bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
British Empire: 6. Caribbean, 19th–20th centuries
Authors: Dunkley D. A.
Published: January 2016

Resistance by the black majority changed the course of the British Caribbean Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries, which resulted in the abolition of British slave trading and slavery, struggles to overcome post‐Emancipation oppressions, and ultimately, the acquisition of independence from Britain starting from 1962. Shaped by oppressions, but also by the agency of the oppressed, the standard of living of the masses in the colonized Caribbean gradually improved, but only alongside the declining prospects of Pax Britannia.
Spanish Empire: 2. From 1580
Authors: Gasch‐Tomás José L.
Published: January 2016

The history of the Spanish Empire from 1580 is the history of a monarchy being transformed into various nation‐states. From 1580 to 1700 the Spanish Empire was the composite monarchy of Europe
par excellence
. Spain's union with Portugal in 1580 marked the apogee of the Spanish Empire. During the 17th century, however, crisis and war drove the Spanish Empire to a secondary place in the international arena. The 18th century was a period of economic and political modernization of the empire, although its past splendor was never recovered. The wars of independence in Latin America fragmented it into several nation‐states, including Spain itself. In the 20th century, a few territories in northern Africa were the sole remnants of what was once a worldwide empire.
Western Satrap (Western Kshatrapa) Kingdom
Authors: Ghosh Suchandra
Published: January 2016

A significant power group which ruled in Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Malwa during the early centuries
ce
is referred to as the Western Satraps or Western Kshatrapas. They were contemporary with the Satavahanas in the Deccan and partly with the Kushanas in the north. There were two important lines of Kshatrapa rulers – the Kshaharatas and Kardamakas. Their distinctive coinages are the most important source for reconstructing their history, along with a few inscriptions which include records of endowments and benefactions. The most famous rulers from the two dynasties are Nahapana, Chashtana, and Rudradaman I. The Kshatrapa rulers were engaged in prolonged conflict with their southern neighbor the Satavahanas. The main cause of the struggle was control over certain areas, particularly those which gave access to the western seaboard. After Rudradaman there were many succeeding rulers. They were supplanted in the Saurashtra‐Gujarat region by Chandragupta II around 415
ce,
whose silver coins proclaim the annexation of the Satrapal kingdom.
Ports in ancient and medieval empires
Authors: Hyslop Jonathan
Published: January 2016

Ancient and medieval empires gave an extraordinary impetus to the development of ports in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Alexandria under the Ptolemaic emperors represented a new level of harbor economy. Under the Roman Empire, a chain of port cities grew around the Mediterranean Sea, providing an unprecedented infrastructure for seaborne commerce. The rise of Islam linked the ports of the Mediterranean to Central Asian trade, and later the Mongol Empire opened up an overland connection between the ports of the Muslim world and China. By the 13th century a vast China‐centered trade network existed in the ports of the eastern Indian Ocean, and a system of seaborne commerce linked Indian and west Asian ports with Africa. Thus while the European empires of the 16th century did represent a breakthrough to a truly global economy, it is important to understand the remarkable achievements of earlier imperial port systems.
Morocco: 2. Later empire (from the 16th century)
Authors: Boum Aomar
Published: January 2016

With the Marinids’ decline, the Turks, Portuguese, Spanish, and Wattasids competed for Morocco's political and economic control until the Sa‘dians formally became its new
sharifian
rulers in 1554. As the Ottomans strengthened their control over Algeria and the Europeans continued their maritime success, the Sa‘dians shifted their economic and political expansion to the Sudan. Their sub‐Saharan territorial conquest turned out to be one of the causes of their fall as trans‐Saharan trade routes became less secure after the social and political break‐up of the Songhai Empire. Internal political dissidence and economic woes hastened the emergence of ‘Alawites, who managed to protect Morocco from the Ottoman and European continued interest and to maintain political independence until the French managed to establish their colonial protection between 1912 and 1956.
Shibanid Empire
Authors: Kilic‐Schubel Nurten
Published: January 2016

The Shibanids, more accurately, the Abu'l‐Khayrid‐Shibanids, were a Turco‐Mongol Muslim dynasty of Chinggisid origin, who ruled the settled regions of southern Central Asia from 1500 until 1598. Replacing the non‐Chingissid Timurid rulers in these regions, they were direct descendants of Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan) (d.1227), tracing their lineage through Shiban, a son of Juchi, Chinggis Khan's eldest son, whose descendants formed the ruling family of the “Golden Horde.” The establishment of the Shibanid Empire in former Timurid territories signified the “restoration” of Chinggisid sovereignty and the formation of a new political culture which emphasized shared sovereignty and power distribution. While the dynasty itself was short lived, its underlying political framework and principles proved dynamic and durable, lasting into the early 19th century.
Russia: 4. Empire (1721–1917)
Authors: O'Rourke Shane
Published: January 2016

The Russian Empire was founded in 1721 and lasted until 1917. At its height in the mid‐19th century it was spread across three continents, stretching from Eastern Europe to the Pacific Ocean, into Alaska and down into California. In 1913 the empire covered 13.5 million square kilometers. Within the empire, there existed hundreds of different ethnic groups with a bewildering variety of languages, religions, and customs. This diverse empire was united largely through loyalty to the dynasty. When the dynasty collapsed, the Russian Empire collapsed with it, although it would be revived in other guises.
Seljuk Empire, Great
Authors: Peacock A. C. S.
Published: January 2016

The Seljuk Empire (c.1038–1194) was a Muslim state that dominated much of the Middle East and Central Asia – in particular modern Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkmenistan, and northern Afghanistan – in the 11th and 12th centuries
ce
. Known after their ancestor Seljuk, the dynasty was ethnically Turkish and had been brought to power by invasions of nomadic Turks from Central Asia who had recently converted to Islam. From the second half of the 11th century, the Seljuk Empire began to fragment into constituent parts ruled by branches of the dynasty in Anatolia, Syria, and southeastern Iran (Kirman). The rump empire in Iran, Iraq, and Central Asia is known as the Great Seljuk state to distinguish it from these smaller states to which it gave birth, but from the early 12th century the great Seljuk lands were themselves further divided between the Great Seljuk sultan based in Central Asia and eastern Iran, and his vassal the Seljuk sultan of Iraq. The Great Seljuk Empire collapsed in the mid‐12th century and its successor, the Seljuk sultanate of Iraq, finally disappeared in 1194.
Nationalism and imperialism
Authors: Farrell Sean
Published: January 2016

Modern nations typically were born in imperial crucibles. The complex relationship between nationalism and imperialism has been a vital area of historical enquiry in recent decades. While these debates have often been contentious, this work has underlined the fact that nationalism and imperialism are not simply antagonistic forces. Using examples from the British, French, and Japanese empires, this brief essay surveys the associations between these two critical phenomena, focusing on the relationship between imperialism and the formation and evolution of national identity and the links between empire and the development of anti‐colonial nationalism. The legacy of these connections is illustrated by contemporary debates that dominate the so‐called post‐colonial world. For former metropole and colony alike, the blurred lines between empire and nation continue to resonate.
Muscat and Zanzibar, Sultanate of
Authors: Hoffman Valerie J.
Published: January 2016

The Sultanate of Muscat and Zanzibar grew initially from Oman's struggle with Portugal in the 17th century for dominance over trade in the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, and then from the desire to assert control over Omani settlements in East Africa. In 1832, Sayyid Sa‘id ibn Sulṭan transferred the capital of the Omani Empire from Muscat to Zanzibar. Although Sayyid Sa‘id and his successors in Zanzibar appointed governors along the coast and had agents as far inland as the Congo, actual territorial control was weak. In 1856 the empire was divided between two of Sa‘id's sons, one ruling in Oman and the other in Zanzibar, a division that was formalized in 1861, marking the effective end of the sultanate. European colonialism dramatically reduced the domains of the Zanzibar sultanate in the last quarter of the 19th century, though a member of the Bu Sa‘idi family remained on the throne in Zanzibar until January 1964. The Bu Sa‘idi dynasty continues to reign in the Sultanate of Oman.
Ghana, Empire of
Authors: MacDonald Kevin C.
Published: January 2016

The Empire of Ghana (as described by Moslem chroniclers) or Wagadu (as referred to in oral tradition) evolved in the African Sahel between c.400 and 1150
ce
. Its territorial definition and the location of its capitals remain debated, but it was undoubtedly the most important of West African polities at the region's encounter with the Islamic world in the 9th century. Ghana's commerce was centered on the gold trade between the River Niger and North Africa, but its origins lay within ancient, local networks of agro‐pastoral exchange and sociopolitical complexity stretching back into the 1st millennium
bce
.
Decline of empires
Authors: Reynolds Michael A.
Published: January 2016

The theme of imperial decline is one that has exerted appeal across time and cultures to intellectuals and broader audiences alike. A number of reasons explain its perennial popularity, ranging from the ostensibly self‐evident importance of the decay of large polities to wonder and
schadenfreude
at the spectacle of the fall of the high and mighty. In part because of its hoary and nearly universal appeal, the study of the decline of empires is hobbled by several conceptual and methodological problems. Defining and identifying decline is neither simple nor straightforward. One difficulty is confusion over what is meant by empire. Another lies in the definition and measurement of power, which requires making comparisons across both time and space. The application of rigorous methods, however, cannot itself guarantee a clear‐cut or definitive account of imperial decline. Perceptions of decline ultimately depend as much on the observer as on the observed.
North Sea (Anglo‐Scandinavian) Empire
Authors: Shepard Jonathan
Published: January 2016

Cnut gained control of England in 1016ceonly after prolonged campaigning, following Viking‐style raids instigated by his father, Sven. Even then, Cnut faced challenges from fellow Vikings and from across the Channel, where the duke of Normandy harbored two sons of the last Anglo‐Saxon king, Ethelred II. Cnut nonetheless managed to establish himself as keeper of Christian peace and law with the aid of English churchmen. By 1030, he enjoyed deference, if not service, from most potentates in the British Isles and also held sway over the Norwegians and his fellow Danes. However, he died in 1035, his sons survived him by only a few years, and his dominions fragmented. There was, though, a rationale to Cnut's attempt at a “sea‐empire”: sociocultural and commercial ties interlinked his dominions, and ships were now of sufficient capacity to transport heavy cargos, or substantial numbers of warriors.
Byzantine Empire: 2. 650–1204
Authors: Shepard Jonathan
Published: January 2016

In the mid‐7th century the Roman Empire underwent defeat from desert‐dwelling Arabs. Having lost their wealthiest provinces, emperors tried fiscal and strategic expedients, but the Muslims kept up pressure. The piety, generalship, and concern for justice of Leo III and Constantine V proved a winning combination and laid foundations for the medieval – Byzantine – empire. Constantinople exercised centripetal force on provincials and “barbarians” alike, substantiating emperors’ claims to “Roman” and “universal” authority, and facilitating diplomacy. Mid‐10th‐century Byzantium's stance became expansionist, culminating in reconquest of Northern Syria and the subjugation of Bulgaria. However, mounting prosperity and enlarged armed forces posed fiscal‐administrative problems. Although, in the mid‐11th century, Byzantine Soft Power was at its height, new predators appeared, and the Turcomans overran most of Asia Minor. Alexios I Komnenos restored order and his descendants pursued similar policies, while exploiting rivalries between other powers. However, the Komnenian clique's mode of operating ultimately eroded “the common good,” and prompted tax evasion by provincials. Byzantium's position astride communication routes was no longer the asset it had once been amidst less sophisticated, traders and powers. Neither was the image of wealth long projected by its diplomacy. Outsiders’ expectations of its resources could work to Byzantium's disadvantage. In 1204 Constantinople fell victim to the Fourth Crusade.
Seleucid Empire
Authors: Ceccarelli Paola
Published: January 2016

The Seleucids conquered and then controlled for c.200 years (312–64bce) a territory that was remarkably vast and diverse, culturally, linguistically, and ethnically. Theirs was a personal monarchy, based on the king's individual charisma and on military success. However, through their colonial foundations; the establishment (or takeover) of a complex administrative network, aimed not only at the extraction of surplus by means of taxation but also at provision of services; the creation of a unified Seleucid era; a centralized ruler cult; and flexible dealing with the various groups (communities, cities, dynasts, temple states) that composed the empire, the Seleucids managed to root themselves in the landscape they had conquered, intertwining various cultural traditions: local, Macedonian, Greek, and Achaemenid.
Austro‐Hungarian Empire (1867–1918)
Authors: Hitchins Keith
Published: January 2016

Austria‐Hungary came into being as the result of a compromise between the Habsburg dynasty and the German Austrians, on the one side, and the Magyar political elite in Hungary, on the other. Together, up to the end of World War I, they determined its fortunes, keeping the other sizable nationalities, notably the Slavs (Czechs, Croats, Slovaks, Slovenes, and Serbs) and the Romanians, subordinate to the two “peoples of state.” Despite differences between the two partners in Dualism and recurring crises over franchise reform and the nationality problem, the empire remained a significant force in European international relations. Its collapse was by no means inevitable. Rather, it dissolved in 1918 under the extreme pressures of World War I.
Egypt: 4. Late medieval (including Syria: Ayyubid, Mamluk)
Authors: Amitai Reuven
Published: January 2016

For a period of some 350 years, Egypt and Syria were ruled by the Ayyubid and Mamluk states. The Ayyubid state (starting in 1171, and continuing to 1250 in Egypt and 1260 in Syria), ruled by a family of Kurdish origin, was more a federation than a unified polity. The Mamluk Sultanate, whose political–military elite were mostly slave soldiers of Turkish and Caucasian provenance, was a relatively more centralized affair, with Cairo clearly controlling the Syrian provinces. It was a period of wars with external enemies, mainly the Franks (Crusaders) and Mongols, but also one of great cultural vitality, financed by a prosperous agricultural economy and a robust international trade.
British Empire: 1. 1707–1914
Authors: McCreery Cindy
Published: January 2016

At its peak in the 19th century, the British Empire was the largest empire not only on Earth, but in human history, encompassing one fourth of the land area of the globe and one fifth of its inhabitants. This entry examines the First Empire in 18th‐century North America, the Second Empire in India, and the various accessions and developments up to World War I. It discusses the white settler colonies, later known as Dominions, as well as other models of colonial rule. It considers how experience of administering one area of empire, Ireland, shaped British policy in another, as well as the role of informal empire. The entry explores the attitudes toward empire of a wide range of people, from elite civil servants to working‐class and subject peoples. In this way, the British Empire 1707–1914 can be understood as a complex phenomenon which provoked both delight and despair.
Danish Empire
Authors: Kjærgaard Thorkild
Published: January 2016

The entry deals with the rise and fall of the Danish (1380–1814: Danish‐Norwegian) Empire from the end of the Viking period (c.1100) to the 21st century. The Danish(‐Norwegian) Empire operated on two main stages: the Baltic Sea, the inland sea of the Nordic region, and the North Atlantic between Norway, Greenland, Iceland, and the archipelagos north of Scotland. Another stage of secondary importance on which the empire operated was in the tropical world from 1618 to 1917. The Danish(‐Norwegian) Empire kept growing until the first quarter of the 16th century. The climax in glory and power was reached in the period 1397–1520 when the empire was one of the biggest and most influential political entities of the day in Europe. Its nadir was reached in 1814 when Denmark – Europe's smallest independent state – stood alone with a geographically enormous, but indefensible and valueless, empire stretching from Greenland in the high north over the Caribbean and West Africa to India.
Ifat, Sultanate of
Authors: Hassen Mohammed
Published: January 2016

Ifat was the second sultanate to be formed in the region of Shawa, in what is currently central Ethiopia. It was Umar Walasma who founded the Walasma dynasty (1280–1520s), which spearheaded Muslim resistance to the expanding Christian kingdom. From the very beginning Ifat was the victim of its own contradictory policies. On the one hand, Ifat was the greatest beneficiary of the lucrative trade of central and southern Ethiopia. Important caravan routes in southern and eastern Ethiopia converged on Ifat, whose capital was the major center of trade in the region. Ifat's commercial prosperity attracted the attention of the powerful Christian king, Amda‐siyon, who was determined to annex Ifat and other Muslim states to his rapidly expanding kingdom. On the other hand, the leaders of Ifat adopted aggressive policies toward the neighboring Christian kingdom, thus providing an excuse for Amda‐Siyon to invade Ifat in 1329 and annex it in 1332. Although Muslim resistance in Ifat developed between 1363 and 1374, one of its leaders took the dramatic action of shifting the center of Muslim resistance to the eastern region of Ethiopia. This entry briefly explores Ifat's resistance to Christian domination.
Confucianism
Authors: Chu Hung‐lam
Published: January 2016

Confucianism is a body of humanistic learning and thought, a code of conduct and a way of life primarily based on the teachings of Confucius (551–479
bce
) but enriched by great teachers and scholars like Mencius and Xunzi in pre‐Christian times and Zhu Xi in the 12th century. Its main concern is the proper functioning of human relationships and the exercise of good government to ensure that these relationships function appropriately. It stresses man's responsibility to himself and to society and envisions a world of peace and harmony. It emphasizes learning and practice of virtues like filial piety, brotherly love, benevolence, righteousness, loyalty, faithfulness, sincerity, and dutifulness for the perfection of oneself and for public service. It was imperial China's state ideology, which also influenced the minds and institutions of Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Its adaptive and accommodative philosophy suggests it can transform itself to the service of the modern world.
Archaeology and empire
Authors: Horning Audrey , Mrozowski Stephen
Published: January 2016

The history of archaeology is inextricably bound up with empire, while the history of empire rests firmly upon the foundations of archaeology. In this mutual entanglement lies a key challenge for the present in seeking understandings of empire, its social legacies, and the expression and future implications of neo‐imperial formulations in today's world. Focusing on the development of archaeology from the 16th century to the present, we consider the relationship between colonialism and imperialism, the changing theoretical constructs that underpin archaeological practice, and the contemporary role of archaeology in neo‐imperial politics. The role of archaeology in the development of ethnocentric theories of cultural evolution and its current role in challenging those same formulations are examined, with examples drawn from the imperial histories of Africa, the Americas, Mesopotamia, Australasia, and India.
Deccan sultanates
Authors: Fischel Roy S.
Published: January 2016

The Deccan sultanates were Muslim‐ruled sultanates in Central India, comprising Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Golkonda, and the short‐lived Berar and Bidar. Emerging out of the disintegration of the Bahmani Sultanate in the 1480s, the Deccan sultanates incorporated varied Muslim (Foreigners, Deccanis) and non‐Muslim (Brahmins,
nayaka
s,
desai
s, Marathas) elites. During the 16th century, the sultanates expanded their territories, fostered both Islamic and local characteristics, and employed multiple languages (Persian, Dakhni, and the vernaculars Kannada, Marathi, and Telugu) and political idioms simultaneously to accommodate various elements of local society. In the 17th century, the Mughal Empire increased its influence in the Deccan, conquering Ahmadnagar in 1636. The Marathas broke away from Bijapur in the 1650s, further destabilizing the political order by pursuing their independent agenda. Under these growing pressures, Bijapur and Golkonda collapsed and their territories were annexed by the Mughals in 1686–1687.
Exhibitions and expositions
Authors: Swift Anthony
Published: January 2016

Exhibitions of empire proliferated during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly from the late 1870s until 1914. They were a key part of almost every international exposition until the 1960s, while entire exhibitions were devoted to celebrating empire. These imperial spectacles aimed to promote trade and commerce and to educate the public about natural resources and the value of empire, but they often emphasized the exoticism of foreign lands and peoples to stimulate visitor interest. Ethnographic exhibits and native villages inhabited by indigenous peoples were a popular feature of most international exhibitions from the 1880s, combining elements of anthropological science, education, propaganda, and spectacle in a narrative that justified contemporary racist perceptions. Imperial displays declined in number after World War I, although important imperial expositions were held in London in 1924–1925 and Paris in 1931. The last international exposition to have an important imperial component was the 1958 Brussels Universal and International Exposition.
Maratha Empire
Authors: O'Hanlon Rosalind
Published: January 2016

The Maratha Empire arose in later 17th‐century western India, as a movement of local small gentry, hill people, and peasant farmers under the warrior leader Shivaji Bhosle. At first drawn outwards to seek revenues to supplement their own relatively poor upland territories, the Marathas’ imperial horizons were dramatically enlarged during the 18th century as Mughal power in Delhi waned. Loosely allied Maratha chiefs established semi‐independent domains of their own in central and northern India, enabling the Marathas to play a dominant role as king‐makers and protectors of the Mughal throne by mid‐century. Dueling first with the Afghans, and then with the British East India Company to control the vacuum left by the Mughals, the Marathas were ultimately brought down by the Company, whose political cohesion, access to the resources of Britain's global empire, and growing ascendancy over India's military economy gave it key advantages in the contest.
Abbasid Caliphate
Authors: Nawas John
Published: January 2016

After wresting power from the Umayyads, the Abbasid Caliphate reigned over a territory that extended from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the borders with China in the east. Heavily centralized at the outset, Abbasid supremacy continuously weakened as their income started to decline while losing power to local dynasties. The Abbasids ruled from 750 to 1258cefrom Baghdad, a city they founded as their capital. Their permanent contributions to humankind include preserving and building on the classical Greek heritage, and many important discoveries in the sciences and arts, as well as Islam as a religion.
Safavid Empire
Authors: Zarinebaf Fariba
Published: January 2016

The Safavid Empire (1501–1736) ruled over greater Iran and fought over the control of eastern Anatolia, Iraq, and the Caucasus (present republics of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and parts of Georgia) with the Ottoman Empire. The Safavids also tried to extend their rule into greater Khurasan and Central Asia. Religion and millenarian social movements in Anatolia played an important role in the rise of the Safavids to power after the disintegration of Aqquyunlu Iran in the late 15th century. The Safavids established Twelver Shi‘ism as the official religion of Iran and forcefully converted its predominantly Sunni population to Shi‘ism. This was a significant historical event that divided the Middle East into two camps between the Sunni Ottomans and the Shi‘ite Safavids, who fought for almost two hundred years over the control of borderlands and Islamic leadership. As a result of constant clashes, each state also became less tolerant of its Muslim minorities at times of heightened political conflict and war. The Safavids succeeded in making Iran a majority Shi‘ite country and spreading their influence into Iraq, Lebanon, eastern Anatolia, Herat, and parts of the Caucasus, while the Ottomans conquered Mamluk Egypt, Syria, and Arabia. The Safavids forged an alliance with Catholic Europe, Portugal, Venice, and the Habsburg Empire, which saw an affinity between Catholicism and Shi‘ism against the Ottomans. Tribal resurgence, economic decline due to continued wars with the Ottomans, and religious tensions led to the disintegration of the Safavid Empire. The Sunni Afghan tribes (former Safavid vassals) occupied Iran in 1721, and the Ottomans moved into western Iran in 1724. The Ottomans reached an agreement with Peter the Great of Russia to divide northern Iran and the provinces in the Caucasus among themselves while the Afghans occupied the rest of Iran.
Ifriqiya, medieval empires of (Aghlabid to Hafsid)
Authors: Amara Allaoua
Published: January 2016

The Byzantine province of “Africa” was conquered by Arab forces in the early wave of Islamic expansion from the east, and became the Umayyad province of Ifriqiya in 703ce. Although united in Islam, the history of Ifriqiya is one of constant religious schism and rivalry as well as marked cultural and ethnic divisions between the immigrant Arab and indigenous Berber populations and others, as well as distinct differences between the population, outlook, and economy of the coastal cities and the interior. In the turbulent world of medieval Ifriqiya the Aghlabids, viceroys from 800, acted as sub‐imperial agents of the Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad. They were supplanted by the imperial‐minded Shia Fatimids whose ambitions for the caliphate saw them rise to the domination of all Islamic lands, before the native Zirid dynasty of Sanhaja Berbers assumed power over Ifriqiya. Further fragmentation saw a temporary conquest by the Almohads of the western Maghreb before the Hafsids re‐established a late flourishing of the empire of Ifriqiya which dissolved in the 16th century.
Il‐Khanate Empire
Authors: Biran Michal
Published: January 2016

The Mongol khanate that ruled in West Asia (c.1256–1335) was founded by the grandson of Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan), Hülegü, after he had eliminated the Abbasid Caliphate in 1258. Despite this bloody beginning, the Il‐Khanate became a highly cosmopolitan state, having close connections with both China and Europe, and a composite administration and legacy combining Mongol, Iranian, and Muslim elements. In 1295 Il‐Khan Ghazan adopted Islam, which remained the state religion of the empire. Despite its short span, the Il‐Khanate saw an unprecedented efflorescence of arts and sciences, and earned a reputation for cultural splendor. It was also the period that gave rise to Iran as a separate entity inside the Muslim world for the first time since the Arab conquest of the 7th century, thereby laying the foundation for the modern nation‐state of Iran.
Brunei, Sultanate of
Authors: Wellen Kathryn
Published: January 2016

Through the lens of indigenous, Chinese, and European sources, this entry explores Brunei's growth into a regional power. It describes this history as portrayed in a mythological epic; the difficulty of tracing Brunei's history in Chinese sources; and the nature of Bruneian imperial expansion and its demise.
Germany: 2. Colonial empire
Authors: Biskup Thomas , Kohlrausch Martin
Published: January 2016

The German Empire founded in 1871 possessed the fourth largest colonial empire in the period of high imperialism. Although Germany was a colonial power only between 1884 and 1919, Germans were engaged in colonial projects both before and after this period, which in turn had political, social, and cultural repercussions in Germany and its former colonies. For Germany, however, overseas possessions only ever formed part of a wider imperial imagination, which also encompassed Eastern Europe.
Chola (Cola) Empire
Authors: Mahalakshmi Rakesh
Published: January 2016

The Chola Empire was established in South India in the 9th century and flourished for almost 400 years. Its territorial extent, military strength, institutional structures, and monumental art attest to the power and authority of the dynasty. Starting from modest origins in the fertile uplands along the Kaveri River, the Cholas first extended and consolidated their rule over the entire Tamil macro‐region. Thereafter, they brought contiguous regions as well as far off places under their sway. In the annals of Indian history, the imperial grandeur of the Cholas remains an important reference point to assess the sociopolitical and economic institutions in the premodern period.
White Horde Khanate
Authors: May Timothy
Published: January 2016

Also known as the Ulus Orda, the Aq Orda or White Horde was the eastern portion of the so‐called Golden Horde and was founded by Orda (d.1251), son of Jochi Khan, the eldest son of Chinggis (Genghis) Khan. Also known as the Blue Horde or Köke Orda, the territory stretched from the Ural River to approximately the Irtysh River in the east. Historically subordinate to the ruler of the Jochid domains in the west, the White Horde did eventually establish its own, albeit short‐lived, supremacy over the entire Golden Horde.
Languages and empire
Authors: Sèbe Berny
Published: January 2016

One of the defining aspects of the human species, language could not be left unaffected by imperial activities. The centrality of language to any human activity was reflected in the Greek wordlogos, which referred to both speech and reasoning. Revealingly, the Greeks referred disparagingly to those who did not speak their language asbarbaroi(barbarian). With cultural prejudices underpinning imperial expansion in many cases, and given the practical implications of any linguistic unification, all colonizers had to face the issue of managing local languages and, in many cases, acculturating indigenous populations with the imposition of their own lingua franca (especially to ease the performance of administration). It is certainly not a coincidence if all of today's major world languages played, at some point in history, an imperial role: the map of world languages illustrates the way in which many empires contributed to the spread of a major language. The spread of the colonizer's idiom was forceful in many cases, and accidental on a few occasions, but it was an unavoidable outcome of imperial activity.
French Empire: 1. General
Authors: Hodson Christopher
Published: January 2016

From its beginnings in the 15th century, the French overseas empire grew to encompass vast regions of Africa, the Americas, and Asia before its near‐total extinction at the end of the 20th century. Colonialism abroad and state‐building at home evolved in tandem, binding the monarchies and republics of France to its settler populations, and to the indigenous and enslaved peoples who both constituted and challenged the empire.
Anthropology and empire
Authors: Prince Ruth J.
Published: January 2016

Although the development of anthropology was intimately tied to European empires, anthropologists only began to confront colonialism and their place within it after the 1960s. Anthropology's attention to symbolic and cultural orders and to the nonverbal, everyday, and ritual dimensions of human life produced nuanced accounts both of colonial power and of the agency of the colonized. While earlier works privileged colonial power and its resistance, anthropologists now approach empire as a field of tensions: both colonizers and colonized are objects of study, colonial and metropolitan spaces are intimately connected, and colonial situations are sites of fear, struggle, negotiation, and exchange.
Empires in world history: characteristics, concepts, and consequences
Authors: MacKenzie John M.
Published: January 2016

This introduction seeks to provide a schematic map for the 420 entries on empires, as well as the themes that connect them, which are to be found in this Encyclopedia. It supplies and debates a possible definition of empires, as well as considering the various ways in which they were generated out of simpler social and political formations. It also analyzes their complex characteristics, in terms of both similarities and differences. It outlines a number of themes under the following headings: Repertoires of Power; Economies and their Environments; The Yearning for Expansion; The Necessity of Mobility; Empires of Information; Empires and Anxiety; Cultures of Display and Concentrations of People and Power; Modern European Empires; Information about and Theories of Empires; Ideologies and Fantasies of Empires. These sections are not of course exhaustive, nor can they hope to cover the rich diversities of empires across more than four millennia, but they indicate signposts through which empires can be explored and potentially understood.
Kadamba Kingdom
Authors: Mahalakshmi R.
Published: January 2016

The Kadambas were a dynasty that first appeared around 345
ce
in the locality of northwestern Karnataka, initially around Talagunda in modern Shimoga district, in southwest India. Initially, their control appeared limited to the area immediately around Banavasi, which was their political center in this early period, but later extended to all of northern Karnataka and the Konkan. They appear to have been absorbed into the Chalukyan political system by the middle of the 6th century
ce
and once again appear as independent rulers in the second half of the 10th century, when they had spread across the western Deccan, particularly the Konkan coast. There were at least two different groups claiming Kadamba lineage, located around Hangal in Dharwar district (including Karwar and Shimoga districts), and Goa (including Karwar, Dharwar, and Belgaum districts) in the 11th century.
Futa Toro
Authors: Robinson David W.
Published: January 2016

Futa Toro constitutes the middle valley of the Senegal River, West Africa. It developed an Islamic state called the Almamate, which existed from the late 18th to the late 19th century and at one point exercised considerable influence in other parts of Senegambia and even Mauritania.
Futa Jalon
Authors: Robinson David W.
Published: January 2016

Futa Jalon, the highland area of today's Guinea (Conakry), West Africa, was the site of an Islamic state that existed from the late 18th to the end of the 19th century and exercised extensive influence over a large area extending from Sierra Leone to Senegambia.
Venetian Empire
Authors: Fusaro Maria
Published: January 2016

Between 1204 and 1797 the Republic of Venice ruled over a commercial and maritime empire, founded on control of the sea lanes which connected the Levant to Europe. Its size varied over time, but its core territories stretched across the Po valley in northeastern Italy, including parts of Istria and Dalmatia, and several islands in the Ionian and Aegean seas. The Venetian patriciate ruled for centuries over this multi‐ethnic and multi‐religious set of populations through a complex and ultimately centralized governance structure, which had its center in Venice – the
Dominante
.
Cinema and empire
Authors: Chapman James
Published: January 2016

The advent of cinema coincided with the zenith of modern imperialism and the new medium played a major role in disseminating images and ideologies of empire. The entry covers the changing representation of empire in cinema from the early imperial pageants of the silent period to the emergence of the Anglo‐American cinema of empire in the 1930s and its transformation after World War II. The focus is on British and American films about the British Empire, though reference is also made to the representation of empire in films from India, Germany, Italy, and France, and to the rise of anti‐colonialist “Third Cinema” in the 1960s and 1970s.
Mixtec Empire
Authors: Joyce Arthur A.
Published: January 2016

Archaeological and ethnohistoric research in Oaxaca, Mexico, shows that a powerful Pacific coastal empire dominated by Mixtecs developed during the Late Postclassic period with its political seat at the city of Tututepec. The Mixtec codices (indigenous screenfold manuscripts) record the founding of Tututepec by a highland Mixtec group led by the famous noble, Lord 8 Deer “Jaguar Claw.” Ethnohistorical documents record that Tututepec came to dominate a coastal empire reaching 25 000 sq. km. Archaeological research shows that Tututepec grew into a powerful city covering nearly 22 sq. km and that commoners benefited economically from the success of the empire.
African kingdoms and empires
Authors: Pizzo David
Published: January 2016

While Western scholars have often dismissed African political history as inconsequential, the range of scale and complexity of African state formations is actually quite varied. While most Africans did indeed live in states that were small by European or Asian standards, some lived in vast empires such as Sokoto that encompassed millions of people. Even the so‐called “stateless” societies (now referred to by most scholars as polycephalous) had politics at the village or multi‐village level that were quite intricate and complicated. Between these two extremes existed a wide range of city‐states, small monarchies, and medium‐sized empires. For better or for worse, Africans have been adept at building empires when the material and social conditions permitted it.
Persian Empire, later (Afsharid to Qajar)
Authors: Garthwaite Gene R.
Published: January 2016

While the collapse of Safavid rule over Iran occurred in 1722, the essential elements of the Safavid state and empire continued until 1926 with the emergence of the Pahlavi dynasty under the leadership of Riza Shah. Both the reigns of Nadir Shah Afshar (1736–1747) and then the Qajars (1796–1926) should be seen as Safavid successor states. While the Shi'i
ulema
(Islamic legal scholars) underwent profound changes as an institution from the 18th through the 20th centuries, it accepted the political role of the monarch. Beginning in the 19th century, however, and in reaction to territorial losses in the Caucasus and western Afghanistan, the ulema led populist movements against continued misrule and Russian and British encroachment on Iran's national sovereignty. Nationalism and calls for the end of autocracy resulted in the constitutional movement in the early 20th century, and following World War I and in the face of fragmentation, the modern Pahlavi nation‐state emerged in place of the universalism implicit in empire.
Elamite Kingdom
Authors: Basello Gian Pietro
Published: January 2016

Several dynasties reigned from Susa (modern Shush in the lowlands of southwestern Iran), extending their power as far as Anshan (the Persepolis area in the highland Fars province) and the shores of the Persian Gulf from the 3rd millennium to the 6th century
bce
. A common Elamite civilization, characterized by its own language, customs, and monuments, is recognized by scholars today, as formerly by the neighboring Mesopotamian kingdoms for which Susa was an eastern hub. Periods of dependence are also attested, especially under Akkad and Ur III dynasties in the second half of the 3rd millennium, while a prolonged struggle with the Neo‐Assyrian armies characterized the first half of the 1st millennium. The 2nd millennium represented the phase of major influence over Mesopotamia, culminating in the ousting of the Kassite dynasty from Babylon. The role of Elam, especially its administration and culture, in the formation of the Achaemenid Empire has been increasingly emphasized in recent years.
Gurjara‐Pratihara (Pratihara) Empire
Authors: Pal Sayantani
Published: January 2016

The Gurjara Pratiharas were one of the most powerful dynasties of early medieval India. They occupied western India, an area frequented by Arab travelers. The Gurjara Pratihara dominion was known as Al‐Jurz to the Arabs, who regarded them as one of the three most powerful Indian ruling dynasties, the other two being the Palas and the Rashtrakutas. All these powers came to be engaged in a conflict known as the “tripartite struggle” for the possession of the city of Kanauj in the Ganga‐Jamuna doab, the region between these two important rivers in northern India. In this conflict the Pratiharas ultimately emerged as the most successful, establishing their authority over the city and the area.
Vishnukundina Empire
Authors: Mahalakshmi R.
Published: January 2016

The Vishnukundins were a dynasty ruling in the eastern Deccan in the 5th and 6th centuries
ce
, who played an important role in the geopolitics of the Deccan through their military campaigns and matrimonial alliances. The extent of their control has been conjectured on the basis of the provenance of their coins through the present‐day Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra regions. Their patronage of Buddhist and brahmanical institutions is known through their endowments and construction activity, although no monument can clearly be dated to this period.
Hungary, medieval Kingdom of
Authors: Sutt Cameron
Published: January 2016

The medieval kingdom of Hungary formed after the nomadic Magyar tribes settled in the Carpathian Basin. Under Stephen I, the tribes were united and a Western‐style Christian kingdom was established. The Hungarian kingdom was the major power in southeastern Europe, and Hungarian kings exerted various forms of hegemony over their neighbors, but they never incorporated their conquests into the kingdom itself. With the arrival of the Ottoman Turks into the region, the balance of power shifted in the region, and Hungarian kings took increasingly defensive stances toward the Ottomans. The Hungarian kingdom was finally defeated and divided by Ottoman advances in the 16th century.
Partition of Africa
Authors: MacKenzie John M.
Published: January 2016

The European partition of Africa (sometimes known as the Scramble for Africa) was an extraordinary phenomenon. Based on various interests in Africa that went back to the 17th century and which developed in the late 18th and early 19th, it seemed to break out with particular virulence in the 1880s and 1890s. For a whole variety of internal and external reasons, the entire continent, with the exception of Liberia and Ethiopia, was parceled out among imperial powers. It is essential to view these events from the perspective of Africans as well as from those of the various European states involved. The reasons are complex and remain difficult to disentangle, but the establishment of colonies was transforming for African societies. Yet the striking thing is just how brief the period of Europe rule was to be with a retreat taking place mainly in the 1950s and 1960s.
Swedish Empire
Authors: Lindegren Jan
Published: January 2016

The Swedish Empire around the Baltic was acquired and lost by war during the period 1560–1720. At the beginning, the wars were relatively small affairs fought out in different border regions, but from the 1620s this ceased to be the case. In the following century about one out of every third man reaching the age of 15 in Sweden lost his life in the conflicts. Swedish rule in its provinces was in many ways hampered by the necessity of upholding existing privileges, and as a result society ossified, with one short‐lived exception: serfdom in Estonia and Livonia was abolished by the Swedes at the end of 17th century. Sweden itself, however, underwent a series of major changes which totally undermined the will to defend the empire at any cost, or at all, and so it was sold at a fairly good price between 1719 and 1721.
Parhae, Kingdom of
Authors: Nanhee Ku
Published: January 2016

Parhae was one of the strongest kingdoms in northeast Asia from the late 8th century to the early 10th century and was founded in 698
ce
after the fall of the Kingdom of Goguryeo (Koguryǒ). It developed rapidly and ruled the northeast region of China and the modern‐day Primorye (coastal) region of Russia through the reigns of 15 kings for 229 years. Parhae was founded by Tae Choyǒng who was a Goguryeo commander who participated in the anti‐Tang revolt of the Khitan (Qidan) in Yingzhou, and who led the migrants of Goguryeo and the Malgal (Mohe) to found Chin, later Parhae. King Mu (r.718–737) and King Mun (r.737–793) expanded the borders of the state and consolidated the administration and control of outlying tribes at home, using successful diplomacy with Tang China and Silla in particular to uphold Parhae's position. The state was invaded by the Khitan under Taizu, founder of the Liao dynasty of imperial China.
Ternate, Sultanate of
Authors: Dalziel Nigel R.
Published: January 2016

The Sultanate of Ternate in the Moluccas (Maluku Islands, Indonesia) was an important power in the eastern archipelago in the Early Modern period. Its wealth gained in the growing international spice trade, and rivalries with other local kingdoms, encouraged expansionary ambition. The Portuguese threat stimulated greater political and cultural unity in the region, galvanized by the adoption of Islam which itself bolstered local opposition to European economic exploitation. In 1570 Sultan Baabullah inaugurated Ternate's new bid for regional hegemony and an increased share of commercial wealth as well as freedom from Portuguese control. Political centralization and territorial expansion continued into the early 17th century, but Ternate succumbed to the power of the Dutch who assumed a monopoly of the spice trade and undermined Ternate's economic base in shipping, trade, and clove production. The unity of the region and Ternate's mini‐empire fractured as sub‐rulers and island communities were alienated from the sultans who became paid agents of the Dutch.