bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Parthian Empire
Authors: Gregoratti Leonardo 
Published: January 2016

AbstractFrom the mid‐1st centurybce, when Crassus’ legions suffered a disastrous defeat on the open steppes of northern Mesopotamia, until the early decades of the 3rd centuryce, Rome's expansionist goals in the East were fiercely opposed by the Parthians. Established a few decades after Alexander's death, in Central Asia, close to the remotest borders of the Seleucid Empire, the Parthian kingdom was able to exploit the disintegration of that huge Hellenistic state by conquering the Iranian plateau, Babylonia, and Mesopotamia as far as the Euphrates river, which constituted the dividing line between the two superpowers struggling for supremacy in Western Asia: Rome and Parthia.
British Empire: 5. Caribbean, 1624–1838
Authors: Hamilton Douglas 
Published: January 2016

AbstractBetween 1624 and 1838, the Caribbean islands were transformed from small tropical islands of little imperial importance to the economic powerhouses of the British Empire. Originally intended as colonies of settlement, they quickly emerged as producers of lucrative staple products – most notably sugar – made possible only by the labor of millions of Africans. By the end of the period, slavery had become regarded as anathema to British sensitivities and the enslaved were emancipated.
Vandals, Kingdom of the
Authors: Merrills A. H. 
Published: January 2016

Abstract

The Vandal Kingdom dominated the western Mediterranean in the middle decades of the 5th century
ce
. Following the capture of the Roman city of Carthage in 439
ce
, the Vandal kings were able to exert considerable political and military pressure throughout the region until their influence faded at the end of the century. The kingdom itself lasted until its defeat in the Byzantine “reconquest” of 533/534.
Nanda Empire
Authors: Ghosh Suchandra 
Published: January 2016

Abstract

The Nanda dynasty was a formidable power in Magadha prior to the Mauryas. It came to power by supplanting the Saisunaga dynasty. There is no contemporary source of information throwing light on this power. The founder of the line Mahapadma (also known as Ugrasena) figures in the
Puranas
as the son of a sudra woman. There were perhaps nine rulers in the dynasty, the last being Dhanananda who was supplanted by Chandragupta Maurya in approximately 324
bce
. Considering the date of ascendancy of Chandragupta Maurya, the period of their rule would be from c.344 to 324
bce
. A factor assisting the consolidation of the Nanda kingdom was that taxes were given importance as revenue. The methodical collection of taxes by regularly appointed officials became a part of the administrative system. With all the military might and mastery of a large empire, Dhanananda was not popular among his subjects. Much of his unpopularity was due to his avarice and love of wealth, which he accumulated at the expense of his people by means of excessive taxation and exactions. We have very little information as to the way in which the vast dominions of the Nandas were administered. If tradition is to be believed, the founder of this line aimed at establishing centralized control throughout his empire. Greek observers of the 4th century
bce
allude to a system of provincial government under officials styled nomarchs and hyparchs. For the first time with the Nandas, we had an empire which transcended the boundaries of the Gangetic basin.
Sibir’, Khanate of
Authors: Ostrowski Don 
Published: January 2016

Abstract
Our evidence concerning the Khanate of Sibir’ is sparse. The origin of the term is murky, its origins in the northeastern part of the Ulus of Jochi unclear, and most of its history unaccounted for. Arabic sources provide testimony that groupings of people coalesced in the area under the Taybughids (a non‐Chingissid ruling clan), in the late 14th century and that Ibak, a Shibanid (descendants of Batu's fifth son), ousted the Taybughid ruler in the 15th century. Ibak, in turn, was ousted and killed by Muhammad, a Taybughid. Russian chronicles begin referring to Sibir’ as the Khanate of Tiumen in the late 15th century and provide more testimony about its relations with Muscovy until its demise a hundred years later. By the mid‐16th century, Khan Kuchum, the grandson of Ibak, had apparently overthrown the Taybughid ruler of Sibir’ and was dealing on an equal footing more or less directly with Tsar Ivan IV. Disputes concerning subject peoples are reported in the Russian sources, and a Cossack band under Ermak, who was hired by the Stroganovs, defeated Kuchum's forces in 1582. Subsequently, in 1585, Kuchum's forces ambushed Ermak's group and killed Ermak. Thirteen years later, in 1598, Kuchum was defeated by Russian forces, and, according to a 17th‐century Chagatai source, he fled to the Noghays. Thus, 1598 is considered to be the official end of the Khanate of Sibir’, although reports of Kuchum's descendants contesting Russian control continued until the 1680s.
Chimu Empire
Authors: Pillsbury Joanne 
Published: January 2016

Abstract
One of the largest and most successful pre‐Hispanic states in the Americas, the Chimu Empire flourished on the north coast of Peru between the 10th and 15th centuries. From the imperial capital of Chan Chan in the Moche Valley, the Chimu expanded both north and south, pursuing strategic territories and resources. Administration of conquered territories varied according to region, from a strong, intrusive presence in some valleys to a strategy of indirect control in others. Conquered by the Inca around 1470, aspects of Chimu statecraft were ultimately integrated into that rapidly expanding highland empire.
Shunga Kingdom
Authors: Ghosh Suchandra 
Published: January 2016

Abstract

The Shunga dynasty was founded by Pushyamitra Shunga after he overthrew the last Maurya ruler Brihadratha around 187
bce
. Magadha was the nucleus of the kingdom. The usurpation of the throne by Pushyamitra is referred to in the
Puranas
and the
Harshacharita
, a much later text (early 7th century
ce)
written by Banabhatta, the court poet of king Harshavardhan of Kanauj. The Shungas were
Brahmanas
. The Shunga rule with its center at Pataliputra, seems to have embraced territories in the middle Ganga plain, the upper Ganga valley and eastern Malwa. According to the
Divyavadana
and Taranatha's account, it also included Jalandhara and Sakala in the Punjab. Pushyamitra performed two horse sacrifices, which symbolized his military success. The Kanvas, who perhaps began their political career as subordinates of the Shungas (
Puranas
call them
shungabhrityas
), brought to an end the Shunga kingdom.
Turkoman confederations, the (Aqqoyunlu and Qaraqoyunlu)
Authors: Lane George 
Published: January 2016

Abstract
The Turkoman confederations rose in the aftermath of the Timurid invasions, providing continuity with the preceding Il‐Khanate with whom they shared spiritual connections in the developing Safavid Sufi order. After Jahanshah over‐extended his Qaraqoyunlu forces, Uzun Hasan defeated and then absorbed his empire and established a capital in Tabriz. After he too suffered military defeat, the Aqqoyunlu descended into civil war until they succumbed to the military forces of their onetime spiritual guardians.
Wars of religion
Authors: Wilkes George R. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThis entry presents the historical connections between religious warfare and empire. It first examines contextual factors which frame the changing relationship between the two. Secondly, it presents divergent maximalist and minimalist historiographies focused on arguments about the role of religion in causing the wars which affected imperial histories across the ages, giving careful attention to the challenges presented by minimalists who dismiss religion as a cause of these wars. Finally, it describes developments in the role of religion in the conduct of wars, from ancient to contemporary times, exploring the political and social factors which have led recent trends in imperial histories which again emphasize religious warfare.
Thai Kingdom
Authors: Peleggi Maurizio 
Published: January 2016

Abstract
From the foundation of the Sukhothai kingdom in c.1250 that marked emancipation from Khmer domination to the avoidance of colonial conquest in the 19th century and communist contagion in the 20th, Thailand's master historical narrative asserts eight centuries of unbroken independence. In fact, though never formally colonized, Thailand (Siam until 1939) was exposed to external influences and interferences as much as the rest of Southeast Asia. Since the 14th century the Central Thai kingdoms participated in a network of trade and diplomatic relations with world empires. Thai rulers, in turn, subjected to their authority local tributary polities, and later on competed with Britain and France in incorporating such polities within the newly demarcated national territory. Thai state formation thus bore considerable analogies to colonial states', even as Siam was forced into a relation of economic and diplomatic dependence. But having escaped direct colonization, Thailand did not share the region's experience of anti‐colonialism and decolonization, and during the Cold War entertained a neo‐colonial relationship with the United States.
Shipping, imperial
Authors: Steel Frances 
Published: January 2016

Abstract
Imperial maritime power depended upon shipping infrastructure and expertise. A strong merchant marine was a vital strategic resource facilitating the integration of imperial trade and communications, moving people, goods and information, as well as when required troops and war supplies, between dispersed sites. It was also a vital symbolic resource central to the maintenance of state prestige, authority, and control. The advance of steam shipping from the late 19th century represented significant advantages to empire‐builders, improving the speed and regularity of global exchange. The needs and interests of the imperial center and those of shipping companies as well as transport users did not always align, however, and this could lead to conflicts and unexpected outcomes.
Economics of empire
Authors: Tomlinson B. R. 
Published: January 2016

Abstract
Economic change and the creation and destruction of empires have been powerful forces in the history of the modern world. Many historians and other commentators have seen these two historical processes as linked together intimately. An analytical economic history of European imperialism, especially the building of overseas empires, shows how close these interactions were, and how the pattern of European involvement in imperial activities developed and changed as the circumstances of the world economy shifted over the period from the 1600s to the end of the 20th century.
Russia: 2. Moscow, Grand Duchy of (13th century to 1547)
Authors: Langer Lawrence N. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractMoscow in the late 13th and early 14th centuries was a minor principality but in the late 14th and 15th centuries emerged as the political and religious center of northeastern Rus’. During the reigns of Ivan III “the Great” (r.1462–1505) and Vasilii III (r.1505–1533) Moscow absorbed the independent principalities and territories of northeastern Rus’ and the republics of Novgorod and Pskov. At the same time, Ivan and Vasilii initiated a series of reforms that laid the foundations for a powerful military‐fiscal state. Orthodox clerics and bookmen also fashioned a religious ideology that stressed the autocratic powers of the prince, although he was also enjoined to govern within Christian precepts. Muscovy had become the “Kingdom of Christ on Earth” and Moscow the New Jerusalem. Despite the murderous conflicts among the elite families of Ivan IV “the Terrible's” minority, Muscovy was poised for further reforms and territorial expansion when Ivan was crowned tsar (Caesar or emperor) in 1547.
Administration and bureaucracy
Authors: Ramsey Gillian 
Published: January 2016

AbstractAn administration system is commonly regarded as a key criterion for identifying an empire, since it bonds periphery to center by imposing certain bureaucratic obligations and routes for advancement in state service. The definition of empire as formal or informal will affect the paradigm for describing imperial administration. Modernist understandings, seen both in the bureaucracies of modern empires and in 20th‐century scholarship of empire, prioritize a centralized, hierarchical, literate, and rule‐bound bureaucracy as the fullest development of administrative effectiveness. Postmodern views of empire make room for a broader definition, wherein decentralized organization, non‐written methods of data collection, and bargaining may be observed as part of an effective administration, and this invites comparisons between many ancient and premodern empires. One common aim within most, if not all, imperial administrative systems was the revenue extraction.
Slave armies
Authors: Urban Elizabeth 
Published: January 2016

AbstractSlave armies were a prominent feature of many Islamic empires throughout history. The creation of these armies reflected the need for a professional military force in an imperial context, coupled with manpower shortages often caused by the fact that the Muslim ruling elite formed a small minority of the total population. Muslim rulers imported non‐Muslim slaves living outside the Abode of Islam, converted these slaves to Islam, and trained them in the military arts. This article examines the relationship between the Islamic religion and military slavery, but it also examines other political and demographic factors that contributed to the prominence of military slavery in the Islamic world.
Khmer Empire
Authors: Jacobsen Trude 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThe Khmer Empire lasted from the 9th to the 14th centuriesceand at its height ruled most of mainland Southeast Asia from the coast of modern‐day Vietnam to the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar (Burma). Famous for its temples, the capital at Yasodharapura – better known as Angkor – was a cosmopolitan metropolis of diverse religious beliefs, literary scholarship, multicultural traders, and hydraulic engineering.
Tangut Empire of the Great Xixia
Authors: Solonin Kirill 
Published: January 2016

Abstract
The Tangut Empire, known as the Great Xia (or Daxia), or Western Xia (Xixia), existed in the steppes of northwestern China from late 1038 to 1227, when it was crushed by the overwhelming military might of the Mongols. During 200 years of history, the Tangut Empire created a unique civilization and won its place in the Inner Asian balance of power among powerful rivals such as the Song, the Liao, and the Jin. Tangut culture combined native Tangut elements with the borrowings from the Song, Liao, and Tibet.
World War I and empire
Authors: Mulvey Paul 
Published: January 2016

AbstractWorld War I, while mainly fought in Europe, was also a global war with military action in Asia, the Pacific, and Africa. It involved the three largest colonial empires of the time. Germany's colonial empire was dismembered, while Berlin attempted to disrupt the British Empire. France recruited significant numbers of colonial troops to serve on the Western Front, while Britain not only used Canadian, Australian, Indian, New Zealander, and South African troops in Europe, but also conquered Iraq and Palestine with a mostly Indian army. As well as men, the colonial empires of Britain and France also contributed money and material to the war effort. The French and British empires grew in size as a result of the war, but were left weaker than before due to the costs of the war on the home countries and growing nationalism in the colonies.
Collaborators and empire
Authors: Fisher Michael H. 
Published: January 2016

Abstract
The term “collaborator” when associated with empire has come to mean someone from a subordinated or conquered society who traitorously supports the dominating enemy state instead of resisting it. This meaning has only been in use from World War II onward, originally referring to collaborators with Nazi‐led Germany, Fascist‐led Italy, or imperial Japan. But practices now called collaboration have occurred within every empire in history: in Europe, Asia, and the Americas and in land and overseas colonial empires. Over time, the roles of collaborators have varied by gender, class, and race, and in different imperial contexts. The motivations of collaborators have ranged from willing to coerced. Even among slaves and indentured laborers there are collaborators. The attitudes of imperial elites and of people from the collaborators’ own community toward them often conflict. Particular types of collaborators include “Fifth Columnists” and “Comprador Bourgeoisie,” originally used in Spain and Asia respectively.
Asante Kingdom
Authors: Sapong Nana Yaw B. 
Published: January 2016

Abstract
By the 19th century, the Asante Kingdom had become a major player in the Atlantic economy. At its height, Asante influence extended throughout present‐day Ghana and eastern Côte d'Ivoire. European visitors to the heart of the Asante Kingdom reported a structured and bureaucratic polity ruled by an Asantehene (Asante king), who paid particular attention to public displays of wealth and power. On the other hand, the Asantehene was mindful of his position as first‐among‐equals, and of his relationship with the rulers and aristocracy of key city‐states, who were instrumental in founding the kingdom. The Asante Kingdom still exists within the present‐day Republic of Ghana.
Avar Khaganate
Authors: Pohl Walter 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThe Avar khaganate dominated parts of central and eastern Europe from 568 to 796ce. Its center lay in the Carpathian basin along the middle Danube. Its rulers bore the title “khagan,” well known from the Eurasian steppes. We have no written sources from the Avars themselves (apart from a few brief inscriptions in runes or Greek characters on excavated objects), but can reconstruct some of their history on the basis of Greek and Latin chronicles and texts. Furthermore, tens of thousands of graves from the Avar period, many of them with substantial grave goods, have been excavated.
Morocco: 1. Medieval empires
Authors: Bennison Amira K. 
Published: January 2016

Abstract
This entry explains the development of a series of states, commonly called “empires” that were centered in the area covered by the modern state of Morocco in the period from the Islamic conquest in the late 7th to early 8th centuries until 1500. Using a combination of Arabic primary sources and secondary works in European languages, it looks first at the conquest itself and the first Islamic states created in the area, the 8th–9th‐century Kharijite and Idrisid city states. It then moves on to the 10th century during which Morocco became a zone competed over by two universal caliphal regimes: the Umayyads of Cordoba and the Fatimids, based in modern Tunisia. When the Fatimids turned east and the Umayyad regime went into decline, local Zanata Berber chieftains created a loose network of principalities until, in the 11th century, Morocco became the heartland of a genuine empire, the Almoravid Empire founded by Sanhaja Berbers, which also included much of Iberia. The entry compares and contrasts the Almoravid Empire with the Masmuda Berber Almohad Empire that succeeded it in the 12th century and ruled not only Morocco and Islamic Iberia but also what is now Algeria and Tunisia. The entry concludes with an assessment of the Zanata Berber Marinid dynasty, one of several Almohad successor states, which ruled an area roughly coterminous with modern Morocco.
Tukulor Empire
Authors: Robinson David W. 
Published: January 2016

Abstract
The “Tukulor Empire” was not really an empire but a series of garrisons presided over by Ahmad al‐Kabir, the eldest son of al‐hajj Umar Tall. It was a useful formulation for the French conquerors of West Africa in the late 19th century and became a fixture of “Umarian” and French thinking in the 20th century.
America, United States of: 3. 20th century to the present
Authors: Berg Manfred 
Published: January 2016

Abstract
Many Americans emphatically deny that their country has ever been an empire. In contrast, scholars have incessantly discussed whether American power during the 20th and early 21st centuries warrants the term empire or even the pejorative attribute of imperialism. Although the United States quickly abandoned its embrace of imperial expansion around the turn of the 20th century, many historians insist that American global political, military, economic, and cultural power nevertheless constitutes an empire. At the beginning of the 21st century, both critics and advocates of American power have revived the concept of empire. However, exuberant visions of a benevolent American empire ensuring global freedom and democracy have quickly faded in recent years.
Portuguese Empire: 3. America
Authors: Schultz Kirsten 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThe Portuguese American Empire included much of South America's eastern coast and its hinterland extending into the Amazon River basin. Although initial 16th‐century Portuguese settlement of the territory, also called Brazil, was modest, by the turn of the 17th century a sugar plantation economy based on African slave labor had transformed the territory into a lucrative colony. The discovery of gold at the end of the 17th century led to increased settlement of the hinterland and consolidated Brazil's importance within the empire as a whole, an importance affirmed when the Portuguese transferred the royal court there during the early 19th‐century Napoleonic Wars.
Wolof Empire
Authors: von Hesse Hermann W. 
Published: January 2016

Abstract
The emergence of the Wolof Empire by the 15th century coincided with the rise of Atlantic commerce and subsequently the slave trade in the 17th century. Local resistance to the trade led to wars between Islamic cleric reformers and the Wolof kings who succeeded in maintaining the trade with the help of the French. French abolition of the slave trade in 1848 led to the French imperial expansion into the interior of Senegal. Consequently, the Wolof Empire was incorporated into the French colony of Senegal.
Gender and empire
Authors: Pickles Katie 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThe examination of gender and empire emerged as a perspective that first acknowledged women's presence and relevance in imperial history, and then complexified understandings of that place. It then turned to reconsider the place and impact of both men and women in imperial history. Gender construction explored the social composition of femininity and masculinity, while gender relations and then gender performativity moved well beyond fixed biologically grounded sex categories. Influences of anthropology and literary studies led to a focus on race and culture, rather than on class and work. The rapid proliferation of scholarship in the area demonstrates that women, as well as a diversity of men, are a vital part of imperial history. Overall, previous dominant understandings of history that rendered gender invisible are challenged.
Bahmani Sultanate
Authors: Fischel Roy S. 
Published: January 2016

Abstract
The Bahmani Sultanate (1347–1538) was a Muslim‐ruled state in central India that emerged out of the Delhi Sultanate. The Bahmani Sultanate was facing challenges from its expansionist neighbors, which facilitated the incorporation of local Muslim and non‐Muslim elites. Military pressure encouraged the recruitment of foreign Muslims, who created a distinct elite group increasingly at odds with local elites; this hostility became endemic to the sultanate. During the middle of the 15th century, the sultanate became an important intellectual and cultural center and reached its largest extent. From the 1480s, internal conflicts and controversial centralizing policies led to rebellions and fast disintegration.