bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mysore, Kingdom of
Authors: Lewis Barry
Published: January 2016

The South Indian kingdom of Mysore rose to prominence under the Wodeyar dynasty during the early 17th century. Its heartland was the rolling scrub jungle and forests of the Southern Maidan region of what is today the state of Karnataka. Haidar Ali, a Mysore soldier, usurped the power of the Wodeyars in the late 18th century. His son Tipu Sultan ultimately lost both his life and the kingdom in 1799 to the British, who restored the Wodeyars to power as rulers of the Mysore “princely state.” Mysore was accessioned to the newly independent republic of India in 1947.
Zapotec Empire
Authors: Joyce Arthur A.
Published: January 2016

Archaeological and ethnohistoric evidence from Oaxaca, Mexico, suggests that Zapotec‐speaking peoples may have formed small empires during the pre‐Hispanic era. Archaeologists have proposed a Zapotec Empire centered on the Late Formative period city of Monte Albán in the Oaxaca Valley. Although there is evidence for warfare at this time in the Oaxacan highlands, the existence of a Monte Albán Empire has been debated. Stronger support is available for an empire centered on the Late Postclassic city of Tehuantepec on the Pacific coast. Evidence for this empire includes the displacement of local populations and construction of the hilltop fortress site of Guiengola.
Epirus, Kingdom of
Authors: Gilley Dawn L.
Published: January 2016

Epirus is a Greek‐speaking region in northwestern Greece significant for its interactions with Italy and Macedonia in the 4th and 3rd centuries
bce
. While the Epirote tribes were governed by a monarch since the early 4th century, at various points in their history the monarch ruled alongside the Epirote alliance. The kingdom reached its height during the reign of Pyrrhus I (r.307–272), who went to war with Macedonia, Carthage, and Rome.
Macedonian Empire
Authors: Gilley Dawn L.
Published: January 2016

The ancient kingdom of Macedonia became an empire through the genius of Philip II who reigned from 359 to 336
bce
. He used military reform, diplomacy, and city foundations and fortifications to secure his borders, to bring the region of Upper Macedonia under his rule, and to create a stable economy. His son, Alexander III “the Great” (r.336–323
bce
), used many of the same methods to expand the kingdom to the Indus River conquering the Persian Empire and creating one of the largest empires in history. Unfortunately, at Alexander's death, it was unclear who his successor should be, and as a result, Philip and Alexander's empire began to be parceled out to Macedonian generals. Beginning in the 2nd century, the successor kingdoms, weakened by years of warfare, fell to the Roman Empire.
Coronations and rituals
Authors: Rollason David
Published: January 2016

The coronation of the Charlemagne, king of the Franks, as emperor in 800 established for Western Europe a ritual which derived from the practice of the Byzantine Empire and set the pattern for future coronations, imperial and royal. Notable was its church‐dominated character, and increasingly the fixing of particular coronation sites.
Pisa, Republic of
Authors: Skinner Patricia
Published: January 2016

It is debatable whether Pisa's aspirations amounted to the building of an empire. Its territorial ambitions were focused on domination within and close to the Tyrrhenian sea, whereas its activities further afield in the Mediterranean were largely built upon the concessions of other political powers (in Byzantium and the Crusader States, for example). Nevertheless, the city was represented by colonies across the Mediterranean, contributing to its reputation as a major sea power.
English Empire (British Isles and colonies to 1707)
Authors: MacMillan Ken
Published: January 2016

The English empire to 1707 consisted of two territorial groupings. The first was the composite monarchy of England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and various surrounding islands. This composite monarchy of multiple kingdoms was, since Anglo‐Saxon times, increasingly but fitfully controlled by the English crown and by 1707 was largely united into a single “kingdom of Great Britain.” The second territorial group comprising the English empire was the collection of colonies, predominantly those across the Atlantic Ocean, that were settled by subjects of the composite monarchy after 1585. The imperial ideology that unified the empire was the assertion that a centralized, royal authority centered in England held both
imperium
(sovereignty) and
dominium
(possession) over the “British Empire.”
Wadai (Ouaddai) Empire
Authors: Saxon Douglas E.
Published: January 2016

The Empire of Wadai was the last of the great African Sudanic Empires that controlled the trade in slaves across the Sahara. Located in the modern Republic of Chad, Wadai dominated the political and economic scene with the help of the Sanusiya Brotherhood, a Muslim brotherhood based in Eastern Libya. The French finally defeated Wadai in 1909 ending the era of African Empires linked to trans‐Saharan trade.
Nabataean Kingdom
Authors: Nehmé Laïla
Published: January 2016

The Nabataean kingdom is a political entity the earliest traces of which are attested in the 2nd century
bce
and which remained independent until 106
ce
, when it was annexed by Rome to form the Roman province of Arabia. At its peak, the kingdom reached Damascus in the north, the Hijaz in the south, the Negev in the west and the Syro‐Arabian desert in the east. The Nabataeans were originally merchants involved in the long‐distance trade in spices and aromatics which they conveyed from South Arabia to the Mediterranean.
Aragon, Crown of
Authors: Kagay Donald J.
Published: January 2016

The Crown of Aragon, consisting of the realms of Aragon, Catalonia, Majorca, and Valencia, was first linked by the marriage of the rulers of Aragon and Catalonia in 1137 and by a series of victories in the second half of the 13th century against the dominant Muslim powers in eastern Spain. After the reign of Jaime I “the Conqueror” (1213–1276), the Crown of Aragon largely concluded its campaigns against Spanish Islam, becoming a player in the central Mediterranean with the 14th‐ and 15th‐century conquests of Sardinia, Sicily, southern Greece, and Italy. Though declining in power from the 16th century onward, the Crown of Aragon gave Spain, ostensibly unified by the marriage of the Catholic Kings, a viable colonial pattern for its conquests both in Italy and in the New World.
Pontic Empire
Authors: Thomas Carol G.
Published: January 2016

The Black Sea pulls in two directions, encouraging unification of the coast but fragmentation of the deep territory surrounding the coast line. The Hellenistic Kingdom of Pontus is a remarkable example of success in controlling that situation. From 302bceinto the 1st centuryceit was a major force in the effort to recreate stable states in the vast territory of the “kingdom” that Alexander left on his death. The struggle to define a new political order convulsed the former Persian Empire, Macedonia, and Greece and then spread to Rome. For some decades it seemed that Pontus might prevail.
Lysimachus, Kingdom of
Authors: Thomas Carol G.
Published: January 2016

The Kingdom of Lysimachus was created when Lysimachus received Thrace as his share of Alexander's empire in 323
bce
. By 281, it reached from eastern Macedonia through Thrace and much of Asia Minor. The history of the 42 years describes the struggles of the successors to Alexander to control the territory that he had conquered or to claim a kingdom of their own. It also identifies the qualities of a successful competitor. The territory of Lysimachus' kingdom would not be unified again until the high Byzantine period followed by the success of the Ottoman Turks.
Maravi Kingdom
Authors: Newitt Malyn
Published: January 2016

The Maravi kingdoms flourished between the 16th and 19th centuries in the region north of the Zambesi between the Shire River and Lake Malawi in the east and the Luangwa river in the west. There were three kingdoms, those of Undi, Lundu, and Kalonga which were culturally similar and whose ruling dynasties came from the same Phiri clan. The kingdoms were decentralized and although they traded ivory with the Portuguese and Swahili, their authority depended largely on the control of locally based rainmaking and territorial cults. They disintegrated and effectively disappeared in the 19th century.
Scythian Empire
Authors: Meyer Caspar
Published: January 2016

The Scythians are a nomadic people who dominated the steppes of western Eurasia (modern Russia and Ukraine) in classical Antiquity and maintained close contacts with the Greek‐speaking cities on the northern Black Sea shore. The political organization of the Scythians is known to us only from external descriptions by Greek authors, notably Herodotus who claims that Scythia was ruled by kings and divided into districts, comparable to those of the Egyptian and Persian empires. Archaeological evidence suggests that the power of nomadic tribes in the region was based on the armed administration of an extensive exchange network that integrated the services and resources of different local communities.
Air power
Authors: Satia Priya
Published: January 2016

Air power has proved crucial to the exercise of imperial power – conquest, disciplinary action, transportation, and surveillance – since the start of the 20th century. Initial experiments were made by the British in the Middle East for both cultural and practical reasons and were adapted in other places across time, up to American use of drones today.
Indo‐Parthian Kingdom
Authors: Ghosh Suchandra
Published: January 2016

The Indo‐Parthians succeeded the Indo‐Scythians in the Indo‐Iranian borderlands. Numismatic evidence forms the most important source for their history. The first ruler was Gondophares whose kingdom extended from Seistan through Arachosia, to the Kabul valley and over Gandhara to the Jammu‐Pathankot area. Their coins were divided into four principal categories. Gondophares also appears in a New Testament context. The reign of Gondophares could be fixed approximately between c.20 and 45
ce
. The accepted chronological sequence after Gondophares is Abdagases I, Orthagnes, Hybouzanes/Ubouzanes, Pacores, Sanabares, Abdagases II, Sarpedanes, and Sases. The kingdom collapsed as a result of a major invasion by the Kushans under Kujula Kadphises.
Ideology, imperial
Authors: Gorman Daniel
Published: January 2016

Imperial ideologies are the ideas, concepts, explanations, and justifications for empire which imperial societies have articulated for themselves. They are the means by which dominant imperial societies make sense of how they acquired an empire, why they continue to maintain an empire, and what form and shape their empire might take on in the future. They are the worldviews of imperial societies, and have formed the basis of how imperial societies have sought to organize their empires politically, socially, and economically. Imperial ideologies have often been expressed in contrast to colonial “Others,” and have in turn generated anti‐imperial ideologies.
Novgorod Republic
Authors: Langer Lawrence N.
Published: January 2016

Novgorod was an important political and commercial city‐state in Rus'. Founded in the 10th century and until its annexation by Moscow in 1478, Novgorod created a vast territorial empire and controlled much of the fur trade with the west. The city was one of the factories of the Hanseatic League and Rus's major importer of silver. In the 12th century the city circumscribed the power of its prince and established a republican system of government. An assembly (
veche
) elected the city's major officials: prince, mayor (
posadnik
), whose numbers grew from one to thirty‐six, a lord mayor (
stepennyi posadnik
), chiliarchs, an archbishop, and an archimandrite. The class of nobles or boiars controlled the republican offices, dominated the assembly, and likely governed through an executive council.
Ostrogoths, Kingdom of the
Authors: Burns Thomas S.
Published: January 2016

The Ostrogoths were an important group during the Late Roman Empire. Their early elite emerged within the Hunnic Empire (c.400–455), and their most respected leader was King Theodoric the Great (r.490–526). He established an Ostrogothic kingdom (490–552), one of several prominent “successor states” created during the transformations of the Late Roman Empire.
Buganda, Kingdom of
Authors: Yoder John C.
Published: January 2016

The Kingdom of Buganda, located on the northern shores of Lake Victoria, reached its apogee in the 19th century. Ruled by kings known as
kabakas
, Buganda's economy was based on the cultivation of bananas. This wealth enabled the kabakas to collect tribute and extract labor from a dense and stable agricultural population. The kabakas also benefited from an extensive regional trade network. The kabakas’ prestige was enhanced by their claim of having descended from the mythical ancestor Kintu. Although regarded as despotic, the kabakas of Buganda were not absolute rulers. Clans, powerful women, and ambitious court officials all wielded a measure of power. By the mid‐19th century, the kabakas had obtained guns, welcomed Muslim and Christian missionaries, and embraced literacy in an effort to increase their power. Despite subjection to Britain by 1900, the Kingdom of Buganda remained semi‐autonomous during the colonial period and has continued to be a powerful entity even since Uganda's independence in 1962.
Sena Empire
Authors: Pal Sayantani
Published: January 2016

The Sena dynasty ruled in Bengal and parts of Bihar in the 11th and 12th centuries
ce
. They are famous as champions of Brahmanism. It is under the Senas that the Bengali script and language attained some of its present features. The structure of society in Bengal was also systematized under Sena rule and was codified in religious texts like the
upapuranas
. Sanskrit literature flourished under their patronage.
Pala Empire
Authors: Pal Sayantani
Published: January 2016

The Pala Empire was the first regional empire in eastern India. It flourished between the 8th and 12th centuries
ce
and was based in Bihar and Bengal. It played an important role in shaping the culture of eastern India. The Palas are also known as great patrons of Buddhism, which by this period came to be confined to eastern and certain other parts of India. Buddhism also facilitated contact with Southeast Asia. The interaction between Devapala and the king of Sumatra and Java was recorded in the Nalanda copper plate. The later Pala rulers came to be inclined toward Shaivism. The development of art also reached a high water mark.
Hurrian Kingdom of Urkesh
Authors: Buccellati Giorgio
Published: January 2016

Of presumably several Hurrian kingdoms before the 2nd millennium, Urkesh is the only one known so far from excavations. It showed enough political, if not military, power to withstand the expansion of the Akkadian Empire.
Harsha Empire
Authors: Pal Sayantani
Published: January 2016

Harshavardhana, or just Harsha, was the last great Hindu emperor of India to historians who viewed Indian history as a succession of empires. To them, the end of the reign of Harshavardhana in 648
ce
marked the end of the ancient era and the beginning of the medieval. The extent of his empire, however, was not as large as they had thought. Harsha is credited with establishing Kanyakubja (Kanauj in Uttar Pradesh) as a symbol of royal power in North India. This was followed by the famous “tripartite struggle” among three regional powers that sought to capture Kanauj. The visit of the Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang is another important event in Harsha's reign.
Rwanda, Kingdom of
Authors: Van Schuylenbergh Patricia
Published: January 2016

The history of the Kingdom of Rwanda has been challenged by fundamental studies. These indicate that, contrary to the long‐prevailing historiographical tradition, Rwanda's past does not consist of the dynastic history of an elect Tutsi ethnic group, but was formed from several nuclei which underwent assorted evolutions. A Tutsi royalty emerged (Nyiginya dynasty) and extended its territory from central Rwanda using a variety of methods; its powers were nevertheless limited depending on the occupied or colonized region. At the end of the 19th century, the kingdom reached its furthest territorial and political expansion. The arrival of Europeans progressively altered the face of the kingdom. It was first colonized by the Germans, then became a mandatory territory under Belgian supervision after World War I, and the system of indirect administration shook its complex but fragile sociopolitical cohesion. Revolution and subsequent independence marked the end of the Tutsi kingdom in favor of an independent Hutu republic.
Yap and the Yap Empire (Micronesia)
Authors: Petersen Glenn
Published: January 2016

The Central Pacific island of Yap served as the focal point in a far‐flung maritime network for centuries before European colonial intrusion into the region. Yapese exercised a limited degree of economic, political, and religious or supernatural control over the other, much smaller islands in this Micronesian archipelago. This system of interrelationships is often construed as a small‐scale, informal empire.
Karkota dynasty of Kashmir
Authors: Pal Sayantani
Published: January 2016

The Karkota dynasty took power in the valley of Kashmir in the first half of the 7th century
ce
. The dynasty is largely known from the
Rajatarangini
of Kalhan written in the 12th century. Lalitaditya was the most prominent king of this dynasty. Unlike the other Kashmir kings, he undertook an extensive campaign through the whole of India. Much of Kalhan's account, however, is unreliable, although there are reasons to believe his claims of victory in the northern and eastern parts of India.
Maitraka Empire
Authors: Pal Sayantani
Published: January 2016

The Maitrakas were an early medieval regional dynasty of western India from the 5th to the 8th centuries
ce
. They assumed independence following the decline of the Guptas. Valabhi (modern Vala in Kathiawar, Gujarat), the Maitraka capital, became a center of learning as well as trade and commerce. The Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang visited the Maitraka kingdom and spoke highly of its kings. Another Chinese pilgrim, Fa Xian, spoke about the university of Valabhi.
Rai dynasty of Sind
Authors: Pal Sayantani
Published: January 2016

The Rai dynasty ruled in Sind (Pakistan) from the 5th to the 7th centuries
ce
. The dynasty's history is entirely reconstructed on the basis of Muslim chronicles like
Chachnama
, a history of Sind. Scholars have tried to restore the kings’ original Sanskrit names. During this period Sind became subject to attacks from Persia and the Arabs, and the Rais were successful in maintaining security within their territory. The extension of this dynasty's influence up to Kanauj in the Gangetic doab (river basin) of northern India, claimed in the Muslim chronicles, is, however, debatable.
Satavahana Empire
Authors: Majumdar Susmita Basu , Chakravarti Ranabir
Published: January 2016

The Satavahanas were the first formidable political entity in peninsular India. At the zenith of their power, their authority embraced the entire Deccan spanning from the Narmada River in the north to the Krishna River in the south and extending from the west to the east coast of India. They rose to power in central Deccan, with Pratishthana (modern Paithan, Maharashtra) as their capital. The Satavahana realm witnessed a mature monarchical polity for the first time in peninsular India, marked by urban centers, royal inscriptions, and the issuance of coinage. Dynastic monarchy became the order of the day. The Satavahanas ruled from about the 1st century
bce
to the 3rd century
ce
. The most powerful ruler of this dynasty was Gautamiputra Satakarni. His reign marked the beginning of the Saka–Satavahana struggle, which became a major feature of politics in the Deccan.
Lozi Empire
Authors: Hogan Jack
Published: January 2016

The Lozi Empire, a major pre‐colonial African polity centered on the Upper Zambezi floodplain, dominated the region for over a century. Structures of ritual, political, economic, and social power were built into the fabric of the empire, and the power of tribute and slaves sustained it. A powerful, centralized state forged a polity that met the colonial moment from a position of unusual strength.
Nogai Horde
Authors: Davies Brian L.
Published: January 2016

A successor to the declining Golden Horde, the Nogai Horde dominated the Volga‐Ural steppe in the 15th to mid‐16th centuries, after which it came under the domination of Muscovy, the Kalmyks, and the Crimean Khanate.
Kazan Khanate
Authors: Davies Brian L.
Published: January 2016

The Kazan Khanate emerged on the middle Volga in the mid‐15th century as a successor to the declining Golden Horde. It was a multi‐ethnic and multi‐religious state: its ruling class was Tatar and Muslim, with non‐Muslim Chuvashes and Finno‐Ugric‐speaking peoples as their subjects. The Khanate's economy was less dependent on pastoral nomadism and more agriculturally and commercially developed than the Nogai Horde's. The Kazan Khanate got caught up in the great political rivalry between Muscovy and the Crimean Khanate and was annexed by Muscovy in 1552.
Malagasy empires (Sakalava and Merina)
Authors: Campbell Gwyn
Published: January 2016

Two empires emerged in Madagascar between the 17th and 19th centuries. The Sakalava Empire, comprising a loose coalition of three kingdoms, embraced most of the west of the island. It was based on control of foreign trade achieved through an alliance with the Swahili and Indian middlemen whose long‐standing maritime trading network connected Madagascar to East Africa, the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and West India. From the 1750s, rising demand for Malagasy slaves, live cattle, and provisions from the French‐held Mascarenes initially augmented Sakalava dominance. However, from the 1790s, the Merina of the central highlands unified under a dynasty that sought to dominate trade with the Mascarenes, and in 1820 signed a treaty with the British who recognized the Merina sovereign as king of Madagascar and supplied him with the arms and military training required to expand. The Merina initiated military conquests of other regions – in the process ending Sakalava imperial pretensions. However, they aroused enmity and counterattacks from non‐Merina groups, notably the Sakalava, while excessive forced labor undermined the domestic economy and loyalty of Merina subjects. These factors ensured the success of the 1895 French colonial takeover and the end of the Merina Empire.
Mahdist State (Sudan)
Authors: Searcy Kim
Published: January 2016

This entry examines the Mahdist state, 1885–1898, to illustrate the link between religion and politics. The institutions of state, specifically the Mahdi's role in the formation of the state and its transformation from an Islamic revivalist movement to a state, are treated. The Mahdist period almost since its beginning has received a considerable amount of attention. This is perhaps due to positioning in time: it began as an insurrection just as Europe began its colonial penetration into Africa. In addition, the Mahdiyya was the rare indigenous movement that was militarily successful against a much more powerful foe.
Kimek Khaganate
Authors: Kovalev Roman K. , Mako Gerald
Published: January 2016

The Kimek state comprised a confederation of seven Turkic tribes that formed an empire sometime between the mid‐9th and the early 11th centuries. At its heyday, this realm stretched from the Altai Mountains to the Aral Sea, and thus it was one of the largest empires in history. It is possible that in the second half of the 9th century their ruler adopted the title khagan (qağan), thereby indicating that the Kimek state evolved into a khaganate (qağanate), or empire. The rise and stability of the Kimek Khaganate owed much to the role it played in connecting the northern branches of the east–west “Silk Roads” and the north–south “Fur Road.” The Kimeks possessed a multifaceted economy, some urban culture, and perhaps a written language. Despite some traces of Islam, Buddhism, and Manichaeism, the overwhelming majority of the Kimeks were pagan. The khaganate's fall was caused by nomadic migrations in the early 11th century.
Funan, Kingdom of
Authors: Jacobsen Trude
Published: January 2016

The kingdom of “Funan,” as it was known to the Chinese from the 3rd to 7th centuries
ce
, comprised many semi‐autonomous kingdoms in southeastern mainland Southeast Asia. Inhabitants of Funan probably spoke a Malayo‐Polynesian language, as in neighboring Champa, and were heavily influenced both politically and culturally by South Asia. The kings of Funan were required to demonstrate their devotion to Shiva (Śiva) or Vishnu (Vișņu) in order to secure the loyalty of the elite, whose clients kings could then commandeer in the expansion and maintenance of empire across mainland Southeast Asia and into the Malay Peninsula.
Scotland, Darien, and imperial ambition
Authors: Hamilton Douglas
Published: January 2016

In 1698 a Scottish fleet set sail for Darien in Central America. The 1200 settlers aimed to create a colony that could control the trades of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. In so doing it was supposed to confirm Scotland as a global power and raise revenues to alleviate economic distress at home. Its ultimate failure so weakened Scotland that it is sometimes cited as one of the explanations for acquiescence in the Act of Union of 1707.
Tributary systems
Authors: Hevia James L.
Published: January 2016

The tributary system is a term used by historians and social scientists to characterize premodern relations between empires and weaker states. The general assumption is that Western European countries transcended this political form with the inauguration of state‐to‐state relations following the Peace of Westphalia. Since the 1970s, the Chinese tributary system has come to stand for this form of “unequal” international relations. Seldom, however, have scholars applied it to the forms of relations that emerged in European empires in the 19th century, nor to American foreign relations after World War II. More recently, scholars of international relations have found the Chinese tribute system model useful in discussing asymmetrical relations of power and cultural elements that make up aspects of international relations.
Tuʻi Tonga Empire
Authors: Gunson Niel
Published: January 2016

The idea that the small island kingdom of Tonga was an empire from around the 10th century
ce
until the coming of Europeans is a modern concept used by some prehistorians and nationalistic Tongans. Certainly there appeared to be maritime expansion during three epochs in Tongan history, but no enduring empire was established and those who went beyond the region of Tongan cultural, social, and trade exchange were raiders and independent settlers. This so‐called maritime empire in Tonga was not unique in either Polynesia or the Pacific.
Teotihuacan Empire
Authors: Robertson Ian G.
Published: January 2016

Teotihuacan was a massive pre‐industrial city, founded c.150bcein highland Central Mexico. Rapidly emerging as the dominant political and economic force in the region, Teotihuacan became the capital of a powerful, influential state which at times expanded its domain to absorb and control neighboring and perhaps more distant places. The core of the city was destroyed by fire c.600ce, an event that marked the end of Teotihuacan as one of the pre‐eminent urban centers in the pre‐Hispanic New World.
Zünghar (Dzungar) Khanate
Authors: Elverskog Johan
Published: January 2016

The Zünghars were the last great Inner Asian nomadic steppe empire. Developing out of the ruling noble houses of the Oirats in the mid‐ to late 17th century, the Zünghars – especially during the reigns of Galdan (r.1678–1697), Tsewang‐Rabtan (r.1694–1727), and Galdan‐Tsereng (r.1727–1745) – came to rule the area of contemporary Xinjiang and surrounding territory in what is now largely western China. Situated as they thus were between the Russian and Qing empires, as well as the Central Asian Muslim Khanates, the Zünghars came to play a pivotal role not only in the history of early modern Eurasia, but also in shaping the political boundaries of contemporary Asia.
Kongo, Kingdom of
Authors: Saidi Christine
Published: January 2016

The Kingdom of the Kongo was an important African empire from about 1350 to 1700, located in Southwest Africa approximately where the modern country of Angola is today. The Kongo state was formed on the lower Congo River, since this was an ideal place to control the busy trade along the river and demand tribute. The major social and political divisions of this empire were the
kanda
, the matrilineal lineages. The
kanda
s were very powerful and a person's identity, access to land, political office, and inheritance were determined by their mother's lineage. The Kongo had its own currency –
nzimbu
, cowrie shells – and its sophisticated economy was based on control of trade and manufacturing. Much like Europe of the same era, religion played a crucial role in establishing states in the region. After over 100 years of independence the Kongo became involved with the Portuguese, Christianity, and, later, the Atlantic slave trade.
Indo‐Scythian (Saka) Kingdom
Authors: Ghosh Suchandra
Published: January 2016

Numismatic evidence forms the most important source for the reconstruction of the history of the Indo‐Scythian kingdom, created in the 1st century
bce
following the arrival of migrating Scythians or Sakas from Central Asia. Its kings followed a system of joint rule and the accepted numismatic sequence for them (following G. K. Jenkins) is Vonones/Spalahores, Vonones/Spalagadames, Spalyrises/Spalagadames, Spalirises, Spalirises/Azes I, Azes I, Azilises, and Azes II. Their kingdom extended from Arachosia (Afghanistan) to the region to the east of Jhelum, including Gandhara and Taxila, across the northwest and north‐central Indian subcontinent. Mathura for a brief period was within their control. The era beginning in 57/58
bce
was named after its most illustrious ruler, Azes I. They were supplanted by the Indo‐Parthians.
Holy Roman Empire
Authors: Wilson Peter H.
Published: January 2016

The Holy Roman Empire existed 800–1806 and its ruler was Europe's only emperor west of the Balkans until the international recognition of the Ottoman and Russian imperial titles. Long condemned by historians as weak and largely irrelevant, the Empire is now recognized as a surprisingly robust and viable system of mixed monarchy resting more on consensus than on hard power.
Dervish State (Somali)
Authors: Hoehne Markus V.
Published: January 2016

Between 1899 and 1920, the Dervishes under Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan challenged the external colonial forces, the British, the Ethiopians, and the Italians in the northern Somali Peninsula, and temporarily established a relatively effective Somali proto‐state. It was based on the Sayyid's charisma and supported by strong religious belief (legitimizing the war against “unbelievers”) and by the general contempt of foreign domination on the part of Somali pastoral nomads. The Dervish rule, however, was characterized by war and did not contribute to economic or social development of the region.
French Empire: 11. Pacific
Authors: Aldrich Robert
Published: January 2016

In the mid‐ and late 1800s, France acquired several colonies in the South Pacific: Tahiti and the other islands of French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Wallis and Futuna, as well as an interest in the Anglo‐French condominium of the New Hebrides. The French transported convicts to New Caledonia from the 1860s to the 1890s, but its major resource was and remains nickel. The myths of paradise found and lost endured in Tahiti, which gained new importance for France from the 1960s to the 1990s as a site for nuclear tests. France reluctantly acceded to independence for the New Hebrides in 1980, but the other islands remain French territories; a violent conflict between pro‐ and anti‐independence groups troubled New Caledonia in the 1980s.
Sex and empire
Authors: Aldrich Robert
Published: January 2016

The empire offered many sexual opportunities for Europeans, for some a license to enjoy pleasures condemned in Europe, for others a chance to combat perceived vice and spread European precepts of morality. Venereal disease, prostitution and concubinage, and the birth of mixed‐race children preoccupied colonial authorities, while tropes of exotic and seductive women and men, and visions of depravity, became the stock‐in‐trade of writing and art. Colonial experiences challenged European sexual norms, and sex became a key arena for affirming or contesting standards of masculinity and femininity, racial exclusivity, and respectability. Colonialism left a legacy of new social and medical categorizations of sexuality, introduced different technologies of birth control and treatment of disease, and established law codes that regulated sexual behavior and sometimes survived decolonization.
Crimean Khanate
Authors: Davies Brian L.
Published: January 2016

The Crimean Khanate (c. 1440–1783) was the most powerful of the new khanates spun off from the disintegrating Golden Horde. It came under Ottoman protection in the 1470s and played an important role in the balance of power among the Ottoman, Austrian Habsburg, and Russian Empires and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth down into the early 18th century. The captives taken in Eastern Europe by Crimean Tatar raiders became a major source of slave manpower for the Ottoman Empire.
Latin Empire (Constantinople)
Authors: Burkhardt Stefan
Published: January 2016

The Latin Empire of Constantinople was created as a result of the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) and was one of the most astonishing empires of the Middle Ages. It was the only medieval attempt at establishing an empire with some sort of “master plan” (the
Partitio
). Although only short‐lived, it fundamentally influenced and changed relations between the Latin and Greek worlds. After the establishment of Latin rule, constantly changing coalitions of the Latin, Bulgarian, and Nicaean empires, fighting together or against each other, led to the empire's contraction until only the city of Constantinople was left in the hands of the Latin emperor.
Belgian Empire
Authors: Stanard Matthew G.
Published: January 2016

Belgium's colonial rule over the Belgian Congo lasted from 1908 to 1960, but the colony's roots are to be found in the earlier Leopoldian era of the Congo Free State (1885–1908). The violence of the Congo Free State has overshadowed the fact that Belgian empire lasted much longer than Leopold II's reign in central Africa and was different in profound ways. The reactions of Congolese peoples to Leopoldian and Belgian imperialism varied across the massive colony. Belgians achieved great things in certain fields, but their policy of isolation, paternalism, and strict controls did not prevent independence nor did it prepare the Democratic Republic of the Congo for self‐rule.
Globalization and empire
Authors: Everill Bronwen
Published: January 2016

Although globalization is a relatively new concept in the social sciences, historians have identified a strong historical lineage of globalization in the history of empire. The themes of globalization – migration, economic exchange, cultural convergence – all derive from the history of the expansion of European empires from the 16th century. Globalization has had an important impact on the historiography of empires, imperial expansion, and global history. However, historians have also debated the relevance and usefulness of the concept of globalization for the study of the past.
Foreign interventionism
Authors: Everill Bronwen
Published: January 2016

Foreign intervention in sovereign territories has been associated with imperialism, humanitarianism, and trade. Annexation of territories through wars was not new to the empires of the modern period, but the foreign interventions associated with the anti‐slave trade movement and with “gunboat diplomacy” carved out a new kind of informal empire. Multinational interventions became the norm as a result of imperial rivalries and a desire to maintain a global balance of imperial power. Decolonization did not lead to an end to foreign intervention, with the Cold War and its aftermath providing continuing justifications for intervening.
Crusader States (Eastern Mediterranean)
Authors: Nicholson Helen J.
Published: January 2016

The crusader states were set up in Syria and Palestine during the conquests of the First Crusade (1096–1099) and centered on the cities of Antioch, Edessa, Jerusalem, and Tripoli. The crusaders also conquered other states in the eastern Mediterranean: Greece and the Byzantine Empire and the island of Cyprus. In these states the Europeans, known as “Franks,” formed a minority with preferential rights. However, there was also positive interaction between the European settlers and the indigenous peoples, with cross‐cultural exchange and sharing of religious sites. Although these states stimulated the expansion of European trade, they were a significant drain on the resources of western Christendom. The states of mainland Syria and Palestine fell to the Mamluks of Egypt in the late 13th century, but Cyprus and Greece later became part of the Venetian Empire.
Bunyoro‐Kitara, Kingdom of
Authors: Doyle Shane
Published: January 2016

Bunyoro‐Kitara today is a relatively small East African kingdom situated in western Uganda, which claims to be the true heir to the ancient, much larger empire of Kitara. Kitara's origins, credited to local deities, provided its successors with significant ritual power, while its great extent shaped subsequent regional competition. Bunyoro's violent incorporation by the British Empire caused Kitara to become a term used to emphasize the perceived injustice of the kingdom's subjugation and dissection. Bunyoro‐Kitara's attempts to restore its former greatness contributed to the destabilization of Uganda after independence and the abolition of Uganda's kingdoms. Their restoration in 1993 as cultural entities has been at best a limited success.
Wari (Huari) culture
Authors: Isbell William H.
Published: January 2016

Wari was the first empire to emerge among the Central Andean civilizations of South America, during the Middle Horizon (MH, 650–1000
ce
). In comparative archaeological terms Wari belongs to the early Bronze Age, and like all pre‐Hispanic Andean cultures it is completely prehistoric, with no writing to assist interpretations. Wari began imperialistic expansion through interaction with Peru's South Coast Nasca culture, but later adopted a new religion from Tiwanaku, the other great capital city of the Andean MH world. Wari's political and economic infrastructure, along with its religious innovations, are thought to have foreshadowed Inca imperial organization 500 years later.
Russia: 5. Soviet (
USSR
)
Authors: Weeks Theodore R.
Published: January 2016

The USSR was both a continuation of the Russian Empire and a radical new experiment in nation–empire relations. In principle the USSR vehemently rejected imperialism and declared itself a free union of socialist nationalities. In reality the USSR favored Russian language and culture, in particular after the 1930s, for both practical and ideological reasons. While it is not correct to claim that Soviet rule aimed at total acculturation (“cultural genocide”) of non‐Russians, it is true that the favoring of Russian as an “all‐union” “second native language” also meant that the importance of other languages took second place.
British Empire: 8. India, from 1858
Authors: Roy Tirthankar
Published: January 2016

Two tendencies characterize best the time when the British Raj ruled over India. One of these was globalization. In this context, globalization would mean a great expansion in world trade, the emergence of a trade specialization that turned the tropical world into exporter of primary products, and international migration of capital and labor on a bigger scale than before. British India was pivotal to this world economy, and the empire tried to keep India that way. The second tendency was the growing pressure upon the Raj for Indian representation in running the state. Organized action on this issue began in the 1880s, met with little response from the imperialists, and took off from World War I.
British Empire: 7. India, to 1858
Authors: Roy Tirthankar
Published: January 2016

The entry describes the foundation of the British Empire in South Asia by the East India Company. It shows how, induced by the character of the state, there emerged a distinct set of institutions, an Indo‐European society, and new spheres of commercial and intellectual exchange in the 19th century. By 1857, these developments had split the imperial domain into two worlds. Landed interests resisted British power in northern India during the mutiny, whereas in the cosmopolitan port cities, manufacturers and service workers who had gained from the incipient globalization stayed loyal. The mutiny, nevertheless, ended the Company's empire.
Angevin (Plantagenet) Empire
Authors: Power Daniel
Published: January 2016

The Angevin Empire was a collection of territories ruled by the Angevin or Plantagenet dynasty, originally counts of Anjou in western France, but from 1154 also kings of England. Under Count Geoffrey V (d.1151) and his son King Henry II of England (1154–1189), the dynasty's lands expanded through marriage and conquest to include England, Ireland, and most of western France, including Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Touraine, Brittany, Poitou, and Gascony. At its height the “empire” dominated Western European politics, but it eventually collapsed in 1202–1204 under pressure from the king of France, Philip Augustus, who was lord of the Angevins for their continental lands. The “empire” was culturally and politically fragmented, as each of its provinces retained its own laws and traditions, and its history was scarred by numerous baronial revolts as well as quarrels within the ruling dynasty; but some unity was provided by the Angevin court and by the cadre of officials who governed these disparate territories.
Posts and telegraphs, imperial
Authors: Bonea Amelia
Published: January 2016

Posts and telegraphs have often been described as the nerves and arteries of the British Empire. They facilitated the movement of information and goods, providing frequent, regular, and fast communication with some of the most remote corners of the empire by the end of the 19th century. They were indispensable in the conduct of war, administration, and commerce, while also contributing to the circulation of print media, the maintenance of family ties, and the cultivation of imperial sentiment. Imperial communications were textured by geography, technological change, and political and economic circumstances. The postal system represented the foundation on which future networks of communication, such as those enabled by telegraphy, telephony, and the Internet, were organized. But the posts and the telegraphs occupied separate niches in imperial communications. Their simultaneous use in various domains of activity during the 19th century demonstrates how old technologies continued to function alongside new ones.
Propaganda and empire
Authors: Potter Simon J.
Published: January 2016

Many different agencies issued propaganda about the modern British Empire, seeking to promote enthusiasm for imperial unity or expansion, to secure particular public or private interests, and to generate prestige or profits. Companies selling goods from colonial sources used images of empire for advertising. Political lobby groups sought to mobilize opinion for imperial purposes. Dominion governments advertised to attract investors and settlers. During World War I and World War II, the British government produced much imperial propaganda. In the interwar years, semi‐state organizations like the Empire Marketing Board and the British Broadcasting Corporation took the lead. Decolonization, counterinsurgency, and the Cold War subsequently created significant imperial propaganda requirements. Definitive proof about how effective such propaganda was remains hard to come by.
Botany and empire
Authors: McCracken Donal
Published: January 2016

Plants may not have any ideology, but empires were intricately linked to plants: their exploitation for agricultural, horticultural, and afforestation purposes; their transport across the globe, to and from the metropolitan power and between colonies; and their scientific exploration. And to support such enterprises, modern empires developed networks of botanical institutions such as botanic gardens, botanical departments, botanic stations, forestry departments, and herbariums to investigate the scientific and horticultural nature of species. Empire also resulted in periodic plant crazes in Europe, with nursery firms publishing hand‐illustrated botanical magazines to popularize the species which had been introduced through the state botanical institutions such as the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.
Egypt: 1. Ancient (New Kingdom)
Authors: Spalinger Anthony
Published: January 2016

The empire period of New Kingdom Egypt encompasses a distinctly new phase in Egyptian history. Between about 1575 and 1100
bce
(Dynasties XVIII–XX), the Egyptian state founded two separate zones of control (Figure 1). To the south in Nubia the territory was organized into zones (Wawat and Kush) whereas in western Asia Palestine, southern Syria and portions of coastal Lebanon became highly influenced by Egypt. The nature of the administration established in both regions differed considerably. In Nubia the land was directly regulated by a viceroy and his subordinates. In addition, the pharaohs established many temples. To the north, on the other hand, the local rulers of the numerous city‐states were left in power so long as they remained loyal to the Egyptian king. By and large, Nubia was extensively exploited economically whereas Egypt's Asiatic territories were run far less profitably, with the emphasis placed upon adherence to the empire.
Bactrian or Graeco‐Bactrian Kingdom
Authors: Mairs Rachel
Published: January 2016

From the period after the conquests of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century
bce
until around the turn of the Common Era, a series of small, Greek‐ruled kingdoms existed in the region from Bactria, in Central Asia, through into northwestern India. Although few contemporary accounts remain, the history of these kingdoms, their culture, and relations with their neighbors can be reconstructed from a combination of ancient historical and archaeological sources.
Inca (Tawantinsuyu) Empire
Authors: Williams Patrick Ryan
Published: January 2016

Tawantinsuyu, the land of the four quarters, was the last and largest empire to arise in South America before the European conquest. The Inca, the founding ethnic group, created and managed a complex and ingenious social system and landscape infrastructure in the mountainous Andean realm. Incorporating the institutions of earlier Andean states, the Inca built an empire whose expansion was unparalleled in Andean history. Their strategies of incorporation and maintenance of imperial power were distinctive in many respects in world political history and challenge models of political and economic organization based solely on Western civilization. Tawantinsuyu's development was cut short by the European conquest less than 150 years after its imperial expansion began.
America, United States of: 2. Overseas empire
Authors: O'Brien Thomas F.
Published: January 2016

This entry explores the development of America's empire from the territorial ambitions of the early republic to its emergence as a world power whose dominance is built as much on the far‐reaching influence of values such as competitiveness and consumerism as an economic and military power. The creation of that empire has been the product of the converging ambitions of politicians, business leaders, Christian missionaries, and a variety of other cultural and intellectual actors.