bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Soft power and empire
Authors: Holm Michael
Published: January 2016

“Soft power” refers to nations securing influence overseas by persuasion or attraction rather than by threats, military force, or economic sanctions. Historically, empires have varied in their use of and ability to rely on soft power. As a vehicle of influence it has most often been available to Great Powers driven by an inspiring political ideology, particularly when combined with an attractive culture, foreign investments, education, development aid, and non‐threatening diplomacy. Soft power was crucial to the 19th‐century British Empire. It also played a significant role for the United States, particularly after the end of World War II as the USA became the most powerful nation in the world. In recent years, Chinese foreign policy has also been driven by soft power principles as the People's Republic of China attempts to establish influence around the world.
Uyghur Khaganate
Authors: Kovalev Roman K.
Published: January 2016

The Uyghur Khaganate (Uygur, Uyğur, or Uighur Khaganate/Qaganate) or Empire (744–840) was among the largest states created in medieval Eurasia: at its height in the early decades of the 9th century it stretched from western central Asia to Korea. Established by the Turkic‐speaking Uyghur pastoral nomads, it evolved into a rather complex pastoral nomadic state with many sedentary features, such as urbanism, agriculture, a number of written languages/alphabets, a form of currency, a fairly complex system of government, and a sophisticated religion (Manichaeism). Many of these sedentary elements entered the Uyghur state through Tang China and the central Asian Sogdians (Sogdians). To finance their empire, the Uyghurs used their close proximity and military leverage over the wealthy Tang state to obtain silks by various methods and dispatch them via Sogdian merchants westwards along the Silk Roads, one branch of which was controlled by the Uyghurs.
Marxism and imperialism
Authors: Fraser Ian
Published: January 2016

The dialogue between Marxism and imperialism began with Marx's limited discussion of the topic in relation to colonialism. Thisdeveloped through subsequent classical Marxist theorists after Marx's death up to World War I, and then in the work of modern theorists in the globalized world of today. Marxism recognizes that the nature of imperialism varies in its different forms and theorizes its relationship to capitalist development.
French Empire: 8. Caribbean
Authors: Schmidt Nelly
Published: January 2016

From the 17th to the 21st century, France was one of the European powers committed to a policy of colonial expansion in the Caribbean. After a period of war, conquest, and expropriation of indigenous peoples, French exploitation of her territories in the Caribbean, including Guyana, was heavily based on slavery and the slave trade, strong coercive regulation, and a highly centralized administration. After two abolitions of slavery (1794 and 1848) a new colonial policy was implemented, involving sugar monoculture, construction of factories, relative assimilation of the civic rights of people to those of France, and a rigorous social control. The French colonies of the Caribbean become
départements
in 1946, thus escaping the decolonization process initiated by the Conference of San Francisco in 1945, and by the United Nations.
European expansionism
Authors: Saha Jonathan
Published: January 2016

There have been two bursts of European expansionism in world history. The first was in the Early Modern period, beginning with the maritime explorations of the late 15th century. The second was in the late 19th century and coincided with industrialization. Although the latter expansion in some respects built on the imperial and quasi‐imperial ties that had been established centuries earlier, the economic basis, social relations, and cultural forms of the two bursts were distinct. To understand the forces that drove a small group of European states to expand their global reach, as well as to explain their varying degrees of success, we must look beyond Europe itself and situate these states in a global framework.
Postcolonialism
Authors: Ray Sugata
Published: January 2016

Locating the genealogies of postcolonialism in 20th‐century anti‐colonial thinking, the entry delineates an array of intellectual practices that have coalesced around the sign of this concept‐term. Along with outlining some of the key theoretical frameworks that have engendered postcolonial thought, the essay also pays attention to creative texts such as contemporary performance art to chart a tentative history and historiography of postcolonial theory and praxis.
Aceh, Sultanate of
Authors: Khan Sher Banu A. L.
Published: January 2016

The Aceh Sultanate (c.1528–1903) was one of the major Muslim Sultanates in the Malay Archipelago besides Johor, Makassar, and Banten. Seen as the successor of the Melaka Sultanate when it fell to the Portuguese in 1511, Aceh became the major economic and cultural center linking traders and Muslim scholars from the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia. Aceh's main exports were pepper, tin, gold, and elephants. Accounts by Dutch officials and private merchant‐travelers describe a thriving and cosmopolitan entrepôt, with numerous traders and craftsmen including the English, Dutch, Danes, Portuguese, Chinese, Malabarese, Bengalese, Gujeratis, Javanese, Malays, and Makassarese. Aceh remained resilient in the face of Western encroachments and was the last Muslim bastion, submitting to the Dutch only after a fierce 30‐year war which made Aceh famous for its women warriors such as Cut Nyak Dinh.
Egypt: 5. Empire (Mehmed Ali dynasty)
Authors: Fahmy Khaled
Published: January 2016

This entry covers the history of the 19th‐century Egyptian Empire in the Sudan, Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Crete, and parts of southern Anatolia. By placing this imperial expansion in the context of the Ottoman Empire, the entry argues that this expansion was triggered by Mehmed Ali's dynastic ambitions. It also discusses the economic causes of the Egyptian Empire as well as its consequences both on Egypt and on the conquered territories.
French Empire: 7. Asia
Authors: Ha Marie‐Paule
Published: January 2016

France's imperial venture in the Far East was launched during the early phase of its second colonial empire, reaching its apex under the Third Republic. In the second half of the 19th century, France acquired Cochinchina, Cambodia, Annam, Tonkin, and Laos, which together constituted French Indochina. The initial motivation behind French conquest of Indochina was the opening up of the Chinese market for French industry and capital and the desire to contest British supremacy in the Far East. France established its presence in China by first setting up a Religious Protectorate, paving the way to the subsequent carving out of a zone of French influence in South China and the acquisition of the leased territory of the bay of Guangzhouwan. The French empire in Asia unraveled with the Japanese occupation of Indochina during World War II and its defeat by the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.
Silla, Kingdom of
Authors: Mohan Pankaj
Published: January 2016

Silla, one of the Three Korean Kingdoms, emerged in the early Christian centuries and continued until the early 10th century. Silla played the most important role in Korean history, primarily because of its conquest of the other two Kingdoms, Baekje and Goguryeo, which facilitated the ideological and political unity of the Korean people. The early political and social structure of Silla was built on the foundation of such institutions as Hwabaek (Council of Nobles), which decided the important affairs of the state on the principle of unanimity, and Golpum (Bone‐rank), which determined people's eligibility for certain official ranks on the basis of their birth. Silla accepted Buddhism as the official ideology of the state in the 6th century and in subsequent centuries produced not only great Buddhist thinkers such as Wonhyo and Euisang but also great works of Buddhist architecture and sculpture. The State of Silla disintegrated into Three Later Kingdoms and was finally absorbed by the new state of Goryeo that emerged in the former Goguryeo territory.
Baekje (Paekje) Kingdom
Authors: Mohan Pankaj
Published: January 2016

Baekje, one of the Three Ancient Korean Kingdoms, made the transition from tribal state to centralized state as a result of its absorption of people from Liaodong in north China who introduced advanced technology and literati culture. In subsequent centuries Baekje forged a close cultural collaboration with Yamato Japan that facilitated the growth of Sinicization and an efflorescence of Buddhist civilization in that state. Baekje fell to the joint Silla‐Tang forces in 660
ce
and, although the people of Baekje launched a spirited resurrection movement, it was crushed in 663. Numerous Baekje emigrants who crossed to Japan after the loss of their land continued to influence and shape the cultural and religious development of Japan.
Goguryeo Kingdom
Authors: Mohan Pankaj
Published: January 2016

Goguryeo played an extremely important role in the cultural world of Northeast Asia because of its significance as the first state there to emerge as a monarchical state on the Chinese model, and because of its dissemination of Chinese ideas and institutions to the southern part of Korea and Japan between the 4th and 7th centuries. Initially Goguryeo was tied to the Xuantu commandery, established by Han China, but gradually they not only succeeded in driving out Chinese colonists from the Korean peninsula but also engaged in relentless struggle against Chinese domination in the northeast. Soon after acceptance of Buddhism and Confucianism in 372
ce
Goguryeo systematized its state structure. The state reached the acme of territorial expansion during the reign of King Gwanggaeto (Expander of Domain) in the 4th century, but in the following centuries its political development was constrained by internal feud. Finally, it fell to the joint Silla‐Tang forces in 668.
Johor‐Riau Empire
Authors: Borschberg Peter
Published: January 2016

The Johor‐Riau Empire was an expansive polity based around the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, the Riau Archipelago, and Borneo between the 16th and 19th centuries
ce
.
Teutonic Order, State of the
Authors: Stevens Matthew Frank
Published: January 2016

The State of the Teutonic Order in the Baltic comprised the territories of Prussia and Livonia including (from 1347) the former Danish Duchy of Estonia, acquired through the conquest and Christianization of Prussia, and the annexation and purchase of Livonia and Estonia. The Teutonic Order was a Christian order of warrior monks dedicated to St. Mary, led by an elected Grandmaster, who framed governance as an element of an ongoing crusade against non‐believers (including Orthodox Christians). The Order's financial and military resources were augmented by a network of revenue‐generating estates in Christian Europe and the regular arrival of new crusaders. The Order declined following the Christianization of neighboring peoples, the redirection of European crusading efforts elsewhere, and the rise of Protestantism.
British Empire: 11. North America (Canada), from 1783
Authors: Messamore Barbara J.
Published: January 2016

By incremental changes, Canada evolved from separate British North American colonies of diverse origins into a unified but not homogeneous nation. Confederation in 1867 was only one phase in this process. Canada's history has been one of evolution, not revolution, as it has developed within the British Empire and Commonwealth into an autonomous and multicultural country, for the most part peacefully.
Forward policies
Authors: Blanken Leo J.
Published: January 2016

Forward policies of powers are the strategies formed in the metropole that constitute imperial behavior. This topic includes the motivation for engaging in imperial behavior, as well as the form such behavior takes with regard to both the target of imperialism as well as rival imperial powers. Finally, such policies are shaped by the technical and military factors that facilitate or inhibit imperial projection.
Gunboat diplomacy
Authors: Kennedy Greg
Published: January 2016

Gunboat diplomacy is the art of the use of limited naval force as a tool of government in order to influence opponents into acquiescing to policies without resorting to the use of or risk of war. As such it is a fundamental aspect regarding the value of the role of naval forces in international relations.
Portuguese Empire: 4. Asia
Authors: Flores Jorge
Published: January 2016

The entry aims to identify the main features of the Portuguese Asian empire and to discuss briefly the major transformations of the empire from 1500 to 2000. This peculiar imperial structure was one of considerable longevity and, varying with epoch and region, managed to exert a sizeable influence over diverse Asian cultural zones. The Portuguese Asian empire began with the creation of the
Estado da Índia
in 1505, a few years after the arrival of Vasco da Gama to Calicut (1498), and formally ceased to exist almost five centuries later. From a broad and loose maritime network stretching from coastal Eastern Africa to the South China Sea in the middle of the 16th century, Portuguese Asia became a “residual empire” made of scattered, fragile pockets in the latter half of the 20th century; some were officially designated as “Overseas Provinces” (
Províncias Ultramarinas
), while others were neglected sites of historical memory.
Policing and colonial control
Authors: Thomas Martin
Published: January 2016

Police and policing were the intimate face of colonial control. For rural populations and frontier dwellers especially, the intermittent presence of police, whether local or not, represented colonial legal, fiscal, and social impositions in action. Colonial police, of which there were many forces throughout the European overseas empires, had numerous characteristics in common. Most were paramilitary. All were hybrid in composition, the vertical structures of a security force mediated, in practice, by reliance on local auxiliaries or recruitment of rank‐and‐file personnel from other colonies. Their changing role holds a mirror to the wider fate of empires, from expansion and consolidation to eventual decolonization.
China, imperial: 1. Qin dynasty, 221–207bce
Authors: Pines Yuri
Published: January 2016

Qin was the first imperial polity in China's history and despite its brevity its influence remained palpable throughout the imperial millennia. It annexed its rivals by military means, but the unification of “All‐under‐Heaven” was legitimated long before it happened by competing thinkers of the preceding Warring States period. Qin relied on a highly centralized and impressively effective bureaucratic organization, which allowed it to fully utilize human and material resources of the realm. However, its excessive mobilization of the populace backfired, causing huge popular uprisings and the dynasty's swift collapse.
Poland, medieval (Piast dynasty)
Authors: Urbańczyk Przemysław
Published: January 2016

Mieszko I entered onto the Central European geopolitical stage in 963 and soon became a major player there. The state he established was reinforced and enlarged by his son Boleslaw (Bolesław) Chrobry. After an internal political crisis in 1032–1038 the kingdom was restored, though as a smaller territory, by Kazimierz Odnowiciel whose grandson Boleslaw III turned Poland into a federation of semi‐independent principalities. This decision substantially weakened the status of the numerous members of the Piast dynasty who were often dependent on the support of German, Bohemian, and Hungarian rulers. The kingdom was reunited in 1320 by Wladyslaw Lokietek, who concentrated on fighting the Teutonic Knights settled on the lower Vistula. His son Kazimierz Wielki turned Polish geopolitical strategy toward the east at the expense of territorial losses in the west. He reinforced the central power and modernized his state but left no male inheritor. Thus, in 1370, after more than four centuries, the first Polish dynasty became extinct.
Ethiopian Empire
Authors: Rubinkowska‐Anioł Hanna
Published: January 2016

The Ethiopian Empire was located in the Horn of Africa with its center situated on the Ethiopian Plateau. It existed as a continuation of the Kingdom of Aksum, which declined around the 10th century
ce
. The last emperor, Hayle Sillasie (or Haile Selassie) I, was deposed as a result of the 1974 revolution. Ethiopian political culture evolved on the basis of links with the Mediterranean and Red Sea basins. Over the centuries, the Ethiopian Empire experienced periods of both strong and dispersed political authority; also, the extent of the lands under the emperors' control changed, as did the ethnic components of the empire. However, the empire preserved its political unity and culture with a strong basis in Christianity and a belief in being heirs of King Solomon of Israel and the African Queen of Sheba.
Burundi, Kingdom of
Authors: Schuylenbergh Patricia Van
Published: January 2016

The renewal and reinterpretation of documentary sources, drawn primarily from oral traditions, have provided new approaches to the history of the Kingdom of Burundi. The kingdom grew out of the Ganwa dynasty, which unified small central kingdoms under a patrilineal monarchic regime; initially of limited territorial scope, its successors expanded it while at the same time buttressing its power. The distribution of the kingdom's lands among princes of the blood stressed the fragmentation of the space, however, and led to regional rivalries that continued during occupation by first the Germans, then the Belgians. The establishment during the colonial period of a secular constitutional sovereign undermined the prestige of the monarchy, while territorial reorganization encouraged the development of new elites supported by successive foreign administrations.
Khitan (Liao) Empire
Authors: Rossabi Morris
Published: January 2016

The Liao dynasty (907–1125) of China and the Western Liao (1124–1211), its successor, were founded by the Khitan, a proto‐Mongol people who were originally nomadic pastoralists residing in modern Inner Mongolia, Mongolia, Manchuria, and perhaps as far north as Lake Baikal. Mentioned in Chinese sources as early as the 4th centuryce, the Khitan, like other pastoral nomads, depended largely on their animals for survival. This reliance on animals in regions plagued by high winds and considerable snow and ice made them vulnerable to their capricious environment. A devastating winter could lead to the deaths of many of their animals. In those circumstances, China often provided a safety net by permitting the pastoral nomads to trade for such necessities as grain and craft articles and such luxuries as silk and tea. On the other hand, when China was disunited, its northern pastoral neighbors would, on occasion, capitalize on its weakness to annex Chinese territories.
Vietnamese (Dai Viet) Empire
Authors: Lockhart Bruce M.
Published: January 2016

The name “Vietnam” collectively designates a series of polities occupying various parts of the territory of present‐day Vietnam, beginning with the end of Chinese rule in the 10th century and ending with French colonization in the late 1800s. While the earliest polities were not “imperial” in any sense of the word, over time Vietnam (usually called “Dai Viet,” “Great Viet”) evolved into a fairly centralized state modeled on imperial China which copied many of the latter's institutions and structures. It also expanded southward at the expense of neighboring peoples, although much of this process actually took place when there were effectively two separate Vietnams instead of a single Dai Viet. For most of the pre‐colonial period the Vietnamese represented a “regional superpower” in mainland Southeast Asia.
Khazar Khaganate
Authors: Golden Peter B.
Published: January 2016

The Khazar Khaganate, or Qaganate (mid‐7th century to c.969), a successor state of the Western Türk Khaganate, constituted one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, extending from the Middle Volga region to the North Caucasus and Crimea and from the Don–Dnieper zone to the borders of Khwarazm. In a series of wars in the 8th century, it halted the Arab advance beyond the North Caucasus and subsequently became one of the major links in trans‐Eurasian trade and in the commerce of the forest zone with Byzantium and the Arab Caliphate. Rulers of a polyethnic and multi‐religious empire, the Khazar elite and core tribes converted to Judaism in the first half of the 9th century. By the 10th century, weakened by declining revenues and threats from the Pechenegs and Rus’, Khazaria fell to combined Rus’ and Oghuz attacks in 965 and 968/969.
Italian Empire
Authors: Ferris Kate
Published: January 2016

The construction of the Italian nation and its modern empire went hand in hand. Following unification (1859–1871), Italian politicians turned their attention to carving out an African, and later Mediterranean, empire. In doing so, they intended to “make Italians” as well as to “civilize “Africans. Early defeats, especially that at Adwa (Ethiopia) in 1896, prompted national introspection and “shame” as well as calls for vengeance. The Italian imperial project spanned a half‐century of liberal and fascist rule from 1885 to 1947, reaching its height – from the colonizers' perspective – with Mussolini's 1935–1936 conquest of Ethiopia. The campaigns to conquer territory in East Africa (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia) and Libya met sustained resistance against which the Italian army deployed “terror and extermination” methods including summary execution, concentration camps, and the illegal practices of aerial bombardment of civilians and use of chemical weapons, which has only recently been acknowledged officially and in historiography.
Anti‐imperialism and anti‐colonialism
Authors: Hilfrich Fabian
Published: January 2016

Anti‐imperialism and anti‐colonialism denote opposition to empire. Whereas the latter has been mostly understood as opposition to formal colonial rule in a narrow sense, the former has come to be defined ever more expansively. Particularly in the 20th century, anti‐imperialists resisted formal and informal means of control by stronger over weaker nations. Such resistance to empire emerged both in the colonies themselves and in the ruling metropolises, but a sustained transnational anti‐imperialist movement never emerged because both metropolitan and colonial anti‐imperialists pursued separate agendas in their own respective communities.
Tibetan Empire
Authors: Beckwith Christopher I.
Published: January 2016

The early Tibetans belonged to the Central Eurasian Culture Complex and had a feudal hierarchical society focused on thebtsanpo(“emperor”). By around 600cethey had built a large state that included much of the southern and eastern parts of the Tibetan Plateau, and by the mid‐7th century were a world power. For two centuries they contested control of Central Asia with the Tang Chinese, the Turks, and the Arabs. At their height in the late 8th century they ruled over a vast territory stretching from the Ordos to Afghanistan and from the southern Tian Shan (T'ien Shan) to the lower Himalayas. They adopted Buddhism from their neighbors and developed a literate Buddhist civilization. The empire collapsed at the same time as most of the other empires of the early Middle Ages, for the same economic reasons.
French Empire: 4. Third Republic
Authors: Osborne Thomas R.
Published: January 2016

For reasons of national prestige, France created the second largest colonial empire in the world between 1870 and 1920. Colonies were often created by officials on the spot rather than the uninterested government in Paris. Algeria and Indochina were the most important colonies, the former being the only true settlement colony and the latter becoming the most economically important possession. West Africa and Equatorial Africa captured more popular interest but were far less significant. French colonialists believed in their civilizing mission, understood variously as assimilation or association of colonial peoples with France; what was actually experienced by the colonized was tutelage. After 1898, France accepted British control of Egypt in return for Morocco. After 1918 a new area of French rule opened up in Syria. Nationalism in the Maghreb and Syria and communism in Indochina began to threaten French rule in the interwar period, and by 1939 the French Empire was vulnerable to these forces.
French Empire: 3. Second Empire
Authors: Osborne Thomas R.
Published: January 2016

The Second French Empire lasted from 1852 to 1870. Napoleon III used the legitimacy offered by universal manhood suffrage to create a Caesarean system resembling that of his uncle. The return of order produced significant economic and industrial growth in the first decade when the empire was highly authoritarian, but after 1860 growth slackened and opposition grew. Napoleon III moved toward a more liberal regime. Foreign embarrassments fueled growing opposition to the regime in the 1860s. In 1870 the emperor attempted to use a plebiscite once more to confirm the transition to a parliamentary style of government. He won, but the empire collapsed only a few months later when defeated militarily. Napoleon III blundered badly in dealing with both Italy and Germany. His colonial adventures were opportunistic. Mexico was a disaster, but initiatives in West Africa and Indochina laid the bases for much grander colonial efforts after 1870.
Benin (Edo city‐state)
Authors: Lawal Babatunde
Published: January 2016

This entry provides an overview of the dynamics that enabled the Edo city‐state of Ancient Benin to develop from a kingdom to an empire between the 15th and 19th centuries. It focuses on Ancient Benin's geographical location, origin, history, economic development and how the visual arts were used to document historical events as well as signify and publicize the political and divine powers of the king (oba). The empire collapsed in the 19th century partly because of internal conflicts and partly because of the British military expedition that sacked its capital (Benin City) in 1897.
Central Javanese Empire (Early Mataram)
Authors: Klokke Marijke J.
Published: January 2016

Central Java (c.732–928) was one of the great early historic powers in the Indian Ocean region. At a relatively early time its kings initiated huge building projects, such as Borobudur and Loro Jonggrang, and operated in the international world of their time. Intercultural contact existed with the Straits of Malacca region, the Pala kingdom in the northeastern part of the Indian subcontinent, South India, Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, the early Angkor kingdom in Cambodia and Campa in Central Vietnam. This period also saw, for the first time, a dramatic increase of ceramics imported from southern China for the Javanese market. Surprisingly, this early empire is rarely mentioned in a world historical context. One of the reasons may be the confusion about its name and history.
Lithuania, Grand Duchy of
Authors: Norkus Zenonas
Published: January 2016

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a regional empire, consisting mainly of ethnic Lithuanians around the capital Vilnius, and a broader Slavonic periphery. It was created by the pagan Gediminaiciai (Gediminaičiai) dynasty who contested with the declining Golden Horde for control over the territory of the Orthodox Kievan Rus’. Conversion to Catholicism in 1387 and union with the Kingdom of Poland helped to stabilize the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but made impossible the unification of all former Kievan Rus’ lands under the Lithuanians.
Mossi Empire
Authors: Djata Sundiata
Published: January 2016

The Mossi became a West African power that sought to control the economically rich Niger bend when seven states emerged as Malian power declined in the 15th century. The Mossi relied on a centralized administrative system and political unity. The continuity of the Mossi states was exemplified by the fact that some of the rulers that the French defeated were the descendants of those who had founded the states, centuries earlier.
Wassalou (Mandinka) Empire
Authors: Djata Sundiata
Published: January 2016

By the 1870s, Samori Turé had recruited a large, well‐armed, and loyal force which mounted a decade of victorious campaigns that made him the head of a powerful army and state, establishing a capital in Bisandugu in 1873. He possessed exceptional personal qualities, including the capacity to arouse intense devotion among his troops, a talent for exploiting divisions among his opponents, and the ability to recognize the need to maintain connections with both Muslims and non‐Muslims. He mounted a huge resistance against French colonial conquest in West Africa.
Kong (Ouattara or Wattara) Empire
Authors: Djata Sundiata
Published: January 2016

Kong, also known as Ouattara or Wattara Empire, was situated in present‐day Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso. At its height in the 1730s, the empire stretched from the fringes of Asante, nearly to Jenné in the north, and westward to the Bamana Kingdoms, becoming the largest kingdom thus far south of the Niger River. Kong became an Islamic center as well as a commercial center. The state prospered, with the various groups and classes living in relative harmony.
Polish–Lithuanian Empire
Authors: Nowak Andrzej
Published: January 2016

The Polish–Lithuanian state was formed through a series of unions from 1385 culminating with the Lublin Union of 1569 which created the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It lasted until the final partition in 1795, and played an imperial role in the interstate system of Eastern and Central Europe, with Muscovy‐Russia, the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburgs, and Sweden as its main rivals throughout the 16th and 17th centuries.

It was a unique example of legal mechanisms regulating religious‐cultural and ethnic differences of the great realm, which is now considered the cradle, or “kindergarten,” of at least four modern nations: Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania. A notable aspect of its initial success and decline (after the mid‐17th century crisis) was its internal political structure as a nobiliary republic, without any “emperor” or central authority other than the Seym (parliament) and the “Sarmatian” ideology of the common origins of the Commonwealth's nobility, irrespective of their ethnicity or religion. The paradox of an Early Modern “republican empire” makes interpretation of the Commonwealth‐Empire both attractive and difficult at the same time.
Bamana Empire of Segu
Authors: Djata Sundiata
Published: January 2016

Out of the ashes of the fall of the Songhai Empire, in 1591, the Bamana states of Ségu and Kaarta rose to power in the Niger Valley, controlling the length of the Niger from Timbuktu to Jenné, the center of the nuclear Songhai state, which provided control over the trade from the forest to the desert. The Bamana state of Ségu emerged around 1712. The Bamana secured the trade routes and promoted economic activities, leaving no internal weaknesses for foreign aggressors to exploit.
Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco) culture
Authors: Williams Patrick Ryan
Published: January 2016

Tiwanaku was the earliest expansive state to arise in the highland plateau of the Andes mountains at 13,000 feet above sea level. The Tiwanaku invested in vast agricultural landscapes of raised field systems that used standing water canals to create micro environments for crop production in the unforgiving plateau. They were also great travelers and caravaners, driving llama trains over hundreds of kilometers to connect their distant colonies with the heartland. After thriving for over 500 years, the distinctive Tiwanaku lifestyle, and the ceremonial center that was its focus, ceded its former glory, perhaps as a result of climate change. A period of strife and turmoil succeeded Tiwanaku's hegemony in the south‐central Andes.
Magadha, Kingdom of
Authors: Majumdar Susmita Basu
Published: January 2016

The period from the 6th century
bce
in the history of north India witnessed the transition into the early historic phase, marked by the formation of territorial states – both monarchical and non‐monarchical – the onset of the second urbanization, and the introduction of metallic currency and a more complex society. North India experienced the emergence of several territorial political entities, known as mahajanapadas. Among the 16 mahajanapadas the monarchical states of Kosala, Vatsa, Avanti, and Magadha, along with the non‐monarchical mahajanapada of the Vrijis or Vajjis, attained political prominence by eclipsing other contemporary powers. However, it was the mahajanapada of Magadha which ultimately rose to prominence. The factors that contributed to the rise of Magadha were the strategic locations of its two capitals Rajagriha and Pataliputra, very rich alluvial soil contributing to agricultural surplus production, and the availability of minerals, which resulted in the introduction of iron tools especially for warfare. During this period at Magadha we find three dynasties who contributed to the emergence of Magadha as a superpower: Haryanka, Saisunaga, and the Nanda dynasties.
Majapahit Empire
Authors: Hall Kenneth R.
Published: January 2016

Majapahit was a Hindu–Buddhist Indonesian archipelago empire based in eastern Java c.1293 to 1528, and is celebrated as the greatest political and cultural achievement and the source of subsequent regional states that have claimed to be the realm's heirs.
Singhasari Kingdom of Java
Authors: Hall Kenneth R.
Published: January 2016

Singhasari was a kingdom located in east Java, flourishing between 1222 and 1292, which at its height held imperial authority over the maritime passageways of the Straits of Melaka and Java Sea.
Athenian Empire
Authors: Hirsch Steven W.
Published: January 2016

The Athenian Empire (5th centurybce) arose from naval power acquired to face the Persian invasion of Greece in 480bce. An originally voluntary alliance – the Delian League – metamorphosed over several decades into an Athenian empire comprising several hundred Greek states. League forces liberated Greek communities from Persian control and dominated the waters of the eastern Mediterranean. Most subjects paid an annual tribute, with Athens using the monies to build and man warships. Under Pericles’ leadership, surplus funds subsidized monumental building at Athens, and the power, wealth, glory, and employment opportunities brought by the empire enhanced the popularity of democratic government. Athens sometimes interfered in the internal politics, economic affairs, and judicial practices of its subjects. Ultimately, fear of Athens’ growing power sparked the Peloponnesian War with Sparta and its allies, a long and costly war of attrition. Athens’ defeat in 404 led to the loss of the empire.
Kaabu Kingdom
Authors: Fall Mamadou
Published: January 2016

The Senegambia region of West Africa, centered on modern northwestern Guinea‐Bissau, was conquered in the 13th century by Tirmakhan Traore on behalf of the Mali Empire. From the 16th century these western provinces formed a powerful independent and expansionist Mandingo empire in its own right located along the Gambia and Casamance rivers. It was ruled by an ethnic‐ and social‐elite military aristocracy which dominated various indigenous peoples including the Balantes, Felupes, and Fula. It was fueled by war and the financial gains of the Saharan and Atlantic slave trade until finally defeated by the Islamic jihadist forces of Futa Jalon in 1867.
Drugs and empire
Authors: Laamann Lars Peter
Published: January 2016

Opium has been used for medicinal purposes since Antiquity and constituted a trade item exported to China over two millennia. It was only from 1800 onwards that the opium was smoked for recreational use, initially smuggled into the Qing Empire against state regulations. The ensuing hostilities between the empires contending for control of the eastern Pacific were, though insignificant at the time, later regarded as a turning point in the modern history of China. While the opium‐fueled quest for supremacy by Europe's empires came to a conclusion after the turn of the 20th century, Japan filled this void during the 1920s and 1930s. The history of drugs in modern East Asia is thus one of imperial hegemony.
Visigoths, Kingdom of the
Authors: Rawls Richard S.
Published: January 2016

The Goths formed two kingdoms after centuries of contact with the Roman Empire which included living along its frontiers and inside it. One of these, the Visigothic Kingdom, formed in Gaul and later Hispania from approximately 418 to 711. It became one of the longest‐lasting of the post‐Roman Germanic successor kingdoms. Its claims to fame included law codes, the conversion of some from Arianism to Orthodox or Catholic Christianity, and the literary, religious, and philosophical contributions of individuals such as Isidore of Seville.
Steppe empires
Authors: Cribb Robert , Narangoa Li
Published: January 2016

Nomadic pastoralism in the steppe lands of Eurasia provided the ecological basis for a succession of steppe empires. These empires periodically conquered larger settled civilizations by virtue of the nomads’ superior mobility, communications, and battle tactics. Steppe empires were seldom able to establish a durable hegemony over settled zones, because the demands of routine government commonly undermined the nomads’ military advantage. More successful were hybrid empires which retained strong nomadic features while collecting institutionalized tribute from neighboring settled civilizations and feeding this income into lucrative trans‐continental trade routes. The Mongol empire of the 13th century and after was the largest and most successful steppe empire, partly because its size enabled it to sponsor trade on an unprecedented scale and to avoid rapid absorption by conquered civilizations.
Mali Empire
Authors: Sapong Nana Yaw B.
Published: January 2016

By the 13th century, Mali was a vassal kingdom to a moribund Ghana Empire. Internal power struggles left Ghana open to rebellions and invasions. Sumanguru, the king of Kaniaga, gained the upper hand in the ensuing scramble for power. Eventually, Mali under Sundiata defeated Sumanguru at the Battle of Krina in 1235, ushering in a new epoch in the history of Mali. Thus, from a modest beginning, Mali under Sundiata went on to become one of the most prosperous and enduring empires in medieval Africa. Indeed, the griots of Siguiri compared Sundiata to Alexander the Great. Again, the wealth of Mali was made memorable by Mansa Musa's famed pilgrimage to Mecca in the 14th century. Like the Ghana Empire before it and the Songhai Empire which succeeded it, the Mali Empire was plagued with succession disputes at certain critical stages, eventually reducing it to a state of vassalage by the latter part of the 15th century.
Vakataka Kingdom
Authors: Majumdar Susmita Basu
Published: January 2016

The Vakatakas rose to power in Deccan from the mid‐3rd to the beginning of the 6th centuryce. There is controversy among scholars regarding their original homeland, based on linguistic grounds, with some assigning it to the Vindhyan region and others further to the south. The founder of the Vakatas dynasty was Vindhyasakti I. There were two branches of the family, one eastern known as the Nandivardhana branch and the other western, the Vatsagulma branch.The Nandivardhana branch formed an alliance with the leading power of the north, the Gupta Dynasty, and the Bharasiva Nagas, thus consolidating their position in the trans‐Vindhyan region. The Vatsagulma branch was a lesser one and their most significant contribution tohistory was the patronage they extended to the creators of rock‐cut caves, sculptures, and paintings at Ajanta. In the Nandivardhana branch the economy centered on agrarian activities and in the Vastsagulma branch trade was the prime focus of the economy.
Barbarians and barbarism
Authors: Boucher David
Published: January 2016

”Barbarian” and “barbarism” are terms that convey a predominantly negative connotation, and are used not only as descriptions, but also to convey a pejorative evaluation. They strongly convey difference, and also disapproval on grounds of language, cultural practices, habits of thought, and intellect, measured in relation to the ideal of civilization, as represented from one's own vantage point. There is one concept of barbarism, but many conceptions. Bartolomé de Las Casas identified four meanings, which included barbaric acts by civilized societies. Characterizations of barbarians and barbarism have the effect of dehumanization and demonization, often exaggerated in mythical or imaginary accounts of repulsive or primitive practices, such as blood rituals, sacrifice, cannibalism, bestiality, and brutal slaughter.
Melaka (Malacca) Sultanate
Authors: Borschberg Peter
Published: January 2016

The Melaka Sultanate was an expansive and commercially thriving polity of the Melaka Strait between the 15th and early 16th centuries.
Adal Sultanate
Authors: Mukhtar Mohamed Haji
Published: January 2016

The Adal Sultanate is one of the oldest Islamic sultanates in the Horn of Africa. The sultanate was founded by Sa'duddin in the early days of Islam, around the late 9th or early 10th century, based at Zayla or Zeila on the Gulf of Aden. Zayla gave access to the caravan routes in the Horn of Africa as far as Bali in the Upper Juba valley, and connected the trade routes across the Red Sea to southern Arabia and Southeast Asia. Ibn Battuta visited Zayla in 1330 and described it as a large town with an important market. The Adalite imams played a significant role in the spread of Islam in East Africa. Their epic story took place during the imamate of Ahmad Gurey “the left‐handed” (1506–1543), who conquered three‐quarters of Abyssinia in the mid‐15th century. However, Abyssinia recovered with the support of Portugal and in 1543 killed Imam Ahmad. Thus, the Adalite army retreated and the sultanate was eclipsed.
Ajuran Sultanate
Authors: Mukhtar Mohamed Haji
Published: January 2016

The Ajuran Sultanate is an imamate that emerged in south‐central Somalia from the mid‐13th century, a theocratic Islamic state based on Marka or Merca about 75 miles south of Mogadishu. The imamate was subdivided into regions administered by amirs (governors). Ajuran developed efficient communications as well as a disciplined military system, including a standing army of infantrymen accompanied by cavalry. One factor in Ajuran's effectiveness was its use of terror tactics as an instrument of warfare. The Ajuran are remembered for their public works: many of the deep stone‐lined wells and fortifications still standing in southern Somalia are attributed to Ajuran engineering skills. The Ajuran Sultanate declined reputedly because it abandoned Sharia law, and because of its tyranny and arrogance.
Kushan Empire
Authors: Chakravarti Ranabir
Published: January 2016

The Kushans, originating out of the Central Asian nomadic Yuezhi group, established a mighty empire during the early centuries
ce
, thanks to formidable rulers like Kujula Kadphises, V'ima Kadphises, Kanishka I, Huvishka, and Vasudeva. Known primarily from Chinese texts, inscriptions, and coins, the Kushan Empire at its zenith had its stronghold in Bactria and embraced major areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan, extensive areas of the north Indian plains, and regions of the southern Silk Road. The Kushan Empire collapsed around the mid‐3rd century
ce
.
Chaghadai Khanate
Authors: Lane George
Published: January 2016

During the life of his father, Chinggis Khan (c.1162–1227), and the reigns of the Ogodaid khans, Chaghadai (1183–1241/2) remained the role of steadfast loyalist and supporter of the throne. However, after his death and the split in the Great Mongol Empire the Chaghadaids confined themselves to Turkestan in Central Asia and the continuation of theirulus, or royal appanage, against external threats. Though nominally the mainstay of Amir Timur, the Chaghadai Khanate disappeared with Tughluq Temur in 1363.
Xiongnu Empire
Authors: Brosseder Ursula
Published: January 2016

The Xiongnu Empire (3rd century
bce
to 2nd century
ce
) was the earliest and longest lasting of the so‐called steppe empires of Inner Asia. It extended from the Ordos to Lake Baikal and from Manchuria to eastern Kazakhstan with its heartland in Mongolia. Information on the Xiongnu Empire relies on Chinese chronicles and archaeological evidence. Although discussion revolves around the question of whether this empire can be called a state or a super‐complex chiefdom, it is beyond question that this polity extended far beyond its original territory and integrated a variety of people in a complex political and administrational system.
Egypt: 2. Ptolemaic
Authors: Fischer‐Bovet Christelle
Published: January 2016

Ptolemaic Egypt is the name given to the so‐called Hellenistic period of Egyptian history, when Ptolemy, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, and his dynasty ruled over Egypt and some neighboring territories from 323 to 30
bce
. The Ptolemies and parts of the Egyptian priestly elite formed alliances, as can be seen on the Memphis decree engraved on the Rosetta stone. The kings adapted administrative and legal structures so that their institutions were neither Greek nor Egyptian but a hybrid. Yet dynastic conflicts precipitated Roman intervention. Octavian, the future Augustus, defeated Cleopatra VII and her ally Mark Antony at Actium in 31
bce
and included Egypt as a province of the Roman Empire the following year.
Sailendra Empire of Java
Authors: Hägerdal Hans
Published: January 2016

The Sailendra dynasty ruled in Central Java in the 8th and 9th centuries
ce
, being subsequently relocated to Sumatra. It was a Buddhist regime whose origins and history are fairly obscure.
Chartered companies
Authors: Hodacs Hanna
Published: January 2016

Chartered companies were key organizations in the European development of Early Modern long‐distance trade. Some of the Atlantic trade was conducted by chartered companies, but it was particularly in the maritime trade between Europe and Asia that they took center stage. Formed to diffuse the risk associated with overseas trading and to pool capital in resource‐demanding trades, chartered companies also became part of Europe's colonial venture. The most prominent example of this is the English East India Company's role in governing the Indian subcontinent. The English Company was, however, only one among many chartered companies which, in different and complementary ways, came to shape European influence in the Atlantic and Asian worlds.
Dong Hu tribal confederation
Authors: Miller Bryan K.
Published: January 2016

Nomadic groups of late1st‐millenniumbcenortheastern China are often collectively referred to as the Dong Hu. Although some scholars have treated them as a singular entity and even a tribal confederation, no historical or archaeological evidence has yet been brought to bear that could equate these groups to any form of political conglomerate. Instead of treating the Dong Hu as a singular political or ethnic entity, they may be discussed as a general cultural phenomenon of nomadic groups that occupied territories between the Mongolian steppes and the Great Xing'an Mountains of China.
Lan Xang Kingdom (early Laos)
Authors: Lockhart Bruce M.
Published: January 2016

Lan Xang (also spelled “Lan Sang” and “Lane Xang”), meaning “a million elephants,” was the name for the polity seen as the “ancestor” of the modern nation‐state of Laos. Much of its history cannot be told with any certainty, and almost everything before roughly 1400
ce
is largely the stuff of myth and legend. If the later chronicles are to be believed, Lan Xang was founded from a congeries of small Lao polities in the late 14th century, and it survived until roughly 1700, when it fragmented into several pieces, each of which survived until their colonization by France in the 1890s.