| # | Polity | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | Edit | Desc |
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Aachen was the capital city for the full period.
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“Royal palace construction for all subsequent kings of the seventeenth century, however, was limited to Abomey. This supports the argument that, like Allada and Hueda, administrative control in Dahomey was largely limited to the capital at this time.”
[1]
“Cana played a central political role in Dahomey throughout its history. This town may have been the center of political authority on the plateau prior to the arrival of the Fon dynasty. Under Dahomey, Cana was widely cited as the usual residence of the king. Dalzel claimed, for example, that he resided there year round and only left for Abomey when the Xwetanu approached.83 This led some to consider Cana the country capital of the kingdom. Each minister had a residence at Cana, permitting the entire administration to be available to the king at any given time. Cana was also a centrally important site of interaction between Dahomey and the Oyo Empire for much of the eighteenth century, and Oyo maintained an ambassador there in this period.”
[2]
[1]: Monroe, J. C. (2007). Continuity, Revolution or Evolution on the Slave Coast of West Africa? Royal Architecture and Political Order in Precolonial Dahomey. The Journal of African History, 48(3), 349–373; 357. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ASTPFKNP/collection [2]: Monroe, J. C. (2007). Continuity, Revolution or Evolution on the Slave Coast of West Africa? Royal Architecture and Political Order in Precolonial Dahomey. The Journal of African History, 48(3), 349–373: 366–367. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ASTPFKNP/collection |
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No single capital in Upper Egypt. There were important provincial centres which vied for control, until a monarchy based at Thebes was established in the 11th Dynasty.
[1]
In lower Egypt the Herakleopolitan Kingdom had its capital at Herakleopolis Magna (in northern Middle Egypt near the Faiyyum), but the "Herakeopolitans never had control over southern Upper Egypt." [1] [1]: (Seidlmayer 2003) |
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During Naqada III, Naqada settlements lost their significance, probably when its polity was annexed by This or Hierakonpolis polity.
[1]
Hierakonpolis There is no agreement which of the two remained towns was the capital of the growing and at the end united Upper Egyptian state. Perhaps Hierakonpolis, because of its monumental architecture and the Main Deposit among which the Narmer Palette and King Scorpion macehead were found [2] [3] This Some believe This was the first capital because the kings of Dynasty 0 were buried at its cemetery and the fact that the This was a capital of Early Dynastic Egypt [4] [5] [6] Abydos "’The size of the graves discovered in the cemetery is larger in some instances than royal graves in Abydos dating back to the First Dynasty, which proves the importance of the people buried there and their high social standing during this early era of ancient Egyptian history,’ he [Antiquities Minister Mahmoud Afifi] added. Experts hope evidence may help prove their theory that Abydos was Egypt’s capital in the pre-dynastic and early dynastic periods." [7] [1]: Savage, S. H. "Some Recent Trends in the Archaeology of Predynastic Egypt". Journal of Archaeological Research 9/2 (2001): 129 [2]: Friedman, R. 2011. "Hierakonpolis". [in:] Before the Pyramids. The Origins of Egyptian Cyvilization. Teeter, E.[ed.]. Chicago: The Oriental Instytute of the University of Chicago. pg: 33. [3]: Adams, B. 1987. The Fort Cemetery at Hierakonpolis: Excavated by John Garstang. London-New York: KPI. pg: 179. [4]: Köhler, E. C. 2011. "The Rise of the Egyptian State" The Origins of Egyptian Cyvilization. Teeter, E.[ed.]. Chicago: The Oriental Instytute of the University of Chicago. pg: 125. [5]: Savage, S. H. "Some Recent Trends in the Archaeology of Predynastic Egypt". Journal of Archaeological Research 9/2 (2001): 128 [6]: Trigger, B. G. 2008. "The rise of civilization in Egypt". [in:] Clark J. D. [ed.]. The Cambridge History of Africa Vol. 1: From the Earliest Times to c. 500 BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pg: 526. [7]: Archaeologists find previously undiscovered Ancient Egyptian city Page accessed: 24 November, 2016 http://www.dw.com/en/archaeologists-find-previously-undiscovered-ancient-egyptian-city/a-36499226 |
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Sogut: 1299-1325 CE; Bursa: 1326-1364 CE; Adrianople: 1364-1413 CE.
[1]
[2]
[3]
Residence in Bursa maybe right after conquest in 1326.
[4]
In Ottoman tradition, first Ottoman, Osman had a base at Karajahisar (Malagina in Sakarya valley) in the palace of an old Bishopric. In 1387 CE the Genovese concluded a royal treaty at Malagina. However, Bursa was the capital under Orhan right after 1326 CE. [5] Murad I had a palace built at Edrine. [6] [2]: (Palmer 1992) [3]: (Davidson 2011, 122) [4]: Personal communication. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller. 2016. Institute for Medieval Research. Division of Byzantine Research. Austrian Academy of Sciences. [5]: (Imber 2002, 144) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. [6]: (Imber 2002, 143) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. |
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[1]
[2]
[3]
Adrianople: 1413-1453 CE; Constantinople: 1453-1718 CE
Murad II’s (1421-1451 CE) capital was Edrine. [4] Murad II had a second palace built at Edrine. [5] [2]: (Palmer 1992) [3]: (Davidson 2011, 122) [4]: (Imber 2002, 143) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. [5]: (Imber 2002, 145) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. |
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“Around the mid-1650s, Afgoy became the site of the Geledi Sultanate, composed of a confederation of the Shanta, Aleemo, Garre, Wa’daan, Moobleen, Hubeer and Hintire clans.”
[1]
[1]: (Mukhtar 2003, 28) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2003. Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Mukhtar/titleCreatorYear/items/J8WZB6VI/item-list |
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"The Achaemenids found in Sogdiana an urban civilization. Along two divergent canals fed by the Zarafshan, the proto-Dargom and the Bulungur, two gigantic sites, Afrasiab-Samarkand and Kök Tepe - each covering more than two hundred hectares - were occupied from the 8th or 7th century before our era.2 The valley of the Zarafshan had already known an earlier urban phase at the site of Sarazm, a small distance upstream from Samarkand, but this phase had ended a millenium before.3 Kök Tepe declined rapidly, but Samarkand became for two millenia the greatest city of Sogdiana, and, with Merv and Bactra, one of the very great cities of western Central Asia."
[1]
[1]: (De la Vaissière 2005, 17) |
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"The Achaemenids found in Sogdiana an urban civilization. Along two divergent canals fed by the Zarafshan, the proto-Dargom and the Bulungur, two gigantic sites, Afrasiab-Samarkand and Kok Tepe — each covering more than two hundred hectares — were occupied from the 8th or 7th century before our era. The valley of the Zarafshan had already known an earlier urban phase at the site of Sarazm, a small distance upstream from Samarkand, but this phase had ended a millenium before. Kok Tepe declined rapidly, but Samarkand became for two millennia the greatest city of Sogdiana, and, with Merv and Bactra, one of the very great cities of western Central Asia."
[1]
[1]: (De la Vaissière 2005, 17) |
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The exact location of this site is still unknown
[1]
[2]
"Akkad was named after its capital city, Agade, built around 2335 B.C.E. by Akkad’s first king, Sargon of Akkad (r. ca. 2334-2279 B.C.E.)."
[3]
location of Akkadian capital not identified.
[4]
Agade.
[5]
[1]: Hamblin 2006, 73 [2]: Wall-Romana 1990, 205-245 [3]: (Middleton 2015, 21) Middleton, John. 2015. World Monarchies and Dynasties. Routledge. [4]: (Leverani 2014, 139) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. [5]: (Foster 2016, 14) Foster, Benjamin R. 2016. The Age of Agade. Inventing Empire In Ancient Mesopotamia. Routledge. London. |
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Agra: 1526-1571 CE; Fatehpur Sikri: 1571-1585 CE; Lahore: 1585 CE-1598 CE; Agra: 1598-1648 CE; [Shahjahanabad; Delhi]: 1648-1857 CE dates cannot yet be machine read.
Akbar changed the royal capital of his empire four times during his rule (Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Lahore, Agra) reflecting his "changing strategic foci." [1] [2] Shah Jahan built a new capital in Delhi "Shahjahanabad". This remained the Mughals’ capital for the rest of the dynasty. [3] [1]: Richards, John F. (March 18, 1993). Johnson, Gordon [2]: Bayly, C. A., eds. The Mughal Empire. The New Cambridge history of India: 1.5. I. The Mughals and their Contemporaries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1995), p.12. [3]: Stein, Burton, A History of India (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), p.176. |
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Agra: 1526-1571 CE; Fatehpur Sikri: 1571-1585 CE; Lahore: 1585 CE-1598 CE; Agra: 1598-1648 CE; [Shahjahanabad; Delhi]: 1648-1857 CE dates cannot yet be machine read.
Akbar changed the royal capital of his empire four times during his rule (Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Lahore, Agra) reflecting his "changing strategic foci." [1] [2] Shah Jahan built a new capital in Delhi "Shahjahanabad". This remained the Mughals’ capital for the rest of the dynasty. [3] [1]: Richards, John F. (March 18, 1993). Johnson, Gordon [2]: Bayly, C. A., eds. The Mughal Empire. The New Cambridge history of India: 1.5. I. The Mughals and their Contemporaries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1995), p.12. [3]: Stein, Burton, A History of India (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), p.176. |
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In order to rule his vast empire from a more central capital, Muhammad Tughluq built a new one at Daulatabad, the old Yadava capital at Devairi. After shifting to Daulatabad Muhammad Tughluq lost his control over North India without being able to consolidate his hold on the South. When he finally returned to Delhi this was taken as a sign of weakness and independent states arose in the South.
[1]
. Sikander, the Lodi Sultan, built a new capital at Agra.
[2]
Sikandar (1489 CE -1517 CE) moved the capital down the Yamuna river, from Delhi to Agra, so that he could better watch his outlying dependencies. [3] [1]: Kulke, H., & Rothermund, D. (1990). A History of India (Revised, Updated Edition), pp. 165-166 [2]: Kulke, H., & Rothermund, D. (1990). A History of India (Revised, Updated Edition), pp. 167. [3]: McLeod, J. (2002). The history of India (Vol. 1096, No. 2905). Greenwood Publishing Group, pp. 39. |
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Aachen was the capital city for the full period.
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Aksum was likely the political centre of Ethiopia at this time, "the coastal plain of Eritrea is only about 40-60 km wide and is largely unsuitable for agriculture".
[1]
City of Aksum was perhaps initially a principality then became the capital province of a fuedal kingdom.
[2]
According to Phillipson (1985: 160) "By the first century AD Aksum, some fifty km south west of Yeha, developed as the capital of an extensive state, in which there was a fusion of indigenous Ethiopian and South Arabian cultural elements."
[3]
Language [1]: (Hatke 2013) George Hatke. 2013. Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political Fictions in Ancient Northeast Africa (Institute for the Study of the Ancient World). New York University Press. [2]: (Kobishanov 1981, 383) Y M. Kobishanov. Aksum: political system, economics and culture, first to fourth century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California. [3]: (Ricard 2004, 16) Alain Ricard. The Languages & Literatures of Africa: The Sands of Babel. James Currey Publishers. Oxford. |
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"Shortly after [mid-14th BCE], when Middle Elamite sources reappear, we find a completely different situation from the period of the sukkal-mah. Susa ceased to be the political centre of Elam. The seat of power moved further inland, beyond the mountains, in Anshan (modern Fars). Consequently, Middle Elamite kings began to use the title of ’king of Anshan and Susa.’"
[1]
Which period does this quote refer to?: "The kings used two capitals: one in the lowland city of present Dizful and the other in Susa"
[2]
"Reacting against Mesopotamian cultural influence, an Elamite dynasty of the fourteenth century restored Anshan (henceforth called Anzan in inscriptions) to a kind of theoretical preeminence. Around 1340, with a view to assuring the cohesion of his empire, Untash-Napirisha, the fifth king of the dynasty, founded a new royal center that later bore his name, Al Untash-Napirisha (modern Chogha Zanbil), twenty-five miles southeast of Susa ... This new foundation ... was built around a great national temple complex called the siyan-kuk, or ’holy place.’ Originally the complex, dedicated solely to the patron god of Susa, Inshushinak, consisted essentially of a building resembling a secular caravanserai, with an open court surrounded by rooms, and containing two small sanctuaries. Cult ceremonies probably took place in the courtyard in the open air, as had been the custom in the high places of the mountain peoples outside the great urban centers." [3] [1]: (Leverani 2014, 376) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. [2]: (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. [3]: (Amiet, Chevalier and Carter 1992, 9) Amiet, Pierre. Chevalier, Nicole. Carter, Elizabeth. in Harper, Prudence O. Aruz, Joan. Tallon, Francoise. eds. 1992. The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre. Metropolitan Museum of Art. |
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Mahdia: 921-948 CE; Al-Mansuriya: 948-975 CE; Cairo: 975-1171 CE
Capital city, al-Qahira (Cairo) founded in 969 CE [1] Caliph al-Muizz moved from Tunisia to Cairo in 973 CE. Cairo built to replace the former Egyptian capital al-Fustat with the intention for it to be more glorious than Baghdad. [2] Jawhar nor al-Mu’izz "had any great interest in creating an imperial capital in Egypt. The credit for that move should be given to al-Mu’izz’s son and successor, under whose rule the Egyptian capital would rapidly emerge as a brilliant centre of the arts and learning. Prince Nazir, who took the name al-Aziz B’illah, ’Mighty by God’, upon his ascension in 975, publically announced his succession by riding out to offer the prayer for the Feast of the Sacrifice under the mizalla, a parasol shaped like a bejewelled shield hung from the point of a lance held by a courtier. No Fatimid caliph is know to have previously used one, and it seems likely that the Fatimid mizalla was synonymous with and ultimately derived from the shamsa or shamsiyya used earlier by the Abbasid caliphs as a symbol of authority." [3] Fustat remained Egypt’s economic and administrative centre. [1]: (Lapidus 2012, 241) [2]: (Oliver 1977, 10) [3]: (Bloom 2007, 110) Bennison A K, Gascoigne A L eds. 2007. Cities in the Pre-Modern Islamic World: The Urban Impact of Religion, State and Society. Routledge. |
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{Kufa: 750-762 CE; Baghdad: 762-833 CE; Al-Raqqah: 796-809 CE; Samarra: 833-893 CE; Baghdad 833-946 CE}
[1]
. Samarra was the military and administrative headquarters of the Caliphate 836-870 CE.
[2]
Merv was the capital of the caliphate from 810-819 CE.
[3]
Both Baghdad and Samarra were purpose built cities. [1]: Lapidus, Ira A., History of Islamic Society 2nd edition(Cambridge, 2002) [2]: (Lapidus 2012, 106) [3]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
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Alexandria. There was also a southern capital for the administration of Upper Egypt, including Red Sea trade, at Ptolemais.
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Alexandria. There was also a southern capital for the administration of Upper Egypt, including Red Sea trade, at Ptolemais.
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“By the mid-15th century, the population of Allada had reached approximately 30,000 people. It seems likely that the collection of small settlements up to this time organized themselves politically along decentralized lines, meaning that they ruled by consensus rather than granting sovereignty to a leader or king. Demographic growth, however, likely necessitated a transition to political centralization. Legends suggest that three brothers who had descended from people in what is now the city of Allada split the region into three parts and administered rule as kings. The first, Kokpon, remained in the capital city and became the ruler of the Allada kingdom.”
[1]
“At its political and economic peak in the 16th and 17th centuries, the coastal kingdom of Allada stretched from the port of Offra – now the suburb of Godomey in the current Republic of Benin’s commercial capital of Cotonou – approximately 50 miles north into the hinterland beyond its capital city, also known as Allada.”
[2]
Grand Ardra seems to be an alternative name for Allada city: “By the mid-16th century, however, the Portuguese were actively trading at Allada’s capital, Grand Ardra. Grand Ardra was a city of considerable size, home to approximately 30,000 people; Allada as a whole had a population upwards of 200,000. Dutch physician Olfert Dapper wrote in his Description of Africa in 1668 of the presence of "towns and villages in great number" in Grand Ardra’s countryside. Over the course of the 17th century, Allada emerged as the paramount kingdom in the region, exacting regular tribute from its neighbors and legitimizing these tributary relationships through various ritual obligations.”
[3]
[1]: Aderinto, Saheed. African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations. ABC-CLIO, 2017: 8. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/EB5TWDG7/collection [2]: Aderinto, Saheed. African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations. ABC- CLIO, 2017: 7. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/EB5TWDG7/collection [3]: Monroe, J. Cameron. “Urbanism on West Africa’s Slave Coast: Archaeology Sheds New Light on Cities in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade.” American Scientist, vol. 99, no. 5, 2011, pp. 400–09: 402. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/E5WA63Z2/collection |
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“In the 18th century, the nascent Geledi Sultanate ruled over a confederacy of all the Digil clans and their harifa (allies) in Afgoy, while the Majerteen boqors (‘sultans’) established protostates among the Darood at Alula and, later, among the Darood and Hawiye at Hobyo.”
[1]
[1]: (Mukhtar 2003, 3) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2003. Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Mukhtar/titleCreatorYear/items/J8WZB6VI/item-list |
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Timur gave the city of Amed to the Ak Koyunlu "which was to be their capital for almost seventy years."
[1]
"At Aleppo, the Aqquyunlu so distinguished themselves in battle that Timur allegedly rewarded Ibrahim, Qara ’Usman’s eldest son, with the city of Amid, held by Timur since its capture from al-Zahir ’Isa~Artuqi in 1394/796. This is the first reference to Aqquyunlu control of that city, which remained capital of the Principality until Uzun Hasan’s conquests of 1467-69/872-74, when it was replaced by Tabriz."
[2]
"summer pastures (yeylāq) in Armenia around Sinir, east of Bayburt, and winter pastures (qešlāq) around Kiḡi, Palu, and Ergani in Dīār Bakr."
[1]
[1]: (Quiring-Zoche 2011) Quiring-Zoche, R. 2011. Aq Qoyunlu. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aq-qoyunlu-confederation [2]: (Woods 1998, 41) |
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Bonga became the capital under the Bongatato monarch of Kafa who reigned from 1565 CE- 1605 CE. Bonga stayed an important capital till the end of the Kingdom of Kaffa in 1897 CE. “This king ‘contracted’ the Bonga region from the Mato clan and made it the capital of the Minjo clan. He rewarded the Mato by making their king a member of the king’s council (mikrecho).”
[1]
“There were a series of court officials in Bonga and Anderacha, the two capitals of the Kafa Kings.”
[2]
[1]: (Orent 1970, 269) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection [2]: (Orent 1970, 282-283) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection |
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Angkor abandoned in the 1430s and capital moved to the Phnom Penh area.
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’We know little of the history of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and the Khmer chronicles are primarily eighteenth- and nineteenth-century court documents created in the eastern Khmer capitals, in particular Phnom Phenh, with a specific political agenda in mind.’
[1]
’Angkor was the vast low-density capital of the Khmer Kingdom, from the early 9th to the mid-14th/15th centuries of the Common Era (CE). At its peak, Angkor sprawled over nearly 1000 km2 [1] and may have housed more than three quarters of a million people [2,3]. The primary administrative centre in a kingdom that dominated most of mainland Southeast Asia by the 11th century CE, Angkor was the largest preindustrial city on Earth and remains the world’s largest archaeological site. The Angkor period is commonly understood to start in 802 CE with the proclamation of Jayavarman II as the chakravartin (universal-king) from a location in the Kulen mountains (Phnom Kulen), overlooking the vast alluvial plain where Angkor would begin to emerge in the following centuries (Figure 1). In doing so, Jayavarman confirmed himself as the great unifier; drawing Cambodia’s disparate polities together under the first ‘god king’ and establishing the Khmer state and the basis of its empire. Phnom Kulen was known as Mahendraparvata; ‘‘the hill of the great Indra’’. The extant history of Mahendraparvata is based on several inscriptions, the most well-known being an 11th century CE inscription (K.235) found at the Sdok Kak Thom temple, in eastern Thailand [4]. The inscription, dated to 1052 CE, outlines the lineage of a private family serving successive Khmer Kings for two and a half centuries, the first mentioned being Jayavarman II.’
[2]
’With the fading of the ANGKOR era, Cambodia shifts capitals south to Lovek, then to Udong, and finally to PHNOM PENH.This period also sees the waning of HINDUISM and the rise of THERAVADA BUDDHISM.’
[3]
’944 Rajendravarman II returns the capital to Angkor. The name “Angkor,” from the Sanskrit word for “city,” was given to the capital only in the 16th century. Temple inscriptions during imperial times call it Yashodharapura, “glory—bearing city.”’
[4]
’The Khmer pronunciation of Sanskrit negara, signifying capital of a kingdom. The ancient Khmer capital now known as Angkor was originally called Yasodharapura after Yasovarman, the ruler who moved the capital there in 889.’
[5]
’Here are the most salient traits of the Post-Classic: [...] The capital in various locations between the Great Lake and the Delta.’
[6]
’But in the face of attacks from both Ayutthaya and the Cham, Suryavarman decided to retreat from the old site of Angkor and to move the capital to the area of Phnom Penh. After the fall of Cam- bodia, missions continued to arrive in China, in 1435, 1436, 1452, and 1499, indicating that the kingdom was still sufficiently integrated to be able to conduct foreign relations. The Angkor period, however, had come to an end.’
[7]
’First and most dramatic, Angkor’s empire fell apart. During the second quarter of the 13th century Angkorian forces were withdrawn from Champa. By mid-century most of the peninsula, areas west of the Chaophraya river, and northern Thailand had broken away, to be followed shortly by Lopburi and other states in the Chaophraya plain. By 1297 Angkor was defending against Tai attacks from the west. After new Tai pressure forced what some his- torians claim was a temporary withdrawal from Angkor during the mid- to late 14th century (various dates between 1350 and 1389 have been proposed), Khmer rulers may have abandoned the great capital in the 1430s or 1440s in favor of Phnom Penh in the southeast. It is equally plausible that Angkor was never actually abandoned, but that a more powerful royal lineage established itself at Phnom Penh in ri- valry with the old Angkorian family.78 In either case, the 14th century enfeebled central power. Thus Angkor’s disintegration began some- what earlier but overlapped substantially with that of the Upper Burma state, whose problems began in the 1280s, which suffered a major military-political crisis in the 1360s, and which also limped along into the 15th century.’
[8]
’In a belated effort to woo Chinese trade, between 1371 and 1419 Angkor sent more tribute missions to China than in the previous 500 years, but the subsequent effective transfer of the capital to the more commercially viable site of Phnom Penh marked the eclipse of pro-Angkor elements within the Khmer elite.87’
[9]
’The pioneer was a Dominican name d Gaspar da Cruz, who arrived in 1555 at the court of King Ang Chan -one of Post-Classic Cambodia’s greatest rulers-in the then capital, Lovek.’,
[10]
’The initial move seems to have been to Srei Santhor, about 30 km (19 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh, at some time in the fourteenth century; then, briefly, to Phnom Penh itself. By about 1528, the Cambodian court under its first great Post-Angkorian king, Ang Chan I, had moved once and for all to the all to the Quatre Bras region, establishing a new capital at Lovek (Longvek), on the right bank of the Tonle Sap River, 50 km (30 miles) north of Phnom Penh. Love, like Udong and Phnom Penh- the town s that succeeded it as the capital- was thoroughly international, with foreign quarters for Malay, Japanese, and Chinese traders (there were as many as 3,000 of the last in the 1540s). There Ang Chan (who really did exist) built a golden palace and at least four major wats, erecting a huge, four-faced Buddha of wood, the stone foundation of which survive in one of the town’s vicars. The capital was fortified by earthen ramparts topped with palisades; these ramparts, which form a huge rectangle, are still visible.’
[11]
[1]: (Fletcher 2012, p.313) [2]: (Penny et al 2014, p. e84252) [3]: (Ooi and Barnhill 2004, p. 1496) [4]: (National Geographic 2009) [5]: (Miksic 2007, pp. 17-18) [6]: (Coe 2003, p. 195) [7]: (Miksic 2007, p. 84) [8]: (Lieberman 2003, pp. 236-237) [9]: (Lieberman 2003, p. 240) [10]: (Coe 2003, p. 201) [11]: (Coe 2003, pp. 208-209) |
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"Shortly after [mid-14th BCE], when Middle Elamite sources reappear, we find a completely different situation from the period of the sukkal-mah. Susa ceased to be the political centre of Elam. The seat of power moved further inland, beyond the mountains, in Anshan (modern Fars). Consequently, Middle Elamite kings began to use the title of ’king of Anshan and Susa.’"
[1]
Which period does this quote refer to?: "The kings used two capitals: one in the lowland city of present Dizful and the other in Susa"
[2]
"Reacting against Mesopotamian cultural influence, an Elamite dynasty of the fourteenth century restored Anshan (henceforth called Anzan in inscriptions) to a kind of theoretical preeminence. Around 1340, with a view to assuring the cohesion of his empire, Untash-Napirisha, the fifth king of the dynasty, founded a new royal center that later bore his name, Al Untash-Napirisha (modern Chogha Zanbil), twenty-five miles southeast of Susa ... This new foundation ... was built around a great national temple complex called the siyan-kuk, or ’holy place.’ Originally the complex, dedicated solely to the patron god of Susa, Inshushinak, consisted essentially of a building resembling a secular caravanserai, with an open court surrounded by rooms, and containing two small sanctuaries. Cult ceremonies probably took place in the courtyard in the open air, as had been the custom in the high places of the mountain peoples outside the great urban centers." [3] [1]: (Leverani 2014, 376) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. [2]: (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. [3]: (Amiet, Chevalier and Carter 1992, 9) Amiet, Pierre. Chevalier, Nicole. Carter, Elizabeth. in Harper, Prudence O. Aruz, Joan. Tallon, Francoise. eds. 1992. The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre. Metropolitan Museum of Art. |
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“The ancient city of Anuraduapura was the capital of Sri Lanka for over a millennium; its massive stupas rising over the jungle, its gigantic reservoirs turning an arid land green and its Kings and Queens ruling over the island of Sri Lanka.”
[1]
“Until the end of the 10th century, when its pre-eminence was eclipsed by the rise of Polonnaruva, successful rebels always continued to rule from Anur dhapura, and it is correct to maintain that for more than a millennium this fortified city represented the power of the state.”
[2]
[1]: (Strickland 2017, 1) Strickland, Keir Magalie. 2017. A Time of Change: Questioning the Collapse of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, Oxford: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4B8362A9/collection [2]: (Gunawardana 1989, 158). Gunawardana, R.A.L.H. 1989. ‘Anurādhapura: ritual, power and resistance in a precolonial South Asian city’. Domination and Resistance edited by Daniel Miller, Michael Rowlands, Chris Tilley. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/G8CWKJ2U/collection Language |
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“The ancient city of Anuraduapura was the capital of Sri Lanka for over a millennium; its massive stupas rising over the jungle, its gigantic reservoirs turning an arid land green and its Kings and Queens ruling over the island of Sri Lanka.”
[1]
“Until the end of the 10th century, when its pre-eminence was eclipsed by the rise of Polonnaruva, successful rebels always continued to rule from Anur dhapura, and it is correct to maintain that for more than a millennium this fortified city represented the power of the state.”
[2]
[1]: (Strickland 2017, 1) Strickland, Keir Magalie. 2017. A Time of Change: Questioning the Collapse of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, Oxford: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4B8362A9/collection [2]: (Gunawardana 1989, 158). Gunawardana, R.A.L.H. 1989. ‘Anurādhapura: ritual, power and resistance in a precolonial South Asian city’. Domination and Resistance edited by Daniel Miller, Michael Rowlands, Chris Tilley. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/G8CWKJ2U/collection |
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“The ancient city of Anuraduapura was the capital of Sri Lanka for over a millennium; its massive stupas rising over the jungle, its gigantic reservoirs turning an arid land green and its Kings and Queens ruling over the island of Sri Lanka.”
[1]
“Until the end of the 10th century, when its pre-eminence was eclipsed by the rise of Polonnaruva, successful rebels always continued to rule from Anur dhapura, and it is correct to maintain that for more than a millennium this fortified city represented the power of the state.”
[2]
[1]: (Strickland 2017, 1) Strickland, Keir Magalie. 2017. A Time of Change: Questioning the Collapse of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, Oxford: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4B8362A9/collection [2]: (Gunawardana 1989, 158). Gunawardana, R.A.L.H. 1989. ‘Anurādhapura: ritual, power and resistance in a precolonial South Asian city’. Domination and Resistance edited by Daniel Miller, Michael Rowlands, Chris Tilley. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/G8CWKJ2U/collection |
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“The ancient city of Anuraduapura was the capital of Sri Lanka for over a millennium; its massive stupas rising over the jungle, its gigantic reservoirs turning an arid land green and its Kings and Queens ruling over the island of Sri Lanka.”
[1]
“Until the end of the 10th century, when its pre-eminence was eclipsed by the rise of Polonnaruva, successful rebels always continued to rule from Anur dhapura, and it is correct to maintain that for more than a millennium this fortified city represented the power of the state.”
[2]
[1]: (Strickland 2017, 1) Strickland, Keir Magalie. 2017. A Time of Change: Questioning the Collapse of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, Oxford: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4B8362A9/collection [2]: (Gunawardana 1989, 158). Gunawardana, R.A.L.H. 1989. ‘Anurādhapura: ritual, power and resistance in a precolonial South Asian city’. Domination and Resistance edited by Daniel Miller, Michael Rowlands, Chris Tilley. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/G8CWKJ2U/collection |
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“It seems that some measure of stability was achieved with the establishment of Mughal rule. After a few years the rulers of Gingee took the title of nawabs of the Carnatic, and in the first years of the 18th century they left Gingee to take up residence in Arcot.
[1]
“The Navaiyat dynasty came to power when Saadutullah Khan was appointed subadhar, or chief of military and revenue officer of the newly established Mughal subah of Arcot in 1710. The Navaiyats, wanting to take advantage of the relative weakness of the links to the Mughal centre, and wanting to carve out an independent dynastic rule for themselves, quickly fell into the traditional pattern of empire-building. They extended existing citadels like Vellore and Gingee by ‘importing’ North Indian traders, artisans and soldiers; they established a number of new market centres; they founded and endowed mosques; and they invited poets, artists and scholars and Sufi holy men to the new capital of Arcot.”
[1]
[1]: (Bugge, 2020) Bugge, Henriette. 2020. Mission and Tamil Society: Social and Religious Change in South India (1840-1900). London: Routledge Curzon. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/9SKWNUF4/collection |
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The capital city of Artaxiasata was established by Artaxias I.
[1]
During his reign, Tigranes the Great changed the capital to a location more central to the kingdom, and named it Tigranocerta (Tigranakert).
[2]
The remains of Tigranocerta have never been found and its location is debated.
[3]
[1]: Hovannisian 2004: 49. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8B4DBDFU [2]: “Artaxiad Dynasty,” https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IVLMP6Q8 [3]: Bournoutian 2003: 32. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/645FKRNL |
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Northern Tabal: "Its capital may have been located on the site of modern Kululu, which lies 30 km north-east of Kayseri." c837 BCE the capital was probably the royal city, Artulu.
[1]
Tuwana: "Its capital is probably to be identified with Classical Tyana (Kemerhisar), 20 km south-west of modern Nigde, though at one time the royal seat ay have been located at Nahitiya, on the site of Nigde itself."
[2]
"Tuhana is the best known of the Tabalean principalities. Its capital of the same name can be safely identified with the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine city of Tyana whose ruins lie in the modern Turkish village of Kemerhisar, south of Nigde, where a stela of king Warpalawas was found in 1860. Rock monuments in nearby Ivriz and Bulgarmaden mention this king of Tuhana, the latter as the overlord of a local ruler. Finds of Luwian inscriptions suggest the region of Kayseri as the location of Bit-Purutaš/Tabal; the site of Kululu, where monuments of a number of kings of Tabal have been found, is the most likely to correspond to its capital." [3] [1]: (Bryce 2012, 142) [2]: (Bryce 2012, 148) [3]: Radner, Karen. 2013. Tabal and Phrygia: problem neighbours in the West. Assyrian empire builders. University College London http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sargon/essentials/countries/tabalandphrygia/ |
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Ashur: 911-859 BCE; Kalhu: 859-681 BCE; Due-Sharrukin: 707-705 BCE; Ninevah: 681-612 BCE Kalhu was purpose-built to replace Ashur, the ancient capital. Ashur declined in importance 883-859 BCE.
[1]
Kalhu (Nimrud) under Ashurnasipal II. Ninevah under Sennacherib (704-681 BCE)
[2]
remained capital for rest of empire
[3]
Due-Sharrukin (707-705 BCE). [4] [1]: (The Iraq Museum 2011, [1]) [2]: (Davidson 2012, 27) [3]: (Stearns 2001, 28) [4]: (Haywood 2000, 1.13) |
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“It was founded by Sa’duddin in the early days of Islam, around the late 9th or early 10th century, based at Zayla or Zeila, an ancient port and trade center on the Gulf of Aden.”
[1]
In the early fourteenth century under the leadership of Imam Ahmad Gurey the capital moved to Harar in present-day Ethiopia. In the fourteenth century the Adal Sultanate was at war with the Christian Kingdom of Abyssinia under the Solomonid Dynasty. “The Imam reorganized the Muslim armies of the sultanate, transferred the headquarters from Zayla to Harar for strategic reason, and made successful diplomatic contacts with the wider Islamic world particularly with the Ottoman Empire.”
[2]
During the late sixteenth century Cassanelli noted that again the capital of the Adal Sultanate moved from Harar to Aussa. “However, the history of that unique town is something of a self-contained one after 1577, when the ruling dynasty of the once-powerful Adal Sultanate transferred its capital from Harar to the oasis of Aussa in the Danakil desert.”
[3]
[1]: (Mukhtar 2016, Encyclopedia of Empire) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2016. ‘Adal Sultanate.’ In J. Mackenzie Encyclopedia of Empire. Wiley. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FM8D55XW/library [2]: (Mukhtar 2003, 44-45) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2003. Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Mukhtar/titleCreatorYear/items/J8WZB6VI/item-list [3]: (Cassanelli 1982, 120) Cassanelli, Lee. V. 1982. The Shaping of Somali Society: Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600-1900. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TKPH7Z89/library |
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"The beginning of the Second Intermediate Period is marked by the abandonment of the Residence at Lisht, 32 km. south of Memphis, and the establishment of the royal court and seat of government at Thebes, the Southern City."
[1]
Memphis: capital of the 12th Dynasty kings [2] Itjtawy: capital of the 13th Dynasty kings [2] 16th and 17th Dynasty kings: "We cannot be certain that they all ruled from Thebes, and some may have been local rulers in important towns such as Abydos, Elkab, and Edfu." [3] [1]: (Bourriau 2003, 173) [2]: (Bourriau 2003, 182) [3]: (Bourriau 2003, 191) |
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"Unfortunately, the centre of the Elamite confederation, the Awan region, from which the Elamite royal family took its name, has not yet been located. ... other Elamite centres, such as Susa (Which was in close contact with Mesopotamia) and Anshan (Tall-i Malyan), have been located."
[1]
[1]: (Leverani 2014, 142) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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"Because of its prime location for trade, Ayutthaya was the capital of an enlarged federation [in the 15th and 16th centuries]. But the northern city of Phitsanulok operated a a second capital (the Portuguese sometimes described them as twin states) because of its strategic location for the wars against Lanna."
[1]
[1]: (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, p. 10) |
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"The first kings of the new dynasty of Isin had to face the Elamite pressures of Kutir-Nahhunte and Shilhak-Inshushinak. They were also affected by some incursion west of the Tigris. However, they managed to establish their authority, moving the capital to Babylon and acquiring control over the entire area west of the Tigris."
[1]
Language [1]: (Liverani 2014, 462) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7DRZQS5Q/q/liverani. |
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Baghdad (Iraq); Shiraz (Fars); Isfahan (Khuzestan). These three cities were the capitals of the three areas of kingship of the Buyid brothers. When ’Adud al-Duala took over Mesopotamia, Shiraz became the capital, although ’Adud al-Duala never returned there and remained in Baghdad alongside the calliph. Fars continued to be the heartland of the empire, with all civil servants being drawn from there.
[1]
[1]: Busse, H. 1975. Iran under the Būyids. In Frye, R. N. (ed.) The Cambridge History of Iran. Volume 4. The period from the Arab Invasion to the Saljuq’s. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.271 |
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"For most of its history, the empire was divided into a western and eastern half, and it lacked a single capital or political centre. In the east, the main seat of Seljuk rule was Merv ... In the west, several different cities between which the sultans moved seasonally served as capitals: Rayy ... Isfahan, Baghdad and, later, Hamadhan."
[1]
Ray under Togrïl Beg; Malik-Shah made Isfahān his capital. "they established their capitals first at Hamadan and then at Isfahan in western Iran." [2] "From their capital at Isfahan, the Saljuqs controlled Baghdad through a garrison commander (shihnah) and civil governor (’amid), but did not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the Caliphate. Attemps at independent political action by the Caliphs and their officials were, however, resolutely checked." [3] [1]: (Peacock 2015, 6-7) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh. [2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. [3]: (Bagley 1964, xxix) Bagley, F. R. C. trans. Huma’i, Jalal and Isaacs, H. D. eds. 1964. Ghazali’s Book of Counsel for Kings (Nasihat Al-Muluk). Oxford University Press. London. |
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{Kufa: 750-762 CE; Baghdad: 762-833 CE; Al-Raqqah: 796-809 CE; Samarra: 833-893 CE; Baghdad 833-946 CE}
[1]
. Samarra was the military and administrative headquarters of the Caliphate 836-870 CE.
[2]
Merv was the capital of the caliphate from 810-819 CE.
[3]
Both Baghdad and Samarra were purpose built cities. [1]: Lapidus, Ira A., History of Islamic Society 2nd edition(Cambridge, 2002) [2]: (Lapidus 2012, 106) [3]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
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{Kufa: 750-762 CE; Baghdad: 762-833 CE; Al-Raqqah: 796-809 CE; Samarra: 833-893 CE; Baghdad 833-946 CE}
[1]
. Samarra was the military and administrative headquarters of the Caliphate 836-870 CE.
[2]
Merv was the capital of the caliphate from 810-819 CE.
[3]
Both Baghdad and Samarra were purpose built cities. [1]: Lapidus, Ira A., History of Islamic Society 2nd edition(Cambridge, 2002) [2]: (Lapidus 2012, 106) [3]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
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Kashgar; Bukhara; Balasagun; Suyab.
[1]
"On October 23, 999, a Karakhanid army entered Bukhara without opposition, took control of the Samanid treasury, rounded up the remaining Samanis, and settled into their palace."
[1]
At this time Gurjang was the capital of Khwarazm.
[1]
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
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Accordng to the Chinese chronicle, the Pei-shih (Annals of the Wei Dynasty) the capital was Ying-chien-shih, which "was probably located at the ancient capital of Bactria, near Balkh."
[1]
Another Chinese source the Wei-shu mistakenly claimed that the capital was transferred to another city.
[1]
Capital captured by Sassanids 467 CE which forced Kidarites to retreat south of Hindu Kush to Gandhara.
[2]
[1]: (Zeimal 1996, 126) 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 [2]: (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 |
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attested as the capital by Chinese sources from the period, although how centralized the state was is largely unknown. Some limited excavation has taken place.
[1]
"473-79 Hephthalites conquer Sogdiana and establish a capital city at Pendjikent." [2] Toramana, who made conquests in India "established his capital city at Salaka" [3] [1]: Denis Sinor, "The establishment and dissolution of the Türk empire" in Denis Sinor, "The Cambridge history of early Inner Asia, Volume 1", Cambridge University Press, 1990. p. 300; Litvinsky B.A.,Guang-da Zhang , and Shabani Samghabadi R. (eds)History of Civilizations of Central Asia, p. 152 [2]: (West 2009, 276) West, B A. 2009. Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. [3]: (Bauer 2010, 180) Bauer, S W. 2010. The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. W. W. Norton & Company. |
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Each Kingdom had its own capital: (Kingdom) Wessex – (Capital) Winchester Mercia - Tamworth Northumbria - Bamburgh (north) and York (south – until 867 CE) Essex - Colchester East Anglia - tbc Kent - tbc Danelaw - York (from 867) However, once the kingdoms were unified, Winchester became the capital of ‘England’ from 927 CE. Language “Bede, writing in the 720s, recorded that Britain could be broken down into four nations and five languages: English; British (the ancestor of Welsh, Cornish and Breton); Irish; Pictish; and Latin, the universal language of religion and learned inter-communication.”
[1]
The Irish language does not apply for this polity. “There are additional factors which may tell against Dark’s interpretation. One is the very low level of Brittonic which entered Old English. Had large-scale interaction occurred between incoming Germanic communities and numerous indigenous British speakers of equivalent social rank, then we might have expected far greater language borrowing both in terms of structure and vocabulary. It is this difficulty which has rendered Dark’s thesis unacceptable to many linguists and etymologists. That said, there is virtually no evidence from graffiti or inscriptions in Roman Britain that Brittonic survived in the lowland zone, and it may well have been speakers of Latin whom the barbarians encountered. However, the number of loan words remains low, even though there is growing evidence of Latin influencing Old English in terms of its structure and organisation. So, too, are place-names of pre-English origin, Brittonic, Latin, or other, scarce in eastern England, particularly in comparison with the West, which seems difficult to reconcile with Dark’s vision of a long and vigorous survival of British political power in the region.”
[2]
[1]: (‘Early Medieval: Networks’) ‘Early Medieval: Networks’, English Heritage. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/early-medieval/networks/. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IGSR3527 [2]: (Higham 2004: 5) Higham, Nick. ‘From Sub-Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England: Debating the Insular Dark Ages’, History Compass 2, no. 1 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2004.00085.x. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XZT7A79K |
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345-455 CE: Banavasi; 455?-? CE: Halsi; 460-? CE: Triparvata; 460?-? CE: Uchchangi. The Kadambas’ first capital was Banavasi
[1]
. Once the Empire is split in three, each division had its own capital: Halsi for the North and West, Triparvata for the South, and Uchchangi for the East
[2]
. However, none of the sources is clear regarding the dates in which these capitals were founded, and when they ceased to be capitals (as they must have done, considering that the empire was eventually reunited).
[1]: Suryanatha Kamath, A Concise History of Karnataka (1980), pp. 31 [2]: H.V. Sreenivasa Murthy and R. Ramakrishnan, A History of Karnataka (1978), p. 49 |
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Bania: 811-892 CE; Mansura: 892-1026 CE; Thatta: 1026-1241 CE, Muhammed Tur: 1241-1317 CE; Thatta: 1317-1351 CE
[1]
The original capital of Mansura was sacked in 1026 CE, when the Soomra dynasty moved the capital to Thatta. Shifts in river courses resulted in a transfer of the capital to Muhammed Tur during the years 1241 CE-1317 CE. After declaring independence from Delhi a period of instability took place, with some semblance of authority claimed from the former capital of Thatta. [2] [1]: Panhwar, M. H. "Chronological Dictionary of Sind, (Karachi, 1983) pp. 188;Panhwar, M.H, An illustrated Historical Atlas of Soomra Kingdom of the Sindh p. 93 [2]: Panhwar, M.H, An illustrated Historical Atlas of Soomra Kingdom of the Sindh p. 93 |
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" There were five capitals in the empire. The Supreme Capital of empire was located not far away from Shira Muren River in the neighborhood of the present city of Boro Khoton, Inner Mongolia. The Central Capital was situated near the Shira Muren River inflow point to Liao River. These are zones of residence of Kitans and other pastoral nomads of empire. The East Capital was near city of Liao-yang in the area of settlement of Bohai peoples. Two last capital cities were situated within the area of the Chinese people residence. The West Capital is the modern city of Ta-T’ung in Shansi province while the South one is the modern city of Peking (Steinhadrt 1997)."
[1]
"In 918, in another step toward establishing a more permanent regime, Apao-chi ordered the building of a great capital city, the Imperial Capital (Huang-tu), later to be known as the Supreme Capital (Shang-ching). This was constructed at Lin-huang, north of the Shira muren (a place that later became the Mongol city of Boro Khoton), in the ancient central territory of the Khitan tribes."
[2]
[1]: (Kradin 2014, 153) [2]: (Twitchett 1994, 63) |
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Pratisthana (modern-day Paithan); Benakataka; others. "No single city served as the Satavahana capital throughout the duration of the dynasty’s history. In the early second century CE, Ptolemy referred to Paithan (Pratisthana; in Aurangabad district) as the capital of King Pulamavi; the Nasik inscription of his predecessor Gautamiputra Satakarni referred to him as lord of Benkataka (in the Nasik region). [...] The situation may, at least in part, be associated with structural weaknesses of imperial political and economical organization, thus making the physical presence of the king, court, and military force important to the exercise and authority of imperial authority and revenue collection"
[1]
.
[1]: C. Sinopoli, On the Edge of Empire: Form and Substance in the Satavahana Dynasty, in S. Alcock (ed), Empires (2001), p. 170 |
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“At a particular time, for instance, in the early history of Benin, the territory was also known as Igodomigodo. The origin of the name Igodomigodo is well known in Benin traditions. During the first millennium when the institution of monarchy - the Ogiso dynasty - was established in Benin, the first king, Ogiso Igodo, called the numerous village communities which were joined together in a political union under him as Igodomigodo. His village at Ugbeku was the capital where he built the royal palace.”
[1]
If the interregnum period is considered part of this polity rather than the next: “Evian and Ogiamwen were among the retinue of Ogiefa, the supreme ruler of all the Efa. The spheres of their competence overlapped with those of the Edionevbo, the all-Benin City chiefs, Evian and Ogiamwen belonged to the dynasty of Efa chiefs whose authority stretched over the wards of the city inhabited by their tribesmen. Quite evidently, these were the wards whose dwellers now argue that their ancestors had not come to Benin from anywhere, but lived there "from the beginning" (Bradbury 1957:19; Igbafe 1974:2). It is also easy to imagine what tension could exist between the two "city halls" and how much each of them wished to monopolize power over the entire city. Of course, the fall of the Ogiso dynasty was a defeat not only of its last representative Owodo, but of the Edionevbo. No doubt the "king- makers" had nothing against their further influencing the course of events not only in the capital but in the whole country through weak rulers, like the majority of the Ogiso seem to have been. His successor, Ogiso Ere “is reputed to have transferred the Ogiso palace to Uhunmwidunmwun, which was a more favourable seat of government for the dynasty than Ugbeku.””
[2]
[1]: Osadolor, O. B. (2001). The Military System of Benin Kingdom, c.1440–1897. University of Hamburg, Germany: 52. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4RZF5H5/collection [2]: Bondarenko, D. M. (2003). Advent of the Second (Oba) Dynasty: Another Assessment of a Benin History Key Point. History in Africa, 30, 63–85; 78. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/CESQP6DT/collection |
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The Norwegian royal court resided in Bergen, but was later transferred to Oslo: ’The realm of the king of Norway, when Iceland became a part of it, was centred on the North Atlantic. It stretched from the west coast of Greenland to the Barents Sea in the north, and south to Göteborg and the Orkneys [...]. Purely in terms of distance, Iceland was not far from the middle of this domain; it was within a week’s travel of the main centres, the royal court at Bergen and the archiepiscoal sea at Trondheim. Just over two centuries later, the capital of the state was the city of Copenhagen on the Sound, and Iceland was at the westernmost point of the kingdom. It was King Haakon (1299-1319), son of Magnus, who turned the thrust of the state to the south and east. He moved his court from Bergen to Oslo, and arranged a marriage between his daughter Ingeborg and the brother of the Swedish king, when she was one year old. Their son, Magnus, inherited the thrones of Sweden and Norway in 1319, at the age of three. Norway as an autonomous kingdom had thus practically ceased to exist. The mid-14th century also saw the Black Death sweep through Scandinavia. The disease was especially virulent in Norway, where as many as two-third of the population may have died in successive epidemics. In the period 1376-80 the boy king Olaf, son of Hakon, inherited the crowns of Denmark and Norway. Thus Iceland became subject to the Danish throne, a relationship that was not finally broken off until 1944. Olaf was also of the Swedish royal house (which ruled Finland too). It is easy to imagne the idea of a unified Nordic realm forming in the mind of Queen Margarethe, mother of the child king. But in 1387 Olaf suddenly died, aged 17. But Margarethe did not give up her plans. She contrived to have herself elected regent in all the Nordic kingdoms, and to have her six-year-old foster-son nominaated heir to all the thrones. In 1397 an attempt was made in the Swesih city of Karlmar to establish a permanent union of the states.’
[1]
The Icelandic population was not organized around a capital, and there was no provincial capital established on the island.
[1]: Karlsson, Gunnar 2000. "A Brief History of Iceland", 22p |
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{Ciudad Perdida; Pueblito; Pocigueica; Bonda; Taironaca} "Based on current evidence, these primary centers shared cultural styles but retained political independence; for example, there was no single “capital” of the Muisca, Tierradentro, San Agustin/Alto Magdalena, or Tairona chiefdoms."
[1]
"Several urban clusters have been found in the upper Buritaca that consist of collections of terrace groups, making it difficult to determine where a site begins and ends. Deep valleys cut one part of a settlement from another. The largest of the sites is Ciudad Perdida, built between 1,100-1,200 masl." [2] Ciudad Perdida in the Upper Buritaca region. "These figures fit well with the archaeological evidence from coastal and from highland regions for the existence of a three-level hierarchy of sites (Serje 1987; Oyuela Caycedo 1987b) in which the larger ones, such as Pueblito, have some 1,000 structures (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1954a: 161; 1954b; G. Reichel-Dolmatoff and A. Reichel-Dolmatoff 1955).Major towns, such as Bonda and Pocigueica, were governed by chiefs (caciques) and seem to have formed the nuclei of incipient states." [3] In a discussion about possible major settlements in earlier periods: "First, the conquerors never described the presence of large villages that had ample territorial control, as is the case for Bonda, Pocigueica, and Taironaca to provide a few of the best-known examples (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1951). Fray Pedro de Aguado (/1581/ 1906, 5:69) describes the ’...towns of Concha and Ancones, where Jagua and Jairada, and Guachaca, and Nando, and Naguanje are, towns of principal lords, river ports and Ocean ports’. This reference would support the idea of communities of similar prestige, ’towns of principal lords’, none of which would have preeminence over the others." [4] "According to Groot (1985), and Cadavid and Groot (1987), the levels of architectural elaboration found at Ciudad Perdida vis-a-vis the other 25 settlements found in a 7 kilometer radius indicated that it was the center of political, social, and economic authority in the upper Buritaca river basin. They also suggest that Ciudad Perdida was home to an elite population comprised of civil and religious leaders, warriors, and specialists, with agricultural production concentrated in these satellite settlements (Groot 1985: 96). Though, their arguments are still unconfirmed and further research in these outlying settlements is still necessary, they did recognize in its fabric and texture, in the disposition of its buildings, paved pathways and staircases a number of characteristically urban qualities." [5] [1]: (Moore 2014, 386) [2]: (Oyuela-Caycedo 2008, 419) [3]: (Bray 2003, 301) [4]: (Langebaek 2005, 71-79) [5]: (Giraldo 2010, 23) |
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Bonga became the capital under the Bongatato monarch of Kafa who reigned from 1565 CE- 1605 CE. Bonga stayed an important capital till the end of the Kingdom of Kaffa in 1897 CE. “This king ‘contracted’ the Bonga region from the Mato clan and made it the capital of the Minjo clan. He rewarded the Mato by making their king a member of the king’s council (mikrecho).”
[1]
“There were a series of court officials in Bonga and Anderacha, the two capitals of the Kafa Kings.”
[2]
[1]: (Orent 1970, 269) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection [2]: (Orent 1970, 282-283) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection |
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" There were five capitals in the empire. The Supreme Capital of empire was located not far away from Shira Muren River in the neighborhood of the present city of Boro Khoton, Inner Mongolia. The Central Capital was situated near the Shira Muren River inflow point to Liao River. These are zones of residence of Kitans and other pastoral nomads of empire. The East Capital was near city of Liao-yang in the area of settlement of Bohai peoples. Two last capital cities were situated within the area of the Chinese people residence. The West Capital is the modern city of Ta-T’ung in Shansi province while the South one is the modern city of Peking (Steinhadrt 1997)."
[1]
"In 918, in another step toward establishing a more permanent regime, Apao-chi ordered the building of a great capital city, the Imperial Capital (Huang-tu), later to be known as the Supreme Capital (Shang-ching). This was constructed at Lin-huang, north of the Shira muren (a place that later became the Mongol city of Boro Khoton), in the ancient central territory of the Khitan tribes."
[2]
[1]: (Kradin 2014, 153) [2]: (Twitchett 1994, 63) |
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Sigismund of Luxembourg erected his royal palace at Buda and the town again became the kingdom’s capital.
[1]
[1]: Pál Engel, The Realm of St. Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526 (London ; New York, NY: I.B. Tauris, 2005). Zotero link: 9BBKM3AR |
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Béla IV changed his residence to Buda after the destruction of the capital Esztergom.
[1]
[1]: “Esztergom történelme - dióhéjban - Esztergom Városa,” accessed March 3, 2024, https://www.esztergom.hu/turizmus/tortenelem/112-esztergom_tortenelme_diohejban. Zotero link: KNRBEVA7 |
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Vienna had been reinstated as the capital of Austria since 1804.
[1]
However, Hungary had it’s own capital, Budapest. “Around 1914, after decades of rapid growth, the twin capitals Vienna and Budapest had populations of 2 million and not quite 1 million respectively.”
[2]
Language “Storm centers of strife in the nationally mixed areas were the crownlands with the culturally most advanced population, particularly Bohemia with its roughly three-fifths to two-fifths relationship between Czechs and Germans. Here the distinction between language of the land (Landessprache) and language customary in the lands (landesübliche Sprache) has to be introduced. The former notion meant that a language of the land was any language spoken as vernacular by at least 20 percent of the people. That applied to Bohemia and Moravia in regard to the Czech and German languages, in Silesia to the Polish as well.30 According to a language ordinance of 1880, administrative actions should be taken in the language in which they were initiated by an individual party with interpreter service provided for the other party, if necessary. The other concept, the language "customary in the land" was for the Germans in Bohemia and Moravia the language prevalent in any given district. The Czechs did not recognize any distinction between the two concepts in these two crownlands. The Germans stressed the importance of the distinction. It looked like a hair-splitting theoretical issue, yet in practice the consequences were far-reaching. The Czechs demanded that the Czech language should, on historical grounds be the only official language throughout the two crownlands, even in German districts. The Germans on the other hand held that the official language should be only the one customary in any given district— in the German districts, German. The Germans thereby promoted the administrative separation of Bohemia and Moravia as historic entities, in a Czech and German part. This view was opposed by the Czechs who considered the lands of the Bohemian crown as historically Czech lands once united under the crown of St. Wenceslav… Even more subjective was the German position. Except for the unjustified demand for full administrative partition of Bohemia, the German position would have been arguable there as well as in Moravia, if the Germans had been ready to agree to recognition of the same principles in predominantly Slovene southern Styria or in the Italian part of South Tyrol (the Trentino). Here the Germans insisted that the historic lands must be administered as entities with German majorities, even though Slovenes and Italians had a clear majority in the South of both crownlands. As for the language of administration, a further bone of contention was the administrative practice in regard to a tripartite concept of language use: first, an "external" language used in communicating with the interested parties, second an "internal" language used within the government agencies for the agenda not to be communicated to the parties, and third the so-called "innermost" language used between lower and higher government agencies, in particular in communicating between the crownland administrations and the ministries in Vienna. The struggle for the use of the internal language in the administration of Galicia was won by the Poles in 1868, by the Czechs not until the 1890’s and only in part. Prime Minister Count Badeni, appointed in 1895, believed he could settle the enervating Czech-German language conflict in Bohemia and Moravia by two language ordinances of 1897 which provided simply for the conduct of business in both languages, Czech and German throughout the crownlands.”
[3]
[1]: (Fichtner 2003: 35) Fichtner, Paula Sutter. 2003. The Habsburg Monarchy, 1490-1848: Attributes of Empire. Macmillan International Higher Education. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QQ77TV4K [2]: (Curtis 2013: 290) Curtis, Benjamin. 2013. The Habsburgs: The History of a Dynasty. London; New York: Bloomsbury. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TRKUBP92 [3]: (Kann 1974: 439-441) Kann, Robert A. 1974. A History of the Habsburg Empire 1526-1918. Los Angeles: University of California Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RP3JD4UV |
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Kashgar; Bukhara; Balasagun; Suyab.
[1]
"On October 23, 999, a Karakhanid army entered Bukhara without opposition, took control of the Samanid treasury, rounded up the remaining Samanis, and settled into their palace."
[1]
At this time Gurjang was the capital of Khwarazm.
[1]
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
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"Samarkand was not neglected either, but the center of political and religious activities had definitively shifted to Bukhara, so much so that the outside world came to think of Central Asia as Bukhara; to the Russians, Central Asian merchants who began to frequent their empire were known as “Bukharans,” and even Sinkiang received the nickname of “Little Bukhara."
[1]
[1]: (Soucek 2000, 177-178) |
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Sogut: 1299-1325 CE; Bursa: 1326-1364 CE; Adrianople: 1364-1413 CE.
[1]
[2]
[3]
Residence in Bursa maybe right after conquest in 1326.
[4]
In Ottoman tradition, first Ottoman, Osman had a base at Karajahisar (Malagina in Sakarya valley) in the palace of an old Bishopric. In 1387 CE the Genovese concluded a royal treaty at Malagina. However, Bursa was the capital under Orhan right after 1326 CE. [5] Murad I had a palace built at Edrine. [6] [2]: (Palmer 1992) [3]: (Davidson 2011, 122) [4]: Personal communication. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller. 2016. Institute for Medieval Research. Division of Byzantine Research. Austrian Academy of Sciences. [5]: (Imber 2002, 144) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. [6]: (Imber 2002, 143) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. |
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"It was during the reign of Nono that the hitherto Bantu-ruled Nyambo chiefdom was usurped by Nilotic Bahima. Specifically, Nono, whose capital was at Mugutu, near Rukole (northeast of Bweranyange), was ousted by Ruhinda, the son of Wamara and Njunaki—a slave girl. Ruhinda shifted the capital to Bweranyange."
[1]
NB the following, however, which suggests that Bweranyange was likely only temporarily the capital: "In the Great Lakes, capitals and the individual structures within them were undoubtedly impressive (e.g. Kigongo and Reid 2007), but they were short-lived, frequently occupied for less than five years, and built entirely from non-durable materials; to date, even 19th-century capitals, the locations of which are known, remain archaeologically invisible. Settlement in the region, royal or otherwise, seems generally to have been relatively short-term and dispersed, leaving isolated scatters of archaeological debris across the inhabited landscape."
[2]
[1]: (Mapunda 2009: 94) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9GV5C5NF/collection. [2]: (Reid 2013: 889) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/PA7Z3NFR/collection. |
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Mahdia: 921-948 CE; Al-Mansuriya: 948-975 CE; Cairo: 975-1171 CE
Capital city, al-Qahira (Cairo) founded in 969 CE [1] Caliph al-Muizz moved from Tunisia to Cairo in 973 CE. Cairo built to replace the former Egyptian capital al-Fustat with the intention for it to be more glorious than Baghdad. [2] Jawhar nor al-Mu’izz "had any great interest in creating an imperial capital in Egypt. The credit for that move should be given to al-Mu’izz’s son and successor, under whose rule the Egyptian capital would rapidly emerge as a brilliant centre of the arts and learning. Prince Nazir, who took the name al-Aziz B’illah, ’Mighty by God’, upon his ascension in 975, publically announced his succession by riding out to offer the prayer for the Feast of the Sacrifice under the mizalla, a parasol shaped like a bejewelled shield hung from the point of a lance held by a courtier. No Fatimid caliph is know to have previously used one, and it seems likely that the Fatimid mizalla was synonymous with and ultimately derived from the shamsa or shamsiyya used earlier by the Abbasid caliphs as a symbol of authority." [3] Fustat remained Egypt’s economic and administrative centre. [1]: (Lapidus 2012, 241) [2]: (Oliver 1977, 10) [3]: (Bloom 2007, 110) Bennison A K, Gascoigne A L eds. 2007. Cities in the Pre-Modern Islamic World: The Urban Impact of Religion, State and Society. Routledge. |
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Huining: 1122-1153CE; Zhongdu: 1153-1214 CE; Kaifeng: 1214-1233; Caizhou: 1233-1234
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“Royal palace construction for all subsequent kings of the seventeenth century, however, was limited to Abomey. This supports the argument that, like Allada and Hueda, administrative control in Dahomey was largely limited to the capital at this time.”
[1]
“Cana played a central political role in Dahomey throughout its history. This town may have been the center of political authority on the plateau prior to the arrival of the Fon dynasty. Under Dahomey, Cana was widely cited as the usual residence of the king. Dalzel claimed, for example, that he resided there year round and only left for Abomey when the Xwetanu approached.83 This led some to consider Cana the country capital of the kingdom. Each minister had a residence at Cana, permitting the entire administration to be available to the king at any given time. Cana was also a centrally important site of interaction between Dahomey and the Oyo Empire for much of the eighteenth century, and Oyo maintained an ambassador there in this period.”
[2]
[1]: Monroe, J. C. (2007). Continuity, Revolution or Evolution on the Slave Coast of West Africa? Royal Architecture and Political Order in Precolonial Dahomey. The Journal of African History, 48(3), 349–373; 357. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ASTPFKNP/collection [2]: Monroe, J. C. (2007). Continuity, Revolution or Evolution on the Slave Coast of West Africa? Royal Architecture and Political Order in Precolonial Dahomey. The Journal of African History, 48(3), 349–373: 366–367. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ASTPFKNP/collection |
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"The Mani kings and their followers representing the vanguard of greater forces remaining behind in what is now Liberia, paid tribute to an overlord at Cape Mount."
[1]
[1]: (Kup 1975: 35) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/36IUGEZV/collection. |
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" There were five capitals in the empire. The Supreme Capital of empire was located not far away from Shira Muren River in the neighborhood of the present city of Boro Khoton, Inner Mongolia. The Central Capital was situated near the Shira Muren River inflow point to Liao River. These are zones of residence of Kitans and other pastoral nomads of empire. The East Capital was near city of Liao-yang in the area of settlement of Bohai peoples. Two last capital cities were situated within the area of the Chinese people residence. The West Capital is the modern city of Ta-T’ung in Shansi province while the South one is the modern city of Peking (Steinhadrt 1997)."
[1]
"In 918, in another step toward establishing a more permanent regime, Apao-chi ordered the building of a great capital city, the Imperial Capital (Huang-tu), later to be known as the Supreme Capital (Shang-ching). This was constructed at Lin-huang, north of the Shira muren (a place that later became the Mongol city of Boro Khoton), in the ancient central territory of the Khitan tribes."
[2]
[1]: (Kradin 2014, 153) [2]: (Twitchett 1994, 63) |
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“According to the Chiu Tang-shu, Shih kuei Qagan (611-618/619), the younger brother of Tardu, expanded the lands under his control up to the Altay in the East and in the West "to the sea."104 His primary camp was in the San-mi mountains, north of Kuca.”
[1]
"Shih Kuei’s activity paved the way for the brief efflorescence of Western Türk power under his younger brother, Tun/Tong Yabgu Qagan (Chin. Tung shê-hu [t’uong d’iiap-guo)618/619?-630). He brought the Tieh-lê to full submission, annexing their lands and extending his sway to Afghanistan as far as Gandhara. The Sui-shu calls him master of the ancient territory of the Wu-sun, i.e. the iii valley. As the ally of the Byzantine emperor, Herakleios (610-641) he warred with Iran in Transcaucasia, contributing significantly to the Byzantine victory and the collapse of the Sâsânid state. From his capital at Ch’ien-Ch’üan ("1000 Springs," east of the Talas), he established an orderly government, sending tuduns (or toôuns, Chin. t’u-t’un [tou-du;:,n] (tax officials105) to supervise the el/il-tebers (Chin. hsieh-li-fa [giet-lji-piwat (piwar)] a title given to governors of conquered peoples106) and established good relations with Tang China, which contributed, along with mutual raiding, in sorne measure to the destruction of the Eastern Qaganate."
[1]
[1]: (Golden 1992, 135) |
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Vijayanagara: 1336-1565, Penukonda, Chandraigiri. The kingdom of Vijayanagara takes its name, ’City of Victory’, from its capital on the Tungabhadra River
[1]
. The Vijayanagara capital was abandoned in 1565 following a major military defeat
[2]
, the later imperial capitals were Penukonda and Chandragiri
[3]
.
[1]: Burton Stein, The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara (1990), p. 1 [2]: Carla M. Sinopoli, ’From the Lion Throne: Political and Social Dynamics of the Vijayanagara Empire’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol 43, No. 3 (2000), pp. 370 [3]: Carla M. Sinopoli, ’From the Lion Throne: Political and Social Dynamics of the Vijayanagara Empire’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol 43, No. 3 (2000), pp. 383 |
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removed apostrophes and dates to make code machine readable. Precise dates vary.
Han capitals: Chang ’an 206 BCE - 23 CE; Luoyang 23-220 CE. [1] Luoyang chosen as capital 25 CE. [2] Chang ’an: 25 - 36 CE; Luoyang: 36 - 190 CE; Chang ’an: 190-220 CE [1]: (Davidson 2012, 72-73) [2]: (Bielenstein 1986, 262) |
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"Choga Mish, the largest site (15 ha) on the Susiana plain in the mid-fifth millennium, featured a non-residential building at least 10 x 15 m in size, perhaps on a terrace, with plastered walls up to 1.5 m wide (Kantor 1976: 27-28, fig. 11)."
[1]
No site of equivalent size at Susa until hundreds of years later.
[1]
[1]: (Hole 2006, 231) Hole, Frank in Carter, Robert A. Philip, Graham. eds. 2006. Beyond The Ubaid. Transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Illinois. |
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1000-1300 CE Cuzco became capital of the Killke polity. This has been confirmed by archaeological digs under Cuzco.
[1]
Choquepukio was the capital of the Lucre Basin (Pinagua) polity. "Choquepukio was the most important settlement in the valley (McEwan 2006). Occupied by the Pinahua, it was quite an impressive town and may have even approached Killke-era Cuzco in scale and grandeur. Its ruins cover 60 ha on a low ridge and boast architecture bordering on the monumental - large stone enclosures and multi-storey buildings."
[2]
Language [1]: (Covey 2006, 119) [2]: (D’Altroy 2014, 81-82) |
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“To the south of the two kingdoms of Guma and Limmu are still mainly in the basin of the Orghesa or Didesa, one of the largest but on of the least known rivers in the Abai system. The town of Chora, capital of Guma, is situated on an affluent of this watercourse.”
[1]
[1]: (Recluse 1892, 212) Recluse, Elisee. 1892. The Earth and Its Inhabitance: North-East Africa. Edited by A.H. Keane. New York: D. Appleton and Company. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ISD6B4K2/collection |
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{Ciudad Perdida; Pueblito; Pocigueica; Bonda; Taironaca} "Based on current evidence, these primary centers shared cultural styles but retained political independence; for example, there was no single “capital” of the Muisca, Tierradentro, San Agustin/Alto Magdalena, or Tairona chiefdoms."
[1]
"Several urban clusters have been found in the upper Buritaca that consist of collections of terrace groups, making it difficult to determine where a site begins and ends. Deep valleys cut one part of a settlement from another. The largest of the sites is Ciudad Perdida, built between 1,100-1,200 masl." [2] Ciudad Perdida in the Upper Buritaca region. "These figures fit well with the archaeological evidence from coastal and from highland regions for the existence of a three-level hierarchy of sites (Serje 1987; Oyuela Caycedo 1987b) in which the larger ones, such as Pueblito, have some 1,000 structures (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1954a: 161; 1954b; G. Reichel-Dolmatoff and A. Reichel-Dolmatoff 1955).Major towns, such as Bonda and Pocigueica, were governed by chiefs (caciques) and seem to have formed the nuclei of incipient states." [3] In a discussion about possible major settlements in earlier periods: "First, the conquerors never described the presence of large villages that had ample territorial control, as is the case for Bonda, Pocigueica, and Taironaca to provide a few of the best-known examples (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1951). Fray Pedro de Aguado (/1581/ 1906, 5:69) describes the ’...towns of Concha and Ancones, where Jagua and Jairada, and Guachaca, and Nando, and Naguanje are, towns of principal lords, river ports and Ocean ports’. This reference would support the idea of communities of similar prestige, ’towns of principal lords’, none of which would have preeminence over the others." [4] "According to Groot (1985), and Cadavid and Groot (1987), the levels of architectural elaboration found at Ciudad Perdida vis-a-vis the other 25 settlements found in a 7 kilometer radius indicated that it was the center of political, social, and economic authority in the upper Buritaca river basin. They also suggest that Ciudad Perdida was home to an elite population comprised of civil and religious leaders, warriors, and specialists, with agricultural production concentrated in these satellite settlements (Groot 1985: 96). Though, their arguments are still unconfirmed and further research in these outlying settlements is still necessary, they did recognize in its fabric and texture, in the disposition of its buildings, paved pathways and staircases a number of characteristically urban qualities." [5] [1]: (Moore 2014, 386) [2]: (Oyuela-Caycedo 2008, 419) [3]: (Bray 2003, 301) [4]: (Langebaek 2005, 71-79) [5]: (Giraldo 2010, 23) |
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Each Kingdom had its own capital: (Kingdom) Wessex – (Capital) Winchester Mercia - Tamworth Northumbria - Bamburgh (north) and York (south – until 867 CE) Essex - Colchester East Anglia - tbc Kent - tbc Danelaw - York (from 867) However, once the kingdoms were unified, Winchester became the capital of ‘England’ from 927 CE. Language “Bede, writing in the 720s, recorded that Britain could be broken down into four nations and five languages: English; British (the ancestor of Welsh, Cornish and Breton); Irish; Pictish; and Latin, the universal language of religion and learned inter-communication.”
[1]
The Irish language does not apply for this polity. “There are additional factors which may tell against Dark’s interpretation. One is the very low level of Brittonic which entered Old English. Had large-scale interaction occurred between incoming Germanic communities and numerous indigenous British speakers of equivalent social rank, then we might have expected far greater language borrowing both in terms of structure and vocabulary. It is this difficulty which has rendered Dark’s thesis unacceptable to many linguists and etymologists. That said, there is virtually no evidence from graffiti or inscriptions in Roman Britain that Brittonic survived in the lowland zone, and it may well have been speakers of Latin whom the barbarians encountered. However, the number of loan words remains low, even though there is growing evidence of Latin influencing Old English in terms of its structure and organisation. So, too, are place-names of pre-English origin, Brittonic, Latin, or other, scarce in eastern England, particularly in comparison with the West, which seems difficult to reconcile with Dark’s vision of a long and vigorous survival of British political power in the region.”
[2]
[1]: (‘Early Medieval: Networks’) ‘Early Medieval: Networks’, English Heritage. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/early-medieval/networks/. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IGSR3527 [2]: (Higham 2004: 5) Higham, Nick. ‘From Sub-Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England: Debating the Insular Dark Ages’, History Compass 2, no. 1 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2004.00085.x. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XZT7A79K |
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The Imperial capital was at Nicomedia under Diocletian.
[1]
Constantine established Constantinople as the capital of the Roman Empire in 326 CE.
[2]
"Rome had been for more than two centuries strangely neglected by the rulers who in her name lorded it over the civilised world. Ever since Diocletian’s reconstruction of the Empire, it had been a rare event for an Augustus to be seen within her walls. Even the Emperor who had Italy for his portion generally resided at Milan or Ravenna rather than on the banks of the Tiber."
[3]
[1]: (Bunson, 1991, 57) [2]: (http://www.roman-empire.net/constant/constant-index.html) [3]: (Hodgkin 1897) |
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|
[1]
[2]
[3]
Adrianople: 1413-1453 CE; Constantinople: 1453-1718 CE
Murad II’s (1421-1451 CE) capital was Edrine. [4] Murad II had a second palace built at Edrine. [5] [2]: (Palmer 1992) [3]: (Davidson 2011, 122) [4]: (Imber 2002, 143) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. [5]: (Imber 2002, 145) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. |
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Constantinople (today Istanbul)
|
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Ctesiphon: 270-499 CE First two rulers based in Persis homeland.
[1]
Ctesiphon was the administrative capital, seat of the king and the most important for economic and strategic reasons.
[2]
Ecbatana was a summer capital.
[3]
Istakhr in Fars was an administrative, religious and economic centre that also was "the ideological heart of the empire, since the temple of the dynasty’s fire - the coronation place of many Sasanian rulers - was situated there."
[3]
Dastagird was a capital during the reign of Khurau II.
[4]
[1]: (Farrokh 2005, 3-27) Farrokh, Kevah. 2005. Sassanian Elite Cavalry AD 224-642. Osprey Publishing. [2]: (Chegini 1996, 46) Chegini, N. N. Political History, Economy and Society. 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.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [3]: (Chegini 1996, 47) Chegini, N. N. Political History, Economy and Society. 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.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [4]: (Chegini 1996, 46-47) Chegini, N. N. Political History, Economy and Society. 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.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf |
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Asaak (Astauene) established by Arsaces I. New Nisa up to first century BCE. "At later stages, the functions of a capital city were also served by Hecatompylos, Ecbatana, Rhagae, Babylon, and Ctesiphon."
[1]
near Ashkhabad. [2] Parthian capital referred to as Hekatompylos in Chinese records. "The first capital of the Parthians was Nisa in the province of Parthia. In about 217 BCE, the Parthian capital was moved to Hekatompylos, which remained as the main capital of the Parthian empire till c. 50 BCE ... During that period, Rhagae (Rayy), Ecbatana, and Ctesiphon near the river Tigris were also selected as capitals." [3] [1]: (Dabrowa 2012, 180) Dabrowa, Edward. The Arcasid Empire. in Daryaee, Touraj ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. [2]: Neil Asher Silberman (ed.), ‘The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods’, The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) [3]: (Tao 2007) Tao, Wang in Josef in Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Stewart, Sarah eds. 2007. The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. London. |
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Asaak (Astauene) established by Arsaces I. New Nisa up to first century BCE. "At later stages, the functions of a capital city were also served by Hecatompylos, Ecbatana, Rhagae, Babylon, and Ctesiphon."
[1]
near Ashkhabad. [2] Parthian capital referred to as Hekatompylos in Chinese records. "The first capital of the Parthians was Nisa in the province of Parthia. In about 217 BCE, the Parthian capital was moved to Hekatompylos, which remained as the main capital of the Parthian empire till c. 50 BCE ... During that period, Rhagae (Rayy), Ecbatana, and Ctesiphon near the river Tigris were also selected as capitals." [3] [1]: (Dabrowa 2012, 180) Dabrowa, Edward. The Arcasid Empire. in Daryaee, Touraj ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. [2]: Neil Asher Silberman (ed.), ‘The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods’, The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) [3]: (Tao 2007) Tao, Wang in Josef in Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Stewart, Sarah eds. 2007. The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. London. |
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"Although the site of Wimpillay is still relatively large, it no longer dominates the settlement pattern of the Cuzco Basin as it did in Late Formative times. Instead, what we see is a greater overall density of large sites at the western end of the Cuzco Basin.[...]The location of these large Qotakalli Period sites surrounding Cuzco suggests that there may also have been a large village in the area now covered by the city."
[1]
Language [1]: (Bauer 2004, 52) |
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|
[1]
[2]
[3]
"The city of Cuzco is the principal one of all those where the lords of this land have their residence; it is so large and so beautiful that it would be worthy of admiration even in Spain; and it is full of the palaces of the lords, because no poor people live there, and each lord builds there his own house, and all the caciques do likewise, although the latter do not dwell there continuously." [4] Language [1]: (Andrushko 2007, 9-10) [2]: (Bauer 2004, 1) [3]: (Farrington 2013) [4]: (Bauer 2004, 110; cite: Sancho) |
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1000-1300 CE Cuzco became capital of the Killke polity. This has been confirmed by archaeological digs under Cuzco.
[1]
Choquepukio was the capital of the Lucre Basin (Pinagua) polity. "Choquepukio was the most important settlement in the valley (McEwan 2006). Occupied by the Pinahua, it was quite an impressive town and may have even approached Killke-era Cuzco in scale and grandeur. Its ruins cover 60 ha on a low ridge and boast architecture bordering on the monumental - large stone enclosures and multi-storey buildings."
[2]
Language [1]: (Covey 2006, 119) [2]: (D’Altroy 2014, 81-82) |
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|
"Although the site of Wimpillay is still relatively large, it no longer dominates the settlement pattern of the Cuzco Basin as it did in Late Formative times. Instead, what we see is a greater overall density of large sites at the western end of the Cuzco Basin.[...]The location of these large Qotakalli Period sites surrounding Cuzco suggests that there may also have been a large village in the area now covered by the city."
[1]
Language [1]: (Bauer 2004, 52) |
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|
“Polonnaruva was abandoned after Māgha’s rule, and the next three kings ruled from Dambadeṇiya. One ruler made Yāpahuva his royal residence.”
[1]
[1]: (De Silva 1981, 82) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection |
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Ctesiphon: 270-499 CE First two rulers based in Persis homeland.
[1]
Ctesiphon was the administrative capital, seat of the king and the most important for economic and strategic reasons.
[2]
Ecbatana was a summer capital.
[3]
Istakhr in Fars was an administrative, religious and economic centre that also was "the ideological heart of the empire, since the temple of the dynasty’s fire - the coronation place of many Sasanian rulers - was situated there."
[3]
Dastagird was a capital during the reign of Khurau II.
[4]
[1]: (Farrokh 2005, 3-27) Farrokh, Kevah. 2005. Sassanian Elite Cavalry AD 224-642. Osprey Publishing. [2]: (Chegini 1996, 46) Chegini, N. N. Political History, Economy and Society. 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.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [3]: (Chegini 1996, 47) Chegini, N. N. Political History, Economy and Society. 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.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [4]: (Chegini 1996, 46-47) Chegini, N. N. Political History, Economy and Society. 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.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf |
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“We have already mentioned the city-states which, in point of fact, were kingdoms reduced to the scale of a city and its immediately surrounding territory; the Hausa cities or the Yoruba cities of Benin were the most typical examples. Here, too, institutional structures were complex; officials and aristocrats made up the king’s court. The Hausa cities recognized a mother city, Daura.”
[1]
[1]: Niane, Djibril Tamsir, and Unesco, editors. Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann; University of California Press, 1984: 13. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection |
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’The state the Qasimis formed in the midst of this was none the less impressive (for the rulers’ genealogy see Fig. 6.1). Al-Qasim himself, who early in his fight against the Turks had wept over his children starving at Barat, was wealthy when the truce was signed. He built the mosque at Shaharah, then built houses for himself and his followers, planted coffee in al-Ahnum, and amassed more land than the public treasury (Nubdhah: 258, 334-6). The court expanded with the southern conquests. Al-Mutawakkil received an embassy from Ethiopia and exchanged gifts of fine horses with Aurangzib of India (Serjeant 1983: 80-1), while his relatives expressed concern about his monthly demands for funds from Lower Yemen. Further criticism of his taxation policy came from Muhammad al-Ghurbani at Barat, but in 1675 the levies on Lower Yemen were redoubled (ibid. 82). Under Muhammad Ahmad, ’He of al-Mawahib’" (1687-1718), the exactions became more severe still, in support of a grandiose court and a large standing army complete with slave soldiers (ibid., Zabarah 1958: 451, 457; alShawkani 1929: ii. 98).’
[1]
Dresch implies that the imamic capital was moved at least once: ’At times of truce, al-Qasim had acted against some of the tribes’ own practices: for example, he put a stop to pilgrimages and sacrifices at a tree near Wadi Mawr and flogged men from alAhnurn for drinking (ibid. 338); his appointee even wheedled out of the tribes their ’books of tiighiit’ and duly burned them (ibid. 435). Under al-Qasirn’s successors, however, the tribes were treated carefully. Al-Mu’ayyad (1620-44), for example, seems not to have pressed the point of Islamic inheritance law and to have left the taxation of Barat in the hands of Bayt al-’Ansi, while his successor, al-Mutawakkil (1644-76), paid the tribes of Barat to support his campaign against Hadramawt (Serjeant 1983: 79-82). Aden and Lahj, which had already seceded, were retaken; a decade later alBaYQa’ and Yafi’ were subdued; Hadramawt was invaded; and the Zaydi arms were carried at one point to the borders of Dhufar in what is now Oman. The Qasimis also became involved in, though they did not conquer, areas north of Najran and ’Asir: ’the conquests spread with the support of the Hamdan tribes and the leadership of the Qasimi family’ (al-Sharnahi 1972: 145), and alMutawakkil moved his capital from Shaharah to Dawran, south of San’a’. The state (now called a dawlah by its own chroniclers) had to link the north, where armed force still lay, to the richer tax base of Lower Yemen.’
[2]
[1]: Dresch, Paul 1989. "Tribes, Government and History in Yemen", 200 [2]: Dresch, Paul 1989. "Tribes, Government and History in Yemen", 199p |
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“Medri-Bahri was ruled by Bahri Negassi; and Deba-ruba became the seat of his kingdom. The Bahri-Negassi was independently elected by the people of Medri-Bahri.”
[1]
The Alternative name spellings of the capital is Dibarwa or Debarwa.
[1]: (Cliffe and Basil 1988, 12-13) Cliffe, Lionel and Basil, Davidson. 1988. The Long Struggle of Eritrea for Independence and Constructive Peace. Trenton, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZBEU6QM6/collection |
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Agra: 1526-1571 CE; Fatehpur Sikri: 1571-1585 CE; Lahore: 1585 CE-1598 CE; Agra: 1598-1648 CE; [Shahjahanabad; Delhi]: 1648-1857 CE dates cannot yet be machine read.
Akbar changed the royal capital of his empire four times during his rule (Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Lahore, Agra) reflecting his "changing strategic foci." [1] [2] Shah Jahan built a new capital in Delhi "Shahjahanabad". This remained the Mughals’ capital for the rest of the dynasty. [3] [1]: Richards, John F. (March 18, 1993). Johnson, Gordon [2]: Bayly, C. A., eds. The Mughal Empire. The New Cambridge history of India: 1.5. I. The Mughals and their Contemporaries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1995), p.12. [3]: Stein, Burton, A History of India (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), p.176. |
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In order to rule his vast empire from a more central capital, Muhammad Tughluq built a new one at Daulatabad, the old Yadava capital at Devairi. After shifting to Daulatabad Muhammad Tughluq lost his control over North India without being able to consolidate his hold on the South. When he finally returned to Delhi this was taken as a sign of weakness and independent states arose in the South.
[1]
. Sikander, the Lodi Sultan, built a new capital at Agra.
[2]
Sikandar (1489 CE -1517 CE) moved the capital down the Yamuna river, from Delhi to Agra, so that he could better watch his outlying dependencies. [3] [1]: Kulke, H., & Rothermund, D. (1990). A History of India (Revised, Updated Edition), pp. 165-166 [2]: Kulke, H., & Rothermund, D. (1990). A History of India (Revised, Updated Edition), pp. 167. [3]: McLeod, J. (2002). The history of India (Vol. 1096, No. 2905). Greenwood Publishing Group, pp. 39. |
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In order to rule his vast empire from a more central capital, Muhammad Tughluq built a new one at Daulatabad, the old Yadava capital at Devairi. After shifting to Daulatabad Muhammad Tughluq lost his control over North India without being able to consolidate his hold on the South. When he finally returned to Delhi this was taken as a sign of weakness and independent states arose in the South.
[1]
. Sikander, the Lodi Sultan, built a new capital at Agra.
[2]
Sikandar (1489 CE -1517 CE) moved the capital down the Yamuna river, from Delhi to Agra, so that he could better watch his outlying dependencies. [3] [1]: Kulke, H., & Rothermund, D. (1990). A History of India (Revised, Updated Edition), pp. 165-166 [2]: Kulke, H., & Rothermund, D. (1990). A History of India (Revised, Updated Edition), pp. 167. [3]: McLeod, J. (2002). The history of India (Vol. 1096, No. 2905). Greenwood Publishing Group, pp. 39. |
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Sulayhids: Queen Arwa moved the court from Sanaa to Dhu Jibla.
[1]
Sa’da was the capital of the Zaidi Imamate until it was destroyed 943-977 CE.
[2]
Language [1]: (Stookey 1978, 68) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder. [2]: (Stookey 1978, 97) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder. |
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“Diakhao was the capital of the Kingdom of Sine from the mid-sixteenth to late nineteenth century.”
[1]
[1]: (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MM67I638/collection |
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Ashur: 911-859 BCE; Kalhu: 859-681 BCE; Due-Sharrukin: 707-705 BCE; Ninevah: 681-612 BCE Kalhu was purpose-built to replace Ashur, the ancient capital. Ashur declined in importance 883-859 BCE.
[1]
Kalhu (Nimrud) under Ashurnasipal II. Ninevah under Sennacherib (704-681 BCE)
[2]
remained capital for rest of empire
[3]
Due-Sharrukin (707-705 BCE). [4] [1]: (The Iraq Museum 2011, [1]) [2]: (Davidson 2012, 27) [3]: (Stearns 2001, 28) [4]: (Haywood 2000, 1.13) |
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Originally, the Hoysalas had their capital at Sosavur or the Sanskrit Shashakapura, and later it was transferred to Halebid or Dorasamudra
[1]
. Dvarasamudram (or Dorasamudra) was the capital until the late fourteenth century, established in the hill-bounded area of modern Halebid in Hassan district by an eleventh-century Hoysala chief. Dvarasamudram was over 35 miles from the major area of agricultural production and settlement of the kingdom, on the Hemavati River, and 42 miles north of the Kaveri, which formed the boundary with Gangavadi and its ancient Ganga kings to the south
[2]
.
Ramanatha was expulsed from Kannanur - the loss of that capital city naturally increased Ramanatha’s interes in the plateau. From 1281 his administration on the plateau expanded, and almost certainly in the tear 1283-84, the seat of government was removed to a place called Kunadni. This was the new capital from which Ramanatha chose to survey the collapse of his riparian kingdom [3] . The later Hoysala capital Kannanur was established where the Kaveri delta began, between the centres of Chola and Pandya power in the south. Established in the uplands over the gateway to the Kaveri delta, the capital resembled the capitals of other masters of river valleys more than it did Dvarasamudram and thus reflected the now divided character of the Hoysala kingdom [2] . [1]: H.V. Sreenivasa Murthy and R. Ramakrishnan, A History of Karnataka (1978), p. 113 [2]: Burton Stein, The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara (1989), p. 16 [3]: J. Duncan M. Derrett, The Hoysalas (1957), p. 140 |
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Ctesiphon: 270-499 CE First two rulers based in Persis homeland.
[1]
Ctesiphon was the administrative capital, seat of the king and the most important for economic and strategic reasons.
[2]
Ecbatana was a summer capital.
[3]
Istakhr in Fars was an administrative, religious and economic centre that also was "the ideological heart of the empire, since the temple of the dynasty’s fire - the coronation place of many Sasanian rulers - was situated there."
[3]
Dastagird was a capital during the reign of Khurau II.
[4]
[1]: (Farrokh 2005, 3-27) Farrokh, Kevah. 2005. Sassanian Elite Cavalry AD 224-642. Osprey Publishing. [2]: (Chegini 1996, 46) Chegini, N. N. Political History, Economy and Society. 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.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [3]: (Chegini 1996, 47) Chegini, N. N. Political History, Economy and Society. 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.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [4]: (Chegini 1996, 46-47) Chegini, N. N. Political History, Economy and Society. 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.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf |
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Asaak (Astauene) established by Arsaces I. New Nisa up to first century BCE. "At later stages, the functions of a capital city were also served by Hecatompylos, Ecbatana, Rhagae, Babylon, and Ctesiphon."
[1]
near Ashkhabad. [2] Parthian capital referred to as Hekatompylos in Chinese records. "The first capital of the Parthians was Nisa in the province of Parthia. In about 217 BCE, the Parthian capital was moved to Hekatompylos, which remained as the main capital of the Parthian empire till c. 50 BCE ... During that period, Rhagae (Rayy), Ecbatana, and Ctesiphon near the river Tigris were also selected as capitals." [3] [1]: (Dabrowa 2012, 180) Dabrowa, Edward. The Arcasid Empire. in Daryaee, Touraj ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. [2]: Neil Asher Silberman (ed.), ‘The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods’, The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) [3]: (Tao 2007) Tao, Wang in Josef in Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Stewart, Sarah eds. 2007. The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. London. |
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Asaak (Astauene) established by Arsaces I. New Nisa up to first century BCE. "At later stages, the functions of a capital city were also served by Hecatompylos, Ecbatana, Rhagae, Babylon, and Ctesiphon."
[1]
near Ashkhabad. [2] Parthian capital referred to as Hekatompylos in Chinese records. "The first capital of the Parthians was Nisa in the province of Parthia. In about 217 BCE, the Parthian capital was moved to Hekatompylos, which remained as the main capital of the Parthian empire till c. 50 BCE ... During that period, Rhagae (Rayy), Ecbatana, and Ctesiphon near the river Tigris were also selected as capitals." [3] [1]: (Dabrowa 2012, 180) Dabrowa, Edward. The Arcasid Empire. in Daryaee, Touraj ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. [2]: Neil Asher Silberman (ed.), ‘The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods’, The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) [3]: (Tao 2007) Tao, Wang in Josef in Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Stewart, Sarah eds. 2007. The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. London. |
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|
[1]
[2]
[3]
Adrianople: 1413-1453 CE; Constantinople: 1453-1718 CE
Murad II’s (1421-1451 CE) capital was Edrine. [4] Murad II had a second palace built at Edrine. [5] [2]: (Palmer 1992) [3]: (Davidson 2011, 122) [4]: (Imber 2002, 143) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. [5]: (Imber 2002, 145) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. |
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Also called Benin City (see map) or Ile Ibinu.
[1]
“The population of Benin Division, which we equate with the Benin kingdom, was reckoned at about 292,000 in the 1952 census. Some 54,000 of these lived in the capital, Benin City”.
[2]
[1]: Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 4. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection [2]: Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 8. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection |
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|
Sogut: 1299-1325 CE; Bursa: 1326-1364 CE; Adrianople: 1364-1413 CE.
[1]
[2]
[3]
Residence in Bursa maybe right after conquest in 1326.
[4]
In Ottoman tradition, first Ottoman, Osman had a base at Karajahisar (Malagina in Sakarya valley) in the palace of an old Bishopric. In 1387 CE the Genovese concluded a royal treaty at Malagina. However, Bursa was the capital under Orhan right after 1326 CE. [5] Murad I had a palace built at Edrine. [6] [2]: (Palmer 1992) [3]: (Davidson 2011, 122) [4]: Personal communication. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller. 2016. Institute for Medieval Research. Division of Byzantine Research. Austrian Academy of Sciences. [5]: (Imber 2002, 144) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. [6]: (Imber 2002, 143) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. |
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Esztergom was the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary until 1256.
[1]
[1]: “Esztergom történelme - dióhéjban - Esztergom Városa,” accessed March 3, 2024, https://www.esztergom.hu/turizmus/tortenelem/112-esztergom_tortenelme_diohejban. Zotero link: KNRBEVA7 |
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Agra: 1526-1571 CE; Fatehpur Sikri: 1571-1585 CE; Lahore: 1585 CE-1598 CE; Agra: 1598-1648 CE; [Shahjahanabad; Delhi]: 1648-1857 CE dates cannot yet be machine read.
Akbar changed the royal capital of his empire four times during his rule (Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Lahore, Agra) reflecting his "changing strategic foci." [1] [2] Shah Jahan built a new capital in Delhi "Shahjahanabad". This remained the Mughals’ capital for the rest of the dynasty. [3] [1]: Richards, John F. (March 18, 1993). Johnson, Gordon [2]: Bayly, C. A., eds. The Mughal Empire. The New Cambridge history of India: 1.5. I. The Mughals and their Contemporaries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1995), p.12. [3]: Stein, Burton, A History of India (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), p.176. |
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“When this rebel learnt of Mawlây Rashïd’s arrival he fled and the new sultan was able to enter his native town peacefully. After many vicissitudes, he entered Fez in triumph in 1076/1666. The taking of this capital, without which no government can maintain itself in Morocco, marked the definitive establishment of the ’Alawite dynasty.”
[1]
“The founder of the dynasty, Mawlay al-Rashid, hastened to give Fes al-BI a new madrasa, that of the Sharrn (1081/1670). His successor, Mawly Ismail, transferred his capital to Meknès. Nevertheless, he had the mausoleum and sanctuary of Mawlay Idris rebuilt. At the beginning of the 18th century, Fez once again became the customary residence of the sultan and the central government.”
[2]
Language “On the other hand, the victory resulted in the Ottomans abandoning any idea of conquering Morocco, which remained the only Arab territory outside Turkish influence. The Arabic language thus retained its purity and authenticity in Morocco, and continued to be used for many centuries. The style of Moroccan epistolary literature and of the decrees issued by the king’s ministries remained untainted by any foreign influence. This explains why the texts written during the time of the Sa’âdï and ’Alawites (and up to the reign of Mawlây Hassan I) give the impression of having been written during the glorious age of the Umayyads in Spain and of the Almoravids, Almohads and Marinids in Morocco.”
[3]
“During the reign of Mawlay Isma‘il, Morocco was a complex society that could be divided according to a variety of overlapping social categories. Linguistically, Morocco consisted of Arabic speakers and Berber speakers.3 Religiously, Morocco was composed of an overwhelming Muslim majority and a Jewish minority.”
[4]
[1]: (Ogot 1992: 218) Ogot, B. A. 1992. ed., General History of Africa: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century., vol. V, VII vols. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/24QPFDVP [2]: (Bosworth 2007: 144) Bosworth, Clifford Edmund. 2007. ed., Historic Cities of the Islamic World. Leiden; Boston: Brill. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/HGHDXVAC [3]: (Ogot 1992: 211) Ogot, B. A. 1992. ed., General History of Africa: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century., vol. V, VII vols. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/24QPFDVP [4]: (El Hamel 2014: 156) El Hamel, Chouki. 2014. Black Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T9JFH8AS |
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"Firuzkuh was originally founded by Qotb-al-Din Mohammad as the seat of his appendage of Warsada, continued as the capital of ʿAlaʾ-al-Din Hosayn."
[1]
Firuzkuh described as "summer capital". Single period of occupation of 75 years. Destroyed by Mongols 1223 CE, so origin c1148 CE.
[2]
[1]: (Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids [2]: Thomas, David. Firuzkuh: the summer capital of the Ghurids http://www.academia.edu/188837/Firuzkuh_the_summer_capital_of_the_Ghurids |
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Accordng to the Chinese chronicle, the Pei-shih (Annals of the Wei Dynasty) the capital was Ying-chien-shih, which "was probably located at the ancient capital of Bactria, near Balkh."
[1]
Another Chinese source the Wei-shu mistakenly claimed that the capital was transferred to another city.
[1]
Capital captured by Sassanids 467 CE which forced Kidarites to retreat south of Hindu Kush to Gandhara.
[2]
[1]: (Zeimal 1996, 126) 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 [2]: (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 |
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The city of Gurgānj (also referred to as Jurjaniya, Urgench or Khorezm)
[1]
grew rapidly in the tenth and eleventh centuries as it was a terminus for the caravan routes to Volga and Russia.
[2]
[1]: Buniyatov 2015: 181. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SAEVEJFH [2]: Bosworth 2012: 302. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/B6JRSLIB |
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. The scale of Great Zimbabwe’s population relative to the surrounding territory, as well as its stone architecture and clear wealth suggests firmly that this city was the capital of the polity that surrounded it. “By about 1270 a wealthy elite had emerged at Great Zimbabwe, which laid the foundations of an elaborate urban complex and the centre of a state, constructing stone buildings of unparalleled scale and magnitude from about 1300 (Garlake 1973). For the next 150 years, Great Zimbabwe became the dominant political authority south of the Zambezi (Huffman 1996, 2007). Great Zimbabwe reached its peak during the 14th and 15th centuries, when elaborate stone walling that symbolized wealth, power, and status was extended towards outlying areas. With an estimated population of nearly 20,000, Great Zimbabwe was the largest metropolis in southern Africa.”
[1]
. “…both Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe have no equals in size (and thus importance) during their respective time periods.”
[2]
[1]: (Pikirayi 2013; 921) Innocent Pikirayi, “The Zimbabwe Culture and its Neighbours,” in The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology, eds. Peter Mitchell and Paul J. Lane (Oxford University Press, 2013): 916-928. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NVZ5T427/collection [2]: (Denbow 1986; 23) James Denbow, “A New Look at the Later Prehistory of the Kalahari,” in The Journal of African History Vol. 27, No.1 (1986): 3-28. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/X3DXN8CW/collection |
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The city of Gurgānj (also referred to as Jurjaniya, Urgench or Khorezm)
[1]
grew rapidly in the tenth and eleventh centuries as it was a terminus for the caravan routes to Volga and Russia.
[2]
[1]: Buniyatov 2015: 181. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SAEVEJFH [2]: Bosworth 2012: 302. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/B6JRSLIB |
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“The first of these states to accept Islam was the little kingdom of Gomma, situated in the very centre of this group of states, whose capital was Haggaro.”
[1]
[1]: (Trimingham 2013, 200) Trimingham, J. Spencer. 2013. Islam in Ethiopia. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/RB7C87QZ/collection |
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345-455 CE: Banavasi; 455?-? CE: Halsi; 460-? CE: Triparvata; 460?-? CE: Uchchangi. The Kadambas’ first capital was Banavasi
[1]
. Once the Empire is split in three, each division had its own capital: Halsi for the North and West, Triparvata for the South, and Uchchangi for the East
[2]
. However, none of the sources is clear regarding the dates in which these capitals were founded, and when they ceased to be capitals (as they must have done, considering that the empire was eventually reunited).
[1]: Suryanatha Kamath, A Concise History of Karnataka (1980), pp. 31 [2]: H.V. Sreenivasa Murthy and R. Ramakrishnan, A History of Karnataka (1978), p. 49 |
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"For most of its history, the empire was divided into a western and eastern half, and it lacked a single capital or political centre. In the east, the main seat of Seljuk rule was Merv ... In the west, several different cities between which the sultans moved seasonally served as capitals: Rayy ... Isfahan, Baghdad and, later, Hamadhan."
[1]
Ray under Togrïl Beg; Malik-Shah made Isfahān his capital. "they established their capitals first at Hamadan and then at Isfahan in western Iran." [2] "From their capital at Isfahan, the Saljuqs controlled Baghdad through a garrison commander (shihnah) and civil governor (’amid), but did not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the Caliphate. Attemps at independent political action by the Caliphs and their officials were, however, resolutely checked." [3] [1]: (Peacock 2015, 6-7) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh. [2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. [3]: (Bagley 1964, xxix) Bagley, F. R. C. trans. Huma’i, Jalal and Isaacs, H. D. eds. 1964. Ghazali’s Book of Counsel for Kings (Nasihat Al-Muluk). Oxford University Press. London. |
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Capital Zhongzhou.
[1]
"For 275 years the Zhou royal court was able to sustain itself at a single capital, longer than any other dynasty would be able to do for the rest of Chinese history."
[1]
was Hao capital before conquest of Shang? Duke of Zhou established a new capital near Luoyang. The old Zhou capital near Xi’an remained the based for Zhou administration. [2] Administrative capital near Xi’an is Hao. Capital near Luoyang is Zhengzhou. Capital moved to Luoyang after 771 BCE (in period following Western Zhou) because Hao overrun by invaders. [3] Capital (Hao) in Zhou heartland, Wei river valley. During the Eastern Zhou the capital was moved to Luoyang. [4] [5] [1]: (Shaughnessy 1999, 351) 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. [2]: (Roberts 2003, 15) [3]: (Roberts 2003, 16) [4]: (Haywood 2000, 1.44) [5]: (Kerr 2013, 23) |
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“It was founded by Sa’duddin in the early days of Islam, around the late 9th or early 10th century, based at Zayla or Zeila, an ancient port and trade center on the Gulf of Aden.”
[1]
In the early fourteenth century under the leadership of Imam Ahmad Gurey the capital moved to Harar in present-day Ethiopia. In the fourteenth century the Adal Sultanate was at war with the Christian Kingdom of Abyssinia under the Solomonid Dynasty. “The Imam reorganized the Muslim armies of the sultanate, transferred the headquarters from Zayla to Harar for strategic reason, and made successful diplomatic contacts with the wider Islamic world particularly with the Ottoman Empire.”
[2]
During the late sixteenth century Cassanelli noted that again the capital of the Adal Sultanate moved from Harar to Aussa. “However, the history of that unique town is something of a self-contained one after 1577, when the ruling dynasty of the once-powerful Adal Sultanate transferred its capital from Harar to the oasis of Aussa in the Danakil desert.”
[3]
[1]: (Mukhtar 2016, Encyclopedia of Empire) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2016. ‘Adal Sultanate.’ In J. Mackenzie Encyclopedia of Empire. Wiley. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FM8D55XW/library [2]: (Mukhtar 2003, 44-45) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2003. Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Mukhtar/titleCreatorYear/items/J8WZB6VI/item-list [3]: (Cassanelli 1982, 120) Cassanelli, Lee. V. 1982. The Shaping of Somali Society: Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600-1900. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TKPH7Z89/library |
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As a city-state, Harar was the capital of the Emirate. “Although Harar lost much trade because of the growing importance of the route to Tajura, the old city state remained throughout the nineteenth century a leading commercial centre and the focus of Muslim worship and learning for the whole Horn.”
[1]
[1]: (Rubenson 2008, 87) Rubenson, Sven. 2008. The Cambridge History of Africa c. 1790 – c. 1870. Edited by John E. Flint. Vol. 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 51-98. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Rubenson/titleCreatorYear/items/VRU64Q8P/item-list |
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Kulen Hills: 802ce; Hariharalaya: 803-889ce; Yasodharapura: 889-922ce; Koh Ker: 922-944ce; Yasodharapura: 922-1080ce. ’Jayavarman II [...] established his first capital in the Kulen Hills’, but ’[s]ome time after his coronation in the Kulen Hills, Jayavarman II established a new capital at Hariharalaya, near modern Roluos, supposedly to take advantage of the resources of the Tonle Sap and its floodplain’; following this, ’Yasovarman I is associated with moving the capital once again, this time centred at the Phnom Bakheng. This new city, referred to as Yasodharapura, would become the political core for most of Angkor’s kings over the next 500 years’. Then, ’[a]fter apparently usurping power in a struggle with Harshavarman I in 922 CE [Jayavarman IV] decided to construct a new capital 80 km away from the core political centre on the Tonle Sap Lake’, named Koh Ker: however, ’[f]ollowing his death the capital was returned to Angkor [i.e. Yasodharapura] and interest in Koh Ker waned with only a single inscription of the following king, Rajendravaraman, evident at the site’
[1]
. The exact year for the switch from Kulen Hills to Hariharalaya appears to be unknown.
’Jayavarman II appears to have brought significant land and regional lords into a ‘single’ domain by 802 CE. We can begin to discern a ‘united’ polity, and a series of single or at least preeminent capitals: Hariharālaya (Roluos); Yaśodharapura (Angkor); Koh Ker.’ [2] ’Early Angkor, in the eighth and early ninth centuries, consisted of two ccenters: one around Ak Yum dating from the seventh century, under what is now the western end of the West Baray; and the other, Hariharalaya, from the eighth century, at what is now called Roulos in Southeast Angkor. Both centers were unbounded and apparently low-density settlements (Pottier 2006). [...] In the late ninth century, the centre was moved to Phnom Bakheng and the East Baray built. This capital, named Yasodharapura, was also unbounded (Pottier 2000) and incorporated both Hariharalya and Ak Yum to form Greater Angkor. Thereafter until the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the locations of administrative centers and palaces moved around within the network of the urban complex. Only in the late twelfth century, with the construction of the walled and moated central enclosure of Angkor Thom, did the practice of relocating the administrative centre cease. Thereafter, the Bayon, the central temple of Angkor Thom, also became the permanent state temple and Angkor’ [3] ’We know little of the history of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and the Khmer chronicles are primarily eighteenth- and nineteenth-century court documents created in the eastern Khmer capitals, in particular Phnom Phenh, with a specific political agenda in mind.’ [4] ’Angkor was the vast low-density capital of the Khmer Kingdom, from the early 9th to the mid-14th/15th centuries of the Common Era (CE). At its peak, Angkor sprawled over nearly 1000 km2 [1] and may have housed more than three quarters of a million people [2,3]. The primary administrative centre in a kingdom that dominated most of mainland Southeast Asia by the 11th century CE, Angkor was the largest preindustrial city on Earth and remains the world’s largest archaeological site. The Angkor period is commonly understood to start in 802 CE with the proclamation of Jayavarman II as the chakravartin (universal-king) from a location in the Kulen mountains (Phnom Kulen), overlooking the vast alluvial plain where Angkor would begin to emerge in the following centuries (Figure 1). In doing so, Jayavarman confirmed himself as the great unifier; drawing Cambodia’s disparate polities together under the first ‘god king’ and establishing the Khmer state and the basis of its empire. Phnom Kulen was known as Mahendraparvata; ‘‘the hill of the great Indra’’. The extant history of Mahendraparvata is based on several inscriptions, the most well-known being an 11th century CE inscription (K.235) found at the Sdok Kak Thom temple, in eastern Thailand [4]. The inscription, dated to 1052 CE, outlines the lineage of a private family serving successive Khmer Kings for two and a half centuries, the first mentioned being Jayavarman II.’ [5] ’Founded by Yasovarman I in AD 889 to the north of the great lake of Tonle Sap, Angkor, originally known as Yasodhapura, was the capital for almost 500 years.’ [6] ’With the fading of the ANGKOR era, Cambodia shifts capitals south to Longvek, then to Udong, and finally to PHNOM PENH.This period also sees the waning of HINDUISM and the rise of THERAVADA BUDDHISM.’ [7] ’Circa 928 Jayavarman IV rules from Koh Ker, wehre he has estates some 50 miles northeast of Angkor. There he builds a new urban center, with his palace, a baray, and a stepped pyramid temple to Shiva. 944 Rajendravarman II returns the capital to Angkor. The name “Angkor,” from the Sanskrit word for “city,” was given to the capital only in the 16th century. Temple inscriptions during imperial times call it Yashodharapura, “glory—bearing city.”’ [8] ’The Khmer pronunciation of Sanskrit negara, signifying capital of a kingdom. The ancient Khmer capital now known as Angkor was originally called Yasodharapura after Yasovarman, the ruler who moved the capital there in 889.’ [9] ’EAST BARAY. Originally called Yasodharatataka after the ruler, Yasovarman, who planned its construction, this is a large artificial body of water (6 by 2.4 kilometers/3.5 by 1.5 miles) in the eastern area of Angkor (see map 5), in the midst of which a shrine called East Mebon was built in 952 by Yasovarman’s nephew Rajen- dravarman. The baray is now dry. It apparently ceased to function in the 10th century, perhaps influencing the decision of Jayavarman IV (921-941) to move to Koh Ker. When the capital was moved from Koh Ker back to Angkor, the East Baray was altered by moving the south bank farther south and raising its height from 2 meters (6.5 feet) to 5 meters (16.5 feet). This reconstruction began in the reign of Harsavarman II (941-944) and was completed during the reign of Rajendravarman (944-968).’ [10] ’HARIHARALAYA. Modern Roluos, a site located 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) southeast of Angkor (see map 5). The name refers to the god who is half Siva (Hari) and half Vishnu (Hara). Indravarman II constructed a huge reservoir here, the Indratataka, measuring 3,800 by 800 meters (2.3 by 0.5 miles), approximately 100 times larger than any previous such construction in Cambodia. Other important struc- tures here include Bakong and Lolei. The next ruler, Yasovarman I, moved the capital to the site now known as Angkor.’ [11] [1]: Hendrickson (2007), pp. 94-95 [2]: (Lustig 2009, p. 66) [3]: (Fletcher 2012, pp.297-298) [4]: (Fletcher 2012, p.313) [5]: (Penny et al 2014, p. e84252) [6]: (Scarre 1999, p.82). [7]: (Ooi and Barnhill 2004, p. 1496) [8]: (National Geographic 2009) [9]: (Miksic 2007, pp. 17-18) [10]: (Miksic 2007, p. 120) [11]: Miksic 2007, p. 138) |
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[1]
[2]
[3]
Hattusa was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. It was found to be located near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of the Kızılırmak River. Hattusa exerted dominating influence upon the civilizations of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC in Anatolia and Northern Syria. The palaces, temples, trading quarters and necropolis of this political and religious metropolis provide a comprehensive picture of a capital and bear a unique testimony to the disappeared Hittite civilization. The city’s fortifications, along with the Lion Gate, the Royal Gate and the Yazılıkaya rupestral ensemble with its sculptured friezes, represent unique artistic achievements as monuments. Hattusa was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1986 [4] . [1]: Makowski M. (2009) Świat późnej epoki brązu. pp.154-156 [In:] A. Smogorzewska (ed.) Archeologia starożytnego Bliskiego Wschodu, Warszawa: Instytut Archeologii UW, pp. 151-187 [2]: Neve P. (1992). Hattuša-- Stadt der Götter und Tempel : neue Ausgrabungen in der Hauptstadt der Hethiter (2., erw. Aufl. ed.). Mainz am Rhein: P. von Zabern. [3]: Bryce T. (2004) Life and Society in the Hittite World, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 230-257 [4]: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/377 |
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[1]
[2]
[3]
Hattusa was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. It was found to be located near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of the Kızılırmak River. Hattusa exerted dominating influence upon the civilizations of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC in Anatolia and Northern Syria. The palaces, temples, trading quarters and necropolis of this political and religious metropolis provide a comprehensive picture of a capital and bear a unique testimony to the disappeared Hittite civilization. The city’s fortifications, along with the Lion Gate, the Royal Gate and the Yazılıkaya rupestral ensemble with its sculptured friezes, represent unique artistic achievements as monuments. Hattusa was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1986 [4] . [1]: Makowski M. (2009) Świat późnej epoki brązu. pp.154-156 [In:] A. Smogorzewska (ed.) Archeologia starożytnego Bliskiego Wschodu, Warszawa: Instytut Archeologii UW, pp. 151-187 [2]: Neve P. (1992). Hattuša-- Stadt der Götter und Tempel : neue Ausgrabungen in der Hauptstadt der Hethiter (2., erw. Aufl. ed.). Mainz am Rhein: P. von Zabern. [3]: Bryce T. (2004) Life and Society in the Hittite World, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 230-257 [4]: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/377 |
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Repeatedly referenced in external writings as the most prominent of the Canaanite city-states, and sometimes described as the leader of the most powerful confederacy. Is the largest archaeological tel for Bronze Age Canaan. Described in the biblical Book of Joshua (11:10) as the "head of all [the Canaanite] kingdoms." "The textual evidence also implies that Hazor’s prominence stemmed from its central inland position and its role as a point of articulation between the peoples of Egypt and Mesopotamia…. It is also the only Canaanite city mentioned in both the Egyptian ’Excration Texts’ and the Mari texts."
[1]
[1]: Golden (2004:87). |
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Asaak (Astauene) established by Arsaces I. New Nisa up to first century BCE. "At later stages, the functions of a capital city were also served by Hecatompylos, Ecbatana, Rhagae, Babylon, and Ctesiphon."
[1]
near Ashkhabad. [2] Parthian capital referred to as Hekatompylos in Chinese records. "The first capital of the Parthians was Nisa in the province of Parthia. In about 217 BCE, the Parthian capital was moved to Hekatompylos, which remained as the main capital of the Parthian empire till c. 50 BCE ... During that period, Rhagae (Rayy), Ecbatana, and Ctesiphon near the river Tigris were also selected as capitals." [3] [1]: (Dabrowa 2012, 180) Dabrowa, Edward. The Arcasid Empire. in Daryaee, Touraj ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. [2]: Neil Asher Silberman (ed.), ‘The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods’, The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) [3]: (Tao 2007) Tao, Wang in Josef in Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Stewart, Sarah eds. 2007. The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. London. |
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Asaak (Astauene) established by Arsaces I. New Nisa up to first century BCE. "At later stages, the functions of a capital city were also served by Hecatompylos, Ecbatana, Rhagae, Babylon, and Ctesiphon."
[1]
near Ashkhabad. [2] Parthian capital referred to as Hekatompylos in Chinese records. "The first capital of the Parthians was Nisa in the province of Parthia. In about 217 BCE, the Parthian capital was moved to Hekatompylos, which remained as the main capital of the Parthian empire till c. 50 BCE ... During that period, Rhagae (Rayy), Ecbatana, and Ctesiphon near the river Tigris were also selected as capitals." [3] [1]: (Dabrowa 2012, 180) Dabrowa, Edward. The Arcasid Empire. in Daryaee, Touraj ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. [2]: Neil Asher Silberman (ed.), ‘The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods’, The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) [3]: (Tao 2007) Tao, Wang in Josef in Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Stewart, Sarah eds. 2007. The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. London. |
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Samarkand was Timur’s capital.
[1]
Shah Rukh (r.1404-1447 CE) moved the capital to Herat.
[2]
[1]: (Wise Bauer 2013, 558) Wise Bauer, S. 2013. The History of the Renaissance World: From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Conquest of Constantinople. W. W. Norton & Company. [2]: (Khan 2003, 35) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group. |
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"The appearance of urban ‘central places’ was one of the major innovations in Europe of the first millennium BC. Even if we reject centres such as the Heuneburg as truly urban, despite the concentration of wealth, trade and industry on them (the social structure would have prevented the full de- velopment of exchange as we know it on later sites), we still have a number of different urban types; administrative centres, market centres, colonies, and entrepôts for long-distance trade including ports-of-trade. Each of these classes would have its own characteristics in terms of who was resident, what public amenities were present, and in the spatial layout of the town."
[1]
"In less developed forms we may detect centralised control on the sites of the late Hallstatt period of the sixth century BC, sites such as the Heuneburg and Mont Lassois in western Europe."
[2]
[1]: (Collis 1984, 22) [2]: (Collis 1984, 16) |
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Susa was the capital of the early kings. Kudur Nahhunte moved his capital to Madaktu and later, upon the advance of the Assyrians, to Hidalu (Haidala) in the mountains.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Carter, E. and Stopler, M.W. 1984. Elam: Surveys of Political History and Archaeology. London: University of California Press. p.47 [2]: Potts, D.T. 1999. The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 271 |
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Egypt during Naqada period is a collection of quasi-polities. So for the most of IVth milenium it is impossible to indicate capital.
However according to for example B. Andelković, from the Naqada IC one can talking about pre-states and there is a suggestion of 8 Upper-Egyptian centers, from which 3 remained on the very high position and were the capital of their growing polities [1] That is Naqada, Hierakoonpolis and This. The political strength of all of three capitals is evident in the Naqada II period. [1]: Andelkovic, B. 2011. "Political Organisation of Egypt in the Predynastic Period". [in:] Teeter, E. [ed.]. Before the Pyramids: The Origin of the Egyptian Cyvilization. Chichago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. pg: 28-29. |
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During Naqada III, Naqada settlements lost their significance, probably when its polity was annexed by This or Hierakonpolis polity.
[1]
Hierakonpolis There is no agreement which of the two remained towns was the capital of the growing and at the end united Upper Egyptian state. Perhaps Hierakonpolis, because of its monumental architecture and the Main Deposit among which the Narmer Palette and King Scorpion macehead were found [2] [3] This Some believe This was the first capital because the kings of Dynasty 0 were buried at its cemetery and the fact that the This was a capital of Early Dynastic Egypt [4] [5] [6] Abydos "’The size of the graves discovered in the cemetery is larger in some instances than royal graves in Abydos dating back to the First Dynasty, which proves the importance of the people buried there and their high social standing during this early era of ancient Egyptian history,’ he [Antiquities Minister Mahmoud Afifi] added. Experts hope evidence may help prove their theory that Abydos was Egypt’s capital in the pre-dynastic and early dynastic periods." [7] [1]: Savage, S. H. "Some Recent Trends in the Archaeology of Predynastic Egypt". Journal of Archaeological Research 9/2 (2001): 129 [2]: Friedman, R. 2011. "Hierakonpolis". [in:] Before the Pyramids. The Origins of Egyptian Cyvilization. Teeter, E.[ed.]. Chicago: The Oriental Instytute of the University of Chicago. pg: 33. [3]: Adams, B. 1987. The Fort Cemetery at Hierakonpolis: Excavated by John Garstang. London-New York: KPI. pg: 179. [4]: Köhler, E. C. 2011. "The Rise of the Egyptian State" The Origins of Egyptian Cyvilization. Teeter, E.[ed.]. Chicago: The Oriental Instytute of the University of Chicago. pg: 125. [5]: Savage, S. H. "Some Recent Trends in the Archaeology of Predynastic Egypt". Journal of Archaeological Research 9/2 (2001): 128 [6]: Trigger, B. G. 2008. "The rise of civilization in Egypt". [in:] Clark J. D. [ed.]. The Cambridge History of Africa Vol. 1: From the Earliest Times to c. 500 BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pg: 526. [7]: Archaeologists find previously undiscovered Ancient Egyptian city Page accessed: 24 November, 2016 http://www.dw.com/en/archaeologists-find-previously-undiscovered-ancient-egyptian-city/a-36499226 |
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Egypt during Naqada period is a collection of quasi-polities. So for the most of IVth milenium it is impossible to indicate capital.
However according to for example B. Andelković, from the Naqada IC one can talking about pre-states and there is a suggestion of 8 Upper-Egyptian centers, from which 3 remained on the very high position and were the capital of their growing polities [1] That is Naqada, Hierakoonpolis and This. The political strength of all of three capitals is evident in the Naqada II period. [1]: Andelkovic, B. 2011. "Political Organisation of Egypt in the Predynastic Period". [in:] Teeter, E. [ed.]. Before the Pyramids: The Origin of the Egyptian Cyvilization. Chichago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. pg: 28-29. |
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“These challenges notwithstanding, the most probable conclusion is that Harlaa was Hubät/ Hobat, the capital of the Hārlā sultanate.”
[1]
[1]: (Insoll et al. 2021, 504) Insoll, Timothy et al. 2021. ‘Material Cosmopolitanism: the entrepot of Harlaa as an Islamic gateway to eastern Ethiopia’. Antiquity. Vol 95: 380. Pp 487-507. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/GGUW3WRZ/collection |
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“Honolulu, with the best harbor in the group, serving a rich and productive area, attracted the trading ships and became the commercial metropolis of the kingdom, and finally also the political capital. The growth of trade at Honolulu in the early decades of the nineteenth century caused the establishment of some facilities in the harbor, such as wharves and a shipyard.”
[1]
Language “It was after the death of Kamehameha I in 1819 that the first major changes in the Hawaiian political system occurred… In consequence, a major step of hybridization took place as the Hawaiian language was brought into written form and the term kānāwai began to be used for printed laws enacted by Ka’ahumanu in Kauikeaouli’s name… At the same time, many orally transmitted classical kānāwai, such as those regulating resource management, remained in force. The main political institutions of the classical system such as the ‘aha ali‘i, and the kālaimoku (prime minister), as well as the kia‘āina in their partly British-style hybridization, remained largely unchanged during the early Christian period.”
[2]
“In 1882, the power of appointment was vested in the governors of the four islands. Designated courts of no record, the proceedings were in the Hawaiian language… No systematic provisions were made for translating court proceedings into English or any other language until the 1885 treaty with Japan.”
[3]
[1]: (Kuykendall 1938: 19) Kuykendall, Ralph Simpson. 1938. The Hawaiian Kingdom. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii. http://archive.org/details/hawaiiankingdom0002kuyk. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QJ4Z7AAB [2]: (Gonschor 2019: 24-25) Gonschor, Lorenz. 2019. A Power in the World: The Hawaiian Kingdom in Oceania. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FB64GREZ [3]: (Beechert 1985: 45-46) Beechert, Edward D. 1985. Working in Hawaii: A Labour History. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/338XH58H |
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"The Zhengzhou site is very large. Remains are spread over an area of 25 sq. km, and northwest of this area a palace or ritual complex has recently been discovered 20km away. Unfortunately the ancient city lies beneath the modern one and cannot be systematically explored. Nevertheless its main feature, a hangtu city wall nearly 7 km in circumference, is by itself enough to show that Zhengzhou was no ordinary place."
[1]
"Huanbei probably arose in the middle or end of the 14th century BC, and lasted for less than one century; this period is now conveniently labeled the middle Shang." [2] "On the basis of new radiocarbon data, early Shang culture dates from around 1600 to 1300 BC (Expert Team 2000: 63-64). Because of the continuous cultural development from the first stage represented by the early Shang city of Zhengzhou to the later stage represented by the Xiaoshuang- qiao 小双桥 site about 20 km from Zhengzhou, the consensus is that they belong to the same culture. But we still have a short chronological gap between the early Shang remains at Xiaoshuangqiao and the later early Shang remains at Anyang in northern Henan represented by the Huayuanzhuang 花园庄 site, more commonly referred to as Huanbei 洹北 (Guangming Daily 2000). Given the similarities in artifacts and the chronological information so far, I tentatively conclude that Huanbei should be considered an early Shang site (see Chapter 17)." [3] [1]: (Bagley 1999, 165) [2]: (Jing et al 2013, 346) [3]: (Yuan 2013, 326) |
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Huining: 1122-1153CE; Zhongdu: 1153-1214 CE; Kaifeng: 1214-1233; Caizhou: 1233-1234
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“Save from the areas contiguous to Idah there was no annual tribute for the simple and sufficient reason that its collection could not be enforced, the Atas drawing the bulk of their revenues from the fruits of river piracy, organised robbery on the highroads, extortion and the sale of titles. Igala, or rather Idah its capital, must have constituted a menace to river trade.”
[1]
[1]: Clifford, Miles, and Richmond Palmer. “A Nigerian Chiefdom.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 66, 1936, pp. 393–435: 404. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TF7MM698/collection |
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French archaeologist use Abu al-Fida’s (1273-1331) account of the Ifat Sultanate’s capital at Ifat as a definitive source on the city. “According to some travellers who have been there, we say Wafat and also Gabara. It is one of the biggest cities of Habasa. There are about twenty steps between this town and Zayla. The buildings of Wafat are scattered. The abode of royalty is on one hill and the citadel (al-qal a) is on another hill. It is very far from the sea, west of Zayla. There are bananas and sugar cane. It’s on a high place (nasz min al-ar d), there is a valley in which a small river flows. It rains a lot, mostly at night.”
[1]
[1]: (Fauvelle et al. 2017, 239-295) Fauvelle, François-Xavier et al. 2007. “The Sultanate of Awfāt, its Capital and the Necropolis of the Walasma”, Annales Islamologiques. Vol. 51. Pp 239-295. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HJCMAMX7/library |
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Sources searched do not refer to a ‘capital’ of the Nri Kingdom, but it seems Igbo-Ukwu was the base of the eze Nri. There are doubts about the significance of the finds at Igbo-Ukwu and whether they indicate that this was a significant population, ritual and power centre for the Nri. “Historical ethnography indicates that Igbo-Ukwu flourished under the patronage of the Eze Nri institution.”
[1]
“At this stage any suggestions must be tentative, especially since on the local side it is still very unclear - and will remain so unless the site of Igbo-Ukwu can be re-examined in a radically novel way - whether the location excavated by Shaw was no more than a burial shrine or priest’s abode secluded in the forest, or whether contrarily it was part of a real town of that period with an industrial quarter. Either way, it is acknowledged that the manufacture and burial of so many exquisite objects, most of them essentially non-utilitarian, must be of religious and social significance, as well as economic.”
[2]
“Some Igbo communities, especially trading cities along the Niger like Onitsha and Oguta (Nzimiro 1972) and the ’holy city’ of Nri (Afigbo 1981:31-68) had elaborated chieftaincy institutions in pre-colonial times.”
[3]
“It is in this heartland that the holy centre of Nm grew up, and the ancient treasures of Igbo-Ukwu were discovered. At its greatest extent the Nri sphere of influence covered perhaps half of Igboland; nevertheless, it constituted its ritual heart, like Ife, among the Yoruba.”
[4]
[1]: Ogundiran, A. (2005). Four Millennia of Cultural History in Nigeria (ca. 2000 B.C.—A.D. 1900): Archaeological Perspectives. Journal of World Prehistory, 19(2), 133–168: 148. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/PK7F26DP/collection [2]: Sutton, J. E. G. (1991). The International Factor at Igbo-Ukwu. The African Archaeological Review, 9, 145–160: 149. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/HBPMUV6T/collection [3]: Harneit-Sievers, A. (1998). Igbo ‘Traditional Rulers’: Chieftaincy and the State in Southeastern Nigeria. Africa Spectrum, 33(1), 57–79: 59. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TUHHXK22/collection [4]: Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press, 1997: 246. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z4GK27CI/collection |
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{Karako; Ikegami-Sone} These two settlements cannot be properly defined as capital cities of a given polity. Rather, they were the largest regional centres in Kansai region. Karako (Nara prefecture) had an extent of about 30 hectares (14.8 hectares excluding circumference ditches). Ikegami-Sone’s size was about 25 hectares (7.2 hectares excluding circumference ditches)
[1]
.
[1]: K. Mizoguchi, 2013. The Archaeology of Japan. From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages tthe Rise of the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 134. |
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’The first post-Funan capital, Isanapura, shows almost complete absence of pon, and already in the early and middle 7th century mratan dominated in areas which were probably closely related to Isanapura, Kompong Speu and northern Takeo, and northern Prey Veng-southern Konpong Cham.’
[1]
’Although Chenla is used as a general term in the Chinese histories of that period, it is important to note that the inscriptions found within Cambodia never mention this name. Territories were designated according to the most important political centers, such as Bhavapura or Isanapura, the latter name being identified with Isanavarman’s capital at Sambor Prei Kuk.’
[2]
’The author’s detailed coverage of the seventh century site of Sambor Prei Kuk, which was largely inaccessible until recently, is a welcome addition. The Hindu site, dedicated to the god Shiva, is located in Kompong Thom Province east of the Great Lake, and served as the capital for Ishanavarman I (reigned c. 611-c. 635).’
[3]
’But Ishanapura was not a durable capital of the state of Chenla.’
[4]
’By about 600 they had conquered Funan and established their capital city at Isanapura, probably the contemporary city of Sambor, Cambodia. The oldest Khmer inscription, found at Angkor Borei, a former Funan stronghold south of Phnom Penh, is also from this period and is dated to 611.’
[5]
[1]: (Vickery 1998, 24) [2]: (Southworth 2004, 325) [3]: (Rooney 2004, 159) [4]: (Higham 2014b, 344) [5]: (West 2009, 160) |
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Baghdad (Iraq); Shiraz (Fars); Isfahan (Khuzestan). These three cities were the capitals of the three areas of kingship of the Buyid brothers. When ’Adud al-Duala took over Mesopotamia, Shiraz became the capital, although ’Adud al-Duala never returned there and remained in Baghdad alongside the calliph. Fars continued to be the heartland of the empire, with all civil servants being drawn from there.
[1]
[1]: Busse, H. 1975. Iran under the Būyids. In Frye, R. N. (ed.) The Cambridge History of Iran. Volume 4. The period from the Arab Invasion to the Saljuq’s. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.271 |
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Tabriz was the first capital of the Safavids; Qazvin was a later capital. Isfahan under Shah Abbas.
[1]
"In view of the vulnerability of Tabriz to Ottoman attacks, Shah Tahmasp [(1524-76)] decided to transfer the capital from Tabriz to Qazvin."
[2]
Relocated from Tabriz to Qazvin under Tahmasp, and moved to Isfahan by Abbas I.
[3]
[1]: Rudi Matthee ‘SAFAVID DYNASTY’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/safavids. [2]: E Eshraghi, ‘PERSIA DURING THE PERIOD OF THE SAFAVIDS, THE AFSHARS AND THE EARLY QAJARS’, in Chahryar Adle and Irfan Habib (eds), History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. V The Sixteenth to the Mid-Nineteenth Centuries (Paris: Unesco, 1992), p.254; Masashi Haneda and Rudi Matthee, ’ISFAHAN vii. SAFAVID PERIOD’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/isfahan-vii-safavid-period [3]: (Newman 2009) Newman, Andrew J. 2009. Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. I.B. Tauris. New York. |
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"For most of its history, the empire was divided into a western and eastern half, and it lacked a single capital or political centre. In the east, the main seat of Seljuk rule was Merv ... In the west, several different cities between which the sultans moved seasonally served as capitals: Rayy ... Isfahan, Baghdad and, later, Hamadhan."
[1]
Ray under Togrïl Beg; Malik-Shah made Isfahān his capital. "they established their capitals first at Hamadan and then at Isfahan in western Iran." [2] "From their capital at Isfahan, the Saljuqs controlled Baghdad through a garrison commander (shihnah) and civil governor (’amid), but did not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the Caliphate. Attemps at independent political action by the Caliphs and their officials were, however, resolutely checked." [3] [1]: (Peacock 2015, 6-7) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh. [2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. [3]: (Bagley 1964, xxix) Bagley, F. R. C. trans. Huma’i, Jalal and Isaacs, H. D. eds. 1964. Ghazali’s Book of Counsel for Kings (Nasihat Al-Muluk). Oxford University Press. London. |
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11th Dynasty ruled from Thebes; 12th Dynasty ruled from el-Lisht.
[1]
Amenemhet I (1991-1962 BCE) built a new capital at Itjtawy ("Seizer-of-the-Two-Lands") at a still-unidentified location. [1] near modern Lisht. [2] Full name: Itjtawyamenemhat. No royal residence apparent prior to Itjtawy. [3] [1]: (http://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/egypt02-04enl.html) [2]: (http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/articles/a/ancient_egypt_the_middle_king.aspx) [3]: (Quirke 2001 |
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Dates are tentative and approximative, and based on the following quote(s). "Manan, Jimi, and Jaja are mentioned as the successive capitals of the early Kanem-Borno empire before its shift to the location west of Lake Chad. The pre-Islamic capital of Manan should, according to the reconstructed map, be located well to the north of the lake.[...] The case of Jimi, the twelfth- and thirteenth-century capital, is equally unsolved. [...] The place to which the Sayfuwa fled after the abandonment of their homeland in Kanem is called Jaja in Ibn Said’s text."
[1]
Because it is described as the "pre-Islamic" capital, we are inferring Manin to have been the capital roughly from the start of the polity’s existence to "the adoption of Islam by the Kanembu rulers ca. A.D. 1080s",
[2]
. Jimi is estimated here to have been the capital until around 1300 due to the following quote: "The Arab historian Ibn Khaldun described a caravan with gifts arriving at Tunis in 1257 from ’the king of Kanem . . . ruler of Barnu’ (Levtzion and Hopkins 1981: 337). It is from then on that the toponym ’Borno’ appears in the text sources. This land of Borno would be of essential importance to the history of the empire since, shortly after Ibn Khaldun wrote his text, a long lingering conflict between the Sayfuwa and a neighboring nomadic ethnic group, the Bulala, broke out. This led to the collapse of the first Sayfuwa state and the abandonment of Kanem (Barth 1857-59 II: 33). The court left the old capital and migrated to a place variously called Jaja or Kaka, where a new political center was established. This Jaja/Kaka was situated in the land of Borno (Barkindo 1985: 240; Lange, 1993: 272). It seems, however, that on-going conflicts with the local population led to an abandonment of Jaja/Kaka and the Kanem-Borno mais were forced to move their seat frequently (Barkindo 1985: 245)."
[3]
As for Jaja, the last quote suggests it was the capital for at least part of the fourteenth century, but it is unclear for how long
[1]: (Gronenborn 2002: 104-106 [2]: (Ogundiran 2005: 144) [3]: (Gronenborn 2002: 103) |
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Jerusalem: 1030-951 BCE; Shechem: ??? Tirzah: 950-900 BCE; Samaria: 899-722 BCE Dates are approximate; the century-points are correct. "The book of 1 Kings (12:25) says that Jeroboam I built Shechem, but it also hints (14:17) that he later moved to Tirzah; 1 Kings specifically mentions Tirzah as the capital of the northern kingdom in the days of Baasha (15:21, 33; 16:6), Elah (16:8-9), Zimri (16:15), and the first half of the reign of Omri (16:23). Assuming that Jeroboam ruled at least part of his reign from Tirzah, as did his son Nadab, as well as Tibni, Tirzah was the seat of the first six or seven northern kings, for a period of forty to fifty years. I see no reason to doubt the authenticity of the consistent and deeply rooted information on Tirzah as the capital of Israel. The authenticity of this memory is highlighted by the fact that Tirzah does not play an important role in the rest of the Deuteronomistic History."
[1]
"Tirzah lost its importance in the early ninth century, when Omri (884-873 b.c.e.) moved the capital of the northern kingdom to Samaria, possibly in his desire to establish a link with the coastal plain and the port of Dor (de Vaux 1967, 382). Indeed, the beginning of the transformation of Israel into a more complex kingdom came with the construction of the first palace at Samaria, probably by Omri. A full-scale urban transformation of the capital and the kingdom characterizes the more advanced phase of the Omride dynasty, probably in the days of Ahab (873-852 b.c.e.)." [2] [1]: Finkelstein (2013:66) [2]: Finkelstein (2013:78) |
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Dates are tentative and approximative, and based on the following quote(s). "Manan, Jimi, and Jaja are mentioned as the successive capitals of the early Kanem-Borno empire before its shift to the location west of Lake Chad. The pre-Islamic capital of Manan should, according to the reconstructed map, be located well to the north of the lake.[...] The case of Jimi, the twelfth- and thirteenth-century capital, is equally unsolved. [...] The place to which the Sayfuwa fled after the abandonment of their homeland in Kanem is called Jaja in Ibn Said’s text."
[1]
Because it is described as the "pre-Islamic" capital, we are inferring Manin to have been the capital roughly from the start of the polity’s existence to "the adoption of Islam by the Kanembu rulers ca. A.D. 1080s",
[2]
. Jimi is estimated here to have been the capital until around 1300 due to the following quote: "The Arab historian Ibn Khaldun described a caravan with gifts arriving at Tunis in 1257 from ’the king of Kanem . . . ruler of Barnu’ (Levtzion and Hopkins 1981: 337). It is from then on that the toponym ’Borno’ appears in the text sources. This land of Borno would be of essential importance to the history of the empire since, shortly after Ibn Khaldun wrote his text, a long lingering conflict between the Sayfuwa and a neighboring nomadic ethnic group, the Bulala, broke out. This led to the collapse of the first Sayfuwa state and the abandonment of Kanem (Barth 1857-59 II: 33). The court left the old capital and migrated to a place variously called Jaja or Kaka, where a new political center was established. This Jaja/Kaka was situated in the land of Borno (Barkindo 1985: 240; Lange, 1993: 272). It seems, however, that on-going conflicts with the local population led to an abandonment of Jaja/Kaka and the Kanem-Borno mais were forced to move their seat frequently (Barkindo 1985: 245)."
[3]
As for Jaja, the last quote suggests it was the capital for at least part of the fourteenth century, but it is unclear for how long
[1]: (Gronenborn 2002: 104-106 [2]: (Ogundiran 2005: 144) [3]: (Gronenborn 2002: 103) |
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“The old capital of the kingdom is at Jiren, several miles from the new town.”
[1]
[1]: (Lewis 2001, xvi) Lewis, Herbert S. 2001. Jimma Abba Jifar, an Oromo Monarchy: Ethiopia, 1830-1932. Lawrenceville, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NRZVWSCD/collection |
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“Until the beginning of the eighteenth century, the brak resided at the right riverbank, in the capital of Jurbel, where he resided over a considerably large court.”
[1]
“It has initially Ndiourbel as its capital, situated in Mauritania near Rosso, then Ndiangue, in Senegal on the left bank of the river.”
[2]
“Ce fut le premier brak qui alla s’établir à Nder; il en fit la troisième capitale du Oualo.”
[3]
[1]: (Barry 2012, 43) Barry, Boubacar. 2012. The Kingdom of Waalo: Senegal Before the Conquest. New York: Diasporic Africa Press. Seshat URL:https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9KV5MEKN/collection [2]: (Himpan Sabatier and Himpan 2019, 125) Himpan Sabatier, Diane and Himpan, Brigitte. 2019. Nomads of Mauritania. Wilmington: Vernon Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/V4D4DFVG/collection [3]: (Barry and Amin 1985, 171) Barry, Boubacar and Amin, Samir. 1985. Le Royaume du Waalo: Le Sénégal avant la conquête. Paris: Karthala. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/7FSQKPU9/collection |
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"The Bambara established two major military kingdoms at Segou and Kaarta".
[1]
1712-1766: Segu-Koro; 1766-1861: Segu-Si-Koro. Ngolo Diarra, who ruled between 1766 and 1790, moved the capital from Segu-Koro to Segu-Si-Koro, though the source does not provide an exact year [2] . [1]: (Keil 2012, 108) Sarah Keil. Bambara. Andrea L Stanton. ed. 2012. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia. Sage. Los Angeles. [2]: M. Izard and J. Ki-Zerbo, From the Niger to the Volta, in B.A. Ogot (ed), General History of Africa, vol. 5: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries (1992), pp. 327-367 |
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“Kahone was the capital of the Kingdom of Saloum from the mid-sixteenth to the late nineteenth century.”
[1]
[1]: (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MM67I638/collection |
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Huining: 1122-1153CE; Zhongdu: 1153-1214 CE; Kaifeng: 1214-1233; Caizhou: 1233-1234
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Ashur: 911-859 BCE; Kalhu: 859-681 BCE; Due-Sharrukin: 707-705 BCE; Ninevah: 681-612 BCE Kalhu was purpose-built to replace Ashur, the ancient capital. Ashur declined in importance 883-859 BCE.
[1]
Kalhu (Nimrud) under Ashurnasipal II. Ninevah under Sennacherib (704-681 BCE)
[2]
remained capital for rest of empire
[3]
Due-Sharrukin (707-705 BCE). [4] [1]: (The Iraq Museum 2011, [1]) [2]: (Davidson 2012, 27) [3]: (Stearns 2001, 28) [4]: (Haywood 2000, 1.13) |
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“Most of the lithic inscriptions are found on the sculpted walls of the temples especially in their capital city, Kanchipuram and the port city Mamallapuram.”
[1]
[1]: (Kamlesh 2010, 563) Kamelsh, Kapur. 2010. ‘The Pallava Dynasty’ In History of Ancient India: Portraits of a Nation. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/UETBPIDE/collection |
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Kaneš, Kanesh
Kanish is one of the biggest settelments during middle bronze age in Anatolia and, moreover, it seems to have been the first place where Assyrian merchants came. However, there is no record for only one center, which would have controlled the whole central Anatolia. Scientists rather assume that there were a few politically independent polities, centralized around bigger settlements, like in the case of earlier mentioned Kanish, Purušhattum, Zalpa, Hattuš Wahšaniya and Mamma [1] [1]: Michel C. 2011. The Karum Period on the Plateau. [in:] S. McMahon (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia. New York: Oxford University Press, pg. 313-316 |
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Originally, the Hoysalas had their capital at Sosavur or the Sanskrit Shashakapura, and later it was transferred to Halebid or Dorasamudra
[1]
. Dvarasamudram (or Dorasamudra) was the capital until the late fourteenth century, established in the hill-bounded area of modern Halebid in Hassan district by an eleventh-century Hoysala chief. Dvarasamudram was over 35 miles from the major area of agricultural production and settlement of the kingdom, on the Hemavati River, and 42 miles north of the Kaveri, which formed the boundary with Gangavadi and its ancient Ganga kings to the south
[2]
.
Ramanatha was expulsed from Kannanur - the loss of that capital city naturally increased Ramanatha’s interes in the plateau. From 1281 his administration on the plateau expanded, and almost certainly in the tear 1283-84, the seat of government was removed to a place called Kunadni. This was the new capital from which Ramanatha chose to survey the collapse of his riparian kingdom [3] . The later Hoysala capital Kannanur was established where the Kaveri delta began, between the centres of Chola and Pandya power in the south. Established in the uplands over the gateway to the Kaveri delta, the capital resembled the capitals of other masters of river valleys more than it did Dvarasamudram and thus reflected the now divided character of the Hoysala kingdom [2] . [1]: H.V. Sreenivasa Murthy and R. Ramakrishnan, A History of Karnataka (1978), p. 113 [2]: Burton Stein, The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara (1989), p. 16 [3]: J. Duncan M. Derrett, The Hoysalas (1957), p. 140 |
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"Eulmash-shakin-shumi (1004-988), founder of the dynasty, came to the throne during this turbulent period characterized by famine and Aramaean invasions. Several direct or veiled references in later chronicles or historical narratives point to unsettled conditions in the north-western section of the country. It may have been at this time that the residential city of the king was established in a less vulnerable area, at Kar-Marduk rather than at Babylon."
[1]
Language [1]: (Brinkman, 297) Brinkman, J.A. 1982. “Babylonia.” In The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 3, Part 1: The Prehistory of the Balkans, the Middle East and the Aegean World, Tenth to Eighth Centuries B.C., edited by John Boardman, I.E.S. Edwards, N.G.L. Hammond, and E. Sollberger, 282-312. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/IWUWJEQ3. |
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Sogut: 1299-1325 CE; Bursa: 1326-1364 CE; Adrianople: 1364-1413 CE.
[1]
[2]
[3]
Residence in Bursa maybe right after conquest in 1326.
[4]
In Ottoman tradition, first Ottoman, Osman had a base at Karajahisar (Malagina in Sakarya valley) in the palace of an old Bishopric. In 1387 CE the Genovese concluded a royal treaty at Malagina. However, Bursa was the capital under Orhan right after 1326 CE. [5] Murad I had a palace built at Edrine. [6] [2]: (Palmer 1992) [3]: (Davidson 2011, 122) [4]: Personal communication. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller. 2016. Institute for Medieval Research. Division of Byzantine Research. Austrian Academy of Sciences. [5]: (Imber 2002, 144) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. [6]: (Imber 2002, 143) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. |
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{Karako; Ikegami-Sone} These two settlements cannot be properly defined as capital cities of a given polity. Rather, they were the largest regional centres in Kansai region. Karako (Nara prefecture) had an extent of about 30 hectares (14.8 hectares excluding circumference ditches). Ikegami-Sone’s size was about 25 hectares (7.2 hectares excluding circumference ditches)
[1]
.
[1]: K. Mizoguchi, 2013. The Archaeology of Japan. From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages tthe Rise of the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 134. |
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“Following the collapse of the Yüan dynasty in 1368, its last emperor, the Mongol ejen qaghan (emperor, hereafter spelled kaghan) Toghon Temür, retired from Beijing and returned to Mongolia with his army. Karakorum once again became the capital of a Mongol state, one which now ruled essentially within its own ethnic boundaries. This country, which extended from Manchuria to Kyrgyzstan between the Great Wall of China and Lake Baikal, was a relatively large entity, and its ambitions to regain sovereignty over China still caused considerable anxiety to the Ming dynasty, which had supplanted the Yüan in China. »
[1]
Karakorum was then destroyed by the Ming in 1380.
[2]
[1]: (Ishjamts 2003, 210-211) [2]: (Sanders 1996, 175) |
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Kashgar; Bukhara; Balasagun; Suyab.
[1]
"On October 23, 999, a Karakhanid army entered Bukhara without opposition, took control of the Samanid treasury, rounded up the remaining Samanis, and settled into their palace."
[1]
At this time Gurjang was the capital of Khwarazm.
[1]
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
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“The great ruler Acutavikranta Kalabhra ruled from Kaveripumpattinam in Tanjore district at the mouth of the river probably in the fourth century A.D. The second capital of the Kalabhras was at Madura.”
[1]
[1]: (Gupta 1989, 24) Gupta, Parmanand. 1989. Geography from Ancient Indian Coins and Seals. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/5Z4TFP7P/collection |
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The capital of the Emirate was Khandax, the modern city of Heraklion.
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“Arugtai now searched for a suitable descendant of the Golden Lineage to place on the throne, and travelled to the city of Bishbalyg (Besh-Baligh) in the Chagaadai (Chagadai) Khanate and supported Tömör Khaan. From there he invited the youngest son of Elbeg Khaan, Buyanshir (Buniyashir 1379–1412), and in 1408 proclaimed him emperor with the reign title Ölziitömör. Arugtai made Khar-Khorin (Qaraqorum) the capital city and assumed the rank of taish (taishi – ‘grand preceptor’), becoming the supreme military commander. Arugtai Taish’s homeland was in the Khölönbuir (Hulun Buir) region.
[1]
Language “The Oirats were separated from the Mongols proper in the 12th and 13th centuries, and their languages became differentiated. Persian historian Rashid al-Din noted that the Oirats’ vernacular was distinct even in Chinggis Khan’s time. For this reason, some attributes of ancient Mongolian phonetics are observable in the Oirat dialect. Linguistic and phonetic studies of modern Oirats living in Mongolia, Kalmykia, Köke-Nuur, Amdo, Alshaa, and Xinjiang show that, due to historical upheavals and migrations, the Oirats prevented their vernacular from dissolving into neighboring Mongols’ languages. Accordingly, Professor G. D. Sanzheev states that “although the Oirats migrated greatly during the last six or seven centuries, their language has not changed from what it was in the 13th century” (Sanjeev 1953: 7). Traces of the phonetic components of the Oirat dialect and its historical evolution, linguistic forms, and vocabulary during the 17th century can be found in documents written in “Clear Script,” while characteristics of the modern Oirat dialect can be detected in various extant sub-dialects. According to Sanzheev, the 17th-century Oirat dialect has similarities to Middle Mongolian as well as to the modern Mogul and Dagur languages (Sanjeev 1953: 33).”
[2]
[1]: (Jamsran 2010: 499) Jamsran, L. 2010. “The Crisis of the Forty and the Four,” in The History of Mongolia: Volume II, Yuan and Late Medieval Period, ed. David Sneath, vol. 2, 3 vols. Kent: Global Oriental. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/D8IE2XAD [2]: (Tumurtogoo 2014: 3) Tumurtogoo, D. 2014. “The Formation of the Oirat Dialect,” Senri Ethnological Studies, Oirat People: Cultural Uniformity and Diversification, 86, no. 1 (2014): 1–7. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/MGHTH44W |
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Archaeological and epigraphic evidence shows that Knossos was the seat of a political authority controlling most of the island. To use the worlds of M. Popham "Close control over much of the island was being exercised, in part throughout a centralized bureaucracy which recorded contributions in produce, flocks of animals, localized labour forces, manufactured goods and stores of military equipment and their owners, the last indicating the build-up of considerable part in weapons and chariotry. Perhaps it was fear of this potential threat which led some other powerful state to extinguish the danger and to pillage and burn the Palace at Knossos along with its surrounding mansions."
[1]
[2]
[3]
[1]: Popham, M. R. 1994. "Late Minoan II to the end of the Bronze Age," in Evely, D., Hughes-Brock, H., and Momigliano, N. (eds), Knossos. A Labyrinth of History. Papers in Honour of Sinclair Hood, London, 89-102 [2]: see also Bennet, J. 1988. "Outside in the distance: problems in understanding the economic geography of Mycenaean palatial territories," in Olivier, J.-P. and Palaima, T. G. (eds), Text, Tablets and Scribes. Studies in Mycenaean Epigraphy and Economy Offered to Emmett L. Bennett, Jr. (Minos Suppl. 10), Salamanga, 19-42 [3]: Bennet, J. 1990. "Knossos in context: comparative perspectives on the Linear B administration of LM II-III Crete," American Journal of Archaeology 94, 193-211. |
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Kulen Hills: 802ce; Hariharalaya: 803-889ce; Yasodharapura: 889-922ce; Koh Ker: 922-944ce; Yasodharapura: 922-1080ce. ’Jayavarman II [...] established his first capital in the Kulen Hills’, but ’[s]ome time after his coronation in the Kulen Hills, Jayavarman II established a new capital at Hariharalaya, near modern Roluos, supposedly to take advantage of the resources of the Tonle Sap and its floodplain’; following this, ’Yasovarman I is associated with moving the capital once again, this time centred at the Phnom Bakheng. This new city, referred to as Yasodharapura, would become the political core for most of Angkor’s kings over the next 500 years’. Then, ’[a]fter apparently usurping power in a struggle with Harshavarman I in 922 CE [Jayavarman IV] decided to construct a new capital 80 km away from the core political centre on the Tonle Sap Lake’, named Koh Ker: however, ’[f]ollowing his death the capital was returned to Angkor [i.e. Yasodharapura] and interest in Koh Ker waned with only a single inscription of the following king, Rajendravaraman, evident at the site’
[1]
. The exact year for the switch from Kulen Hills to Hariharalaya appears to be unknown.
’Jayavarman II appears to have brought significant land and regional lords into a ‘single’ domain by 802 CE. We can begin to discern a ‘united’ polity, and a series of single or at least preeminent capitals: Hariharālaya (Roluos); Yaśodharapura (Angkor); Koh Ker.’ [2] ’Early Angkor, in the eighth and early ninth centuries, consisted of two ccenters: one around Ak Yum dating from the seventh century, under what is now the western end of the West Baray; and the other, Hariharalaya, from the eighth century, at what is now called Roulos in Southeast Angkor. Both centers were unbounded and apparently low-density settlements (Pottier 2006). [...] In the late ninth century, the centre was moved to Phnom Bakheng and the East Baray built. This capital, named Yasodharapura, was also unbounded (Pottier 2000) and incorporated both Hariharalya and Ak Yum to form Greater Angkor. Thereafter until the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the locations of administrative centers and palaces moved around within the network of the urban complex. Only in the late twelfth century, with the construction of the walled and moated central enclosure of Angkor Thom, did the practice of relocating the administrative centre cease. Thereafter, the Bayon, the central temple of Angkor Thom, also became the permanent state temple and Angkor’ [3] ’We know little of the history of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and the Khmer chronicles are primarily eighteenth- and nineteenth-century court documents created in the eastern Khmer capitals, in particular Phnom Phenh, with a specific political agenda in mind.’ [4] ’Angkor was the vast low-density capital of the Khmer Kingdom, from the early 9th to the mid-14th/15th centuries of the Common Era (CE). At its peak, Angkor sprawled over nearly 1000 km2 [1] and may have housed more than three quarters of a million people [2,3]. The primary administrative centre in a kingdom that dominated most of mainland Southeast Asia by the 11th century CE, Angkor was the largest preindustrial city on Earth and remains the world’s largest archaeological site. The Angkor period is commonly understood to start in 802 CE with the proclamation of Jayavarman II as the chakravartin (universal-king) from a location in the Kulen mountains (Phnom Kulen), overlooking the vast alluvial plain where Angkor would begin to emerge in the following centuries (Figure 1). In doing so, Jayavarman confirmed himself as the great unifier; drawing Cambodia’s disparate polities together under the first ‘god king’ and establishing the Khmer state and the basis of its empire. Phnom Kulen was known as Mahendraparvata; ‘‘the hill of the great Indra’’. The extant history of Mahendraparvata is based on several inscriptions, the most well-known being an 11th century CE inscription (K.235) found at the Sdok Kak Thom temple, in eastern Thailand [4]. The inscription, dated to 1052 CE, outlines the lineage of a private family serving successive Khmer Kings for two and a half centuries, the first mentioned being Jayavarman II.’ [5] ’Founded by Yasovarman I in AD 889 to the north of the great lake of Tonle Sap, Angkor, originally known as Yasodhapura, was the capital for almost 500 years.’ [6] ’With the fading of the ANGKOR era, Cambodia shifts capitals south to Longvek, then to Udong, and finally to PHNOM PENH.This period also sees the waning of HINDUISM and the rise of THERAVADA BUDDHISM.’ [7] ’Circa 928 Jayavarman IV rules from Koh Ker, wehre he has estates some 50 miles northeast of Angkor. There he builds a new urban center, with his palace, a baray, and a stepped pyramid temple to Shiva. 944 Rajendravarman II returns the capital to Angkor. The name “Angkor,” from the Sanskrit word for “city,” was given to the capital only in the 16th century. Temple inscriptions during imperial times call it Yashodharapura, “glory—bearing city.”’ [8] ’The Khmer pronunciation of Sanskrit negara, signifying capital of a kingdom. The ancient Khmer capital now known as Angkor was originally called Yasodharapura after Yasovarman, the ruler who moved the capital there in 889.’ [9] ’EAST BARAY. Originally called Yasodharatataka after the ruler, Yasovarman, who planned its construction, this is a large artificial body of water (6 by 2.4 kilometers/3.5 by 1.5 miles) in the eastern area of Angkor (see map 5), in the midst of which a shrine called East Mebon was built in 952 by Yasovarman’s nephew Rajen- dravarman. The baray is now dry. It apparently ceased to function in the 10th century, perhaps influencing the decision of Jayavarman IV (921-941) to move to Koh Ker. When the capital was moved from Koh Ker back to Angkor, the East Baray was altered by moving the south bank farther south and raising its height from 2 meters (6.5 feet) to 5 meters (16.5 feet). This reconstruction began in the reign of Harsavarman II (941-944) and was completed during the reign of Rajendravarman (944-968).’ [10] ’HARIHARALAYA. Modern Roluos, a site located 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) southeast of Angkor (see map 5). The name refers to the god who is half Siva (Hari) and half Vishnu (Hara). Indravarman II constructed a huge reservoir here, the Indratataka, measuring 3,800 by 800 meters (2.3 by 0.5 miles), approximately 100 times larger than any previous such construction in Cambodia. Other important struc- tures here include Bakong and Lolei. The next ruler, Yasovarman I, moved the capital to the site now known as Angkor.’ [11] [1]: Hendrickson (2007), pp. 94-95 [2]: (Lustig 2009, p. 66) [3]: (Fletcher 2012, pp.297-298) [4]: (Fletcher 2012, p.313) [5]: (Penny et al 2014, p. e84252) [6]: (Scarre 1999, p.82). [7]: (Ooi and Barnhill 2004, p. 1496) [8]: (National Geographic 2009) [9]: (Miksic 2007, pp. 17-18) [10]: (Miksic 2007, p. 120) [11]: Miksic 2007, p. 138) |
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"The Achaemenids found in Sogdiana an urban civilization. Along two divergent canals fed by the Zarafshan, the proto-Dargom and the Bulungur, two gigantic sites, Afrasiab-Samarkand and Kok Tepe — each covering more than two hundred hectares — were occupied from the 8th or 7th century before our era. The valley of the Zarafshan had already known an earlier urban phase at the site of Sarazm, a small distance upstream from Samarkand, but this phase had ended a millenium before. Kok Tepe declined rapidly, but Samarkand became for two millennia the greatest city of Sogdiana, and, with Merv and Bactra, one of the very great cities of western Central Asia."
[1]
[1]: (De la Vaissière 2005, 17) |
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’Umi-a-Līlōa (reigned c. 1580-1590) ’moved the royal seat from its traditional base in Waipi’o Valley to Kona District on the leeward side’.
[1]
[1]: (Kirch 2010, 82, 103) Patrick Vinton Kirch. 2010. How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai’i. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. |
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“Under the name of Kororofa, their capital, this once powerful tribe is often referred to in the history of Bornu and Kano.”
[1]
One reference to another capital city, as well as Kororofa/Kwararafa, but for ethnic group of Jukun so may not be relevant to this polity: “Relics and remains were observed at some of the historical sites visited. These sites include: Byepye and Kwararafa (which were earlier capital cities of the Jukun before they moved to Wukari), and other relevant places that bear on the research area.”
[2]
[1]: Ruxton, F. H. (1908). Notes on the Tribes of the Muri Province. Journal of the Royal African Society, 7(28), 374–386: 378. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2AXUQGFB/collection [2]: Zhema, S. (2017). A History of the Social and Political Organization of the Jukun of Wukari Division, c.1596–1960 [Benue State University]: 12. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/U667CC36/collection |
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The White Rajahs resided in Kuching. ’The city was founded in 1839 by James (later Sir James) Brooke, who also founded the Brooke Raj and became ruler of Sarawak. He built the city’s first European-style house on the jungled southern bank of the muddy, crocodile-infested Sarawak River, 15 miles (24 km) from the South China Sea.’
[1]
’During the first phase of Sarawak’s history, Broke sent numerous punitive expeditions out from Kuching in an attempt to pacify the area. After each successful attempt in lands which belonged to the Sultan of Brunei, Brooke renewed his efforts to be granted dominion over the newly pacified area in exchange for financial remuneration. With each pacification came new Iban migrations. Piece by piece, the Brooke Raj was extended, eating up the territory of Brunei, while the Iban population continued to move in the same general direction, although not as quickly as the government (Figures 1.2 and 1.3).’
[2]
The Iban population itself was not organized around a capital, and permanent urban migration set in late, temporary labour migration being the norm for the duration of White Rajah rule.
[1]: http://www.britannica.com/place/Kuching [2]: Austin, Robert Frederi. 1978. “Iban Migration: Patterns Of Mobility And Employment In The 20Th Century”, 13p |
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{Kufa: 750-762 CE; Baghdad: 762-833 CE; Al-Raqqah: 796-809 CE; Samarra: 833-893 CE; Baghdad 833-946 CE}
[1]
. Samarra was the military and administrative headquarters of the Caliphate 836-870 CE.
[2]
Merv was the capital of the caliphate from 810-819 CE.
[3]
Both Baghdad and Samarra were purpose built cities. [1]: Lapidus, Ira A., History of Islamic Society 2nd edition(Cambridge, 2002) [2]: (Lapidus 2012, 106) [3]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
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“It was from the ruins of the Kanem empire that a new empire emerged known as Kanem Borno with its capital at Ngazargamu.”
[1]
“The Borno dynasty had its capital in the city of Ngazargamu on the banks of the Yo River, near what is now the border between the modern states of Niger and Nigeria. More information about Mai Idris exists than for any other Borno ruler prior to the nineteenth century, due to the survival of Ibn Fartuwa’s panegyric chronicle for the first twelve years of Mai Idris’ reign.”
[2]
Birni Gazargamu seems to be an alternate spelling for Ngazargamu: “The state was governed by a group of individuals whom we shall call the ruling class, almost all of whom lived in the capital, Birni Gazargamu before the nineteenth century, and Kukawa during the nineteenth century.”
[3]
[1]: ADEFUYE, A., & Adefuye, A. I. (1984). The Kanuri factor in Nigeria – Chad relations. Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 12(3/4), 121–137: 122. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/3D2ZCZP4/collection [2]: Cory, S. (2009). The Man Who Would Be Caliph: A Sixteenth-Century Sultan’s Bid for an African Empire. The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 42(2), 179–200: 187. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FCX99F3P/collection [3]: Brenner, L. (1973). Sources of Constitutional Thought in Borno. Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 7(1), 49–65: 51. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/BGCV72TB/collection |
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Kulen Hills: 802ce; Hariharalaya: 803-889ce; Yasodharapura: 889-922ce; Koh Ker: 922-944ce; Yasodharapura: 922-1080ce. ’Jayavarman II [...] established his first capital in the Kulen Hills’, but ’[s]ome time after his coronation in the Kulen Hills, Jayavarman II established a new capital at Hariharalaya, near modern Roluos, supposedly to take advantage of the resources of the Tonle Sap and its floodplain’; following this, ’Yasovarman I is associated with moving the capital once again, this time centred at the Phnom Bakheng. This new city, referred to as Yasodharapura, would become the political core for most of Angkor’s kings over the next 500 years’. Then, ’[a]fter apparently usurping power in a struggle with Harshavarman I in 922 CE [Jayavarman IV] decided to construct a new capital 80 km away from the core political centre on the Tonle Sap Lake’, named Koh Ker: however, ’[f]ollowing his death the capital was returned to Angkor [i.e. Yasodharapura] and interest in Koh Ker waned with only a single inscription of the following king, Rajendravaraman, evident at the site’
[1]
. The exact year for the switch from Kulen Hills to Hariharalaya appears to be unknown.
’Jayavarman II appears to have brought significant land and regional lords into a ‘single’ domain by 802 CE. We can begin to discern a ‘united’ polity, and a series of single or at least preeminent capitals: Hariharālaya (Roluos); Yaśodharapura (Angkor); Koh Ker.’ [2] ’Early Angkor, in the eighth and early ninth centuries, consisted of two ccenters: one around Ak Yum dating from the seventh century, under what is now the western end of the West Baray; and the other, Hariharalaya, from the eighth century, at what is now called Roulos in Southeast Angkor. Both centers were unbounded and apparently low-density settlements (Pottier 2006). [...] In the late ninth century, the centre was moved to Phnom Bakheng and the East Baray built. This capital, named Yasodharapura, was also unbounded (Pottier 2000) and incorporated both Hariharalya and Ak Yum to form Greater Angkor. Thereafter until the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the locations of administrative centers and palaces moved around within the network of the urban complex. Only in the late twelfth century, with the construction of the walled and moated central enclosure of Angkor Thom, did the practice of relocating the administrative centre cease. Thereafter, the Bayon, the central temple of Angkor Thom, also became the permanent state temple and Angkor’ [3] ’We know little of the history of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and the Khmer chronicles are primarily eighteenth- and nineteenth-century court documents created in the eastern Khmer capitals, in particular Phnom Phenh, with a specific political agenda in mind.’ [4] ’Angkor was the vast low-density capital of the Khmer Kingdom, from the early 9th to the mid-14th/15th centuries of the Common Era (CE). At its peak, Angkor sprawled over nearly 1000 km2 [1] and may have housed more than three quarters of a million people [2,3]. The primary administrative centre in a kingdom that dominated most of mainland Southeast Asia by the 11th century CE, Angkor was the largest preindustrial city on Earth and remains the world’s largest archaeological site. The Angkor period is commonly understood to start in 802 CE with the proclamation of Jayavarman II as the chakravartin (universal-king) from a location in the Kulen mountains (Phnom Kulen), overlooking the vast alluvial plain where Angkor would begin to emerge in the following centuries (Figure 1). In doing so, Jayavarman confirmed himself as the great unifier; drawing Cambodia’s disparate polities together under the first ‘god king’ and establishing the Khmer state and the basis of its empire. Phnom Kulen was known as Mahendraparvata; ‘‘the hill of the great Indra’’. The extant history of Mahendraparvata is based on several inscriptions, the most well-known being an 11th century CE inscription (K.235) found at the Sdok Kak Thom temple, in eastern Thailand [4]. The inscription, dated to 1052 CE, outlines the lineage of a private family serving successive Khmer Kings for two and a half centuries, the first mentioned being Jayavarman II.’ [5] ’Founded by Yasovarman I in AD 889 to the north of the great lake of Tonle Sap, Angkor, originally known as Yasodhapura, was the capital for almost 500 years.’ [6] ’With the fading of the ANGKOR era, Cambodia shifts capitals south to Longvek, then to Udong, and finally to PHNOM PENH.This period also sees the waning of HINDUISM and the rise of THERAVADA BUDDHISM.’ [7] ’Circa 928 Jayavarman IV rules from Koh Ker, wehre he has estates some 50 miles northeast of Angkor. There he builds a new urban center, with his palace, a baray, and a stepped pyramid temple to Shiva. 944 Rajendravarman II returns the capital to Angkor. The name “Angkor,” from the Sanskrit word for “city,” was given to the capital only in the 16th century. Temple inscriptions during imperial times call it Yashodharapura, “glory—bearing city.”’ [8] ’The Khmer pronunciation of Sanskrit negara, signifying capital of a kingdom. The ancient Khmer capital now known as Angkor was originally called Yasodharapura after Yasovarman, the ruler who moved the capital there in 889.’ [9] ’EAST BARAY. Originally called Yasodharatataka after the ruler, Yasovarman, who planned its construction, this is a large artificial body of water (6 by 2.4 kilometers/3.5 by 1.5 miles) in the eastern area of Angkor (see map 5), in the midst of which a shrine called East Mebon was built in 952 by Yasovarman’s nephew Rajen- dravarman. The baray is now dry. It apparently ceased to function in the 10th century, perhaps influencing the decision of Jayavarman IV (921-941) to move to Koh Ker. When the capital was moved from Koh Ker back to Angkor, the East Baray was altered by moving the south bank farther south and raising its height from 2 meters (6.5 feet) to 5 meters (16.5 feet). This reconstruction began in the reign of Harsavarman II (941-944) and was completed during the reign of Rajendravarman (944-968).’ [10] ’HARIHARALAYA. Modern Roluos, a site located 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) southeast of Angkor (see map 5). The name refers to the god who is half Siva (Hari) and half Vishnu (Hara). Indravarman II constructed a huge reservoir here, the Indratataka, measuring 3,800 by 800 meters (2.3 by 0.5 miles), approximately 100 times larger than any previous such construction in Cambodia. Other important struc- tures here include Bakong and Lolei. The next ruler, Yasovarman I, moved the capital to the site now known as Angkor.’ [11] [1]: Hendrickson (2007), pp. 94-95 [2]: (Lustig 2009, p. 66) [3]: (Fletcher 2012, pp.297-298) [4]: (Fletcher 2012, p.313) [5]: (Penny et al 2014, p. e84252) [6]: (Scarre 1999, p.82). [7]: (Ooi and Barnhill 2004, p. 1496) [8]: (National Geographic 2009) [9]: (Miksic 2007, pp. 17-18) [10]: (Miksic 2007, p. 120) [11]: Miksic 2007, p. 138) |
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’Kumase. Now officially spelled Coomassie. The derivation is from kum, to kill, and ase, under, beneath, i.e. ‘under the kill (tree)’, from a large tree under which executions used to take place, when the town was the head-quarters of the Ashanti paramount chief.’
[1]
’Kumasi was the political, administrative, religious, and cultural capital of the Asante Union and of Greater Asante. In the 19th century, the culture of Kumasi, with its heterogeneous population including peoples drawn from all over the territories under the Asantehene, Muslims from as far afield as the Maghreb and Mecca, and European visitors from the coast, took a shape distinct from that of the surrounding villages (Bowdich 1819, Freeman 1967 [1898]). Kumasi dwellers believed themselves, and were believed to be, more refined than villagers, and the term kuraseni became one of insult, meaning a “rude” person. The word Kumasisem, meaning “the Kumasi way of life,” was in turn applied to the new settler in Kumasi who outdid the old-timers in exhibiting the Kumasi life-style.’
[2]
[1]: Rattray, R. S. (Robert Sutherland) 1916. “Ashanti Proverbs: (The Primitive Ethics Of A Savage People)”, 92 [2]: Arhin, Kwame 1983. “Peasants In 19Th-Century Asante”, 475 |
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’Kumase. Now officially spelled Coomassie. The derivation is from kum, to kill, and ase, under, beneath, i.e. ‘under the kill (tree)’, from a large tree under which executions used to take place, when the town was the head-quarters of the Ashanti paramount chief.’
[1]
’Kumasi was the political, administrative, religious, and cultural capital of the Asante Union and of Greater Asante. In the 19th century, the culture of Kumasi, with its heterogeneous population including peoples drawn from all over the territories under the Asantehene, Muslims from as far afield as the Maghreb and Mecca, and European visitors from the coast, took a shape distinct from that of the surrounding villages (Bowdich 1819, Freeman 1967 [1898]). Kumasi dwellers believed themselves, and were believed to be, more refined than villagers, and the term kuraseni became one of insult, meaning a “rude” person. The word Kumasisem, meaning “the Kumasi way of life,” was in turn applied to the new settler in Kumasi who outdid the old-timers in exhibiting the Kumasi life-style.’
[2]
[1]: Rattray, R. S. (Robert Sutherland) 1916. “Ashanti Proverbs: (The Primitive Ethics Of A Savage People)”, 92 [2]: Arhin, Kwame 1983. “Peasants In 19Th-Century Asante”, 475 |
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Al-Zuhri (c1130-1155 CE) "considered Ghana the capital of the Janawa"
[1]
Royal capital of Ghana kingdom has yet to be found. Kumbi Saleh (Ghana) was trader’s city.
[2]
"In the course of Ghana’s long history, the king’s capital was undoubtably moved from one place to another." [3] The last capital was Kumbi Saleh, "about 320 kilometres north of modern Bamako. Here too there was a town where the king of Ghana lived, and another town nearby where the Muslim traders had their houses and stables." [3] [1]: (Levtzion and Spaulding 2003, 24) [2]: (Devisse 1988, 416) [3]: (Davidson 1998, 28) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London. |
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Al-Zuhri (c1130-1155 CE) "considered Ghana the capital of the Janawa"
[1]
Royal capital of Ghana kingdom has yet to be found. Kumbi Saleh (Ghana) was trader’s city.
[2]
"In the course of Ghana’s long history, the king’s capital was undoubtably moved from one place to another." [3] The last capital was Kumbi Saleh, "about 320 kilometres north of modern Bamako. Here too there was a town where the king of Ghana lived, and another town nearby where the Muslim traders had their houses and stables." [3] [1]: (Levtzion and Spaulding 2003, 24) [2]: (Devisse 1988, 416) [3]: (Davidson 1998, 28) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London. |
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Kyoto was the official capital of the Japanese empire, and residence of the imperial family, from 794 until 1868.
[1]
For much of Japanese history, however,, the imperial family were figureheads and in practice did not control the country there were a number of other cities which were set up as administrative capitals which were inhabited by these wielding power. ’At the end of the Kamakura period, Kyoto once again became the political center of Japan when the Ashikaga shoguns took up residence in the Muromachi section of the city and established the military government that is commonly referred to as the Muromachi period.’
[1]
During the Northern and Southern Courts (1336-92[CE]) The Northern Court situated at Kyoto. The Southern Court was located at Yoshino ’Both claimed to be the legitimate imperial line. It was not until 1392 that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408), Takauji’s grandson and third Ashikaga shogun, was able to reconcile the two courts and reinstate imperial succession through the Northern Court line.’
[2]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.75. [2]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.7. |
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Kyoto was the official capital of the Japanese empire, and residence of the imperial family, from 794 until 1868.
[1]
For much of Japanese history, however, the imperial family were figureheads and in practice did not control the country there were a number of other cities which were set up as administrative capitals which were inhabited by these wielding power. In this era the shogunate’s seat of power was Kamakura near present-day Tokyo.’
[2]
Kamakura ’was Yoritomo’s traditional support-base, and he was moreover suspicious of the intrigues and undesirable influences in Kyoto.’
[3]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.75. [2]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.3. [3]: Henshall, Kenneth.2012. A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower. Palgrave Macmillan. New York. [Third Edition]. p.35. |
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Kyoto was the official capital of the Japanese empire, and residence of the imperial family, from 794 until 1868.
[1]
For much of Japanese history, however,, the imperial family were figureheads and in practice did not control the country there were a number of other cities which were set up as administrative capitals which were inhabited by these wielding power. In the Tokugawa period Tokugawa Ieyasu established Edo [Tokyo] as his capital, Edo, however, only became the official capital after the Meiji Restoration.
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.75. |
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Kyoto was the official capital of the Japanese empire, and residence of the imperial family, from 794 until 1868.
[1]
For much of Japanese history, however,, the imperial family were figureheads and in practice did not control the country there were a number of other cities which were set up as administrative capitals which were inhabited by these wielding power. ‘The Azuchi-Momoyama period takes its name from two castles built by warrior-rulers in the second half of the 16th century. Azuchi Castle was built by Oda Nobunaga on the shores of Lake Biwa near Kyoto. Toyotomi Hideyoshi built his castle, Momoyama (Peach Mountain), at Fushimi on what was then the outskirts of Kyoto.’
[2]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.75. [2]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.11. |
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"The Achaemenids found in Sogdiana an urban civilization. Along two divergent canals fed by the Zarafshan, the proto-Dargom and the Bulungur, two gigantic sites, Afrasiab-Samarkand and Kök Tepe - each covering more than two hundred hectares - were occupied from the 8th or 7th century before our era.2 The valley of the Zarafshan had already known an earlier urban phase at the site of Sarazm, a small distance upstream from Samarkand, but this phase had ended a millenium before.3 Kök Tepe declined rapidly, but Samarkand became for two millenia the greatest city of Sogdiana, and, with Merv and Bactra, one of the very great cities of western Central Asia."
[1]
[1]: (De la Vaissière 2005, 17) |
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Agra: 1526-1571 CE; Fatehpur Sikri: 1571-1585 CE; Lahore: 1585 CE-1598 CE; Agra: 1598-1648 CE; [Shahjahanabad; Delhi]: 1648-1857 CE dates cannot yet be machine read.
Akbar changed the royal capital of his empire four times during his rule (Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Lahore, Agra) reflecting his "changing strategic foci." [1] [2] Shah Jahan built a new capital in Delhi "Shahjahanabad". This remained the Mughals’ capital for the rest of the dynasty. [3] [1]: Richards, John F. (March 18, 1993). Johnson, Gordon [2]: Bayly, C. A., eds. The Mughal Empire. The New Cambridge history of India: 1.5. I. The Mughals and their Contemporaries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1995), p.12. [3]: Stein, Burton, A History of India (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), p.176. |
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“Fifty kilometres to its north, Lambaye was the capital of the Kingdom of Baol from the mid-sixteenth to the late nineteenth century.”
[1]
[1]: (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MM67I638/collection |
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" There were five capitals in the empire. The Supreme Capital of empire was located not far away from Shira Muren River in the neighborhood of the present city of Boro Khoton, Inner Mongolia. The Central Capital was situated near the Shira Muren River inflow point to Liao River. These are zones of residence of Kitans and other pastoral nomads of empire. The East Capital was near city of Liao-yang in the area of settlement of Bohai peoples. Two last capital cities were situated within the area of the Chinese people residence. The West Capital is the modern city of Ta-T’ung in Shansi province while the South one is the modern city of Peking (Steinhadrt 1997)."
[1]
"In 918, in another step toward establishing a more permanent regime, Apao-chi ordered the building of a great capital city, the Imperial Capital (Huang-tu), later to be known as the Supreme Capital (Shang-ching). This was constructed at Lin-huang, north of the Shira muren (a place that later became the Mongol city of Boro Khoton), in the ancient central territory of the Khitan tribes."
[2]
[1]: (Kradin 2014, 153) [2]: (Twitchett 1994, 63) |
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“Of England’s 2.2 million people in 1485, less than 10 percent lived in cities. Of these, London was by far the largest (see map 3). It was at once the capital, the legal center, and the primary seaport for trade with Europe.”
[1]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 16) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U |
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’We know little of the history of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and the Khmer chronicles are primarily eighteenth- and nineteenth-century court documents created in the eastern Khmer capitals, in particular Phnom Phenh, with a specific political agenda in mind.’
[1]
’Angkor was the vast low-density capital of the Khmer Kingdom, from the early 9th to the mid-14th/15th centuries of the Common Era (CE). At its peak, Angkor sprawled over nearly 1000 km2 [1] and may have housed more than three quarters of a million people [2,3]. The primary administrative centre in a kingdom that dominated most of mainland Southeast Asia by the 11th century CE, Angkor was the largest preindustrial city on Earth and remains the world’s largest archaeological site. The Angkor period is commonly understood to start in 802 CE with the proclamation of Jayavarman II as the chakravartin (universal-king) from a location in the Kulen mountains (Phnom Kulen), overlooking the vast alluvial plain where Angkor would begin to emerge in the following centuries (Figure 1). In doing so, Jayavarman confirmed himself as the great unifier; drawing Cambodia’s disparate polities together under the first ‘god king’ and establishing the Khmer state and the basis of its empire. Phnom Kulen was known as Mahendraparvata; ‘‘the hill of the great Indra’’. The extant history of Mahendraparvata is based on several inscriptions, the most well-known being an 11th century CE inscription (K.235) found at the Sdok Kak Thom temple, in eastern Thailand [4]. The inscription, dated to 1052 CE, outlines the lineage of a private family serving successive Khmer Kings for two and a half centuries, the first mentioned being Jayavarman II.’
[2]
’With the fading of the ANGKOR era, Cambodia shifts capitals south to Lovek, then to Udong, and finally to PHNOM PENH.This period also sees the waning of HINDUISM and the rise of THERAVADA BUDDHISM.’
[3]
’944 Rajendravarman II returns the capital to Angkor. The name “Angkor,” from the Sanskrit word for “city,” was given to the capital only in the 16th century. Temple inscriptions during imperial times call it Yashodharapura, “glory—bearing city.”’
[4]
’The Khmer pronunciation of Sanskrit negara, signifying capital of a kingdom. The ancient Khmer capital now known as Angkor was originally called Yasodharapura after Yasovarman, the ruler who moved the capital there in 889.’
[5]
’Here are the most salient traits of the Post-Classic: [...] The capital in various locations between the Great Lake and the Delta.’
[6]
’But in the face of attacks from both Ayutthaya and the Cham, Suryavarman decided to retreat from the old site of Angkor and to move the capital to the area of Phnom Penh. After the fall of Cam- bodia, missions continued to arrive in China, in 1435, 1436, 1452, and 1499, indicating that the kingdom was still sufficiently integrated to be able to conduct foreign relations. The Angkor period, however, had come to an end.’
[7]
’First and most dramatic, Angkor’s empire fell apart. During the second quarter of the 13th century Angkorian forces were withdrawn from Champa. By mid-century most of the peninsula, areas west of the Chaophraya river, and northern Thailand had broken away, to be followed shortly by Lopburi and other states in the Chaophraya plain. By 1297 Angkor was defending against Tai attacks from the west. After new Tai pressure forced what some his- torians claim was a temporary withdrawal from Angkor during the mid- to late 14th century (various dates between 1350 and 1389 have been proposed), Khmer rulers may have abandoned the great capital in the 1430s or 1440s in favor of Phnom Penh in the southeast. It is equally plausible that Angkor was never actually abandoned, but that a more powerful royal lineage established itself at Phnom Penh in ri- valry with the old Angkorian family.78 In either case, the 14th century enfeebled central power. Thus Angkor’s disintegration began some- what earlier but overlapped substantially with that of the Upper Burma state, whose problems began in the 1280s, which suffered a major military-political crisis in the 1360s, and which also limped along into the 15th century.’
[8]
’In a belated effort to woo Chinese trade, between 1371 and 1419 Angkor sent more tribute missions to China than in the previous 500 years, but the subsequent effective transfer of the capital to the more commercially viable site of Phnom Penh marked the eclipse of pro-Angkor elements within the Khmer elite.87’
[9]
’The pioneer was a Dominican name d Gaspar da Cruz, who arrived in 1555 at the court of King Ang Chan -one of Post-Classic Cambodia’s greatest rulers-in the then capital, Lovek.’,
[10]
’The initial move seems to have been to Srei Santhor, about 30 km (19 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh, at some time in the fourteenth century; then, briefly, to Phnom Penh itself. By about 1528, the Cambodian court under its first great Post-Angkorian king, Ang Chan I, had moved once and for all to the all to the Quatre Bras region, establishing a new capital at Lovek (Longvek), on the right bank of the Tonle Sap River, 50 km (30 miles) north of Phnom Penh. Love, like Udong and Phnom Penh- the town s that succeeded it as the capital- was thoroughly international, with foreign quarters for Malay, Japanese, and Chinese traders (there were as many as 3,000 of the last in the 1540s). There Ang Chan (who really did exist) built a golden palace and at least four major wats, erecting a huge, four-faced Buddha of wood, the stone foundation of which survive in one of the town’s vicars. The capital was fortified by earthen ramparts topped with palisades; these ramparts, which form a huge rectangle, are still visible.’
[11]
[1]: (Fletcher 2012, p.313) [2]: (Penny et al 2014, p. e84252) [3]: (Ooi and Barnhill 2004, p. 1496) [4]: (National Geographic 2009) [5]: (Miksic 2007, pp. 17-18) [6]: (Coe 2003, p. 195) [7]: (Miksic 2007, p. 84) [8]: (Lieberman 2003, pp. 236-237) [9]: (Lieberman 2003, p. 240) [10]: (Coe 2003, p. 201) [11]: (Coe 2003, pp. 208-209) |
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First capital at Shengle under Gui. Gui "declared himself Prince of Wei before he assumed the imperial mantle in the new capital Pingcheng in early 399 CE."
[1]
Pingcheng capital from 398 CE. [2] Pingcheng (or Datong, in Shanxi). [3] In the decade after the move of the capital to Luoyang "walls and palaces were built and populations transferred from Pingcheng and other centers in North China." [4] Building of Luoyang began 493 CE and capital moved there by Xiaowendi 494 CE. [5] "Having been in ruins from 311, Luoyang came back to life when Xiaowendi moved his capital there from Pingcheng in 494 as part of his overall strategy to sinify Tuoba institutions." [6] [1]: (Xiong 2009, 21) [2]: (Xiong 2009, 393) [3]: (Graff 2002, 97) [4]: (Graff 2002, 98) [5]: (Xiong 2009, ci) [6]: (Xiong 2009, 347) |
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removed apostrophes and dates to make code machine readable. Precise dates vary.
Han capitals: Chang ’an 206 BCE - 23 CE; Luoyang 23-220 CE. [1] Luoyang chosen as capital 25 CE. [2] Chang ’an: 25 - 36 CE; Luoyang: 36 - 190 CE; Chang ’an: 190-220 CE [1]: (Davidson 2012, 72-73) [2]: (Bielenstein 1986, 262) |
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Susa was the capital of the early kings. Kudur Nahhunte moved his capital to Madaktu and later, upon the advance of the Assyrians, to Hidalu (Haidala) in the mountains.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Carter, E. and Stopler, M.W. 1984. Elam: Surveys of Political History and Archaeology. London: University of California Press. p.47 [2]: Potts, D.T. 1999. The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 271 |
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Capital in Madrid was established in 1561.
[1]
[1]: (Philips and Philips 2010, 190) Philips, William D. and Carla Rahn Philips. 2010. A Concise History of Spain. Cambridge: CUP. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZT84ZFTP |
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Capital in Madrid was established in 1561.
[1]
[1]: (Philips and Philips 2010, 190) Philips, William D. and Carla Rahn Philips. 2010. A Concise History of Spain. Cambridge: CUP. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZT84ZFTP |
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“Carlos and his queen, María Amalia of Saxony, whom he married in 1738, left Naples for Madrid with mixed feelings. The kingdom of Naples and Sicily boasted a huge and elegant capital city, a strong economy, and a manageable size. The Spanish capital at Madrid was presumably much less attractive – even though Carlos had been born and raised there – and carried with it the burdens of a global empire.”(Philips and Philips 2010: 187) Philips, William D. and Carla Rahn Philips. 2010. A Concise History of Spain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZT84ZFTP
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“The earliest organized missionary effort was made in the territory of the Nayaks of Madura, and their capital, Madura, itself constituted an important missionary centre, though it shared this honour very early with Trichinopoly.”
[1]
“His successor Kumara Krishnappa Nayaka made Tiruchirappalli his capital, and it served as the capital of Madurai Nayak Kingdom from 1616 to 1634 and from 1665 to 1736.”
[2]
[1]: (Sathyanatha Aiyar 1991, 2) Sathyanatha Aiyar, R. 1991. History of the Nayaks of Madura. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databak/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/E2S7TSI5/collection [2]: (Pottamkulam, 2021) Pottamkulam, George Abraham. 2021. Tamilnadu A Journey in Time Part II: People, Places and Potpourri. Chennai: Notion Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/25RBPDP2/collection |
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“Under the Pandyas their capital Madurai and the Pandyan port Korkai were great centres of trade and commerce.”
[1]
[1]: (Agnihotri 1988, 351) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection |
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“It is easy to outline the approximate boundaries of the “traditional” Pāṇḍyan kingdom, with Madurai (Kūṭal) as its capital, known since the Caṅkam literature in the early centuriesof our era, along with Iḷaṅkōykkuṭi (modern Ambasamudram in the Tirunēlveli district) as an important administrative nexus from the 8th century onwards. In these modern districts of Madurai and Tirunēlveli, to which may be added the districts of Śivagaṅga, Rāmanāthapuram, Virutunakar (Virudhunagar) and Tūttukkuṭi (commonly spelled as Thoothukudi), most of the inscriptions until the 10th century—time of the annexation of this territory by the Cōḻa dynasty—, are dated with a Pāṇḍyan king’s regnal year.”
[1]
“Although Madurai was a political capital, and a base from which the Pandyan ruler extended his military control over a wider area, the city also had an economic dimension, for it was an inland market center.”
[2]
[1]: (Gillet 2017, 221-222) Gillet, Valérie. 2017. ‘Devotion and Dominion Ninth-Century Donations of a Pāṇḍyan King in Temples along the River Kāvēri’. Indo-Iranian Journal. Vol 60. Pp. 219-283. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/TRKMDSA9/collection [2]: (Lewandowski 1977, 187) Lewandowski Susan J. 1977. ‘Changing Form and Function in the Ceremonial and the Colonial Port City in India: An Historical Analysis of Madurai and Madras’. Modern Asian Studies. Vol 11: 2. Pp. 183-212. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/3D6JUUGJ/collection |
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“The earliest organized missionary effort was made in the territory of the Nayaks of Madura, and their capital, Madura, itself constituted an important missionary centre, though it shared this honour very early with Trichinopoly.”
[1]
“His successor Kumara Krishnappa Nayaka made Tiruchirappalli his capital, and it served as the capital of Madurai Nayak Kingdom from 1616 to 1634 and from 1665 to 1736.”
[2]
[1]: (Sathyanatha Aiyar 1991, 2) Sathyanatha Aiyar, R. 1991. History of the Nayaks of Madura. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databak/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/E2S7TSI5/collection [2]: (Pottamkulam, 2021) Pottamkulam, George Abraham. 2021. Tamilnadu A Journey in Time Part II: People, Places and Potpourri. Chennai: Notion Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/25RBPDP2/collection |
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“The great ruler Acutavikranta Kalabhra ruled from Kaveripumpattinam in Tanjore district at the mouth of the river probably in the fourth century A.D. The second capital of the Kalabhras was at Madura.”
[1]
[1]: (Gupta 1989, 24) Gupta, Parmanand. 1989. Geography from Ancient Indian Coins and Seals. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/5Z4TFP7P/collection |
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Also known as Madura. “The Pandya dynasty was centered in the city of Madurai on the extreme southern coast of India.”
[1]
[1]: (Middleton 2015, 716) 2015. ‘Pandya Dynasty’ In World Monarchies and Dynasties: Vol 1-3. Edited by John Middleton. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/BISZJCDB/collection |
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Mahdia: 921-948 CE; Al-Mansuriya: 948-975 CE; Cairo: 975-1171 CE
Capital city, al-Qahira (Cairo) founded in 969 CE [1] Caliph al-Muizz moved from Tunisia to Cairo in 973 CE. Cairo built to replace the former Egyptian capital al-Fustat with the intention for it to be more glorious than Baghdad. [2] Jawhar nor al-Mu’izz "had any great interest in creating an imperial capital in Egypt. The credit for that move should be given to al-Mu’izz’s son and successor, under whose rule the Egyptian capital would rapidly emerge as a brilliant centre of the arts and learning. Prince Nazir, who took the name al-Aziz B’illah, ’Mighty by God’, upon his ascension in 975, publically announced his succession by riding out to offer the prayer for the Feast of the Sacrifice under the mizalla, a parasol shaped like a bejewelled shield hung from the point of a lance held by a courtier. No Fatimid caliph is know to have previously used one, and it seems likely that the Fatimid mizalla was synonymous with and ultimately derived from the shamsa or shamsiyya used earlier by the Abbasid caliphs as a symbol of authority." [3] Fustat remained Egypt’s economic and administrative centre. [1]: (Lapidus 2012, 241) [2]: (Oliver 1977, 10) [3]: (Bloom 2007, 110) Bennison A K, Gascoigne A L eds. 2007. Cities in the Pre-Modern Islamic World: The Urban Impact of Religion, State and Society. Routledge. |
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’Jayavarman VI set up his capital at Mahidharapura, whose location is currently unknown but is assumed to be above the Dangrek, where he is also associated with the foundation of Phimai (Groslier 1973:146). Jacques argues that there is no proof that Mahidharapura is around this site (Jacques and Lafond 2004:301). Both Jayavaraman VI and his successor, Dharanindravarman I, appear to have maintained their control away from Angkor [i.e. Yasodharapura].’ However, ’Suryavarman II took the throne in 1113 CE, returning the focus to Angkor as the centre of the Khmer political world’
[1]
. ’Early Angkor, in the eighth and early ninth centuries, consisted of two centers: one around Ak Yum dating from the seventh century, under what is now the western end of the West Baray; and the other, Hariharalaya, from the eighth century, at what is now called Roulos in Southeast Angkor. Both enters were unbounded and apparently low-density settlements (Pottier 2006). [...] In the late ninth century, the centre was moved to Phnom Bakheng and the East Baray built. This capital, named Yasodharapura, was also unbounded (Pottier 2000) and incorporated both Hariharalya and Ak Yum to form Greater Angkor. Thereafter until the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the locations of administrative enters and palaces moved around within the network of the urban complex. Only in the late twelfth century, with the construction of the walled and moated central enclosure of Angkor Thom, did the practice of relocating the administrative centre cease. Thereafter, the Bayon, the central temple of Angkor Thom, also became the permanent state temple at Angkor’
[2]
’Circa 928 Jayavarman IV rules from Koh Ker, wehre he has estates some 50 miles northeast of Angkor. There he builds a new urban center, with his palace, a baray, and a stepped pyramid temple to Shiva. 944 Rajendravarman II returns the capital to Angkor. The name “Angkor,” from the Sanskrit word for “city,” was given to the capital only in the 16th century. Temple inscriptions during imperial times call it Yashodharapura, “glory—bearing city.”’
[3]
’The Khmer pronunciation of Sanskrit negara, signifying capital of a kingdom. The ancient Khmer capital now known as Angkor was originally called Yasodharapura after Yasovarman, the ruler who moved the capital there in 889.’
[4]
[1]: (Hendrickson 2007, p. 98) [2]: (Fletcher 2012, pp.297-298) [3]: (National Geographic 2009) [4]: (Miksic 2007, pp. 17-18) |
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Also known as Manyakheta, probably established as capital during the reign of Amoghavarsha Nrupathunga I (800-878 CE). There is much scholarly debate regarding which city or cities served as capitals to the Empire before Malkhed: candidates include Latur, Mayurakhindi, Ellora, and Manpur
[1]
.
[1]: Jayashri Mishra, Social and Economic Conditions Under the Imperial Rashtrakutas (1992), pp. 199-205 |
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The phrase "Mdaŋ i Bhûmi Matarâm" found in inscriptions means "Medang in the land of Mataram", which means the kingdom name is Medang with its capital in Mataram.
[1]
The capital was in the mid-ninth century moved to another site in Central Java, Mamrati, and then again around half a century later to Poh Pitu.
[2]
When Medang moved to East Java around 929, the capital was placed firstly at Tamwlang for a very short time, and then moved to Watu Galuh.
[3]
It finally moved to Wwatan.
[4]
[1]: (Muljana 2005, 84) [2]: (Poesponegoro and Notosusanto 2008, 159) [3]: (Brown 2004, 68) [4]: (Boechari 1976, 14) |
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Dates are tentative and approximative, and based on the following quote(s). "Manan, Jimi, and Jaja are mentioned as the successive capitals of the early Kanem-Borno empire before its shift to the location west of Lake Chad. The pre-Islamic capital of Manan should, according to the reconstructed map, be located well to the north of the lake.[...] The case of Jimi, the twelfth- and thirteenth-century capital, is equally unsolved. [...] The place to which the Sayfuwa fled after the abandonment of their homeland in Kanem is called Jaja in Ibn Said’s text."
[1]
Because it is described as the "pre-Islamic" capital, we are inferring Manin to have been the capital roughly from the start of the polity’s existence to "the adoption of Islam by the Kanembu rulers ca. A.D. 1080s",
[2]
. Jimi is estimated here to have been the capital until around 1300 due to the following quote: "The Arab historian Ibn Khaldun described a caravan with gifts arriving at Tunis in 1257 from ’the king of Kanem . . . ruler of Barnu’ (Levtzion and Hopkins 1981: 337). It is from then on that the toponym ’Borno’ appears in the text sources. This land of Borno would be of essential importance to the history of the empire since, shortly after Ibn Khaldun wrote his text, a long lingering conflict between the Sayfuwa and a neighboring nomadic ethnic group, the Bulala, broke out. This led to the collapse of the first Sayfuwa state and the abandonment of Kanem (Barth 1857-59 II: 33). The court left the old capital and migrated to a place variously called Jaja or Kaka, where a new political center was established. This Jaja/Kaka was situated in the land of Borno (Barkindo 1985: 240; Lange, 1993: 272). It seems, however, that on-going conflicts with the local population led to an abandonment of Jaja/Kaka and the Kanem-Borno mais were forced to move their seat frequently (Barkindo 1985: 245)."
[3]
As for Jaja, the last quote suggests it was the capital for at least part of the fourteenth century, but it is unclear for how long
[1]: (Gronenborn 2002: 104-106 [2]: (Ogundiran 2005: 144) [3]: (Gronenborn 2002: 103) |
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Bania: 811-892 CE; Mansura: 892-1026 CE; Thatta: 1026-1241 CE, Muhammed Tur: 1241-1317 CE; Thatta: 1317-1351 CE
[1]
The original capital of Mansura was sacked in 1026 CE, when the Soomra dynasty moved the capital to Thatta. Shifts in river courses resulted in a transfer of the capital to Muhammed Tur during the years 1241 CE-1317 CE. After declaring independence from Delhi a period of instability took place, with some semblance of authority claimed from the former capital of Thatta. [2] [1]: Panhwar, M. H. "Chronological Dictionary of Sind, (Karachi, 1983) pp. 188;Panhwar, M.H, An illustrated Historical Atlas of Soomra Kingdom of the Sindh p. 93 [2]: Panhwar, M.H, An illustrated Historical Atlas of Soomra Kingdom of the Sindh p. 93 |
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Hulegu made Maragha the capital. This location, in Azarbaijan, had the best pastureland. The Ilkhans lived under tents.
[1]
[2]
Tabriz became the the capital 1281 CE.
[3]
Capital moved to Sultaniya 1313 CE: "Founded in about 1285 by Arghun, the sixth Ilkhanid ruler of Persia, who was attracted by its abundant pastures and used it as his summer capital, Sultaniya became the seat of empire under his son Mohammed Oljeytu Khudabanda in 1313."
[4]
Tabriz "developed into a great metropolis" but was not a capital.
[2]
[1]: (Morgan 2015, 63) Morgan, David. 2015. Medieval Persia 1040-1797. Routledge. [2]: (Morgan 2015, 69) Morgan, David. 2015. Medieval Persia 1040-1797. Routledge. [3]: (Houtsma et al. 1993, 586) Houtsma, M Th. Wensinck, A J. Gibb, H A R. Heffening, W. Levi-Provencal, E. 1993. First Encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913-1936. E.J. Brill. Leiden. [4]: (Marozzi 2004, 133) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London. |
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“The Ajuran introduced an Islamic theocratic state headquartered in Marak.”
[1]
[1]: (Mukhtar 2003, 35) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2003. Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Mukhtar/titleCreatorYear/items/J8WZB6VI/item-list |
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The phrase "Mdaŋ i Bhûmi Matarâm" found in inscriptions means "Medang in the land of Mataram", which means the kingdom name is Medang with its capital in Mataram.
[1]
The capital was in the mid-ninth century moved to another site in Central Java, Mamrati, and then again around half a century later to Poh Pitu.
[2]
When Medang moved to East Java around 929, the capital was placed firstly at Tamwlang for a very short time, and then moved to Watu Galuh.
[3]
It finally moved to Wwatan.
[4]
[1]: (Muljana 2005, 84) [2]: (Poesponegoro and Notosusanto 2008, 159) [3]: (Brown 2004, 68) [4]: (Boechari 1976, 14) |
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{Mazaca; Ariaratheia; Mazaca-Eusebeia} Mazaca, or Mazaca-Eusebeia, was the main capital of Cappadocia(Sherwin-White, 1984, p40), although Araiathes II attempted to build another capital named after himself (Ariaratheia) which “sank into oblivion” (Rostovteff, p839)
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{Mazaca; Ariaratheia; Mazaca-Eusebeia} Mazaca, or Mazaca-Eusebeia, was the main capital of Cappadocia(Sherwin-White, 1984, p40), although Araiathes II attempted to build another capital named after himself (Ariaratheia) which “sank into oblivion” (Rostovteff, p839)
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“In the intervening fertile region of Cayor lie several large centres of population such as Mpal, surrounded by plantations of ground nuts, Luga father south, and Mdaud, the old capital of the Kingdom of Cayor.”
[1]
[1]: (Reclus 1892, 159) Reclus, Elisee et al. 1892. The Earth and Its Inhabitants: West Africa. New York: D. Appleton and Company. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2494BGCZ/collection |
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"In 395 AD the Roman empire was divided into two parts with the Western Roman Empire with its capital at Rome, and the Eastern Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople."
[1]
At time of Constantine: "Rome was now only the nominal capital of the Roman Empire. Two new cities had emerged as the major political centres of the empire: Milan in the west and Constantinople in the east. In both cases this was in large part due to their strategic locations." [2] "there is no sign that Theodosius ever thought of restoring the unified Empire of his grandfather, or still less of moving his base back to Italy. Instead, a separate court was reestablished in Italy, ruling mainly from Ravenna. As the evidence collected by Andrew Gillet demonstrates for the first time, the Western court did eventually move back to Rome - and in fact the letters from members of the Western Imperial family denouncing the ’Robber Council of Ephesus’ which were instigated by Leo, bishop of Rome, and were sent in early 450, happen to mark the precise moment when a truly ’Roman’ empire was reestablished, if with only a quarter century of life before it." [3] [1]: (Morgan 2012) Morgan, James F. 2012. The Roman Empire. Fall of the West; Survival of the East. AuthorHouse. Bloomington. [2]: (Hughes 2012) Hughes, Iran. 2012. Aetius: Attila’s Nemesis. Casemate Publishers. [3]: (Bjornlie 2016, 55) Bjornlie, Shane M. Governmental Administration. in Arnold, Jonathan J. Bjornlie, Shane M. Sessa, Kristina. eds. 2016. A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy. BRILL. Leiden. |
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“When this rebel learnt of Mawlây Rashïd’s arrival he fled and the new sultan was able to enter his native town peacefully. After many vicissitudes, he entered Fez in triumph in 1076/1666. The taking of this capital, without which no government can maintain itself in Morocco, marked the definitive establishment of the ’Alawite dynasty.”
[1]
“The founder of the dynasty, Mawlay al-Rashid, hastened to give Fes al-BI a new madrasa, that of the Sharrn (1081/1670). His successor, Mawly Ismail, transferred his capital to Meknès. Nevertheless, he had the mausoleum and sanctuary of Mawlay Idris rebuilt. At the beginning of the 18th century, Fez once again became the customary residence of the sultan and the central government.”
[2]
Language “On the other hand, the victory resulted in the Ottomans abandoning any idea of conquering Morocco, which remained the only Arab territory outside Turkish influence. The Arabic language thus retained its purity and authenticity in Morocco, and continued to be used for many centuries. The style of Moroccan epistolary literature and of the decrees issued by the king’s ministries remained untainted by any foreign influence. This explains why the texts written during the time of the Sa’âdï and ’Alawites (and up to the reign of Mawlây Hassan I) give the impression of having been written during the glorious age of the Umayyads in Spain and of the Almoravids, Almohads and Marinids in Morocco.”
[3]
“During the reign of Mawlay Isma‘il, Morocco was a complex society that could be divided according to a variety of overlapping social categories. Linguistically, Morocco consisted of Arabic speakers and Berber speakers.3 Religiously, Morocco was composed of an overwhelming Muslim majority and a Jewish minority.”
[4]
[1]: (Ogot 1992: 218) Ogot, B. A. 1992. ed., General History of Africa: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century., vol. V, VII vols. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/24QPFDVP [2]: (Bosworth 2007: 144) Bosworth, Clifford Edmund. 2007. ed., Historic Cities of the Islamic World. Leiden; Boston: Brill. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/HGHDXVAC [3]: (Ogot 1992: 211) Ogot, B. A. 1992. ed., General History of Africa: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century., vol. V, VII vols. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/24QPFDVP [4]: (El Hamel 2014: 156) El Hamel, Chouki. 2014. Black Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T9JFH8AS |
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Napata: 800-716 BCE; Memphis: 716-664 BCE; Napata: 664-591 BCE; Meroe: 591-300 BCE
Capital began at Napata at the foot of the sacred Gebel Barkal mountain. [1] The Kushite ruler of Egypt was crowned in Napata. [2] In c716 BCE Shabaka moved the capital and royal residence from Napata to Memphis [3] (or Thebes? [4] ). Memphis was the capital of the immediate successors of Peye [5] possibly until Taharqa (690-664 BCE). The capital was at Napata when the city was raided in 591 BCE. Capital moved to Meroe under Shandi. [6] [7] Butana was an administrative city. [8] "a stele from Kawa records that Taharqo was crowned at Memphis, and Shabaqo, Shabitqo, and Taharqo are all known to have carried out building works there. This made excellent political sense (Tanis being too remote geographically to serve as the focus for a united Egypt), but there were also sound ideological reasons for boosting the importance of the Memphite area, for in this way the Kushite pharaohs could associate themselves directly with the great rulers of the Old Kingdom." [9] Memphis became the chief royal residence. [9] [1]: (Mokhtar ed. 1981, 285) [2]: (Török 1997, 154) [3]: (Török 1997, 167) [4]: (Stearns 2001, 31) [5]: (Mokhtar ed. 1981, 284) [6]: (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2011, [1]) [8]: (Török 1997, 153) [9]: (Taylor 2000, 349) |
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The "early Egyptian state was a centrally controlled polity ruled by a (god-)king from the Memphis region." One reason Memphis is considered the likely main administrative centre is the large number of tombs of administrative officials located in the region.
[1]
Founded at the beginning of the 1st Dynasty. [2] Known as White Wall [2] (Ineb=hedj(w) = "white wall(s), i.e the royal palace enclosure walls) or Memphis (Greek Memphis < Egyptian Mn-nfr, an abbreviation of the longer name for the funerary complex of king Pepi I.) [3] "’The size of the graves discovered in the cemetery is larger in some instances than royal graves in Abydos dating back to the First Dynasty, which proves the importance of the people buried there and their high social standing during this early era of ancient Egyptian history,’ he [Antiquities Minister Mahmoud Afifi] added. Experts hope evidence may help prove their theory that Abydos was Egypt’s capital in the pre-dynastic and early dynastic periods." [4] [1]: (Bard 2000, 64-65) [2]: (Malek 2000, 104) [3]: (Thompson 2012, 1) [4]: Archaeologists find previously undiscovered Ancient Egyptian city Page accessed: 24 November, 2016 http://www.dw.com/en/archaeologists-find-previously-undiscovered-ancient-egyptian-city/a-36499226 |
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Memphis: 1293-1278 BCE; Per-Ramesse: 1250-1069 BCE Per-Ramesse: [1278-1237 BCE]-1069 BCE
A distinction should be drawn between major centres of economic and religious activity and the political center of the New Kingdom. Memphis remained the important political center until the Ramesside capital shift into the Delta. If a timeline were to be drawn up of the shift of importance commonly attributed to New Kingdom cities, it might look like this: Thebes: 1570-1373 BCE; Akhetaten: 1373-1330 BCE; Thebes: 1330-[1278-1237 BCE]; Per-Ramesse: [1278-1237 BCE]-1069 BCE Ramses II (c1278-1237 BCE) created new capital at Per-Ramesse: “the house of Ramses”. [1] |
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Original name was hw.t-k3-Ptah ("Estate/house of the spirit of Ptah")
[1]
founded at the beginning of the 1st Dynasty.
[2]
Known as White Wall
[2]
(Ineb=hedj(w) = "white wall(s), i.e the royal palace enclosure walls) or Memphis (Greek Memphis < Egyptian Mn-nfr, an abbreviation of the longer name for the funerary complex of king Pepi I.)
[1]
This original site was "probably gradually replaced in importance by the more populated suburbs further to the south, approximately to the east of Teti’s pyramid. Djed-isut, the name of this part of the city, derived from the name of Teti’s pyramid and its pyramid town. The royal palaces of Djedkara and Pepy I (and possibly also that of Unas) may, however, have already been transferred further south ... to places in the valley east of the present South Saqqara and separated from Djed-isut by a lake." [2] [1]: (Thompson 2012, 1) [2]: (Malek 2000, 104) |
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Original name was hw.t-k3-Ptah ("Estate/house of the spirit of Ptah")
[1]
founded at the beginning of the 1st Dynasty.
[2]
Known as White Wall
[2]
(Ineb=hedj(w) = "white wall(s), i.e the royal palace enclosure walls) or Memphis (Greek Memphis < Egyptian Mn-nfr, an abbreviation of the longer name for the funerary complex of king Pepi I.)
[1]
This original site was "probably gradually replaced in importance by the more populated suburbs further to the south, approximately to the east of Teti’s pyramid. Djed-isut, the name of this part of the city, derived from the name of Teti’s pyramid and its pyramid town. The royal palaces of Djedkara and Pepy I (and possibly also that of Unas) may, however, have already been transferred further south ... to places in the valley east of the present South Saqqara and separated from Djed-isut by a lake." [2] [1]: (Thompson 2012, 1) [2]: (Malek 2000, 104) |
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Memphis? and then Mendes (29th Dynasty). "Only one surviving document - an Aramaic papyrus at the Brooklyn museum - gives any indication that the transferral of power was accompanied by violence anywhere in the country. The text describes an open battle between the founder of the Twenty-ninth Dynasty and his predecessor: Nepherites is supposed to have taken Amyrtaeus prisoner and then to have executed him at Memphis before establishing his native city as the new capital. [Mendes]"
[1]
"During the 1980s, the excavations of the Brooklyn Museum and the University of New York at Mendes provide evidence of Nepherites I’s building activity there, thus backing up the claim that it was the Twenty-ninth Dynasty capital."
[1]
"However, Memphis reverted to its former administrative role for most of the Late Period (Twenty-sixth to Thirty-first Dynasties) (Jeffreys 1999: 488-90; Jones 1999: 491-3). A fortified Saite palace surmounted a 20 m high mound at Memphis, with colossal columns bearing the cartouches of King Apries. The city held a garrison, several temples, an Apis Bull embalming installation, workshops, housing for diverse ethnic groups (e.g., Egyptians, Phoenicians, Persians, Greeks), water channels, docks, and an outer fortification."
[2]
[1]: (Grimal 1994, 372) [2]: (Mumford 2010, 332) |
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The "early Egyptian state was a centrally controlled polity ruled by a (god-)king from the Memphis region." One reason Memphis is considered the likely main administrative centre is the large number of tombs of administrative officials located in the region.
[1]
Founded at the beginning of the 1st Dynasty. [2] Known as White Wall [2] (Ineb=hedj(w) = "white wall(s), i.e the royal palace enclosure walls) or Memphis (Greek Memphis < Egyptian Mn-nfr, an abbreviation of the longer name for the funerary complex of king Pepi I.) [3] [1]: (Bard 2000, 64-65) [2]: (Malek 2000, 104) [3]: (Thompson 2012, 1) |
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Memphis? and then Mendes (29th Dynasty). "Only one surviving document - an Aramaic papyrus at the Brooklyn museum - gives any indication that the transferral of power was accompanied by violence anywhere in the country. The text describes an open battle between the founder of the Twenty-ninth Dynasty and his predecessor: Nepherites is supposed to have taken Amyrtaeus prisoner and then to have executed him at Memphis before establishing his native city as the new capital. [Mendes]"
[1]
"During the 1980s, the excavations of the Brooklyn Museum and the University of New York at Mendes provide evidence of Nepherites I’s building activity there, thus backing up the claim that it was the Twenty-ninth Dynasty capital."
[1]
"However, Memphis reverted to its former administrative role for most of the Late Period (Twenty-sixth to Thirty-first Dynasties) (Jeffreys 1999: 488-90; Jones 1999: 491-3). A fortified Saite palace surmounted a 20 m high mound at Memphis, with colossal columns bearing the cartouches of King Apries. The city held a garrison, several temples, an Apis Bull embalming installation, workshops, housing for diverse ethnic groups (e.g., Egyptians, Phoenicians, Persians, Greeks), water channels, docks, and an outer fortification."
[2]
[1]: (Grimal 1994, 372) [2]: (Mumford 2010, 332) |
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Napata: 800-716 BCE; Memphis: 716-664 BCE; Napata: 664-591 BCE; Meroe: 591-300 BCE
Capital began at Napata at the foot of the sacred Gebel Barkal mountain. [1] The Kushite ruler of Egypt was crowned in Napata. [2] In c716 BCE Shabaka moved the capital and royal residence from Napata to Memphis [3] (or Thebes? [4] ). Memphis was the capital of the immediate successors of Peye [5] possibly until Taharqa (690-664 BCE). The capital was at Napata when the city was raided in 591 BCE. Capital moved to Meroe under Shandi. [6] [7] Butana was an administrative city. [8] "a stele from Kawa records that Taharqo was crowned at Memphis, and Shabaqo, Shabitqo, and Taharqo are all known to have carried out building works there. This made excellent political sense (Tanis being too remote geographically to serve as the focus for a united Egypt), but there were also sound ideological reasons for boosting the importance of the Memphite area, for in this way the Kushite pharaohs could associate themselves directly with the great rulers of the Old Kingdom." [9] Memphis became the chief royal residence. [9] [1]: (Mokhtar ed. 1981, 285) [2]: (Török 1997, 154) [3]: (Török 1997, 167) [4]: (Stearns 2001, 31) [5]: (Mokhtar ed. 1981, 284) [6]: (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2011, [1]) [8]: (Török 1997, 153) [9]: (Taylor 2000, 349) |
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"For most of its history, the empire was divided into a western and eastern half, and it lacked a single capital or political centre. In the east, the main seat of Seljuk rule was Merv ... In the west, several different cities between which the sultans moved seasonally served as capitals: Rayy ... Isfahan, Baghdad and, later, Hamadhan."
[1]
Ray under Togrïl Beg; Malik-Shah made Isfahān his capital. "they established their capitals first at Hamadan and then at Isfahan in western Iran." [2] "From their capital at Isfahan, the Saljuqs controlled Baghdad through a garrison commander (shihnah) and civil governor (’amid), but did not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the Caliphate. Attemps at independent political action by the Caliphs and their officials were, however, resolutely checked." [3] [1]: (Peacock 2015, 6-7) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh. [2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. [3]: (Bagley 1964, xxix) Bagley, F. R. C. trans. Huma’i, Jalal and Isaacs, H. D. eds. 1964. Ghazali’s Book of Counsel for Kings (Nasihat Al-Muluk). Oxford University Press. London. |
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{Kufa: 750-762 CE; Baghdad: 762-833 CE; Al-Raqqah: 796-809 CE; Samarra: 833-893 CE; Baghdad 833-946 CE}
[1]
. Samarra was the military and administrative headquarters of the Caliphate 836-870 CE.
[2]
Merv was the capital of the caliphate from 810-819 CE.
[3]
Both Baghdad and Samarra were purpose built cities. [1]: Lapidus, Ira A., History of Islamic Society 2nd edition(Cambridge, 2002) [2]: (Lapidus 2012, 106) [3]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
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Verona was made the first capital of Lombard Italy by the conquering king, Albion.
[1]
In 584, when the monarchy was dissolved, the capital city was moved west to Milan.
[2]
In 620 the capital shifted again to Pavia, just south of Milan, where it remained and housed the royal Lombard court.
[3]
[4]
[1]: Christie 1998: 145. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/975BEGKF [2]: Christie 1998: 146. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/975BEGKF [3]: Peters 2003: xi. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/X4ETPHA7 [4]: Christie 1998: 147. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/975BEGKF |
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"The appearance of urban ‘central places’ was one of the major innovations in Europe of the first millennium BC. Even if we reject centres such as the Heuneburg as truly urban, despite the concentration of wealth, trade and industry on them (the social structure would have prevented the full de- velopment of exchange as we know it on later sites), we still have a number of different urban types; administrative centres, market centres, colonies, and entrepôts for long-distance trade including ports-of-trade. Each of these classes would have its own characteristics in terms of who was resident, what public amenities were present, and in the spatial layout of the town."
[1]
"In less developed forms we may detect centralised control on the sites of the late Hallstatt period of the sixth century BC, sites such as the Heuneburg and Mont Lassois in western Europe."
[2]
[1]: (Collis 1984, 22) [2]: (Collis 1984, 16) |
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Monte Albán was the largest settlement in the Valley of Oaxaca at this time, and was founded at the beginning of this period with an estimated population of 5,000 people.
[1]
This settlement is taken to be the centre of the Zapotec polity, with populations originating from other settlements in the valley.
[1]: Balkansky, A. K. (1998). "Origin and collapse of complex societies in Oaxaca, Mexico: Evaluating the era from 1965 to the present." Journal of World Prehistory 12(4): 451-493, p460 |
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Monte Albán was the largest city in the Zapotec polity at this time and had an estimated 17,242 inhabitants (or one third of the entire population of the valley).
[1]
[1]: Marcus, J. and K. V. Flannery (1996). Zapotec civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley, Thames and Hudson London, p139 |
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Monte Albán remained the largest, most elaborate and most heavily populated site in the Valley of Oaxaca.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Feinman, G. M., et al. (1985). "Long-term demographic change: A perspective from the valley of Oaxaca, Mexico." Journal of Field Archaeology 12(3): 333-362. [2]: Spencer, C. S. and E. M. Redmond (2003). "Militarism, resistance, and early state development in Oaxaca, Mexico." Social Evolution & History 2: 25-70. |
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In the end of summer – beginning of autumn 1917 a complicated internal political situation and the approach of German forces to Petrograd forced the Provisional government to consider the idea of moving to Moscow. The capital was announced to be in danger and on October 6 the Provisional government issued the decree on transferring of the primary state institutions to Moscow. The beginning of evacuation was planned for October 12. As to the Provisional government it intended to leave the capital in the beginning of November but did not take any steps toward it.
On March 12, 1918 Moscow became the capital once more but now it was the capital of the Soviet state. [1] [1]: “Moscow Becomes the Capital of the Soviet State.” Presidential Library. Accessed November 29, 2023. https://www.prlib.ru/en/history/619089. Zotero link: 4K6FGT5I |
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Bania: 811-892 CE; Mansura: 892-1026 CE; Thatta: 1026-1241 CE, Muhammed Tur: 1241-1317 CE; Thatta: 1317-1351 CE
[1]
The original capital of Mansura was sacked in 1026 CE, when the Soomra dynasty moved the capital to Thatta. Shifts in river courses resulted in a transfer of the capital to Muhammed Tur during the years 1241 CE-1317 CE. After declaring independence from Delhi a period of instability took place, with some semblance of authority claimed from the former capital of Thatta. [2] [1]: Panhwar, M. H. "Chronological Dictionary of Sind, (Karachi, 1983) pp. 188;Panhwar, M.H, An illustrated Historical Atlas of Soomra Kingdom of the Sindh p. 93 [2]: Panhwar, M.H, An illustrated Historical Atlas of Soomra Kingdom of the Sindh p. 93 |
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No capitals. Each tribe had their own fortified urban settlements. Largest oppidum close to Paris Basin region were Sandouville (150ha) of the Veliocasses, Chatres (170ha) of the Carnutes, Saint Desir (170ha) of the Lexovii, Villeneuve-sur-Yonne (140ha) of the Senones and Alesia of the Mandubii.
[1]
[1]: (http://www.oppida.org/page.php?lg=fr&rub=00&id_oppidum=168) |
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"The most prominent signature of these earlier, archaeological polities of the Hallstatt period are the sizeable elevated fortified settlements, the Furstensitze. These settlements advertise their likely role as former political capitals by virtue of their size (1-11 ha), their strategic location at the confluence of major water-ways, architectural features such as large enclosing earthworks or walls, and the remains of buildings located both within and outside the walls, as well as by the proximity of these sites to groupings of large burial mounds."
[1]
[1]: (Arnold and Gibson 1995, 7) |
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No capitals.
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No capitals. Each tribe had their own fortified urban settlements.
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We cannot determine the capital for the whole of this region unambiguously. However, it is possible that Can Hasan I, which would provide smaller villages with raw materials, could have had a similar function. Also, Çatalhöyük West, with its 8 ha, is much larger than other sites, and it has beem suggested that it played a role of a central site
[1]
.
[1]: Baird, D. "Early Holocene settlement in Central Anatolia: Problems and prospects as seen from the Konya Plain. In F. Gerard and L. Thissen eds., ’The Neolithic of Central Anatolia’. Istanbul 2002:150 |
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There are no capital in Neolitchic, semi-nomadic cultures like Badari.
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unknown
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unknown
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None. Chiefs and their retinues constantly moved around, establishing temporary camps of a few dozen yurts (tents) (Kradin and Skrynnikova 2006).
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unknown
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Mehrgarh is not a capital. It is however both the best studied and archaeologically richest site.
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Probably there was no single capital seen as main and dominant city gathering whole power, but instead of it, there were many centres - big cities and associated with them smaller towns, villages etc. Therefore there is impossible to pinpoint which city was the most important. However, according to Steinkeller, the city of Uruk might have played a role of religious capital since Uruk and Jemdet Nasr Period. He based his assumption of the tables from Jemdet Nasr Period saying that individual cities and towns were sending some resources and foodstuff to Temple of Inanna in Uruk as some kind of ritual offering.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Algaze 2001, 32 [2]: Steinkeller 1999, 1-22 |
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unknown
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Chiefs/kings had no true ’capital’. Although there were ’royal centers’, there were no true urban areas, nor was there any one place that a chief would spend most of his time.
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Vyadhapura is believed to be the place location as modern-day Angkor BoreiAngkor Borei ’The kingdom’s capital was the city of Vyadhapura, which is believed to be the same place as Angkor Borei, Cambodia, where extensive archaeologi- cal work has been done recently.’
[1]
’One important centre of Funan was on the coast in Vietnam near the Cambodian border, at a site now called Oc Eco; the Chinese reported Funan’s capital to be farther inland, most probably Angkor Borei, not at Ba Phom. The name for the capital in the Chinese records, T’e-mu, cannot yet be identified with any local name, but Vyadhapura, at least, must be rejected as the name or site of the Funan capital.’
[2]
’At any rate, Oc Eco is generally considered to have been the main port of Fu-nan; its capital, if there was one, has not been located precisely.’
[3]
’The evidence that either mountain was a cult site is stronger than the evidence that Funan was a major, unified kingdom or that its political center was associated with either hill.’
[4]
’Most scholars accept an identification with the Funan kingdom described by Chinese visitors, as early as the third century C.E., as a complex of walled political centers where craft specialists plied their trade, summary justice was adminis- tered, stone inscriptions were engraved, and the range of mortuary practices included inhumations. Angkor Borei may have been the “inland capital” of Funan referred to by the Chinese, as its large area (300 hectares) and plethora of brickwork suggest.’
[5]
’Recent research has determined that Angkor Borei may have been the centre of the early third century state identified as ‘Funan’ in Chinese annals.’
[6]
’Two inscriptions from Angkor Borei imply that the capital of the last recorded king of Funan, Rudravarman, was located in that area. These inscriptions are the earliest dated texts believed to emanate from the people of Funan (inventory numbers K.557 and K.600), both from 611. Another recently discovered inscription, provisionally dated to 650 (the reign of Jayavarman I), mentions that Funan’s last ruler, Rudravarman, lived in Angkor Borei. A Chinese source, the Liang Shu, says the “enclosed settlement” (possibly meaning capital) of Funan was 500 li (200 kilometers/120 miles) from the sea, which would fit the location of Angkor Borei. Another Chinese record, the Xin Tangshu, says that the capital was once at Temu, but after that city was captured by Zhenla in the late sixth century, it moved to Nafuna (Naravaranagara).’
[7]
’Some have hypothesized that Angkor Borei was Naravaranagara, a capital of Funan in the sixth century. According to Michael Vickery, however, Naravaranagara was probably 60 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Angkor Borei. In any case, Angkor Borei was one of the most impressive sites in early first-millennium Southeast Asia.’
[8]
’The oldest dated inscriptions from Funan (K.557 and K.600), dated 611, have both been found at Angkor Borei. Another recently discovered inscription is believed to date from about 650. This stele mentions that Rudravarman, Funan’s last known ruler, was living in Angkor Borei.’
[9]
’Clearly Funan’s rise had two sources: the productivity of its agrarian system and the area’s strategic location opposite the Isthmus of Kra. A network of canals connect the coast to Funan’s agricultural upstream, centered on its urban ‘‘capital’’ at the archeological site of Angkor Borei in modern southern Cambodia. It is unclear whether this canal network required a new level of techno- logical competence or a central leadership for its construction (Malleret:1959-1963; Liere: 1980; Stark: 1998, 2003, 2006a, 2006b; Stark and Sovath: 2001).’
[10]
’The site of Angkor Borei, which was a political centre of Funan, continued to be important into the Angkorian period, though not as a capital (Vickery 1998: 394-397; 409; Stark 2006: 106).’
[11]
’If Funan were a unitary state its capital is not known, with conflicting claims made by modern writers for Vyadhapura, Angkor Borei, Banteay Prei Nokor and even Prey Veng, all situated in the Mekong delta or reasonably close to it. Another Funanese centre, the port town of Oc Eo in what is today called the Camau peninsula, was excavated by the French archaeologist Louis Malleret before World War II.’
[12]
’Two inscriptions from the vicinity of Angkor Borei imply that this was the capital of Rudravarman, the last recorded king in this region.’
[13]
’In about 550 the capital of the great Hindu kingdom of Funan, Vyadhapura, was conquered by King Bhavavarman of Chen-la.’
[14]
[1]: (West 2009, p. 222) [2]: (Vickery 1998, p. 19) [3]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.69) [4]: (Chandler 2008, p. 20) [5]: (Bulbeck 2004, p. 876) [6]: (Rooney, p. 159) [7]: (Miksic 2007, pp. 125-126) [8]: (Miksic 2007, p. 19) [9]: (Miksic 2007, p.20) [10]: (Hall 2010, pp. 48-49) [11]: (Lustig 2009, pp. 65-66) [12]: (Tully 2005, p. 10) [13]: (Higham 2004, p. 114) [14]: (O’Brien 2007, p. 64) |
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Given the dispersed settlement pattern of the Hmong population, different sub-groups were governed from their respective provincial capitals and district towns rather than from a common administrative centre: ’KWEICHOW is a part of the Southwestern Tableland which, as a spar of the great Tibetan plateau, slopes to the south and east away from Tibet (fig. 1, frontispiece). It is bounded on the north by Szechuan, on the east by Hunan, on the south by Kwangsi, and on the west by Yünnan. The structural trend in Kweichow is east and west, with drainage to the south into the West River and to the north and east into the Yangtze River. The province slopes from a height of over 6000 feet in the west to less than 2000 feet in the east. Some valleys lie as high as 4000 feet, and mountain summits reach 9000. S. R. Clarke estimated that most of Kweichow is at least 3000 feet above sea level, the altitude constantly decreasing as one goes east. Wei-ning Lake, in the western part of the province is, he says, 7000 feet above sea level. The altitude of Kweiyang, the capital, is given by G. B. Cressey as 3468.56 feet. There are certainly high mountains in the western part of the province. The traveler going by motor road from Kunming to Kweiyang repeatedly has the feeling of being “on top of the world.”’
[1]
’In 1932 I was transferred to Chengtu □, the capital of the province, and was made curator of the West China Union University Museum of Archaeology, Art, and Ethnology. From this time on I made more determined efforts to learn about the Ch’uan Miao. I spent several summers with them, and on one of these expeditions I was accompanied by W. R. Morse, M.D., and Gordon Agnew, D.D.S.’
[2]
During the turbulent republican period, China was intermittently governed from the city of Nanjing, although competing forces periodically operated from different urban centres: ’Nanjing, Wade-Giles romanization Nan-ching, conventional Nanking, city, capital of Jiangsu sheng (province), east-central China. It is a port on the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) and a major industrial and communications centre. Rich in history, it served seven times as the capital of regional empires, twice as the seat of revolutionary government, once (during the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45) as the site of a puppet regime, and twice as the capital of a united China (the second time ending with the Japanese conquest of the city in 1937). The name Nanjing (“Southern Capital”) was introduced in 1403, during the Ming dynasty. Area mun., 2,547 square miles (6,598 square km). Pop. (2005 est.) urban districts, 2,363,844; urban and suburban districts, 5,133,771; mun., 5,957,992.’
[3]
The district capital most relevant to the A-Hmao still has to be identified.
[1]: Mickey, Margaret Portia 1947. “Cowrie Shell Miao Of Kweichow”, 3a [2]: Graham, David Crockett 1954. “Songs And Stories Of The Ch’Uan Miao”, iii [3]: http://www.britannica.com/place/Nanjing-China |
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Napata: 800-716 BCE; Memphis: 716-664 BCE; Napata: 664-591 BCE; Meroe: 591-300 BCE
Capital began at Napata at the foot of the sacred Gebel Barkal mountain. [1] The Kushite ruler of Egypt was crowned in Napata. [2] In c716 BCE Shabaka moved the capital and royal residence from Napata to Memphis [3] (or Thebes? [4] ). Memphis was the capital of the immediate successors of Peye [5] possibly until Taharqa (690-664 BCE). The capital was at Napata when the city was raided in 591 BCE. Capital moved to Meroe under Shandi. [6] [7] Butana was an administrative city. [8] "a stele from Kawa records that Taharqo was crowned at Memphis, and Shabaqo, Shabitqo, and Taharqo are all known to have carried out building works there. This made excellent political sense (Tanis being too remote geographically to serve as the focus for a united Egypt), but there were also sound ideological reasons for boosting the importance of the Memphite area, for in this way the Kushite pharaohs could associate themselves directly with the great rulers of the Old Kingdom." [9] Memphis became the chief royal residence. [9] [1]: (Mokhtar ed. 1981, 285) [2]: (Török 1997, 154) [3]: (Török 1997, 167) [4]: (Stearns 2001, 31) [5]: (Mokhtar ed. 1981, 284) [6]: (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2011, [1]) [8]: (Török 1997, 153) [9]: (Taylor 2000, 349) |
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Napata: 800-716 BCE; Memphis: 716-664 BCE; Napata: 664-591 BCE; Meroe: 591-300 BCE
Capital began at Napata at the foot of the sacred Gebel Barkal mountain. [1] The Kushite ruler of Egypt was crowned in Napata. [2] In c716 BCE Shabaka moved the capital and royal residence from Napata to Memphis [3] (or Thebes? [4] ). Memphis was the capital of the immediate successors of Peye [5] possibly until Taharqa (690-664 BCE). The capital was at Napata when the city was raided in 591 BCE. Capital moved to Meroe under Shandi. [6] [7] Butana was an administrative city. [8] "a stele from Kawa records that Taharqo was crowned at Memphis, and Shabaqo, Shabitqo, and Taharqo are all known to have carried out building works there. This made excellent political sense (Tanis being too remote geographically to serve as the focus for a united Egypt), but there were also sound ideological reasons for boosting the importance of the Memphite area, for in this way the Kushite pharaohs could associate themselves directly with the great rulers of the Old Kingdom." [9] Memphis became the chief royal residence. [9] [1]: (Mokhtar ed. 1981, 285) [2]: (Török 1997, 154) [3]: (Török 1997, 167) [4]: (Stearns 2001, 31) [5]: (Mokhtar ed. 1981, 284) [6]: (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2011, [1]) [8]: (Török 1997, 153) [9]: (Taylor 2000, 349) |
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Egypt during Naqada period is a collection of quasi-polities. So for the most of IVth milenium it is impossible to indicate capital.
However according to for example B. Andelković, from the Naqada IC one can talking about pre-states and there is a suggestion of 8 Upper-Egyptian centers, from which 3 remained on the very high position and were the capital of their growing polities [1] That is Naqada, Hierakoonpolis and This. The political strength of all of three capitals is evident in the Naqada II period. [1]: Andelkovic, B. 2011. "Political Organisation of Egypt in the Predynastic Period". [in:] Teeter, E. [ed.]. Before the Pyramids: The Origin of the Egyptian Cyvilization. Chichago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. pg: 28-29. |
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Egypt during Naqada period is a collection of quasi-polities. So for the most of IVth milenium it is impossible to indicate capital.
However according to for example B. Andelković, from the Naqada IC one can talking about pre-states and there is a suggestion of 8 Upper-Egyptian centers, from which 3 remained on the very high position and were the capital of their growing polities [1] That is Naqada, Hierakoonpolis and This. The political strength of all of three capitals is evident in the Naqada II period. [1]: Andelkovic, B. 2011. "Political Organisation of Egypt in the Predynastic Period". [in:] Teeter, E. [ed.]. Before the Pyramids: The Origin of the Egyptian Cyvilization. Chichago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. pg: 28-29. |
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’in 710, the capital was moved to Heijo, better known now as Nara. Nara was modelled on the T’ang Chinese capital, Ch’ang-an. It was a similar rectangular grid pattern, but at 20 sq km was only about a quarter of Ch’ang-an’s area. In less than a hundred years the capital was to move again. Nara proved not to be the hoped-for permanent site. Nevertheless, it represents the high point of the Japanese effort to learn from China. Physically, China’s influence was seen not only in the design of the city but also in grand buildings such as the Todaiji Temple - the largest wooden building in the world - and the huge bronze statue of Buddha it contained.
[1]
[1]: Henshall, Kenneth .2012. A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower. Palgrave Macmillan. New York. [Third Edition]p.24 |
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Vyadhapura is believed to be the place location as modern-day Angkor BoreiAngkor Borei ’The kingdom’s capital was the city of Vyadhapura, which is believed to be the same place as Angkor Borei, Cambodia, where extensive archaeologi- cal work has been done recently.’
[1]
’One important centre of Funan was on the coast in Vietnam near the Cambodian border, at a site now called Oc Eco; the Chinese reported Funan’s capital to be farther inland, most probably Angkor Borei, not at Ba Phom. The name for the capital in the Chinese records, T’e-mu, cannot yet be identified with any local name, but Vyadhapura, at least, must be rejected as the name or site of the Funan capital.’
[2]
’At any rate, Oc Eco is generally considered to have been the main port of Fu-nan; its capital, if there was one, has not been located precisely.’
[3]
’The evidence that either mountain was a cult site is stronger than the evidence that Funan was a major, unified kingdom or that its political center was associated with either hill.’
[4]
’Most scholars accept an identification with the Funan kingdom described by Chinese visitors, as early as the third century C.E., as a complex of walled political centers where craft specialists plied their trade, summary justice was adminis- tered, stone inscriptions were engraved, and the range of mortuary practices included inhumations. Angkor Borei may have been the “inland capital” of Funan referred to by the Chinese, as its large area (300 hectares) and plethora of brickwork suggest.’
[5]
’Recent research has determined that Angkor Borei may have been the centre of the early third century state identified as ‘Funan’ in Chinese annals.’
[6]
’Two inscriptions from Angkor Borei imply that the capital of the last recorded king of Funan, Rudravarman, was located in that area. These inscriptions are the earliest dated texts believed to emanate from the people of Funan (inventory numbers K.557 and K.600), both from 611. Another recently discovered inscription, provisionally dated to 650 (the reign of Jayavarman I), mentions that Funan’s last ruler, Rudravarman, lived in Angkor Borei. A Chinese source, the Liang Shu, says the “enclosed settlement” (possibly meaning capital) of Funan was 500 li (200 kilometers/120 miles) from the sea, which would fit the location of Angkor Borei. Another Chinese record, the Xin Tangshu, says that the capital was once at Temu, but after that city was captured by Zhenla in the late sixth century, it moved to Nafuna (Naravaranagara).’
[7]
’Some have hypothesized that Angkor Borei was Naravaranagara, a capital of Funan in the sixth century. According to Michael Vickery, however, Naravaranagara was probably 60 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Angkor Borei. In any case, Angkor Borei was one of the most impressive sites in early first-millennium Southeast Asia.’
[8]
’The oldest dated inscriptions from Funan (K.557 and K.600), dated 611, have both been found at Angkor Borei. Another recently discovered inscription is believed to date from about 650. This stele mentions that Rudravarman, Funan’s last known ruler, was living in Angkor Borei.’
[9]
’Clearly Funan’s rise had two sources: the productivity of its agrarian system and the area’s strategic location opposite the Isthmus of Kra. A network of canals connect the coast to Funan’s agricultural upstream, centered on its urban ‘‘capital’’ at the archeological site of Angkor Borei in modern southern Cambodia. It is unclear whether this canal network required a new level of techno- logical competence or a central leadership for its construction (Malleret:1959-1963; Liere: 1980; Stark: 1998, 2003, 2006a, 2006b; Stark and Sovath: 2001).’
[10]
’The site of Angkor Borei, which was a political centre of Funan, continued to be important into the Angkorian period, though not as a capital (Vickery 1998: 394-397; 409; Stark 2006: 106).’
[11]
’If Funan were a unitary state its capital is not known, with conflicting claims made by modern writers for Vyadhapura, Angkor Borei, Banteay Prei Nokor and even Prey Veng, all situated in the Mekong delta or reasonably close to it. Another Funanese centre, the port town of Oc Eo in what is today called the Camau peninsula, was excavated by the French archaeologist Louis Malleret before World War II.’
[12]
’Two inscriptions from the vicinity of Angkor Borei imply that this was the capital of Rudravarman, the last recorded king in this region.’
[13]
’In about 550 the capital of the great Hindu kingdom of Funan, Vyadhapura, was conquered by King Bhavavarman of Chen-la.’
[14]
[1]: (West 2009, p. 222) [2]: (Vickery 1998, p. 19) [3]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.69) [4]: (Chandler 2008, p. 20) [5]: (Bulbeck 2004, p. 876) [6]: (Rooney, p. 159) [7]: (Miksic 2007, pp. 125-126) [8]: (Miksic 2007, p. 19) [9]: (Miksic 2007, p.20) [10]: (Hall 2010, pp. 48-49) [11]: (Lustig 2009, pp. 65-66) [12]: (Tully 2005, p. 10) [13]: (Higham 2004, p. 114) [14]: (O’Brien 2007, p. 64) |
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“Until the beginning of the eighteenth century, the brak resided at the right riverbank, in the capital of Jurbel, where he resided over a considerably large court.”
[1]
“It has initially Ndiourbel as its capital, situated in Mauritania near Rosso, then Ndiangue, in Senegal on the left bank of the river.”
[2]
“Ce fut le premier brak qui alla s’établir à Nder; il en fit la troisième capitale du Oualo.”
[3]
[1]: (Barry 2012, 43) Barry, Boubacar. 2012. The Kingdom of Waalo: Senegal Before the Conquest. New York: Diasporic Africa Press. Seshat URL:https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9KV5MEKN/collection [2]: (Himpan Sabatier and Himpan 2019, 125) Himpan Sabatier, Diane and Himpan, Brigitte. 2019. Nomads of Mauritania. Wilmington: Vernon Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/V4D4DFVG/collection [3]: (Barry and Amin 1985, 171) Barry, Boubacar and Amin, Samir. 1985. Le Royaume du Waalo: Le Sénégal avant la conquête. Paris: Karthala. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/7FSQKPU9/collection |
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“Until the beginning of the eighteenth century, the brak resided at the right riverbank, in the capital of Jurbel, where he resided over a considerably large court.”
[1]
“It has initially Ndiourbel as its capital, situated in Mauritania near Rosso, then Ndiangue, in Senegal on the left bank of the river.”
[2]
“Ce fut le premier brak qui alla s’établir à Nder; il en fit la troisième capitale du Oualo.”
[3]
[1]: (Barry 2012, 43) Barry, Boubacar. 2012. The Kingdom of Waalo: Senegal Before the Conquest. New York: Diasporic Africa Press. Seshat URL:https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9KV5MEKN/collection [2]: (Himpan Sabatier and Himpan 2019, 125) Himpan Sabatier, Diane and Himpan, Brigitte. 2019. Nomads of Mauritania. Wilmington: Vernon Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/V4D4DFVG/collection [3]: (Barry and Amin 1985, 171) Barry, Boubacar and Amin, Samir. 1985. Le Royaume du Waalo: Le Sénégal avant la conquête. Paris: Karthala. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/7FSQKPU9/collection |
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The US did not have a capital city until 1787 when the first congress met in New York. In 1790 Philadelphia was established as a temporary national capital while Washington D.C, which was carved out from land straddling the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1788, became the national capital in 1800.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Volo and Volo 2004: xiii. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SIB5XSW97 [2]: ‘List of Capitals in the United States’. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XYZ5KY4D. |
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“It was from the ruins of the Kanem empire that a new empire emerged known as Kanem Borno with its capital at Ngazargamu.”
[1]
“The Borno dynasty had its capital in the city of Ngazargamu on the banks of the Yo River, near what is now the border between the modern states of Niger and Nigeria. More information about Mai Idris exists than for any other Borno ruler prior to the nineteenth century, due to the survival of Ibn Fartuwa’s panegyric chronicle for the first twelve years of Mai Idris’ reign.”
[2]
Birni Gazargamu seems to be an alternate spelling for Ngazargamu: “The state was governed by a group of individuals whom we shall call the ruling class, almost all of whom lived in the capital, Birni Gazargamu before the nineteenth century, and Kukawa during the nineteenth century.”
[3]
[1]: ADEFUYE, A., & Adefuye, A. I. (1984). The Kanuri factor in Nigeria – Chad relations. Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 12(3/4), 121–137: 122. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/3D2ZCZP4/collection [2]: Cory, S. (2009). The Man Who Would Be Caliph: A Sixteenth-Century Sultan’s Bid for an African Empire. The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 42(2), 179–200: 187. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FCX99F3P/collection [3]: Brenner, L. (1973). Sources of Constitutional Thought in Borno. Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 7(1), 49–65: 51. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/BGCV72TB/collection |
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[1]
Capital Niani in the core region of Kangaba. This was located near the Niger river - according to map, very near the source. [2] Capital city referred to as Mali. [3] same place as Niani? "Sorotomo is the first major settlement within Mali’s core territory to be dated conclusively to the period of the historical empire. Niani, Mali’s speculative first capital, has only furnished C14 dates from before or after the key 13th to 15th-century period. This indicates that, at best, it was a late imperial seat of power. The issue of ancient Mali’s capital has thus been a matter of much debate - and is as yet unresolved. There is currently general agreement among historians that Mali’s first centre(s) of power would have been located in the so-called ’Pays Manding’, c.200km south-east of Sorotomo. There is, however, substantial historical evidence suggesting a rapid shift of power towards the north-east during the empire’s apogee." [4] [1]: (Niane 1984, 136) [2]: (Davidson 1998, 40) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London. [3]: (Diop 1987, 93) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [4]: (MacDonald et al 2011) MacDonald, K. Camara, S. Canos, S. Gestrich, N. Keita, D. 2011. Sorotomo: A Forgotten Malian Capital? Archaeology International. 13. pp.52-64. http://doi.org/10.5334/ai.1315 |
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The Imperial capital was at Nicomedia under Diocletian.
[1]
Constantine established Constantinople as the capital of the Roman Empire in 326 CE.
[2]
"Rome had been for more than two centuries strangely neglected by the rulers who in her name lorded it over the civilised world. Ever since Diocletian’s reconstruction of the Empire, it had been a rare event for an Augustus to be seen within her walls. Even the Emperor who had Italy for his portion generally resided at Milan or Ravenna rather than on the banks of the Tiber."
[3]
[1]: (Bunson, 1991, 57) [2]: (http://www.roman-empire.net/constant/constant-index.html) [3]: (Hodgkin 1897) |
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Ashur: 911-859 BCE; Kalhu: 859-681 BCE; Due-Sharrukin: 707-705 BCE; Ninevah: 681-612 BCE Kalhu was purpose-built to replace Ashur, the ancient capital. Ashur declined in importance 883-859 BCE.
[1]
Kalhu (Nimrud) under Ashurnasipal II. Ninevah under Sennacherib (704-681 BCE)
[2]
remained capital for rest of empire
[3]
Due-Sharrukin (707-705 BCE). [4] [1]: (The Iraq Museum 2011, [1]) [2]: (Davidson 2012, 27) [3]: (Stearns 2001, 28) [4]: (Haywood 2000, 1.13) |
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Asaak (Astauene) established by Arsaces I. New Nisa up to first century BCE. "At later stages, the functions of a capital city were also served by Hecatompylos, Ecbatana, Rhagae, Babylon, and Ctesiphon."
[1]
near Ashkhabad. [2] Parthian capital referred to as Hekatompylos in Chinese records. "The first capital of the Parthians was Nisa in the province of Parthia. In about 217 BCE, the Parthian capital was moved to Hekatompylos, which remained as the main capital of the Parthian empire till c. 50 BCE ... During that period, Rhagae (Rayy), Ecbatana, and Ctesiphon near the river Tigris were also selected as capitals." [3] [1]: (Dabrowa 2012, 180) Dabrowa, Edward. The Arcasid Empire. in Daryaee, Touraj ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. [2]: Neil Asher Silberman (ed.), ‘The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods’, The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) [3]: (Tao 2007) Tao, Wang in Josef in Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Stewart, Sarah eds. 2007. The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. London. |
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Asaak (Astauene) established by Arsaces I. New Nisa up to first century BCE. "At later stages, the functions of a capital city were also served by Hecatompylos, Ecbatana, Rhagae, Babylon, and Ctesiphon."
[1]
near Ashkhabad. [2] Parthian capital referred to as Hekatompylos in Chinese records. "The first capital of the Parthians was Nisa in the province of Parthia. In about 217 BCE, the Parthian capital was moved to Hekatompylos, which remained as the main capital of the Parthian empire till c. 50 BCE ... During that period, Rhagae (Rayy), Ecbatana, and Ctesiphon near the river Tigris were also selected as capitals." [3] [1]: (Dabrowa 2012, 180) Dabrowa, Edward. The Arcasid Empire. in Daryaee, Touraj ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. [2]: Neil Asher Silberman (ed.), ‘The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods’, The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) [3]: (Tao 2007) Tao, Wang in Josef in Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Stewart, Sarah eds. 2007. The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. London. |
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There was no permanent capital during this period of the HRE. There were several cities and palaces that the emperor and his itinerant court would travel between and reside in. Around 800-1556 CE, the city of Aachen in Germany was the site at which all Emperors were crowned and held the most favoured royal palace, but it was not a capital.
[1]
There were attempts in the thirteenth century to create a permanent royal centre but they did not take hold.
[2]
[1]: Wilson 2016: 428, 434. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/N5M9R9XA [2]: Power 2006: 103. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/4V4WE3ZK. |
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There was no permanent capital during this period of the HRE. There were several cities and palaces that the emperor and his itinerant court would travel between and reside in. Around 800-1556 CE, the city of Aachen in Germany was the site at which all Emperors were crowned and held the most favoured royal palace, but it was not a capital.
[1]
There were attempts in the thirteenth century to create a permanent royal centre but they did not take hold.
[2]
[1]: Wilson 2016: 428, 434. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/N5M9R9XA [2]: Power 2006: 103. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/4V4WE3ZK. |
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There was no permanent capital during this period of the HRE. There were several cities and palaces that the emperor and his itinerant court would travel between and reside in. Around 800-1556 CE, the city of Aachen in Germany was the site at which all Emperors were crowned and held the most favoured royal palace, but it was not a capital.
[1]
There were attempts in the thirteenth century to create a permanent royal centre but they did not take hold.
[2]
[1]: Wilson 2016: 428, 434. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/N5M9R9XA [2]: Power 2006: 103. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/4V4WE3ZK. |
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While there was no official capital, several cities served as important centers for royal courts and administrative activities during different periods, including:
Aachen: Charlemagne’s preferred residence and a significant center during the Carolingian period. It remained an important city in East Francia. Regensburg: Another important city that served as a frequent residence for rulers of East Francia and was a significant political and cultural center. Frankfurt: Often used for imperial assemblies and elections, Frankfurt was a key city in the political life of East Francia. [1] [1]: Carlrichard Brühl et al., Die Geburt zweier Völker: Deutsche und Franzosen (9. - 11. Jahrhundert) (Köln Weimar Wien: Böhlau, 2001). Zotero link: JNUIX7CZ |
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Sources searched do not refer to a ‘capital’ of the Nri Kingdom, but it seems Igbo-Ukwu was the base of the eze Nri. There are doubts about the significance of the finds at Igbo-Ukwu and whether they indicate that this was a significant population, ritual and power centre for the Nri. “Historical ethnography indicates that Igbo-Ukwu flourished under the patronage of the Eze Nri institution.”
[1]
“At this stage any suggestions must be tentative, especially since on the local side it is still very unclear - and will remain so unless the site of Igbo-Ukwu can be re-examined in a radically novel way - whether the location excavated by Shaw was no more than a burial shrine or priest’s abode secluded in the forest, or whether contrarily it was part of a real town of that period with an industrial quarter. Either way, it is acknowledged that the manufacture and burial of so many exquisite objects, most of them essentially non-utilitarian, must be of religious and social significance, as well as economic.”
[2]
“Some Igbo communities, especially trading cities along the Niger like Onitsha and Oguta (Nzimiro 1972) and the ’holy city’ of Nri (Afigbo 1981:31-68) had elaborated chieftaincy institutions in pre-colonial times.”
[3]
“It is in this heartland that the holy centre of Nm grew up, and the ancient treasures of Igbo-Ukwu were discovered. At its greatest extent the Nri sphere of influence covered perhaps half of Igboland; nevertheless, it constituted its ritual heart, like Ife, among the Yoruba.”
[4]
[1]: Ogundiran, A. (2005). Four Millennia of Cultural History in Nigeria (ca. 2000 B.C.—A.D. 1900): Archaeological Perspectives. Journal of World Prehistory, 19(2), 133–168: 148. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/PK7F26DP/collection [2]: Sutton, J. E. G. (1991). The International Factor at Igbo-Ukwu. The African Archaeological Review, 9, 145–160: 149. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/HBPMUV6T/collection [3]: Harneit-Sievers, A. (1998). Igbo ‘Traditional Rulers’: Chieftaincy and the State in Southeastern Nigeria. Africa Spectrum, 33(1), 57–79: 59. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TUHHXK22/collection [4]: Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press, 1997: 246. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z4GK27CI/collection |
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The League Council met at Onondaga: ’The term “longhouse” was at one time symbolically applied to the League, and its members spoke of themselves as the “Hodinonhsióni ónon,” “the people of the longhouse.” The symbolic longhouse was represented as extending from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. It sheltered within its walls the five tribes who kept the five fires of the longhouse. At the ends of the house stood the doorkeepers, the Mohawk at the east and the Seneca at the west. In between these were the Oneida who kept the second fire and the Cayuga who kept the fourth fire. They were regarded as the younger brothers whose duty it was to care for the captives. In the center were the Onondaga who kept the ever-burning central fire and presided over the council of the league, and whose principal village (Onondaga, later Onondaga Castle) was the capital of the confederacy. At one time Onondaga was one of the most important and widely known towns in North America north of Mexico.’
[1]
Because of the migrations and military conflicts of the colonial period, the council fire was intermittently extinguished, then moved to other locations: ’After the Revolution, about 225 Onondagas chose tofollow Joseph Brant, the Mohawk chief, to Canada andto settle on the Six Nations Reserve (Johnston 1964:52).Approximately the same number of Onondagas werereported living on the Six Nations Reserve in 1810-1811(Johnston 1964:281), suggesting that all those Onondagaswho moved to Canada did so as a group in 1784. There,they and those belonging to the other Iroquois tribes whohad also settled on the Six Nations Reserve rekindled thecouncil fire of the Confederacy (see “Six Nations of theGrand River, Ontario,” this vol.). Another council fire ofthe Confederacy was rekindled at Buffalo Creek where anumber of Senecas and some Cayugas and Onondagaswere then living. Thus, after the Revolution, two separate League councils were established, one in the UnitedStates and the other in Canada, each with its owncomplement of hereditary chieftainships. Each also had its own wampum for the wampum of the League held bythe Onondagas had been divided, half being given to theOnondagas at the Six Nations Reserve and half remainingin New York State (see “The League of the Iroquois:Its History, Politics, and Ritual,” this vol.).’
[2]
’When the council fire of the Confederacy was rekindledat Buffalo Creek, more Onondagas as well as other Iroquois were living there than at any other location. The Onondaga village at Buffalo Creek, which in 1791 was said to consist of 28 good houses (Proctor 1864-1865,2:307), was located near the ford on Cazenovia Creek (near the present junction of Potter Road and SenecaStreet, a mile west of Ebenezer). The Onondaga councilhouse stood on the east bank of the creek near the ford and the cemetery on a terrace on the opposite side (Houghton 1920:11, 115-116).’
[3]
The fire was later rekindled at Onondaga proper: ’Despite the efforts of the Onondagas to have them returned to Onondaga, the council fire of the Confederacy and its wampum records remained at Buffalo Creek until after that reservation had been sold and Captain Cold (“The League of the Iroquois: Its History,Politics, and Ritual,” fig. 11, this vol.), keeper of thecouncil fire and the wampum, had died. In 1847 bothwere moved back to Onondaga (Clark 1849, 1:109, 124). However, a number of Onondagas (approximately 150)continued to live on the Seneca and Tuscarora Reservationsin western New York State, the largest number onthe Allegany Reservation (New York (State) Secretary ofState 1857:507; Fletcher 1888:551; New York (State)Legislature. Assembly 1889:59; U.S. Census Office. 11thCensus 1892:6).’
[3]
[1]: Lyford, Carrie A. 1945. “Iroquois Crafts”, 10a [2]: Blau, Harold, Jack Campisi, and Elisabeth Tooker 1978. “Onondaga”, 495 [3]: Blau, Harold, Jack Campisi, and Elisabeth Tooker 1978. “Onondaga”, 496 |
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The League Council met at Onondaga: ’The term “longhouse” was at one time symbolically applied to the League, and its members spoke of themselves as the “Hodinonhsióni ónon,” “the people of the longhouse.” The symbolic longhouse was represented as extending from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. It sheltered within its walls the five tribes who kept the five fires of the longhouse. At the ends of the house stood the doorkeepers, the Mohawk at the east and the Seneca at the west. In between these were the Oneida who kept the second fire and the Cayuga who kept the fourth fire. They were regarded as the younger brothers whose duty it was to care for the captives. In the center were the Onondaga who kept the ever-burning central fire and presided over the council of the league, and whose principal village (Onondaga, later Onondaga Castle) was the capital of the confederacy. At one time Onondaga was one of the most important and widely known towns in North America north of Mexico.’
[1]
[1]: Lyford, Carrie A. 1945. “Iroquois Crafts”, 10a |
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"There are several sites that have been associated with the Uighur empire. The most famous is the huge capital city of Ordu Balik (Khar Balgas), currently being excavated by a Mongolian-German project. It is estimated that the city encompassed a walled area of 25 km2 (Kiselev 1957; Radloff 1892; Rogers et al. 2005). In A.D. 821 the traveler Tam ̄ın ibn Bahr visited the city and described it as agriculturally rich with many outlying villages (Minorsky 1947, p. 283)."
[1]
[1]: (Rogers 2012, 227) |
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There is a possibility that the original capital was Oko, but this may not have been for a significant length of time, and archaeological remains have not been found. "There are, indeed, a number of elements in these traditions which seem acceptable. One of these is the assertion, in certain stories, that the capital of the Oyo kingdom was originally not at Oyo Ile but at a town called Oko, whence it is said to have been remobed to Oyo Ile by [King] Sango. [...] Unfortunately the location of the site of the earlier capital at Oko is not known, though some have suggested that it was further north or closer to the River Niger than Oyo Ile."
[1]
[1]: (Law 1977: 34-36) |
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Sometimes referred to as Oyo Katunga, Katanga, Old Oyo, Oyo-oro, Eyo or the Oyo metropolis. Key structures were the defensive city walls, the palace (Afin) and the market (Ojo-Oba). “Old Oyo was perhaps the largest precolonial African city in terms of area. The full extent of the city was revealed only by systematic survey (Agbaje-Williams and Onyango-Abuje 1981). It is an excellent example of a “giant village,” an area of more than 50 sq km with a very low population density. […] British explorers such as Clapperton (1829) and the Lander brothers (1832) visited the capital; their accounts show clearly that Old Oyo was a multiple-walled, large cosmopolitan city with ditches.”
[1]
For a while after reclaiming Oyo from the Nupe, the capital was Oyo-Igboho. However, Oyo Ile was soon rebuilt and became the capital again. The capital also moved south of the site of Oyo Ile after its destruction during the last decades of the empire in the 19th century, part of why we’re designating 1835 as the last year of the empire here. “The town of Oyo, 55km north of Ibadan in Nigeria’s Western State, was founded about 1837 on the site of an earlier settlement named Ago. For centuries prior to this the Yoruba empire of Oyo had as its capital a town which is today variously referred to as Old Oyo, Oyo-ile (’Home Oyo’), Oyo-oro (’Oyo of the Ghosts’), Eyo or Katunga. About 1837 this town was abandoned and the paramount head of the Oyo Yoruba, the Alafin, took up residence some 130k to the south.”
[2]
“The site is now totally uninhabited, but vestiges of its former occupation, notably the earthen city walls, with a circuit of some 15 miles, may still be seen. This earlier capital is sometimes called Katanga or Katunga, in origin the name by which the Hausa people of northern Nigeria referred to the city. Since its abandonment in the 1830s, the site has also been known as Oyo Ile, or ‘Old Oyo’.”
[3]
[1]: Storey, Glenn. ‘Urbanism in the Preindustrial World: Cross-Cultural Approaches’. University of Alabama Press, 2006: 155. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/JUZF8JHT/collection [2]: Goddard, Stephen. ‘Ago That Became Oyo: An Essay in Yoruba Historical Geography’. The Geographical Journal vol.137, no.2 (1971): 207. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9A2KMTEF/collection [3]: Law, R. (1977). The Oyo Empire c. 1600 – c. 1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Oxford University Press: 4. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB32ZPCF/collection |
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Eastern Vakatakas of Vidarbha.
[1]
Vidarbha is a region
Padmapura? "Vakataka queen (nee Gupta) followed in her father’s footsteps by favouring religious organisations and building temples. She may have been the major source of inspiration of her husband and have brought the Satvata ritual experts from Vatsagulma to Padmapura in order to serve in her new temple." "the official records of Padmapura - Nandivardhana - Pravarapura branch" [2] [1]: Bakker, Hans. October 2010. Royal Patronage and Religious Tolerance: The Formative Period of Gupta-Vakataka Culture. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Third Series. Vol. 20. No. 4. pp.461-475. [2]: (Sawant 2009) Reshma Sawant. 2008. ‘State Formation Process In The Vidarbha During The Vakataka Period’. Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute 68-69: 137-162.< |
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[Pasargadae: 550-521 BCE; Susa: 521-330 BCE]
Susa was the administrative capital. Persepolis was the ceremonial and religious center. Ecbatanna were commercial, strategic and provincial centers. [1] Susa was the administrative capital, probably from Darius I. [2] Pasargade was the capital under Cyrus the Great. Thereafter it was used as a ceremonial centre for the coronation of the Achaemenid king. [3] 135 km to northeast of Shiraz. [4] Persepolis never played an important role in the governments of the empire. It was a ritual centre. [3] [5] Ecbatana and Babylon were strategic and commercial cities. [5] The actual residence of the king varied between the seasons. Ecbatana was a summer resort, Persepolis was typical for the autumn season, and either at Susa or Babylon over the winter. [6] Cyrus II moved the capital to Susa after he unified Elam in 559 BCE. [7] Susa was the main capital. [3] [1]: (Farazmand 2001, 57) Farazmand, Ali in Farazmand, Ali ed. 2001. Handbook of Comparative and Development Public Administration. CRC Press. [3]: (Nylander 1971, 50-54) [4]: (Shahbazi 2012, 125) Shahbazi, A Shapour. The Archaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BCE) Daryaee, Touraj. ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. [5]: (Farazmand 2002) |
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"[T]he Purāṇas name the city of Vidisha as the capital of the Śuṅgas."
[1]
"The principal inheritors of the Mauryan power seem to be the Sungas who ruled from Pataliputra but do not appear to have retained the former Magadhan control of even the core of northern India. In Central India, their power did not extend beyond eastern Malwa which had Vidisa as its capital; southward their control ended on the Narmada. North-East from Pataliputra, Kosala with its principal centre of Ayodhya, was under the Sunga control, and so presumably was Ahichchhatra of north Panchala. The Sunga control also extended up to Panjab and the Indus."
[2]
[1]: (Bhandare 2006, 70) Shailendra Bhandare. 2006. ’Numismatics and History: The Maurya-Gupta Interlude in the Gangetic Plain’ in Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE, edited by Patrick Olivelle. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [2]: (Chakrabarti 2010, 38) Dilip Chakrabarti. 2010. ’The Shift of the Focus to Orissa, the Deccan, and Malwa’ in The Geopolitical Orbits of Ancient India: The Geographical Frames of the Ancient Indian Dynasties, edited by Dilip Chakrabarti. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
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[1]
The city of Pataliputra was located at the confluence of the Ganges and the Sone. It covered an area of 15 KM long by 3 KM wide, and was surrounded with a moat, sewage systems, and a large wall with a reported 64 gates and 570 towers.
[1]
Also called Patna.
[2]
[1]: Sinha, Bindeshwaxì Prasad, and Lala Aditya Narain. "Pataliputra Excavations 1955-56." The Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Bihar, Patna (1970). [2]: (Bradford and Bradford 2001, 125) Bradford, Alfred S. Bradford, Pamela, M. 2001. With Arrow, Sword, and Spear: A History of Warfare in the Ancient World. Greenwood Publishing Group. |
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"[...] Pataliputra, which along with Ujjain seems to have served as the Gupta capital[...]".
[1]
[1]: (Keay 2010, 146) Keay, John. 2010. India: A History. New Updated Edition. London: HarperPress. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/HSHAKZ3X. |
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attested as the capital by Chinese sources from the period, although how centralized the state was is largely unknown. Some limited excavation has taken place.
[1]
"473-79 Hephthalites conquer Sogdiana and establish a capital city at Pendjikent." [2] Toramana, who made conquests in India "established his capital city at Salaka" [3] [1]: Denis Sinor, "The establishment and dissolution of the Türk empire" in Denis Sinor, "The Cambridge history of early Inner Asia, Volume 1", Cambridge University Press, 1990. p. 300; Litvinsky B.A.,Guang-da Zhang , and Shabani Samghabadi R. (eds)History of Civilizations of Central Asia, p. 152 [2]: (West 2009, 276) West, B A. 2009. Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. [3]: (Bauer 2010, 180) Bauer, S W. 2010. The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. W. W. Norton & Company. |
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Vijayanagara: 1336-1565, Penukonda, Chandraigiri. The kingdom of Vijayanagara takes its name, ’City of Victory’, from its capital on the Tungabhadra River
[1]
. The Vijayanagara capital was abandoned in 1565 following a major military defeat
[2]
, the later imperial capitals were Penukonda and Chandragiri
[3]
.
[1]: Burton Stein, The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara (1990), p. 1 [2]: Carla M. Sinopoli, ’From the Lion Throne: Political and Social Dynamics of the Vijayanagara Empire’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol 43, No. 3 (2000), pp. 370 [3]: Carla M. Sinopoli, ’From the Lion Throne: Political and Social Dynamics of the Vijayanagara Empire’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol 43, No. 3 (2000), pp. 383 |
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Memphis: 1293-1278 BCE; Per-Ramesse: 1250-1069 BCE Per-Ramesse: [1278-1237 BCE]-1069 BCE
A distinction should be drawn between major centres of economic and religious activity and the political center of the New Kingdom. Memphis remained the important political center until the Ramesside capital shift into the Delta. If a timeline were to be drawn up of the shift of importance commonly attributed to New Kingdom cities, it might look like this: Thebes: 1570-1373 BCE; Akhetaten: 1373-1330 BCE; Thebes: 1330-[1278-1237 BCE]; Per-Ramesse: [1278-1237 BCE]-1069 BCE Ramses II (c1278-1237 BCE) created new capital at Per-Ramesse: “the house of Ramses”. [1] |
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The US did not have a capital city until 1787 when the first congress met in New York. In 1790 Philadelphia was established as a temporary national capital while Washington D.C, which was carved out from land straddling the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1788, became the national capital in 1800.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Volo and Volo 2004: xiii. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SIB5XSW97 [2]: ‘List of Capitals in the United States’. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XYZ5KY4D. |
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’We know little of the history of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and the Khmer chronicles are primarily eighteenth- and nineteenth-century court documents created in the eastern Khmer capitals, in particular Phnom Phenh, with a specific political agenda in mind.’
[1]
’Angkor was the vast low-density capital of the Khmer Kingdom, from the early 9th to the mid-14th/15th centuries of the Common Era (CE). At its peak, Angkor sprawled over nearly 1000 km2 [1] and may have housed more than three quarters of a million people [2,3]. The primary administrative centre in a kingdom that dominated most of mainland Southeast Asia by the 11th century CE, Angkor was the largest preindustrial city on Earth and remains the world’s largest archaeological site. The Angkor period is commonly understood to start in 802 CE with the proclamation of Jayavarman II as the chakravartin (universal-king) from a location in the Kulen mountains (Phnom Kulen), overlooking the vast alluvial plain where Angkor would begin to emerge in the following centuries (Figure 1). In doing so, Jayavarman confirmed himself as the great unifier; drawing Cambodia’s disparate polities together under the first ‘god king’ and establishing the Khmer state and the basis of its empire. Phnom Kulen was known as Mahendraparvata; ‘‘the hill of the great Indra’’. The extant history of Mahendraparvata is based on several inscriptions, the most well-known being an 11th century CE inscription (K.235) found at the Sdok Kak Thom temple, in eastern Thailand [4]. The inscription, dated to 1052 CE, outlines the lineage of a private family serving successive Khmer Kings for two and a half centuries, the first mentioned being Jayavarman II.’
[2]
’With the fading of the ANGKOR era, Cambodia shifts capitals south to Lovek, then to Udong, and finally to PHNOM PENH.This period also sees the waning of HINDUISM and the rise of THERAVADA BUDDHISM.’
[3]
’944 Rajendravarman II returns the capital to Angkor. The name “Angkor,” from the Sanskrit word for “city,” was given to the capital only in the 16th century. Temple inscriptions during imperial times call it Yashodharapura, “glory—bearing city.”’
[4]
’The Khmer pronunciation of Sanskrit negara, signifying capital of a kingdom. The ancient Khmer capital now known as Angkor was originally called Yasodharapura after Yasovarman, the ruler who moved the capital there in 889.’
[5]
’Here are the most salient traits of the Post-Classic: [...] The capital in various locations between the Great Lake and the Delta.’
[6]
’But in the face of attacks from both Ayutthaya and the Cham, Suryavarman decided to retreat from the old site of Angkor and to move the capital to the area of Phnom Penh. After the fall of Cam- bodia, missions continued to arrive in China, in 1435, 1436, 1452, and 1499, indicating that the kingdom was still sufficiently integrated to be able to conduct foreign relations. The Angkor period, however, had come to an end.’
[7]
’First and most dramatic, Angkor’s empire fell apart. During the second quarter of the 13th century Angkorian forces were withdrawn from Champa. By mid-century most of the peninsula, areas west of the Chaophraya river, and northern Thailand had broken away, to be followed shortly by Lopburi and other states in the Chaophraya plain. By 1297 Angkor was defending against Tai attacks from the west. After new Tai pressure forced what some his- torians claim was a temporary withdrawal from Angkor during the mid- to late 14th century (various dates between 1350 and 1389 have been proposed), Khmer rulers may have abandoned the great capital in the 1430s or 1440s in favor of Phnom Penh in the southeast. It is equally plausible that Angkor was never actually abandoned, but that a more powerful royal lineage established itself at Phnom Penh in ri- valry with the old Angkorian family.78 In either case, the 14th century enfeebled central power. Thus Angkor’s disintegration began some- what earlier but overlapped substantially with that of the Upper Burma state, whose problems began in the 1280s, which suffered a major military-political crisis in the 1360s, and which also limped along into the 15th century.’
[8]
’In a belated effort to woo Chinese trade, between 1371 and 1419 Angkor sent more tribute missions to China than in the previous 500 years, but the subsequent effective transfer of the capital to the more commercially viable site of Phnom Penh marked the eclipse of pro-Angkor elements within the Khmer elite.87’
[9]
’The pioneer was a Dominican name d Gaspar da Cruz, who arrived in 1555 at the court of King Ang Chan -one of Post-Classic Cambodia’s greatest rulers-in the then capital, Lovek.’,
[10]
’The initial move seems to have been to Srei Santhor, about 30 km (19 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh, at some time in the fourteenth century; then, briefly, to Phnom Penh itself. By about 1528, the Cambodian court under its first great Post-Angkorian king, Ang Chan I, had moved once and for all to the all to the Quatre Bras region, establishing a new capital at Lovek (Longvek), on the right bank of the Tonle Sap River, 50 km (30 miles) north of Phnom Penh. Love, like Udong and Phnom Penh- the town s that succeeded it as the capital- was thoroughly international, with foreign quarters for Malay, Japanese, and Chinese traders (there were as many as 3,000 of the last in the 1540s). There Ang Chan (who really did exist) built a golden palace and at least four major wats, erecting a huge, four-faced Buddha of wood, the stone foundation of which survive in one of the town’s vicars. The capital was fortified by earthen ramparts topped with palisades; these ramparts, which form a huge rectangle, are still visible.’
[11]
[1]: (Fletcher 2012, p.313) [2]: (Penny et al 2014, p. e84252) [3]: (Ooi and Barnhill 2004, p. 1496) [4]: (National Geographic 2009) [5]: (Miksic 2007, pp. 17-18) [6]: (Coe 2003, p. 195) [7]: (Miksic 2007, p. 84) [8]: (Lieberman 2003, pp. 236-237) [9]: (Lieberman 2003, p. 240) [10]: (Coe 2003, p. 201) [11]: (Coe 2003, pp. 208-209) |
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First capital at Shengle under Gui. Gui "declared himself Prince of Wei before he assumed the imperial mantle in the new capital Pingcheng in early 399 CE."
[1]
Pingcheng capital from 398 CE. [2] Pingcheng (or Datong, in Shanxi). [3] In the decade after the move of the capital to Luoyang "walls and palaces were built and populations transferred from Pingcheng and other centers in North China." [4] Building of Luoyang began 493 CE and capital moved there by Xiaowendi 494 CE. [5] "Having been in ruins from 311, Luoyang came back to life when Xiaowendi moved his capital there from Pingcheng in 494 as part of his overall strategy to sinify Tuoba institutions." [6] [1]: (Xiong 2009, 21) [2]: (Xiong 2009, 393) [3]: (Graff 2002, 97) [4]: (Graff 2002, 98) [5]: (Xiong 2009, ci) [6]: (Xiong 2009, 347) |
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{Ciudad Perdida; Pueblito; Pocigueica; Bonda; Taironaca} "Based on current evidence, these primary centers shared cultural styles but retained political independence; for example, there was no single “capital” of the Muisca, Tierradentro, San Agustin/Alto Magdalena, or Tairona chiefdoms."
[1]
"Several urban clusters have been found in the upper Buritaca that consist of collections of terrace groups, making it difficult to determine where a site begins and ends. Deep valleys cut one part of a settlement from another. The largest of the sites is Ciudad Perdida, built between 1,100-1,200 masl." [2] Ciudad Perdida in the Upper Buritaca region. "These figures fit well with the archaeological evidence from coastal and from highland regions for the existence of a three-level hierarchy of sites (Serje 1987; Oyuela Caycedo 1987b) in which the larger ones, such as Pueblito, have some 1,000 structures (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1954a: 161; 1954b; G. Reichel-Dolmatoff and A. Reichel-Dolmatoff 1955).Major towns, such as Bonda and Pocigueica, were governed by chiefs (caciques) and seem to have formed the nuclei of incipient states." [3] In a discussion about possible major settlements in earlier periods: "First, the conquerors never described the presence of large villages that had ample territorial control, as is the case for Bonda, Pocigueica, and Taironaca to provide a few of the best-known examples (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1951). Fray Pedro de Aguado (/1581/ 1906, 5:69) describes the ’...towns of Concha and Ancones, where Jagua and Jairada, and Guachaca, and Nando, and Naguanje are, towns of principal lords, river ports and Ocean ports’. This reference would support the idea of communities of similar prestige, ’towns of principal lords’, none of which would have preeminence over the others." [4] "According to Groot (1985), and Cadavid and Groot (1987), the levels of architectural elaboration found at Ciudad Perdida vis-a-vis the other 25 settlements found in a 7 kilometer radius indicated that it was the center of political, social, and economic authority in the upper Buritaca river basin. They also suggest that Ciudad Perdida was home to an elite population comprised of civil and religious leaders, warriors, and specialists, with agricultural production concentrated in these satellite settlements (Groot 1985: 96). Though, their arguments are still unconfirmed and further research in these outlying settlements is still necessary, they did recognize in its fabric and texture, in the disposition of its buildings, paved pathways and staircases a number of characteristically urban qualities." [5] [1]: (Moore 2014, 386) [2]: (Oyuela-Caycedo 2008, 419) [3]: (Bray 2003, 301) [4]: (Langebaek 2005, 71-79) [5]: (Giraldo 2010, 23) |
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The phrase "Mdaŋ i Bhûmi Matarâm" found in inscriptions means "Medang in the land of Mataram", which means the kingdom name is Medang with its capital in Mataram.
[1]
The capital was in the mid-ninth century moved to another site in Central Java, Mamrati, and then again around half a century later to Poh Pitu.
[2]
When Medang moved to East Java around 929, the capital was placed firstly at Tamwlang for a very short time, and then moved to Watu Galuh.
[3]
It finally moved to Wwatan.
[4]
[1]: (Muljana 2005, 84) [2]: (Poesponegoro and Notosusanto 2008, 159) [3]: (Brown 2004, 68) [4]: (Boechari 1976, 14) |
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“As stated above, the transfer of the capital to Polonnaruva has been portrayed as connected with a religious shift towards a more pluralistic and eclectic patronage at state-level, incorporating Buddhist, Brahmanical and Saivite practices.
[1]
[1]: Coningham et al. 2017, 37) Coningham et al. 2017. ‘Archaeology and cosmopolitanism in early historic and medieval Sri Lanka.’ Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History. Edited by Zoltán Biedermann and Alan Strathern. London: UCL Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/DCQMW8E3/collection |
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Capital of colonial administration. The Orokaiva population was not organized around a capital. The colonial authorities established administrative centers at Port Moresby and Popondetta: ’Papua New Guinea, island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It encompasses the eastern half of New Guinea, the world’s second largest island (the western half is made up of the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua); the Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain, New Ireland, the Admiralty Islands, and several others); Bougainville and Buka (part of the Solomon Islands chain); and small offshore islands and atolls. The national capital, Port Moresby, is located in southeastern New Guinea on the Coral Sea.’
[1]
’Popondetta is a small town, population 6343 in 1980 (National Statistics Office 1980:14), with a few general stores, a market, hospital, courthouse, various government and semi-government offices and an hotel. It is a sleepy town, livened only recently by oil palm activity, the bustle of wholesale buying for village trade stores, and the ‘fortnight’, the government pay day, which stimulates a long weekend of drinking, singing and the occasional fight. Children love to visit the ‘town’, but adult women in particular yearn for the bright lights of Port Moresby spoken of by their menfolk.’
[2]
’As I am at present discussing only unorganised contacts between villagers, I can give only one clear instance of changing attitudes and this is in Popondetta itself. Popondetta, the new administrative centre of the Northern District, has about 4,000 inhabitants, almost all Orokaiva; among its inhabitants all parts of the Northern District are represented, including Sivepe. The Sivepe people had many relatives there, mostly hailing from the Sasembata district, and employed in some regular job in the town. These jobs are partly in personal service to Europeans, but also in light industry, the retail trade, public works and public service, and go far beyond the little employment that was available in preeruption Higaturu (with a population which, judging from aerial photographs, can hardly have exceeded that of a large village). Popondetta is preeminently the place where intelligent men from various villages can gather informally to discuss political and other public questions, and develop a wider interpretation of the situation of the Orokaiva which is learnt by the men from the villages when they pay occasional visits to Popondetta. The town generates a new sophistication which is spreading to the villages. This was not yet very evident in Sivepe, though I shall later quote a few examples, but far more so in Hohorita.’
[3]
[1]: http://www.britannica.com/place/Papua-New-Guinea [2]: Newton, Janice 1985. “Orokaiva Production And Change”, 77p [3]: Schwimmer, Eric G. 1969. “Cultural Consequences Of A Volcanic Eruption Experienced By The Mount Lamington Orokaiva”, 54p |
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[1]
[2]
[1]: (Fichtner 2003: 35) Fichtner, Paula Sutter. 2003. The Habsburg Monarchy, 1490-1848: Attributes of Empire. Macmillan International Higher Education. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QQ77TV4K [2]: (‘Habsburg Monarchy’) ‘Habsburg Monarchy’, in Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Habsburg_monarchy&oldid=1087774624. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SMSU7WA3 |
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“At the end of the Middle Ages, Prague ranked among the top cities of Europe. It featured the oldest university in Central Europe and was the seat of an archbishopric; both foundations had been established in the 1340s. During the third quarter of the fourteenth century, Prague became a center of relics and religious practice. The extent of this visual religious culture suggests a conscious sacralizing of a late medieval city. The city likewise served as the residence of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor. There was every reason to regard Prague as a center of political and religious authority. The city’s virtues had been praised since the tenth century and that reputation remained intact extending to the fifteenth century.”
[1]
Language “The elements of humanism which penetrated the Czech context opened up possibilities for the use of national languages, which were already employed at various levels. German was the first to be used in the chancelleries and private correspondence of nobles and burghers, and shortly after that Czech. Gradually however, and mainly during the era of Charles IV, Czech came into use in the ruler’s chancellery, even though German was given priority because of the frequent official contact with imperial addressees. In the opinion of some linguists, it was in the context of the royal chancellery in Prague that the first attempts at unification of German (New High German) orthography are to be found, which was important especially for the lands of southern and central Germany. The refined style is to be found in the translation of the Old Testament into German from the time of Wenceslas IV, and the famed work Ackermann aus Böhmen, which reached Czech readers in an adapted translation as the well known work Tkadleček. Czech did not lag behind either, developing dynamically even beyond the court environment. In the second half of the 14th century, the first Czech translation of the Bible was made (entitled the Leskovec or Dresden Bible; in Moravian it overlaps with the Olomouc version), and so the Czechs were numbered after Italy and France among the first nations to undertake such a task. Bartoloměj of Chlumec, known as Klaret, along with several assistants and most likely supported by the Emperor, concentrated on lexicographical works which throw light on the scientific terminology of the time, which up to this employed mostly Latin.”
[2]
“The church gave him educated officials to administer his possessions, so Latin was widely used in Charles IV’s court, and links existed to the first Italian humanists. German was common, especially for contacts with other parts of the empire. But Czech also made its way in to administration and justice, with the first preserved official document in Czech dating to 1370.”
[3]
“Charles IV furthered Bohemia the prosperity of the land and founded the University of Prague (1348), where the students formed four nations of Bohemians and Poles, Bavarians and Saxons. He encouraged the Czech language and the native merchants, although he continued, like Ottocar II and other previous princes, to call in German colonists, and although his chancery at Prague did much to fix a written form of Middle German which marks an important step in the development toward a common German tongue.”
[4]
[1]: (Fudge 2010: 19) Fudge, Thomas A. 2010. Jan Hus: Religious Reform and Social Revolution in Bohemia. London; New York: I. B. Tauris. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Z325C95F [2]: (Pánek and Oldřich 2009: 149) Pánek, Jaroslav and Oldřich, Tůma. 2009. A History of the Czech Lands. University of Chicago Press. 2009. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/4NAX9KBJ [3]: (Agnew 2004: 35) Hugh LeCaine Agnew, The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown (Stanford, Calif. : Hoover Institution Press, 2004), http://archive.org/details/czechslandsofboh0000agne. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6LBQ5ARI [4]: (Thorndike 1917: 552) Thorndike, Lynn. 1917. The History of Medieval Europe. Massachusetts, USA: The Riverside Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KJSEM6KC |
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Pratisthana (modern-day Paithan); Benakataka; others. "No single city served as the Satavahana capital throughout the duration of the dynasty’s history. In the early second century CE, Ptolemy referred to Paithan (Pratisthana; in Aurangabad district) as the capital of King Pulamavi; the Nasik inscription of his predecessor Gautamiputra Satakarni referred to him as lord of Benkataka (in the Nasik region). [...] The situation may, at least in part, be associated with structural weaknesses of imperial political and economical organization, thus making the physical presence of the king, court, and military force important to the exercise and authority of imperial authority and revenue collection"
[1]
.
[1]: C. Sinopoli, On the Edge of Empire: Form and Substance in the Satavahana Dynasty, in S. Alcock (ed), Empires (2001), p. 170 |
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{Ciudad Perdida; Pueblito; Pocigueica; Bonda; Taironaca} "Based on current evidence, these primary centers shared cultural styles but retained political independence; for example, there was no single “capital” of the Muisca, Tierradentro, San Agustin/Alto Magdalena, or Tairona chiefdoms."
[1]
"Several urban clusters have been found in the upper Buritaca that consist of collections of terrace groups, making it difficult to determine where a site begins and ends. Deep valleys cut one part of a settlement from another. The largest of the sites is Ciudad Perdida, built between 1,100-1,200 masl." [2] Ciudad Perdida in the Upper Buritaca region. "These figures fit well with the archaeological evidence from coastal and from highland regions for the existence of a three-level hierarchy of sites (Serje 1987; Oyuela Caycedo 1987b) in which the larger ones, such as Pueblito, have some 1,000 structures (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1954a: 161; 1954b; G. Reichel-Dolmatoff and A. Reichel-Dolmatoff 1955).Major towns, such as Bonda and Pocigueica, were governed by chiefs (caciques) and seem to have formed the nuclei of incipient states." [3] In a discussion about possible major settlements in earlier periods: "First, the conquerors never described the presence of large villages that had ample territorial control, as is the case for Bonda, Pocigueica, and Taironaca to provide a few of the best-known examples (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1951). Fray Pedro de Aguado (/1581/ 1906, 5:69) describes the ’...towns of Concha and Ancones, where Jagua and Jairada, and Guachaca, and Nando, and Naguanje are, towns of principal lords, river ports and Ocean ports’. This reference would support the idea of communities of similar prestige, ’towns of principal lords’, none of which would have preeminence over the others." [4] "According to Groot (1985), and Cadavid and Groot (1987), the levels of architectural elaboration found at Ciudad Perdida vis-a-vis the other 25 settlements found in a 7 kilometer radius indicated that it was the center of political, social, and economic authority in the upper Buritaca river basin. They also suggest that Ciudad Perdida was home to an elite population comprised of civil and religious leaders, warriors, and specialists, with agricultural production concentrated in these satellite settlements (Groot 1985: 96). Though, their arguments are still unconfirmed and further research in these outlying settlements is still necessary, they did recognize in its fabric and texture, in the disposition of its buildings, paved pathways and staircases a number of characteristically urban qualities." [5] [1]: (Moore 2014, 386) [2]: (Oyuela-Caycedo 2008, 419) [3]: (Bray 2003, 301) [4]: (Langebaek 2005, 71-79) [5]: (Giraldo 2010, 23) |
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Kujula Kadphrises (60-80 CE) ruled from Taxila. Capital called Takshasila-Sirkap.
[1]
Vima Kadphises (101-127 CE) began a new capital at Takshasila-Sirsukh. [2] Kanishka I (128-150 CE) moved the capital to Purushapura. [3] He had regional capitals at Taxila, Begram and Mathura. [4] Administrative: Peshawar; Mathura {Bagram; Taxila} [5] [1]: (Samad 2011, 80) Samad, R. U. 2011. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Angora Publishing. [2]: (Samad 2011, 82) Samad, R. U. 2011. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Angora Publishing. [3]: (Samad 2011, 83) Samad, R. U. 2011. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Angora Publishing. [4]: (Murugan 2013, 27) Murugan, Suresh. 2013. Introduction To Social Work. Social Work Department. PSG College of Arts and Science. [5]: Avari, Burjor. India: the ancient past: a history of the Indian sub-continent from c. 7000 BC to AD 1200. 2007, p.132; http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kushan-dynasty-i-history |
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Tabriz was the first capital of the Safavids; Qazvin was a later capital. Isfahan under Shah Abbas.
[1]
"In view of the vulnerability of Tabriz to Ottoman attacks, Shah Tahmasp [(1524-76)] decided to transfer the capital from Tabriz to Qazvin."
[2]
Relocated from Tabriz to Qazvin under Tahmasp, and moved to Isfahan by Abbas I.
[3]
[1]: Rudi Matthee ‘SAFAVID DYNASTY’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/safavids. [2]: E Eshraghi, ‘PERSIA DURING THE PERIOD OF THE SAFAVIDS, THE AFSHARS AND THE EARLY QAJARS’, in Chahryar Adle and Irfan Habib (eds), History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. V The Sixteenth to the Mid-Nineteenth Centuries (Paris: Unesco, 1992), p.254; Masashi Haneda and Rudi Matthee, ’ISFAHAN vii. SAFAVID PERIOD’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/isfahan-vii-safavid-period [3]: (Newman 2009) Newman, Andrew J. 2009. Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. I.B. Tauris. New York. |
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“The Tunni, composed of five subclans (Da’farad, Dakhtira, Goygali, Hajuwa, and Waridi), were the latest to drive the Jiddu into the interior where the established their own sultanate in Qoryooley.”
[1]
[1]: (Mukhtar 2003, 50) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2003. Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/TWITJWK4/items/J8WZB6VI/collection |
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Quito: 1534-1599 CE; none: 1600-1830 CE While initially subject to Spanish colonial incursions, the Shuar tribes later resisted successfully: ’The first reported white penetration of Jivaro territory was made in 1549 by a Spanish expedition under Hernando de Benavente. Later expeditions of colonists and soldiers soon followed. These newcomers traded with the Jivaro, made peace pacts with them, and soon began to exploit the gold found in alluvial or glacial deposits in the region. Eventually the Spaniards were able to obtain the co-operation of some of the Indians in working the gold deposits, but others remained hostile, killing many of the colonists and soldiers at every opportunity. Under the subjection of the Spaniards, the Jivaro were required to pay tribute in gold dust; a demand that increased yearly. Finally, in 1599, the Jivaro rebelled en masse, killing many thousands of Spaniards in the process and driving them from the region. After 1599, until nearly the middle of the nineteenth century, Jivaro-European relations remained intermittent and mostly hostile. A few missionary and military expeditions entered the region from the Andean highlands, but these frequently ended in disaster and no permanent colonization ever resulted. One of the few "friendly" gestures reported for the tribe during this time occurred in 1767, when they gave a Spanish missionizing expedition "gifts", which included the skulls of Spaniards who had apparently been killed earlier by the Jivaro (Harner, 1953: 26). Thus it seems that the Jivaros are the only tribe known to have successfully revolted against the Spanish Empire and to have been able to thwart all subsequent attempts by the Spaniards to conquer them. They have withstood armies of gold seeking Inkas as well as Spaniards, and defied the bravado of the early conquistadors.’
[1]
The Spanish colonial administration resided in Quito: ’During much of the colonial period, what is now Ecuador was under the direct jurisdiction of the law court (audiencia) of Quito and ultimately under the rule of the Spanish crown. Spanish culture was spread primarily by religious orders and male Spanish colonists. In the Sierra, the Spaniards established a colony of large estates worked by Indian peons. Settlements included semiautonomous Indian villages and Spanish and mestizo administrative and religious centres such as Quito, Ambato, and Cuenca. The making of rough textiles in primitive sweatshops was the only industry. The development of Roman Catholic religious establishments provided for the flowering of Baroque architecture, sculpture in wood and stone, painting, music, and other arts and crafts. In the tropical Costa, much of the population died as a result of introduced diseases, and the area remained unhealthy until the advent of modern medicine. As a result, the coast was somewhat neglected during the colonial period, although there was some shipbuilding and exporting of cacao (as cocoa beans) from the port of Guayaquil. The small coastal population of slaves, free blacks, and mixed ethnicities, with plenty of vacant land and less coercion of labour, developed a culture very different from that of the Sierra. In the Oriente, the region on the eastern slopes between the Andes and the headwaters of the Amazon, large populations of Shuar and other indigenous people successfully repelled European invaders; however, Jesuits and other missionaries were able to spread both Christianity and the Quichua language. The Spaniards used Quichua as a language of evangelization-at one period missionaries were required to know the language-and continued to spread it orally by means of Quichua speakers who travelled with them in further conquests. The country’s fourth major subdivision, the Galapagos Islands, were little more than pirate nests during the colonial period. They were to achieve world fame in the 19th century, because it was there that Charles Darwin made a major portion of the observations that led to his theories on evolution and his On the Origin of Species. The people of Quito, the Ecuadoran capital, claim that it was the scene of the first Ecuadoran patriot uprising against Spanish rule (1809). Invading from Colombia in 1822, the armies of Simón Bolívar and Antonio José de Sucre came to the aid of Ecuadoran rebels, and on May 24 Sucre won the decisive Battle of Pichincha on a mountain slope near Quito, thus assuring Ecuadoran independence.’
[2]
The Shuar population was not organized around a capital. Quito therefore serves as a provisional code reflecting the presence of Spanish colonial forces in what is now Ecuador.
[1]: Beierle, John: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Jivaro [2]: http://www.britannica.com/place/Ecuador/Cultural-life#toc25823 |
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"In 395 AD the Roman empire was divided into two parts with the Western Roman Empire with its capital at Rome, and the Eastern Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople."
[1]
At time of Constantine: "Rome was now only the nominal capital of the Roman Empire. Two new cities had emerged as the major political centres of the empire: Milan in the west and Constantinople in the east. In both cases this was in large part due to their strategic locations." [2] "there is no sign that Theodosius ever thought of restoring the unified Empire of his grandfather, or still less of moving his base back to Italy. Instead, a separate court was reestablished in Italy, ruling mainly from Ravenna. As the evidence collected by Andrew Gillet demonstrates for the first time, the Western court did eventually move back to Rome - and in fact the letters from members of the Western Imperial family denouncing the ’Robber Council of Ephesus’ which were instigated by Leo, bishop of Rome, and were sent in early 450, happen to mark the precise moment when a truly ’Roman’ empire was reestablished, if with only a quarter century of life before it." [3] [1]: (Morgan 2012) Morgan, James F. 2012. The Roman Empire. Fall of the West; Survival of the East. AuthorHouse. Bloomington. [2]: (Hughes 2012) Hughes, Iran. 2012. Aetius: Attila’s Nemesis. Casemate Publishers. [3]: (Bjornlie 2016, 55) Bjornlie, Shane M. Governmental Administration. in Arnold, Jonathan J. Bjornlie, Shane M. Sessa, Kristina. eds. 2016. A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy. BRILL. Leiden. |
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"For most of its history, the empire was divided into a western and eastern half, and it lacked a single capital or political centre. In the east, the main seat of Seljuk rule was Merv ... In the west, several different cities between which the sultans moved seasonally served as capitals: Rayy ... Isfahan, Baghdad and, later, Hamadhan."
[1]
Ray under Togrïl Beg; Malik-Shah made Isfahān his capital. "they established their capitals first at Hamadan and then at Isfahan in western Iran." [2] "From their capital at Isfahan, the Saljuqs controlled Baghdad through a garrison commander (shihnah) and civil governor (’amid), but did not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the Caliphate. Attemps at independent political action by the Caliphs and their officials were, however, resolutely checked." [3] [1]: (Peacock 2015, 6-7) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh. [2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. [3]: (Bagley 1964, xxix) Bagley, F. R. C. trans. Huma’i, Jalal and Isaacs, H. D. eds. 1964. Ghazali’s Book of Counsel for Kings (Nasihat Al-Muluk). Oxford University Press. London. |
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Asaak (Astauene) established by Arsaces I. New Nisa up to first century BCE. "At later stages, the functions of a capital city were also served by Hecatompylos, Ecbatana, Rhagae, Babylon, and Ctesiphon."
[1]
near Ashkhabad. [2] Parthian capital referred to as Hekatompylos in Chinese records. "The first capital of the Parthians was Nisa in the province of Parthia. In about 217 BCE, the Parthian capital was moved to Hekatompylos, which remained as the main capital of the Parthian empire till c. 50 BCE ... During that period, Rhagae (Rayy), Ecbatana, and Ctesiphon near the river Tigris were also selected as capitals." [3] [1]: (Dabrowa 2012, 180) Dabrowa, Edward. The Arcasid Empire. in Daryaee, Touraj ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. [2]: Neil Asher Silberman (ed.), ‘The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods’, The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) [3]: (Tao 2007) Tao, Wang in Josef in Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Stewart, Sarah eds. 2007. The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. London. |
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Asaak (Astauene) established by Arsaces I. New Nisa up to first century BCE. "At later stages, the functions of a capital city were also served by Hecatompylos, Ecbatana, Rhagae, Babylon, and Ctesiphon."
[1]
near Ashkhabad. [2] Parthian capital referred to as Hekatompylos in Chinese records. "The first capital of the Parthians was Nisa in the province of Parthia. In about 217 BCE, the Parthian capital was moved to Hekatompylos, which remained as the main capital of the Parthian empire till c. 50 BCE ... During that period, Rhagae (Rayy), Ecbatana, and Ctesiphon near the river Tigris were also selected as capitals." [3] [1]: (Dabrowa 2012, 180) Dabrowa, Edward. The Arcasid Empire. in Daryaee, Touraj ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. [2]: Neil Asher Silberman (ed.), ‘The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods’, The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) [3]: (Tao 2007) Tao, Wang in Josef in Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Stewart, Sarah eds. 2007. The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. London. |
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The Republic of St Peter (711-904 CE) was under nominal Byzantine suzerainty until 781 CE when the capital of the Byzantine exarchate was at Ravenna.
[1]
Ravenna was connected to Rome by the thin strip of Byzantine territory running across the Appennines and through Perugia. However, the capital of the Republic of St Peter was Rome.
[1]: (Partner 1972, 9 |
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"In 395 AD the Roman empire was divided into two parts with the Western Roman Empire with its capital at Rome, and the Eastern Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople."
[1]
At time of Constantine: "Rome was now only the nominal capital of the Roman Empire. Two new cities had emerged as the major political centres of the empire: Milan in the west and Constantinople in the east. In both cases this was in large part due to their strategic locations." [2] "there is no sign that Theodosius ever thought of restoring the unified Empire of his grandfather, or still less of moving his base back to Italy. Instead, a separate court was reestablished in Italy, ruling mainly from Ravenna. As the evidence collected by Andrew Gillet demonstrates for the first time, the Western court did eventually move back to Rome - and in fact the letters from members of the Western Imperial family denouncing the ’Robber Council of Ephesus’ which were instigated by Leo, bishop of Rome, and were sent in early 450, happen to mark the precise moment when a truly ’Roman’ empire was reestablished, if with only a quarter century of life before it." [3] [1]: (Morgan 2012) Morgan, James F. 2012. The Roman Empire. Fall of the West; Survival of the East. AuthorHouse. Bloomington. [2]: (Hughes 2012) Hughes, Iran. 2012. Aetius: Attila’s Nemesis. Casemate Publishers. [3]: (Bjornlie 2016, 55) Bjornlie, Shane M. Governmental Administration. in Arnold, Jonathan J. Bjornlie, Shane M. Sessa, Kristina. eds. 2016. A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy. BRILL. Leiden. |
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In 1712 Tsar Peter the Great moved the capital from Moscow to the newly founded city of Saint Petersburg.
[1]
[1]: Marc Raeff, Peter the Great Changes Russia (Heath, 1972). Zotero link: ETGA4BHM |
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In 1728 Peter II of Russia moved the capital back to Moscow, but four years later, in 1732, St. Petersburg again became the capital of Russia and remained the seat of the government for about two centuries.
[1]
[1]: W. Bruce Lincoln, Sunlight at Midnight: St. Petersburg and the Rise of Modern Russia, 1. ed., [Nachdr.]. (Boulder, Colo: Basic Books, 2002). Zotero link: DDLKKQBH |
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attested as the capital by Chinese sources from the period, although how centralized the state was is largely unknown. Some limited excavation has taken place.
[1]
"473-79 Hephthalites conquer Sogdiana and establish a capital city at Pendjikent." [2] Toramana, who made conquests in India "established his capital city at Salaka" [3] [1]: Denis Sinor, "The establishment and dissolution of the Türk empire" in Denis Sinor, "The Cambridge history of early Inner Asia, Volume 1", Cambridge University Press, 1990. p. 300; Litvinsky B.A.,Guang-da Zhang , and Shabani Samghabadi R. (eds)History of Civilizations of Central Asia, p. 152 [2]: (West 2009, 276) West, B A. 2009. Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. [3]: (Bauer 2010, 180) Bauer, S W. 2010. The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. W. W. Norton & Company. |
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Jerusalem: 1030-951 BCE; Shechem: ??? Tirzah: 950-900 BCE; Samaria: 899-722 BCE Dates are approximate; the century-points are correct. "The book of 1 Kings (12:25) says that Jeroboam I built Shechem, but it also hints (14:17) that he later moved to Tirzah; 1 Kings specifically mentions Tirzah as the capital of the northern kingdom in the days of Baasha (15:21, 33; 16:6), Elah (16:8-9), Zimri (16:15), and the first half of the reign of Omri (16:23). Assuming that Jeroboam ruled at least part of his reign from Tirzah, as did his son Nadab, as well as Tibni, Tirzah was the seat of the first six or seven northern kings, for a period of forty to fifty years. I see no reason to doubt the authenticity of the consistent and deeply rooted information on Tirzah as the capital of Israel. The authenticity of this memory is highlighted by the fact that Tirzah does not play an important role in the rest of the Deuteronomistic History."
[1]
"Tirzah lost its importance in the early ninth century, when Omri (884-873 b.c.e.) moved the capital of the northern kingdom to Samaria, possibly in his desire to establish a link with the coastal plain and the port of Dor (de Vaux 1967, 382). Indeed, the beginning of the transformation of Israel into a more complex kingdom came with the construction of the first palace at Samaria, probably by Omri. A full-scale urban transformation of the capital and the kingdom characterizes the more advanced phase of the Omride dynasty, probably in the days of Ahab (873-852 b.c.e.)." [2] [1]: Finkelstein (2013:66) [2]: Finkelstein (2013:78) |
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Kashgar; Bukhara; Balasagun; Suyab.
[1]
"On October 23, 999, a Karakhanid army entered Bukhara without opposition, took control of the Samanid treasury, rounded up the remaining Samanis, and settled into their palace."
[1]
At this time Gurjang was the capital of Khwarazm.
[1]
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
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Samarkand was Timur’s capital.
[1]
Shah Rukh (r.1404-1447 CE) moved the capital to Herat.
[2]
[1]: (Wise Bauer 2013, 558) Wise Bauer, S. 2013. The History of the Renaissance World: From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Conquest of Constantinople. W. W. Norton & Company. [2]: (Khan 2003, 35) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group. |
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The city of Gurgānj (also referred to as Jurjaniya, Urgench or Khorezm)
[1]
grew rapidly in the tenth and eleventh centuries as it was a terminus for the caravan routes to Volga and Russia.
[2]
[1]: Buniyatov 2015: 181. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SAEVEJFH [2]: Bosworth 2012: 302. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/B6JRSLIB |
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{Kufa: 750-762 CE; Baghdad: 762-833 CE; Al-Raqqah: 796-809 CE; Samarra: 833-893 CE; Baghdad 833-946 CE}
[1]
. Samarra was the military and administrative headquarters of the Caliphate 836-870 CE.
[2]
Merv was the capital of the caliphate from 810-819 CE.
[3]
Both Baghdad and Samarra were purpose built cities. [1]: Lapidus, Ira A., History of Islamic Society 2nd edition(Cambridge, 2002) [2]: (Lapidus 2012, 106) [3]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
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’The first post-Funan capital, Isanapura, shows almost complete absence of pon, and already in the early and middle 7th century mratan dominated in areas which were probably closely related to Isanapura, Kompong Speu and northern Takeo, and northern Prey Veng-southern Konpong Cham.’
[1]
’Although Chenla is used as a general term in the Chinese histories of that period, it is important to note that the inscriptions found within Cambodia never mention this name. Territories were designated according to the most important political centers, such as Bhavapura or Isanapura, the latter name being identified with Isanavarman’s capital at Sambor Prei Kuk.’
[2]
’The author’s detailed coverage of the seventh century site of Sambor Prei Kuk, which was largely inaccessible until recently, is a welcome addition. The Hindu site, dedicated to the god Shiva, is located in Kompong Thom Province east of the Great Lake, and served as the capital for Ishanavarman I (reigned c. 611-c. 635).’
[3]
’But Ishanapura was not a durable capital of the state of Chenla.’
[4]
’By about 600 they had conquered Funan and established their capital city at Isanapura, probably the contemporary city of Sambor, Cambodia. The oldest Khmer inscription, found at Angkor Borei, a former Funan stronghold south of Phnom Penh, is also from this period and is dated to 611.’
[5]
[1]: (Vickery 1998, 24) [2]: (Southworth 2004, 325) [3]: (Rooney 2004, 159) [4]: (Higham 2014b, 344) [5]: (West 2009, 160) |
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San José Mogote was the largest site in the valley at this time, and may have been the central site of the chiefdom in the Etla arm.
[1]
Other smaller chiefly centers were Yegüih (in the eastern arm) and San Martin Tilcajete (in the southern arm).
[1]
[2]
[1]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2005). Excavations at San José Mogote 1: The Household Archaeology, University of Michigan Museum, p14 [2]: Spencer, C. S. and E. M. Redmond (2004). "Primary state formation in Mesoamerica." Annual Review of Anthropology: 173-199, p176 |
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Sulayhids: Queen Arwa moved the court from Sanaa to Dhu Jibla.
[1]
Sa’da was the capital of the Zaidi Imamate until it was destroyed 943-977 CE.
[2]
Language [1]: (Stookey 1978, 68) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder. [2]: (Stookey 1978, 97) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder. |
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Sana’a was secured as the capital by the Qasimid dynasty after they drove the Ottomans out of Yemen (al-Yaman) in 1636. It is the oldest city in Yemen and many existing buildings are more than 800 years old.
[1]
[1]: Hestler 1999: 16. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RH82MHZP |
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The first Golden Horde capital was established by Batu Khan on the lower banks of the Volga River. Under the reign of Berke Khan, the capital was moved upstream and renamed. In the fourteenth century the capital of Sarai was described as a typical Muslim city, having running water, mosques, meddress’ (higher learning), palaces, merchants’ quarters and inns for travellers.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Halperin 1987: 26. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VCPWVNM. [2]: Schamiloglu 2018: 23. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/4DIB5VCX |
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The first Golden Horde capital was established by Batu Khan on the lower banks of the Volga River. Under the reign of Berke Khan, the capital was moved upstream and renamed. In the fourteenth century the capital of Sarai was described as a typical Muslim city, having running water, mosques, meddress’ (higher learning), palaces, merchants’ quarters and inns for travellers.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Halperin 1987: 26. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VCPWVNM. [2]: Schamiloglu 2018: 23. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/4DIB5VCX |
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most important known site
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[1]
Sardis.
[2]
[1]: Roosevelt, C.H. 2012. Iron Age Western Anatolia. In Potts, D.T. (ed.) A Companion to the Archaeology of the Near East. London: Blackwell. p. 897-913 [2]: (Leverani 2014, 533) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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“The origins and early history of the Whydah kingdom are obscure, and their reconstruction is complicated by the fact that the two principal communities which comprised it, the capital city of Savi and the coastal port of Glehue, apparently had distinct origins.”
[1]
[1]: Law, Robin. “‘The Common People Were Divided’: Monarchy, Aristocracy and Political Factionalism in the Kingdom of Whydah, 1671-1727.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 23, no. 2, 1990, pp. 201–29: 203. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/8JKAH2V5/collection |
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"The Bambara established two major military kingdoms at Segou and Kaarta".
[1]
"For Segou’s century-and-a-half existence, we have been able to identify - via oral tradition, colonial documentation, and archaeological remains - six capitals. Each marks a rupture in either ideology or dynasty." [2] e.g. Ton Mansa briefly in the 1760s/1770s. Torone in oral traditions is the Bambara people’s "point of origin" in the Segu region. [3] . [1]: (Keil 2012, 108) Sarah Keil. Bambara. Andrea L Stanton. ed. 2012. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia. Sage. Los Angeles. [2]: (Monroe and Ogundiran 2012, 177) J Cameron Monroe. Akinwumi Ogundiran. Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa. J Cameron Monroe. Akinwumi Ogundiran. eds. 2012. Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa: Archaeological Perspectives.Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. [3]: K.C. MacDonald, A Chacoun son Bambara, encore une fois: History, Archaeology and Bambara Origins, in F.G. Richard and K.C. MacDonald, Ethnic Ambiguity and the African Past: Materiality, History, and the Shaping of Cultural Identities (2014), pp. 119-144 |
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Also known as Seleuceia on the Tigris
[1]
or Seleukeia-Tigris
[2]
, the city was founded by Seleucus I, probably in 305 BCE. The city grew to a population of 50,000-100,000 inhabitants in an area of roughly 550 hectares
[3]
.
[1]: Joannes, F. 2004. The Age of Empires: Mesopotamia in the first millennium BC. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p230 [2]: Aperghis, G. G. 2004. The Seleukid Royal Economy: The Finances and Administration of the Seleukid Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p20 [3]: Aperghis, G. G. 2004. The Seleukid Royal Economy: The Finances and Administration of the Seleukid Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p94 |
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’The state the Qasimis formed in the midst of this was none the less impressive (for the rulers’ genealogy see Fig. 6.1). Al-Qasim himself, who early in his fight against the Turks had wept over his children starving at Barat, was wealthy when the truce was signed. He built the mosque at Shaharah, then built houses for himself and his followers, planted coffee in al-Ahnum, and amassed more land than the public treasury (Nubdhah: 258, 334-6). The court expanded with the southern conquests. Al-Mutawakkil received an embassy from Ethiopia and exchanged gifts of fine horses with Aurangzib of India (Serjeant 1983: 80-1), while his relatives expressed concern about his monthly demands for funds from Lower Yemen. Further criticism of his taxation policy came from Muhammad al-Ghurbani at Barat, but in 1675 the levies on Lower Yemen were redoubled (ibid. 82). Under Muhammad Ahmad, ’He of al-Mawahib’" (1687-1718), the exactions became more severe still, in support of a grandiose court and a large standing army complete with slave soldiers (ibid., Zabarah 1958: 451, 457; alShawkani 1929: ii. 98).’
[1]
Dresch implies that the imamic capital was moved at least once: ’At times of truce, al-Qasim had acted against some of the tribes’ own practices: for example, he put a stop to pilgrimages and sacrifices at a tree near Wadi Mawr and flogged men from alAhnurn for drinking (ibid. 338); his appointee even wheedled out of the tribes their ’books of tiighiit’ and duly burned them (ibid. 435). Under al-Qasirn’s successors, however, the tribes were treated carefully. Al-Mu’ayyad (1620-44), for example, seems not to have pressed the point of Islamic inheritance law and to have left the taxation of Barat in the hands of Bayt al-’Ansi, while his successor, al-Mutawakkil (1644-76), paid the tribes of Barat to support his campaign against Hadramawt (Serjeant 1983: 79-82). Aden and Lahj, which had already seceded, were retaken; a decade later alBaYQa’ and Yafi’ were subdued; Hadramawt was invaded; and the Zaydi arms were carried at one point to the borders of Dhufar in what is now Oman. The Qasimis also became involved in, though they did not conquer, areas north of Najran and ’Asir: ’the conquests spread with the support of the Hamdan tribes and the leadership of the Qasimi family’ (al-Sharnahi 1972: 145), and alMutawakkil moved his capital from Shaharah to Dawran, south of San’a’. The state (now called a dawlah by its own chroniclers) had to link the north, where armed force still lay, to the richer tax base of Lower Yemen.’
[2]
[1]: Dresch, Paul 1989. "Tribes, Government and History in Yemen", 200 [2]: Dresch, Paul 1989. "Tribes, Government and History in Yemen", 199p |
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Agra: 1526-1571 CE; Fatehpur Sikri: 1571-1585 CE; Lahore: 1585 CE-1598 CE; Agra: 1598-1648 CE; [Shahjahanabad; Delhi]: 1648-1857 CE dates cannot yet be machine read.
Akbar changed the royal capital of his empire four times during his rule (Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Lahore, Agra) reflecting his "changing strategic foci." [1] [2] Shah Jahan built a new capital in Delhi "Shahjahanabad". This remained the Mughals’ capital for the rest of the dynasty. [3] [1]: Richards, John F. (March 18, 1993). Johnson, Gordon [2]: Bayly, C. A., eds. The Mughal Empire. The New Cambridge history of India: 1.5. I. The Mughals and their Contemporaries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1995), p.12. [3]: Stein, Burton, A History of India (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), p.176. |
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Note: Yin = Anyang. "While the king lived in and ruled from a capital city, it wasn’t always the same city. Although historical records mention many different Shang capitals, only a few have actually been confirmed with archaeological evidence. No one knows exactly why a king would move the capital but some scholar think it had to do with internal power struggles within the royal family."
[1]
The first, Cheng Tang’s capital, was at Shang (today near Zhengzhou).
[1]
The last was at Yin (today near Anyang).
[1]
Yin, also known as enclave at Xiaotun. This was a ceremonial and administrative centre
[2]
and was occupied by last 11 Kings
[3]
- or could be 12 kings; last king did not have burial pit.
[4]
- from about c1400 BCE.
[5]
The ancestral capital, as compared to the political capital above, never moved.
[1]
[1]: (The Shang Dynasty, 1600 to 1050 BCE. Spice Digest, Fall 2007. http://iis-db.stanford.edu/docs/117/ShangDynasty.pdf) [2]: (Roberts 2003) [3]: (Gernet 1996) [4]: (Cotterell 1995, 24) [5]: (Cotterell 1995, 15) |
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Jerusalem: 1030-951 BCE; Shechem: ??? Tirzah: 950-900 BCE; Samaria: 899-722 BCE Dates are approximate; the century-points are correct. "The book of 1 Kings (12:25) says that Jeroboam I built Shechem, but it also hints (14:17) that he later moved to Tirzah; 1 Kings specifically mentions Tirzah as the capital of the northern kingdom in the days of Baasha (15:21, 33; 16:6), Elah (16:8-9), Zimri (16:15), and the first half of the reign of Omri (16:23). Assuming that Jeroboam ruled at least part of his reign from Tirzah, as did his son Nadab, as well as Tibni, Tirzah was the seat of the first six or seven northern kings, for a period of forty to fifty years. I see no reason to doubt the authenticity of the consistent and deeply rooted information on Tirzah as the capital of Israel. The authenticity of this memory is highlighted by the fact that Tirzah does not play an important role in the rest of the Deuteronomistic History."
[1]
"Tirzah lost its importance in the early ninth century, when Omri (884-873 b.c.e.) moved the capital of the northern kingdom to Samaria, possibly in his desire to establish a link with the coastal plain and the port of Dor (de Vaux 1967, 382). Indeed, the beginning of the transformation of Israel into a more complex kingdom came with the construction of the first palace at Samaria, probably by Omri. A full-scale urban transformation of the capital and the kingdom characterizes the more advanced phase of the Omride dynasty, probably in the days of Ahab (873-852 b.c.e.)." [2] [1]: Finkelstein (2013:66) [2]: Finkelstein (2013:78) |
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First capital at Shengle under Gui. Gui "declared himself Prince of Wei before he assumed the imperial mantle in the new capital Pingcheng in early 399 CE."
[1]
Pingcheng capital from 398 CE. [2] Pingcheng (or Datong, in Shanxi). [3] In the decade after the move of the capital to Luoyang "walls and palaces were built and populations transferred from Pingcheng and other centers in North China." [4] Building of Luoyang began 493 CE and capital moved there by Xiaowendi 494 CE. [5] "Having been in ruins from 311, Luoyang came back to life when Xiaowendi moved his capital there from Pingcheng in 494 as part of his overall strategy to sinify Tuoba institutions." [6] [1]: (Xiong 2009, 21) [2]: (Xiong 2009, 393) [3]: (Graff 2002, 97) [4]: (Graff 2002, 98) [5]: (Xiong 2009, ci) [6]: (Xiong 2009, 347) |
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Baghdad (Iraq); Shiraz (Fars); Isfahan (Khuzestan). These three cities were the capitals of the three areas of kingship of the Buyid brothers. When ’Adud al-Duala took over Mesopotamia, Shiraz became the capital, although ’Adud al-Duala never returned there and remained in Baghdad alongside the calliph. Fars continued to be the heartland of the empire, with all civil servants being drawn from there.
[1]
[1]: Busse, H. 1975. Iran under the Būyids. In Frye, R. N. (ed.) The Cambridge History of Iran. Volume 4. The period from the Arab Invasion to the Saljuq’s. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.271 |
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Sidon: 1200-1001 BCE; Tyre: 1000-501 BCE; Sidon: 500-342 BCE; Tyre: 341-332 BCE. "By the end of the 11th century B.C., two new factors assumed primary importance in early Phoenician history. Tyre became the leading maritime center, having eclipsed its mother city Sidon…"
[1]
The two cities were often joined in a personal union, and the king of Tyre would often be referred to by outside authors as "king of the Sidonians." However, "it is Sidon… which emerges clearly as the pre-eminent Phoenician state by the early fifth century, a role which it occupied until the closing years of the Persian era."
[2]
Sidon was brutally conquered by Artaxerxes III of Persia c. 342 BCE.
[1]: Stieglitz (1990:11). [2]: Markoe (2000:51). |
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Sidon: 1200-1001 BCE; Tyre: 1000-501 BCE; Sidon: 500-342 BCE; Tyre: 341-332 BCE. "By the end of the 11th century B.C., two new factors assumed primary importance in early Phoenician history. Tyre became the leading maritime center, having eclipsed its mother city Sidon…"
[1]
The two cities were often joined in a personal union, and the king of Tyre would often be referred to by outside authors as "king of the Sidonians." However, "it is Sidon… which emerges clearly as the pre-eminent Phoenician state by the early fifth century, a role which it occupied until the closing years of the Persian era."
[2]
Sidon was brutally conquered by Artaxerxes III of Persia c. 342 BCE.
[1]: Stieglitz (1990:11). [2]: Markoe (2000:51). |
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“The first historically known Funj ruler, Amara Dunqas, defeated the Christian kingdom of Alwa in 1504, and founded Sinnar as the capital of a Funj kingdom which reached north to the third cataract, south to the foothills of Ethiopia, and east to the desert of Kordofan.”
[1]
[1]: (Lapidus 2002, 429) Lapidus, Ira M. 2002. A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/QW9XHCIW/collection |
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Sogut: 1299-1325 CE; Bursa: 1326-1364 CE; Adrianople: 1364-1413 CE.
[1]
[2]
[3]
Residence in Bursa maybe right after conquest in 1326.
[4]
In Ottoman tradition, first Ottoman, Osman had a base at Karajahisar (Malagina in Sakarya valley) in the palace of an old Bishopric. In 1387 CE the Genovese concluded a royal treaty at Malagina. However, Bursa was the capital under Orhan right after 1326 CE. [5] Murad I had a palace built at Edrine. [6] [2]: (Palmer 1992) [3]: (Davidson 2011, 122) [4]: Personal communication. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller. 2016. Institute for Medieval Research. Division of Byzantine Research. Austrian Academy of Sciences. [5]: (Imber 2002, 144) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. [6]: (Imber 2002, 143) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke. |
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“The caliphate was organized into semiautonomous emirates that ceded religious authority to the caliph, seated in Sokoto.”
[1]
“SOKOTO. The capital of Sokoto State, with a population of approximately 500,000. It is historically significant for the Hausa and Fulani as the seat of the great Sokoto Caliphate between 1804 and 1903.”
[1]
[1]: Falola, Toyin, and Ann Genova. Historical Dictionary of Nigeria. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2009: 331. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SJAIVKDW/collection |
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Originally, the Hoysalas had their capital at Sosavur or the Sanskrit Shashakapura, and later it was transferred to Halebid or Dorasamudra
[1]
. Dvarasamudram (or Dorasamudra) was the capital until the late fourteenth century, established in the hill-bounded area of modern Halebid in Hassan district by an eleventh-century Hoysala chief. Dvarasamudram was over 35 miles from the major area of agricultural production and settlement of the kingdom, on the Hemavati River, and 42 miles north of the Kaveri, which formed the boundary with Gangavadi and its ancient Ganga kings to the south
[2]
.
Ramanatha was expulsed from Kannanur - the loss of that capital city naturally increased Ramanatha’s interes in the plateau. From 1281 his administration on the plateau expanded, and almost certainly in the tear 1283-84, the seat of government was removed to a place called Kunadni. This was the new capital from which Ramanatha chose to survey the collapse of his riparian kingdom [3] . The later Hoysala capital Kannanur was established where the Kaveri delta began, between the centres of Chola and Pandya power in the south. Established in the uplands over the gateway to the Kaveri delta, the capital resembled the capitals of other masters of river valleys more than it did Dvarasamudram and thus reflected the now divided character of the Hoysala kingdom [2] . [1]: H.V. Sreenivasa Murthy and R. Ramakrishnan, A History of Karnataka (1978), p. 113 [2]: Burton Stein, The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara (1989), p. 16 [3]: J. Duncan M. Derrett, The Hoysalas (1957), p. 140 |
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’We know little of the history of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and the Khmer chronicles are primarily eighteenth- and nineteenth-century court documents created in the eastern Khmer capitals, in particular Phnom Phenh, with a specific political agenda in mind.’
[1]
’Angkor was the vast low-density capital of the Khmer Kingdom, from the early 9th to the mid-14th/15th centuries of the Common Era (CE). At its peak, Angkor sprawled over nearly 1000 km2 [1] and may have housed more than three quarters of a million people [2,3]. The primary administrative centre in a kingdom that dominated most of mainland Southeast Asia by the 11th century CE, Angkor was the largest preindustrial city on Earth and remains the world’s largest archaeological site. The Angkor period is commonly understood to start in 802 CE with the proclamation of Jayavarman II as the chakravartin (universal-king) from a location in the Kulen mountains (Phnom Kulen), overlooking the vast alluvial plain where Angkor would begin to emerge in the following centuries (Figure 1). In doing so, Jayavarman confirmed himself as the great unifier; drawing Cambodia’s disparate polities together under the first ‘god king’ and establishing the Khmer state and the basis of its empire. Phnom Kulen was known as Mahendraparvata; ‘‘the hill of the great Indra’’. The extant history of Mahendraparvata is based on several inscriptions, the most well-known being an 11th century CE inscription (K.235) found at the Sdok Kak Thom temple, in eastern Thailand [4]. The inscription, dated to 1052 CE, outlines the lineage of a private family serving successive Khmer Kings for two and a half centuries, the first mentioned being Jayavarman II.’
[2]
’With the fading of the ANGKOR era, Cambodia shifts capitals south to Lovek, then to Udong, and finally to PHNOM PENH.This period also sees the waning of HINDUISM and the rise of THERAVADA BUDDHISM.’
[3]
’944 Rajendravarman II returns the capital to Angkor. The name “Angkor,” from the Sanskrit word for “city,” was given to the capital only in the 16th century. Temple inscriptions during imperial times call it Yashodharapura, “glory—bearing city.”’
[4]
’The Khmer pronunciation of Sanskrit negara, signifying capital of a kingdom. The ancient Khmer capital now known as Angkor was originally called Yasodharapura after Yasovarman, the ruler who moved the capital there in 889.’
[5]
’Here are the most salient traits of the Post-Classic: [...] The capital in various locations between the Great Lake and the Delta.’
[6]
’But in the face of attacks from both Ayutthaya and the Cham, Suryavarman decided to retreat from the old site of Angkor and to move the capital to the area of Phnom Penh. After the fall of Cam- bodia, missions continued to arrive in China, in 1435, 1436, 1452, and 1499, indicating that the kingdom was still sufficiently integrated to be able to conduct foreign relations. The Angkor period, however, had come to an end.’
[7]
’First and most dramatic, Angkor’s empire fell apart. During the second quarter of the 13th century Angkorian forces were withdrawn from Champa. By mid-century most of the peninsula, areas west of the Chaophraya river, and northern Thailand had broken away, to be followed shortly by Lopburi and other states in the Chaophraya plain. By 1297 Angkor was defending against Tai attacks from the west. After new Tai pressure forced what some his- torians claim was a temporary withdrawal from Angkor during the mid- to late 14th century (various dates between 1350 and 1389 have been proposed), Khmer rulers may have abandoned the great capital in the 1430s or 1440s in favor of Phnom Penh in the southeast. It is equally plausible that Angkor was never actually abandoned, but that a more powerful royal lineage established itself at Phnom Penh in ri- valry with the old Angkorian family.78 In either case, the 14th century enfeebled central power. Thus Angkor’s disintegration began some- what earlier but overlapped substantially with that of the Upper Burma state, whose problems began in the 1280s, which suffered a major military-political crisis in the 1360s, and which also limped along into the 15th century.’
[8]
’In a belated effort to woo Chinese trade, between 1371 and 1419 Angkor sent more tribute missions to China than in the previous 500 years, but the subsequent effective transfer of the capital to the more commercially viable site of Phnom Penh marked the eclipse of pro-Angkor elements within the Khmer elite.87’
[9]
’The pioneer was a Dominican name d Gaspar da Cruz, who arrived in 1555 at the court of King Ang Chan -one of Post-Classic Cambodia’s greatest rulers-in the then capital, Lovek.’,
[10]
’The initial move seems to have been to Srei Santhor, about 30 km (19 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh, at some time in the fourteenth century; then, briefly, to Phnom Penh itself. By about 1528, the Cambodian court under its first great Post-Angkorian king, Ang Chan I, had moved once and for all to the all to the Quatre Bras region, establishing a new capital at Lovek (Longvek), on the right bank of the Tonle Sap River, 50 km (30 miles) north of Phnom Penh. Love, like Udong and Phnom Penh- the town s that succeeded it as the capital- was thoroughly international, with foreign quarters for Malay, Japanese, and Chinese traders (there were as many as 3,000 of the last in the 1540s). There Ang Chan (who really did exist) built a golden palace and at least four major wats, erecting a huge, four-faced Buddha of wood, the stone foundation of which survive in one of the town’s vicars. The capital was fortified by earthen ramparts topped with palisades; these ramparts, which form a huge rectangle, are still visible.’
[11]
[1]: (Fletcher 2012, p.313) [2]: (Penny et al 2014, p. e84252) [3]: (Ooi and Barnhill 2004, p. 1496) [4]: (National Geographic 2009) [5]: (Miksic 2007, pp. 17-18) [6]: (Coe 2003, p. 195) [7]: (Miksic 2007, p. 84) [8]: (Lieberman 2003, pp. 236-237) [9]: (Lieberman 2003, p. 240) [10]: (Coe 2003, p. 201) [11]: (Coe 2003, pp. 208-209) |
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Hulegu made Maragha the capital. This location, in Azarbaijan, had the best pastureland. The Ilkhans lived under tents.
[1]
[2]
Tabriz became the the capital 1281 CE.
[3]
Capital moved to Sultaniya 1313 CE: "Founded in about 1285 by Arghun, the sixth Ilkhanid ruler of Persia, who was attracted by its abundant pastures and used it as his summer capital, Sultaniya became the seat of empire under his son Mohammed Oljeytu Khudabanda in 1313."
[4]
Tabriz "developed into a great metropolis" but was not a capital.
[2]
[1]: (Morgan 2015, 63) Morgan, David. 2015. Medieval Persia 1040-1797. Routledge. [2]: (Morgan 2015, 69) Morgan, David. 2015. Medieval Persia 1040-1797. Routledge. [3]: (Houtsma et al. 1993, 586) Houtsma, M Th. Wensinck, A J. Gibb, H A R. Heffening, W. Levi-Provencal, E. 1993. First Encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913-1936. E.J. Brill. Leiden. [4]: (Marozzi 2004, 133) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London. |
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"In Elam, a new dynasty made Susa the centre of its kingdom, and chose the god of Susa, Inshushinak, as its main deity. Shutruk-Nahhunte managed to considerably strengthen his entire kingdom, which now extended from the coast of the Persian Gulf (Liyan) and Anshan to the Mesopotamian border. Shutruk-Nahhunte brought to Susa the monuments of the previous Elamite kings, and constantly emphasised the dynastic (and inter-dynastic) continuity and unity of Elam."
[1]
[1]: (Leverani 2014, 458) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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Susa was the capital of the early kings. Kudur Nahhunte moved his capital to Madaktu and later, upon the advance of the Assyrians, to Hidalu (Haidala) in the mountains.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Carter, E. and Stopler, M.W. 1984. Elam: Surveys of Political History and Archaeology. London: University of California Press. p.47 [2]: Potts, D.T. 1999. The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 271 |
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"Susa ... began its political life around 6000 BC, first as a city-state, then as an empire rivaling Sumer in Mesopotamia, and subsequently as the capital of one of the oldest empires of antiquity, Elam, around 3000 BC."
[1]
[1]: (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. |
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[Pasargadae: 550-521 BCE; Susa: 521-330 BCE]
Susa was the administrative capital. Persepolis was the ceremonial and religious center. Ecbatanna were commercial, strategic and provincial centers. [1] Susa was the administrative capital, probably from Darius I. [2] Pasargade was the capital under Cyrus the Great. Thereafter it was used as a ceremonial centre for the coronation of the Achaemenid king. [3] 135 km to northeast of Shiraz. [4] Persepolis never played an important role in the governments of the empire. It was a ritual centre. [3] [5] Ecbatana and Babylon were strategic and commercial cities. [5] The actual residence of the king varied between the seasons. Ecbatana was a summer resort, Persepolis was typical for the autumn season, and either at Susa or Babylon over the winter. [6] Cyrus II moved the capital to Susa after he unified Elam in 559 BCE. [7] Susa was the main capital. [3] [1]: (Farazmand 2001, 57) Farazmand, Ali in Farazmand, Ali ed. 2001. Handbook of Comparative and Development Public Administration. CRC Press. [3]: (Nylander 1971, 50-54) [4]: (Shahbazi 2012, 125) Shahbazi, A Shapour. The Archaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BCE) Daryaee, Touraj. ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. [5]: (Farazmand 2002) |
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"Susa ... began its political life around 6000 BC, first as a city-state, then as an empire rivaling Sumer in Mesopotamia, and subsequently as the capital of one of the oldest empires of antiquity, Elam, around 3000 BC."
[1]
"A period of depopulation, characterized by political competition between Susa in the west and Chogha Mish in the east led to the rather enigmatic Late Uruk polity in which Chogha Mish was independent of Susa."
[2]
-- this implies previous to this Susa was a ruling center
[1]: (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. [2]: (Sumner 1988) Sumner, William. 1988. Frank Hole, (ed.) - 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran, Settlement and Society From Prehistory to the Islamic Conquest. Paleorient. Volume 14. Number 1. pp.177-179. |
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"Alexander had apparently hellenized Susa to the extent that the language of administration was Greek, the form of city-state government was Greek, and even the ethnic composition of the area was partially Greek."
[1]
[1]: (Wenke 1981, 306) Wenke, Robert J. 1981. Elymeans, Parthians, and the Evolution of Empires in Southwestern Iran. Journal of the American Oriental Society. Vol. 101. No. 3. Jul-Sep. American Oriental Society. pp. 303-315. http://www.jstor.org/stable/602592 |
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Kashgar; Bukhara; Balasagun; Suyab.
[1]
"On October 23, 999, a Karakhanid army entered Bukhara without opposition, took control of the Samanid treasury, rounded up the remaining Samanis, and settled into their palace."
[1]
At this time Gurjang was the capital of Khwarazm.
[1]
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
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" There were five capitals in the empire. The Supreme Capital of empire was located not far away from Shira Muren River in the neighborhood of the present city of Boro Khoton, Inner Mongolia. The Central Capital was situated near the Shira Muren River inflow point to Liao River. These are zones of residence of Kitans and other pastoral nomads of empire. The East Capital was near city of Liao-yang in the area of settlement of Bohai peoples. Two last capital cities were situated within the area of the Chinese people residence. The West Capital is the modern city of Ta-T’ung in Shansi province while the South one is the modern city of Peking (Steinhadrt 1997)."
[1]
"In 918, in another step toward establishing a more permanent regime, Apao-chi ordered the building of a great capital city, the Imperial Capital (Huang-tu), later to be known as the Supreme Capital (Shang-ching). This was constructed at Lin-huang, north of the Shira muren (a place that later became the Mongol city of Boro Khoton), in the ancient central territory of the Khitan tribes."
[2]
[1]: (Kradin 2014, 153) [2]: (Twitchett 1994, 63) |
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The city of Gurgānj (also referred to as Jurjaniya, Urgench or Khorezm)
[1]
grew rapidly in the tenth and eleventh centuries as it was a terminus for the caravan routes to Volga and Russia.
[2]
[1]: Buniyatov 2015: 181. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SAEVEJFH [2]: Bosworth 2012: 302. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/B6JRSLIB |
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Hulegu made Maragha the capital. This location, in Azarbaijan, had the best pastureland. The Ilkhans lived under tents.
[1]
[2]
Tabriz became the the capital 1281 CE.
[3]
Capital moved to Sultaniya 1313 CE: "Founded in about 1285 by Arghun, the sixth Ilkhanid ruler of Persia, who was attracted by its abundant pastures and used it as his summer capital, Sultaniya became the seat of empire under his son Mohammed Oljeytu Khudabanda in 1313."
[4]
Tabriz "developed into a great metropolis" but was not a capital.
[2]
[1]: (Morgan 2015, 63) Morgan, David. 2015. Medieval Persia 1040-1797. Routledge. [2]: (Morgan 2015, 69) Morgan, David. 2015. Medieval Persia 1040-1797. Routledge. [3]: (Houtsma et al. 1993, 586) Houtsma, M Th. Wensinck, A J. Gibb, H A R. Heffening, W. Levi-Provencal, E. 1993. First Encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913-1936. E.J. Brill. Leiden. [4]: (Marozzi 2004, 133) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London. |
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Tabriz was the first capital of the Safavids; Qazvin was a later capital. Isfahan under Shah Abbas.
[1]
"In view of the vulnerability of Tabriz to Ottoman attacks, Shah Tahmasp [(1524-76)] decided to transfer the capital from Tabriz to Qazvin."
[2]
Relocated from Tabriz to Qazvin under Tahmasp, and moved to Isfahan by Abbas I.
[3]
[1]: Rudi Matthee ‘SAFAVID DYNASTY’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/safavids. [2]: E Eshraghi, ‘PERSIA DURING THE PERIOD OF THE SAFAVIDS, THE AFSHARS AND THE EARLY QAJARS’, in Chahryar Adle and Irfan Habib (eds), History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. V The Sixteenth to the Mid-Nineteenth Centuries (Paris: Unesco, 1992), p.254; Masashi Haneda and Rudi Matthee, ’ISFAHAN vii. SAFAVID PERIOD’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/isfahan-vii-safavid-period [3]: (Newman 2009) Newman, Andrew J. 2009. Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. I.B. Tauris. New York. |
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Timur gave the city of Amed to the Ak Koyunlu "which was to be their capital for almost seventy years."
[1]
"At Aleppo, the Aqquyunlu so distinguished themselves in battle that Timur allegedly rewarded Ibrahim, Qara ’Usman’s eldest son, with the city of Amid, held by Timur since its capture from al-Zahir ’Isa~Artuqi in 1394/796. This is the first reference to Aqquyunlu control of that city, which remained capital of the Principality until Uzun Hasan’s conquests of 1467-69/872-74, when it was replaced by Tabriz."
[2]
"summer pastures (yeylāq) in Armenia around Sinir, east of Bayburt, and winter pastures (qešlāq) around Kiḡi, Palu, and Ergani in Dīār Bakr."
[1]
[1]: (Quiring-Zoche 2011) Quiring-Zoche, R. 2011. Aq Qoyunlu. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aq-qoyunlu-confederation [2]: (Woods 1998, 41) |
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{Ciudad Perdida; Pueblito; Pocigueica; Bonda; Taironaca} "Based on current evidence, these primary centers shared cultural styles but retained political independence; for example, there was no single “capital” of the Muisca, Tierradentro, San Agustin/Alto Magdalena, or Tairona chiefdoms."
[1]
"Several urban clusters have been found in the upper Buritaca that consist of collections of terrace groups, making it difficult to determine where a site begins and ends. Deep valleys cut one part of a settlement from another. The largest of the sites is Ciudad Perdida, built between 1,100-1,200 masl." [2] Ciudad Perdida in the Upper Buritaca region. "These figures fit well with the archaeological evidence from coastal and from highland regions for the existence of a three-level hierarchy of sites (Serje 1987; Oyuela Caycedo 1987b) in which the larger ones, such as Pueblito, have some 1,000 structures (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1954a: 161; 1954b; G. Reichel-Dolmatoff and A. Reichel-Dolmatoff 1955).Major towns, such as Bonda and Pocigueica, were governed by chiefs (caciques) and seem to have formed the nuclei of incipient states." [3] In a discussion about possible major settlements in earlier periods: "First, the conquerors never described the presence of large villages that had ample territorial control, as is the case for Bonda, Pocigueica, and Taironaca to provide a few of the best-known examples (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1951). Fray Pedro de Aguado (/1581/ 1906, 5:69) describes the ’...towns of Concha and Ancones, where Jagua and Jairada, and Guachaca, and Nando, and Naguanje are, towns of principal lords, river ports and Ocean ports’. This reference would support the idea of communities of similar prestige, ’towns of principal lords’, none of which would have preeminence over the others." [4] "According to Groot (1985), and Cadavid and Groot (1987), the levels of architectural elaboration found at Ciudad Perdida vis-a-vis the other 25 settlements found in a 7 kilometer radius indicated that it was the center of political, social, and economic authority in the upper Buritaca river basin. They also suggest that Ciudad Perdida was home to an elite population comprised of civil and religious leaders, warriors, and specialists, with agricultural production concentrated in these satellite settlements (Groot 1985: 96). Though, their arguments are still unconfirmed and further research in these outlying settlements is still necessary, they did recognize in its fabric and texture, in the disposition of its buildings, paved pathways and staircases a number of characteristically urban qualities." [5] [1]: (Moore 2014, 386) [2]: (Oyuela-Caycedo 2008, 419) [3]: (Bray 2003, 301) [4]: (Langebaek 2005, 71-79) [5]: (Giraldo 2010, 23) |
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Kujula Kadphrises (60-80 CE) ruled from Taxila. Capital called Takshasila-Sirkap.
[1]
Vima Kadphises (101-127 CE) began a new capital at Takshasila-Sirsukh. [2] Kanishka I (128-150 CE) moved the capital to Purushapura. [3] He had regional capitals at Taxila, Begram and Mathura. [4] Administrative: Peshawar; Mathura {Bagram; Taxila} [5] [1]: (Samad 2011, 80) Samad, R. U. 2011. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Angora Publishing. [2]: (Samad 2011, 82) Samad, R. U. 2011. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Angora Publishing. [3]: (Samad 2011, 83) Samad, R. U. 2011. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Angora Publishing. [4]: (Murugan 2013, 27) Murugan, Suresh. 2013. Introduction To Social Work. Social Work Department. PSG College of Arts and Science. [5]: Avari, Burjor. India: the ancient past: a history of the Indian sub-continent from c. 7000 BC to AD 1200. 2007, p.132; http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kushan-dynasty-i-history |
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Kujula Kadphrises (60-80 CE) ruled from Taxila. Capital called Takshasila-Sirkap.
[1]
Vima Kadphises (101-127 CE) began a new capital at Takshasila-Sirsukh. [2] Kanishka I (128-150 CE) moved the capital to Purushapura. [3] He had regional capitals at Taxila, Begram and Mathura. [4] Administrative: Peshawar; Mathura {Bagram; Taxila} [5] [1]: (Samad 2011, 80) Samad, R. U. 2011. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Angora Publishing. [2]: (Samad 2011, 82) Samad, R. U. 2011. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Angora Publishing. [3]: (Samad 2011, 83) Samad, R. U. 2011. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Angora Publishing. [4]: (Murugan 2013, 27) Murugan, Suresh. 2013. Introduction To Social Work. Social Work Department. PSG College of Arts and Science. [5]: Avari, Burjor. India: the ancient past: a history of the Indian sub-continent from c. 7000 BC to AD 1200. 2007, p.132; http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kushan-dynasty-i-history |
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The phrase "Mdaŋ i Bhûmi Matarâm" found in inscriptions means "Medang in the land of Mataram", which means the kingdom name is Medang with its capital in Mataram.
[1]
The capital was in the mid-ninth century moved to another site in Central Java, Mamrati, and then again around half a century later to Poh Pitu.
[2]
When Medang moved to East Java around 929, the capital was placed firstly at Tamwlang for a very short time, and then moved to Watu Galuh.
[3]
It finally moved to Wwatan.
[4]
[1]: (Muljana 2005, 84) [2]: (Poesponegoro and Notosusanto 2008, 159) [3]: (Brown 2004, 68) [4]: (Boechari 1976, 14) |
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Each Kingdom had its own capital: (Kingdom) Wessex – (Capital) Winchester Mercia - Tamworth Northumbria - Bamburgh (north) and York (south – until 867 CE) Essex - Colchester East Anglia - tbc Kent - tbc Danelaw - York (from 867) However, once the kingdoms were unified, Winchester became the capital of ‘England’ from 927 CE. Language “Bede, writing in the 720s, recorded that Britain could be broken down into four nations and five languages: English; British (the ancestor of Welsh, Cornish and Breton); Irish; Pictish; and Latin, the universal language of religion and learned inter-communication.”
[1]
The Irish language does not apply for this polity. “There are additional factors which may tell against Dark’s interpretation. One is the very low level of Brittonic which entered Old English. Had large-scale interaction occurred between incoming Germanic communities and numerous indigenous British speakers of equivalent social rank, then we might have expected far greater language borrowing both in terms of structure and vocabulary. It is this difficulty which has rendered Dark’s thesis unacceptable to many linguists and etymologists. That said, there is virtually no evidence from graffiti or inscriptions in Roman Britain that Brittonic survived in the lowland zone, and it may well have been speakers of Latin whom the barbarians encountered. However, the number of loan words remains low, even though there is growing evidence of Latin influencing Old English in terms of its structure and organisation. So, too, are place-names of pre-English origin, Brittonic, Latin, or other, scarce in eastern England, particularly in comparison with the West, which seems difficult to reconcile with Dark’s vision of a long and vigorous survival of British political power in the region.”
[2]
[1]: (‘Early Medieval: Networks’) ‘Early Medieval: Networks’, English Heritage. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/early-medieval/networks/. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IGSR3527 [2]: (Higham 2004: 5) Higham, Nick. ‘From Sub-Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England: Debating the Insular Dark Ages’, History Compass 2, no. 1 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2004.00085.x. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XZT7A79K |
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"Other evidence, such as the association of fortified sites with prestigious buildings and artifacts and specialized production activities, also supports this hypothesis (Liu 2004, pp. 104- 105; Underhill et al. 2008). Of these fortified sites, Taosi (陶寺) in Shanxi is the most impressive (Fig. 1)."
[1]
"A preliminary report on a recently discovered site named Shimao (石峁) in Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province, suggests that it covered an area of 400 ha, was surrounded by a wall made of stone, and had an inner area divided into three enclosures. Such parameters would make it the largest and most labor-intensive site of the late third millennium BC in China, but because data on this site are currently found only in journalistic sources (including its inclusion in the list of the “Top 10 archaeological finds in China” for 2012), those reports cannot yet be corroborated. Especially worrisome is the dating of the site to the Longshan and Xia dynasties without any supporting radiocarbon data that would convincingly locate it in this period." [2] [1]: (Shelach and Jaffe 2014, 339) [2]: (Shelach and Jaffe 2014, 341) |
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Demetrius built a new capital at Sirkap, and transferred the population from ’old Taxila’ to ’new Taxila’ (Sirkap).
[1]
[1]: Tarn, William Woodthorpe. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press: 1951, p.137.; https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/sites/silkroad/files/knowledge-bank-article/vol_II%20silk%20road_the%20greek%20kingdoms%20of%20central%20asia.pdf p. 124 |
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"The beginning of the Second Intermediate Period is marked by the abandonment of the Residence at Lisht, 32 km. south of Memphis, and the establishment of the royal court and seat of government at Thebes, the Southern City."
[1]
Memphis: capital of the 12th Dynasty kings [2] Itjtawy: capital of the 13th Dynasty kings [2] 16th and 17th Dynasty kings: "We cannot be certain that they all ruled from Thebes, and some may have been local rulers in important towns such as Abydos, Elkab, and Edfu." [3] [1]: (Bourriau 2003, 173) [2]: (Bourriau 2003, 182) [3]: (Bourriau 2003, 191) |
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Charles I transferred his residence from Buda to Temesvár in 1315.
[1]
[1]: Pál Engel, The Realm of St. Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526 (London ; New York, NY: I.B. Tauris, 2005). Zotero link: 9BBKM3AR |
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Vyadhapura is believed to be the place location as modern-day Angkor BoreiAngkor Borei ’The kingdom’s capital was the city of Vyadhapura, which is believed to be the same place as Angkor Borei, Cambodia, where extensive archaeologi- cal work has been done recently.’
[1]
’One important centre of Funan was on the coast in Vietnam near the Cambodian border, at a site now called Oc Eco; the Chinese reported Funan’s capital to be farther inland, most probably Angkor Borei, not at Ba Phom. The name for the capital in the Chinese records, T’e-mu, cannot yet be identified with any local name, but Vyadhapura, at least, must be rejected as the name or site of the Funan capital.’
[2]
’At any rate, Oc Eco is generally considered to have been the main port of Fu-nan; its capital, if there was one, has not been located precisely.’
[3]
’The evidence that either mountain was a cult site is stronger than the evidence that Funan was a major, unified kingdom or that its political center was associated with either hill.’
[4]
’Most scholars accept an identification with the Funan kingdom described by Chinese visitors, as early as the third century C.E., as a complex of walled political centers where craft specialists plied their trade, summary justice was adminis- tered, stone inscriptions were engraved, and the range of mortuary practices included inhumations. Angkor Borei may have been the “inland capital” of Funan referred to by the Chinese, as its large area (300 hectares) and plethora of brickwork suggest.’
[5]
’Recent research has determined that Angkor Borei may have been the centre of the early third century state identified as ‘Funan’ in Chinese annals.’
[6]
’Two inscriptions from Angkor Borei imply that the capital of the last recorded king of Funan, Rudravarman, was located in that area. These inscriptions are the earliest dated texts believed to emanate from the people of Funan (inventory numbers K.557 and K.600), both from 611. Another recently discovered inscription, provisionally dated to 650 (the reign of Jayavarman I), mentions that Funan’s last ruler, Rudravarman, lived in Angkor Borei. A Chinese source, the Liang Shu, says the “enclosed settlement” (possibly meaning capital) of Funan was 500 li (200 kilometers/120 miles) from the sea, which would fit the location of Angkor Borei. Another Chinese record, the Xin Tangshu, says that the capital was once at Temu, but after that city was captured by Zhenla in the late sixth century, it moved to Nafuna (Naravaranagara).’
[7]
’Some have hypothesized that Angkor Borei was Naravaranagara, a capital of Funan in the sixth century. According to Michael Vickery, however, Naravaranagara was probably 60 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Angkor Borei. In any case, Angkor Borei was one of the most impressive sites in early first-millennium Southeast Asia.’
[8]
’The oldest dated inscriptions from Funan (K.557 and K.600), dated 611, have both been found at Angkor Borei. Another recently discovered inscription is believed to date from about 650. This stele mentions that Rudravarman, Funan’s last known ruler, was living in Angkor Borei.’
[9]
’Clearly Funan’s rise had two sources: the productivity of its agrarian system and the area’s strategic location opposite the Isthmus of Kra. A network of canals connect the coast to Funan’s agricultural upstream, centered on its urban ‘‘capital’’ at the archeological site of Angkor Borei in modern southern Cambodia. It is unclear whether this canal network required a new level of techno- logical competence or a central leadership for its construction (Malleret:1959-1963; Liere: 1980; Stark: 1998, 2003, 2006a, 2006b; Stark and Sovath: 2001).’
[10]
’The site of Angkor Borei, which was a political centre of Funan, continued to be important into the Angkorian period, though not as a capital (Vickery 1998: 394-397; 409; Stark 2006: 106).’
[11]
’If Funan were a unitary state its capital is not known, with conflicting claims made by modern writers for Vyadhapura, Angkor Borei, Banteay Prei Nokor and even Prey Veng, all situated in the Mekong delta or reasonably close to it. Another Funanese centre, the port town of Oc Eo in what is today called the Camau peninsula, was excavated by the French archaeologist Louis Malleret before World War II.’
[12]
’Two inscriptions from the vicinity of Angkor Borei imply that this was the capital of Rudravarman, the last recorded king in this region.’
[13]
’In about 550 the capital of the great Hindu kingdom of Funan, Vyadhapura, was conquered by King Bhavavarman of Chen-la.’
[14]
[1]: (West 2009, p. 222) [2]: (Vickery 1998, p. 19) [3]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.69) [4]: (Chandler 2008, p. 20) [5]: (Bulbeck 2004, p. 876) [6]: (Rooney, p. 159) [7]: (Miksic 2007, pp. 125-126) [8]: (Miksic 2007, p. 19) [9]: (Miksic 2007, p.20) [10]: (Hall 2010, pp. 48-49) [11]: (Lustig 2009, pp. 65-66) [12]: (Tully 2005, p. 10) [13]: (Higham 2004, p. 114) [14]: (O’Brien 2007, p. 64) |
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Also known as Tanjore. “He was replaced in 1674 with a descendant of the nayaka of Thanjavur with the help of the Marathas under their leader Ekoji Bhonsle (around 1630-84), who, after initial conquests in South India, began to display an interest in developments there. A year later, Ekoji himself became the ruler of Thanjavur and established the Maratha dynasty of the Raja of Thanjavur.
[1]
[1]: (Lieban 2018, 54) Lieban, Heike. 2018. Cultural Encounters in India: The Local Co-workers of Tranquebar Mission, 18th to 19th Centuries. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/32CRNR7U/collection |
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Also known as Tanjore. “In the Vijaynagar times, Thanjavur was ruled on its behalf by the Nayak dynasty from 1532 to 1676 AD. The Nayaks were closely connected to the Vijaynagar kings, and Raghunatha Nayak and Vijayaraghava Nayak did much to put Thanjavur on the cultural map.”
[1]
[1]: (Chakravarthy 2016, 78) Chakravarthy, Pradeep. 2016. ‘Thanjavur’s Sarasvati Muhal Library’ India International Centre Quarterly. Vol. 42:3/4. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/CU6HMURQ/collection |
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Bania: 811-892 CE; Mansura: 892-1026 CE; Thatta: 1026-1241 CE, Muhammed Tur: 1241-1317 CE; Thatta: 1317-1351 CE
[1]
The original capital of Mansura was sacked in 1026 CE, when the Soomra dynasty moved the capital to Thatta. Shifts in river courses resulted in a transfer of the capital to Muhammed Tur during the years 1241 CE-1317 CE. After declaring independence from Delhi a period of instability took place, with some semblance of authority claimed from the former capital of Thatta. [2] [1]: Panhwar, M. H. "Chronological Dictionary of Sind, (Karachi, 1983) pp. 188;Panhwar, M.H, An illustrated Historical Atlas of Soomra Kingdom of the Sindh p. 93 [2]: Panhwar, M.H, An illustrated Historical Atlas of Soomra Kingdom of the Sindh p. 93 |
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Bania: 811-892 CE; Mansura: 892-1026 CE; Thatta: 1026-1241 CE, Muhammed Tur: 1241-1317 CE; Thatta: 1317-1351 CE
[1]
The original capital of Mansura was sacked in 1026 CE, when the Soomra dynasty moved the capital to Thatta. Shifts in river courses resulted in a transfer of the capital to Muhammed Tur during the years 1241 CE-1317 CE. After declaring independence from Delhi a period of instability took place, with some semblance of authority claimed from the former capital of Thatta. [2] [1]: Panhwar, M. H. "Chronological Dictionary of Sind, (Karachi, 1983) pp. 188;Panhwar, M.H, An illustrated Historical Atlas of Soomra Kingdom of the Sindh p. 93 [2]: Panhwar, M.H, An illustrated Historical Atlas of Soomra Kingdom of the Sindh p. 93 |
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"The Hague became the bureaucratic center"
[1]
"The power resources of Amsterdam were extensive, situated in the province of Holland that was, in turn, superior among the other northern Netherland provinces. However, Amsterdam was not the center of a kingdom, and the city itself actually held little institutional power within the Republic. [...] The Republic became a state in which the bureaucratic center (The Hague) was different from the economic and financial center (Amsterdam). Nor did it coincide with a traditional center (Dordrecht or Utrecht), or with a cultural center (Leiden with the first university)."
[2]
[1]: (t’Hart 1989: 663) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/B9DVQGBS/collection. [2]: (t’Hart 1989: 663, 680) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/B9DVQGBS/collection. |
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If a timeline were to be drawn up of the shift of importance commonly attributed to New Kingdom cities, it might look like this: Thebes: 1570-1373 BCE; Akhetaten: 1373-1330 BCE; Thebes: 1330-[1278-1237 BCE]; Per-Ramesse: [1278-1237 BCE]-1069 BCE
In 1373 BCE Akhenaten (c1379-1361 BCE) moved capital from Thebes to Akhetaten (El Amarna). Capital returned to Thebes in 4th year of the reign of Tutankhamen. [1] |
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11th Dynasty ruled from Thebes; 12th Dynasty ruled from el-Lisht.
[1]
Amenemhet I (1991-1962 BCE) built a new capital at Itjtawy ("Seizer-of-the-Two-Lands") at a still-unidentified location. [1] near modern Lisht. [2] Full name: Itjtawyamenemhat. No royal residence apparent prior to Itjtawy. [3] [1]: (http://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/egypt02-04enl.html) [2]: (http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/articles/a/ancient_egypt_the_middle_king.aspx) [3]: (Quirke 2001 |
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"The beginning of the Second Intermediate Period is marked by the abandonment of the Residence at Lisht, 32 km. south of Memphis, and the establishment of the royal court and seat of government at Thebes, the Southern City."
[1]
Memphis: capital of the 12th Dynasty kings [2] Itjtawy: capital of the 13th Dynasty kings [2] 16th and 17th Dynasty kings: "We cannot be certain that they all ruled from Thebes, and some may have been local rulers in important towns such as Abydos, Elkab, and Edfu." [3] [1]: (Bourriau 2003, 173) [2]: (Bourriau 2003, 182) [3]: (Bourriau 2003, 191) |
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No single capital in Upper Egypt. There were important provincial centres which vied for control, until a monarchy based at Thebes was established in the 11th Dynasty.
[1]
In lower Egypt the Herakleopolitan Kingdom had its capital at Herakleopolis Magna (in northern Middle Egypt near the Faiyyum), but the "Herakeopolitans never had control over southern Upper Egypt." [1] [1]: (Seidlmayer 2003) |
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Egypt during Naqada period is a collection of quasi-polities. So for the most of IVth milenium it is impossible to indicate capital.
However according to for example B. Andelković, from the Naqada IC one can talking about pre-states and there is a suggestion of 8 Upper-Egyptian centers, from which 3 remained on the very high position and were the capital of their growing polities [1] That is Naqada, Hierakoonpolis and This. The political strength of all of three capitals is evident in the Naqada II period. [1]: Andelkovic, B. 2011. "Political Organisation of Egypt in the Predynastic Period". [in:] Teeter, E. [ed.]. Before the Pyramids: The Origin of the Egyptian Cyvilization. Chichago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. pg: 28-29. |
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Egypt during Naqada period is a collection of quasi-polities. So for the most of IVth milenium it is impossible to indicate capital.
However according to for example B. Andelković, from the Naqada IC one can talking about pre-states and there is a suggestion of 8 Upper-Egyptian centers, from which 3 remained on the very high position and were the capital of their growing polities [1] That is Naqada, Hierakoonpolis and This. The political strength of all of three capitals is evident in the Naqada II period. [1]: Andelkovic, B. 2011. "Political Organisation of Egypt in the Predynastic Period". [in:] Teeter, E. [ed.]. Before the Pyramids: The Origin of the Egyptian Cyvilization. Chichago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. pg: 28-29. |
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During Naqada III, Naqada settlements lost their significance, probably when its polity was annexed by This or Hierakonpolis polity.
[1]
Hierakonpolis There is no agreement which of the two remained towns was the capital of the growing and at the end united Upper Egyptian state. Perhaps Hierakonpolis, because of its monumental architecture and the Main Deposit among which the Narmer Palette and King Scorpion macehead were found [2] [3] This Some believe This was the first capital because the kings of Dynasty 0 were buried at its cemetery and the fact that the This was a capital of Early Dynastic Egypt [4] [5] [6] Abydos "’The size of the graves discovered in the cemetery is larger in some instances than royal graves in Abydos dating back to the First Dynasty, which proves the importance of the people buried there and their high social standing during this early era of ancient Egyptian history,’ he [Antiquities Minister Mahmoud Afifi] added. Experts hope evidence may help prove their theory that Abydos was Egypt’s capital in the pre-dynastic and early dynastic periods." [7] [1]: Savage, S. H. "Some Recent Trends in the Archaeology of Predynastic Egypt". Journal of Archaeological Research 9/2 (2001): 129 [2]: Friedman, R. 2011. "Hierakonpolis". [in:] Before the Pyramids. The Origins of Egyptian Cyvilization. Teeter, E.[ed.]. Chicago: The Oriental Instytute of the University of Chicago. pg: 33. [3]: Adams, B. 1987. The Fort Cemetery at Hierakonpolis: Excavated by John Garstang. London-New York: KPI. pg: 179. [4]: Köhler, E. C. 2011. "The Rise of the Egyptian State" The Origins of Egyptian Cyvilization. Teeter, E.[ed.]. Chicago: The Oriental Instytute of the University of Chicago. pg: 125. [5]: Savage, S. H. "Some Recent Trends in the Archaeology of Predynastic Egypt". Journal of Archaeological Research 9/2 (2001): 128 [6]: Trigger, B. G. 2008. "The rise of civilization in Egypt". [in:] Clark J. D. [ed.]. The Cambridge History of Africa Vol. 1: From the Earliest Times to c. 500 BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pg: 526. [7]: Archaeologists find previously undiscovered Ancient Egyptian city Page accessed: 24 November, 2016 http://www.dw.com/en/archaeologists-find-previously-undiscovered-ancient-egyptian-city/a-36499226 |
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The capital city of Artaxiasata was established by Artaxias I.
[1]
During his reign, Tigranes the Great changed the capital to a location more central to the kingdom, and named it Tigranocerta (Tigranakert).
[2]
The remains of Tigranocerta have never been found and its location is debated.
[3]
[1]: Hovannisian 2004: 49. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8B4DBDFU [2]: “Artaxiad Dynasty,” https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IVLMP6Q8 [3]: Bournoutian 2003: 32. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/645FKRNL |
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"Thus, after the victory of the marabout party following the holy war against the various ruling Jallonke aristocracies, the Muslim leaders created the Confederation of Futa Jallon under the leadership of Ibrahima Sambegu. Sambegu, known as Karamokho Alfa, was the head of the Sediyanke lineage of the Barry family of Timbo, and carried the title Almamy. [...] From the beginning, the power of the Almamy, with his seat at Timbo, was limited by the wide autonomy granted to the chiefs of the provinces of Labe, Buriya, Timbi, Kebaali, Kollade, Koyin, Fugumba and Fode Haaji and also by the existence of a Council of Ancients acting as a parliament at Fugumba, the religious capital."
[1]
"Already Fugumba represented something of the power of religion in the eyes of the triumphant Fulbe populations for whom it was both the first city and their holy centre. Infused with the saintly breath of Tcherno Samba, a Fula cleric of formidable spiritual and intellectual stature, it assumed a tutorial role over the religious and political affairs of Futa Jallon. It blessed and consecrated kings, judged and settled disputes and reserved to itself a surprising degree of powers of review over political developments."
[2]
[1]: (Barry 1999: 291) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/SU25S5BX/items/24W2293H/item-list [2]: (Sanneh 1981a: 46) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/SU25S5BX/items/M3J4HTAF/item-list |
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“The earliest organized missionary effort was made in the territory of the Nayaks of Madura, and their capital, Madura, itself constituted an important missionary centre, though it shared this honour very early with Trichinopoly.”
[1]
“His successor Kumara Krishnappa Nayaka made Tiruchirappalli his capital, and it served as the capital of Madurai Nayak Kingdom from 1616 to 1634 and from 1665 to 1736.”
[2]
[1]: (Sathyanatha Aiyar 1991, 2) Sathyanatha Aiyar, R. 1991. History of the Nayaks of Madura. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databak/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/E2S7TSI5/collection [2]: (Pottamkulam, 2021) Pottamkulam, George Abraham. 2021. Tamilnadu A Journey in Time Part II: People, Places and Potpourri. Chennai: Notion Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/25RBPDP2/collection |
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“The earliest organized missionary effort was made in the territory of the Nayaks of Madura, and their capital, Madura, itself constituted an important missionary centre, though it shared this honour very early with Trichinopoly.”
[1]
“His successor Kumara Krishnappa Nayaka made Tiruchirappalli his capital, and it served as the capital of Madurai Nayak Kingdom from 1616 to 1634 and from 1665 to 1736.”
[2]
[1]: (Sathyanatha Aiyar 1991, 2) Sathyanatha Aiyar, R. 1991. History of the Nayaks of Madura. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databak/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/E2S7TSI5/collection [2]: (Pottamkulam, 2021) Pottamkulam, George Abraham. 2021. Tamilnadu A Journey in Time Part II: People, Places and Potpourri. Chennai: Notion Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/25RBPDP2/collection |
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Jerusalem: 1030-951 BCE; Shechem: ??? Tirzah: 950-900 BCE; Samaria: 899-722 BCE Dates are approximate; the century-points are correct. "The book of 1 Kings (12:25) says that Jeroboam I built Shechem, but it also hints (14:17) that he later moved to Tirzah; 1 Kings specifically mentions Tirzah as the capital of the northern kingdom in the days of Baasha (15:21, 33; 16:6), Elah (16:8-9), Zimri (16:15), and the first half of the reign of Omri (16:23). Assuming that Jeroboam ruled at least part of his reign from Tirzah, as did his son Nadab, as well as Tibni, Tirzah was the seat of the first six or seven northern kings, for a period of forty to fifty years. I see no reason to doubt the authenticity of the consistent and deeply rooted information on Tirzah as the capital of Israel. The authenticity of this memory is highlighted by the fact that Tirzah does not play an important role in the rest of the Deuteronomistic History."
[1]
"Tirzah lost its importance in the early ninth century, when Omri (884-873 b.c.e.) moved the capital of the northern kingdom to Samaria, possibly in his desire to establish a link with the coastal plain and the port of Dor (de Vaux 1967, 382). Indeed, the beginning of the transformation of Israel into a more complex kingdom came with the construction of the first palace at Samaria, probably by Omri. A full-scale urban transformation of the capital and the kingdom characterizes the more advanced phase of the Omride dynasty, probably in the days of Ahab (873-852 b.c.e.)." [2] [1]: Finkelstein (2013:66) [2]: Finkelstein (2013:78) |
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“To some scholars, ancient Tiwanaku stimulates this kind of description: ‘The spacious and impressive, yet simple and elegant ceremonial center of Tiahuanaco, which can be likened to a “holy city,” and its outlying shrines such as Lucurmata and Pajchiri are in sharp contrast to the complex, space-intensive patterning of the multifunctional architecture of the Huari capital and the widely dispersed centers of Wirakochapampa and Pikillkakta [sic] and the numerous administrative outliers. The Tiahuanaco theocratic hegemony there was a long-lived tradition of holy places and pilgrimage centers that had their florescence around A.D. 600-900 and episodically continued to be important in the Inka empire, but there was never a great concentration of political power there, nor did anything other than sacred traditions remain as the folk legacy of this hegemony (Richard Schaedel 1988:772-773).’”
[1]
Language “Diverse theories abound regarding what past societies or groups spoke which languages, and when each language originated and declined. In light of documented language distributions, Torero (1970, 1987) argues that the Tiwanaku were Pukina speakers who succumbed to violent conquest by Aymara speakers around AD 1330.Developing this idea, others (e.g., Bouysee-Cassagne 1987; Espinoza 1980) link the origins of each spoken language to successive waves of migration and imperialism in the region. For them, the first inhabitants spoke Uruquilla, followed by the Puquina speakers of Tiwanaku, then the Aymara speakers of the Late Intermediate period polities (señorios), and finally the Quechua speakers associated with Inca conquest.”
[2]
“On the basis of general linguistic data, the supporters of the invasion hypothesis argue that Tiwanaku constituted a Pukina speaking civilization that fell in the hands of Aymara speaking warriors. Waldemar Espinoza (1980) traces the origin of these Aymara invaders to the southern sector of the altiplano and some of the valleys in northern Chile. He claims that prior to the Aymara conquest, Tiwanaku’s sociopolitical sphere constituted a territory occupied by Pukina people. Espinoza bases his assumptions on ethnohistoric records that indicate the presence of Pukina groups in most of the eastern and northeastern sectors of the Titicaca Basin, in northern La Paz, and in sectors of Chuquisaca, Potosi and the Colca Valley in Arequipa.”
[3]
[1]: (Albarracin-Jordan 1999: 57) Albarracin-Jordan, Juan V. 1999. The Archeaology of Tiwanaku: The Myths, History, and Science of an Ancient Andean Civilization. Bolivia: Impresión P.A.P. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P7MDWPAP [2]: (Janusek 2004: 46) Janusek, John Wayne. 2004. Identity and Power in the Ancient Andes: Tiwanaku Cities Through Time. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SDDCMA8P [3]: (Albarracin-Jordan 1999: 81) Albarracin-Jordan, Juan V. 1999. The Archeaology of Tiwanaku: The Myths, History, and Science of an Ancient Andean Civilization. Bolivia: Impresión P.A.P. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P7MDWPAP |
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The successive colonial governments resided on Toloas or Dublon: ’Before the Second World War, Spanish, German, and Japanese colonial administrations were headquartered on the adjacent island of Dublon. Dublon is less than half the size of Moen, but it was selected as the first seat of government because of its superior ship anchorage, particularly for sailing vessels. The American military government relocated the administrative headquarters from Dublon to Moen soon after the formal Japanese surrender in 1945 because of the large amount of unexploded ordnance that remained on Dublon. Hence, Moen’s history as a port town island dates back only a little over 40 years.’
[1]
[1]: Marshall, Mac, and Leslie B. Marshall 1990. “Silent Voices Speak: Women And Prohibition In Truk”, 14 |
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It seems possible that Toutswemogala may have been the capital of the polity, being the largest settlement with an abundance of the most valuable cattle, but as Denbow theorizes it is also possible that the other two major settlements represent competitors, or only loosely-affiliated clients, within the same cultural group. Evidence is sparse. “The… site of Toutswe shows selection of animals (both cattle and ovicaprines) in their prime (Welbourne, 1975). This culling of breeding age stock has been interpreted… as an indication of increasing social stratification….the concentration of power and wealth is greatest at the Class 3 [Level 1] sites in the Toutswe region.”
[1]
“…differentiation in site location, size and length of occupation strongly suggests that social and economic networks were also differentiated, with more powerful individuals occupying the larger sites.”
[2]
[1]: (Murphy 2011; 593-594) Kimmarie A. Murphy, “A Meal on the Hoof or Wealth in the Kraal? Stable Isotopes at Kgaswe and Taukome in Eastern Botswana,” in International Journal of Osteoarchaeology Vol. 21 (2011): 591-601. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/I3QB6TSV/collection [2]: (Denbow 1986; 19) James Denbow, “A New Look at the Later Prehistory of the Kalahari,” in The Journal of African History Vol. 27, No.1 (1986): 3-28. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/X3DXN8CW/collection |
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345-455 CE: Banavasi; 455?-? CE: Halsi; 460-? CE: Triparvata; 460?-? CE: Uchchangi. The Kadambas’ first capital was Banavasi
[1]
. Once the Empire is split in three, each division had its own capital: Halsi for the North and West, Triparvata for the South, and Uchchangi for the East
[2]
. However, none of the sources is clear regarding the dates in which these capitals were founded, and when they ceased to be capitals (as they must have done, considering that the empire was eventually reunited).
[1]: Suryanatha Kamath, A Concise History of Karnataka (1980), pp. 31 [2]: H.V. Sreenivasa Murthy and R. Ramakrishnan, A History of Karnataka (1978), p. 49 |
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‘As the power of the British government of India increased in Assam, the problem of unadministered hill areas became ever more acute. There were periodic raids from the hills that could not be effectively controlled. For many years administration of the Garo Hills was delayed by the extremely serious malaria which was, and still is, characteristic of the district. Finally, however, in 1867, the district was occupied, permanent headquarters were established at Tura, and peace was rapidly achieved. The American Baptist Missionary Society sent missionaries to the Garo Hills almost immediately after the government was established, and these were followed, in this century, by Catholic missionaries, with the result that today between one-quarter and one-third of the Garos are Christians, the largest number of them Baptist.’
[1]
‘Tura is the only town in the district. It is the administrative headquarters of the Garo Hills district. According to 1961 Census, it had a population of 8,888 out of which 4,370 were Garo. Tura is linked with the plains of Assam by three major roads; one enters the district near its north-eastern corner and traverses the district almost diagonally half-way; the other two roads enter the district through the north-western corner and one traverses the district south-eastwardly diagonally half-way, and the other follows the western border of the district, but from the middle of the western border line enters Tura from an westerly direction. All these three roads are all-weather roads meant for all types of vehicular traffic.’
[2]
Important provincial capitals include Cherrapunji and Shillong: ‘The history of Khasi, and Jaintia hills and its people can be found from the early part of the sixteenth century, as prior to this neither the records nor traditions reveal any substantial information. Moderately large changes were brought forth through development of the settlements and the formation of the Khasi and the Jaintia Hill district in the year 1835 and the Garo district in the year 1866. The capital of these provinces was Cherrapunji in 1827 which later on was shifted to Shillong in 1864. The prevailing groups in the State are the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo. In an amendment made recently in the provision of Scheduled Tribe in the Constitution of India, the Rabha, the Bodo-Kachari and the Koch have been given the status of Scheduled Tribe in the State.’
[3]
[1]: Burling, Robbins 1963. “Rengsanggri: Family And Kinship In A Garo Village”, 19 [2]: Majumdar, Dhirendra Narayan 1978. “Culture Change In Two Garo Villages”, 16 [3]: Marak, Kumie R. 1997. “Traditions And Modernity In Matrilineal Tribal Society”, 38 |
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Northern Tabal: "Its capital may have been located on the site of modern Kululu, which lies 30 km north-east of Kayseri." c837 BCE the capital was probably the royal city, Artulu.
[1]
Tuwana: "Its capital is probably to be identified with Classical Tyana (Kemerhisar), 20 km south-west of modern Nigde, though at one time the royal seat ay have been located at Nahitiya, on the site of Nigde itself."
[2]
"Tuhana is the best known of the Tabalean principalities. Its capital of the same name can be safely identified with the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine city of Tyana whose ruins lie in the modern Turkish village of Kemerhisar, south of Nigde, where a stela of king Warpalawas was found in 1860. Rock monuments in nearby Ivriz and Bulgarmaden mention this king of Tuhana, the latter as the overlord of a local ruler. Finds of Luwian inscriptions suggest the region of Kayseri as the location of Bit-Purutaš/Tabal; the site of Kululu, where monuments of a number of kings of Tabal have been found, is the most likely to correspond to its capital." [3] [1]: (Bryce 2012, 142) [2]: (Bryce 2012, 148) [3]: Radner, Karen. 2013. Tabal and Phrygia: problem neighbours in the West. Assyrian empire builders. University College London http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sargon/essentials/countries/tabalandphrygia/ |
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Sidon: 1200-1001 BCE; Tyre: 1000-501 BCE; Sidon: 500-342 BCE; Tyre: 341-332 BCE. "By the end of the 11th century B.C., two new factors assumed primary importance in early Phoenician history. Tyre became the leading maritime center, having eclipsed its mother city Sidon…"
[1]
The two cities were often joined in a personal union, and the king of Tyre would often be referred to by outside authors as "king of the Sidonians." However, "it is Sidon… which emerges clearly as the pre-eminent Phoenician state by the early fifth century, a role which it occupied until the closing years of the Persian era."
[2]
Sidon was brutally conquered by Artaxerxes III of Persia c. 342 BCE.
[1]: Stieglitz (1990:11). [2]: Markoe (2000:51). |
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Sidon: 1200-1001 BCE; Tyre: 1000-501 BCE; Sidon: 500-342 BCE; Tyre: 341-332 BCE. "By the end of the 11th century B.C., two new factors assumed primary importance in early Phoenician history. Tyre became the leading maritime center, having eclipsed its mother city Sidon…"
[1]
The two cities were often joined in a personal union, and the king of Tyre would often be referred to by outside authors as "king of the Sidonians." However, "it is Sidon… which emerges clearly as the pre-eminent Phoenician state by the early fifth century, a role which it occupied until the closing years of the Persian era."
[2]
Sidon was brutally conquered by Artaxerxes III of Persia c. 342 BCE.
[1]: Stieglitz (1990:11). [2]: Markoe (2000:51). |
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“Diakhao was the capital of the Kingdom of Sine from the mid-sixteenth to late nineteenth century.”
[1]
[1]: (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MM67I638/collection |
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345-455 CE: Banavasi; 455?-? CE: Halsi; 460-? CE: Triparvata; 460?-? CE: Uchchangi. The Kadambas’ first capital was Banavasi
[1]
. Once the Empire is split in three, each division had its own capital: Halsi for the North and West, Triparvata for the South, and Uchchangi for the East
[2]
. However, none of the sources is clear regarding the dates in which these capitals were founded, and when they ceased to be capitals (as they must have done, considering that the empire was eventually reunited).
[1]: Suryanatha Kamath, A Concise History of Karnataka (1980), pp. 31 [2]: H.V. Sreenivasa Murthy and R. Ramakrishnan, A History of Karnataka (1978), p. 49 |
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“At a particular time, for instance, in the early history of Benin, the territory was also known as Igodomigodo. The origin of the name Igodomigodo is well known in Benin traditions. During the first millennium when the institution of monarchy - the Ogiso dynasty - was established in Benin, the first king, Ogiso Igodo, called the numerous village communities which were joined together in a political union under him as Igodomigodo. His village at Ugbeku was the capital where he built the royal palace.”
[1]
If the interregnum period is considered part of this polity rather than the next: “Evian and Ogiamwen were among the retinue of Ogiefa, the supreme ruler of all the Efa. The spheres of their competence overlapped with those of the Edionevbo, the all-Benin City chiefs, Evian and Ogiamwen belonged to the dynasty of Efa chiefs whose authority stretched over the wards of the city inhabited by their tribesmen. Quite evidently, these were the wards whose dwellers now argue that their ancestors had not come to Benin from anywhere, but lived there "from the beginning" (Bradbury 1957:19; Igbafe 1974:2). It is also easy to imagine what tension could exist between the two "city halls" and how much each of them wished to monopolize power over the entire city. Of course, the fall of the Ogiso dynasty was a defeat not only of its last representative Owodo, but of the Edionevbo. No doubt the "king- makers" had nothing against their further influencing the course of events not only in the capital but in the whole country through weak rulers, like the majority of the Ogiso seem to have been. His successor, Ogiso Ere “is reputed to have transferred the Ogiso palace to Uhunmwidunmwun, which was a more favourable seat of government for the dynasty than Ugbeku.””
[2]
[1]: Osadolor, O. B. (2001). The Military System of Benin Kingdom, c.1440–1897. University of Hamburg, Germany: 52. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4RZF5H5/collection [2]: Bondarenko, D. M. (2003). Advent of the Second (Oba) Dynasty: Another Assessment of a Benin History Key Point. History in Africa, 30, 63–85; 78. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/CESQP6DT/collection |
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“At a particular time, for instance, in the early history of Benin, the territory was also known as Igodomigodo. The origin of the name Igodomigodo is well known in Benin traditions. During the first millennium when the institution of monarchy - the Ogiso dynasty - was established in Benin, the first king, Ogiso Igodo, called the numerous village communities which were joined together in a political union under him as Igodomigodo. His village at Ugbeku was the capital where he built the royal palace.”
[1]
If the interregnum period is considered part of this polity rather than the next: “Evian and Ogiamwen were among the retinue of Ogiefa, the supreme ruler of all the Efa. The spheres of their competence overlapped with those of the Edionevbo, the all-Benin City chiefs, Evian and Ogiamwen belonged to the dynasty of Efa chiefs whose authority stretched over the wards of the city inhabited by their tribesmen. Quite evidently, these were the wards whose dwellers now argue that their ancestors had not come to Benin from anywhere, but lived there "from the beginning" (Bradbury 1957:19; Igbafe 1974:2). It is also easy to imagine what tension could exist between the two "city halls" and how much each of them wished to monopolize power over the entire city. Of course, the fall of the Ogiso dynasty was a defeat not only of its last representative Owodo, but of the Edionevbo. No doubt the "king- makers" had nothing against their further influencing the course of events not only in the capital but in the whole country through weak rulers, like the majority of the Ogiso seem to have been. His successor, Ogiso Ere “is reputed to have transferred the Ogiso palace to Uhunmwidunmwun, which was a more favourable seat of government for the dynasty than Ugbeku.””
[2]
[1]: Osadolor, O. B. (2001). The Military System of Benin Kingdom, c.1440–1897. University of Hamburg, Germany: 52. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4RZF5H5/collection [2]: Bondarenko, D. M. (2003). Advent of the Second (Oba) Dynasty: Another Assessment of a Benin History Key Point. History in Africa, 30, 63–85; 78. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/CESQP6DT/collection |
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"[...] Pataliputra, which along with Ujjain seems to have served as the Gupta capital[...]".
[1]
[1]: (Keay 2010, 146) Keay, John. 2010. India: A History. New Updated Edition. London: HarperPress. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/HSHAKZ3X. |
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“The principality of the Cholas in the lower Kaveri valley corresponded roughly to modern Tanjore and Trichinopoly districts of Tamil Nadu, and had its capital at Uraiyur.”
[1]
[1]: (Singh 2008, 384) Singh, Upinder. 2008. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. London: Pearson Education. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/UJG2G6MJ/collection |
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Capital in Madrid was established in 1561.
[1]
[1]: (Philips and Philips 2010, 190) Philips, William D. and Carla Rahn Philips. 2010. A Concise History of Spain. Cambridge: CUP. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZT84ZFTP |
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Verona was made the first capital of Lombard Italy by the conquering king, Albion.
[1]
In 584, when the monarchy was dissolved, the capital city was moved west to Milan.
[2]
In 620 the capital shifted again to Pavia, just south of Milan, where it remained and housed the royal Lombard court.
[3]
[4]
[1]: Christie 1998: 145. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/975BEGKF [2]: Christie 1998: 146. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/975BEGKF [3]: Peters 2003: xi. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/X4ETPHA7 [4]: Christie 1998: 147. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/975BEGKF |
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"[T]he Purāṇas name the city of Vidisha as the capital of the Śuṅgas."
[1]
"The principal inheritors of the Mauryan power seem to be the Sungas who ruled from Pataliputra but do not appear to have retained the former Magadhan control of even the core of northern India. In Central India, their power did not extend beyond eastern Malwa which had Vidisa as its capital; southward their control ended on the Narmada. North-East from Pataliputra, Kosala with its principal centre of Ayodhya, was under the Sunga control, and so presumably was Ahichchhatra of north Panchala. The Sunga control also extended up to Panjab and the Indus."
[2]
[1]: (Bhandare 2006, 70) Shailendra Bhandare. 2006. ’Numismatics and History: The Maurya-Gupta Interlude in the Gangetic Plain’ in Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE, edited by Patrick Olivelle. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [2]: (Chakrabarti 2010, 38) Dilip Chakrabarti. 2010. ’The Shift of the Focus to Orissa, the Deccan, and Malwa’ in The Geopolitical Orbits of Ancient India: The Geographical Frames of the Ancient Indian Dynasties, edited by Dilip Chakrabarti. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
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[1]
[2]
[1]: (Fichtner 2003: 35) Fichtner, Paula Sutter. 2003. The Habsburg Monarchy, 1490-1848: Attributes of Empire. Macmillan International Higher Education. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QQ77TV4K [2]: (‘Habsburg Monarchy’) ‘Habsburg Monarchy’, in Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Habsburg_monarchy&oldid=1087774624. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SMSU7WA3 |
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Language “One part of the integration process that could create a loyal populace was, in Joseph’s vision, an overarching public culture in the German language. German was not adopted specifically to benefit the native German speakers of the monarchy, but rather because it was already the primary language of the dynasty, many of the elite, and of the most educated parts of the monarchy’s population. As Joseph himself said, “The German language is the universal language of my empire. Why should I negotiate laws and business with one of my provinces in their own language? I am the ruler of the German Empire and therefore the other states which I possess are provinces which must form one complete state, of which I am the head.”10 This quotation reveals that Joseph’s motivation for “Germanization” was not nationalist but rather centralist; it was pragmatic, in his view, to standardize and centralize his rule by promoting the German language.”
[1]
“The Habsburgs held territories that today are located in twelve different European countries and that in the late eighteenth century included speakers of languages known today as Croatian, Czech, Flemish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Ladin, Polish, Romanian, Serb, Slovak, Slovene, Ukrainian, and Yiddish.”
[2]
[1]: (Curtis 2013: 238) Curtis, Benjamin. 2013. The Habsburgs: The History of a Dynasty. London; New York: Bloomsbury. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TRKUBP92 [2]: (Judson 2016: 19) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW |
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[1]
[2]
[1]: (Fichtner 2003: 35) Fichtner, Paula Sutter. 2003. The Habsburg Monarchy, 1490-1848: Attributes of Empire. Macmillan International Higher Education. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QQ77TV4K [2]: (‘Habsburg Monarchy’) ‘Habsburg Monarchy’, in Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Habsburg_monarchy&oldid=1087774624. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SMSU7WA3 |
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Vijayanagara: 1336-1565, Penukonda, Chandraigiri. The kingdom of Vijayanagara takes its name, ’City of Victory’, from its capital on the Tungabhadra River
[1]
. The Vijayanagara capital was abandoned in 1565 following a major military defeat
[2]
, the later imperial capitals were Penukonda and Chandragiri
[3]
.
[1]: Burton Stein, The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara (1990), p. 1 [2]: Carla M. Sinopoli, ’From the Lion Throne: Political and Social Dynamics of the Vijayanagara Empire’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol 43, No. 3 (2000), pp. 370 [3]: Carla M. Sinopoli, ’From the Lion Throne: Political and Social Dynamics of the Vijayanagara Empire’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol 43, No. 3 (2000), pp. 383 |
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After full consolidation fo his kingdom, Charles I moved his capital from Temesvár to Visegrád in the centre of his kingdom.
[1]
[1]: Pál Engel, The Realm of St. Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526 (London ; New York, NY: I.B. Tauris, 2005). Zotero link: 9BBKM3AR |
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Vyadhapura is believed to be the place location as modern-day Angkor Borei ’One important centre of Funan was on the coast in Vietnam near the Cambodian border, at a site now called Oc Eco; the Chinese reported Funan’s capital to be farther inland, most probably Angkor Borei, not at Ba Phom. The name for the capital in the Chinese records, T’e-mu, cannot yet be identified with any local name, but Vyadhapura, at least, must be rejected as the name or site of the Funan capital.’
[1]
’At any rate, Oc Eco is generally considered to have been the main port of Fu-nan; its capital, if there was one, has not been located precisely.’
[2]
’The evidence that either mountain was a cult site is stronger than the evidence that Funan was a major, unified kingdom or that its political center was associated with either hill.’
[3]
’Most scholars accept an identification with the Funan kingdom described by Chinese visitors, as early as the third century C.E., as a complex of walled political centers where craft specialists plied their trade, summary justice was adminis- tered, stone inscriptions were engraved, and the range of mortuary practices included inhumations. Angkor Borei may have been the “inland capital” of Funan referred to by the Chinese, as its large area (300 hectares) and plethora of brickwork suggest.’
[4]
’Recent research has determined that Angkor Borei may have been the centre of the early third century state identified as ‘Funan’ in Chinese annals.’
[5]
’Clearly Funan’s rise had two sources: the productivity of its agrarian system and the area’s strategic location opposite the Isthmus of Kra. A network of canals connect the coast to Funan’s agricultural upstream, centered on its urban ‘‘capital’’ at the archeological site of Angkor Borei in modern southern Cambodia. It is unclear whether this canal network required a new level of techno- logical competence or a central leadership for its construction (Malleret:1959-1963; Liere: 1980; Stark: 1998, 2003, 2006a, 2006b; Stark and Sovath: 2001).’
[6]
’If Funan were a unitary state its capital is not known, with conflicting claims made by modern writers for Vyadhapura, Angkor Borei, Banteay Prei Nokor and even Prey Veng, all situated in the Mekong delta or reasonably close to it. Another Funanese centre, the port town of Oc Eo in what is today called the Camau peninsula, was excavated by the French archaeologist Louis Malleret before World War II.’
[7]
’Angkor Borei, a city covering about 300 hectares (750 acres), located above the Mekong Delta in Cambodia mayonee have been the capital of a state called FUNAN. The city had been occupied as early as the fourth century B.C.E. and was a major center. It is ringed by a brick wall and a moat. Chinese visitors to the region in the third century C.E. described a capital of a state called Funan, and Angkor Borei, which was linked to OC EO and other delta settlements by a canal, may well have been such a regal centre.’
[8]
’The Chinese visitors noted that the capital of Funan had an inland location, and the size of Angkor Borei would qualify it at the very least as a major centre.’
[9]
’Two inscriptions from the vicinity of Angkor Borei imply that this was the capital of Rudravarman, the last recorded king in this region.’
[10]
’The kingdom’s capital was the city of Vyadhapura, which is believed to be the same place as Angkor Borei, Cambodia, where extensive archaeological work has been done recently.’
[11]
[1]: (Vickery 1998, p. 19) [2]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.69) [3]: (Chandler 2008, p. 20) [4]: (Bulbeck 2004, p. 876) [5]: (Rooney, p. 159) [6]: (Hall 2010, pp. 48-49) [7]: (Tully 2005, p. 10) [8]: (Higham 2004, p. 17) [9]: (Higham 2004, p. 113) [10]: (Higham 2004, p. 114) [11]: (West 2009, p. 222) |
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Vyadhapura is believed to be the place location as modern-day Angkor BoreiAngkor Borei ’The kingdom’s capital was the city of Vyadhapura, which is believed to be the same place as Angkor Borei, Cambodia, where extensive archaeologi- cal work has been done recently.’
[1]
’One important centre of Funan was on the coast in Vietnam near the Cambodian border, at a site now called Oc Eco; the Chinese reported Funan’s capital to be farther inland, most probably Angkor Borei, not at Ba Phom. The name for the capital in the Chinese records, T’e-mu, cannot yet be identified with any local name, but Vyadhapura, at least, must be rejected as the name or site of the Funan capital.’
[2]
’At any rate, Oc Eco is generally considered to have been the main port of Fu-nan; its capital, if there was one, has not been located precisely.’
[3]
’The evidence that either mountain was a cult site is stronger than the evidence that Funan was a major, unified kingdom or that its political center was associated with either hill.’
[4]
’Most scholars accept an identification with the Funan kingdom described by Chinese visitors, as early as the third century C.E., as a complex of walled political centers where craft specialists plied their trade, summary justice was adminis- tered, stone inscriptions were engraved, and the range of mortuary practices included inhumations. Angkor Borei may have been the “inland capital” of Funan referred to by the Chinese, as its large area (300 hectares) and plethora of brickwork suggest.’
[5]
’Recent research has determined that Angkor Borei may have been the centre of the early third century state identified as ‘Funan’ in Chinese annals.’
[6]
’Two inscriptions from Angkor Borei imply that the capital of the last recorded king of Funan, Rudravarman, was located in that area. These inscriptions are the earliest dated texts believed to emanate from the people of Funan (inventory numbers K.557 and K.600), both from 611. Another recently discovered inscription, provisionally dated to 650 (the reign of Jayavarman I), mentions that Funan’s last ruler, Rudravarman, lived in Angkor Borei. A Chinese source, the Liang Shu, says the “enclosed settlement” (possibly meaning capital) of Funan was 500 li (200 kilometers/120 miles) from the sea, which would fit the location of Angkor Borei. Another Chinese record, the Xin Tangshu, says that the capital was once at Temu, but after that city was captured by Zhenla in the late sixth century, it moved to Nafuna (Naravaranagara).’
[7]
’Some have hypothesized that Angkor Borei was Naravaranagara, a capital of Funan in the sixth century. According to Michael Vickery, however, Naravaranagara was probably 60 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Angkor Borei. In any case, Angkor Borei was one of the most impressive sites in early first-millennium Southeast Asia.’
[8]
’The oldest dated inscriptions from Funan (K.557 and K.600), dated 611, have both been found at Angkor Borei. Another recently discovered inscription is believed to date from about 650. This stele mentions that Rudravarman, Funan’s last known ruler, was living in Angkor Borei.’
[9]
’Clearly Funan’s rise had two sources: the productivity of its agrarian system and the area’s strategic location opposite the Isthmus of Kra. A network of canals connect the coast to Funan’s agricultural upstream, centered on its urban ‘‘capital’’ at the archeological site of Angkor Borei in modern southern Cambodia. It is unclear whether this canal network required a new level of techno- logical competence or a central leadership for its construction (Malleret:1959-1963; Liere: 1980; Stark: 1998, 2003, 2006a, 2006b; Stark and Sovath: 2001).’
[10]
’The site of Angkor Borei, which was a political centre of Funan, continued to be important into the Angkorian period, though not as a capital (Vickery 1998: 394-397; 409; Stark 2006: 106).’
[11]
’If Funan were a unitary state its capital is not known, with conflicting claims made by modern writers for Vyadhapura, Angkor Borei, Banteay Prei Nokor and even Prey Veng, all situated in the Mekong delta or reasonably close to it. Another Funanese centre, the port town of Oc Eo in what is today called the Camau peninsula, was excavated by the French archaeologist Louis Malleret before World War II.’
[12]
’Two inscriptions from the vicinity of Angkor Borei imply that this was the capital of Rudravarman, the last recorded king in this region.’
[13]
’In about 550 the capital of the great Hindu kingdom of Funan, Vyadhapura, was conquered by King Bhavavarman of Chen-la.’
[14]
[1]: (West 2009, p. 222) [2]: (Vickery 1998, p. 19) [3]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.69) [4]: (Chandler 2008, p. 20) [5]: (Bulbeck 2004, p. 876) [6]: (Rooney, p. 159) [7]: (Miksic 2007, pp. 125-126) [8]: (Miksic 2007, p. 19) [9]: (Miksic 2007, p.20) [10]: (Hall 2010, pp. 48-49) [11]: (Lustig 2009, pp. 65-66) [12]: (Tully 2005, p. 10) [13]: (Higham 2004, p. 114) [14]: (O’Brien 2007, p. 64) |
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Language
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The US did not have a capital city until 1787 when the first congress met in New York. In 1790 Philadelphia was established as a temporary national capital while Washington D.C, which was carved out from land straddling the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1788, became the national capital in 1800.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Volo and Volo 2004: xiii. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SIB5XSW97 [2]: ‘List of Capitals in the United States’. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XYZ5KY4D. |
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The phrase "Mdaŋ i Bhûmi Matarâm" found in inscriptions means "Medang in the land of Mataram", which means the kingdom name is Medang with its capital in Mataram.
[1]
The capital was in the mid-ninth century moved to another site in Central Java, Mamrati, and then again around half a century later to Poh Pitu.
[2]
When Medang moved to East Java around 929, the capital was placed firstly at Tamwlang for a very short time, and then moved to Watu Galuh.
[3]
It finally moved to Wwatan.
[4]
[1]: (Muljana 2005, 84) [2]: (Poesponegoro and Notosusanto 2008, 159) [3]: (Brown 2004, 68) [4]: (Boechari 1976, 14) |
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Each Kingdom had its own capital: (Kingdom) Wessex – (Capital) Winchester Mercia - Tamworth Northumbria - Bamburgh (north) and York (south – until 867 CE) Essex - Colchester East Anglia - tbc Kent - tbc Danelaw - York (from 867) However, once the kingdoms were unified, Winchester became the capital of ‘England’ from 927 CE. Language “Bede, writing in the 720s, recorded that Britain could be broken down into four nations and five languages: English; British (the ancestor of Welsh, Cornish and Breton); Irish; Pictish; and Latin, the universal language of religion and learned inter-communication.”
[1]
The Irish language does not apply for this polity. “There are additional factors which may tell against Dark’s interpretation. One is the very low level of Brittonic which entered Old English. Had large-scale interaction occurred between incoming Germanic communities and numerous indigenous British speakers of equivalent social rank, then we might have expected far greater language borrowing both in terms of structure and vocabulary. It is this difficulty which has rendered Dark’s thesis unacceptable to many linguists and etymologists. That said, there is virtually no evidence from graffiti or inscriptions in Roman Britain that Brittonic survived in the lowland zone, and it may well have been speakers of Latin whom the barbarians encountered. However, the number of loan words remains low, even though there is growing evidence of Latin influencing Old English in terms of its structure and organisation. So, too, are place-names of pre-English origin, Brittonic, Latin, or other, scarce in eastern England, particularly in comparison with the West, which seems difficult to reconcile with Dark’s vision of a long and vigorous survival of British political power in the region.”
[2]
[1]: (‘Early Medieval: Networks’) ‘Early Medieval: Networks’, English Heritage. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/early-medieval/networks/. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IGSR3527 [2]: (Higham 2004: 5) Higham, Nick. ‘From Sub-Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England: Debating the Insular Dark Ages’, History Compass 2, no. 1 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2004.00085.x. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XZT7A79K |
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The capital of the Kingdom of England was Winchester, based in Wessex. After William the Conqueror’s invasion and ascendance to the throne, he moved the capital to London in 1066.
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“Wukari, the present home of the majority of Jukun, was founded as a new capital after the break-up of Kororofa, and represents its successor state on a considerably diminished scale. Wukari’s political boundaries continued to contract up to the time of British pacification through Jukun failure to withstand Fulani and Chamba encroachment from the north, east, and west, and Tiv infiltration from the south.”
[1]
“About 1815, frightened at the defection of one of their notables, Anju of Dampar, the Jukuns melted away before Buba Yero of Gombe and Abu Bakr, Alkali Dagara. They fled westward and settled in Kasan Chiki, the salt district round Awe, and amongst the Munshis to the south of the river. Later a remnant returned and founded or rebuilt Wukari, their present capital, 23 miles south of Ibi. Burba of Bakundi finally destroyed what remained of the city of Kororofa.”
[2]
[1]: Young, M. W. (1966). The Divine Kingship of the Jukun: A Re-Evaluation of Some Theories. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 36(2), 135–153:139–140. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NTI9GQMF/collection [2]: Ruxton, F. H. (1908). Notes on the Tribes of the Muri Province. Journal of the Royal African Society, 7(28), 374–386: 379. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2AXUQGFB/collection |
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The phrase "Mdaŋ i Bhûmi Matarâm" found in inscriptions means "Medang in the land of Mataram", which means the kingdom name is Medang with its capital in Mataram.
[1]
The capital was in the mid-ninth century moved to another site in Central Java, Mamrati, and then again around half a century later to Poh Pitu.
[2]
When Medang moved to East Java around 929, the capital was placed firstly at Tamwlang for a very short time, and then moved to Watu Galuh.
[3]
It finally moved to Wwatan.
[4]
[1]: (Muljana 2005, 84) [2]: (Poesponegoro and Notosusanto 2008, 159) [3]: (Brown 2004, 68) [4]: (Boechari 1976, 14) |
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The Sakha were initially not organized around a capital: ’As horse and cattle breeders, the Yakut had a transhumant pattern of summer and winter settlements. Winter settlements comprised as few as twenty people, involving several closely related families who shared pasture land and lived in nearby yurts (BALAGAN) with surrounding storehouses and corrals. The yurts were oblong huts with slanted earth walls, low ceilings, sod roofs and dirt floors. Most had an adjoining room for cattle. They had substantial hearths, and fur-covered benches lining the walls demarcated sleeping arrangements according to social protocol. Yurts faced east, toward benevolent deities. In summer families moved to larger encampments with their animals. The most ancient summer homes, URASY, were elegant birch-bark conical tents. Some could hold one hundred people. Their ceilings soared at the center point, above a circular hearth. Around the sides were wide benches placed in compartments that served as ranked seating and sleeping areas. Every pole or eave was carved with symbolic designs of animals, fertility, and lineage identities.’
[1]
Yakutsk was established by Russian invaders ’In 1632 the Russian invaders erected a little fortress called Lesnoi Ostroshek, on the eastern bank of the Lena; ten years later they transferred it seventy kilometers to the south, where it became the center of the territory under the name of the City of Yakutsk. The fortress, now the City, of Olekminsk was erected by a Cossack party under the command of Buza in 1635. In the summer of 1637 Buza built two flat-bottomed ships, called kocha, and descended to the mouth of the Lena River, and traveled in an easterly direction on the Polar Sea. Not far from the mouth of the Omoloi River he was barred by ice and was compelled to abandon his ships. For three weeks his party walked over mountain ridges until they arrived at the upper reaches of the Yana River, where they met Yakut and took many sable skins from them as tribute.’
[2]
[1]: Balzer, Marjorie Mandelstam and Skoggard, Ian: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Yakut [2]: Jochelson, Waldemar 1933. “Yakut”, 221 |
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“Mbakhol was the earliest Wolofiezed Mandinka center, far from the then prominent Jolof capital of Yangyang, the emerging capitals of Mbul, Lambaye and Kahone and the trade routes linking them to the rivers and seaports.”
[1]
[1]: (Colvin 1986, 68) Colvin, Lucie G. 1986. ‘The Shaykh’s Men: Religion and Power in Senegambian Islam.’ Asian and African Studies. Vol. 20:1 Pp. 61-71. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/GZTDTN6Q/collection |
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’Jayavarman VI set up his capital at Mahidharapura, whose location is currently unknown but is assumed to be above the Dangrek, where he is also associated with the foundation of Phimai (Groslier 1973:146). Jacques argues that there is no proof that Mahidharapura is around this site (Jacques and Lafond 2004:301). Both Jayavaraman VI and his successor, Dharanindravarman I, appear to have maintained their control away from Angkor [i.e. Yasodharapura].’ However, ’Suryavarman II took the throne in 1113 CE, returning the focus to Angkor as the centre of the Khmer political world’
[1]
. ’Early Angkor, in the eighth and early ninth centuries, consisted of two centers: one around Ak Yum dating from the seventh century, under what is now the western end of the West Baray; and the other, Hariharalaya, from the eighth century, at what is now called Roulos in Southeast Angkor. Both enters were unbounded and apparently low-density settlements (Pottier 2006). [...] In the late ninth century, the centre was moved to Phnom Bakheng and the East Baray built. This capital, named Yasodharapura, was also unbounded (Pottier 2000) and incorporated both Hariharalya and Ak Yum to form Greater Angkor. Thereafter until the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the locations of administrative enters and palaces moved around within the network of the urban complex. Only in the late twelfth century, with the construction of the walled and moated central enclosure of Angkor Thom, did the practice of relocating the administrative centre cease. Thereafter, the Bayon, the central temple of Angkor Thom, also became the permanent state temple at Angkor’
[2]
’Circa 928 Jayavarman IV rules from Koh Ker, wehre he has estates some 50 miles northeast of Angkor. There he builds a new urban center, with his palace, a baray, and a stepped pyramid temple to Shiva. 944 Rajendravarman II returns the capital to Angkor. The name “Angkor,” from the Sanskrit word for “city,” was given to the capital only in the 16th century. Temple inscriptions during imperial times call it Yashodharapura, “glory—bearing city.”’
[3]
’The Khmer pronunciation of Sanskrit negara, signifying capital of a kingdom. The ancient Khmer capital now known as Angkor was originally called Yasodharapura after Yasovarman, the ruler who moved the capital there in 889.’
[4]
[1]: (Hendrickson 2007, p. 98) [2]: (Fletcher 2012, pp.297-298) [3]: (National Geographic 2009) [4]: (Miksic 2007, pp. 17-18) |
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Kulen Hills: 802ce; Hariharalaya: 803-889ce; Yasodharapura: 889-922ce; Koh Ker: 922-944ce; Yasodharapura: 922-1080ce. ’Jayavarman II [...] established his first capital in the Kulen Hills’, but ’[s]ome time after his coronation in the Kulen Hills, Jayavarman II established a new capital at Hariharalaya, near modern Roluos, supposedly to take advantage of the resources of the Tonle Sap and its floodplain’; following this, ’Yasovarman I is associated with moving the capital once again, this time centred at the Phnom Bakheng. This new city, referred to as Yasodharapura, would become the political core for most of Angkor’s kings over the next 500 years’. Then, ’[a]fter apparently usurping power in a struggle with Harshavarman I in 922 CE [Jayavarman IV] decided to construct a new capital 80 km away from the core political centre on the Tonle Sap Lake’, named Koh Ker: however, ’[f]ollowing his death the capital was returned to Angkor [i.e. Yasodharapura] and interest in Koh Ker waned with only a single inscription of the following king, Rajendravaraman, evident at the site’
[1]
. The exact year for the switch from Kulen Hills to Hariharalaya appears to be unknown.
’Jayavarman II appears to have brought significant land and regional lords into a ‘single’ domain by 802 CE. We can begin to discern a ‘united’ polity, and a series of single or at least preeminent capitals: Hariharālaya (Roluos); Yaśodharapura (Angkor); Koh Ker.’ [2] ’Early Angkor, in the eighth and early ninth centuries, consisted of two ccenters: one around Ak Yum dating from the seventh century, under what is now the western end of the West Baray; and the other, Hariharalaya, from the eighth century, at what is now called Roulos in Southeast Angkor. Both centers were unbounded and apparently low-density settlements (Pottier 2006). [...] In the late ninth century, the centre was moved to Phnom Bakheng and the East Baray built. This capital, named Yasodharapura, was also unbounded (Pottier 2000) and incorporated both Hariharalya and Ak Yum to form Greater Angkor. Thereafter until the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the locations of administrative centers and palaces moved around within the network of the urban complex. Only in the late twelfth century, with the construction of the walled and moated central enclosure of Angkor Thom, did the practice of relocating the administrative centre cease. Thereafter, the Bayon, the central temple of Angkor Thom, also became the permanent state temple and Angkor’ [3] ’We know little of the history of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and the Khmer chronicles are primarily eighteenth- and nineteenth-century court documents created in the eastern Khmer capitals, in particular Phnom Phenh, with a specific political agenda in mind.’ [4] ’Angkor was the vast low-density capital of the Khmer Kingdom, from the early 9th to the mid-14th/15th centuries of the Common Era (CE). At its peak, Angkor sprawled over nearly 1000 km2 [1] and may have housed more than three quarters of a million people [2,3]. The primary administrative centre in a kingdom that dominated most of mainland Southeast Asia by the 11th century CE, Angkor was the largest preindustrial city on Earth and remains the world’s largest archaeological site. The Angkor period is commonly understood to start in 802 CE with the proclamation of Jayavarman II as the chakravartin (universal-king) from a location in the Kulen mountains (Phnom Kulen), overlooking the vast alluvial plain where Angkor would begin to emerge in the following centuries (Figure 1). In doing so, Jayavarman confirmed himself as the great unifier; drawing Cambodia’s disparate polities together under the first ‘god king’ and establishing the Khmer state and the basis of its empire. Phnom Kulen was known as Mahendraparvata; ‘‘the hill of the great Indra’’. The extant history of Mahendraparvata is based on several inscriptions, the most well-known being an 11th century CE inscription (K.235) found at the Sdok Kak Thom temple, in eastern Thailand [4]. The inscription, dated to 1052 CE, outlines the lineage of a private family serving successive Khmer Kings for two and a half centuries, the first mentioned being Jayavarman II.’ [5] ’Founded by Yasovarman I in AD 889 to the north of the great lake of Tonle Sap, Angkor, originally known as Yasodhapura, was the capital for almost 500 years.’ [6] ’With the fading of the ANGKOR era, Cambodia shifts capitals south to Longvek, then to Udong, and finally to PHNOM PENH.This period also sees the waning of HINDUISM and the rise of THERAVADA BUDDHISM.’ [7] ’Circa 928 Jayavarman IV rules from Koh Ker, wehre he has estates some 50 miles northeast of Angkor. There he builds a new urban center, with his palace, a baray, and a stepped pyramid temple to Shiva. 944 Rajendravarman II returns the capital to Angkor. The name “Angkor,” from the Sanskrit word for “city,” was given to the capital only in the 16th century. Temple inscriptions during imperial times call it Yashodharapura, “glory—bearing city.”’ [8] ’The Khmer pronunciation of Sanskrit negara, signifying capital of a kingdom. The ancient Khmer capital now known as Angkor was originally called Yasodharapura after Yasovarman, the ruler who moved the capital there in 889.’ [9] ’EAST BARAY. Originally called Yasodharatataka after the ruler, Yasovarman, who planned its construction, this is a large artificial body of water (6 by 2.4 kilometers/3.5 by 1.5 miles) in the eastern area of Angkor (see map 5), in the midst of which a shrine called East Mebon was built in 952 by Yasovarman’s nephew Rajen- dravarman. The baray is now dry. It apparently ceased to function in the 10th century, perhaps influencing the decision of Jayavarman IV (921-941) to move to Koh Ker. When the capital was moved from Koh Ker back to Angkor, the East Baray was altered by moving the south bank farther south and raising its height from 2 meters (6.5 feet) to 5 meters (16.5 feet). This reconstruction began in the reign of Harsavarman II (941-944) and was completed during the reign of Rajendravarman (944-968).’ [10] ’HARIHARALAYA. Modern Roluos, a site located 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) southeast of Angkor (see map 5). The name refers to the god who is half Siva (Hari) and half Vishnu (Hara). Indravarman II constructed a huge reservoir here, the Indratataka, measuring 3,800 by 800 meters (2.3 by 0.5 miles), approximately 100 times larger than any previous such construction in Cambodia. Other important struc- tures here include Bakong and Lolei. The next ruler, Yasovarman I, moved the capital to the site now known as Angkor.’ [11] [1]: Hendrickson (2007), pp. 94-95 [2]: (Lustig 2009, p. 66) [3]: (Fletcher 2012, pp.297-298) [4]: (Fletcher 2012, p.313) [5]: (Penny et al 2014, p. e84252) [6]: (Scarre 1999, p.82). [7]: (Ooi and Barnhill 2004, p. 1496) [8]: (National Geographic 2009) [9]: (Miksic 2007, pp. 17-18) [10]: (Miksic 2007, p. 120) [11]: Miksic 2007, p. 138) |
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Kulen Hills: 802ce; Hariharalaya: 803-889ce; Yasodharapura: 889-922ce; Koh Ker: 922-944ce; Yasodharapura: 922-1080ce. ’Jayavarman II [...] established his first capital in the Kulen Hills’, but ’[s]ome time after his coronation in the Kulen Hills, Jayavarman II established a new capital at Hariharalaya, near modern Roluos, supposedly to take advantage of the resources of the Tonle Sap and its floodplain’; following this, ’Yasovarman I is associated with moving the capital once again, this time centred at the Phnom Bakheng. This new city, referred to as Yasodharapura, would become the political core for most of Angkor’s kings over the next 500 years’. Then, ’[a]fter apparently usurping power in a struggle with Harshavarman I in 922 CE [Jayavarman IV] decided to construct a new capital 80 km away from the core political centre on the Tonle Sap Lake’, named Koh Ker: however, ’[f]ollowing his death the capital was returned to Angkor [i.e. Yasodharapura] and interest in Koh Ker waned with only a single inscription of the following king, Rajendravaraman, evident at the site’
[1]
. The exact year for the switch from Kulen Hills to Hariharalaya appears to be unknown.
’Jayavarman II appears to have brought significant land and regional lords into a ‘single’ domain by 802 CE. We can begin to discern a ‘united’ polity, and a series of single or at least preeminent capitals: Hariharālaya (Roluos); Yaśodharapura (Angkor); Koh Ker.’ [2] ’Early Angkor, in the eighth and early ninth centuries, consisted of two ccenters: one around Ak Yum dating from the seventh century, under what is now the western end of the West Baray; and the other, Hariharalaya, from the eighth century, at what is now called Roulos in Southeast Angkor. Both centers were unbounded and apparently low-density settlements (Pottier 2006). [...] In the late ninth century, the centre was moved to Phnom Bakheng and the East Baray built. This capital, named Yasodharapura, was also unbounded (Pottier 2000) and incorporated both Hariharalya and Ak Yum to form Greater Angkor. Thereafter until the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the locations of administrative centers and palaces moved around within the network of the urban complex. Only in the late twelfth century, with the construction of the walled and moated central enclosure of Angkor Thom, did the practice of relocating the administrative centre cease. Thereafter, the Bayon, the central temple of Angkor Thom, also became the permanent state temple and Angkor’ [3] ’We know little of the history of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and the Khmer chronicles are primarily eighteenth- and nineteenth-century court documents created in the eastern Khmer capitals, in particular Phnom Phenh, with a specific political agenda in mind.’ [4] ’Angkor was the vast low-density capital of the Khmer Kingdom, from the early 9th to the mid-14th/15th centuries of the Common Era (CE). At its peak, Angkor sprawled over nearly 1000 km2 [1] and may have housed more than three quarters of a million people [2,3]. The primary administrative centre in a kingdom that dominated most of mainland Southeast Asia by the 11th century CE, Angkor was the largest preindustrial city on Earth and remains the world’s largest archaeological site. The Angkor period is commonly understood to start in 802 CE with the proclamation of Jayavarman II as the chakravartin (universal-king) from a location in the Kulen mountains (Phnom Kulen), overlooking the vast alluvial plain where Angkor would begin to emerge in the following centuries (Figure 1). In doing so, Jayavarman confirmed himself as the great unifier; drawing Cambodia’s disparate polities together under the first ‘god king’ and establishing the Khmer state and the basis of its empire. Phnom Kulen was known as Mahendraparvata; ‘‘the hill of the great Indra’’. The extant history of Mahendraparvata is based on several inscriptions, the most well-known being an 11th century CE inscription (K.235) found at the Sdok Kak Thom temple, in eastern Thailand [4]. The inscription, dated to 1052 CE, outlines the lineage of a private family serving successive Khmer Kings for two and a half centuries, the first mentioned being Jayavarman II.’ [5] ’Founded by Yasovarman I in AD 889 to the north of the great lake of Tonle Sap, Angkor, originally known as Yasodhapura, was the capital for almost 500 years.’ [6] ’With the fading of the ANGKOR era, Cambodia shifts capitals south to Longvek, then to Udong, and finally to PHNOM PENH.This period also sees the waning of HINDUISM and the rise of THERAVADA BUDDHISM.’ [7] ’Circa 928 Jayavarman IV rules from Koh Ker, wehre he has estates some 50 miles northeast of Angkor. There he builds a new urban center, with his palace, a baray, and a stepped pyramid temple to Shiva. 944 Rajendravarman II returns the capital to Angkor. The name “Angkor,” from the Sanskrit word for “city,” was given to the capital only in the 16th century. Temple inscriptions during imperial times call it Yashodharapura, “glory—bearing city.”’ [8] ’The Khmer pronunciation of Sanskrit negara, signifying capital of a kingdom. The ancient Khmer capital now known as Angkor was originally called Yasodharapura after Yasovarman, the ruler who moved the capital there in 889.’ [9] ’EAST BARAY. Originally called Yasodharatataka after the ruler, Yasovarman, who planned its construction, this is a large artificial body of water (6 by 2.4 kilometers/3.5 by 1.5 miles) in the eastern area of Angkor (see map 5), in the midst of which a shrine called East Mebon was built in 952 by Yasovarman’s nephew Rajen- dravarman. The baray is now dry. It apparently ceased to function in the 10th century, perhaps influencing the decision of Jayavarman IV (921-941) to move to Koh Ker. When the capital was moved from Koh Ker back to Angkor, the East Baray was altered by moving the south bank farther south and raising its height from 2 meters (6.5 feet) to 5 meters (16.5 feet). This reconstruction began in the reign of Harsavarman II (941-944) and was completed during the reign of Rajendravarman (944-968).’ [10] ’HARIHARALAYA. Modern Roluos, a site located 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) southeast of Angkor (see map 5). The name refers to the god who is half Siva (Hari) and half Vishnu (Hara). Indravarman II constructed a huge reservoir here, the Indratataka, measuring 3,800 by 800 meters (2.3 by 0.5 miles), approximately 100 times larger than any previous such construction in Cambodia. Other important struc- tures here include Bakong and Lolei. The next ruler, Yasovarman I, moved the capital to the site now known as Angkor.’ [11] [1]: Hendrickson (2007), pp. 94-95 [2]: (Lustig 2009, p. 66) [3]: (Fletcher 2012, pp.297-298) [4]: (Fletcher 2012, p.313) [5]: (Penny et al 2014, p. e84252) [6]: (Scarre 1999, p.82). [7]: (Ooi and Barnhill 2004, p. 1496) [8]: (National Geographic 2009) [9]: (Miksic 2007, pp. 17-18) [10]: (Miksic 2007, p. 120) [11]: Miksic 2007, p. 138) |
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Note: Yin = Anyang. "While the king lived in and ruled from a capital city, it wasn’t always the same city. Although historical records mention many different Shang capitals, only a few have actually been confirmed with archaeological evidence. No one knows exactly why a king would move the capital but some scholar think it had to do with internal power struggles within the royal family."
[1]
The first, Cheng Tang’s capital, was at Shang (today near Zhengzhou).
[1]
The last was at Yin (today near Anyang).
[1]
Yin, also known as enclave at Xiaotun. This was a ceremonial and administrative centre
[2]
and was occupied by last 11 Kings
[3]
- or could be 12 kings; last king did not have burial pit.
[4]
- from about c1400 BCE.
[5]
The ancestral capital, as compared to the political capital above, never moved.
[1]
[1]: (The Shang Dynasty, 1600 to 1050 BCE. Spice Digest, Fall 2007. http://iis-db.stanford.edu/docs/117/ShangDynasty.pdf) [2]: (Roberts 2003) [3]: (Gernet 1996) [4]: (Cotterell 1995, 24) [5]: (Cotterell 1995, 15) |
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Each Kingdom had its own capital: (Kingdom) Wessex – (Capital) Winchester Mercia - Tamworth Northumbria - Bamburgh (north) and York (south – until 867 CE) Essex - Colchester East Anglia - tbc Kent - tbc Danelaw - York (from 867) However, once the kingdoms were unified, Winchester became the capital of ‘England’ from 927 CE. Language “Bede, writing in the 720s, recorded that Britain could be broken down into four nations and five languages: English; British (the ancestor of Welsh, Cornish and Breton); Irish; Pictish; and Latin, the universal language of religion and learned inter-communication.”
[1]
The Irish language does not apply for this polity. “There are additional factors which may tell against Dark’s interpretation. One is the very low level of Brittonic which entered Old English. Had large-scale interaction occurred between incoming Germanic communities and numerous indigenous British speakers of equivalent social rank, then we might have expected far greater language borrowing both in terms of structure and vocabulary. It is this difficulty which has rendered Dark’s thesis unacceptable to many linguists and etymologists. That said, there is virtually no evidence from graffiti or inscriptions in Roman Britain that Brittonic survived in the lowland zone, and it may well have been speakers of Latin whom the barbarians encountered. However, the number of loan words remains low, even though there is growing evidence of Latin influencing Old English in terms of its structure and organisation. So, too, are place-names of pre-English origin, Brittonic, Latin, or other, scarce in eastern England, particularly in comparison with the West, which seems difficult to reconcile with Dark’s vision of a long and vigorous survival of British political power in the region.”
[2]
[1]: (‘Early Medieval: Networks’) ‘Early Medieval: Networks’, English Heritage. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/early-medieval/networks/. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IGSR3527 [2]: (Higham 2004: 5) Higham, Nick. ‘From Sub-Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England: Debating the Insular Dark Ages’, History Compass 2, no. 1 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2004.00085.x. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XZT7A79K |
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"Effective Abbasid rule in Yemen ended when Muhammad bin ’Ubaidallah bin Ziyad,appointed in 822 by Ma’mum to govern the Tihama, threw off all pretense of obedience of Baghdad beyond causing the Friday prayers to be said in the caliph’s name, and founded the Banu Ziyad state, laying out and building the city of Zabid as its capital."
[1]
Language [1]: (Stookey 1978, 45) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder. |
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The Himyarite capital was Zarfar.
[1]
Also known as Dhu-Raydan.
[2]
"The last of the great pre-Islamic kingdoms, that of Himyar, was the only one ruled from the central highlands rather than the desert’s edge."
[3]
When Zarfar became the capital it displaced Marib of the Sabaeans and Qarnaw of the Minaeans.
[4]
Language [1]: (Caton 2013, 45-46) Steven C Caton ed. 2013. Yemen. ABC-Clio. Santa Barbara [2]: (Burrows 2010, 161) Robert D Burrows. 2010. Historical Dictionary of Yemen. Second Edition. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham. [3]: (Burrows 2010, lxiii) Robert D Burrows. 2010. Historical Dictionary of Yemen. Second Edition. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham. [4]: (Hitti 2002, 56) Philip K Hitti. 2002 (1937). History of the Arabs. 10th Edition. Palgrave Macmillan. Basingstoke. |
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The Himyarite capital was Zarfar.
[1]
Also known as Dhu-Raydan.
[2]
"The last of the great pre-Islamic kingdoms, that of Himyar, was the only one ruled from the central highlands rather than the desert’s edge."
[3]
When Zarfar became the capital it displaced Marib of the Sabaeans and Qarnaw of the Minaeans.
[4]
Language [1]: (Caton 2013, 45-46) Steven C Caton ed. 2013. Yemen. ABC-Clio. Santa Barbara [2]: (Burrows 2010, 161) Robert D Burrows. 2010. Historical Dictionary of Yemen. Second Edition. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham. [3]: (Burrows 2010, lxiii) Robert D Burrows. 2010. Historical Dictionary of Yemen. Second Edition. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham. [4]: (Hitti 2002, 56) Philip K Hitti. 2002 (1937). History of the Arabs. 10th Edition. Palgrave Macmillan. Basingstoke. |
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“It was founded by Sa’duddin in the early days of Islam, around the late 9th or early 10th century, based at Zayla or Zeila, an ancient port and trade center on the Gulf of Aden.”
[1]
In the early fourteenth century under the leadership of Imam Ahmad Gurey the capital moved to Harar in present-day Ethiopia. In the fourteenth century the Adal Sultanate was at war with the Christian Kingdom of Abyssinia under the Solomonid Dynasty. “The Imam reorganized the Muslim armies of the sultanate, transferred the headquarters from Zayla to Harar for strategic reason, and made successful diplomatic contacts with the wider Islamic world particularly with the Ottoman Empire.”
[2]
During the late sixteenth century Cassanelli noted that again the capital of the Adal Sultanate moved from Harar to Aussa. “However, the history of that unique town is something of a self-contained one after 1577, when the ruling dynasty of the once-powerful Adal Sultanate transferred its capital from Harar to the oasis of Aussa in the Danakil desert.”
[3]
[1]: (Mukhtar 2016, Encyclopedia of Empire) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2016. ‘Adal Sultanate.’ In J. Mackenzie Encyclopedia of Empire. Wiley. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FM8D55XW/library [2]: (Mukhtar 2003, 44-45) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2003. Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Mukhtar/titleCreatorYear/items/J8WZB6VI/item-list [3]: (Cassanelli 1982, 120) Cassanelli, Lee. V. 1982. The Shaping of Somali Society: Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600-1900. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TKPH7Z89/library |
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"The Zhengzhou site is very large. Remains are spread over an area of 25 sq. km, and northwest of this area a palace or ritual complex has recently been discovered 20km away. Unfortunately the ancient city lies beneath the modern one and cannot be systematically explored. Nevertheless its main feature, a hangtu city wall nearly 7 km in circumference, is by itself enough to show that Zhengzhou was no ordinary place."
[1]
"Huanbei probably arose in the middle or end of the 14th century BC, and lasted for less than one century; this period is now conveniently labeled the middle Shang." [2] "On the basis of new radiocarbon data, early Shang culture dates from around 1600 to 1300 BC (Expert Team 2000: 63-64). Because of the continuous cultural development from the first stage represented by the early Shang city of Zhengzhou to the later stage represented by the Xiaoshuang- qiao 小双桥 site about 20 km from Zhengzhou, the consensus is that they belong to the same culture. But we still have a short chronological gap between the early Shang remains at Xiaoshuangqiao and the later early Shang remains at Anyang in northern Henan represented by the Huayuanzhuang 花园庄 site, more commonly referred to as Huanbei 洹北 (Guangming Daily 2000). Given the similarities in artifacts and the chronological information so far, I tentatively conclude that Huanbei should be considered an early Shang site (see Chapter 17)." [3] [1]: (Bagley 1999, 165) [2]: (Jing et al 2013, 346) [3]: (Yuan 2013, 326) |
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Huining: 1122-1153CE; Zhongdu: 1153-1214 CE; Kaifeng: 1214-1233; Caizhou: 1233-1234
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Capital Zhongzhou.
[1]
"For 275 years the Zhou royal court was able to sustain itself at a single capital, longer than any other dynasty would be able to do for the rest of Chinese history."
[1]
was Hao capital before conquest of Shang? Duke of Zhou established a new capital near Luoyang. The old Zhou capital near Xi’an remained the based for Zhou administration. [2] Administrative capital near Xi’an is Hao. Capital near Luoyang is Zhengzhou. Capital moved to Luoyang after 771 BCE (in period following Western Zhou) because Hao overrun by invaders. [3] Capital (Hao) in Zhou heartland, Wei river valley. During the Eastern Zhou the capital was moved to Luoyang. [4] [5] [1]: (Shaughnessy 1999, 351) 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. [2]: (Roberts 2003, 15) [3]: (Roberts 2003, 16) [4]: (Haywood 2000, 1.44) [5]: (Kerr 2013, 23) |
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"While Yan’s classic definition of the Big Yangshao model is still influential, more and more archaeologists are inclined to name the local archaeological remains as independent cultures, each having its own local cultural tradition and developmental sequence (Zhang Zhongpei and Qiao 1992; Henan Sheng 1994; Wang 2010)."
[1]
This implies that each polity probably had its capital.
[1]: (Li 2013, 215) |
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Crete is the core territory of the Classical city-states and state-federations. The most important city-states of the period were these of Knossos, Gortys, Kydonia and Lyttos. Around these cities, a number of fragile unions of smaller cities was formed. None of these centers thought was seat of a political authority that controlled the island.
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Regional centers, once secondary capitals under the Knossian control, regain a degree of independence and become the seats of political authorities. Kydonia (Chania), in west Crete, seems to have been a centre of significant importance during Late Minoan IIIB (1300-1200 BCE). Tablets written in Linear B script and inscribed locally produced stirrup jars used to transport aromatic oils points to a central administration.
[1]
[2]
[3]
There is no evidence, however, to argue that Kydonia was the seat of a central political authority controlling Crete.
[1]: Hallager, E., Vlazakis, M., and Hallager, B. 1992. "New Linear B tablets from Khania," Kadmos 31, 61-87 [2]: Palaima, T. G. 1995. "Ten reasons why KH115 ≠ KN115," Minos 27-28, 261-81 [3]: Haskell, H. W., Jones, R. E., Day, P. M., Killen, J. T. 2011. Transport Stirrup Jars of the Bronze Age Aegean and East Mediterranean (Prehistory Monographs 33), 119-20, 126-27, 131. |
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"Fourth, as we have seen, the most powerful among the lords of the Xianbei confederation, Tanshihuai, divided his power into three parts, and having done this he established a headquarters (ting) similar to that of the Xiongnu chanyu. It was located on the shore of the Čoču River at 300 and more li (i.e. more than 120 km, taking into account that the li is equivalent to 400 meters) to the north of Gaoli, i.e. the early Korean state Koguryŏ (HHS 90.14a)."
[1]
" From his court roughly a hundred miles north of modern Datong he presided over an empire covering all the former Xiongnu lands, and oriented especially towards raiding Han dynasty China."
[2]
[1]: (Kradin 2011, 202) [2]: (Holcombe 2013, 7) |
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"Until the end of the third century AD, when the kingdom of Ḥimyar, which had just expelled an Ethiopian invasion, annexed the kingdom of Sabaʾ and conquered Ḥaḍramawt (Ch. 3), South Arabia was divided between numerous kingdoms".
[1]
Language [1]: (Robin 2015: 94) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3. |
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Ecuador was governed from Quito: ’Quito, in full Villa de San Francisco de Quito, of Ecuador. It is situated on the lower slopes of the volcano Pichincha, which last erupted in 1666, in a narrow Andean valley at an elevation of 9,350 feet (2,850 metres), just south of the Equator. The oldest of all South American capitals, Quito is notable for its well-preserved old town, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978. The area was a market centre and political frontier before its conquest by the Inca empire, which led to its fortification as an Inca settlement. Sebastián de Belalcázar, a lieutenant of the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, occupied the city on December 6, 1534, and declared a municipal government (cabildo). (Founder’s Day, December 6, is marked with a weeklong celebration.) Quito remained the focal point of national affairs-political, social, and economic-until the early 20th century, when economic dominance shifted to Guayaquil.’
[1]
’The people of Quito, the Ecuadoran capital, claim that it was the scene of the first Ecuadoran patriot uprising against Spanish rule (1809). Invading from Colombia in 1822, the armies of Simón Bolívar and Antonio José de Sucre came to the aid of Ecuadoran rebels, and on May 24 Sucre won the decisive Battle of Pichincha on a mountain slope near Quito, thus assuring Ecuadoran independence.’
[2]
The Shuar population was not organized around a capital, and bureaucratic penetration of Jivaro territory was slow during the colonial period. We have therefore opted not to include Quito in the code.
[1]: http://www.britannica.com/place/Quito [2]: http://www.britannica.com/place/Ecuador/Cultural-life#toc25824 |
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Quasipolity.”For the first 400 years of the settlement’s history, Kirikongo was a single economically generalized social group (Figure 6). The occupants were self-sufficient farmers who cultivated grains and herded livestock, smelted and forged iron, opportunistically hunted, lived in puddled earthen structures with pounded clay floors, and fished in the seasonal drainages. [...] Since Kirikongo did not grow (at least not significantly) for over 400 years, it is likely that extra-community fissioning continually occurred to contribute to regional population growth, and it is also likely that Kirikongo itself was the result of budding from a previous homestead. However, with the small scale of settlement, the inhabitants of individual homesteads must have interacted with a wider community for social and demographic reasons. [...] It may be that generalized single-kin homesteads like Kirikongo were the societal model for a post-LSA expansion of farming peoples along the Nakambe (White Volta) and Mouhoun (Black Volta) River basins. A homestead settlement pattern would fit well with the transitional nature of early sedentary life, where societies are shifting from generalized reciprocity to more restricted and formalized group membership, and single-kin communities like Kirikongo’s house (Mound 4) would be roughly the size of a band.”
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 27, 32) |
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"Although there is an abundance of archaeological remains in the ground of the area where it once spread, there is no indication of agglomerations of people above village level, thus there is no evidence that would warrant the existence of communities of a size that would be necessary to develop social stratification, which is regarded as one of the attributes of social complexity. Numerous excavations and prospections have contributed to the notion that no towns or any kind of urban environments existed. The rather small size of almost all recorded sites and the comparatively small quantities of excavated cultural remains even rule out village communities. Apparently the typical settlement of the Nok Culture which occupied the prehistoric landscape during all phases was either a hamlet or a single compound. What can be concluded from this is that there was no high population density and that Nok communities were small-scaled and organised in locally autonomous groups. Probably these groups consisted of only one or a few extended families or a comparable number of people living together at one site."
[1]
[1]: (Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 252) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/ES4TRU7R. |
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Quasipolity. As the following quotes suggests, houses where still highly independent, and differientiation was emerging within settlements rather than between them. "While houses were still highly independent, even producing their own pottery, a formalized village structure was likely present with both cadet and senior social segments, founded upon common descent with a common ancestor."
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 28) |
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The Sakha were initially not organized around a capital: ’As horse and cattle breeders, the Yakut had a transhumant pattern of summer and winter settlements. Winter settlements comprised as few as twenty people, involving several closely related families who shared pasture land and lived in nearby yurts (BALAGAN) with surrounding storehouses and corrals. The yurts were oblong huts with slanted earth walls, low ceilings, sod roofs and dirt floors. Most had an adjoining room for cattle. They had substantial hearths, and fur-covered benches lining the walls demarcated sleeping arrangements according to social protocol. Yurts faced east, toward benevolent deities. In summer families moved to larger encampments with their animals. The most ancient summer homes, URASY, were elegant birch-bark conical tents. Some could hold one hundred people. Their ceilings soared at the center point, above a circular hearth. Around the sides were wide benches placed in compartments that served as ranked seating and sleeping areas. Every pole or eave was carved with symbolic designs of animals, fertility, and lineage identities.’
[1]
[1]: Balzer, Marjorie Mandelstam and Skoggard, Ian: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Yakut |
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"There were no major urban centers; in fact, the Turkic general and counselor, Tonyukhukh, is credited with the quote, ‘‘If we build castles and give up our old customs, we shall be vanquished’’ (Tkachev 1987, p. 114). The Turkic leaders took this advice, although there is a report of a settlement built at a place called Dalee (Perlee 1961, p. 47; Rogers et al. 2005, pp. 812-813)."
[1]
[1]: (Rogers 2012, 226) |
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There was no single capital as the Sumer in Early Dynastic Period consisted of many various "city-state’ organism. However, the special significance had city of Kish and the title- "lugal of Kish" ("king") was very prestige title. On the other hand, the city of Nippur played a role of religious capital of whole Sumer.
[1]
[1]: Hamblin 2006, 44 |
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The largest settlement was San José Mogote, but there is no evidence for a unified polity and so the settlement cannot be called a capital.
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Quasi-polity: "The Illinois or Illiniwek Nation consisted of several independent American Indian tribes that spoke a common language, had similar ways of life, and shared a large territory in the central Mississippi River valley"
[1]
.
[1]: Illinois State Museum, The Illinois, Identity (2000), http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/post/htmls/hi_decline.html |
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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.’
[1]
Accordingly, there was no capital.
[1]: (Kahn, Fischer and Kiste 2017) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XHZTEDKE. |
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"Although there is an abundance of archaeological remains in the ground of the area where it once spread, there is no indication of agglomerations of people above village level, thus there is no evidence that would warrant the existence of communities of a size that would be necessary to develop social stratification, which is regarded as one of the attributes of social complexity. Numerous excavations and prospections have contributed to the notion that no towns or any kind of urban environments existed. The rather small size of almost all recorded sites and the comparatively small quantities of excavated cultural remains even rule out village communities. Apparently the typical settlement of the Nok Culture which occupied the prehistoric landscape during all phases was either a hamlet or a single compound. What can be concluded from this is that there was no high population density and that Nok communities were small-scaled and organised in locally autonomous groups. Probably these groups consisted of only one or a few extended families or a comparable number of people living together at one site."
[1]
[1]: (Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 252) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/ES4TRU7R. |
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Crete is divided into territorial entities each one centered upon a city that served as the main political and economic center of its region. The most important city-stateswere these of Knossos, probably the largest urban centre of the period, Axos, Krousonas, Phaistos, Gortys, Lyktos, Arkades, Prinias, and Eltyna in central Crete, Lato, Dreros and Praisos in east Crete, and Aptera and Kydonia in the west. None of these centers thought was seat of a political authority that controlled the island.
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"[T]here are several Mossi kingdoms linked by a common ancestry. Primus inter pares, the Ouagadougou kingdom eclipsed all others. Yet Ouagadougou should not be regarded as the capital of an alleged Mossi ’empire’, as there was considerable autonomy, and even infighting, among the different kingdoms and principalities."
[1]
[1]: (Englebert 2018: 11) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/52JWRCUI/collection. |
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"There were no major urban centers; in fact, the Turkic general and counselor, Tonyukhukh, is credited with the quote, ‘‘If we build castles and give up our old customs, we shall be vanquished’’ (Tkachev 1987, p. 114). The Turkic leaders took this advice, although there is a report of a settlement built at a place called Dalee (Perlee 1961, p. 47; Rogers et al. 2005, pp. 812-813)."
[1]
"The centre of the Second Türk Empire shifted to the Ötükän mountains (now called the Khangai mountains), on the rivers Orkhon, Selenga and Tola."
[2]
[1]: (Rogers 2012, 226) [2]: (Klyashtorny 1996, 331) |
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’During the Icelandic Commonwealth there were no cities and therefore no capital city. The Alþingi or general assembly was held for two weeks on a farm (Þingvellir). In addition to the Alþingi there were two bishoprics, but these were characterized by a decentralized structure. The city of Reykjavík was only established in the eighteenth century.’
[1]
eHRAF provides a general description of history and social structure: ’Iceland was a new society, however Icelandic culture perpetuated many of the cultural standards from Scandinavia, especially Norway. While both Norse and Celtic peoples contributed to the founding population they had unequal impacts on the culture of Iceland. Celts appear to have been incorporated into Norse households and appear to have little lasting impact on the cultural and institutional developments that were predominantly Scandinavian in origin. The first settlers claimed lands and established dispersed farmsteads. Many of the economic practices were unsuitable to the fragile Icelandic environment and resulted in deforestation and land erosion, especially in the uplands. As population grew, settlement expanded, and new farmsteads were divided from previous land claims. In 930 A.D. the General Assembly (ALÞINGI) was founded, providing an institution integrating the entire island. The same assembly accepted Christianity as the religion of the land in 1000 A.D. The thirteenth century was a period of escalating conflict (STURLUNGAÖLD) chieftains attempted to exert control beyond their local regions. The system of autonomous chieftains ended after 1262 A.D. when Iceland came under Norwegian rule. The Viking Age expansion into the North Atlantic did not end at Iceland. In the late tenth century Eirík the Red led a major venture to colonize Greenland and his son, Leifur Eiríksson, has been credited with the European discovery of North America. Early Icelanders maintained close ties with Scandinavia and the British Isles. Continental trading and raiding expeditions were common activities for those with the means to take a share in a boat. Their travels sometimes took them as far as Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean.’
[2]
[1]: Árni Daniel Júlíusson and Axel Kristissen 2017, pers. comm. to E. Brandl and D. Mullins [2]: Bolender, Douglas James and Beierle, John: eHRAF Cultural Summary for Early Icelanders |
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Political organization was decentralized prior to the imposition of the British colonial administration. The precise role of the Zamindars remains to be confirmed (see above).
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The Iban claim to originate in the Kapuas Basin, but had established themselves in Sarawak by the 19th century: ’The Iban trace their origins to the Kapuas Lake region of Kalimantan. With a growing population creating pressures on limited amounts of productive land, the Iban fought members of other tribes aggressively, practicing headhunting and slavery. Enslavement of captives contributed to the necessity to move into new areas. By the middle of the 19th century, they were well established in the First and Second Divisions, and a few had pioneered the vast Rejang River valley. Reacting to the establishment of the Brooke Raj in Sarawak in 1841, thousands of Iban migrated to the middle and upper regions of the Rejang, and by the last quarter of the century had entered all remaining Divisions.’
[1]
Sarawak was nominally controlled by the sultanate of Brunei before being ceded to the White Rajahs: ’Sarawak became the southern province of the sultanate of Brunei when the Majapahit empire of Java declined in the 15th century. James Brooke, an English adventurer and a former military officer of the East India Company, visited the territory in 1839 and aided the sultan in suppressing a revolt. As a reward for his services, Brooke was installed (1841) as raja of Sarawak over the sector from Tanjung Datu to the Batang (River) Samarahan; there he endeavoured to suppress piracy and headhunting.’
[2]
’British interests, particularly in the north and west, diminished that of the Dutch. The Brunei sultanate was an Islāmic kingdom that at one time had controlled the whole island but by the 19th century ruled only in the north and northwest. Sarawak was split away on the southwest, becoming an independent kingdom and then a British colony’
[3]
’At Singapore (founded 20 years earlier by Sir Stamford Raffles), Brooke learned that Pengiran Muda Hassim, chief minister of the sultanate of Brunei, was engaged in war with several rebel Iban (Sea Dayak) tribes in neighbouring Sarawak, nominally under Brunei control. The rebellion was crushed with Brooke’s aid, and as a reward for his services the title of raja of Sarawak was conferred upon him in 1841, confirmed in perpetuity by the sultan of Brunei in 1846. For the next 17 years Brooke and a handful of English assistants made expeditions into the interior of Sarawak, partially suppressed the prevalence of headhunting, and established a secure government.’
[4]
The Iban themselves were not organized around a capital, instead being dispersed into independent communities: ’Each longhouse, as each BILEK, is an autonomous unit. Traditionally the core of each house was a group of descendants of the founders. Houses near one another on the same river or in the same region were commonly allied, marrying among themselves, raiding together beyond their territories, and resolving disputes by peaceful means. Regionalism, deriving from these alliances, in which Iban distinguished themselves from other allied groups, persist in modern state politics. Essentially egalitarian, Iban are aware of long-standing status distinctions among themselves of RAJA BERANI (wealthy and brave), MENSI SARIBU (commoners), and ULUN (slaves). Prestige still accrues to descendants of the first status, disdain to descendants of the third.’
[1]
’Prior to the arrival of the British adventurer, James Brooke, there were no permanent leaders, but the affairs of each house were directed by consultations of family leaders. Men of influence included renowned warriors, bards, augurs and other specialists. Brooke, who became Rajah of Sarawak, and his nephew, Charles Johnson, created political positions -- headman (TUAI RUMAH), regional chief (PENGHULU), paramount chief (TEMENGGONG) -- to restructure Iban society for administrative control, especially for purposes of taxation and the suppression of head-hunting. The creation of permanent political positions and the establishment of political parties in the early 1960s have profoundly changed the Iban.’
[1]
We have therefore assumed that there was little to no interaction between Iban villages and the towns of the Sultanate, making the identification of a capital unreasonable.
[1]: Sutlive, Vinson H. Jr. and Beierle, John: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Iban [2]: http://www.britannica.com/place/Sarawak-state-Malaysia [3]: http://www.britannica.com/place/Borneo-island-Pacific-Ocean [4]: http://www.britannica.com/topic/Brooke-Raj |
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Inferred
[1]
There was no developed urbanism
[2]
.
[1]: Kirch, P. V. 2010. How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai’i. Berkeley: University of California Press. [2]: Kirch, P. V. 2000. On the Road of the Winds: An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands Before European Contact. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pg. 300. |
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"Until the end of the third century AD, when the kingdom of Ḥimyar, which had just expelled an Ethiopian invasion, annexed the kingdom of Sabaʾ and conquered Ḥaḍramawt (Ch. 3), South Arabia was divided between numerous kingdoms".
[1]
Language [1]: (Robin 2015: 94) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZMFH42PE. |
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As the population at Monte Alban declined, and the Zapotec state fragmented into smaller polities, a capital cannot be named for this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Multiple, sometimes short-lived, Akan states governed the coastal area in the colonial period: ’The Portuguese first arrived in 1471 and later built a trading post at Elmina in 1486. Drawn by the trading activity on the coast, descendants of the defunct Bonda and Kumbu kingdoms settled along the north-south trade routes connecting the coast to the Niger bend region. The Queen mother of the Bonda founded the Akyerekyere kingdom along one trade route, which became a clearinghouse for goods from the coast. A prince of the former Kumbu royal house founded the Akumu-Akoto kingdom on another trade route. The Portuguese referred to this latter kingdom as the ’Acanes,’ hence the name Akan. Emigrants from Akumu-Akoto founded a second city-state to the east, called Akwamu. Emigrants from Akwamu in turn founded the Asantemanso kingdom in the Kumasi region. Mande-speaking immigrants conquered the Akyerekyere kingdom and later the Asantemanso kingdom to become the dominant power in the region, the Denkyira. In 1701, the Asantemanso under the leadership of Osei Tutu (d. 1717) rebelled and defeated the Denkyira.’
[1]
The individual Akan polities shared some structural commonalities, despite of considerable differences in 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.’
[2]
There was no single shared capital.
[1]: HRAF Cultural Summary for ’Akan’ Michelle Gilbert, Robert O. Lagacé, and Ian Skoggard [2]: 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 |
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"Until the end of the third century AD, when the kingdom of Ḥimyar, which had just expelled an Ethiopian invasion, annexed the kingdom of Sabaʾ and conquered Ḥaḍramawt (Ch. 3), South Arabia was divided between numerous kingdoms".
[1]
Language [1]: (Robin 2015: 94) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3. |
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"During Ibbi-Sin’s reign, imperial control over the surrounding regions broke down. As a result, an increasing number of autonomous centres began to appear. This facilitated the rise of about a dozen of independent States competing with each other. While Isin took over a large portion of the inheritance of the Third Dynasty of Ur, further south Larsa and Uruk remained independent."
[1]
Language [1]: (Liverani 2014, 187) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7DRZQS5Q/q/liverani. |
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Inferred from the following. "Indeed, considering what is recorded it seems fairly certain that following Nkuba’s consolidation of personal power over the Hima clans until the eventful reign of Ntare IV (1699-1727/26), the absence of historical information stems from the fact that few people in Ankole then or since would recognize the society of the first ten generations as either an historical or political unit much less as a state. Nkuba and his successors emerge dimly from the spare record as what Ruhinda himself was — a wandering herdsman and warrior. The Mugabe (king) of later years was at this stage merely the leading member of the central clan of a cluster of pastoral clans — the giver of gifts of cattle as his title literally implies rather than the monarch or ruler (Mukama) of a sovereign state."
[1]
[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 136) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection. |
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The Orokaiva population was not organized around a capital.
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Neopalatial Crete is divided into territorial entities centered upon large urban centers that served as the main political and economic centers of their region; these are Kastelli-Chania in West Crete, Knossos, Hagia Triada (and Phaistos), and Galatas in Central Crete, Malia in East-central Crete, and Gournia, Petras and Zakros in East Crete.
[1]
[2]
[3]
The high degree of homogeneity characterizing the material culture of the period has been interpreted as indicative of a large, island-wide integrating political structure - that was argued to be Knossos - with dependent political centers emulating the "capital."
[4]
Recent studies, however, have shown that the evidence, on which the theory of the assumed Knossian hegemony was based, is insecure.
[5]
Knossos was the most important cultural and ideological centre of Crete, but not its administrative “capital”.
[1]: See the various contributions in Driessen, J. Schope, I. and Laffineur, R. 2002. Monuments of Minons. Rethinking the Minoan Palaces (Aegaeum 23), Liège [2]: Christakis, K.S. 2008. The Politics of Storage. Storage and Sociopolitical Complexity in Neopalatial Crete (Prehistory Monographs 25), Philadelphia, 2-7 [3]: Bevan, A. 2010. "Political geography and palatial Crete," Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 23, 27-54. [4]: e.g. Wiener, M. W. 2007. "Neopalatial Knossos: rule and role," in Betancourt, P.P., Nelson, M. C., Williams, H. (eds), Krinoi kai Limenes. Studies in Honor of Joseph and Maria Shaw (Prehistory Monographs 22), Philadlphia 231-42. [5]: Schoep, I. 2002. " The state of the Minoan palaces or the Minoan palace-state?," in Driessen, J., Schoep, I., and Laffineur, R. (eds), Monuments of Minos. Rethinking the Minoan Palaces. Proceedings of the International Workshop “Crete of the Hundred Palaces?” Held at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, 14-15 December 2001 (Aegeaum 23), Liège, 15-33. |
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Crete is the core territory of the Hellenistic city-states and state-federations. The most important city-states of the period were these of Knossos, Gortys, Kydonia and Lyttos. Around these cities, a number of fragile unions of smaller cities was formed. None of these centers thought was seat of a political authority that controlled the island.
[1]
[1]: Chaniotis, A. 1897. "Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Κρήτη," in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός, Heraklion, 236-46. |
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The major urban centers of the period, seats of political authorities controlling the surrounding region, are Phaistos in south-central Crete, Knossos in north-central Crete, Malia, in the north area of east-central Crete, and Petras in east Crete. They create a complex and still not fully understood sociopolitical setting.
[1]
[2]
The largest of these centers is Malia, ca. 60 hectares, followed by Knossos, ca. 45 hectares, and Phaistos 15 hectares. None of these centers, however, could be considered as a sort of the island’s capital.
♠ Language ♣ suspected unknown♥Information of the spoken and written language of Bronze Age Cretans during the Protopalatial period is scant due to the limited number of written documents. [3] [4] The few preserved documents were written in Cretan Hieroglyphic and Linear A script (Linear A was introduced at the end of the Protopalatial period at Knossos and Phaistos) are still undeciphered. What language was recorded in these documents is unknown. [1]: e.g. Cherry, J. F. 1986. “Polities and palaces: some problems in the Minoan state formation,” in Renfrew, C. and Cherry, J. F. (eds), Peer-Polity Interaction and Socio-Political Change, Cambridge, 19-45 [2]: Cadogan, G. 1994."An Old Palace period Knossos state," in Evely, D., Hughes-Brock, H., and Momigliano, N. (eds), Knossos. A Labyrinth of History. Papers in Honor of Sinclair Hood, London, 57-68. [3]: Tomas, H. 2010. "Cretan hieroglyphic and Linear A," in Cline, E.H. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean (ca. 3000-1000 BC), Oxford, 340-55 [4]: Boulotis, C. 2008. "The art of Cretan writing," in Andreadaki-Vlazaki, M., Rethemiotakis, G., and Dimopoulou-Rethemiotaki, N. (eds), From the Land of the Labyrinth. Minoan Crete, 3000-1100 B.C., New York, 67-78. |
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This "quasipolity" groups together several states and "stateless" societies of the Sierra Leone interior, hence no shared capital. "Political systems in the Sierra Leone area were fairly similar in structure even though they varied considerably in size, from relatively larger states such as the Solima Yalunka, the Biriwa Limba and the Sherbro states, to small “stateless” societies where polities comprised one large settlement and surrounding villages."
[1]
[1]: (Fyle and Foray 2006: xxx) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM. |
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Settlements are small and isolated without any settlement network or clustering being identifiable except in very few cases where certain settlements were developed into central places for small regional clusters.
[1]
[1]: Driessen, J. and Frankel, D. 2012."Minds and mines: settlement networks and the diachronic use of space on Cyprus and Crete," in Cadogan, G.,Iacovou, M., Kopaka, K. and Whitley, J. (eds), Parallel Lives: Ancient Island Societies in Crete and Cyprus (BSA Studies 20), London, 76-7. |
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As Mehrgarh I is not a polity, but a quasi-polity, Mehrgarh is not a capital. It is however both the best studied and archaeologically richest site.
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As Mehrgarh I is not a polity, but a quasi-polity, Mehrgarh is not a capital. It is however both the best studied and archaeologically richest site.
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Given the dispersed settlement pattern of the Hmong population, different sub-groups were governed from their respective provincial capitals and district towns rather than from a common administrative centre: ’KWEICHOW is a part of the Southwestern Tableland which, as a spar of the great Tibetan plateau, slopes to the south and east away from Tibet (fig. 1, frontispiece). It is bounded on the north by Szechuan, on the east by Hunan, on the south by Kwangsi, and on the west by Yünnan. The structural trend in Kweichow is east and west, with drainage to the south into the West River and to the north and east into the Yangtze River. The province slopes from a height of over 6000 feet in the west to less than 2000 feet in the east. Some valleys lie as high as 4000 feet, and mountain summits reach 9000. S. R. Clarke estimated that most of Kweichow is at least 3000 feet above sea level, the altitude constantly decreasing as one goes east. Wei-ning Lake, in the western part of the province is, he says, 7000 feet above sea level. The altitude of Kweiyang, the capital, is given by G. B. Cressey as 3468.56 feet. There are certainly high mountains in the western part of the province. The traveler going by motor road from Kunming to Kweiyang repeatedly has the feeling of being “on top of the world.”’
[1]
’In 1932 I was transferred to Chengtu □, the capital of the province, and was made curator of the West China Union University Museum of Archaeology, Art, and Ethnology. From this time on I made more determined efforts to learn about the Ch’uan Miao. I spent several summers with them, and on one of these expeditions I was accompanied by W. R. Morse, M.D., and Gordon Agnew, D.D.S.’
[2]
During the turbulent republican period, China was intermittently governed from the city of Nanjing, although competing forces periodically operated from different urban centres: ’Nanjing, Wade-Giles romanization Nan-ching, conventional Nanking, city, capital of Jiangsu sheng (province), east-central China. It is a port on the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) and a major industrial and communications centre. Rich in history, it served seven times as the capital of regional empires, twice as the seat of revolutionary government, once (during the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45) as the site of a puppet regime, and twice as the capital of a united China (the second time ending with the Japanese conquest of the city in 1937). The name Nanjing (“Southern Capital”) was introduced in 1403, during the Ming dynasty. Area mun., 2,547 square miles (6,598 square km). Pop. (2005 est.) urban districts, 2,363,844; urban and suburban districts, 5,133,771; mun., 5,957,992.’
[3]
[1]: Mickey, Margaret Portia 1947. “Cowrie Shell Miao Of Kweichow”, 3a [2]: Graham, David Crockett 1954. “Songs And Stories Of The Ch’Uan Miao”, iii [3]: http://www.britannica.com/place/Nanjing-China |
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"The evidence suggests that the Neguanje occupation was focused on Cinto, the most fertile bay, implying at the very least some interest in agriculture. [...] In the regional survey there was no occupation evidence found 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."
[1]
That is valid only for the zone surveyed by Langebaek, which consists of the Bays of Santa Marta. The Neguanje burial mound, from which a lot of information was extracted, does not correspond to the biggest settlement (Cinto)."Starting in the 6th Century A.D. it is possible to notice changes in the manner in which the bays were occupied. Cinto Bay was no longer as attractive, at the same time that the other bays became proportionately more important. This does not mean agricultural activities diminished in importance after the Neguanje Period. The increasingly more intense occupation on the flanks of the Sierra Nevada, associated with agricultural activity, at the end of the Neguanje Period is worth considering. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the bays were able to sustain fewer people."
[2]
[1]: (Langebaek 2005, 117) [2]: (Langebaek 2005, 117-9) |
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Evidence is very scarce for the period - if it was a quasi-polity, this means there was no single capital. If a unified state, the capital could have been Susa, which was probably still an important centre. The site was still occupied between 1000 and 725/700 BCE.
[1]
[1]: (Carter and Stolper 1984, 184) |
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Possibly {Harappa; Mohenjo-daro}
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“Finally they reached Attila’s base, which Priscus describes as a ’very large village’. The Huns must originally have lived in tents, probably round felt ones similar to the yurts and gers of modern Central Asia; but for his permanent base, Attila had abandoned these and both his own palace and those of his leading nobles were constructed in wood. Nor were they simple log cabins, for the wood was planed smooth, and the wooden wall which surrounded them was built with an eye ’not to security but to elegance’, though it was also embellished with towers. The only stone building was a bath-house, constructed on the orders of one of Attila’s leading supporters, Onegesius. He had had the stone imported from the Roman province of Pannonia across the Danube. It was built by a Roman prisoner of war who had hoped to secure his release after the job was done. Unhappily for him, he had made himself indispensable and was kept on to manage the bath-house. The exact location of Attila’s village unfortunately remains a mystery and no traces of it have been found; but it probably lay a short distance east of the Danube, in northern Serbia or southern Hungary.”
[1]
[1]: (Kennedy 2002: 44) Kennedy, Hugh. 2002. Mongols, Huns and Vikings: Nomads at War. London: Cassell. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZN9N624X |
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Possibly {Harappa; Mohenjo-daro}
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Given that the degree of integration with the wider Indus Valley is not clear, a capital cannot be named.
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Of the very large Mature Harappan (urban) sites, only Harappa has a documented pre-urban population.
[1]
However, there is no evidence for the existence or whereabouts of a capital.
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. Revolution in the Urban Revolution: The Emergence of Indus Urbanization. Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 19, (1990), p.270 |
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