as a court language during the Zagwe period. Several books were also translated into the Geez language. There are also Geez engravings in the walls of the churches of Lalibela.\"§REF§(Getahun and Kassu 2014, 9) Solomon Addis Getahun. Wudu Tafete Kassu. 2014. Culture and Customs of Ethiopia. ABC-CLIO. Santa Barbara.§REF§" }, { "id": 470, "polity": { "id": 222, "name": "tn_zirid_dyn", "long_name": "Zirids", "start_year": 973, "end_year": 1148 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Government mints: \"Even the Zirid coinage, which was probably issued from the former Fatimid mints and tooled by the same craftsmen, sustained a standard (96.5 percent of purity) higher than that of their successors.\"§REF§Gustave E von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies. Jusur. Volume 2. University of California. p.13§REF§" }, { "id": 471, "polity": { "id": 586, "name": "gb_england_norman", "long_name": "Norman England", "start_year": 1066, "end_year": 1153 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "present", "comment": "Royal Treasury and Administrative Centers:<br>\r\n\r\nWinchester Treasury:\r\nWinchester served as the financial hub of Norman England. The royal treasury was located here, storing taxes, revenues, and royal documents.\r\nSpecialized features included storage for coins, charters, and records.<br>\r\nChancery Offices:<br>\r\n\r\nThe chancery was responsible for producing royal charters and writs. While it was a mobile institution tied to the king's court, it often operated out of permanent locations like Winchester or Westminster. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JISXN2HM\">[Carpenter 2003]</a>", "description": "" }, { "id": 472, "polity": { "id": 798, "name": "de_east_francia", "long_name": "East Francia", "start_year": 842, "end_year": 919 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "absent", "comment": "The governance of East Francia relied heavily on a feudal and decentralized administrative system, with no evidence of specialized government buildings distinct from other types of structures. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7SHDPVIS\">[Reuter 1991]</a>", "description": "" }, { "id": 473, "polity": { "id": 177, "name": "tr_ottoman_emp_4", "long_name": "Ottoman Empire IV", "start_year": 1839, "end_year": 1922 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "present", "comment": "Bab-ı Ali (Sublime Porte): Bâbıâli, which became the real centre of government. There, too, were the offices of the foreign ministry and the council of state. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/EJWAAJIW\">[webpage_Sublime Porte | Ottoman Empire,...]</a>", "description": "" }, { "id": 474, "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": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "uncoded", "comment": null, "description": "In villages, drum towers served as gathering places for the discussion of communal affairs: 'Whenever there is an emergency that requires a public meeting, the drum tower keeper, also known as messenger (or footman, who receives as remuneration from the village 1,000 catties of grain a year), would climb up the wooden pillar to beat the drum at the top, crying loudly at the same time. The tempo and the number of the beats vary according to a fixed set of rules. The “tum, tum” beats can be heard within a radius of many li. The first drum beat signifies a call for a meeting for some important affair, and upon hearing it, the villagers would abandon their work to listen attentively. The second drum beat is an urgent call to gather together at the drum tower, and the third drum beat is a signal for the meeting to start. Ordinarily, after the third beat each family would have without fail a representative at the drum tower. At the meeting the old people would have the floor first to state the facts and express their opinions. Then they huddle up to discuss the matter and reach a decision, after which they turn around to ask the young people whether or not they agree. In general, though policy decision is made by the elders, its execution is undertaken by the young, and therefore the approval of the latter is necessary. At the meeting they squat around helter-skelter, seemingly confused and without any procedure, but the spirit animating the meeting has a special merit. They have complete freedom of speech, anyone being able to express his opinion to his heart's content. The young as a rule have high respects for the old, and recognizing the latter's extensive knowledge, they are willing to leave all the decisions to the elders without offering any opinion of their own. They believe that they are only good for carrying out the decisions. So on all important affairs the old people express their ideas, and when approved by the young, the work is distributed and assigned for action without delay.' §REF§Che-lin, Wu, Chen Kuo-chün, and Lien-en Tsao 1942. “Studies Of Miao-I Societies In Kweichow”, 108§REF§ The Chinese administration established a bureaucratic infrastructure in the 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 contryside, 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§ Given the participation of Hmong petty officials in the military bureaucracy, we have provisionally decided to the variable 'present', as these officials probably would have had some access to Chinese garrisons and the like. Expert feedback is needed on the matter." }, { "id": 475, "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": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "uncoded", "comment": "Qing agricultural and military schools were introduced in the Late Qing period.", "description": null }, { "id": 476, "polity": { "id": 47, "name": "id_kalingga_k", "long_name": "Kalingga Kingdom", "start_year": 500, "end_year": 732 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "uncoded", "comment": "unknown.", "description": null }, { "id": 477, "polity": { "id": 112, "name": "in_achik_2", "long_name": "Late A'chik", "start_year": 1867, "end_year": 1956 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "uncoded", "comment": null, "description": "Formalization was largely absent from village councils and trials: ‘The Rules require the village court to “try all suits and cases in accordance with the customary laws of the village.” Village courts are supposed to be non-professional bodies and decide [minor, village-level] cases in an informal atmosphere without procedural technicalities and formalities.’ §REF§Marak, Julius 1995. “Garo Customary Laws And The Application Of General Laws In Garo Hills”, 64§REF§ ‘The Garo system of trial of cases begins with earth-taking. The complainant and the accused both swear by taking a lump of soil in their hands in front of the gathering with a promise that they will state the truth and nothing but the truth. It is believed by some Garos that this is the origin of the word “A’chik”, others believed that they have been called the A’chiks as they inhabited the high undulating land.’ §REF§Sangma, Mihir N. 1995. “Garos: The Name, Meanings, And Its Origin”, 38§REF§ No specialized government buildings were associated with villages: ‘Among the Garos most disputes arise over the issues of property, inheritance, and domestic quarrels within the family. Such problems are to a large extent settled by the MAHARI (lineage) of the offended and the offender. A new situation develops when someone's cattle cause damage to another's crops. Under such situation the NOKMA (village headman) acts as an intermediary only. If he fails to settle the dispute, the matter can go to the civil court of the district council.’ §REF§Roy, Sankar Kumar: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Garo§REF§ ‘Many of the disputes of the Garos decided in their village Panchayats. When a man has some complaints against another he reports them to the Nokma or the village-head. If the nature of the complaints is simple, the Nokma in a meeting of the few leading persons of the village, decides the dispute; but if the nature of the complaints is complicated and not easy of solution the Nokma reports the matter to the Laskar. The Laskar is a very important and influential man in the Garo Hills District. The hills areas are divided into some elekas and each of such elekas is placed under a Laskar for convenient collection of the house tax as well as for deciding the disputes of small nature locally. The Laskar need not essentially be a literate man, worldly prudence is enough for the management of his eleka. In practice a Laskar wields immense influence in his eleka.’ §REF§Choudhury, Bhupendranath 1958. “Some Cultural And Linguistic Aspects Of The Garos”, 40§REF§ ‘The laskar had his jurisdiction over many villages and was the agent of the British Administration. This system still continues at the district level. The laskar used to bring the cases to the subordinate District Council Court from the Village Court. From the District Council Court the appeals could be preferred to the High Court at Gauhati.’ §REF§Marak, Kumie R. 1997. “Traditions And Modernity In Matrilineal Tribal Society”, 42§REF§ But formal courts were established in the district capital during the colonial period: ‘The cases which are brought to the courts are serious and quite entangled ones, otherwise these could be decided amicably at the mahari or chra level in the village. When one does have a dispute involving an alien village, one does not get any support from any member of that village since they do not belong to the same clan. The village authority decides the case and gives judgement according to the customary law.’ §REF§Marak, Kumie R. 1997. “Traditions And Modernity In Matrilineal Tribal Society”, 164§REF§ ‘When the Britishers took over the administration of this district, one witnessed an imposition of hierarchy of new political and administrative units in the district over the traditional democratic village set-up. The British Government, being actuated with the desire to have effective control over the villages and to facilitate the collection of revenues and house tax introduced the office of laskar with limited police, civil and criminal powers. Accordingly there was a laskar over a circle of villages; each having jurisdiction covering ten or twelve of villages. Although, the villagers were left to settle all disputes through the nokma and the village courts, they had right to appeal to the court of laskars against the decisions of the village councils.’ §REF§Marak, Kumie R. 1997. “Traditions And Modernity In Matrilineal Tribal Society”, 52§REF§ ‘The judicial officers (who preside over those courts) are appointed by, or with the approval of the Governor. The rules as to administration of justice do not contain specific provisions as to their tenure and salary, or as to their full time or part time character. But most of these matters will be regulated as rules or orders issued under Rule 15 of the Assam Autonomous Districts (Constitution of District Councils) Rules, 1951. It may be of interest to note that there is a specific prohibition against a member of the Executive Committee being appointed to these courts. To this extent, their independence is protected. A legal practitioner can appear before these courts. But in cases where an accused is not arrested, the legal practitioner takes the permission of the District Council Court for such appearance.’ §REF§Marak, Kumie R. 1997. “Traditions And Modernity In Matrilineal Tribal Society”, 62§REF§ [There were some government buildings, in Tura, the headquarter's town of the Garo Hills, but precious few anywhere else, as far as I know.] Native villagers accessed town courts for cases that could not be resolved on the local level." }, { "id": 478, "polity": { "id": 420, "name": "cn_longshan", "long_name": "Longshan", "start_year": -3000, "end_year": -1900 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "uncoded", "comment": "Unknown.", "description": null }, { "id": 479, "polity": { "id": 80, "name": "pe_wari_emp", "long_name": "Wari Empire", "start_year": 650, "end_year": 999 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Specialized_government_building", "specialized_government_building": "uncoded", "comment": "\"Standardized state architecture.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TDZLK4KC\">[Covey 2006, p. 56]</a>", "description": null } ] }