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1. Population of 1794 CE: About [313,281,795 ; 313,281,295] people2. The peak of Early Qing dynasty is generally defined as the period between regime of Kangxi to Qinglong
"Even during the Kangxi reign period the Manchus’ military prowess was declining rapidly. As they settled into a peaceful empire, the skills of riding and shooting were hard to maintain." [1] "China at the end of the eighteenth century was a vast, wealthy empire led by an assured and generally competent ruler. It was not well-integrated, however, making its whole actually less than the sum of its parts." [2] "Conquest was primarily about the Qianlong emperor’s personal power, not the state’s, and so the heights of power he attained did not continue for long after he died. With the retrospective decline of Qing power from the Qianlong emperor’s peak,it seems as if the longest-ruling emperor in Chinese history took his power with him to the grave." [3] Temporal bounds [1]: (Lorge 2005, 159) [2]: (Lorge 2005, 163) [3]: (Lorge 2005, 173) |
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CE (period of greatest population) The peak date of Qing dynasty is generally defined as the period between regime of Kangxi to QinglongTemporal bounds
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Archaeological record suggests essentially continuous political, economic, and demographic development from start date to end date.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[1]: Charlton, Thomas H., & Deborah L. Nichols. (1997). "Diachronic studies of city-states: Permutations on a theme—Central Mexico from 1700 BC to AD 1600." In Charlton and Nichols, eds. The Archaeology of City-States: Cross-Cultural Approaches. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp.169-207. [2]: Plunket, P., & Uruñuela, G. (2012). Where east meets west: the Formative in Mexico’s central highlands. Journal of Archaeological Research, 20(1), 1-51. [3]: Niederberger, Christine. (1996). "The Basin of Mexico: Multimillenial Development toward Cultural Complexity." In Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico, edited by Emily P. Benson and Beatriz de la Fuente. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, pp. 83-93. [4]: Niederberger, Christine. (2000) "Ranked Societies, Iconographic Complexity, and Economic Wealth in the Basin of Mexico Toward 1200 BC." In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, edited by John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 169-192. [5]: Sanders, William T., Jeffrey R. Parsons, and Robert S. Santley. (1979) The Basin of Mexico: Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. Academic Press, New York, pg. 94-7, 305-334. [6]: Santley, Robert S. (1977). "Intra-site settlement patterns at Loma Torremote, and their relationship to formative prehistory in the Cuautitlan Region, State of Mexico." Ph.D. Dissertation, Depatartment of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, pp. 365-425. |
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This peak date c. 200 BCE was chosen because it corresponds to the end of the Late Formative period (alternatively called "First Intermediate Period 2"), when most sub-regional clusters in the MxFormL quasi-polity reach their demographic maximum -- and are still thought to have been mostly politically independent.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[1]: Steponaitis, V. P. (1981). "Settlement hierarchies and political complexity in nonmarket societies: the Formative Period of the Valley of Mexico." American Anthropologist, 83(2), 320-363. [2]: Sanders, William T., Jeffrey R. Parsons, and Robert S. Santley. (1979) The Basin of Mexico: Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. Academic Press, New York, pg. 98-105. [3]: Charlton, Thomas H., & Deborah L. Nichols. (1997). "Diachronic studies of city-states: Permutations on a theme—Central Mexico from 1700 BC to AD 1600." In Charlton and Nichols, eds. The Archaeology of City-States: Cross-Cultural Approaches. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp.169-207. [4]: Santley, Robert S. (1977). "Intra-site settlement patterns at Loma Torremote, and their relationship to formative prehistory in the Cuautitlan Region, State of Mexico." Ph.D. Dissertation, Depatartment of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, pp. 365-425. [5]: Earle, Timothy K., (1976). "A nearest-neighbor analysis of two formative settlement systems." In Flannery, Kent V. (Ed.), The Early Mesoamerican Village. San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 196-223. [6]: Brumfiel, Elizabeth. (1976). "Regional growth in the Eastern Valley of Mexico: A test of the “Population Pressure” hypothesis." In Flannery, Kent V. (Ed.), The Early Mesoamerican Village. San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 234-249. |
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For this early period, ‘peak date’ may be meaningless. If it should be coded, however, 1200ce (the end of the time period) makes sense because this was when the population was the largest and the society presumably the most developed. [The period when the polity was at its peak, whether militarily, in terms of the size of territory controlled, or the degree of cultural development. This variable has a subjective element, but typically historians agree when the peak was.]
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Since this is the period during which social complexity, stratification, territorial unification, agricultural intensification, population, etc. were increasing (before they plateaued), it is safe to say that the ‘peak’ was at the end of the period.
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By this time the polity included the entire archipelago; Kamehameha’s conquest was complete. Perhaps it peaked later, though, as Kamehameha consolidated his rule and increased his wealth.
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’During its heyday during the mid-third century, FUNAN dominated modern-day southern Vietnam, Cambodia, central Thailand, and northern West Malaysia’
[1]
’At the height of its power in the mid-third century, Funan is also thought to have controlled some of the major ports on the Malay Peninsula and to have been influential in the development of maritime trade between India and China.’
[2]
’Fu-nan appears to have reached the peak of its fortunes sometime in the fourth century, prior to the instigation of a competitive, all-sea route from India to China that went through the Straits of Melaka.’
[3]
’The predecessors of Pre-Angkor and the Angkorian Empire, the trading centres in Funan, also said to be underpinned by rice surpluses (Fox and Ledgerwood 1999; Stark 2006: 100), reached their greatest prosperity in the mid 3rd century, with Chinese envoys noting their wealth.’
[4]
’478-514 Funan is at its geographic, political, and economic zenith under the reign of King Jayavarman.’
[5]
’The Kingdom of Funan reaches its height during the rule of Fan Shih-Man, extending from contemporary Malaysia to Burma.’
[6]
’Jayavarman is also known for having reigned over Funan during the kingdom’s period of greatest strength and size in the late fifth-early sixth centuries. Indeed in 502 after sending tribute to the Chinese court, including a Buddha statue made of coral, Jayavarman succeeded his son Fan Tang as “General of the Pacified South”; as general Jayavarman sent more tribute to the Chinese court in 511 and 514.’
[7]
[1]: (Ooi 2004, p. 11) [2]: (Southworth 2004, p. 529) [3]: (XXX 2008, p. 194) [4]: (Lustig 2009, p. 82) [5]: (West 2009, p. 223) [6]: (West 2009, p. 141) [7]: (West 2009, p. 224) |
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’The site of Nen Chua is located on the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. It dates to the period when the maritime state of FUNAN flourished on the basis of widespread trade relations linking China with Rome. [...] The radiocarbon dates from this site suggest occupation in the period 450-650 C.E.’
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Peak of territorial expanse.
[1]
[1]: (TimeMap Project, University of Sydney, Australia, http://sydney.edu.au/arts/timemap/images/content/timemap/examples/2003_03_khmer_animation.swf) |
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’Jayavarman VII’s reign, between the late 12th and early 13th centuries, is regarded as the climax of the empire.’
[1]
’Angkor was the capital of a vast medieval empire that incorporated most of mainland Southeast Asia at its zenith in the 12/13th centuries AD’
[2]
. ’The new surveys show that, at its peak (about ad 1100-1300), Angkor was probably the world’s most extensive low-density city, covering 1,000 square kilometres and with half a million or more inhabitants.’
[3]
’The temple of Angkor Wat was built during the height of Cambodian political power, during the reign of King Suyavarman II (r. 1113-ca. 1150).’
[4]
’Angkor under Suyavarman [II] was at the peak of its glory. The institutional reforms of Rajendravarman were secure, giving a measure of centralisation to the administration of the empire.
[5]
’The history of the Khmer empire from its vague and possibility fictitious beginnings in the centres of Funan and Chen-la to its apogee from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, and decline thereafter, is beyond the scope of this present work.’
[6]
’An analysis, albeit not universally accepted, of the Great Lake in Cambodia argues that in Angkor’s heyday, c. 1000-1300, it held considerably more water than in later periods.52’
[7]
’Angkorean power reached its greatest height during the reign of Jayavarman VII (r. 1181-c. 1218). His capital was Angkor, at the centre of which was Bayon, a huge pyramidical temple and one of more than 900 Buddhist temples built by Khmer rulers from the 9th century onwards.’
[8]
[1]: (Tully 2005, p. 27) [2]: (Penny et al. 2007, 387) [3]: (Diamond 2009, p.479) [4]: (Mannikka 1996, p.9) [5]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.105) [6]: (Zhou and Smithies 2001, p. 7) [7]: (Lieberman 2003, p. 105) [8]: (O’Brien 2007, p. 64) |
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Peak of territorial expanse.
[1]
[1]: (TimeMap Project, University of Sydney, Australia, http://sydney.edu.au/arts/timemap/images/content/timemap/examples/2003_03_khmer_animation.swf) |
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The reign of Borommakot. "To a generation that, in the 1780s and 1790s, was looking back at Ayudhya, the reign of Borommakot must have seemed a sort of golden age, an ideal to be recaptured. There was much about Borommakot’s reign that accorded with traditional ideas of the virtues of good kings and so won him acclaim". During Borommakot’s reign, Ayutthaya succeeded Ceylon as "the preeminent center of Buddhism" ("a party of eighteen Siamese monks was dispatched to Kandy to reordain Singhalese monks and establish what was to become a Siam order of monks on Ceylon", in response to a 1751 mission "from Ceylon requesting aid in restoring Singhalese Buddhism, which had declined under Portuguese and Dutch rule"). Moreover, Ayutthaya consolidated its control over Cambodia, and established peaceful relations with Burma. "To the end of the reign, Ayudhya faced no serious external threats, and there was no military levée en masse."
[1]
[1]: (Wyatt 1984, pp. 130-131) |
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The reign of Rama I, after the Thai-Burmese wars of 1785-1793. "By the turn of the century, then, we might conclude that Rama I’s Siam was settling down as a stable, enduring empire, at least in the minds of those who lived within its compass. Economically, a profitable trade with China was developing, involving mainly the exchange of Siamese surplus rice production for Chinese luxury goods and crockery (and indeterminate amounts of copper and silver). Bangkok prospered on the growth of his trade"
[1]
. Moreover, "[i]t was a period notable for its cosmopolitan literary taste, a period when a wide range of classics was translated from other Asian languages, and, in a sense, appropriated as part of Siamese literary tradition"
[1]
. Finally, "even Siam’s tributary states seemed willing subordinates in a Bangkok-centred world"
[2]
.
[1]: (Wyatt 1984, p. 154) [2]: (Wyatt 1984, p. 155) |
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7th century BCE
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4th century BCE
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3rd century BCE
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"The Eastern Empire enjoyed an expansion phase c.285-450, when the population and elite numbers were low. The stagflation phase spanned c.450-541, when large estates began to appear again, when elites became more numerous and powerful, and the frequency of elite infighting and sociopolitical instability increased. The Justinian Plague struck in 541 and reduced the common population, gradually halting the expansion of the Eastern Empire, and culminating in the usurpations and civil wars of the seventh century. This was followed shortly thereafter by collapse in the Arab Conquests."
[1]
[1]: (Baker 2011, 245-246) |
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For the early Byzantine period, the first half of the reign of Emperor Justinian - 527-542 CE. "The Eastern Empire enjoyed an expansion phase c.285-450, when the population and elite numbers were low. The stagflation phase spanned c.450-541, when large estates began to appear again, when elites became more numerous and powerful, and the frequency of elite infighting and sociopolitical instability increased. The Justinian Plague struck in 541 and reduced the common population, gradually halting the expansion of the Eastern Empire, and culminating in the usurpations and civil wars of the seventh century. This was followed shortly thereafter by collapse in the Arab Conquests."
[1]
"Justinian died in 565, leaving a vastly expanded but perilously overstretched empire, in financial as well as in military terms. His successors were faced with the reality of dealing with new enemies, lack of ready cash, and internal discontent over high taxation and constant demands for soldiers and the necessities to support them." [2] [1]: (Baker 2011, 245-246) [2]: (Haldon 2008, 253-254) Jeffreys E, Haldon J and Cormack R eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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Up turn begins during reign of Leo III (r.717-741 CE): "there is no doubt that it is in the reign of Leo III, a competent general and statesman, that the beginnings of a recovery in the empire’s fortunes can be dated."
[1]
741-775 CE is the period when the polity was at its peak, whether militarily, in terms of the size of territory controlled, or the degree of cultural development. This variable has a subjective element, but typically historians agree when the peak was. Series of military successes due to temporal weakness of neighbouring polities in the reign of Emperor Constantine V. [2] Peak building under Basileus Theophilus (r.829-842 CE) who "put up the greatest number of buildings in Constantinople after Theodosius II [r.401-450 CE] and Justinian I [525-548 CE]" [3] In contrast, 695-717 CE period known for being a period of anarchy. Warren T. Treadgold wrote a book called "The Byzantine Revival, 780-842". [4] [1]: (Haldon 2008, 258) Jeffreys E, Haldon J and Cormack R eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Johannes Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences) [3]: (Haussig 1971, 169) Haussig, H W.trans Hussey, J M. 1971. History of Byzantine Civilization. Thames and Hudson. [4]: (Treadgold 1988) Treadgold, W T. 1988. The Byzantine Revival, 780-842. Stanford University Press. |
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"When Basil II died in 1025 the Byzantine Empire’s frontiers extended from the Danube to the Euphrates. Byzantium’s only serious rivals were the Fatimids and Ottonians. But within fifty years Byzantium had collapsed."
[1]
Peak of military power and international prestige under Emperor Basil II (conquest of Bulgarian Empire, continuation of expansion towards Syria and Armenia). [2] [1]: (Holmes 2008, 271) Jeffreys E, Haldon J and Cormack R eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences |
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"The first acute period of disintegration in Constantinople occurred in the early 1180s as various court parties fought for control of Manuel’s young heir Alexios II."
[1]
[1]: (Holmes 2008, 276) Jeffreys E, Haldon J and Cormack R eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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Since the level of complexity is thought to be low and gradual development occurred throughout the period, a date late in the period may coincide with the greatest level of social complexity.
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"If factionalism and fraternal rivalry were symptomatic of Inka succession, scholars must rethink the trajectory of the Inka polity. Many writers see the civil war between Atawallpa and Waskhar as evidence that the Inka were incapable of governing their large empire effectively over the long term. ... Based on comparisons with other states and empires, there is no reason to believe that the Inka empire was in permanent decline in 1532."
[1]
Central Cuzco almost completely razed by fire during an Inca siege of the Spanish held city in 1536 CE. [2] [1]: (Covey 2006, 194) [2]: (Bauer 2004, 107) |
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Rule of Philip II
"To Spaniards, he has been the great ruler who guided the empire at the height of its power, the sword arm of Catholicism, defender of the faith and unity of Europe. He has also been called el prudente-"the wise" or "prudent." [1] "With the passing of Felipe II, the Spanish politico-military hegemony did not by any means come to an end but would last half a century more. The Spanish sense of providential mission, however, of being the sword arm of Catholic Christendom, of expanding a divinely guided empire, was indeed beginning to wane." [2] [1]: (Payne 1973, 256-7) Payne, Stanley G. 1973. A History of Spain and Portugal, Volume 1, Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. http://libro.uca.edu/payne1/payne15.htm https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/6MIH95XP [2]: (Payne 1973, 263) Payne, Stanley G. 1973. A History of Spain and Portugal, Volume 1, Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. http://libro.uca.edu/payne1/payne15.htm https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/6MIH95XP |
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During the reign of Gautamiputra Satakarni, the empire emerged from a period of decline (dating more or less from the end of Hala’s reign), with military victories against the Shakas, Pallavas, Yavanas, and Shakharatas, which led to annexation of new territory and the re-conquest of previously Satavahana territory
[1]
[2]
.
[1]: U. Singh, A History of Ancient and Medieval India (2008), p. 383 [2]: http://www.salivahana.com/The%20Satavahana%20Rule.html |
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"The Vakataka empire, which was thus at the zenith of its glory at about 510 A.D., disappeared within less than forty years. By c. 500 A.D. the Chalukyas occupied the greater part of it."
[1]
[1]: (Majumbar and Altekar 1946, 123) Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra. Altekar, Anant Sadashiv. 1986. Vakataka - Gupta Age Circa 200-550 A.D. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. |
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[1]
The reign of Kakushtavarma is widely regarded as the greatest era of the Kadamba Empire. The Emperor concluded matrimonial alliances with other prominent families, thus extending the Kadambas’ influence over the rest of peninsular India
[2]
. Moreover, he created an internal "protective force" to ensure safe movement of people from one part of the empire to another
[3]
.
[1]: http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsFarEast/IndiaBanavasi.htm [2]: H.V. Sreenivasa Murthy and R. Ramakrishnan, A History of Karnataka (1978), p. 46 [3]: H.V. Sreenivasa Murthy and R. Ramakrishnan, A History of Karnataka (1978), p. 47 |
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Despite inheriting an empire torn apart by succession wars and the rebellions of provincial rulers, Pulakesin II was able to re-establish his dynasty’s power through much of the Deccan, further extended the empire’s bounds through a series of successful military campaigns, and founded new dynastic lines in Eastern India and in the Gujarat region
[1]
.
[1]: K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, The Chalukyas of Badami, in G. Yasdan, The Early History of the Deccan, vol. 1 (1960), pp. 212 |
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The reign of Amoghavarsa I (also known as Nrpatunga) was long and relatively peaceful. Literature and the arts flourished, and the capital of Malkhed was built. Of the three main religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism), the Emperor favoured Jainism particularly, but, like all other Rashtrakuta rulers, Amoghavarsa I was tolerant and financially generous towards all faiths
[1]
.
[1]: A.P. Madan, The History of the Rashtrakutas (1990), p. 120-122 |
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The reign of Vikramaditya VI was long and relatively peaceful; the capital flourished and the Chalukyas’ territories and influence extended. Scholars did much important work, including Vijnanesvara’s Mitasakara, a commentary to the Yajnavalkya-smrti that would eventually become "the present law code for Hindus throughout India except Bengal"
[1]
.
[1]: H.V. Sreenivasa Murthy and R. Ramakrishnan, A History of Karnataka (1978), pp. 94-95 |
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Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal in Agra between 1632 CE-1648 CE and his reign saw the golden age of Mughal architecture. Aurangzeb reigned from 1658 CE to 1707 CE, during which time the territory, wealth and population of the empire grew. His reign also saw the zenith of Mughal cannon production.
[1]
[1]: Fergus Nicoll, Shah Jahan: The Rise and Fall of the Mughal Emperor (2009) |
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The Iroquois Confederacy pursued aggressive expansionism: ’The Iroquoian confederacy was organized sometime between 1400 and A.D. 1600 for the purpose of maintaining peaceful relations between the 5 constituent tribes. Subsequent to European contact relations within the confederacy were sometimes strained as each of the 5 tribes sought to expand and maintain its own interests in the developing fur trade. For the most part, however, the fur trade served to strengthen the confederacy because tribal interests often complemented one another and all gained from acting in concert. The League was skillful at playing French and English interests off against one another to its advantage and thereby was able to play a major role in the economic and political events of northeastern North America during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Iroquois aggressively maintained and expanded their role in the fur trade and as a result periodically found themselves at war with their neighbors, such as the Huron, Petun, and the Neutral to the West and the Susquehannock to the south. Much of the fighting was done by the Seneca, the most powerful of the Iroquoian tribes. From 1667 to the 1680s the Iroquois maintained friendly relations with the French and during this time Jesuit missions were established among each of the 5 tribes. However, Iroquois aggression and expansion eventually brought them into conflict with the French and, at the same time, into closer alliance with the English. In 1687, 1693 and 1696 French military expeditions raided and burned Iroquois villages and fields. During Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) the Iroquois allied with the English and at the War’s end were acknowledged to be British subjects, though they continued to aggressively maintain and extend their middleman role between English traders at Fort Orange (Albany) and native groups farther west.’
[1]
The Confederacy achieved maximum geograhpical expansion by the mid-17th century: ’Between the Hudson and lake Erie, our broad territory was occupied by the Ho-de[unknown] -no-sau-nee, or Iroquois, scattered far and wide, in small encampments, or in disconnected villages. Their council-fires, emblematical of civil jurisdiction, burned continuously from the Hudson to Niagara. At the era of Dutch discovery (1609), they had pushed their permanent possession as far west as the Genesee; and shortly after, about 1650, they extended it to the Niagara. They then occupied the entire territory of our State west of the Hudson, with the exception of certain tracts upon that river below the junction of the Mohawk, in the possession of the River Indians, and the country of the Delawares, upon the Delaware river. But both these had been subdued by the conquering Iroquois, and had become tributary nations.’
[2]
[1]: Reid, Gerald: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Iroquois [2]: Morgan, Lewis Henry, and Herbert M. Lloyd 1901. “League Of The Ho-De’-No-Sau-Nee Or Iroquois. Vol. I”, 36 |
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Given the changing loyalties and various colonial incursions of the pre-independence period, a peak date is hard to identify, but the relative unity and military successes prior to the American Revolution indicate an early date: ’For a century and a quarter before the American Revolution, the Iroquois stood athwart the path from Albany to the Great Lakes, keeping the route from permanent settlement by the French and containing the Dutch and the English. In the 18th century the Six Nations remained consistent and bitter enemies of the French, who were allied with their traditional foes. The Iroquois became dependent on the British in Albany for European goods (which were cheaper there than in Montreal), and thus Albany was never attacked. The Iroquois’ success in maintaining their autonomy vis-à-vis both the French and English was a remarkable achievement for an aboriginal people that could field only 2,200 men from a total population of scarcely 12,000. During the American Revolution, a schism developed among the Iroquois. The Oneida and Tuscarora espoused the American cause, while the rest of the league, led by Chief Joseph Brant’s Mohawk loyalists, fought for the British out of Niagara, decimating several isolated American settlements. The fields, orchards, and granaries, as well as the morale of the Iroquois, were destroyed in 1779 when U.S. Major General John Sullivan led a retaliatory expedition of 4,000 Americans against them, defeating them near present-day Elmira, New York. Having acknowledged defeat in the Second Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784), the Iroquois Confederacy effectively came to an end. In a treaty that was made at Canandaigua, New York, 10 years later, the Iroquois and the United States each pledged not to disturb the other in lands that had been relinquished or reserved. Of the Six Nations, the Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora remained in New York, eventually settling on reservations; the Mohawk and Cayuga withdrew to Canada; and, a generation later, a large group of the Oneida departed for Wisconsin.’
[1]
[1]: http://www.britannica.com/topic/Iroquois-Confederacy |
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The end of the Middle Bronze Age, and the last point at which the Canaanite "Hyksos" controlled the Egyptian Delta. Shortly thereafter, Egypt reunified under Ahmose, who expelled the Hyksos from the Delta. Following this, Egypt launched a devastating series of invasions of Canaan, notably under Thutmose III; the effect of these was to reduce the Canaanite city-states to vassal status, and (judging from Egyptian records) to drain a great deal of wealth away to Egypt.
[1]
[1]: Golden (2009:5-7). |
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This date is speculative, but comes right before the conquest of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar. It is thought by some
[1]
that Carthage and other Mediterranean colonies were able to split away from Tyrian control at this point, though they still paid regular tribute per their treaty obligations. Though Phoenicia as a whole remained prosperous, especially during the Persian era, the power and influence of Levantine Phoenicia over their colonies seems to have declined.
[1]: Markoe (2000:54). |
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This is at the apex of the reign of King Ahab, shortly before he participated in a regional coalition against the Assyrian Empire at the Battle of Qarqar c. 853 BCE. While the hard historical evidence of the battle’s outcome is slight, it is known that the Assyrian campaign did not proceed further south afterwards, and only retook the territory four years later. Nevertheless, Ahab died shortly after the battle and many subject kingdoms rebelled upon his death, including Moab and Edom.
[1]
[1]: Kelle (2007:78-80) |
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The range of dates given correspond with two main periods of the Seleucid Empire. The empire reached a peak in territory and population during the reign of it’s first king, Seleucus I, when the empire took it’s ’final form’
[1]
. A second peak in territory and population size occurred during the reign of Antiochus III ’The Great’ (223 BCE - 187 BCE), who reconquered lost territory and reaffirmed the status of the empire
[2]
.
[1]: Dreyer, B. 2011. How to Become a "Relative" of the King: Careers and Hierarchy at the court of Antiochus III. American Journal of Philology, 132 (1), pp. 45-57. p49 [2]: Aperghis, G. G. 2004. The Seleukid Royal Economy: The Finances and Administration of the Seleukid Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p57. |
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The range of dates given correspond with two main periods of the Seleucid Empire. The empire reached a peak in territory and population during the reign of it’s first king, Seleucus I, when the empire took it’s ’final form’
[1]
. A second peak in territory and population size occurred during the reign of Antiochus III ’The Great’ (223 BCE - 187 BCE), who reconquered lost territory and reaffirmed the status of the empire
[2]
.
[1]: Dreyer, B. 2011. How to Become a "Relative" of the King: Careers and Hierarchy at the court of Antiochus III. American Journal of Philology, 132 (1), pp. 45-57. p49 [2]: Aperghis, G. G. 2004. The Seleukid Royal Economy: The Finances and Administration of the Seleukid Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p57. |
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This approximates the high point of the rule of John Hyrcanus, who engaged in significant conquests. After his death in 104 BCE, his sons and grandsons engaged in frequent intrigues and civil wars involving much loss of life. While Alexander Jannaeus briefly conquered additional territory in the Transjordan, he soon lost it and much of Hyrcanus’ earlier conquests following the disastrous Battle of Gadara in 93 BCE.
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A peak date is hard to identify for the A’chik population itself. The Empire peaked in the 19th century, in the last quarter of which the Garo Hills were incorporated into the British colonial structure. The British sent punitive campaigns into the hills in order to suppress resistance as well as infighting. Administrative control was established around 1873. Most authors consider the area ’pacified’ for the remainder of the colonial period. ’The 19th century marked the full flower of the British Empire. Administration and policy changed during the century from the haphazard arrangements of the 17th and 18th centuries to the sophisticated system characteristic of Joseph Chamberlain’s tenure (1895-1900) in the Colonial Office. That office, which began in 1801, was first an appendage of the Home Office and the Board of Trade, but by the 1850s it had become a separate department with a growing staff and a continuing policy; it was the means by which discipline and pressure were exerted on the colonial governments when such action was considered necessary. [...] In the wake of the Indian Mutiny (1857), the British crown assumed the East India Company’s governmental authority in India. Britain’s acquisition of Burma (Myanmar) was completed in 1886, while its conquest of the Punjab (1849) and of Balochistān (1854-76) provided substantial new territory in the Indian subcontinent itself. The French completion of the Suez Canal (1869) provided Britain with a much shorter sea route to India. Britain responded to this opportunity by expanding its port at Aden, establishing a protectorate in Somaliland (now Somalia), and extending its influence in the sheikhdoms of southern Arabia and the Persian Gulf. Cyprus, which was, like Gibraltar and Malta, a link in the chain of communication with India through the Mediterranean, was occupied in 1878. Elsewhere, British influence in the Far East expanded with the development of the Straits Settlements and the federated Malay states, and in the 1880s protectorates were formed over Brunei and Sarawak.’
[1]
[1]: http://www.britannica.com/place/British-Empire |
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The Portuguese established commercial relations with coastal Akan states in the late 15th century. The Ashanti empire was formed in 1701: ’A revolution in Ghanaian history was initiated by the establishment of direct sea trade with Europe following the arrival on the coast of Portuguese mariners in 1471. Initially Europe’s main interest in the country was as a source of gold, a commodity that was readily available on the coast in exchange for such European exports as cloth, hardware, beads, metals, spirits, arms, and ammunition. This gave rise to the name Gold Coast, by which the country was known until 1957. In an attempt to preserve a monopoly of the trade, the Portuguese initiated the practice of erecting stone fortresses (Elmina Castle, dating from 1482, was the first) on the coast on sites leased from the native states. In the 17th century the Portuguese monopoly, already considerably eroded, gave way completely when traders from the Netherlands, England, Denmark, Sweden, and Prussia-Protestant sea powers antagonistic to Iberian imperial pretensions-discovered that the commercial relations developed with the Gold Coast states could be adapted to the export of slaves, then in rapidly increasing demand for the American plantations, as well as to gold trading. By the mid-18th century the coastal scene was dominated by the presence of about 40 forts controlled by Dutch, British, or Danish merchants. The presence of these permanent European bases on the coast had far-reaching consequences. The new centres of trade thus established were much more accessible than were the Sudanese emporia, and this, coupled with the greater capacity and efficiency of the sea-borne trade compared with the ancient overland routes, gradually brought about the reversal of the direction of the trade flow. The new wealth, tools and arms, and techniques and ideas introduced through close contact with Europeans initiated political and social as well as economic changes. The states north of the forest, hitherto the wealthiest and most powerful, declined in the face of new combinations farther south. At the end of the 17th century, the Akan state of Akwamu created an empire that, stretching from the central Gold Coast eastward to Dahomey, sought to control the trade roads to the coast of the whole eastern Gold Coast. The Akwamu empire was short-lived, but its example soon stimulated a union of the Asante (Ashanti) states of the central forest (see Asante empire), under the leadership of the founding Asantehene (king) Osei Tutu. The Asante union, after establishing its dominance over other neighbouring Akan states, expanded north of the forest to conquer Bono, Banda, Gonja, and Dagomba.’
[1]
’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.’
[2]
Due to the short-lived and geographically circumscribed character of many Akan states of the time, a peak period is hard to identify. We follow Wilks’ work on the consolidation and expansion of the Akwamu empire
[3]
.
[1]: http://www.britannica.com/place/Ghana/Daily-life-and-social-customs#toc76828 [2]: HRAF Cultural Summary for ’Akan’ Michelle Gilbert, Robert O. Lagacé, and Ian Skoggard [3]: Wilks, Ivor 1957. "THE RISE OF THE AKWAMU EMPIRE, 1650-1710", 25-62 |
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’Between Osei Tutu and Osei Bonsu (1800-1824) the Asante conquered or otherwise brought into subjection to the Asantehene (King of Asante), nearly all the peoples now inhabiting all the regions of modern Ghana and also east-central and south-western Ivory Coast (Rattray, 1923: 287-293; Priestley and Wilks, 1960; Fynn, 1971: 105, 155; Meredith, 1812; Wilks, 1975; 43-79).’
[1]
’Looking back they recall how, until the last quarter of the nineteenth century, they controlled an ever-increasing area which at its peak stretched over 550 km into the interior and encompassed many distinctive groups and regions. Asante armies were powerful and well-organised, equipped with imported firearms scarcely available to poorer and more isolated northern groups.’
[2]
Within this general trend of military conquest and domination, the peak period was likely the early 19th century, characterized by military successes against the British: ’One major reason for this increase in British influence came as a result of Asante expansion toward the coast. For the Asante this was vitally necessary to ensure a ready supply of European firearms to maintain their hold over their outlying provinces. [...] In 1806 the Asante, under their dynamic leader, Asantehene Osei Bonsu, defeated the Fante and besieged the British fort at Anomabu. In 1811, 1814, and 1816 the Asante again invaded the Fante area and finally established domination over the coast. [...] A dispute over jurisdiction eventually led to war, but Macarthy’s forces proved no match for the Asantes. In 1824, at the battle of Nsamankow, they were ambushed and the governor and seven of his officers were killed. At this point the Asante empire was at the height of its power.’
[3]
[1]: Arhin, Kwame 1986. “Asante Praise Poems: The Ideology Of Patrimonialism”, 165 [2]: McLeod, M. D. (Malcolm D.) 1981. “Asante”, 10 [3]: Gocking, Roger S. 2005. “The History of Ghana”, 30p |
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"The first Parthian ruler, Arsaces, established the dynasty approximately 240 b.c.e. ... The real founder of the Parthian empire was Mithridates I, who ascended the throne in 171. He conquered western Iran, reaching Media in 155 and Seleucia in 141. ... the Parthians definitely established their hold on Babylonia by the time of Mithridates II, ca. 120 b.c.e. and held it until ca. 226 c.e., with brief intervals of Roman occupation."
[1]
Period when the empire expanded under Mithridates I. [2] "The geographical expansion of Parthia and the political consolidation of the early Parthian kingdom is associated with Mithradates (Mihrdad) I (c. 171-138 BCE)." [3] "Few rulers in Arsacid history were as distinguished as Mithradates I. During his reign, the Parthian state was transformed from an insignificant political center to a vast and mighty empire. The transformation was the fruit of his large-scale policy of expansion." [4] also known as Mithradates I the Great who reigned c171-132 BCE. [1]: (Neusner 2008, 16) Neusner, Jacob. 2008. A History of the Jews in Babylonia. 1. The Parthian Period. Wipf & Stock. Eugene. [2]: Ted Kaizer, ‘The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires c.247 BC - AD 300’, in Thomas Harrison (ed.), The Great Empires of the Ancient World (London: Thames & Hudson, 2009), 174-195. [3]: (Curtis 2007) Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Stewart, Sarah eds. 2007. The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. London. [4]: (Dabrowa 2012, 169) Dabrowa, Edward. The Arcasid Empire. in Daryaee, Touraj ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. |
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Before the Sassanid invasion in 230 CE. "The deterioration of Gandhara’s economy after 230 CE is indicated by the fact that the last eight rulers of the Kushan Dynasty issued copper coins only."
[1]
Many authors repeat that the peak was under Kanishka (they might be repeating each other without thinking) and this was true in territorial extent. However, considering the core region remained at peace a while thereafter, the economy strengthened and building construction increased a later date may actually be more appropriate. Vima Kadphises (101-127 CE) "marks the period of increasing affluence (of which the gold coins were one manifestation)" [2] Kanishka I (128-150 CE) was "immensely successful" in his military campaigns. [3] Huvishka (155-190 CE): "The foundations of a prosperous Gandhara laid by Kanishka, especially through active participation in the Silk Route trade, continued to be strengthened during Huvishka’s reign. This continuous prosperity is reflected in the large number of Buddhist monuments constructed in Huvishka’s reign and the large number of gold and copper coins belonging to his period found from all regions of Gandhara." [4] Vasudeva (190-220 CE): "the Buddhist establishment continued to prosper, and so did the economy. There was an accelleration of the activities of the Buddhist missionaries and a large number of Buddhist monks moved to Bactria and western China." [5] Kanishka II (221-230 CE): "The Sassanians under Shahpur-I invaded Western Gandhara during the rule of Kanishka II and caused large-scale destruction to Buddhist monuments, and left the Kushans highly demoralized." [5] Shortly before the Sasanid invasion of 230 CE "The Wei Lio (History of the Wei Dynasty) informs us that the Kingdom of Kabul (Kao-fu) and the Kingdom of India (T’ien-chou) were both dependencies of the Ta-Yueh-chih." [6] These are either two parts of the Kushan state or two Kushan states. [6] 2nd and 3rd CE in Bactria: art and architecture reach high stage of development. [7] [1]: (Samad 2011, 86) 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]: (Samad 2011, 84) Samad, R. U. 2011. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Angora Publishing. [5]: (Samad 2011, 85) Samad, R. U. 2011. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Angora Publishing. [6]: (Litvinsky, Shah and Samghabadi 1994, 470) Litvinsky, B. A. Shah, Hussain, M. Samghabadi, R. Shabani. The Rise of Sasanian Iran. in Harmatta, Janos. Puri, B. N. Etemadi, G. F. eds. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. UNESCO Publishing. [7]: (Litvinsky, Shah and Samghabadi 1994, 475) Litvinsky, B. A. Shah, Hussain, M. Samghabadi, R. Shabani. The Rise of Sasanian Iran. in Harmatta, Janos. Puri, B. N. Etemadi, G. F. eds. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. UNESCO Publishing. |
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Long reign of Shapur II (309-379 CE). Peace and security within empire.
[1]
’Secular’ or king’s power was probably at its height in the early fifth century. "first synod of the Nestorian Church was convened in 410" during reign of Yazdgerd I (399-420 CE). [2] "Persian Christianity became officially recognized and the Nestorian Patriach resided at the royal city of Ctesiphon; he and the Jewish exilarch became responsible for their coreligionists." [2] [1]: (Daryaee 2009, 2-20) Daryaee, Touraj. 2009. Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B. Tauris. London. [2]: (Daryaee 2012, 194) Daryaee, Touraj. The Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE). in Daryaee, Touraj. ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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509 CE. The apex of Hephthalite power. Over forty countries paid tribute, and the authority of the tribal confederacy extended over a vast territorial area from central Asia into northern India.
[1]
"522 The height of Hephthalite power." [2] Reign of King Toramana. When Toramana "died sometime between 515 and 520 and was succeeded by his son, crown prince Mihirakula, the nature of the empire changed." [3] [1]: Litvinsky B.A.,Guang-da Zhang , and Shabani Samghabadi R. (eds)History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Crossroads of Civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750 Vol. 3, 1999 p. 144 [2]: (West 2009, 276) West, B A. 2009. Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. [3]: (Bauer 2010, 181) 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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Under two brothers, one based in Firuzukh, the other in Gazna (c1163-1203 CE) "the Ghurid empire reached its greatest territorial extent and apogee of power".
[1]
[1]: (Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids |
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During the reign of Ala-ud-din Khalji (1296 CE-1316 CE), the sultanate reached its peak of centralized power and acquired imperial dimensions. To maintain a full treasury, the sultan raised the land tax to 50 percent of each crop and strictly enforced its collection from all Hindu subjects in his realm. He also introduced two new taxes, one on milk cattle, the other on houses. His network of spies and loyal courtiers was efficient enough to make him more feared than hated. He introduced a successful system of wage and price control in Delhi. Private holding of gold and silver, common throughout much of Indian history, was temporarily ended during his reign. The prices of food, grains, and cloth were kept low enough to permit soldiers and average workers to survive without high salaries. Merchants were licensed, and their profits were kept under strict state control; peasants were obliged to sell their grains only to registered food merchants at fixed prices. Hoarding was forbidden and, if discovered, severely punished.
[1]
The Sultanate was at its height during the early fourteenth century CE, when it was the largest polity in South Asia. [2] [1]: Wolpert, S. A. (1997). A new history of India (p. 212). Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.114-115 [2]: Habib, I. (2005). The Delhi Sultanate in The state and society in medieval India. Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp.37-44. |
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[1]
The reason this was selected for as a peak date is that is coincides with a military campaigns northward. The evidence is very scarce, and seems to rely on hagiography of the king ruling at the time, but the borders of Sind seem to have advanced into Multan in the north and into parts of Baluchistan. [1]: Lakho, Ghulam Muhammad, The Samma Kingdom of Sindh, (institute of Sindhology, 2006) pp. 109-110 |
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In this period large regional settlements expanded further. This nucleated settlement pattern is the result of the migration of people from smaller satellite settlements to larger regional centres
[1]
.
[1]: K. Mizoguchi, 2013. The Archaeology of Japan. From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages to the Rise of the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 183. |
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’In fact, historians, both medieval and modern, of loyalist sympathies regard as the golden age of Japanese history those decades of direct rule by enlightened, "virtuous" emperors - Kammu (781-806) and Saga (809-23), and again Uda and Daigo (887-930). For loyalists, these were the years when Japanese rulers most closely approached the ideal reigns of the sage-kings of ancient China.’
[1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.pp.1-2 |
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’Kamakura’s golden age, which began now, owed much of its luster to the efforts of this extraordinary man.’
[1]
’In 1224, Hojo Yoshitoki died and was followed in death by Masakb a year later. The new leader of the bakufu was Yoshitoki’s son, Yasutoki, by consensus the greatest of the Hojo regents. Born after the founding of the bakufu and educated in classical Confucianism, Yasutoki left a stamp on the regime’s operations that survived until the end of the period. It was under Yasutoki that the bakufu’s capacity for mediating disputes achieved new heights and under him also that Kamakura’s reputation for good government became a fixture of the historical memory.’
[1]
[1]: Yamamura, Kozo (ed). 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan. Vol. 3. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press [sixth edition].p.74 |
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’Yoshimitsu’s reign is deemed the pinnacle of Muromachi bakufu authority and prestige.’
[1]
’Yoshimitsu also fostered positive strides in Japanese politics, society, and culture, brokering the unification of the Northern and Southern Courts, reducing the fearsome raids of Japanese pirates (wako), and reestablishing trade with China’s Ming dynasty. Further, Yoshimitsu indulged in lavish patronage of the arts, including his monastic retreat, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion... Considering these accomplishments... After his death in 1408, there was a noticeable decline in Ashikaga leadership, and provincial chiefs such as lords and governors quickly filled the power void created as the bakufu attended to their military campaigns.’
[1]
or 1392-1467 Kitayama epoch: a period of stable balance among court, shogun, and shugo
[2]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.8. [2]: Yamamura, Kozo (ed). 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan. Vol. 3. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press [sixth edition].p.36 |
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During the latter half of the 19th century, the Iban communities of Borneo were increasingly subject to incursions on the part of the expanding White Rajah polity. ’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).’
[1]
’The history of the Iban and of the Brookes has been written many times over, the most complete of the studies being that by Pringle (1970). In general, the following years were a study of conquest and expansion from 1841 to the turn of the century. When, in 1904, the British government formally intervened in Borneo, the expansion of Sarawak ended and its consolidation began.’
[2]
The consolidation of Brooke Raj rule was terminated by the cessation of North Borneo to the Crown: ’In September 1941, on the centenary of Brooke rule, the third raja proclaimed a constitution designed to establish self-government for Sarawak, but shortly afterward the state fell to the Japanese. When World War II was over, Vyner Brooke decided that Sarawak should be ceded to Great Britain, and, after a bitter family feud, he formally terminated Brooke rule on July 1, 1946.’
[3]
’In July 1946 both Sarawak and North Borneo were made British crown colonies. In Dutch Borneo a strong nationalist sentiment developed and led to fighting between Indonesian and Dutch forces as the latter attempted to reimpose Netherlands control. Sovereignty passed to the Indonesians in 1949, and in 1950 a new constitution proclaimed Dutch Borneo part of the Republic of Indonesia. The British government relinquished its sovereignty over Sabah and Sarawak in 1963, when these territories joined the Malaysian federation. This marked the commencement of Indonesian hostilities in the form of guerrilla raids across the border. These raids ceased by agreement in 1966. Except for the period of Japanese occupation, Brunei was under British protection from 1888 to 1983. It became fully independent on Jan. 1, 1984.’
[4]
[1]: Austin, Robert Frederic 1978. “Iban Migration: Patterns Of Mobility And Employment In The 20Th Century”, 13p [2]: Austin, Robert Frederic 1978. “Iban Migration: Patterns Of Mobility And Employment In The 20Th Century”, 13 [3]: http://www.britannica.com/topic/Brooke-Raj [4]: http://www.britannica.com/place/Borneo-island-Pacific-Ocean |
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[1]
This period corresponds with the biggest settlement of Assyrian merchants. Also, most of the cuneiform tablets come from the stratygraphic levels dated to this period. After the conflagration which destroyed most of the mound and lower city at Açemhöyũk, and similar disasters on other temporal sites, a new settelment was built, but the care of architectural detail was much smaller. All second phase of Assyrian Colony Period in Anatolia seems to be a slow collapse of interregional net of trade [1] . [1]: Ǒzgüç N. Excavations at Acemhöyük. Anadolu (Anatolia) 10 (1966), pg. 29-33 |
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1322-1240 BCE
[1]
During the "Hittite Empire period" (c. 1400 BC- c. 1200 BC.) in central Anatolia, the people of the Hittites experienced the greatest prosperity and expanded across the largest territorial area. Can we express this in a smaller time window? Ed.
"it is somewhat ironic that the capital’s most splendid material phase, both on the acropolis and in the upper city, should correspond with the beginning of an irreversible decline in the kingdom’s political and military fortunes." referring to Hattusili III and Tudhaliya IV. [2] "Tudhaliya IV, to whose credit lie the massive expansion and redevelopment of Hattusa in the final decades before its fall." [3] [1]: Ziółkowski A. 2009 Historia Powszechna. Starożytność, Warszawa: PWN, pp. 252-250 [2]: (Bryce 2002, 24-25) [3]: (Bryce 2002, 30) |
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The period when the king of Phrygia was Midas. It is the period when Assyrian sources tell about this kingdom, and Phrygia won the war against Assyria
[1]
. "Like the kingdom over which it ruled, Gordium reached the peak of its development during Midas’s reign."
[2]
[1]: Ziółkowski, A., 2009, General History: Antiquity, pg:348 [2]: (Bryce 2002, 41) |
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1. 619-560 BCE
Peak "development and stability" was the long reign of Alyattes. [1] 2. 560-546 BCE The reign of Croesus, King of the saying "as rich as Croesus". Several campaigns during the previous reign of Alyattes and again during the reign of Croesus led to the expansion of Lydia. The Eastern border stretched to the Halys river in Central Anatolia, where eventually a peace treaty was acknowledge between the Lydians in the west and the Medians in the east. Perhaps Croesus’ most significant contribution was to require that annual tribute be extracted from conquered states to the west, thus turning Lydia into an Empire. [2] It became a powerful force in Anatolia during the Mermnad dynasty, where it expanded it’s control to the majority of western Anatolia. A number of Mermnad kings also attacked Greek states, but Lydia never maintained control of Greek lands for long. [2] Mermnad dynasty kings Gyges (680 - 644 BCE); Ardys (644 - late 7th century BCE); Sadyattes (late 7th century - 610 BCE); Alyattes (610 - 560 BCE); Croesus (560 - 540’s BCE) [1]: (Leverani 2014, 544) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. [2]: 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 |
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These dates correspond to the main ruling of the Ariarathid dynasty, before being taken over by rival polities (Pontus and Bithynia) and then becoming more closely affiliated with Rome. The earlier date is from when Ariarathes II regained the throne from the Roman Eumenes
[1]
; and the later date corresponds to the rule of Ariarathes IX.
[1]: Simonetta, B. (1977) The Coins of the Cappadocian Kings. Fribourg: Office du Livre, p15-16 |
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"Medieval and modern sources agree that the reign of ʿEzz-al-Din Kaykāvus I’s brother ʿAlāʾ-al-Din Kayqobād I [1220 - 1237 CE] marks the apogee of the sultanate of the Saljuqs of Rum."
[1]
[1]: Andrew Peacock ’SALJUQS iii. SALJUQS OF RUM’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-iii |
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During the reign of Ḡāzān the Il-khanate entered "a new and dynamic era"
[1]
However, it was Abu Said, whose reign began in 1316 CE, who "ruled during what was described as the ’best period of the domination of the Mongols’. The economy boomed, a treaty was negotiated with the Mamluks and Persia looked forward to peace and prosperity." [2] The Ilkhanate "fell without in any real sense having previously declined. Why was this? ... The crucial reason is a simple one: Abu Said left no heir. ... the direct line of Hulegu had failed. ... None was able to gain control of the whole Ilkanate legacy. Of the factions the most notable, ultimately, were the Jalayirids, who built up a strong position in Iraq and Azabaijan which survived into the fifteenth century." [3] [1]: REUVEN AMITAI, ’IL-KHANIDS i. DYNASTIC HISTORY’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/il-khanids-i-dynastic-history [2]: (Marshall 1993, 229) Marshall, Robert. 1993. Storm from the East: From Ghengis Khan to Khubilai Khan. University of California Press. [3]: (Morgan 2015, 78) Morgan, David. 2015. Medieval Persia 1040-1797. Routledge. |
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In terms of territorial extent, period of Bayezit I 1402 CE before the Battle of Anakara.
[1]
Other dates coud be 1364 CE Murat I or Bayezit I in the 1390s. [1]: Personal communication. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller. 2016. Institute for Medieval Research. Division of Byzantine Research. Austrian Academy of Sciences. |
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Suleiman I, referred to as "The Magnificent" and "The Lawgiver."
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Turchin and Nefedov suggest a Republican cycle 350-30 BCE with "stagflation" around 180 BCE
[1]
[2]
which implies expansion throughout this period and a late peak date.
During the 343-241 BCE period during which Rome was at war "in almost every year" and Latin colonies that were frequently established "allowed those who were impoverished the chance to make a new life... it may be no accident that between 342 and 287 we hear little about indebtedness and social unrest" in Rome. [3] [1]: (Baker 2011) [2]: (Turchin and Nefedov 2009) [3]: (Oakley 2004, 27) Oakley, Stephen P. The Early Republic. Flower, Harriet I. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press. |
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The period of expansion under Caesar.
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Theodosius II, institute Codex Theodosianus in 439 CE (which applied in the Western Empire).
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"Altogether we seem justified in asserting that the economic condition of Italy, both as to the producers and the consumers of its food-supplies, was more prosperous under Theodoric than it had been for centuries before, or than it was to be for centuries afterwards."
[1]
Bishop of Ravenna on Theodoric: "He reigned thirty-three (really thirty-two) years, and during thirty of these years so great was the happiness of Italy that even the wayfarers were at peace. ... He gave presents and rations to the people, yet, though he found the Treasury ruined, he brought it round, by his own hard work, into a flourishing state. ... Thus he so charmed the nations near him that they entered into a league with him, hoping that he would be their King. The merchants, too, from diverse provinces, flocked to his dominions, for so great was the order which he maintained, that if any one wished to leave gold or silver on his land (in his country house) it was as safe as in a walled city. A proof of this was the fact that he never made gates for any-city of Italy, and the gates already existing were not closed. Any one who had business to transact could do it as safely by night as by day."
[1]
"the great economic symptom of Theodoric’s reign--and under the circumstances a most healthy symptom--was that Italy, from a corn-importing became a corn-exporting country."
[1]
[1]: (Hodgkin 1897) |
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Decentralization trend throughout period, as well as a power struggle between the Papacy in Rome and the Exarch of Ravenna, the nominal representative of the East Roman Emperor in Constantinople. The Byzantines appeared to abandon Liguria, the Lazial and Tuscan Maremma in the 640s CE.
[1]
[1]: Marazzi, 386 |
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Under nominal Byzantine suzerainty until 781 CE. In the early eighth century Charlemagne (reign 800-814 CE) added three cities to the holdings of the Papal State (Imola, Bologna, Ferrara; the details of which are given in the Vita Hadriani of the Liber Pontificalis).
[1]
However, the late eighth and early ninth centuries was the highpoint politically and in terms of construction and the economy.
[2]
The papacy lost power and prestige during the ninth century, despite its gradual emancipation from Carolingian domination as the Frankish empire began to break up.
[3]
Between the end of the ninth century and the 960s, the papacy had no powerful protectors outside Italy. Political power in Rome and Lazio lay in the hands of the Theophylacti and other powerful Roman baronial families.
[4]
[1]: (Woods 1921, 54) [2]: Partner, 53 [3]: Barraclough, 55 [4]: (Stearns 2001 173) Wickham (2015) is now the definitive account of Rome and its territory from 900-1150 |
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{1050 CE; 1010-1030 CE} The German Emperor Henry III, de facto guardian of the papacy and the Patrimony, granted the city of Benevento to Pope Leo IX.
[1]
This marked the definitive end of an independent polity centered on the city of Benevento, which had threatened the Patrimony for several centuries from the south (this Lombard menace, from north and south, was the original reason for the Frankish descent into Italy and the Frankish conquest of the Lombard Kingdom of Italy). It also was the furthest extent of (nominal) papal power until Pope Innocent III (r. 1198-1216) began consolidating what would become the Papal States.
[2]
The period from 1036 to 1066 was characterized, however, by internal warfare and Salian invasions (despite the short-lived expansionist respite of 1049-1054 ending after Civitella). Thus, it could be argued that the real peak of the polity was under the Tusculan Reform Papacy c.1012-1036 CE because of internal and external stability, and socioeconomic and (even if limited) demographic expansion. For more, see EXTERNAL_INLINE_LINK: /browser/index.php?title=Latium:_Medieval_History_for_Demographic_Modeling,_904-1198_CE&action=edit&redlink=1 EXTERNAL_INLINE_LINK: /browser/index.php?title=Latium:_Medieval_Era_(500-1500_CE)_--_Meso/Regional_Scale_Productive_System_Modeling_Issues&action=edit&redlink=1
[1]: Kreutz, 151 [2]: Kreutz, 152. |
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Innocent III was the king maker of Christendom (e.g. Frederick, in 1214 CE): "In the eleventh century, emperors had appointed popes without consulting any Roman prelate. Now the pope had chosen an emperor." "This was not the last "political" conflict, or victory, during Innocent’s pontificate. Innocent was involved in disputes with King Philip II of France .... and with King John of England .... He won resounding victories in both cases. ... King John gave England as a fief to the papacy, and Philip was forced to choose Ingeborg as queen. In a short time, Innocent had twice chosen an emperor and won battles with the other two major states in western Europe, as well as victories over smaller states, like Portugal and Castile. To a greater degree than any pontiff before or since, Innocent achieved the dream of Gregory VII and became, in fact as well as in theory, the undisputed leader of Christendom."
[1]
"If Gregory saw himself as the agent of Peter, with whom he had a sense of a powerfully intimate kinship, Innocent viewed himself explicitly as the vicar of Christ, priest and king, who possessed unrivaled temporal and religious authority."
[2]
"Papal power and control had reached its height"
[3]
- context of discussion Louis IX of France c1240 CE (?).
[1]: (Madigan 2015, 290) K Madigan. 2015. Medieval Christianity: A New History. Yale University Press. New Haven. [2]: (Madigan 2015, 291) [3]: (Madigan 2015, 297) |
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This was the year that Pope Julius II re-took Bologna and Perugia, deposing their lords and reincorporating them into the Papal State. Julius’ pontificate furthermore was a highpoint of the Roman Renaissance, as he sponsored artists such as Rafael and Michelangelo; in addition to this, Rome in the first quarter of the sixteenth century was a major diplomatic and political hub.
[1]
This peak date should be bracketed, however, given that Julius was widely reviled during his own time (Erasmus wrote a famous dialogue between him and St. Peter, castigating Julius’ worldliness) and by posterity as an excessively worldly pope. In addition, the almost completely secular orientation of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth-century popes was directly responsible for the Protestant Reformation, which would mark one of the greatest challenges to papal power the Church had ever faced.
[1]: Brown in Najemy, 262 |
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The sack of Rome in 1527 devastated Rome and marked a nadir in the fortunes of the Papal States. The papacy gradually rebuilt its power and prestige during the 16th century, with the onset of the Counter-Reformation. The Treaty of Westphalia (1648), ending the Thirty Years’ War, was a symbolic turning point marking the eclipse of papal influence in the international affairs of Europe; the economy and demography of the Papal States, along with that of the rest of Italy, was also in marked decline by this point. 1571 CE was the year of the battle of Lepanto, in which the papally-inspired Holy League decisively defeated an Ottoman fleet in the largest naval battle in Mediterranean history.
[1]
It marks a high point for the papacy in terms of international prestige. However, it does not necessarily mark the Papal States’ peak economically or culturally, and papal prestige was internationally eclipsed during the seventeenth century due to its annexation of Urbino and the embarrassing War of Castro.
[2]
[1]: See Braudel, vol. II, 1027-44, for the diplomatic wrangling surrounding the creation of the Holy League [2]: Sella, 9-10 |
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The seventeenth century was a period of major demographic and economic contraction, but by the mid-18th century, recovery had begun.
[1]
Gross has estimated that in 1684, the Papal States’ trade and payment deficit was five million scudi; in 1786, the Papal States’ imports exceeded their exports by three times.
[2]
Rome remained what it had long been, a parasitic drain on the Agro Romano.
[3]
An important contribution to the future demographic and economic health of Lazio was the draining of the Pontine Marshes, carried out under Popes Benedict XIV, Clement XIII, and Pius VI.
[4]
[1]: Carpanetto and Recuperati, 47 [2]: Gross, 88 [3]: Carpanetto and Ricuperati, 15 [4]: Carpanetto and Recuperati, 48 |
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During the Russian period, Czarist administrative and political control was established over Sakha territory: ’By 1642 the Lena valley was under tribute to the czar; peace was won only after a long siege of a formidable Yakut fortress. By 1700 the fort settlement of Yakutsk (founded 1632) was a bustling Russian administrative, commercial, and religious center and a launching point for further exploration into Kamchatka and Chukotka. Some Yakut moved northeast into territories they had previously not dominated, further assimilating the Evenk and Yukagir. Most Yakut, however, remained in the central meadowlands, sometimes assimilating Russians. Yakut leaders cooperated with Russian commanders and governors, becoming active in trade, fur-tax collection, transport, and the postal system. Fighting among Yakut communities decreased, although horse rustling and occasional anti-Russian violence continued. For example, a Yakut Robin Hood named Manchari led a band that stole from the rich (usually Russians) to give to the poor (usually Yakut) in the nineteenth century. Russian Orthodox priests spread through Yakutia, but their followers were mainly in the major towns. By 1900 a literate Yakut intelligentsia, influenced both by Russian merchants and political exiles, formed a party called the Yakut Union. Yakut revolutionaries such as Oiunskii and Ammosov led the Revolution and civil war in Yakutia, along with Bolsheviks such as the Georgian Ordzhonikidze.’
[1]
Given the importance of increasing ’modernization’ for the revolutionary developments of the early 20th century, the peak period should be identified with the latter half of the 19th century.
[1]: Balzer, Marjorie Mandelstam and Skoggard, Ian: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Yakut |
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Ramses II (c1278-1237 BCE)
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Reign of Seshong I was the "high point in the Third Intermediate Period."
[1]
"expansionist foreign policy" [1] "ambitious royal building programme" [1] "attempt to exert direct control over the whole of Egypt involved curtailling the virtually independent status of Thebes." [1] [1]: (Taylor 2000, 329) |
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By the rule of Amasis (Ahmose II) Upper Egypt was secured, monarchy centralised, administration and finance administration was developed. Revenues able to support building of a fleet to pursue Mediterranean policy and conquer Cyprus. However, this came at a hefty financial cost.
[1]
Herodotus (II, 177, 1): "It is said that it was during the reign of Ahmose II that Egypt attained its highest level of prosperity both in respect of what the river gave the land and in respect of what the land yielded to men and that the number of inhabited cities at that time reached in total 20,000."
[1]: (Agut-Labordere 2013) |
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Aksum’s power and influence was rising throughout this period, being at its maximum probably when the kings had direct? control over south Arabia (until 269 CE?).
The city of Aksum and the kingdom "enjoyed a great reputation in the third century of our era". [1] 183-213 CE Aksumite king Gadara and his son "seem to have been the most powerful rulers in southern Arabia and the real leaders of the anti-Sabaean coalition." [2] King Azbah fought a war in southern Arabia end 3rd, early 4th CE. Then Aksumite kings claimed to be sovereign over the Himarites. [2] "The ’Kephalaia’ of the prophet Mani (216-76) calls Aksum one of the four greatest empires of the world." [3] "All ancient sources indicate that maritime trade increased in the Red Sea in the course of the first two centuries." [4] [1]: (Anfray 1981, 364) F Anfray. The civilization of Aksum from the first to the seventh century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California. [2]: (Kobishanov 1981, 381) 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]: (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. [4]: (Anfray 1981, 376) F Anfray. The civilization of Aksum from the first to the seventh century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California. |
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"Ghana reached its height in the early 11th century."
[1]
At this time Awdaghust was a rich commercial city. [2] Ghana/Soninke "took control" of Awdahust in the mid-11th century. "The Zanata traders of the city accepted Soninke authority." [3] Previously city de facto controlled by Sanhaja berbers. Sanhaja berbers recapture Awdaghust as Almoravid dynasty [3] from 1054-c1100 CE "About 1050 ... Ghana at heigh of its power." [4] [1]: (Conrad 2010, 24) [2]: (Conrad 2010, 31) [3]: (Conrad 2010, 33) [4]: (Davidson 1998, 34) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London. |
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"At the peak of their power, their empire spanned Egypt, north Africa (present day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya), Syria, Palestine, Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula, parts of Iraq, Sicily, and north-western India with additional covert cells in Byzantine and central Asian lands."
[1]
"Under al-Mu’zz’s son and successor, al-’Aziz (d. 386/996), court life flourished and the Fatimid dynasty (dawla) reached its political, territorial and economic zenith." [2] Fatimid power at peak during early years of the reign of al-Mustansir (1036-1094 CE), although "first signs of the empire’s fragile character" 1021-1036 CE under Caliph al-Zahir. [3] The Mustansir Crisis. Devastating famine from 1065 CE which peaked 1070 CE with cannibalism and emigration of Jewish minority between 1060-1090 CE. However, a "spectacular recovery" followed Badr al-Jamali’s appointment as minister 1073 CE. [4] [1]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 37) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles. [2]: (Cortese and Calderini 2006, 18) Cortese, Delia. Calderini, Simonetta. 2006. Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam. Edinburgh University Press. Edinburgh. [3]: (Oliver 1977, 14-15) [4]: (Raymond 2000, 71) |
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"At the peak of their power, their empire spanned Egypt, north Africa (present day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya), Syria, Palestine, Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula, parts of Iraq, Sicily, and north-western India with additional covert cells in Byzantine and central Asian lands."
[1]
"Under al-Mu’zz’s son and successor, al-’Aziz (d. 386/996), court life flourished and the Fatimid dynasty (dawla) reached its political, territorial and economic zenith." [2] Fatimid power at peak during early years of the reign of al-Mustansir (1036-1094 CE), although "first signs of the empire’s fragile character" 1021-1036 CE under Caliph al-Zahir. [3] The Mustansir Crisis. Devastating famine from 1065 CE which peaked 1070 CE with cannibalism and emigration of Jewish minority between 1060-1090 CE. However, a "spectacular recovery" followed Badr al-Jamali’s appointment as minister 1073 CE. [4] [1]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 37) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles. [2]: (Cortese and Calderini 2006, 18) Cortese, Delia. Calderini, Simonetta. 2006. Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam. Edinburgh University Press. Edinburgh. [3]: (Oliver 1977, 14-15) [4]: (Raymond 2000, 71) |
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After "the splendor of the Fatimids" there was "a new climax" under the reign of Sultan Nasiri.
[1]
End of reign: 1341 CE.
Before the plague which arrived in Alexandria 1347 CE [2] Zenith was reached during the 14th Century. In the 14th century the state’s annual revenue was 9.5 million dinars "higher than at almost any other time since the Arab conquest." [3] [1]: (Raymond 2000, 137) [2]: (Oliver 1977, 39-67) [3]: (Raymond 2000, 116) |
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End of the Ottoman-Mamluk war (1485-1491 CE). Sultan Qaitbay (1468-1496 CE) commissioned a great amount of architecture and conducted 16 military campaigns.
For Cairo this period "is considered a period of decline, interrupted only by remissions during the reigns of Barsbay and Qaytbay." [1] Cairo experienced an "urban and economic revitalization" in its "ancient center in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries." [2] [1]: (Raymond 2000, 165) [2]: (Raymond 2000, 175) |
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End of the Ottoman-Mamluk war (1485-1491 CE). Sultan Qaitbay (1468-1496 CE) commissioned a great amount of architecture and conducted 16 military campaigns.
For Cairo this period "is considered a period of decline, interrupted only by remissions during the reigns of Barsbay and Qaytbay." [1] Cairo experienced an "urban and economic revitalization" in its "ancient center in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries." [2] [1]: (Raymond 2000, 165) [2]: (Raymond 2000, 175) |
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According to Kati, Askia Bunkan (1531-1537 CE) embellished court life: ’He increased the number of orchestras and singers of both sexes and lavished more favors and gifts. During his reign prosperity spread throughout his empire and an era of wealth began to be established.’
[1]
Songhai height in the 16th century [2] Askia Daud (r.1549-1582 CE) "was widely praised for memorizing the Quran and for supporting learning and religion. As part of this support, he is said to have established public libraries in his kingdom." [3] [1]: (Diop 1987, 80) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [2]: (Conrad 2010, 72) [3]: (Conrad 2010, 69) |
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According to Chinese historians, last King very corrupt, decadent. Empire extent had by this time reduced from its maximum 1200 BCE. It is unclear, though, if the polity extent actually shrank between Wu Ding and the last Kings, Di Yi and Di Xin, or if the reports of later historians are exaggerated for political effect.
|
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957 BCE
In the 10th Century King Mu made expeditions into Central Asia. After Mu, authority over vassals declined. [1] There also was a widespread insurrection against Mu. [2] The reign of Mu’s predecesser, Zhao, "occurred at a point when the Zhou Dynasty had expanded across the central plains of China and turned its attention to South China." He established "the limit of direct control of the south during the Western Zhou Dynasty." This quote is from wikipedia. However, bureaucratization of government after 957 BCE in response to defeat. Perhaps 950-925 BCE period? 827 or 825 - 782 BCE. "King Xuan’s lengthy reign of forty-six years is traditionally regarded as something of a restoration." [3] [1]: (Roberts 2003, 15) [2]: (Cotterell 1995, 35) [3]: (Shaughnessy 1999, 346) 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. |
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Reign of Wudi (141-87 BCE)
[1]
"longest and most glorious."
[2]
c120 BCE armies reached Ferghana and Parnics. Colonisation of Gnsu panhandle. Trade along silk road.
[3]
Peak territorial extent 90 BCE. [4] 99 BCE banditry in eastern China. 91 BCE dynastic crisis at end Wudi’s reign. 81 BCE population hardships. Power struggle c66 BCE virtually eliminated descendants of influential politician Huo Guang. [3] [1]: (Kerr 2013, 36) [2]: (Roberts 2003, 50) [3]: (Roberts 2003, 51) [4]: (Keay 2009, 143) |
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"The first three reigns of the Eastern Han, from about 25 to 88, were a time of domestic stability and foreign expansion."
[1]
Prosperity and security during reigns of Mingdi and Zhangdi. [2] Peak territorial extent 100 CE. "only in the three decades after Han Guang Wudi (so AD 58-88) was the dynasty spared major regional or "religious" revolts lead by would-be emperors." In the second century CE, emperors "instead of managing their support, were more often being managed by it. ... the bureaucracy... senior posts were treated as sinecure, given as rewards, and by the late second century AD openly sold to the highest bidder." [3] [1]: (Knechtges 2010, 116) Knechtges, David R. in Chang, Kang-i Sun. Ownen, Stephen. 2010. The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. [2]: (Roberts 2003, 56-60) [3]: (Keay 2009, 177) |
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"apogee of its power" 280 CE.
[1]
Quote from 7th century History of the Jin Dynasty: "Supplies flowed into granaries and treasuries. Palaces had additional adornments; dresses and playthings sparkled brightly. [The richest people] vied with one another in display. Their carriages, dresses, and food utensils were comparable in elegance to those of the imperial family." [2] "Although its days of peace and stability were short, the Western Jin, at least before 300, was a period of remarkable intellectual, scholarly, and literary activity." [3] [1]: (Graff 2002, 35) [2]: (Graff 2002, 37) [3]: (Knechtges 2010, 183) Knechtges, David R. in Chang, Kang-i Sun. Ownen, Stephen. 2010. The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. |
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Tuoba Tao 430s CE campaigns against independent states in North China. E.g. Xiongnu kingdom of Xia and Xiongnu Northern Liang. Xia defeated in 431 CE. Northern Yan defeated 436 CE. Northern Liang defeated 439 CE. "With the conquest of Northern Liang in 439 CE, Tuoba Tao finally succeeded in uniting all of China north of the Yellow River for the first time since the collapse of Fu Jian’s empire more than half a century before."
[1]
[1]: (Graff 2002, 72) |
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Xuanzong (712-756 CE): "longest reigning of all the T’ang monarchs ... restored his dynasty to a new peak of power after decades of usurpation, weakened authority and corruption. Through the Chinese living through the troubled and disturbed decades which followed his abdication, his reign represented a golden age of departed glories, an era of good government, peace and prosperity, equally successful at home and abroad."
[1]
Reign of Li Shimin (Taizong) 627-649 CE was "the zenith of the T’ang dynasty... More than a century of internal peace followed Tai-tsung’s reign..." [2] However the zenith of the T’ang dynasty might not mean the same thing as the zenith of the T’ang dynasty’s polity. During reign of Xuanzong (712-756 CE) "the Empire seemed - at least outwardly - to be more prosperous and stable than ever before. The increase in population was steady ... The wealth of the country was obvious ... and ’one could undertake a voyage within the empire for a distance of 10,000 li without being armed’. Thus, it seemed that the T’ang had reached a new pinnacle of glory. This is especially true if the period were to be regarded from the point of view of the arts, for it was precisely in this era that the greatest flourishing of T’ang culture took place." [3] Xuanzong (712-756 CE): "it was not he who ruled during the latter period from about 740 but his Chancellor Li Lin fu (in office 736-752), who established himself an unchallenged master of the Empire." [3] [1]: (Twitchett 1979, 333) [2]: (Rodzinski 1979, 118) [3]: (Rodzinski 1979, 129) |
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’In fact, historians, both medieval and modern, of loyalist sympathies regard as the golden age of Japanese history those decades of direct rule by enlightened, "virtuous" emperors - Kammu (781-806) and Saga (809-23), and again Uda and Daigo (887-930). For loyalists, these were the years when Japanese rulers most closely approached the ideal reigns of the sage-kings of ancient China.’
[1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.pp.1-2 |
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Early 9th century?
|
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The largest population in 1207 CE according to History of Jin (金史/Jin Shi)
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greatest territory: west to Turpan, southwest to northern Tibet, Yunnan and Myanmar, north to North Sea, the Ob River, east to the Sea of Japan
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1479 CE greatest population
c1420s CE greatest territorial extent"The Ming dynasty’s retreat from Vietnam brought Ming territorial expansion to a close. Ming power generally declined until 1565, before briefly reviving from 1570 until 1610." [1] 1449 CE 500,000 fielded army 1450 CE political stabilityMongols return captured Emperor Zhengtong "having gained almost nothing" because the minister’s in Beijing had elected a new emperor. [2] 1471 CE Great Wallplans submitted by Yu Zijun "to build a wall between Yansui and Qingyang to aid in defense." First two walls finished 1474 CE, 129 miles and 566 miles long. [3] "Kenneth Swope has asserted that from 1580 to 1600 the Ming was as powerful as it had been since Yongle’s reign, and the course of the Three Great Campaigns bears him out. [4] however: two of the campaigns were against a troop mutiny and tribal rebellion. the other campaign was a defensive war vs Japan (rather than expansionist). while all the campaigns may have been successful, and may demonstrate effective government, the reasons for these campaigns do not necessarily suggest a polity at its peak state. "Certainly by the 1570s, the government could afford the massive military expenditures necessary to prosecute the wars that would come to be called the Three Great Campaigns." [4] [1]: (Lorge 2005, 119) [2]: (Lorge 2005, 123) [3]: (Lorge 2005, 124) [4]: (Lorge 2005, 128) |
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[402-429 CE]; [521-552 CE] "Two main peaks of Rouran might may be pinpointed: (a) the initial ascent during the reign of Shelun, the founder of the empire, and his immediate successors in 402-429, and (b) the rise and progress of the process of Sinicisation under the rule of Anagui in 521-552."
[1]
[1]: (Kradin 2005, 156) |
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“It was Attila who gave the Huns a clear identity and made them, briefly, into a major political power. After his death, they disintegrated with remarkable speed… In 434 Attila became king, ruling initially with his brother BIeda.”
[1]
[1]: (Kennedy 2002: 37-38) 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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Greatest territorial extent first half of 5th century.
[1]
During the reign of king Kidara "the Kidarite kingdom occupied vast territories to the north and south of the Hindu Kush." [2] Scholars believe that the information about king Kidara’s reign in the Pei-shih "was based on the report of Tung Wan sent to the West in 437." [2] "Kidara’s rise to power, the founding of his state and the annexation of the territories to the south of the Hindu Kush ... should be dated to an earlier period ... some time between 390 and 430, but probably before 410." [1] Further territories may have been taken in India in the mid-5th century when "a considerable portion of central and western Panjab was under Kidarite rule" during the reign of the Gupta king Kumaragupta I (413-455 CE). [1] Indian inscriptians that refer to reign of Skandagupta (455-467 CE) mention Huna invaders. [1] the Sassanians "laid waste territories subject to the Kidarites and took fortresses" during Yazdgird II’s eastern campaigns and that by 449 CE they had the advantage. however, sometimes the Kidarites got the best of it and in 456 CE they refused to pay tribute. [3] Capital captured by Sassanids 467 CE which forced Kidarites to retreat south of Hindu Kush to Gandhara. [4] [1]: (Zeimal 1996, 127) 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, 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 [3]: (Zeimal 1996, 129-130) 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 [4]: (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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"power declined sharply" between 944-977 CE.
[1]
"after the reign of Nasr II (913-942), the Samani power was weakened."
[2]
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. [2]: (Hodgson 1977, 33) Hodgson, Marshall G. S. 1977. The Venture of Islam. Volume II. University of Chicago Press. Chicago. |
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Under Ibrahim Tamghach Khan "We may assume that substantial sums flowed into the coffers of the central government. This was one of the factors underpinning the considerable building activity that took place."
[1]
During the reign of Ibrahim "a single system of coinage with different denominations circulated throughout the Western Karakhanid Khanate, creating good, stable market conditions." [2] [1]: (Davidovich 1997, 137) Davidovich, E A. in Asimov, M S and Bosworth, C E eds. 1997. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume IV. Part I. UNESCO. [2]: (Davidovich 1997, 136) Davidovich, E A. in Asimov, M S and Bosworth, C E eds. 1997. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume IV. Part I. UNESCO. |
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“Esen Taish ruled as khaan for the period of 1452–55. The historical sources note that these were the times of the ‘unified rule of the four and forty pair’, in other words the forty Mongol tümen and the four Oirat tümen were brought together under the rule of one khaan. In 1455, when Esen taish fell victim to the conspiracy of feudal lords, the Khalkha and the Oirat again went their separate ways.”
[1]
[1]: (Gongor 2010: 511) Gongor, D. 2010. “The Twelve Tumen of the Aglas Khuree Khalkha Mongols,” 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/WSSQBWT5 |
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In general the peak of prosperity seems to have taken place between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries – that is with the final decades of Elizabeth I’s Tudor reign and the beginning of the Stuart dynasty under James VI (of Scotland) and I (of England). “Inflation, itself a function of demographic growth, meant that ‘for those with enough land to feed themselves and still have some left over for the market, the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries were a period of unprecedented prosperity’.”
[1]
“Between 1590 and 1640 in particular, the peak of litigation coincided with the application of ‘the finishing touches’ to the ‘new jurisprudence’ (i.e. judge-made law).134 Indeed, if there was an unusually large charge of intellectual electricity around the law at the turn of the sixteenth century, there was political electricty too.135 Although the emergence of political concern among the legal profession and the elevation of common law supremacy to the status of a constitutional doctrine is usually dated to the 1620s, the politicisation of the judiciary was underway in the late sixteenth century.”
[1]
“Perhaps this prosperity brought about increased fertility or perhaps there was a fall in the age of marriage. It does appear that by the 1480s a higher proportion of the population was marrying, which must have contributed to the rising birth-rate. Despite bad harvests in 1519-21, 1527-9, and 1544-5, fertility was high by 1550, when the evidence of parish registers is fully available. Demographers also calculate that expectation of life at birth was better after 1564 than before, though it varied from 41. 7 years in 1581 to 35. 5 years in 1591. In fact, between 1564 and 1586 mortality was less severe than it would be again before the end of the Napoleonic Wars: life expectancy at birth was roughly thirty-eight years. Although this should not obscure the fact that many children died in infancy while others lived to be fifty and a few to be ninety, the central portion of Elizabeth’s reign was spared a crisis: the annual deathrate was never higher than 2.68 per cent of the population.”
[2]
[1]: (Hindle 2002: 14) Hindle, Steve. 2002. The State and Social Change in Early Modern England, 1550–1640 (London: Palgrave https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GVIZDIC9 [2]: (Guy 1988: 33) Guy, John. 1988. Tudor England. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IIFAUUNA |
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First wave of the plague of Justinian struck Gaul in 543 CE.
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811 CE was the year of the death of Charlemagne. After 811 CE the Carolingian Empire stopped expanding. 811 CE was also the start date of a gradual rise in sociopolitical instability which resulted ultimately in a complete split of the kingdom.
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Under Grand Master Winrich von Kniprode (1352–1382), the Teutonic Order experienced its golden age, achieving a notable victory over the Lithuanians in the Battle of Rudau in 1370.
[1]
[1]: Jürgen Sarnowsky, Der Deutsche Orden, 3., durchgesehene Auflage., C.H. Beck Wissen 2428 (München: C.H.Beck, 2022). Zotero link: QW4M9YTP |
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These dates describe the reign of Burna-Buriash II. At this time "the Kassite dynasty ranked among the major powers of the Near East", the Amarna letters describe describe "diplomatics marriages and large scale trade" between the Kassites and Egypt, the super-power of the time.
[1]
[1]: Stein, D. L. 1997. Kassites. In Meyers, E. M. (ed.) The Oxford Encylopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. Volume 3. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.271-272. |
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Artaxiad Armenia was at its peak power during the reign of Tigranes the Great (95-55 BCE). Tigranes was able to unify the country’s various autonomous regions, which were governed by the nakharars, and brought central control to the kingdom.
[1]
His empire, though only this large for a short time, stretched “from the Caucasus mountains and Media in the northeast to Lebanon in the southwest.”
[2]
[1]: “Artaxiad Dynasty,” https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IVLMP6Q8 [2]: Hovannisian 2004: 64. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8B4DBDFU |
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The 378-525 CE period the saw the progressive decline of trade revenues, especially after the Roman emperor Theodosius in 395 CE declared Christianity to be the official state religion of the Roman Empire which crippled the demand for incense which was a product that was most commonly used in pagan rituals.
[1]
[1]: (Romano 2004, 13) Amy Romano. 2004. A Historical Atlas of Yemen. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. New York. |
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"In 1007 a Yu’firid prince of the Ismaili persuasion, ’Abdullah ibn Qahtan, suceeded to the rule of Sanaa, and even made a successful foray against that stronghold of Sunnism, the Ziyad state in the Tihama, now in its decline."
[1]
A Zaidi chronicler reported that "From [1014-1056] ruin prevailed in Sanaa and elsewhere in the country of Yemen by reason of the prevalence of disputes, rivalries, and disunity within this single nation. Darkness fell over Yemen, its desolation became universal, and public order disappeared. Sanaa and its suburbs became as if they had burned down. Every year, even every month, some new sultan seized power; the inhabitants became so extenuated that they dispersed in all directions. The city fell into ruin. Construction declined to the point where there were only a thousand houses, whereas in the time of al-Rashid there had been one hundred thousand. However, Sanaa recovered somewhat in the time of the Sulayhids, who gathered the lords of Yemen around themselves." [1] "The mid-to-late-800s is a period of struggle between the Banu Ziyad of the Tihama and the Yufirids of the highlands, as well as intense Ismaili (Fatimid) missionary efforts in Yemen." [2] [1]: (Stookey 1978, 57) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder. [2]: (Burrows 2010, xxiv) Robert D Burrows. 2010. Historical Dictionary of Yemen. Second Edition. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham. |
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The empire was at its peak during the reign of the dynasty founder, Ya’qub.
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The twelve-year rule of Khumarawayh "saw peace and prosperity in Egypt, but the extravagance of his lifestyle and his lavish patronage of building projects, along with the expense of paying for a large standing army, overtaxed the state’s resources. When Khumarawayh was murdered by one of his slaves in 896, the treasury was reportedly empty."
[1]
[1]: (Sundelin 2013, 430-431) Shillington, K. 2013. Encyclopedia of African History: Volume 3. Routledge. |
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The reign of Adud al-Duala from his take over of the Baghdad arm of the state, to his death. The Daylam state was nearly unified under one leader . Adud al-Duala was the first to term himself Shahanshah, King of Kings.
[1]
"Buyid history can be chronologically divided, roughly, into two divisions. The first half-century, up to the death of Adud al-Dawla, greatest of the Buyid rulers, in 372/983, is one of growth and consolidation when the political initiative was firmly in the hands of the princes of the ruling dynasty. From that point, however, the Buyids were on the defensive, especially in Iraq and central Iran, and political initiative passed to the hands of groups of soldiers and administrators who strove to manipulate their nominal rulers in their own interests." [2] Adud al-Dawla’s "rule in Fars was something of a golden age for the province as Adud al-Dawla made it the basis for his imperial schemes and, realizingthat the prosperity of the area was fundamental to his plans, took active steps to encourage both agriculture and trade." [3] [1]: Katouzian, H. 2009. The Persians: Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Iran. London: Yale University Press. p.87 [2]: (Kennedy 2004, 215) Kennedy, Hugh N. 2004. The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates. Second edition. Pearson Longman. Harlow. [3]: (Kennedy 2004, 230) Kennedy, Hugh N. 2004. The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates. Second edition. Pearson Longman. Harlow. |
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The reign of Malik Shah ibn Alp Arslan 1072 to 1092. "His reign marked the fullest expansion of the dynasty’s power, characterized by thorough assimilation to Persian/Arabic Muslim culture. He administered territories in Iran, Iraq, and Syria with the assistance of the vizier (Abu Ali Hasan ibn al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Ishaq) who held the title nizam al-mulk (order of the kingdom) and established theological schools (nizamiyyah) in major cities; the jurist and mystic al-Ghazali headed the one in Baghdad."
[1]
"The Seljuk empire reached its zenith under Toghril’s very capable nephew Alp Arslan (r. 1063-1073) and, after the murder of Alp Arslan in Khwarazm, under the latter’s son, Malikshah (r. 1073-1093)." [2] "The united Seljuq Empire was only to last until the 1090s. Subsequently, Seljuq power retreated to Iran, although a cadet branch of the Seljuq family was to rule Anatolia until 1243 (and thereafter as Mongol vassals until the early fourteenth century)." [3] According to ’Imad al-Din al-Isfahani, Nizam al-Mulk as vizier "made the provinces flourish and he built constantly." [4] [1]: Esposito, John L, ed., ‘Malik Shah Ibn Alp Arslan’, The Oxford dictionary of Islam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003) [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]: (Amitai 2006, 53) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven. [4]: (Peacock 2015, 69) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh. |
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Sulayhids: under al-Mukarram "the kingdom reached its maximum geographic extent and the apogee of its influence abroad."
[1]
The 12th century was characterized by decentralization. [2] [1]: (Stookey 1978, 66-67) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder. [2]: (Stookey 1978, 76) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder. |
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"The later thirteenth and fourteenth centuries saw the zenith of Rasulid political power and cultural splendour."
[1]
"after the death of Salah al-Din Ahmad in 827/1424, the Rasulid state began to show signs of disintegration, with indiscipline among the Rasulids’ slave troops, a series of short-reigned rulers and internecine warfare among several pretenders." [1] Al-Khazraji "dates the ruin of the Tihama to the year 1353, and ascribes it to the malevolence of a deputy governor at Fashal". [2] [1]: (Bosworth 2014) Clifford Edmund Bosworth. 2014. The New Islamic Dynasties. Edinburgh University Press. Edinburgh. [2]: (Stookey 1978, 122) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder. |
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Death of Ulughbeg.
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Reign of Shah Abbas I (1587-1629 CE). “Shah Abbas I (known as Shah Abbas the Great) has deservedly been considered the ruler who revived the political and military power of the Safavids.”
[1]
"Abbās I is universally regarded as the greatest Safavid ruler, the embodiment of the age-old Persian ideal of the just monarch."
[2]
Under Abbas I "military, political and economic stability."
[3]
Iran’s role in the silk trade led to the forging of important diplomatic relations with European powers. The death of Abbas is usually seen as the beginning of the slow decline of Safavid rule; certainly by the end of the 17th century they were no longer a great military force and their administration had stagnated. [4] [1]: 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.257 [2]: Rudi Matthee ‘SAFAVID DYNASTY’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/safavids. [3]: (Newman 2009) Newman, Andrew J. 2009. Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. I.B. Tauris. New York. [4]: Rudi Matthee ‘SAFAVID DYNASTY’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/safavids; 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)pp. 250-75. |
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"’Perfection had been attained’, declares the last of the three Junagadh inscriptions. ’While he [Skanda-Gupta] is reigning, verily no man among his subjects falls away from dharma; there is no one who is distressed, in poverty, in misery, avaricious, or who, worthy of punishment, is over-much put to torture’. Such a glowing depiction of Gupta society is to be expected from a royal panegyric. It is, however, corroborated by an alien and presumably impartial eye-witness.//’The people are very well off, without poll tax or official restrictions . . . The kings govern without corporal punishment; criminals are fined according to circumstance, lightly or heavily. Even in cases of repeated rebellion they only cut off the right hand. The king’s personal attendants, who guard him on the right and the left, have fixed salaries. Throughout the country the people kill no living thing nor drink wine, nor do they eat garlic or onions, with the exception of the Chandalas only’.//"To Fa Hian (Fa-hsien, Faxian, etc.), a Buddhist pilgrim from China who visited India in c. 400-410, Chandra-Gupta II’s realm was indeed something of a utopia. [...] Only the lot of the Chandalas he found unenviable; outcastes by reason of their degrading work as disposers of the dead, they were universally shunned and had to give warning of their approach so that fastudious caste-members could take cover. But no other sections of the population were notably disadvantaged, no other caste distinctions attracted comment from the Chinese pilgrim, and no oppressive caste ’system’ drew forth his surprised censure. Peace and order prevailed. [...] Trade continued to flourish, both within India and overseas."
[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 Erlitou site itself occupied an area of about 100 ha during phase I of the Erlitou site. This initial stage is traditionally dated to c. 1900-1800 BC (Liu and Xu 2007), although others now place it at c. 1750-1700 BC (Zhang et al. 2007). Erlitou reached the zenith of its expansion, to around 300 ha, during Erlitou phases II-IV, traditionally dated to c. 1800-1550 BC but recently ascribed to c. 1700-1530 BC (Liu and Xu 2007; Zhang et al. 2007) (Fig. 3)."
[1]
[1]: (Shelach and Jaffe 2014, 344) |
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Phase III
"Phase III (the first phase of the upper Erligang period) is Zhengzhou’s apogee. Bronzes from this period increase in both numbers and type, and the foundry at Zijingshan North went into production. The foundry site at Nanguangwai continued to produce as well, meaning that in phase III, Zhengzhou had at least two major bronze workshops in simultaneous operation." [1] 1500-1450 BCE "the political power of the Erligang state, as expressed through the early growth of the Shang dynasty, reached its peak during the middle of the second millennium BC (Sun, H. 2009)." [2] "The Erligang expansion ceased around 1400 BC, when Zhengzhou and many of its regional centers in the core and periphery were abandoned, marking the end of this highly centralized system of political economy." [2] [1]: (Campbell 2014, 71) [2]: (Liu and Chen 2012, 290) Liu, Li. Chen, Xingcan. 2012. The Archaeology of China: From the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Cambridge University Press. |
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"In 353 BC, Qi defeated Wei, the then-hegemonic power. In 341 BC, Qi further annihilated Wei’s core forces and seized the hegemonic status."
[1]
reforms of Chancellor Li Kui under Marquis Wen [2] "Around 445 BC, Wei started the new wave of self-strengthening reforms by systematizing preexisting practices and introducing innovative institutions." [1] "... the expansionist Wei lost hegemony in 341 BC and then great-power status in 293 BC." [3] [1]: (Tin-bor Hui 2005, 85) Tin-bor Hui, Victoria. 2005. War and State Formation in Ancient China and Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press. [2]: (Tin-bor Hui 2005) [3]: (Tin-bor Hui 2005, 88) Tin-bor Hui, Victoria. 2005. War and State Formation in Ancient China and Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press. |
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11th Century
"Eleventh-century China was one of the high points of Chinese and world culture in almost every human endeavor, whether artistic, intellectual, or technological, and this grand century of achievement was founded on the long peace that the Chanyuan Covenant created." [1] 11th Century China has been compared to the Renaissance in Europe. [2] Before 1060s CE Factional conflict in the central government bureaucracy began in the 1060s CE. [3] 990-1010 CE "Between the last decade of the tenth century and the first decade of the eleventh, annual revenues of the Sung government doubled, and its yearly budgets moved from deficit to surplus financing." [4] 1000 CE After 960 CE the Song state "would take some 45 years to reach territorial stability and peaceful relations with its close neighbours." [5] 960-979 CE "two-decade-long expansion" 979-1005 CE conflict/relations with the Khitans 1005 CE Chanyaun Covenant. "Few peace treaties in world history have ever been so successful, creating 120 years of peace, yet so disliked by at least one of the signatories, the Song." [1] "T’ai-tsu and T’ai-tsung bequeathed to their successors a prosperous empire in which taxes were light and the government treasuries full." [6] Under Chen-tsung "the austerity of the earlier emperors went out of fashion." [6] After Wang An-shih’s financial reform program "the government’s yearly revenues increase spectacularly, providing far more than was needed to meet expenditure, but the financing of local administration was also put on a sounder basis than at any time since the beginning of the dynasty." [7] [1]: (Lorge 2005, 35) [2]: (Hartman 2015, 19) [3]: (Levine 2008, 1) Levine, Ari Daniel. 2008. Divided by a Common Language: Factional Conflict in Late Northern Song China. University of Hawai’i Press. Honolulu. [4]: (Hartman 2015, 23) [5]: (Lorge 2005, 30) [6]: (Golas 2015, 147) [7]: (Golas 2015, 152) |
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50 CE based on linear development progression at this low level of complexity.
"Jenne-jeno’s floruit: 450-1100 C.E." [1] [1]: (Susan Keech McIntosh and Roderick J. McIntosh "Jenne-jeno, an ancient African city" http://anthropology.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=500) |
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"Jenne-jeno’s floruit: 450-1100 C.E."
[1]
[1]: (Susan Keech McIntosh and Roderick J. McIntosh "Jenne-jeno, an ancient African city" http://anthropology.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=500) |
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Phase III: 400-900 CE. Urban expansion. apogee 750-1150 CE.
[1]
"Jenne-jeno’s floruit: 450-1100 C.E." [2] "Jenne-jeno’s floruit between 800-1000 C.E." [2] [1]: (McIntosh and McIntosh 1981, 16) [2]: (Susan Keech McIntosh and Roderick J. McIntosh "Jenne-jeno, an ancient African city" http://anthropology.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=500) |
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"Jenne-jeno’s floruit: 450-1100 C.E."
[1]
"Jenne-jeno’s floruit between 800-1000 C.E." [1] After 1180 CE "Jenne-jeno begins a 200-year long period of decline and gradual abandonment, before it becomes a ghost town by 1400." [1] Decline of Jenne-Jeno accompanied the rise of the new city of Djenne (the modern town, established "much earlier" than 1100 CE [2] ). We could hypothesize that Djenne started out as a political, military and ritual center which controlled the economic center at Jenne-Jeno, until Djenne took that over itself. However, this is my speculation. R and S McIntosh says "Analyses conducted thus far have not yielded any information on the possible reasons for the new settlement at Djenné." [2] [1]: (Susan Keech McIntosh and Roderick J. McIntosh "Jenne-jeno, an ancient African city" http://anthropology.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=500) [2]: McIntosh, Roderick. McIntosh, Susan. "Results of recent excavations at Jenné-jeno and Djenné, Mali" in Sanogo, K. Togola, T. 2004. Proceedings of the Eleventh Congress of the Pan-African Association for Prehistory and Related Fields. Institut des Sciences Humaines. Bamako. pp. 469-481. |
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Morocco conquered the Niger Inland Delta in 1591
[1]
The reign of Ahmad Al-Mansur was characterised by internal stability, greater prosperity (due to the revival of the sugar industry), lack of external threat (due to Morocco’s decisive victory against Portugal in the Battle of the Three Kings in 1578), and territorial expansion (most notably, in the Niger Inland Delta)
[1]
. Moreover, at this time a number of prominent Islamic scholars produced important works--most notably, Ahmad Baba wrote a collection of biographies on medieval Islamic scholars, and a seminal legal treaty on legal issues surrounding slavery
[2]
.
[1]: M. El Fasi, Morocco, in B.A. Ogot (ed), General History of Africa, vol. 5: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries (1992), pp. 200-232 [2]: N. Creighton, Ahmad Baba al-Massufi al-Tinbukti, in E.K. Akyeampong and H.L. Gates, Jr. (eds), Dictionary of African Biography (2012), pp. 124-125 |
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Central power decreased after the death of Kaladian Coulibaly
[1]
.
[1]: 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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1712-1755; 1766-1790; 1792-1808 Biton Coulibaly (1712-1755), Ngolo Diarra (1766-1790) are both described as "strong figures", exceptions in a sequence of weak rulers; and Monson Diarra (1792-1808), too, "made the power of Segu felt from San to Timbuktu and from the land of the Dogon to Kaarta"
[1]
.
[1]: 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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"The Xianbei were another polity from northeast China, with origins closely related ethnically and linguistically to the Wuhuan. By A.D. 155 the Xianbei had eclipsed the Wuhuan and were poised to fill the gap left by the fall of the Xiongnu polity."
[1]
"Subsequent to the death of Tanshikhuai, his brother came to power, followed by a nephew, and then an unrelated leader (Kebineng), but unity was ephemeral and by A.D. 235 the Xianbei broke into a series of smaller polities, eventually reemerging as the Toba (northern) Wei polity."
[2]
[1]: (Rogers 2012, 222-223) [2]: (Rogers 2012, 223) |
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"In 691 Ilterish kaghan died and was succeeded by his younger brother, who assumed the title Kapagan kaghan (‘Conquering kaghan’; Mo-ch’o in Chinese sources). His reign (691-716) marked the apogee of the military and political might of the Second Türk Empire - and the beginning of its decline."
[1]
[1]: (Klyashtorny 1996, 333) |
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The date of Kurultai when Chinggiz created the Empire.
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"Galdan had been subjugating Mongol tribes since the 1670s, taking control of all of eastern Turkestan by 1679."
[1]
"In sum, competition with the Qing state drove the Zunghars to undertake significant steps toward “self-strengthening.” Like many earlier nomadic empires, they established cities, developed agriculture, fostered trade, and generated tax revenues, but the primary motivation was not “as- similation” to settled societies’ customs but mobilization of resources for defense. Internal upheaval after the death of Galdan Tseren in 1745, however, curtailed these investments."
[2]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 161) [2]: (Perdue 2005, 307) |
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In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the island of New Guinea was controlled by competing colonial powers: ’In response to Australian pressure, the British government annexed Papua in 1888. Gold was discovered shortly thereafter, resulting in a major movement of prospectors and miners to what was then the Northern District. Relations with the Papuans were bad from the start, and there were numerous killings on both sides. The Protectorate of British New Guinea became Australian territory by the passing of the Papua Act of 1905 by the Commonwealth Government of Australia. The new administration adopted a policy of peaceful penetration, and many measures of social and economic national development were introduced. Local control was in the hands of village constables, paid servants of the Crown. Chosen by European officers, they were intermediaries between the government and the people.’
[1]
Economic development, resource exploitation, and political consolidation peaked in the decades before World War II: ’Capt. John Moresby of Great Britain surveyed the southeastern coast in the 1870s, and by the 1880s European planters had moved onto New Britain and New Ireland. By 1884 the German New Guinea Company was administering the northeastern quadrant, and a British protectorate was declared over the southeastern quadrant. Despite early gold finds in British New Guinea (which from 1906 was administered by Australia as the colony of Papua), it was in German New Guinea, administered by the German imperial government after 1899, that most early economic activity took place. Plantations were widely established in the New Guinea islands and around Madang, and labourers were transported from the Sepik River region, the Markham valley, and Buka Island. Australian forces displaced the German authorities on New Guinea early in World War I, and the arrangement was formalized in 1921, when Australian control of the northeastern quadrant of the island was mandated by the League of Nations. This territory remained administratively separate from Papua, where the protective paternalist policies of Sir Hubert Murray (lieutenant governor of Papua, 1908-40) did little to encourage colonial investment. The discovery in the 1920s of massive gold deposits in eastern New Guinea at the Bulolo River (a tributary of the Markham River) and Edie Creek, near Wau, led to a rush of activity that greatly increased the economic and social impact on the mandated territory compared with those in Papua to the south. In the early 1930s an even greater discovery was made-contact with nearly one million people previously unknown to Europeans who were living in the Highlands basins of the Australian mandate. During World War II the Japanese army invaded northern New Guinea in early 1942 and took the territorial headquarters in Rabaul. The Japanese were defeated by the Allies (primarily Australian troops) in the Battle of Milne Bay (August-September 1942) in eastern Papua but advanced along the rugged Kokoda Trail almost to the Papuan headquarters at Port Moresby before being pushed back over the mountains, again by Australian troops. The Allied victory in the Battle of the Coral Sea, southwest of the Solomon Islands, saved Port Moresby from a planned Japanese seaborne invasion. U.S. forces then moved quickly north and west across the island chain toward Borneo and beyond. Meanwhile, Australian troops continued a costly war on Bougainville Island and the New Guinea mainland until the Japanese surrender in August 1945.’
[2]
[1]: Latham, Christopher S.: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Orokaiva [2]: http://www.britannica.com/place/Papua-New-Guinea/History |
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Most developed at the end of this period?
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Early Iron Age.
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After 200 BCE greater Roman influence in Gaul. High point perhaps 150 BCE the date when Rome sought a formal treaty with the powerful King of the Averni.
[1]
By c120 BCE Rome had established the province of Gallia Narbonensis in Southern Gaul. [2] This set the stage for Gaul to be conquered by the Romans in the mid-first century. [1]: (Collis 2003, 170) [2]: (Wells 1999, 48) |
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"The peace and prosperity resulting from the efforts of Louis VI led to an increase inthe number of monks at Saint-Germain-des-Prés."
[1]
Louis VI (reign 1108-1137 CE)
Louis VI: "vigorous measures made the existing domain far more profitable, as did a favorable economy." [2] "Urban revival and the growth of a merchant class in the late 10th and 11th centuries" linked by some scholars to better international trade in Europe. [3] [1]: (Clark and Henneman 1995, 1318) [2]: (Henneman 1995, 1561-1562) [3]: (Reyerson 1995, 1156) |
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This quasi-polity was weakened significantly in the aftermath of the 1795 Hmong Rebellion and fell into an increasingly subordinate relationship to Qing Dynastic power after the end of the rebellion in 1806.
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Reign of Hammurabi. Before his ascension to the throne, Babylon was one of several petty states of fluctuating importance. By the end of his reign he had gained control of most of Babylonia, taken the old title of King of Sumer and Akkad, and had, for a brief time, taken over Assyria.
[1]
[1]: Oates, J. Babylon. Revised Edition. London: Thames and Hudson. p.55 |
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"The definitive removal of the Elamite threat from the Mesopotamian territories happened during the reign of the most important king of the dynasty, Nebuchadnezzar I."
[1]
[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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"Eulmash-shakin-shumi (1004-988), founder of the dynasty, came to the throne during this turbulent period characterized by famine and Aramaean invasions. [...] After the death of Eulmash-shakin-shumi, the Bazi dynasty lasted for only three more years. Two brothers ruled successively: Ninurta- kudurri-usur I (987-985) and Shirikti-Shuqamuna (985, for three months only)."
[1]
[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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Probably the early period of this chronology which coincides with urban expansion in Elymais?
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Al-Nasir (r.1180-1225 CE)
"Modern scholars, most notably Angelika Hartmann, argue that we was the last truly effective caliph in the Abbasid dynasty and ’restored this specifically Islamic institution to its former prestige." [1] The Caliphate of the late 12th to early 13th century "was a very different institution than the one into which al-Qadir billah entered ... we should view al-Qadir and al-Nasir’s caliphates as milestones in the history of the Abbasid Caliphate. Al-Nasir’s caliphate was a culmination of caliphal revitalization, a process that did not follow a distinctly linear path, but rather was affected by the unique actions of each of the previous caliphs, starting with al-Qadir, who began the process with his attempts to reassert the caliphal position in Baghdad." [1] 1226 CE since Az-Zahir built an army. [1]: (Hanne 2007, 204) Hanne, Eric J. 2007. Putting the Caliph in His Place: Power, Authority, and the Late Abbasid Caliphate. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. |
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Shutruk-Nahhunte invaded Babylonia and overthrew the Kassite king Zababa-shuma-iddina in this year and probably gave the throne to his son Kutir-Nahhunte. He bought a lot of bounty back to Elam after the battle, including the victory stele of Naram-Sin and probably the Law Code of Hammurabi.
[1]
[1]: Potts, D.T. 1999. The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.233 |
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"The ’golden age’ of the united federal Elam was toward the end of the second millennium B.C., when, after a period of decline, the empire enjoyed a renaissance of power and achievement in arts and architectures; one of the federated states, Kassite, conquered and ruled Babylonia for 567 years, and Elam expanded to almost all of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor"
[1]
"At the same time as the rise of the Middle Assyrian state, the Middle Elamite state grew under Humban-nimena, Untash-Humban, Unpater-Humban and Kidin-Hutran. Internally, the most influential Elamite king was Untash-Humban, who founded the city of Dur-Untash (Choga Zanbil, south-east of Susa). Dur-Untash was a small city, but certainly an important religious centre, with a ziqqurat that could have been completed with the Babylonian ones and a rich set of temples and public buildings ... Therefore, Elam was clearly influenced by the tendencies of the time ... founding royal residences and artificial capitals ex novo." [2] -- c1350 BCE reign date? "the reign of Untash-Humban constituted the apogee of the Middle Elamite period." [2] [1]: (Farazmand 2001, 535) Farazmand, Ali in Farazmand, Ali ed. 2001. Handbook of Comparative and Development Public Administration. Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York. [2]: (Leverani 2014, 377) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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Shutruk-Nahhunte invaded Babylonia and overthrew the Kassite king Zababa-shuma-iddina in this year and probably gave the throne to his son Kutir-Nahhunte. He bought a lot of bounty back to Elam after the battle, including the victory stele of Naram-Sin and probably the Law Code of Hammurabi.
[1]
"Elam reached the peak of its power in the twelfth century BC" [2] "The Middle Elamite apogee is marked by the intense building activities of Shilhak-Inshushinak, especially in Susa." [3] "Tall-i Malyan, the main centre of eastern Elam (Anshan) ... collapsed after the Middle Elamite period." [4] [1]: Potts, D.T. 1999. The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.233 [2]: (Leverani 2014, 458) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. [3]: (Leverani 2014, 460) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. [4]: (Leverani 2014, 527) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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Reign of Humban-nikash I, considered the most stable period of an otherwise unstable kingdom. Sources disagree as to his success: the Assyrian’s claim it as a victory for themselves, while the Babylonians claim victory for Humban-nikash I. Being the least invested in the outcome of the battle, the Babylonian source is generally believed. It suggests he beat the Assyrian’s in battle which lead to a decade of peace. After his death royal political power appears to begin to diffuse to regional power.
[1]
[1]: Carter, E. and Stopler, M.W. 1984. Elam: Surveys of Political History and Archaeology. London: University of California Press. p.45 |
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From an analysis of hundreds of coins found at Susa which had come from mints at Seleucia-on-the-Tigris, Spasinu Charax and elsewhere, he suggests that "Susa grew wealthy between about A.D. 40 and A.D. 125 through its role as agent and supplier to these land and sea trade routes. But after A.D. 107/8, there was a sharp decline in the number of coins from other cities in circulation in Susa, at least insofar as they are represented in the finds at Susa, and Le Rider interprets this as a reflection of the decline in Susa’s commercial importance."
[1]
"Trajan’s advance sparked revolts in numerous cities in Mesopotamia, and it may be that shock waves from these events reached Susa also, because, as noted, there seems to have been a rapid decline in commercial activity and a cessation of the mint at Susa at about this time. Yet when Trajan died in Mesopotamia in A.D. 117 and his successors declined to pursue Roman interests there, Susa and the rest of Elymais seem - at least on the basis of numismatic evidence - to have been unable or unwilling to resume their independent roles." [2] "decline of Susa as a commercial capital after about A.D. 100" [3] [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 [2]: (Wenke 1981, 310) 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 [3]: (Wenke 1981, 313) 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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Under Qara Otman 1398 CE the Ak Koyunlu gained more territory, support from more tribes, better relations with Christian sedentary peoples, and he "had at his command at least a rudimentary bureaucratic apparatus of the Iranian-Islamic type."
[1]
"The Āq Qoyunlu empire reached its zenith under Uzun Ḥasan. He was the first of their rulers to declare himself an independent sultan". [1] r. c1453-1478 CE. [1]: (Quiring-Zoche 2011) Quiring-Zoche, R. 2011. Aq Qoyunlu. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aq-qoyunlu-confederation |
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Once civil and government reforms had begun but before the civil disorder?
Tehran: "A recent study has supplied more reliable numbers: 106,482 in 1883; 160,000 in 1891; 210,000 in 1922; and 310,000 in 1932." [1] [1]: (Bosworth ed. 2007, 511) ???. Tehran. C Edmund Bosworth. ed. 2007. Historic Cities of the Islamic World. BRILL. Leiden. |
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Time when Upper Egyptian Naqada II culture was settled also in Nile Delta (the process of subjugation of Northern lands started in the IIC stage). Some of the Lower Egyptian Culture settlements assimilated with the Upper Egyptian Naqada culture and new Naqada-sites appeared in the North
[1]
. That is also a time of inner development and flourishing of interregional contacts.
[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: 29-30. |
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The fifth Dynasty was the high-point for the centralization of government i.e. development of complex granary administration.
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Golden Age of the Middle Kingdom began with Amenemhet I (c1991-1962 BCE) and ended around 1800 BCE.
[1]
[2]
Middle Kingdom was “classical age of Egyptian civilization with a flowering of art and literature in a time of peace and prosperity.”
[3]
Amenemhat III (c.1831-1786 BCE) was "the cultural climax of the Middle Kingdom." [4] [1]: (http://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/egypt02-04enl.html) [2]: (http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/history12-17.htm#amenemheti) [3]: (Wawro 2008, 42) [4]: (Callender 1983, 156) Callender, Gae. "The Middle Kingdom Renaissance" in Shaw, Ian. ed. 2003. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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The date range given here corresponds to the whole Tierras Largas phase as there was no discernible peak date.
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It has been suggested that the Guadalupe phase was a ‘winding down’ of social complexity compared to the preceeding San José phase.
[1]
The peak dates have therefore been coded as relating to the San José phase.
[2]
[1]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2005). Excavations at San José Mogote 1: The Household Archaeology, University of Michigan Museum, p13 [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2005). Excavations at San José Mogote 1: The Household Archaeology, University of Michigan Museum, p12 |
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Monte Albán gained more territory throughout this period, so the peak date has been coded as the end of the Monte Albán Late I phase.
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The end of the period is coded here, as by this point the Zapotecs had conquered the most territory both within and outside of the Valley of Oaxaca.
[1]
[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, p462 |
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Chapter 2: "Venice as a Great Power 1282-1481"
[1]
"At the height of its power in the sixteenth century, the city of Venice counted nearly 170,000 souls, with a population of more than two million in its subject territories."
[2]
[1]: (McNeill 1986, 46) William H McNeill. 1986. Venice: The Hinge of Europe, 1081-1797. University of Chicago Press. Chicago. [2]: (Martin and Romano 2000, 1) John Martin. Dennis Romano. Reconsidering Venice. John Martin. Dennis Romano. eds. 2000. Venice Reconsidered: The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State 1297-1797. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. |
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In terms of territory and population, the US in this period reached its peak in 1865, just before the start of the civil war.
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Assumed that the peak date in terms of total territory and population was before Charles I divided the Habsburg empire into the Austrian and Spanish branches in 1554.
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“In the 1780s the Habsburg dynasty’s holdings stretched from today’s cities of Innsbruck in the west to Lviv in the east, from Milan and Florence on the Italian peninsula to Antwerp on the North Sea and Cluj in the Carpathian Mountains, from Prague in Bohemia to Vukovar and down to Belgrade in the south. 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.”
[1]
[1]: (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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“During the 14th century, Czech society underwent fundamental changes. The consolidation of royal power and the international prestige of the ruler’s line, as well as the harmony between Charles IV and the Church, eased the conflicts with the nobility. The latter’s representatives were temporarily satisfied by appointments to important offices and the easing of the pressure that they experienced under the Přemyslids. This peaceful state of affairs enabled the nobility to improve their position, which relied on the economic prosperity of the Bohemian crown lands and their political and cultural blossoming. The Czech state found itself at its zenith at the end of the 14th century and it was recognized throughout Europe not only as the heart of the Holy Roman Empire but also as one of its engines of political and cultural change.”
[1]
[1]: (Pánek and Oldřich 2009: 150-151) 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 |
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This period saw Russia’s significant military victories, most notably during the Napoleonic Wars. Russia’s pivotal role in defeating Napoleon, especially after the invasion of Russia in 1812.
The post-Napoleonic era, especially the Congress of Vienna in 1815, marked the height of Russian diplomatic influence in Europe. Alexander I played a key role in the negotiations, shaping a new European order that recognized Russia’s expanded territories and status as a great power. [1] [1]: Alan Warwick Palmer, Alan Warwick Palmer, and Alan Warwick Palmer, Alexander I: Gegenspieler Napoleons, trans. Irmingard Bechtle (Esslingen: Bechtle, 1982). Zotero link: WPWL5UJP |
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Öz Beg (Uzbek) Khan is considered to be the greatest ruler of the Golden Horde. During his reign the polity reached the height of its power and Islam became the official state religion. The khan’s court was full of scholars, theologians, mathematicians and astronomers. During the reign of his son and successor, Jani Beg Khan, the Black Death hit the Horde. Jani Beg was later assassinated in 1357. As the Golden Horde would not return to its height of power again, the end of Öz Beg’s reign is considered to mark the beginning of the decline and gradual disintegration of the Golden Horde.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[1]: “Golden Horde”. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VXQGWC6R [2]: Halperin 1987: 27. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VCPWVNM. [3]: Khakimov and Favereau 2017: 460. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QL8H3FN8 |
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In terms of territory and population the polity became progressively more powerful and therefore the final year of the duration of the polity can be considered the peak date.
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“The heyday of Chaco was 900– 1125 ce, sustained by cooler and wetter conditions that favored new strains of maize… Chaco Canyon villagers reached their maximum population of around 5,500 people by 1050 ce.”
[1]
[1]: (Snow et al 2020: 195) Snow, Dean R., Gonlin, Nancy, and Siegel, Peter E. 2020. The Archaeology of Native North America, 2nd ed. London; New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5T4C9IQT |
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“By and large, historians all agree that Mawlây al-Rashïd’s reign was marked by remarkable progress in all realms, unbroken peace and beneficent prosperity after the long years of strife and poverty.”
[1]
[1]: (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 |
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Following defeat of Napoleonic France. "What materially enhanced the security of Britain’s scattered possessions after 1815 ... was the relative peacefulness which afflicted international relations and the absence of any European nation strong enough to challenge the global superiority of the Royal Navy. This exceptional interlude faded in the 1870s with the rise of Continental powers harbouring colonial ambitions."
[1]
[1]: (Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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“No sight gives a better impression of the past glories of Maya civilisation than the towering ruins of Tikal. At its 8th-century peak a score of red-painted pyramids dominated the heart of a dispersed metropolis housing as many as 60,000 people.”
[1]
“While Jasaw Chan K’awiil deserves the major credit for Tikal’s upturn, it was his son the 27th ruler, Yik’in Chan K’awiil (perhaps ‘K’awiil that Darkens the Sky’) [r. 734-746 CE], who brought its imperial ambitions to real fruition and turned the city into one outshining all its rivals.”
[2]
[1]: (Martin and Grube 2000: 25) Martin, Simon and Nikolai Grube. 2000. Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya. London; New York: Thames & Hudson. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5WIIDVRJ [2]: (Martin and Grube 2000: 48) Martin, Simon and Nikolai Grube. 2000. Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya. London; New York: Thames & Hudson. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5WIIDVRJ |
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The peak years of the Přemyslid Dynasty in the Kingdom of Bohemia are generally considered to be during the reign of Ottokar II, who ruled from 1253 to 1278. Ottokar II, also known as Ottokar II the Iron and Golden King, is often regarded as one of the most powerful Czech monarchs. His reign is marked by significant territorial expansion, economic development, and the strengthening of royal authority.
[1]
[1]: Hoensch, Přemysl Otakar II. von Böhmen. Zotero link: LVNSK3MW |
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Peter the Great, reigning from 1682 to 1725, put Russia into the forefront of European powers through comprehensive reforms and territorial expansion. His efforts to modernize and westernize Russian military, governmental, and societal structures significantly altered the country’s trajectory. Notably, his victory in the Great Northern War (1700-1721) against Sweden secured Russia’s access to the Baltic Sea, facilitating the foundation of Saint Petersburg in 1703, which became a symbol of Russia’s new western-oriented outlook. Peter’s reforms extended to revamping the administrative system, introducing new educational institutions, and promoting industrial development, thereby laying the groundwork for Russia’s emergence as a European empire.
[1]
[1]: Marc Raeff, Peter the Great Changes Russia (Heath, 1972). Zotero link: ETGA4BHM |
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The launch of Sputnik in 1957 marks a symbolic beginning of the peak period, demonstrating the USSR’s technological prowess and its leading position in the Space Race, a key aspect of Cold War competition. This period encapsulates the height of the Soviet Union’s global influence and internal cohesion, highlighted by achievements in space exploration, a strong and competitive industrial and military complex, extensive geopolitical influence through the Warsaw Pact and support for global socialist movements, and a period of cultural and scientific flourishing.
[1]
[1]: Dewdney et al., “Britannica.” Zotero link: TWGEBIMJ |
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"In the field of religion and culture, the nineteenth century is said to have witnessed the golden age of Islam in the Futa Jalon. It was the century of great scholars and the growth of Islamic culture. All the disciplines of the Quran were known and taught: translation, the hadiths, law, apologetics, the ancillary sciences such as grammar, rhetoric, literature, astronomy, local works in Pular and Arabic, and mysticism. Nineteenth-century European visitors were highly impressed by the extent of the Islamization, which was visible in the large number of mosques and schools at all levels, the degree of scholarship, the richness of the libraries, and the widespread practice of Islamic worship. All this seems to have been facilitated by the use of the local language, Pular, as a medium of teaching and popularization of Islamic rules and doctrine."
[1]
[1]: (Barry 2005: 539) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/SU25S5BX/items/6TXWGHAX/item-list |
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"[T]he Nok Culture can be viewed as a tripartite complex: starting with the onset of farming in the middle of the second millennium BCE, leading to a flourishing period between approximately 900 and 400 BCE with dense occupation, elaborate terracotta art and the advent of iron metallurgy, followed by its sudden decline and ultimate disappearance in the last centuries BCE. The Nok tradition vanishes around the turn of the eras, possibly related to unfavourable environmental changes (Höhn & Neumann 2016). Younger sites, up to historical times, are grouped together artificially as “Post-Nok” sites, in order to separate them from the Nok sites. Besides the complete absence of Nok sculptures, there is also a marked difference in pottery decoration techniques as well as in the chemical composition of the clay used for pottery making (Beck 2015; Franke 2015)."
[1]
[1]: (Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 244) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/ES4TRU7R. |
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Between conversion to Islam and the crisis that began in the thirteenth century. "After the eleventh century the Sayfuwa [dynasty] began to incorporate Islamic principles into their political system, and soon afterward territorial expansion into areas north and west began. [...] By the thirteenth century the political and territorial influence of the rulers of Kanem had expanded. 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)."
[1]
[1]: (Gronenborn 2002: 103) |
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"[T]he Nok Culture can be viewed as a tripartite complex: starting with the onset of farming in the middle of the second millennium BCE, leading to a flourishing period between approximately 900 and 400 BCE with dense occupation, elaborate terracotta art and the advent of iron metallurgy, followed by its sudden decline and ultimate disappearance in the last centuries BCE. The Nok tradition vanishes around the turn of the eras, possibly related to unfavourable environmental changes (Höhn & Neumann 2016). Younger sites, up to historical times, are grouped together artificially as “Post-Nok” sites, in order to separate them from the Nok sites. Besides the complete absence of Nok sculptures, there is also a marked difference in pottery decoration techniques as well as in the chemical composition of the clay used for pottery making (Beck 2015; Franke 2015)."
[1]
[1]: (Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 244) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/ES4TRU7R. |
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By 10th century, the cultures of the region exhibit evidence of stratification, as well as regional trade links to neighbouring polities, such as Mapungubwe. “Around the year 700, pastoralists began to move into the area… taking advantage… of local pasturage to support larger cattle herds. Here they came into contact with the Khoisan people already resident in the area…. By 900 a stratified and hierarchical society was emerging on the fringes of the Kalahari Desert, linked regionally to other emergent states like that at Mapungubwe.”
[1]
[1]: (Erlank 2005; 701) Natasha Erlank, “Iron Age (Later): Southern Africa: Toutswemogala, Cattle, and Political Power,” in Encyclopedia of African History Vol. 2, ed. Kevin Shillington (Fitzroy Dearborn, 2005): 701-702. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AWA9ZT5B/collection |
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Identified by Pikirayi as the period during which the capital and political influence of Great Zimbabwe appears to have been at its largest and most successful. As with much of the information on the polity, this is primarily based on the archaeological record of the capital itself, and the period of greatest apparent size and construction. “By the 14th century it was at the helm of a political hierarchy controlling territory and a community equivalent to a state…. Great Zimbabwe only became important after the demise of Mapungubwe taking over the control of long-distance trade…. At its peak during the 14th century Great Zimbabwe occupied an area over 700ha, with population estimates of up to 20,000 people.”
[1]
“Great Zimbabwe reached its peak during the 14th and 15th centuries when the erection of elaborate stone structures – evidently symbolizing prestige and status – was extended towards outlying areas. During its fluorescence, displaying elite residences, ritual centers, public forums, markets, houses of commoners and artisans, and with a population estimated at 18,000 inhabitants, it became the largest metropolis in southern Africa.”
[2]
[1]: (Pikirayi 2006; 31-32) Innocent Pikirayi, “The Demise of Great Zimbabwe, AD 1420-1550: An Environmental Re-Appraisal,” in Cities in the World, 1500-2000 (Routledge, 2006): 31-47. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/6Z64MQH4/collection [2]: (Pikirayi 2013; 26-27) Innocent Pikirayi, “Great Zimbabwe in Historical Archaeology: Reconceptualizing Decline, Abandonment, and Reoccupation of an Ancient Polity, A.D. 1450-1900,” in Historical Archaeology Vol. 47, No. 1 (2013): 26-37. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/642PWKV7/collection |
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While during the Torwa period the polity remained relatively weaker than the Mutapa and their Portuguese allies, the polity reached its greatest strength in the initial years of Rozvi rule, up to the death of Changamire Dombo. “By around 1494 a dynasty called Torwa broke away and established itself in Guruuswa in the southwestern periphery of the state…. A political dispute occurred in the early 1640s in the area controlled by the Torwa; one of the Torwa rulers was defeated in a power struggle and forced to flee. The Portuguese intervened in this conflict by sending a small Portuguese army led by Sismundo Dias Bayao. This event is linked to the fall of Khami. The capital area shifted about 150 kilometers east, where the Torwa continued to rule until the early 1680s...//… After 1684 the Karanga, led by Dombo Changamire, replaced the Torwa dynasty. Their followers were called the Rozvi. Dombo Changamire founded a powerful state whose influence reached the areas formerly controlled by the Mutapa State such as Mukaranga, Mbire, and Manyika. Information about Dombo Changamire is sketchy but historical sources suggest he was a descendant of one the Torwa leaders who built his political career through cattle wealth…//… The succession disputes that occurred after the death of Dombo Changamire undermined the power of the state. Many Rozvi migrated elsewhere, with some setting up chiefdoms in the areas they subsequently settled…. [a son of Dombo] crossed the Limpopo River and conquered the territory of the Venda… in the Zoutpansberg. This is the Thovhela State that is mentioned by the Dutch traders based at Delagoa Bay (c.1730)…. Torwa-Rozvi rule lasted almost 400 years in southwestern Zimbabwe. The Rozvi declined following the arrival of the mfecane groups from the south of the Limpopo. Direct attacks by the Sotho and Nguni and the subsequent Ndebele settlement saw the demise of the Rozvi in the 1850s.”
[1]
.“Changamire II/Changamire Dombo of the 1670s-1696 was the true founder of the Rozvi state….”
[2]
.
[1]: (Pikirayi 2005, 1573) Innocent Pikirayi, “Torwa, Changamire Dombo, and the Rozvi,” in Encyclopaedia of African History Vol. 3, ed. Kevin Shillington (Chicago: Taylor & Francis, 2005): 1572-1573. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AWA9ZT5B/item-details [2]: (Machiridza 2008, 3) Lesley Machiridza, “Developing the Rozvi Archaeological Identity in Southwestern Zimbabwe,” in Zimbabwean Prehistory Vol. 28 (2008). Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2XKVR72R/item-details |
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If measured in territorial terms, then these dates encompass the general period at which the Mutapa kingdom’s territorial size and power was at its greatest. While the state’s decline had begun during the 1600s the date of 1693 represents the point at which it was obviously – between a succession crisis, foreign intervention and the destruction of its Portuguese trade partners – being dismembered and surpassed in influence by other polities, and after which its decline was most evident. “From the early sixteenth century, the state controlled the northern limits of the Zimbabwe Plateau and the adjacent Zambezi lowlands.”
[1]
“The state went into decline in the seventeenth century, for a variety of reasons, including the presence of the Portuguese prazeiros (landowners) in the coastal interior and in the state capital. By playing one claimant to the Mutapa throne against another, they progressively weakened the state…. Meanwhile, in the succession crisis following the death of Mukombwe in 1693, the demise of the Mutapa state was hastened when Changamire Dombo backed one side while the Portuguese backed the other. In the ensuing armed conflict, Dombo overran the Portuguese fair of Dambarare, killing all Portuguese traders in it, capturing the gold-rich Manyika territory and becoming the undisputed power in the subregion.”
[2]
[1]: (Pikirayi 2005, 1056) Innocent Pikirayi, “Mutapa State, 1450-1884,” in Encyclopedia of African History Vol. 2, ed. Kevin Shillington (Fitzroy Dearborn, 2005): 1056-1058. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AWA9ZT5B/collection [2]: (Mlambo 2014, 22-23) Alois Mlambo, A History of Zimbabwe (New York, Cambridge University Press: 2014). Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/IMR6WQ6M/item-details |
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“With Parārkramabāhu I the great period of artistic activity of Polonnaruva began, and was continued under Niśśaṅka Malla during the brief decade (1187-96) of order and stability which his reign represented during which Polonnaruva reached the zenith of its development as a capital city.”
[1]
[1]: (De Silva 1981, 75) 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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“About 1830 Sanna Abba Jifar succeeded in uniting many of the Jimma Galla under his rule as king of Jimma-Kakka, known also as Jimma Abba Jifar [...] In a number of clashes in the late 1830s and 1840s Jimma defeated its neighbours on all sides, including Innarya itself. When Abba Jifar died in 1855, Jimma was by far the most powerful state of the region.”
[1]
[1]: (Rubenson 2008, 85) Rubenson, Sven. 2008. ‘Ethiopia and the Horn’ In The Cambridge History of Africa c.1790 – c.1870. Edited by John E. Flint. Vol. 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Sven/titleCreatorYear/items/VRU64Q8P/item-list |
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It was not until the last quarter of the 14th century that Adal Sultanate formed.
[1]
After a decisive military loss and the death of the ruler imam Ahmad Gurey, the Adal Sultanate was absorbed into other kingdoms. “From 1529 to 1542, he conquered almost all of Ethiopia, but in 1543 his armies were defeated by the allied Ethiopian-Portuguese forces and retreated and finally dispersed.
[2]
[1]: (Tamrat 2008, 149) Tamrat, Taddesse. 2008. ‘Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Horn’ In the Cambridge History of Africa: c. 1050 – c.1600 vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 98-182. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Tamrat/titleCreatorYear/items/A68FCWWI/item-list [2]: (Mukhtar 2003, 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 |
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“The Ajuuraan state gradually became a notable and well-respected empire between 1550 and 1650, using a strong centralized administration and aggressive army to project itself as a force in the region.”
[1]
[1]: (Njoku 2013, 40) Njoku, Raphael C. 2013. The History of Somalia. Santa Barbara: Greenwood Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U9FHBPZF/library |
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“Among the motley group of states that succeeded the Ajuuraan state, the Gobroon Dynasty stood out as the most successful. Under one of its sultans, known as Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim, the third sultan, who ruled from 1789 to 1848, the kingdom entered into an era now called the Golden Age of the Gobroon Dynasty.”
[1]
[1]: (Njoku 2013, 41) Njoku, Raphael C. 2013. The History of Somalia. Santa Barbara: Greenwood Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U9FHBPZF/library |
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The peak dates shown highlight the apex of the Sultanate in the early nineteenth century (approximate date of the beginning of the peak not known) before being involved in treaty agreements with the British government in 1839. The Sultanate prospered under the Sultan Isman Mahamud who ruled from 1844 to 1860. The Sultanate began to unravel due to foreign contact with the British and the Italians and fighting between Sultan Isman Mahamud and his rival cousin Yusuf Ali. “Although the Majerteen Sultanate was founded in the second half of the eighteenth century it only came into prominence in the nineteenth century following the time in power of the famous Boqor Isman Mahamud.”
[1]
[1]: (Njoku 2013, 41) Njoku, Raphael C. 2013. The History of Somalia. Santa Barbara: Greenwood Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U9FHBPZF/library |
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“The Funj sultanate reached its maximum power in the reign of Badi II (1644-80). In the mid-eighteenth century, the state disintegrated into regional warlord-ships, supported by rich merchants and landowners.”
[1]
[1]: (Lapidus 2012, 621) Lapidus, Ira M. 2012. Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SRW6XCHP/collection |
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“1798-1821 is the height of the Kafa empire under the leadership of Hoti Ginoch-during this time there are thirty-eight Kingdoms and chiefdoms paying tribute to Kafa.”
[1]
[1]: (Orent 1970, 263) 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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The following quote does not give definitive dates regarding the peak of the polity. However, the rage is based on Abir’s assessment. “The development of trade in the Red Sea in the last decades of the seventeenth century probably affected the economy of Harar and contributed to some extent to its relative political stability. The Sultanate, nonetheless, began to decline at the end of the eighteenth century.”
[1]
[1]: (Abir 2008, 552) Abir, Mordecai. 2008. ‘Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa’ In The Cambridge History of Africa c. 1600 – c. 1790. Edited by Richard Gray. Vol 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 537-577. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Abir/titleCreatorYear/items/JHH9VH96/item-list |
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Mordechai Abir gives an unspecified start and end of peak dates. “In the 18th century, the Sultanate of Aussa, dominated by the Mudaito Asaimara and having a Mudaito Sultan, was the strongest and most important Afar political unit. However, it seems that by the end of the 18th century the Aussa Sultanate was past its peak, and the Adoimara Afar started to encroach on Aussa Territory.”
[1]
[1]: (Abir 1966, 6) Abir, M. 1966. “Salt, Trade and Politics in Ethiopia in the ‘Zämänä Mäsafent”. Journal of Ethiopian Studies. Vol 4:2. Pp 1-10. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P7U3R35T/library |
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"The phenomenal elaboration of material culture in the first four centuries of the second millennium A.D. have been identified as the watershed in the cultural florescence of Ile-Ife (Eyo, 1974b; Garlake, 1974, 1977; Willett, 1973), prompting Willett (1967, 1973) to call it the Classical era. I have elsewhere proposed that the Classical period can be subdivided into two phases: A.D. 1000–1200 and A.D. 1200–1400 (Ogundiran, 2001, 2003). The earlier phase was characterized by the construction of concentric walls that defined the new urban landscape (Ozanne, 1969); the florescence of art in durable media, such as copper alloys, terracotta, and granite stones, much of which serviced the royal court and the religious cults (Willett, 1967); the setting up of large-scale production of glass beads about 1.6 km. from the center of the city (Ajetunmobi, 1989; Eluyemi, 1987); the construction of large-scale impluvium houses (houses with an open central courtyard) and extensive potsherd and stone pavements around the city (Agbaje-Williams, 2001; Garlake, 1975, 1977; Ogunfolakan, 1994); and the elaboration of iconography and rituals (Eyo, 1974a, 1974b). Sacred kingship was fully developed during this period. Human sacrifice either began or increased during the eleventh century A.D., sometimes accompanying the elite burials or associated with state rituals. Mortuary goods, such as glass and carnelian beads, copper alloy sculptures and adornment, indicate the orientation of the elite towards external commerce (Garlake, 1974, p. 122)."
[1]
"The main art-producing period of early Ife, what I define as the florescence era (Ogundiran’s Classical Period), is distinguished by both roulette- and corddecorated ceramics. Within a relatively short time span in this period, in what I identify as Ife’s high florescence era, most of the early arts appear to have been made. One can date this latter period to c. 1250–1350 CE based on a range of factors, including the thermoluminescence tests of the extant clay core in metal works and the likely reign era of OObalufon II as delimited in Ife oral histories and king lists."
[2]
[1]: (Ogundiran 2005: 150) [2]: (Blier 2015: 44) |
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"The phenomenal elaboration of material culture in the first four centuries of the second millennium A.D. have been identified as the watershed in the cultural florescence of Ile-Ife (Eyo, 1974b; Garlake, 1974, 1977; Willett, 1973), prompting Willett (1967, 1973) to call it the Classical era. I have elsewhere proposed that the Classical period can be subdivided into two phases: A.D. 1000–1200 and A.D. 1200–1400 (Ogundiran, 2001, 2003). The earlier phase was characterized by the construction of concentric walls that defined the new urban landscape (Ozanne, 1969); the florescence of art in durable media, such as copper alloys, terracotta, and granite stones, much of which serviced the royal court and the religious cults (Willett, 1967); the setting up of large-scale production of glass beads about 1.6 km. from the center of the city (Ajetunmobi, 1989; Eluyemi, 1987); the construction of large-scale impluvium houses (houses with an open central courtyard) and extensive potsherd and stone pavements around the city (Agbaje-Williams, 2001; Garlake, 1975, 1977; Ogunfolakan, 1994); and the elaboration of iconography and rituals (Eyo, 1974a, 1974b). Sacred kingship was fully developed during this period. Human sacrifice either began or increased during the eleventh century A.D., sometimes accompanying the elite burials or associated with state rituals. Mortuary goods, such as glass and carnelian beads, copper alloy sculptures and adornment, indicate the orientation of the elite towards external commerce (Garlake, 1974, p. 122)."
[1]
"The main art-producing period of early Ife, what I define as the florescence era (Ogundiran’s Classical Period), is distinguished by both roulette- and corddecorated ceramics. Within a relatively short time span in this period, in what I identify as Ife’s high florescence era, most of the early arts appear to have been made. One can date this latter period to c. 1250–1350 CE based on a range of factors, including the thermoluminescence tests of the extant clay core in metal works and the likely reign era of OObalufon II as delimited in Ife oral histories and king lists."
[2]
[1]: (Ogundiran 2005: 150) [2]: (Blier 2015: 44) |
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“the Jukun people were already established in the middle Benue basin and also in the Gongola valley during the period 1200-1600. It is even possible that their expansion into Kasar Chiki had already started in the sixteenth century. During the period under discussion they had established a powerful state, which by 1600 was approaching the peak of its military might. The early importance of the Jukun is also suggested by the fact that there are some ethnic groups which either claim descent from the Jukun or have copied many aspects of their culture, directly or through the Igala.”
[1]
“The Jukun-speaking peoples of Northern Nigeria are believed to be the descendants of the ruling stratum of the powerful Kororofa ’empire’ (probably a loose federation of tribes), which dominated the Benue Valley from about the fourteenth century to the middle of the eighteenth.”
[2]
[1]: Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann ; University of California Press: 283. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection [2]: 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. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NTI9GQMF/collection |
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“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.”
[1]
[1]: 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 |
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“By 1730, Oyo had become the largest political formation in West Africa south of the River Niger, stretching its arms across both the savanna and the rainforest belts, with a vast network of towns, villages, colonies, and kingdoms under its control.”
[1]
“The Old Oyo Empire […] rose to prominence in the 17th century and reached its peak in the 18th century. When the empire finally collapsed in 1835, it was territorially the largest and the most politically powerful Yoruba kingdom ever. Scholars do not agree on the extent of the size of the Old Oyo Empire. However, However, what is certain is that at the height of its power in the 18th century, the eastern end of the empire extended from the coast near Badagry northward along the western boundary of Ijebu territories”.
[2]
Robin Law splits the chronology into: The Oyo Empire (c. 1600–c. 1790); The Fall of the Oyo Empire (c. 1790–c. 1836).
[3]
Law also includes a map named “3. The oyo Kingdom at its greatest extent (c. 1780).”
[4]
“Ojigi did not, however, carry the Oyo empire to its greatest power and extent. Dahomey revolted, and had to be reconquered in a war fought in 1739–48. Further campaigning was also necessary in Egbaland, under Ojigi’s successor Gberu. Expansion continued under Basorun Gaha, who usurped effective power at Oyo in 1754–74, and who was responsible for the Oyo colonization of the Ewon area of northern Egbado. The period of Gaha’s rule apparently also saw Oyo forces operating far away to the west, close to the River Volta, where they are reported to have inflicted a defeat on the Asante in 1764. It was under Alafin Abiodun, who overthrew Gaha in 1774 and ruled until his death in 1789, that the Oyo empire attained its greatest extent. Abiodun organized the Oyo colonization of the southern Egbado area around Ilaro, and exacted tribute from the coastal kingdom of Porto Novo. He also campaigned in Egbaland, and effected the conquest, in 1788, of the Mahi country between Sabe and Dahomey.”
[5]
[1]: Ogundiran, Akinwumi & Agbaje-Williams, Babatunde (2017). In Gosselain, O. P., & MacEachern, S. Field Manual for African Archaeology (A. Livingstone-Smith & E. Cornelissen, Eds.): 69. Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/JRMZECR5/collection [2]: Aderinto, Saheed. African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations. ABC-CLIO, 2017: 244. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/EB5TWDG7/note/U7W4UF33/ 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. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB32ZPCF/collection [4]: 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: 89. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB32ZPCF/collection [5]: 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: 239. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB32ZPCF/collection |
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“From the 1670s, however, it developed into a major center of the Atlantic slave trade, rivalling and then eclipsing Allada as the principal supplier of slaves in the region. Its political and commercial florescence proved to be brief, falling before the expansion of the hinterland kingdom of Dahomey in the 1720s. The Dahomians, having already conquered Allada in 1724, invaded Whydah in 1727, inflicting devastating destruction upon the country and driving out its king and much of its population into exile to the west.2 In the years preceding this conquest in 1727, Whydah had suffered protracted and bitter internal disputes, degenerating on more than one occasion into actual civil war, and these domestic divisions clearly contributed to its failure to present any effective resistance to the Dahomian conquest.”
[1]
“By the early seventeenth century, Allada was the leading Aja polity. It first appeared on a map of the 1480s but was clearly more ancient. In the mid-seventeenth century, the coastal polity of Whydah, previously subject to Allada, gained its independence and from 1671 on, it dominated the external trade of the coast.”
[2]
[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: 201. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/8JKAH2V5/collection [2]: Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press, 1997: 348. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z4GK27CI/collection |
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“At its apex in 1860, the Caliphate then as a continuous phenomenon had over 31 emirates under allegiance, with Kebbi, Kano, Zazzau (Zaria), Bauchi, Ilorin, Nupe and Muri been the prominent ones.”
[1]
[1]: Okene, Ahmed Adam, and Shukri B. Ahmad. “Ibn Khaldun, Cyclical Theory and the Rise and Fall of Sokoto Caliphate, Nigeria West Africa.” International Journal of Business and Social Science, vol. 2, no. 4, 2011, pp. 80–91: 81. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/H7J2NC37/collection |
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“By the close of the 18th century Igala had developed into a large and powerful state, and had in all probability reached its zenith. The eastern boundary of Igala proper ran from the River Ocheku through Agatu, Ocheku, Adoka, Boju, through the Idoma and Nsukka countries to Damoogoo (shown on the old maps but now deserted) on the Niger some little way above Onitsha. To this must be added the external fiefs of Igbirra Panda, Igbirra Igu (Koton Karifi) and Ishabe (Kakanda), whilst the Ata’s writ on the Niger itself extended from the limits of the Benin " influence " to the Bussa rapids, where Mungo Park met his death.”
[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: 400. zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TF7MM698/collection |
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Suggests twelfth to fifteenth centuries as peak of the spread of Nri lineages: “The proliferation and spread of Nri lineages with the spread of Nri hegemony is another example of lineage migration; they were established by a few men in most of the older Igbo settlements. Nri political and ritual activities, in Ozo title, cleansing of abomination, yam growth, abrogation of rituals and rules of taboo and avoidance, led to the invitation of Nri people to their midst, such an arrangement had political consequences, including annual tribute to the Eze Nri (see Nwankwo’s description in her article in number 2 the Odinani (Journal). Nri men residing abroad were the Eze’s ’eyes and ears’, manipulating internal and external settlement affairs through the visits of itinerant Nri (Onwuejeogwu 1972, 1974, 1975). These methods of political and ritual agency might have started in the 9th century, increasing through the 12th to 15th centuries and declining until collapse on the British ban of Nri activities in 1911.”
[1]
“The Nri sphere of ritual influence was probably at its greatest between 1100 and 1400.”
[2]
[1]: Onwuejeogwu, M. A. (1979). The Genesis, Diffusion, Structure and Significance of Ọzọ Title in Igbo Land. Paideuma, 25, 117–143: 127. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/K2EIJVZ8/collection [2]: 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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Kano is the most prominent of the seven Hausa kingdoms, and seems to have reached its peak in the 14th and 15th centuries. “By 1200, the Kano rulers had subdued nearly all the independent chiefdoms in the area, with the exception of Santolo, which remained independent for another 150 years. Under Yaji (1349-85) the process of subjugating the country and people around the city was brought to a successful conclusion, although many groups in Kano and outside occasionally rose in revolt.”
[1]
“Kananeji (1390-1410) continued the policy of expansion and in two campaigns subdued Zazzau, whose king was killed in the battle. Relations with Kwararafa were seemingly peaceful and Kano exchanged its horses for slaves. External contacts were stepped up, as shown by the introduction of lifidi (the quilted protection for war-horses), iron helmets and coats of mail.23 Under Dauda (1421-38), the foreign influence became more marked with the arrival of a refugee Bornu prince with his men and a large number of mallams. Apart from such regalia as horses, drums, trumpets and flags, it seems that the Bornu people also brought with them more sophisticated concepts of administration, and it was from that time onwards that Bornu titles such as galadima, chiroma and kaigama came into use in Kano.”
[2]
“Although wars and raids continued throughout the whole of the fifteenth century, the growing commercial activities of the Kanawa represented a more important development. A road from Bornu to Gwanja (Gonja in modern Ghana) is said to have been opened in the 1450s; camels and salt from the Sahara became common in Hausaland; and a profitable trade was started in kola nuts and eunuchs. The growing prosperity of the kingdom, as well as the more pronounced Islamic character of the ruling class, attracted many Muslim clerics to Kano. In the 1450s, the Fulani came to Hausaland from Mali, bringing ’books on divinity and etymology’ (formerly only books on law and the traditions had been known); the end of the century witnessed the arrival of a number of rif (descendants of the Prophet Muhammad ) and the vigorous Muslim cleric, al-Maghîlï.”
[2]
“With Sarki Muhammad Korau (1445-95), who was probably the founder of a new dynasty, we are on firmer historical ground. […]With such a strong economic and political base, Muhammad Korau began to raid far and wide, until he had carved for himself a large domain, the kingdom of Katsina; he is traditionally regarded as its first Muslim ruler.27 It was during his reign that al-Maghîlï visited the city; the Gobarau mosque, part of which still stands, was built during the same period, modelled on the mosques of Gao and Jenne.”
[3]
“From the beginning of the sixteenth century, Zazzau embarked on territorial expansion in the west and south. According to historical tradition, the Zazzau army was led in some campaigns by the gimbiya (Princess) Amïna, daughter of Bakwa, who also fortified Zaria and Kufena with wide city walls. […] The legend depicts her as a great warrior who campaigned beyond the frontiers of Zazzau as far as Nupeland in the south-west and Kwararafa in the south-east. The Kano Chronicle states that the Sarkin Nupe sent her [the princess] forty eunuchs and 10,000 kola nuts. She was the first in Hausaland to own eunuchs and kola nuts. In her time all the products of the west were introduced into Hausaland.”
[4]
“It can be seen from the foregoing that the period between 1200 and 1600 must be considered crucial in the history of the Hausa people. During that time they established centralized governments in half a dozen states, based on walled capital cities, which also became important as commercial centres. Some of these states had already begun to expand and to attack other peoples, both in Hausaland and beyond.”
[5]
[1]: Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann; University of California Press: 271. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection [2]: Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann; University of California Press: 272. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection [3]: Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann; University of California Press: 273. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection [4]: Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann; University of California Press: 275. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection [5]: Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann; University of California Press: 278. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection |
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The peak is identified as the reign of Mai Idris Aloma, but the end date of his reign doesn’t seem certain. “Like most of the pre-colonial empires in Africa, the fortunes of Kanem Borno fluctuated depending on the dynamism of its ruler. Kanem Borno is generally believed to have reached its height of glory during the reign of Mai Idris Aloma. But his successors could not match his ability, hence the empire began to decline.”
[1]
“The manuscript was called by Dr. Barth “A history of the first twelve years of the reign of Mai (king) Idris Alooma.” That is therefore probably the most suitable title for it. It embraces accounts of the various expeditions or wars undertaken by that monarch between the year 1571 when he ascended the throne, and about the year 1583, excluding his expeditions to Kanem, East of Lake Chad which were treated of in a subsequent work.”
[2]
[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]: Fartua, A. I. (2019). History of the First Twelve Years of the Reign of Mai Idris Alooma of Bornu (1571–1583). CRC Press: 1. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/HSU9ZCRC/collection |
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“In the history of the Abomey dynasty two names have stood out in the memory of Dahomeans by virtue of the renown and the conquests of the kings who bore them. The first, Agadja, who reigned from 1708 to 1732, is considered the country’s greatest warrior king. […] Agadja’s successors all extended the boundaries of the kingdom. In 1818 Gezo, the king who was to become the most revered in Dahomean history, came to the throne. He early proved himself a consummate politician and a skilful warrior and also established a close control over the whole kingdom by organizing a highly specialized administration. He managed to wrest independence from his Oyo suzerains, who were by now weakened by the Fulani invasions. He continued his predecessors’ military expeditions against the Yoruba chiefdoms and kingdoms to the north and east of his kingdom. During his long reign the arts and crafts flourished at the royal court, which reached an unprecedented splendour. By 1858, the year of Gezo’s death, the kingdom had reached its apogee.”
[1]
“Most of the chroniclers depend on the memoirs of Archibald Dalzel, published in 1793, for systematic information on the early history of Dahomey. Since it is generally agreed that Dalzel was a scrupulous observer, we have a chain of data stretching back to the early 1600s. Where gaps appear, it is doubtful that they can ever be precisely filled, for beginning with the French conquest in 1892, Dahomey has become increasingly part of the contemporary world.”
[2]
[1]: Lombard, J. (1976). The Kingdom of Dahomey. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 70–92). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 72–73. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/T6WTVSHZ/collection [2]: Diamond, S. (1996). DAHOMEY: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTO-STATE: An Essay in Historical Reconstruction. Dialectical Anthropology, 21(2), 121–216: 127-128. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MW2G58RP/collection |
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“In the late fifteenth century Benin was a well-established state with a large army conducting long campaigns far afield. It was already approaching the peak of its power and prosperity.”
[1]
“The last three centuries of Benin’s independence saw a gradual shrinking of the area from which its government could enforce delivery of tribute and military service and secure safe passage for Benin traders, though this decline was by no means uninterrupted.”
[2]
Oba Ewuare reigned c. 1428–1455, Ozolua c. 1482–1509, Esigie c. 1509–1536. “At the high point of imperial expansion - the reigns of Eware, Ozolua, and Esigie - north-south trade was reaching levels never before attained, and such commerce continued to expand until c. 1590.”
[3]
[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: 5. 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: 4. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection [3]: Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 415. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection |
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The following quote does not give definitive dates but does indicated an approximate date range. “The Djolof Empire reached its peak during the fifteenth century, when it controlled much of modern Senegal’s heartland north of the Gambia River.”
[1]
[1]: (Gellar, 2020) Gellar, Sheldon. 2020. Senegal: An African Nation Between Islam and the West. Second Edition. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZCQVA3UX/collection |
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"In the 19th century, sources become easier to find; they describe with precision the reigns of the successive kings (mwami). During the long reign of Ntare II Rugamba (c.1796– c.1850), the kingdom expanded, overflowing the territorial boundaries of today’s Burundi following a series of wars: defensive wars against Rwanda; wars of conquest against several kingdoms (Buha, Bushubi, Bugesera, Bushi); and turf wars between rival chiefs trying to enlarge their territories. Politics relied on a military capacity that made Burundi a state feared by its neighbors."
[1]
[1]: (Van Schuylenbergh 2016) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/EER653TS/collection. |
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Broad estimate inferred from the following. "With Bunyoro-Kitara’s decline Nkore’s political position gradually became stronger. Several smaller neighbouring states, such as Igara, Buhweju and Buzimba, that had earlier been subject to Babito overrule, first became ’independent’ (most notably in the case of Buhweju) and eventually were made to acknowledge Nkore’s paramountcy, expressed through the tribute they paid to its ruler. Nkore’s ’imperialism’ finally reached a peak during the rule of Ntare V, shortly before the British arrived on the scene."
[1]
[1]: (Middleton 2015: 45) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM. |
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“Thus, the dynasty of the nayaka of Thanjavur began with Sevappa Nayak in 1532 (ruled 1532 -80) and reached its zenith with Raghunatha Nayak (1600-34).”
[1]
[1]: (Lieban 2018, 53) 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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The British Empire was at its territorial peak in 1921.
[1]
The population of the Empire peaked in 1925 with almost 450 million subjects.
[2]
[1]: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire [2]: (‘Demographics of the British Empire’,) ‘Demographics of the British Empire’ in Wikipedia, 12 March 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Demographics_of_the_British_Empire&oldid=1076779519. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DQ743ERH |
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1050 CE could arguably be a peak date for the HRE under the Salian dynasty as they held the most territory (around 1 million square kilometres) of the polity period.
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During Arnulf of Carinthia’s reign, East Francia saw effective military leadership, notably in repelling Viking invasions and asserting dominance over Moravia. Arnulf’s successful campaigns and his efforts to consolidate royal authority.
[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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Frederick the Great’s military campaigns, particularly the Silesian Wars against Austria, resulted in substantial territorial gains and demonstrated Prussian military prowess. His administrative and economic reforms modernized the Prussian state.
[1]
[1]: Biographie, “Friedrich der Große - Deutsche Biographie.” Zotero link: AF7NP8Z9 |
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Maximilian III Joseph (1745–1777), implemented various reforms that modernized the state and its institutions. His efforts in fostering the arts and sciences contributed to a cultural flourishing in Bavaria.
[1]
[1]: Biographie, “Maximilian III. Joseph - Deutsche Biographie.” Zotero link: XDA9QHS7 |
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Casimir III, the last ruler from the Piast dynasty, is widely regarded as one of Poland’s greatest monarchs, known for his extensive legal, administrative, and economic reforms that strengthened the Polish state.
[1]
[1]: Eduard Mühle, Die Piasten: Polen im Mittelalter, Bsr 2709 (München: Verlag C.H. Beck, 2011). Zotero link: EVZQ25XL |
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