Rise of Empires

THE RISE OF
EMPIRES
The Political Economy of Innovation
Sangaralingam Ramesh
The Rise of Empires
The Rise of Empires

The Political Economy of Innovation
Department for Continuing Education
University of Oxford, Rewley House
Oxford, UK
ISBN 978-3-030-01607-4 ISBN 978-3-030-01608-1 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01608-1
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For my father and my mother,
Nallathamby Sangaralingam and Pathmarani Sangaralingam,
Inuvil and Karinagar, Ceylon.
For their love, compassion and their humanity
Preface
As I wrote ‘China’s Lessons for India’, Volume 1 and Volume 2, published

by Palgrave Macmillan in September/October 2017, my interest in the
process of innovation and its outcomes was stimulated. This is specifically
with regards to how innovation may give one society a competitive advan-
tage over another, leading to the ‘Rise of Empires’. Contextually, my
interest was also stimulated by the economic and political rise of China
and the impending rise of India. The rise of China, with its Belt and
Road Initiative, investments in the infrastructure of other countries, the
increase in its capacity of technological innovation, resembles the rise of
an empire. In countries such as Sri Lanka, an ex-British colony, local
people are learning Mandarin to work with and for Chinese companies
working on Chinese-funded infrastructure projects on the island. India
has become encircled by China’s economic embrace of its neighbours. An
independent India and China have fought wars related to border dis-
putes. Recently, trouble flared on the Doklam Plateau, an area of territo-
rial dispute between Bhutan and China. In the last five years, China has
also built artificial islands in the South China Sea. In the light of history
and its tendency to repeat itself, some might ask if China is heading in
the same direction, in the coming decades, as Japan following the Meiji
Restoration in 1868. Following its economic rise, Japan needed resources
which it did not have. The only way it could continue to sustain its eco-
nomic growth was to acquire resources from other countries, much more
vii
viii Preface
cheaply, by using military force and occupation. This it did by invading

China and occupying Manchuria. However, once the United States
imposed trade embargoes on Japan, its economy was strangled. This pre-
cipitated Japan’s attack on the the United States naval base at Pearl
Harbour, with which the United States entered World War II. However,
in ancient times, the kingdoms of the various parts of the Indian subcon-
tinent had close filial connections with China and its dynasties. The
Chola Empire of eleventh-century southern India engaged in maritime
trade with the Tang, Song, and the Yuan dynasties of China. At that time,
Europe was still undeveloped and all the latterly colonised lands, Canada,
America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, India, Indonesia,
Africa, and other parts of the world, were still controlled and habituated
by their native peoples. The centre of the world was in Asia. Today, the
world is again at a turning point, with the axes of economic and political
power once again shifting from the west to the east. Britain and the
United States were long seen to be the dominant powers in the world.
Britain retained its superpower status until the early twentieth century,
when it was overtaken by an ascendant United States, its former colony.
Now, the democratic systems of both countries have led them to a state
of decline, in comparison to China and India. Moreover, in comparison
to fifty years ago, the United States and Great Britain do not have the
same calibre of politicians. This is especially true in the context of integ-
rity, intellect, and sincerity. For example, Tony Blair quipped that he
thought there would be enough economic growth to absorb workers
from Eastern Europe who arrived because of his government’s acquies-
cence of the EU’s free movement of labour. Nevertheless, at a theoretical
economic level, the free movement of labour would only have been
required for countries with a common currency. In other words, those
countries which had adopted the Euro in 1999.
The decline of Britain and the United States may have happened for
many reasons, but economically, this decline can be attributed to a waste-
ful use of resources. Politicians strive and contrive to win power for their
own good rather than the good of the people. They make promises and
follow economic policies that have no economic sense behind them. One
example is Britain’s decision to join the EEC in 1973. The voters thought
that it was a trading relationship. However, the politicians knew otherwise.
Preface ix
They knew that eventually, all the countries in the subsequent EU would
form the United States of Europe. In the United States, the resources
wasted and the lives lost on both sides during the Vietnam War serve as
an example of our lack of humanity as well as a lack of intellect. In the
light of history, if the United States had left Vietnam to itself, like all the
other planned economies did, Vietnam would have turned by itself to
embrace Capitalism. The United States wasted a valuable opportunity in
not pursuing the exploration and the colonisation of space. With appro-
priate levels of funding, this objective would have driven the United
States to become a more highly innovative economy than it was. And the
country’s economic growth would have increased substantially. It would
also have furthered the dreams of humanity and its long-term
survivability.
The purpose of this book is to identify the process by which innovation
takes place, the factors responsible for this, how empires subsequently
rise, and how they fall. This will be accomplished by analysing the rise of
empires over the last 8000 years at a multicultural level, starting with the
emergence of Homo Sapiens. Furthermore, the book takes an interdisci-
plinary approach, and so its findings will be relevant to economics,
anthropology, political economy, politics, and international relations.
Oxford, UK Sangaralingam Ramesh

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Rachel Sangster, the Global Head of Economics

and Finance, as well as Joseph Johnson at Palgrave Macmillan for all their
invaluable help in getting this book published. I would also like to thank
the library service at University College London, where the idea for this
book was formulated in October 2017, and where the writing of the
book began in January 2018.
xi
Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Theory of Innovation and Causal Dynamics 17
3 Pre-History: Emergence and Palaeolithic to Bronze

Age—10,000 BC to 800 BC 49
4 The Babylonian Empire: 1900 BC to 539 BC 89
5 Ancient Greece: 1100 BC to 30 BC 117
6 The Roman Empire (443 BC to 395 AD) 141
7 The Chola Dynasty: 350 BC to 1279 AD 171
8 The Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) and the Song

Dynasty (960 AD to 1279 AD) 201
xiii
xiv Contents
9 The Mongol Empire: 1206 AD to 1368 AD 233
10 The British Empire: 1603 AD to 1997 AD 263
11 Conclusion 295
Index 309
1
Introduction
The purpose of this book is to evaluate the role of innovation in econom-

ics, the factors it depends on, and how it emerges over time, based on a
historical analysis of several civilisations over a 10,000-year period start-
ing with the emergence of humanity from its place of development and
evolution in Africa. In this case, the analysis and evaluation begin with
the emergence of Homo Sapiens from Africa, and extends to the
Palaeolithic and to the Bronze Age. The earliest contemporary civilisa-
tions, ancient Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, and the Indus Valley civilisa-
tion of modern-day northern India are also discussed. While the
civilisations of ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt proved success-
ful and relatively longer lasting than the Indus Valley civilisation, the
latter was vast and, perhaps, more technologically, economically, and
politically advanced than the others. Contextually, the Indus Valley civil-
isation covered an area comparable to a quarter of the size of Western
Europe, populated by an estimated one million people, equivalent to the
size of the population of Rome at the height of its power.1 Furthermore,
archaeological evidence suggests that the Indus Valley civilisation
Robinson, A. (2015), The Indus: Lost Civilisations, Reaktion Books Ltd., London.
1
© The Author(s) 2018 1

S. Ramesh, The Rise of Empires, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01608-1_1
2 S. Ramesh
c onstituted 80,000 settlements ranging from villages to towns to cities,

of which there were five major sites, two of the biggest of these being
Harappa and Mohenjo Daro.2 All three civilisations traded with each
other, contributing to a diffusion of knowledge between its peoples and
others. However, the more advanced Indus Valley civilisation died out
while the other two civilisations lasted. The Indus Valley civilisation was
considered advanced for its time for a number of reasons.3 Firstly, the
civilisation built merchant ships that enabled it to trade with the rest of
the ancient world, including the other major contemporary civilisations
of the time—ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. Secondly, the
civilisation had the technological capacity to build drainage and sanita-
tion systems comparable to ancient Rome, but 2000 years ahead of its
time.4 Thirdly, the major metropolises of the civilisation featured well-
planned streets, buildings made of mud baked bricks—a first for the
ancient world—and major storage facilities for water and grain. Lastly,
and perhaps more indicative that the Indus Valley civilisation represented
a highly developed ancient economy, was the use of standardised weights
that utilised a binary/decimal system.5 The use of such a system would
allow for the weighing, distribution, and storage of agricultural produce.
It would also facilitate a system of payments to soldiers and workers by
the relevant authorities. However, the Indus Valley civilisation died out.
A number of reasons have been put forward for the early demise of the
Indus Valley civilisation, ranging from attacks by hostile tribes attracted
by its prosperity to natural disasters such as earthquakes and the chang-
ing flows of rivers.6 The latter is most likely because most of the urban
centres of the Indus Valley civilisation were located next to rivers.
Nevertheless, the longevity of the civilisations of ancient Egypt and
ancient Mesopotamia may have indirectly contributed towards the devel-
opment of civilisation in the Mediterranean. The Babylonian Empire
2
Ibid.
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid.
5
Ibid.
6
Chaurasia, R. (2002), History of Ancient India, Earliest Times to 1200 AD, Atlantic Publishers &
Distributors (P), Ltd, New Delhi.
Introduction 3
formed upon the remnants of ancient Mesopotamia. It too traded with

the peoples of the Mediterranean. It was later in this region that the
civilisation of ancient Greece developed, with its city states and the devel-
opment of the contemporary western ideal of freedom of the individual
and property rights. Thus, the basic tenets of contemporary traditional
neoclassical economics, freedom, trade, and private property rights lie in
this ancient world. The demise of the civilisation of ancient Greece was
superseded by the rise of the Roman Republic, which itself was super-
seded by the Roman Empire. The ideals of governance of the Roman
Republic, the freedom of the citizen, and governance by the citizen would
not be seen in the world again until the founding of the American
Republic in the eighteenth century AD. However, the Roman Republic
met its demise with the rise of populism and a lurch towards autocracy,
and the rise of the Roman Empire. This has alarming parallels with the
state of the contemporary world. The analysis then moves to the Chola
Dynasty, which existed in the southern part of contemporary India. The
empire of the Chola Dynasty included modern-day Indonesia, Sri Lanka,
Malaysia, and Cambodia. The Chola Empire traded with the Roman
Empire, which had trading posts in southern India as well as with the
Song Dynasty of China. The economy of the latter was built on trade.
However, it was during the period of the Han Dynasty that paper and
printing were invented, with gunpowder being invented in the ninth
century AD. This was just before the period that encompassed the Song
Dynasty, which may have been the first civilisation in the world to issue
paper money. Furthermore, it was during the Song Dynasty that the
world first witnessed an economic crisis due to inflation, as the Song
government printed money to finance its defences. In this case, the
Chinese were the first to recognise the relationship between the money
supply and the price level.7 The Song Dynasty came close to leading
China to be the first country in the world to experience industrialisation
due to its economic prosperity through trade. However, Imperial China
7
Goetzmann, W., and Koll, E. (2005), Paying in Paper, A Government Voucher from the Southern
Song, IN The Origins of Value: The Financial Innovations That Created Modern Capital Markets,
Oxford University Press, Oxford.
4 S. Ramesh
did not share the two cornerstones of the European market economy,
which would have allowed it to foster entrepreneurship through incenti-
visation. Nevertheless, prices in ancient China were not set by the gov-
ernment, but by the market forces of supply and demand. The first of
these cornerstones was the right of the individual to own property as well
as to make legally enforceable contracts.8 The second cornerstone, which
was absent in ancient China, was the lack of commercial institutions
formalised and protected by the state’s legal institutions.9 In this context,
the institutions which formed from the end of the Han Dynasty to the
beginning of the Song Dynasty, while supporting a complex market as
the one which existed in Medieval Europe, were of a completely different
nature compared to their western counterparts. In this regard, the main
institution that facilitated the maintenance of economic harmony in
ancient China, was the hereditary structure of society.10 This particularly
reflected in a social organisation characterised as being composed of the
Imperial household and the nobility. The nobility owned all of the land,
had access to education, and accumulated all of the wealth of Chinese
society.11 Furthermore, the nobility intermarried. The purpose of this
setup was to ensure a smooth succession from one generation of the
nobility to the next, ensuring that commoners remained commoners and
were prevented from moving out of the category of their birth.12 The
purpose of government was, therefore, to regulate the economic activities
of people so that this status quo could be maintained.13 In order to ensure
this, certain areas of cities were restricted solely for the occupation of
merchants and artisans and, in these areas, court officials would take
charge of all aspects of manufacturing and business.14 However, from the
8
Hamilton, G. (1996), The Organisational Foundations of Western and Chinese Commerce: A
Historical and Comparative Analysis, IN Asian Business Networks, Hamilton, G. (Ed), Walter de
Gruyter, Berlin.
9
Ibid.
10
Ibid.
11
Ibid.
12
Ibid.
13
Ibid.
14
Hamilton, G. (1996), The Organisational Foundations of Western and Chinese Commerce: A
Historical and Comparative Analysis, IN Asian Business Networks, Hamilton, G. (Ed), Walter de
Gruyter, Berlin.
Introduction 5
eighth century AD to the thirteenth century AD, through the period of

the Song Dynasty, the power of the nobility began to decline, and the
social mobility of the commoner began to become more fluid.15 During
the Song Dynasty, control of manufacture and business by merchants
and artisans became indirect, with the formation of guilds through which
some form of court supervision and regulation was practised.16 These
guilds, while replacing the market economy which characterised the Tang
Dynasty, were more suited to an urban economy.17 The Imperial govern-
ment benefited more from this arrangement by being able to collect more
tax revenues due to the increased economic prosperity. While the Song
Dynasty was ended by the Mongol invasion and the usurpation of impe-
rial power by the Yuan Dynasty, the economic development of institu-
tions, such as that of the merchant and artisan guilds, ended in China.
However, merchant guilds also formed in England from the late thir-
teenth century,18 and they continued to develop over the next few centu-
ries because, while the Mongols reached Hungary, Poland, and Germany,
they turned back to Mongolia before reaching the shores of England.
Thus, the development of the guilds would ensure that England, through
its Mercantile policies, would set the stage for the formation of its empire,
starting in the sixteenth century. However, this would reach a peak with
England being the first country to experience the Industrial Revolution,
starting in the late eighteenth century and continuing through the nine-
teenth century. The remnants of the British Empire would last until the
latter part of the twentieth century, ending with the handover of Hong
Kong back to China in 1997. Interceding the years between the demise
of the Song Dynasty and the rise of the British Empire was the Mongol
Empire. The latter would diffuse knowledge, invention, and innovation
from east to west, in effect, stimulating the rise of the British Empire.
This knowledge would encompass gunpowder, the compass, paper, and
15
Ibid.
16
Ibid.
17
Ibid.
18
Rosser, G. (2015), The Art of Solidarity in the Middle Ages: Guilds in England 1250–1550,
6 S. Ramesh
printing. The British Empire emerged and remained strong and large, in
contrast to the empires of other European powers, because it embraced
technological innovation and political innovation. Furthermore, the rise
of the British Empire was based on state capitalism in the context of trad-
ing monopolies with specific regions of the world granted by the English
Crown to various regionally specialised English companies. This was an
English financial and corporate governance innovation which incentiv-
ised entrepreneurship and made the accumulation of substantial finan-
cial resources by a trading company much easier to achieve. In conjunction
with the doctrine of Mercantilism, this gave rise to the British Empire.
The rise of which has stark similarities to the rise of China today. China’s
trade policies are akin to English Mercantilism, the acquisition of assets
in other countries by financial largesse. Loaning money to countries by,
for example, building infrastructure, allowing these countries to become
indebted to China, and only settling loans in return for physical assets—
such as ports. This was what happened in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Traditionally in economics, innovation is regarded as facilitating long-
term economic growth based on two schools of thought that included the
Solow Model, in which technology is assumed to be freely available to
firms, and the endogenous model of economic growth in which innova-
tion and technological change is assumed to arise from within firms.
While the former model does not address how innovation occurs or the
factors responsible for it, the latter places an emphasis on education,
learning by doing, and the diffusion of knowledge as contributing to
innovation. However, neither model specifically addresses the historical
development of innovation, the sources of innovation, its impact on the
development of economic systems, as well as the historical impact of
innovation on human economic activity. This book seeks to fill this gap
by evaluating how innovation has developed at a historical level as well as
at a species level based on the idea that Homo Sapiens maximise survival
and not utility. Nevertheless, the fundamental issue that economics
attempts to resolve is how unlimited wants can be met by scarce resources,
and not the maximisation of survival. This paradox gives rise to choice.
Consumers must choose what to consume and what not to consume, and
firms must decide upon what to produce and what not to produce.
Theoretical economics, in order to provide a rigorous basis for analysis,
Introduction 7
asserts that consumers maximise utility or satisfaction from consump-

tion, whereas a firm’s production decisions are based on the maximisation
of profit. Moreover, according to standard economic theory, consumers
are deemed to make ‘rational’ choices/decisions. In other words, choices
or decisions are made on the basis of pure logic, and in no way depend on
our emotions.
The concept of utility championed by neoclassical economics has its
roots in the works of Aristotle and ancient Greek economic theory.
Aristotle was the starting point in western economic thinking of an
attempt to determine a theory of value. Aristotle thought of value in
terms of use. In other words, people would seek to possess ‘things’ that
give them the greatest level of satisfaction and/or productivity. An indi-
vidual in a hunter-gatherer society may assert great value with a knife,
spear, bow and arrow, fire, and some form of cooking implements.
Without these things, it would be difficult to acquire meat, to cook it,
and to eat it. However, an individual in a hunter-gatherer society may
give less value to plant crops that could be picked with more ease and that
could be more abundant. Exchange value, on the other hand, arises when
meat and plant crops may be traded either within the members of a
hunter-gatherer tribe or between such tribes. In a non-monetised econ-
omy, such trade would take place through barter. But what would be the
basis for the determination of value through a process of barter? Herein,
Adam Smith saw a problem arising from the distinction between ‘use
value’ and ‘exchange value’, and he called it a Paradox of Value. On the
basis of its subjectivity, Smith rejected the notion of ‘use value’, and
instead placed greater emphasis on ‘exchange value’. In Smith’s eyes, the
latter could be determined based on the cost of production. For example,
the exchange value of a beaver pelt and deer meat could be established
based on how many hunters were required to ‘produce’ each. Neoclassical
economics, on the other hand, extends Aristotle’s ‘use value’ to total util-
ity, marginal utility, and the derivation of the demand curve. In all its
theoretical deliberations, economics tends to be missing the elements of
nature, that is, as human beings we are an animal—a mammal, to be
more specific. However, Alfred Marshall did recognise a hierarchy of
8 S. Ramesh
human needs, each distinguishable from the other.19 In this case, Marshall
recognised the biological needs associated with food, clothing, and shel-
ter.20 However, he failed to recognise that the economic objective of
human activity is to maximise survival, and this is transformed to differ-
ent levels by invention and innovation over time. Moreover, to all extents
and purposes, these human needs have not been explicitly recognised by
theoretical economics. Like all animals, we tend not to maximise utility
or satisfaction, but we do want to maximise our chances of survival to
pass our genes onto subsequent generations. In essence, this is what drives
our economic behaviour. Furthermore, economic behaviour is depen-
dent on human cognition. In conjunction with our cognitive intelli-
gence, the maximisation of survival facilitates invention, and then this
leads to innovation. An invention is a new idea that can be tangible (tech-
nological) or intangible (an economic, political, religious, or cultural doc-
trine). On the other hand, an innovation builds upon an invention to
produce something new through further invention. The artificial creation
of fire by one of Homo Sapiens’ earlier ancestors, Homo Erectus was an
invention based on the observation of a naturally observing phenomena.
But the use of fire by Homo Erectus to cook meat was an innovation. This
unknowingly contributed towards evolution in increasing brain size and
cognitive powers, in the transformation of Homo Erectus into Homo
Sapiens. However, while Homo Erectus had spread across the continents
before the emergence of Homo Sapiens, it was only in Africa that Homo
Erectus evolved into Homo Sapiens.21 In other parts of the world in which
Homo Erectus existed, the species became an evolutionary dead end and
died out. Another example of invention and innovation would be the
motor car. For instance, the motor car is an innovation that built on the
invention of the wheel through the invention of the steam engine. Further
innovation took place when the steam engine was replaced by an engine
fuelled by petrol, a substance derived from oil. The process of refining oil to
19
Haines, W. (1982), Psychoeconomics of Human Needs: Maslow’s Hierarchy and Marshall’s
Organic Growth, Journal of Behavioral Economics, Vol. 11 (Winter), pp. 97–121.
20
Ibid.
21
Nanjira, D. (2010), African Foreign Policy and Diplomacy from Antiquity to the 21st Century,
Praeger, Santa Barbara, California.
Introduction 9
Motivational
Time
Emotional
Linguistic
Cognitive Intelligence Survival – shelter, food, heat Money
Invention
Norms Procreation Relationships
Innovation Instinctive Intelligence
Fig. 1.1 Homo Sapiens and animals—Factor analysis. (Source: Author)
produce petrol and other derivatives was itself an invention. The idea that
petrol could fuel an engine, resulting in increased efficiency, but with
more damage to the environment, was in itself an innovation. Cultural
norms may also facilitate invention and innovation. For example, the
emergence of the environmental sustainability trend in the latter half of
the twentieth century led to new ways of thinking regarding power
sources (solar panels), production processes, and packaging (use of plas-
tics), as well as the natural world (deforestation, species extinction and
ecosystem destruction).
To put this into context, since the emergence of civilisation in ancient
Sumer, whilst Homo Sapiens has represented only 0.01% of all life on
Earth, it has destroyed 83% of all wild mammal species as well as 50% of
all plant species.22
Figure 1.1 above represents the schematic framework which shows the
common and the uncommon factors that allow for the survival of Homo
22
Bar-On, Y., Phillips, R., and Milo, R. (2018), The biomass distribution on Earth, Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/
pnas.1711842115
10 S. Ramesh
Sapiens as well as other animals. While the nature of the universe is such
that it is governed by the fundamental laws of physics and mathematics,
human beings are the results of the universe and more irrational than the
apparent rationality of the universe. Moreover, man may be an enlight-
ened animal, but he still shares with animals the need to survive. In the
short term, on an individual basis, this can be achieved by seeking food
and shelter. In the long run, however, for the species to survive, the indi-
vidual must not only survive, but also procreate. Procreation also facili-
tates evolution through the biological pathways of genetic change. As an
individual adapts to his/her environment biological metabolic pathways
facilitate the production of proteins by the body, which results in subtle
changes to the individual’s RNA and DNA over a lifetime, although the
changes which take place when the individuals are reproductively active
are the most important, as these changes are passed to offspring, and this
elicits the evolution of the species over time. As the rate of technological
change impacts on an individual environment, it also impacts on the
evolutionary change of Homo Sapiens.
The factors which are needed for survival—such as shelter, food, and
procreation—occur over time. This is to say that the requirement for the
factors of survival must be met daily and on a longer-term basis respec-
tively. This would of course depend on the needs of the species. However,
animals can be innovative through their ‘instinctive intelligence’. For
example, recently, there was a case of a crayfish detaching its claw to
escape from being part of a boiling soup.23 Homo sapiens are distinct
from other species in two respects. Firstly, Homo sapiens’ cognitive abili-
ties set it apart from other species, giving it unique behavioural advan-
tages linked to the use of objects as well as the use of language and writing.
These cognitive abilities may give rise to our greater capacity to invent
and innovate. Secondly, Homo sapiens are the only species that uses
money. The allure of money is such that its presence makes Homo Sapiens
act irrationally due to greed rather than logic. While Homo sapiens’
23
Guardian (2018), Crayfish becomes online hero by detaching claw to escape boiling soup,
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/03/crayfish-becomes-online-hero-by-detaching-
claw-to-escape-boiling- soup
Introduction 11
c ognitive ability will allow it to survive in a monetised and a non-mone-

tised economy, the availability of and access to money will help man
survive in a monetised economy. The distinction between a non-mone-
tised economy and a monetised economy extends to the distinction
between a hunter-gatherer existence and an urban, centred existence.
The shift of humanity from a hunter-gatherer existence to an agricul-
tural one also represented a shift from a rural to an urban existence in
which people were concentrated and their numbers rising. A constant and
more reliable source of food, represented by agriculture and animal hus-
bandry, allowed substance and sustenance for more ‘leisure’ time and time
to engage the cognitive capacity of the human mind. This allowed for
more thinking time, which led to increasing innovation. Innovations rep-
resent responses to the internal and external environments faced by an
entity.24 However, an innovation could also be adopted as a pre-emptive
action to influence the environment.25 In this case, innovations allow
entities (organisations, society, state, and the individual) to evolve with
their environments to achieve a ‘best fit’.26 There is also a positive relation-
ship between the size of an entity and the level of innovativeness.27 This
could simply be because more resources are available, and the use of those
resources are better organised. Innovation leads to a society, state, indi-
vidual, or organisation having a comparative advantage over another.28
However, the accumulation of knowledge by states and civilisations over
time allows for greater innovation. For example, the invention of gun-
powder by unknown Chinese alchemists in the ninth century AD, and
the diffusion of the knowledge of its composition to the west due to the
Mongolian invasions of Europe of the thirteenth century AD greatly
changed the face of warfare. The development of the cannon and the
24
Damanpour, F. (1992), Organisational Size and Innovation, Organisation Studies, 13/3,
pp. 375–402.
25
Ibid.
26
Ibid.
27
Ibid.
28
Helfat, C. E., Finkelstein, S., Mitchell, W., Peteraf, M., Singh, H., Teece, D. and Winter, S.
(2007), Dynamic Capabilities: Understanding Strategic Change in Organizations. New York:
Wiley.
12 S. Ramesh
musket changed the rules of engagement, on both land and sea. Ships
with more and efficient cannons could defeat ships with inferior or no
cannons at a distance. Cannon and musket would allow an army to deni-
grate another, allowing for the final fatal engagement of sword-wielding
cavalry. The states of Europe would jockey for world supremacy using
cannon and musket from the sixteenth century onwards, until the mid-
twentieth century AD.
Innovation can be thought of both as a process and as an outcome.
Innovation can be technological or conceptual. Technological innovation
can lead to better ways of doing things. For example, the development of
writing in ancient Sumer allowed for the storage of information on clay
tablets. Knowledge could then be transmitted from one generation to the
next, allowing knowledge to accumulate, scholars to learn, ideas to form,
and innovations to occur. Ancient Sumer is also reputed to be the civilisa-
tion in which the wheel was invented, as well as the civilisation that con-
ceptualised the division of the day into hours and minutes. The invention
of the wheel could have occurred by observing the movement of a stone
rolling down a hill. Just as centuries later, man would observe the flight of
birds and develop aircraft in the early part of the twentieth century AD,
in ancient Sumer, the rolling effect of pebbles, rocks, and boulders down
a hill may have given an ancient Sumerian the inquisitive initiative to
mimic the same effect with other materials, such as wood, to substitute
the effect for a useful purpose. The early wheel may have started with
planks nailed together to imitate an imperfect circle. Over time, with
developments in wood working and metallurgy, a wheel which rotated
perfectly around 360 degrees would have been developed. The wheel
would have allowed for the transportation of more goods, building mate-
rials, and large numbers of people over longer distances. Centuries later,
in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries AD, the wheel would be
conjoined to a motor fuelled by fossil fuels to form a motor car. This
example shows how the accumulation and diffusion of knowledge allows
for the innovation upon invention centuries apart. The invention of the
wheel would also have allowed trade between cities to increase, facilitating
and expanding markets. This would integrate more people and allow for
the diffusion of knowledge between different civilisations. Furthermore,
more buildings could be built faster and soldiers transported to trouble
Introduction 13
spots more quickly, leading to greater state control and stability. The divi-
sion of the day into hours and minutes would have allowed for the better
management of time, as well as leading to a more efficient organisation of
activities. A favourable cultural environment facilitates innovation.29
Moreover, the positive effects of laws and institutions on governance, pro-
moting economic and civil stability, has been found to have a positive
correlation on economic growth.30 However, economic growth results
from innovation.31 Therefore, it must logically follow that laws and insti-
tutions have a direct correlation with the level of innovation. Although
this may be the case, there is little direct theoretical or empirical proof of
how the level of governance affects the relationship between laws, institu-
tions, and innovation.32 Nevertheless, there is some empirical support for
the idea that national systems of innovation are driven by the simultane-
ous development of innovative variables such as creativity, research, and
the innovation and the institutional variables of infrastructure, trade, and
human capital.33
The outcome of innovation can be something tangible, like a war char-
iot and writing, or it can be intangible like a political, socioeconomic
practice, or a custom. Innovations can influence both human cognitive
ability as well as on human productivity. For example, the innovation of
writing allowed for thoughts to be better organised and recorded so that
they could be developed further later through more thinking. This would
allow options to be considered and strategies to be developed. Learning
would become more effective, increasing the possibilities for innovation.
29
Crossan, M., and Apaydin, M. (2010), A Multi-Dimensional Framework of Organisational
Innovation: A Systematic Review of the Literature, Journal of Management Studies, 47:6.
30
La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F., Shleifer., A and Vishny, R. (2000), Investor Protection and
Corporate Governance, Journal of Financial Economics, 58, 3–27.
31
Aghion, P., and P. Howitt, P. (2006), Appropriate Growth Policy: A Unifying Framework, Journal
of the European Economic Association, 4 (2006), 269–314.
32
Sapra, H., Subramanian, A., and Subramanian, K. (2014), Corporate Governance and
Innovation: Theory and Evidence, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 49, No. 4,
pp. 957–1003.
33
Castellacci, F., and Natera, J. (2013), The dynamics of national innovation systems: A panel co-
integration analysis of the coevolution between innovative capability and absorptive capacity,
Research Policy, 42, pp. 579–594.
14 S. Ramesh
The state could also maintain records of its citizens, making tax collection
more effective. On the other hand, the war chariot would allow soldiers
to travel faster over long distances, taking more weapons and supplies
than they could on foot. The soldiers would also have a higher vantage
point from which to throw spears and launch arrows at an enemy based
on foot. Innovations in political, socioeconomic practice and customs
could bring about changes in the organisation of society. For example,
the caste system in India evolved over thousands of years following the
demise of the Indus Valley civilisation. The caste system groups people
into societal strata that they join upon birth and do not leave until they
die. The main castes of the Indian caste system, in hierarchical order, are
the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas, the Vaisyas, and the Sudras. The Brahmins
are the priestly, scholarly learning caste at the top of the caste hierarchy.34
The Brahmins are followed by the Kshatriyas or warrior class, whose
function is to protect society.35 The Kshatriyas are followed by the Vaisyas,
who occupy the productive part of the economy, undertaking activities
associated with the rearing of cattle, money lending, trade, and crop cul-
tivation.36 The final member of the caste system is the Sudras caste, whose
only function was the servicing of the upper castes.37 While India’s caste
system organised its society, it was an intangible innovation with tangible
results, the impact on people’s lives by having been born into the Sudras
class, for example. Thousands of years after the roots of India’s caste sys-
tem were laid, the political innovation of Mercantilism emerged in
Europe, England, and Prussia in the eighteenth century. In the case of
England, Mercantilism laid the roots of the British Empire whereas, in
the case of Prussia, Mercantilism led to the unification of the indepen-
dent German states into a greater Germany. With regards to Mercantilism,
it may be said that there is a causal relationship between context, policy,
34
Kumari, A., and Bhaskar, S. (1998), Social Change Among Balijas, Majority Community of
Andhra Pradesh, MD Publication PVT Ltd., New Delhi.
35
Ibid.
36
Ibid.
37
Ibid.
Introduction 15
and innovation sequentially.38 As markets grew, merchants became pros-

perous, and more financial resources became available to finance inven-
tion and innovation.
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16 S. Ramesh
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Kumari, A., and Bhaskar, S. (1998), Social Change Among Balijas, Majority
Community of Andhra Pradesh, MD Publication PVT Ltd, New Delhi.
La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F., Shleifer, A., and Vishny, R. (2000), Investor
Protection and Corporate Governance, Journal of Financial Economics, 58,
3–27.
Nanjira, D. (2010), African Foreign Policy and Diplomacy from Antiquity to
the 21st Century, Praeger, Santa Barbara, California.
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Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 957–1003.
2
Theory of Innovation and Causal
Dynamics
The theories of technological change generally fall into two categories.1

These include the Demand-pull and the Technology Push theories associ-
ated with technological change. Which of these two theories hold as
implications not only for the determinants of how demand varies over
time, but also for the determinants of innovation?2 Moreover, changes in
the level of innovative activity are a result of changes in demand, and are
not the reason for the volatility of demand.3 This knowledge is useful in
pinpointing the actual causes of the changes in innovative activity.4 The
Demand-pull Theory of technical change suggests that technical change
occurs due to market forces, customer needs, and the pricing mechanism.
However, there are a number of weaknesses associated with Demand-pull
Theory.5 Firstly, technological change due to market conditions is seen as
1
Dosi, G. (1982), Technological Paradigms and Technological Trajectories: A Suggested
Interpretation of the Determinants and Directions of Technological Change, Research Policy 11,
pp. 147–162.
2
Geroski, P., and Walters, C. (1995), Innovative Activity and the Business Cycle, The Economic
Journal, Vol. 105, No. 431, pp. 916–928.
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid.
5
Ibid.

18 S. Ramesh
a passive and mechanical reaction.6 Secondly, the theory is indeterministic

about the reasons why technological changes take place as well as the tim-
ing of these occurrences.7 Lastly, the theory does not explain why the
inventive capacity of society changes over time, as well as its relationship
to market conditions.8 Moreover, in addition to these weaknesses,
Demand-pull Theory has little empirical support in the majority of the
studies conducted in the field.9 On the other hand, Technology Push the-
ory suggests that technical changes occur because of autonomous or semi-
autonomous factors.10 According to the Technology Push view, scientific
research is the initiator of a sequence of stages, the end result of which is
the innovation.11 Thus, the literature places great significance on techno-
logical change as the primary driver of economic growth.12,13 Innovation
results in increased productivity, which results in increased performance.14
The implication of this is that only the addition of creativity to economic
life would result in economic development. Furthermore, studies have
found that the supply side is more effective in generating innovation than
is the demand side.15 The entrepreneur is at the root of the supply side.
The role of the entrepreneur is to combine existing ideas and resources in
creative ways.16 The entrepreneur is therefore the key facilitator of innova-
tion. However, the strength of this may be affected by the strength of an
6
Ibid.
7
Ibid.
8
Ibid.
9
Ibid.
10
Ibid.
11
Saad, M. (2000), Development through Technology Transfer: Creating new Organisational and
Cultural Understanding, Intellect Books, Portland, Oregon.
12
Ayres, R.U. (1985), A Schumpeterian model of technological substitution. Technological
Forecasting and Social Change 27: 375–383.
13
Schmookler, J. (1966), Invention and economic growth, Harvard University Press, Cambridge,
MA.
14
Cainelli, G., Evangelista, R., and Savona, M. (2006), Innovation and Economic Performance in
Services: A Firm Level Analysis, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 30, pp. 435–458.
15
Knight, K.D. (1963), A Study of Technological Innovation. The Evolution of Digital Computers,
DPhil Thesis, Carnegie, Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh.
16
Schumpeter, J.A. (2000), Entrepreneurship as Innovation. In Swedberg, R. (Ed), Entrepreneurship,
Oxford University Press, Oxford pp. 51–75.
Theory of Innovation and Causal Dynamics 19
individual’s relational context, for example, the extent of the development

of network ties in the context of diversity, strength, and content.17 The
weakness of the Technology Push Theory is that it fails to consider the
importance of economic factors, as well as changes in economic factors in
affecting the direction of the innovation process.18 In this case, it is easy to
see that there is a causal relationship between economic development and
stability with the direction of technological change.19 Therefore, in order
to be of relevance to the real world, it is imperative that any theory of
technological change and innovation is able to explain the interactive
mechanisms between economic development and stability and the direc-
tion of technological change.20 Moreover, while neoclassical economics
considers the economy from the perspective of general equilibrium, eco-
nomic change is a dynamic process that is interactive with innovation.
Furthermore, similarly to the situation in which some firms perform
financially better than others due to a resource advantage,21 the same may
also be said of states. The resource reserves and the resource capacity of
states change over time, and this may explain the rise and fall of states,
why civilisations endure and why they may not. Nevertheless, from one
perspective, it can be argued that differences in technology between con-
temporary states and civilisations is due to differences in the levels of
knowledge accumulation rather than because of differences in resource
endowments.22 Unfortunately, the existing theories of technical change
are unable to decipher what these interactive mechanisms are, how they
arise, and how they behave. However, there may be a link between the
17
Ruef, M. (2002), Strong ties, weak ties and islands: Structural and cultural predictors of organ-
isational innovation, Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 427–449.
18
pp. 147–162.
19
Ibid.
20
Ibid.
21
Hunt, S., and Morgan, R. (1996), The Resource-Advantage Theory of Competition: Dynamics,
Path Dependencies, and Evolutionary Dimensions, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 60, No. 4,
pp. 107–114.
22
Ericsson, J., and Irandoust, M. (2001), On the Causality Between Foreign Direct Investment and
Output: A Comparative Study, The International Trade Journal, Volume XV, No. 1.
20 S. Ramesh
innovation process and the interaction between institutional and eco-

nomic factors.23 For example, stable government and the rule of law may
provide economic stability. This could be reflected by a sustainable food
source, more leisure time, more time for learning, more engagement with
cognition, leading to greater creativity, and innovation. Furthermore,
stable government and economic stability will allow for the longevity of
the state, allowing for the accumulation of knowledge. Moreover, state
ideology and support would be able to support creativity and innovation,
and specific needs would foster specific innovations, for example, agricul-
ture and irrigation, the military and the chariot, defence and city walls. As
the state grows, economic and social activities would become more and
more hierarchically organised. This would lead to an increased division of
labour. Specific tasks would be performed by specific individuals. As a
result of performing tasks repetitively, better ways of doing the same thing
would be recognised and innovation would result. Therefore, from this
line of reasoning, it is clear that a strong state would favour greater hierar-
chical organisation over time, and this in turn would give rise to the devel-
opment of complex technological systems.24 However, when a state
becomes unstable, resources become concentrated in its defence, and
power structures become thinly spread, allowing for a decline in innova-
tion.25 This may be because the level of information in society as well as
the level of group communication is reduced. It has been found that both
of these communication variables are more important as the drivers of
organisational innovation than are motivational variables such as percep-
tions of equity, social pressures, and expectations of benefits from carrying
out a task.26
23
pp. 147–162.
24
Murmann, J., and Frenken, K. (2006), Toward a Systematic Framework for Research on
Dominant Designs, Technological Innovations, and Industrial Change, Research Policy, 35,
pp. 925–952.
25
Mone, M., McKinley, W., and Barker, V. (1998), Organisational Decline and Innovation: A
Contingency Framework, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 115–132.
26
Monge, P., Cozzens, M., and Contractor, N. (1992), Communication and Motivational
Predictors of the Dynamics of Organisational In novation, Organisation Science, Vol. 3, No. 2.
Analysis of the Innovation Process

The process of innovation can be defined in terms of its result, the contem-
porary use of an idea or behaviour which is new to society.27 However, the
process of innovation may also involve improving a pre-existing idea or
using it for a new purpose.28 The process of creativity is closely allied to the
process of innovation. In this case, creativity can be defined as a new way of
thinking that allows one to transcend contemporary thought so that the
result is something new and tangible, either a behaviour, good, work of art,
process, or even a political/economic policy. Some people are more creative
than others. In this case, the key drivers of innovation are people and their
experiences, because ultimately, knowledge is owned by people.29 However,
the link between the factors that bring about organisational change through
innovation is known as causal agency. For spontaneous innovation, organ-
isational change may not be important. However, the emergence of organ-
isational capacity, its development and growth over time, and its ending
does impact on innovation as a process.30 Causal systems are defined by the
level of dynamism as well as by the level of interaction between the causal
factors.31 Low dimensional causal systems are characterised by periodic and
chaotic dynamics.32 On the other hand, high dimensional causal systems
are characterised by white and pink noise dynamics.33 In the case of peri-
odic and white noise dynamics, there is a linear relationship between the
causal agents, such that they act independently.34 But in the case of chaotic
27
Hage, J.T. (1999), Organisational Innovation and Organisational Change, Annual Reviews
Sociology, Vol. 25, pp. 597–622.
28
Woodman, R., Sawyer, J., and Griffin, R. (1993), Toward a Theory of Organisational Creativity,
The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 293–321.
29
Harkema, S. (2003) ‘A complex adaptive perspective on learning within innovation projects’, The
Learning Organization, Vol. 10 Issue: 6, pp. 340–346, https://doi.org/10.1108/09696470310497177.
30
Van de Ven, A., and Huber, G. (1990), Longitudinal Field Research Methods for Studying
Processes of Organisational Change, Organisation Science, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 213–219.
31
Dooley, K., and Ven, A. (1999), Explaining Complex Organisational Dynamics, Organisational
Science, Vol. 10, No. 3.
32
Ibid.
33
Ibid.
34
Dooley, K., and Ven, A. (1999), Explaining Complex Organisational Dynamics, Organisational
Science, Vol. 10, No. 3.
22 S. Ramesh
and pink dynamics, there is a non-linear relationship between the causal

agents, suggesting that the causal factors act interdependently.35 Knowledge
is acquired by using one’s cognition in order to perceive the real world, and
then to innovate. This type of causal agency between people and innova-
tion, bringing about social change, is known as the organisational impera-
tive.36 On the other hand, the technological imperative asserts that
technology is the causal agent bringing about social change.37 However, a
middle-of-the-way perspective, the emergent imperative, asserts that the
causal agent of social change is the complex series of interactions between
technology and people.38 This seems to be a more plausible cause of causal
change in which human actors innovate using their cognitive capacity,
reflected by technological innovations which facilitate organisational
change in society. For example, the start of the industrial revolution in the
latter part of the eighteenth century in England brought about technologi-
cal changes that, over a period of time, increased productive capacity, as
well as increasing the size of urban centres. The increased productive capac-
ity meant that there was now more to trade. This facilitated the formulation
of a new national economic policy, Mercantilism, which would eventually
lead to the formation of the British Empire. A ‘state’ becomes an ‘empire’
when it has a superior form of political and firm level governance over
other contemporary states, which allows it to more efficiently organise and
allocate its economic, physical, political, and intellectual resources in order
acquire the land, labour, and material wealth of militarily and economically
weaker states. Great Britain’s evolving system of governance, which was
superior to that of other states in the context of the efficient organisation
and allocation of resources, from the twelfth century onwards, coupled
with its embracement of Mercantilism from the sixteenth century, facili-
tated its emergence as an ‘empire’ over the next 450 years. In essence,
Mercantilism was the radical change of a society and its institutions such
that national institutions were replaced by trans-national ones, under the
35
Ibid.
36
Markus, M., and Robey, D. (1988), Informational Technology and Organisational Change:
Causal Structure in Theory and Research, Management Science, Vol. 34, No. 5, pp. 583–598.
37
Ibid.
38
Ibid.
umbrella of a dominant nation state controlling trade with its constituent

parts.39 Besides Great Britain, this policy was also followed by Prussia, lead-
ing to the unification of the German states into a single country in 1871.40
The real world will provide more information than can be processed by
human cognition.41 The latter, therefore, acts as a filter to process the
information provided in its best representable, most concise form.42
Nevertheless, the way in which the innovation process takes place can be
analysed from the perspective of both Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and
Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (AT).43 ANT suggests that the inno-
vation process should be studied by analysing the development of the
innovation as well as the network of agents connected to it, simultane-
ously.44 At a wider level, an innovation system has structural components
such as agents, networks and institutions in order to perform a range of
functions.45 These include the development of knowledge, the mobilisa-
tion of resources, the state of development of market forces, the power of
the state, the state’s impact on the direction of innovation, the develop-
ment of entrepreneurship, and the extent of external economies.46
However, in order for the structural components of an innovation system
to be able to jointly carry out the required functions, there is a high level
of dependency on the development of people. Nevertheless, people
develop in a cultural context.47 Therefore, in this case, AT suggests that
39
Schmoller, G. (1884), The Mercantile System and Its Historical Significance.
40
Carr, W. (2013), The Origins of the Wars of German Unification, Routledge, London.
41
McGuire, W.J. (1983), Search for the Self: Going beyond self-esteem and the reactive self. In
Zucker, R., Arnoff, J., and Rabin, A. (Eds), Personality and the Prediction of Behaviour, Academic
Press, New York.
42
McGuire, W. (1983), A Contextualist Theory of Knowledge: Its Implications For Innovation and
Reform in Psychological Research, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 16.
43
Miettinen, R. (1999), The riddle of things: Activity theory and actor-network theory as
approaches to studying innovations, Mind, Culture, and Activity, 6:3, 170–195, DOI:https://doi.
org/10.1080/10749039909524725
44
Ibid.
45
Bergek, A., Jacobson, S., Carlsson, B., Lindmark, S., and Rickne, A. (2008), Analysing the func-
tional dynamics of technological innovation systems: A Scheme of Analysis, Research Policy, 37,
pp. 407–429.
46
Ibid.
47
Oers, B., Wardekker, W., Elbers, E., and Veer, R. (2008), The Transformation of Learning:
Advances in Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
24 S. Ramesh
the innovation process should be analysed and studied from a cultural-

historical perspective. This is specifically because the cultural practices of
a community as well as its immediate environment change over time.48
Moreover, there is a great deal of variation in the behaviours of people
with regards to different cultural communities as well as different time
periods.49 There is significant empirical and theoretical support for this
assertion.50 The implication of this assertion is that the variations with
people behave over time may be affected by learning leading to innova-
tions. For example, the innovations of electricity and the light bulb
allowed people to work longer hours. The invention of the steam engine
in the late eighteenth century was driven by socio-political changes. In
this context, there was an emphasis on Mercantilism, entrepreneurship,
property rights, and less government interference in the market at this
time. Furthermore, there was a diffusion of knowledge from one society
to another because of written and printed texts. Accumulated historical
innovations associated with shipping (ship building, the compass) and
the military (organisation of people, gunpowder) allowed for territorial
expansion. This facilitated the culture and the history of one culture
impacting on that of another. For example, after the fifteenth century,
European nations began to explore and colonise other parts of the world
already inhabited by indigenous peoples. Thus, socio-political changes
and accumulated knowledge facilitated historical transformation. This
was probably the root of the rise of the British Empire from the seven-
teenth century onwards. However, historical transformation could only
have occurred because of a learning process. According to the ancient
Greek philosopher, this learning process involved learning by doing.51 In
other words, when an individual conscientiously noted a new way of
doing something, then, this knowledge would diffuse throughout the
48
Ibid.
49
Rogoff, B. (2003), The Cultural Nature of Human Development, Oxford University Press,
Oxford.
50
51
individual’s society, and would eventually be improved upon by others.

However, in general, learning facilitates the development of creative abili-
ties, and thus, one’s ability to generate new ideas. In this way, learning
brings about a permanent change in the way in which people behave, and
this occurs entirely because of the practice of learning.52 But the practice
of learning depends upon human cognition, and the development of
human cognition over time is affected by a range of socio (cultural prac-
tice, beliefs, behaviours) and economic (income levels, distribution of
income) factors. Therefore, it is important that the causal and dynamic
relationships between the various socio and economic factors are jointly
analysed because of their tendency to co-evolve.53 Therefore, because of
the importance of human cognition to innovation, it is important not to
analyse socioeconomic factors in isolation.54
Cognition
Human cognition involves the accumulation of information, either
through the senses (ear, nose, eyes) as well as through contact with other
individuals, such that human behaviour is optimised to the environment.55
In other words, there are cognitive factors common to us all that may
result in the same response to similar environmental factors. For example,
if someone touches a hot object, sensory perception and cognitive pro-
cesses lead the person to automatically withdraw the hand. Similarly, if the
weather is extremely cold, we wear as much warm clothing as possible
when we go out. And, if someone is unpleasant to us, we avoid their com-
pany and seek out the company of those others whose company we enjoy.
The optimisation of human behaviour to suit the environment is like the
concept of rationality, which is assumed of consumer behaviour in
52
Saltz, E. (1971), The Cognition bases of human learning, Homewood, Dorsey Press.
53
Room, G., Spence, A., Evangelou, E., Zeppini, P., Pugliese, E., Napolitano, L. (2017), Dynamics
of Cumulative Innovation in Complex Social Systems (DCICSS). UK: University of Bath.
54
Ibid.
55
Anderson, J. (1991), Is human cognition adaptive, Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 14,
pp. 471–517.
26 S. Ramesh
Economics. However, the optimisation of human behaviour is less specific

than the economic assumption of rationality in consumer choice. Human
cognition, therefore, facilitates the formulation of theories and hypotheses
as a result of the observation of events, either directly or through a process
of trial and error. For example, in sixteenth-century England, the mer-
chant-turned-political economist Thomas Mun, was able to draw on his
experiences as a merchant in Italy and the Middle East, to support the
policy of Mercantilism in a political, theoretical, and philosophical man-
ner. According to one perspective, innovation or a disruptive theory arises
from a two-stage process.56 The two stages, in successive order, are the
descriptive stage and the normative stage.57 While each stage involves a
process of the three steps of observation, categorisation, and the definition
of relationships.58 Observation, involving the senses, gives rise to questions
in the mind as to why something is happening. Categorisation involves
de-complexing a real-world observation using cognitive capacity into a
framework of consequential relationships between variables. For example,
in early human history, early humans may have observed a lightning strike
on forests or savannahs and seen the resulting flames. The cognitive capac-
ity of early humans would then have been engaged in trying to establish a
link between the lightning and the resulting fire. Perhaps, through a pro-
cess of trial and error, as well as luck, the early humans would have deter-
mined that there was a consequential link between the lightning and dry
grass and wood. The third step would be to define the relationship between
high temperatures, caused by the lightning, and dry grass and wood, per-
haps by proving it. The normative aspect of theory formation is, however,
more practical, and involves overcoming any anomalies which may not ‘fit
in’ with the hypothesis—lightning, causes high temperatures, and com-
busts dry grass or dry wood. The normative aspect of theory formation also
involves the three stages of observation, categorisation, and relationship
definition.59 It is at the latter stage of normative theory evolution that dis-
ruptive innovations—in this case, the ability of early humans to make
56
Christensen, C. (2006), The Ongoing Process of Building a Theory of Disruption, J. Prod. Innov.
Manag, 23, pp. 39–55.
57
Ibid.
58
Ibid.
59
Ibid.
fire—emerge. The knowledge of fire making would then have diffused

through ancient human society, perhaps by conflict and/or co-operation,
but definitely because contact between groups was possible due to limited
distances.60,61 Knowledge production would have been more efficient
when the human occupation of land was dense compared to it being less
dense.62 It may have been the case that youngsters within the group learn
from the adults, as well as members of the group learning from each other.
In humanity’s closest relative, the chimpanzee, it has been observed that
infants are able to use stone tools as hammers to break open oil palm
nuts.63 They must have been able to achieve this feat through a process.
Firstly, by observing another member of the group, perhaps a parent.
Second, cognitively putting together the relationship between the stone
tool and the oil palm nut. And lastly, putting the relationship into action
by using a stone tool to crack the oil palm nut themselves. More formally,
the diffusion of innovations in a wider context can occur through direct
communication,64 equivalent roles, and performing the same tasks in dif-
ferent locations,65 institutional needs,66 and network availability.67 In the
case of Homo Sapiens, then, learning would have been more effective in
smaller groups, the modern-day equivalent of the clustering of firms and
agglomeration effects.68 However, the process of knowledge diffusion
60
Feldman, M.P. (1994a). The Geography of Innovation. Kluwer Academic, Boston.
61
Feldman, M. (1994b). ‘Knowledge complementarity and innovation’. Small Business Economics
6 (3), 363–372.
62
Audretsch, D., and Feldman, M. (2004), Knowledge Spillovers and the Geography of Innovation,
IN Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Volume 4, Henderson, J., and Thisse, J. (Eds),
Elsevier B.V.
63
Inoue-Nakamura, N., and Matsuzawa, T. (1997), Development of Stone Tool Use by Wild
Chimpanzees, Journal of Comparative Psychology, Vol. III (2), pp. 159–173.
64
Coleman, J.S., Katz, E., and Menzel, H. (1966), Medical Innovation, Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis.
65
Burt, R. (1987), ‘Social Contagion and Innovation: Cohesion versus Structural Equivalence’,
American Journal of Sociology, 92, 1287–1335.
66
Strang, D., and Meyer, J. (1993), Institutional Conditions for Diffusion, Theory and Society, 22,
pp. 487–511.
67
Hedstrom, P., Sandell, R., and Stern, C. (2000), ‘Mesolevel networks and the diffusion of social
movements: the case of the Swedish Social Democratic Party’, American Journal of Sociology, 106,
pp. 145–172.
68
Malmberg, A., and Maskell, P. (2002), The Elusive Concept of Localisation Economies: Towards
a Knowledge-Based Theory of Spatial Clustering, Environment and Planning, Vol. 34, pp. 429–449.
28 S. Ramesh
between individuals is very different from that between firms.69 Moreover,

there is controversy as to whether the level of innovation is higher in
smaller or larger firms.70
Central to innovation and behaviour is human cognition. Advances in
the study of human cognition have proceeded in three stages.71 The first
stage occurred in the 1950s and the 1960s—a time during which human
cognition was studied using traditional psychophysics and experimental
psychology. In the second stage, starting in the 1970s, human cognition
was studied using emerging computational analysis. In the third stage,
from the mid-1980s, neuropsychology and animal neurophysiology con-
tributed evidence to the study of human cognition. In more recent times,
human cognition has been studied by scanning the brain to analyse
activity in specific areas.72 However, the problem with the study of human
cognition is that it has taken place under controlled situations in a labo-
ratory. The results of such analysis are abstract, especially in the context
that cognitive processes depend on both environmental factors and bodily
metabolism.73 Therefore, the best approach to study human cognition is
to gather insights into human behaviour and cognition from outcomes in
real-world situations. This is because the objective of the study of human
cognition is to better understand how human cognition functions in
complex real-world circumstances.74 If this could be accurately done,
then an element of predictability would be introduced into human cog-
nition and behaviour. The implications of this is that governments may
be able to design social policies based on the results, if they are generalis-
able, of the studies of human cognition and behaviour. However, there
69
Wolfe, R. (1994), Organisational Innovation: Review, Critique and Suggested Research
Directions, Journal of Management Studies, 31:3.
70
Nooteboom, B. (1994), Innovation and Diffusion in Small Firms: Theory & Evidence, Small
Business Economics, 6, pp. 327–347.
71
Van Kleeck, M. H., & Kosslyn, S. M. (1991), Visual information processing: A perspective, IN:
Attention and performance XIV, Meyer, D., & Kornblum, S. (Eds.), Bradford Books/MIT Press,
Cambridge, MA.
72
Kingstone, A., Smilek, D., and Eastwood, J. (2008), Cognitive Ethology: A New Approach for
Studying Human Cognition, British Journal of Psychology, 99, pp. 317–340.
73
Ibid.
74
Ibid.
are many problems regarding how such real-world studies can be con-
ducted.75 Firstly, because no controls will be in place, there will be vari-
ability in the results. For example, many people may behave differently to
the same environmental factors at the same time.76 On the other hand,
the same person may behave differently to the same environmental fac-
tors at different times.77 Secondly, there is no preconceived model or
methodology upon which such studies could be conducted. This is more
so with a causal mechanism-based approach.78 In this context, researchers
have tended to favour a non-personal approach to understand the brain
mechanisms which form the foundation of cognition.79 However, such
non-personal approaches may fall short of delivering a valid portrayal of
how human cognition functions in complex real-world situations, for
many reasons.80 Firstly, there is no contribution to understanding what
cognitive performance is. Secondly, there is no indication as to the cor-
relation between cognitive performance and cognitive systems. Lastly,
non-personal studies are not able to contribute as to how cognition func-
tions when many individuals are involved in solving a common problem.
However, a causal mechanism-based analysis could be conducted to eval-
uate such macro-level innovation in the context of situational mecha-
nisms, action formation mechanisms, and transformational mechanisms.81
Situational mechanisms refer to the factors in the macro environment
which gives rise to action formation mechanisms. This reflects the beliefs,
goals, and opportunities that impact on individual behaviour.82 The
transformational mechanism reflects how the behaviour of many can
75
Ibid.
76
Ibid.
77
Ibid.
78
Hedstrom, P., and Wennberg, K. (2017), Causal mechanism in Organisation and Innovation
Studies, Innovation, 19:1, pp. 91–102.
79
Kingstone, A., Smilek, D., and Eastwood, J. (2008), Cognitive Ethology: A New Approach for
Studying Human Cognition, British Journal of Psychology, 99, pp. 317–340.
80
Ibid.
81
82
30 S. Ramesh
result in unintended macro-level outcomes.83 However, the problem with

investigating the link between micro-level and macro-level innovation
processes is the lack of suitable methodology,84 although there has been
some methodological development with the use of mathematical models
and the emerging big data. Therefore, in the light of these short comings
of the non-personal approach to understanding human cognition,
researchers should favour a study of a personal approach to understand-
ing human cognition in the context of how people interact with their
environment.85 Nevertheless, based on the principle that every individual
is based on the same biological template, it should be possible to objec-
tively identify a behavioural and cognitive template that can be used to
forecast the random responses of individuals to environmental factors,
the effects of which have already been recorded through observation on
other individuals.
The basis for understanding creativity and innovation could depend on
a better understanding of human cognition.86While creativity is the basis
for innovation, as a process, it involves creating original solutions to novel
problems, ranging from technology to policy.87 However, this depends
upon four important steps, involving expertise, knowledge, aptitude, and
strategies.88 Aptitude can be best described in the context of four pro-
cesses associated with creative thinking. These include the definition of
the problem, the gathering of information and data, selecting an appro-
priate concept, and then combining concepts.89 However, human capac-
ity and the potential to innovate have to be separated from the economic
83
Ibid.
84
Coleman, J. S, (1986), Social theory, social research, and a theory of action, American Journal of
Sociology, 91, 1309–1335.
85
Ibid.
86
Mumford, M., Hunter, S., and Byrne, C. (2009), What is the Fundamental? The Role of
Cognition in Creativity and Innovation, Industrial and Organisational Psychology 2, pp. 353–356.
87
Mumford, M. D., & Gustafson, S. B. (2007), Creative thought: Cognition and problem solving
in a dynamic system. IN Creativity research handbook (Vol. 2 pp. 33–77), M. A. Runco (Ed.),
Cresskill, NJ: Hampton.
88
Mumford, M., Hunter, S., and Byrne, C. (2009), What is the Fundamental? The Role of
Cognition in Creativity and Innovation, Industrial and Organisational Psychology 2, pp. 353–356.
89
Ibid.
background. This is because, without a conducive economic environ-

ment, the would-be innovator would not have the financial resources to
innovate ‘big’. The emergent Mercantilist economy of the sixteenth cen-
tury onwards created an affluent merchant class with the financial
resources to subsidise the livelihoods of inventors. This was the pathway
for the rapid technological development which took place at the end of
the eighteenth century because of the increasing costs of production faced
by the merchant class of the time. To mitigate the rising costs of produc-
tion, the merchants funded innovation, either by themselves or by others.
For example, Arkwright developed upon Hargreaves’ Spinning Jenny and
invented a cotton spinning wheel which produced better quality cotton
yarn, although the patent for the machine was financed by others.90 The
patent for Arkwright’s cotton spinning machine was granted in 1769,91 as
was his patent for the source of power of the machines, the water frame.92
These innovations gave England a competitive advantage in the produc-
tion of quality cotton yarn as well as allowing Arkwright to develop his
system of cotton factories, representing a new innovation in industrial
organisation.93 The cheaper, quality cloth took the place of Indian textiles
in trade with Africa, as well as triggering new innovations such as steam
power, and new industries such as the manufacture of machinery and
machine tools.94 In order to incentivise innovation and to foster techno-
logical diffusion from continental Europe, sixteenth- century England
adopted a patent system which allowed inventors to move to England,
where their innovations were given legal protection. However, this was
with the caveat that English workers and English industry would benefit
from such innovation.95 Nevertheless, significant English innovations
90
Hills, R. (1970), Sir Richard Arkwright and his patent granted in 1769, The Royal Society
Journal of the History of Science, Vol. 24, Issue 2.
91
Ibid.
92
Hill, D. (1969), Richard Arkwright and the Water Frame, Proceedings of the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers, Vol. 184, Issue 1.
93
Hills, R. (1970), Sir Richard Arkwright and his patent granted in 1769, The Royal Society
Journal of the History of Science, Vol. 24, Issue 2.
94
Ibid.
95
Macleod, C. (1988), Inventing the Industrial Revolution, The English Patent System, 1660–1800,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
32 S. Ramesh
also occurred. For example, James Watt re-invented the steam engine
with the financial support of Matthew Boulton, a Birmingham mer-
chant.96 Watt was called upon to repair a Newcomen-type atmospheric
steam engine in 1763, at the University of Glasgow. However, the prob-
lem was that, to cool the cylinder, cold water had to be drawn into it,
with the effect that the cylinder was continuously being cooled and
heated, leading to the inefficient and expensive use of coal.97 Watt realised
the inefficiency of the design due to his superior knowledge of mathemat-
ics, in comparison to Newcomen. Watts solution was to add another
chamber, the condenser in which the hot water could condense, denigrat-
ing the need to put cold water into the heated cylinder, which would
remain hot until more steam arrived.98 While Watt patented the steam
engine in 1769, it did not finally go into production, with Boulton’s help,
until 1776.99 However, when production did begin, existing craftsman
had to ‘skill-up’ through on-the-job training, rather than through a schol-
arly approach.100 Moreover, techniques also had to be scaled up, a shift
from making scientific instruments to steam engines, as well as advances
in precision measurement.101 The steam engine facilitated the spatial reor-
ganisation of industrial production, such that it had no longer to be
located near sources of water.
The creative process of discovery and innovation can also be thought
of as a system.102 This system involves the interaction of the sociocultural
environment with the factors of cognition such as intelligence, informa-
tion retention, individual characteristics, the desire to be creative, and
learning ability.103 Learning ability in innovative projects may not simply
96
Scherer, F.M. (1965), Invention and Innovation in the Watt-Boulton Steam-Engine Venture,
Technology & Culture, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 165–187.
97
Collier, J. (2006), Great Inventions – The Steam Engine, Marshall Cavendish Benchmark,
New York.
98
Ibid.
99
Ibid.
100
Russell, B. (2014), James Watt: making the World Anew, Reaktion Books Ltd., London.
101
Ibid.
102
Findlay, C., and Lumsden, C. (1988), The Creative Mind: Toward an Evolutionary Theory of
Discovery and Innovation, J. Social Biol. Struct, 11, pp. 3–55.
103
Ibid.
be based on a linear sender-receiver model, but should be viewed as being

a more effective process, the greater the level of interaction within a team
of people.104 The conceptualisation of the creative process as being an
integrated system between the sociocultural environment and individual
cognition implies that its hierarchy cannot be reduced to a single enti-
ty.105 Furthermore, while individual cognition is a biological phenome-
non, it develops over time, through the passing of genetic material over
generations. The transmission of this genetic material is affected by the
sociocultural environment associated with each generation.106 Moreover,
the creative process may result from the linking of networks in the brain
that have resulted from previous episodes of creative need.107 Specific
environmental stimuli may stimulate the body to adapt through the bio-
logical pathways of genetic change by allowing the DNA and the RNA in
cells to produce event-related proteins that may facilitate neuron devel-
opment and connection in the brain.108 Such specific environmental
stimuli may be related to educational activities. In this case, learning may
trigger the formulation of ideas, which in turn stimulates the develop-
ment of new neurons and connections in the brain. Originally, it had
been thought that neurons developed in the brain only during the embry-
onic and infant stages of human development.109 However, it has recently
been found that immature neurons in the nasal region and stem cells in
the brain may develop into neurons and migrate to the olfactory bulb of
the brain, where they transform into fully functioning glia or neurons.110
But it would seem that the neurons connect glia regions in the brain,
rather than the glia just being structural elements to active neurons.111 In
104
Harkema, s. (2003), A complex adaptive perspective on learning within innovation projects, The
Learning Organization, Vol. 10 Issue: 6, pp. 340–346, https://doi.org/10.1108/09696470310497177.
105
Findlay, C., and Lumsden, C. (1988), The Creative Mind: Toward an Evolutionary Theory of
Discovery and Innovation, J. Social Biol. Struct, 11, pp. 3–55.
106
Ibid.
107
Ibid.
108
Ibid.
109
Kalat, J. (2007), Biological Psychology, Thomson Wadsworth, Belmont, California, USA.
110
Ibid.
111
Koob, A. (2009), The Root of Thought: Unlocking Glia – The Brain Cell That Will Help Us
Sharpen Our Wits, Heal Injury and Treat Brain Disease, Pearson Education, New Jersey, USA.
34 S. Ramesh
this context, the role of neurons in intelligence and creativity is being

actively challenged.112 New evidence suggests that the glia perform two
functions in brain physiology.113 Firstly, the glia can replace themselves as
well as neurons acting as stem cells. Secondly, the glia may act as stores of
information. It has also been found that higher intelligence requires a
higher ratio of glia to neurons. The ‘firing’ of the neurons may therefore
“connect” different regional glia, allowing for different information stores
to be accessed simultaneously and thoughts to form. Experiences and
observations will be connected through a thought process, allowing
insights to form, with creativity and innovation following. Therefore,
intentional actions, such as learning, may be best at directing the pace of
technological change in some phases of innovation than in others.114 But,
whatever the case, the innovation will change both innovated system as
well as the innovator.115 However, creativity and innovation does not
have to result in physical solutions, but also intangible ones such as a
specific economic policy or doctrine. The emergence of Mercantilism giv-
ing rise to the British Empire is one such example.
Innovation of Thought: Mercantilism

Before, the fifteenth century, the economy of England resembled its nat-
ural state, essentially a subsistence economy in which people tilled the
land in order to feed themselves and pay the lords of the land, taxes.116
There was little surplus agricultural goods left that could be exchanged
for the goods produced by the merchants, who were organised into
112
Ibid.
113
114
Hughes, T.P. (1983), Networks of Power: Electrification of Western Society 1880–1930, Johns
Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore, MD.
115
Etzkowitz, H., and Leydesdorff, L. (2000), The Dynamics of Innovation; From National
Systems and ‘Mode 2’ to a Triple Helix of University-industry-government relations, Research
Policy, 29, pp. 109–123.
116
Gaido, D. (2016), Rudolf Hilferding on English Mercantilism, History of Political Economy,
48:3.
monopolies known as guilds by trade, who lived in the towns as well as

in the cities.117 The guilds placed constraints on the levels of employment
of workers, as well as on the extent of production, in order to ensure that
prices were high.118 However, this system began to break down in the
sixteenth and the sixteenth centuries, with the emergence and develop-
ment of the monetary economy, as well as the rise of the merchant class.119
There was a shift in traditional trading patterns from the Levant towards
America and India.120 Specific state-chartered companies were formed to
manage trade with these regions and, as a result, colony formation and
the plunder of distant civilisations by the European powers followed.121
The result was an accumulation, by the merchant class, of precious metals
such as gold and silver.122 The rising wealth of the merchants allowed
them to escape the power of the guilds, and to increase production using
the ‘putting out system’. This involved the merchants transporting raw
materials to households in rural areas and the households producing
goods such as clothes and shoes for the merchants to sell in the cities. As
a result, there was a shift away from subsistence farming in the rural
economy towards manual production. The doctrine of Mercantilism
then emerged against the backdrop of the transition of the economy from
a feudal one to a primordial capitalist economy.123 However, trade in
medieval England was tolerated if it did not impact on the social position
of those individuals involved in trade.124 But the expansion of foreign
trade resulted in a conflict between the secular pursuits of the merchants
and the non-secular interests of the state.125 However, not only were the
merchants accumulating wealth, but also increasingly becoming active in
117
Ibid.
118
Ibid.
119
Ibid.
120
Ibid.
121
Ibid.
122
Ibid.
123
Ibid.
124
Elmslie, B. (2015), Early English Mercantilists and the Support of Liberal Institutions, History
of Political Economy, 47:3.
125
Ibid.
36 S. Ramesh
politics and parliament. This served to counter-balance the hostility of

the English Crown towards trade in a positive manner.126 Furthermore,
Mercantilist writers were devising economic theories such as opportunity
cost, interest for delayed consumption, and a circular flow of income to
support their argument in favour of trade.127 Writers of the time, such as
Thomas Mun, argued that the natural wealth of England could only be
used profitably to cure the English of their idleness through increased
trade, supported by a strengthened parliament and property rights.128
English capital was being depleted due to the consumption of luxury
goods and the maintenance of the poor, which composed a significant
part of society.129 The only way in which the haemorrhaging of English
capital could be stopped was by the export of English goods to overseas
markets, which would earn England financial resources in terms of gold
and silver reserves.
It was from the medieval merchants of fifteenth-century England that
the early institutions upon which Capitalism was to be based, began to
form.130 Moreover, it was also at this time that the institutions required
for the taking off of England’s Industrial Revolution were being formed.131
In this context, the Mercantilist system allowed for the support of eco-
nomic activities associated with commerce and industry, which facili-
tated the accumulation of capital and allowed the transformation of
society from a feudal state to a bourgeois society.132 Smith, therefore,
viewed Mercantilism has a clash between the land-owning classes and the
126
Ibid.
127
Irwin, D. (1996), Against the Tide: An Intellectual History of Free Trade. Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press.
128
Mun, T. (1621) 1986, A Discourse of Trade, from England unto the East-Indies, New York:
Augustus M. Kelley.
129
Appleby, J. (1976), Ideology and Theory: The Tension Between Political and Economic
Liberalism in Seventeenth Century England, The American Historical Review, Vol. 81, No. 3,
pp. 499–515.
130
Elmslie, B. (2015), Early English Mercantilists and the Support of Liberal Institutions, History
of Political Economy, 47:3.
131
Ibid.
132
Herlitz, L. (1964) The concept of mercantilism, Scandinavian Economic History Review, 12:2,
101–120, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03585522.1964.10407639.
merchants.133 However, while Smith held the view that Mercantilism led
to economic inefficiency, it was David Ricardo and his Law of Comparative
Advantage that led to the notion that, in the case of free trade, the bal-
ance of payments would take care of itself.134 Ricardo’s theory led to the
British Empire embracing free trade and to reject Mercantilist tenets.
Moreover, the time had come to allow other countries to trade freely with
Great Britain and its colonies.135 The momentum for this gathered pace
towards 1846, and the repeal of the Corn Laws.136 However, at around
the same time, Friedrich Liste was attempting a resurgence of Mercantilism.
In this context, Liste asserted that only countries in the ‘temperate zone’
(Europe) should industrialise by exploiting the natural resources of coun-
tries in the ‘torrid zone’, such as India, by dominating it.137
As Mercantilism emerged in England in 1713, political power was in the
hands of the land owners and the merchant manufacturers.138 As
Mercantilism was given government endorsement, it seems clear that the
merchant manufacturers were the dominant political force. Moreover, at
the time, monopoly-type companies engaging in English trade were elimi-
nated, except perhaps in the context of trade with the East Indies.139
Mercantilists were opposed to monopoly practices.140 Mercantilism, it
would seem, was a doctrine that was state led. But mercantilism itself
emphasised a strong state.141 A strong state could balance the levy-charging
power of the lords and the increasing economic autonomy of the towns in
133
Ibid.
134
Blaug, M. (1964), Economic Theory and Economic History in Great Britain, 1650–1776, Past
& Present, No. 28, pp. 111–116.
135
Mirza, R. (2007), The Rise and Fall of the American Empire: A Re-Interpretation of History,
Economics and Philosophy: 1492–2006, Trafford Publishing, Victoria, Canada.
136
Ibid.
137
Pradella, L. (2014), New Developments and the Origins of Methodological Nationalism,
Competition and Change, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 180–193.
138
Coleman, D. (1980), Mercantilism Revisited, The Historical Journal, Vol. 23, No. 4,
pp. 773–791.
139
Ibid.
140
Grampp, W. (1952), The Liberal Elements in English Mercantilism, The Quarterly Journal of
Economics, Vol. 66, No. 4, pp. 465–501.
141
Johnson, E.A.J. (1928), Some Evidence of Mercantilism in the Massachusetts-Bay, The New
England Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 371–395.
38 S. Ramesh
which the merchant guilds operated.142 This could be achieved in several

ways, which included the accumulation of gold and silver, denigrating the
power of the guilds, increasing the population, developing a strong manu-
facturing industry, as well as enacting navigation laws.143 However, although
local monopolies had been denigrated and brought under state control by
the eighteenth century, rent seeking had merely been redirected from local
monopolies to state monopolies, and to Parliament.144 And it was the pro-
motion of institutional changes by the rent-seeking mercantilists, which
encouraged the long-term expansion of the economy, as well as innova-
tion.145 And, it was believed that trade and industrial development was the
cause of economic development, and not its consequence.146 Another
aspect of Mercantilism was that colonies were restricted to the supply of
raw materials, while the mother country would export manufactured goods
to colonies, and no manufacturing was allowed in colonies.147 Moreover,
the Mercantilists maintained that, if the country exported more than it
imported, then there would be no serious drain on bullion reserves.148 The
increase in the exporting country’s gold and silver reserves would cause the
money supply to increase, increasing demand and supply, and thus increas-
ing employment.149 However, although the balance of trade principle was
known long before Mun, it was he who linked the supply of money to the
price level; and the detrimental effect of a high money supply, through
higher prices, on the value of exports.150 It was from this point of view that
142
Heaton, H. (1937), Heckscher on Mercantilism, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 45, No. 3,
pp. 370–393.
143
Johnson, E.A.J. (1928), Some Evidence of Mercantilism in the Massachusetts-Bay, The New
England Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 371–395.
144
Mokyr, K., and Nye, J. (2007), Distributional Coalitions, the Industrial Revolution, the Origins
of Economic Growth in Britain, Southern Economic Journal, Vol. 74, No. 1, pp. 50–70.
145
Ibid.
146
Smith, A. (1776), The Wealth of Nations, reproduced 2014, CreateSpace Independent
Publishing Platform.
147
Ibid.
148
Ibid.
149
150
Herlitz, L. (1964), The concept of mercantilism, Scandinavian Economic History Review, 12:2,
101–120, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03585522.1964.10407639.
Mercantilists supported the export of bullion by merchants, by licence.151

Mercantilists also recognised that the price of English cloth had to be com-
petitive in order to mitigate the elasticity of foreign demand.152 Nobility
and statesman would see balance of trade and Mercantilist ideas as a source
of prosperity to strength.153 Foreign trade was then the cornerstone of
Mercantilist ideology for two reasons154: first, it helped to maintain employ-
ment in England. The Mercantilists believed that free trade would reduce
employment levels, as well as an inattention to the money supply.155
Mercantile labour policy was based on the elements of economic psycholo-
gy.156 Employment would provide the stimulus of a physical environment,
and it would drive peer competition for self-betterment and pecuniary
gain.157 Idleness, through unemployment should be avoided by getting the
unemployed carry out meaningless manual tasks.158 Secondly, foreign trade
was a source of precious metals such as silver and gold, for a country which
did not have many mines. Repeated economic crises, especially the one in
1620, weighed heavily in the favour of accumulating precious metals such
as silver and gold by the state through tariffs on trade.159 Before 1620, the
main objective of trade policy was the prevention of exchange rate depre-
ciation, whereas after 1620, this was no longer the case.160 Mun hypothe-
sised that the low value of England’s exchanges after the economic crisis of
1620 was the result of the adverse balance of trade, and not is cause.161 One
151
Ibid.
152
Ibid.
153
Hinton, R.W.K. (1955), The Mercantile System in the Time of Thomas Mun, The Economic
History Review, New Series, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 277–290.
154
Ibid.
155
156
Ibid.
157
Ibid.
158
Ibid.
159
160
Viner, J. (1930), English Theories of Foreign Trade Before Adam Smith, Journal of Political
Economy, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 249–301.
161
Gould, J.D. (1955), The Trade Crisis of the Early 1920’s and English Economic Thought, The
Journal of Economic History, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 121–133.
40 S. Ramesh
way in which to counter the negative effects of economic crises in sixteenth-

century England was to plant colonies abroad, in the Americas and the
West Indies, and boost trade with Africa, India, and other parts of Asia.162
Wealth in the global economy was static, according to the Mercantilists,
with some nations accumulating wealth at the expense of other nations.163
Furthermore, the world was characterised by the scarcity of resources, as
land was limited, and value and property were defined only with reference
to land.164 Vicious competition than characterised economic life.165
England’s colonies in America also inherited the mercantilist tenden-
cies of the mother country, which continued even after independence.166
Moreover, the American revolutionaries considered their fledgling nation
as an empire with a long-term view to westward expansion; and the even-
tual incorporation of Canada, West Indies, and Spanish Florida, and per-
haps even Ireland.167 Therefore, whether urban, rural, English, or
American revolutionary, the mercantilists were nationalists in favour of
national self-sufficiency, production of goods, and a positive balance of
trade.168 Moreover, the Mercantilists favoured not only a production
economy, but also the control of export and raw material markets.169 The
basis of mercantilism was the protection and integration of domestic mar-
kets, while expanding abroad.170 In this case, the mercantilists were not in
favour of either a consumption dependent economy or on the economic
interdependence of states, while a surplus of goods was viewed negative-
ly.171 The feudal fear of exports was side-lined by the mercantilists, in
162
163
Pincus, S. (2012), Rethinking Mercantilism: Political Economy, the British Empire, and the
Atlantic World in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, The William and Mary Quarterly,
Vol. 69, No. 1, pp. 3–34.
164
Ibid.
165
Ibid.
166
Williams, W. (1958), The Age of Mercantilism: An Interpretation of the American Political
Economy, 1763 to 1828, The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 419–437.
167
Ibid.
168
Ibid.
169
Ibid.
170
Ibid.
171
Ibid.
favour of revenue generating taxes on imports.172 However, Mercantilist

trade barriers led to a loss of economic welfare in the traditional economic
sense, due to the high prices paid by consumers, the misallocation of capi-
tal, as well as war.173 Moreover, restrictions on imports into England had
serious consequences. For example, in 1795 the effects of a disastrous
wheat harvest could not be mitigated by importing wheat, which led to a
rise in the price of bread, leading to social disorder.174 At a religious level,
the ‘chosen people’ fervour of the Puritans also fanned the flames of the
Mercantilists’ economic nationalism.175
The main feature of the Mercantilist system was the trading company,
which was not only regulated by its members, but also by the Crown.176
Laws were enacted that determined who could trade with whom, as well
as who could transport British goods.177 The merchant cartels of sixteenth-
century England were essentially foreign trading companies, which were
subject to extensive rules of governance to ensure that these merchant
cartel companies were regulated companies.178 However, after the mid-
sixteenth century, public joint stock companies began to emerge. These
companies were essentially no different from the regulated companies,
except that the contractual innovation of the limited liability of investors
made it easier for the public joint stock companies to raise financial capi-
tal.179 The sustainability of increased foreign trade by the English mer-
chant cartels required more and more financial resources to fund foreign
expeditions. Ships provisioned with English goods and gold bullion had
to be paid for, and the joint stock company was an effective way in which
the financial capital required for this task could be raised. The financial
172
Ibid.
173
Pecquet, G.M. (2003), British Mercantilism and Crop Controls in the Tobacco Colonies: A
Study of Rent-Seeking Costs, 22 Cato J. 467.
174
Somers, M., and Block, F. (2005), From Poverty to Perversity: Ideas, Markets and Institutions
over 200 Years of Welfare Debate, American Sociological review, Vol. 70, pp. 260–287.
175
Williams, W. (1958), The Age of Mercantilism: An Interpretation of the American Political
Economy, 1763 to 1828, The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 419–437.
176
Ibid.
177
Levine, P. (2013), The British Empire – Sunrise to Sunset, 2nd Edition, Routledge, London.
178
Ekelund, R., and Tollison, R. (1980), Mercantilist Origins of the Corporation, The Bell Journal
of Economics, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 715–720.
179
Ibid.
42 S. Ramesh
innovation of contractual limited liability allowed for increased interna-

tional trade. Transferable property rights were also an innovation of the
time. When cartel members died, there was a problem of what to do with
their share of the business.180 The early regulated companies specialising
in trade with Africa exhibited this problem.181 The problem was resolved
by transferring cartel property rights of the member’s share to family
members.182 However, it was not to be until the late nineteenth century
that the limited liability of the joint stock companies and the property
rights of cartel members were recognised by statute.183
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3
Pre-History: Emergence and Palaeolithic
to Bronze Age—10,000 BC to 800 BC
Shrew-like creatures that lived around 150 million years ago are the
ancestors of humans and mammals.1 According to the latter, aquatic
worms that lived over 600 million years ago are the ancestors of all
amphibians, mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes. Furthermore, the
bacteria-like organisms that lived over 3 billion years ago are the ‘parents’
of all living plants and animals.2 The theory of evolution suggests that
creatures evolve and acquire anatomical features and behaviours over
time in response to their environment, as a means of adaptation, through
processes associated with the biological pathways of genetic change. Due
to the process of evolutionary change, after several successive splits from
preceding family groups, the family ‘Hominoidea’ resulted. This family
split over time to form the family groups of ‘Hominidae’ and ‘Pongidae’.
These families sub-divided into ‘Homo’ and ‘Pongo, Gorilla, and Pan’
respectively. Some studies have found that the divergence time between
1
Ayala, F., and Cela-Conde, C. (2017), Processes in Human Evolution: The journey from early
hominins to Neanderthals and modern humans, Oxford University Press, New York.
2

50 S. Ramesh
‘Homo’ and the great apes is between 11 and 14 million years.3 On the
other hand, other studies have found that the divergence time between
‘Homo’ and ‘Gorilla’ to be about 7.2 million years, while the divergence
time between ‘Homo’ and ‘Pan’ (chimpanzee) is about 4.7 million years.4
The genome DNA of humans and chimpanzees is 98–99% similar.5
According to the latter, the implication of this in difference is that since
the divergence between the chimpanzees and humans, 3%—or 90 mil-
lion nucleotides—has been replaced. The change in DNA nucleotides
between chimpanzees and humans is mainly associated with non-coding
DNA, which is associated with the development process.6 The non-
coding DNA which humans have, and which chimpanzees do not have,
are associated with brain development.7 Fossils found in Africa are attrib-
uted to Homo Habilis, reputed to the first incarnation of the genus
‘Homo’. Homo Habilis had a bigger brain than another earlier hominin,
the Australopthecines. Archaeological evidence suggests that the
Australopthecines may have practiced butchery, as cut marks have been
found on the fossil bones of animals.8 The eating of meat by
Australopthecines may have helped the evolutionary transition to Homo
Habilis.9 Although Australopthecines may have used crudely shaped
rocks as knives to butcher animal carcasses—either hunted or the remains
of kills by other animals—it is recognised that Homo Habilis was the first
maker of stone tools.10 However, there has been controversy surrounding
3
Venn, O., Turner, I., Mathieson, I., de Groot, N., Bontrop, R., and McVean, G. (2014), Strong
male bias drives germline mutation in chimpanzees, Science, 344 (6189): 1272–1275.
4
Takahata, N., Satta, Y., and Klein, J. (1995), Divergence Time and Population Size in the Lineage
Leading to Modern Humans, Theoretical Population Biology, Vol. 48, No. 2, pp. 198–221.
5
6
Ibid.
7
Khaitovich, P., Hellman, I., Enard, W., Nowick, K., Leinweber, M., Franz, H., Weiss, G.,
Lachmann, M., and Paabo, S. (2005), Parallel Patterns of Evolution in the Genomes and
Transcriptomes of Humans and Chimpanzees’, Vol. 309, Science.
8
Fleagle, J. (2013), Primate Adaptation & Evolution, Elsevier, London.
9
Wrangham, R. (2010), Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, Profile Books Ltd,
London.
10
Bunney, S. (1988), Will the real Homo Habilis stand up? New Scientist, No.1636.
Pre-History: Emergence and Palaeolithic to Bronze… 51
Homo Habilis, which may just not represent one hominin species, but
several co-existing in Africa between 2 and 1.6 million years ago.11 The
latter suggests that due to this controversy, the theory that two-different
species of early hominin gave rise to the next incarnations of the genus
‘Homo’, Homo Erectus and Homo Sapiens. However, supposedly dis-
tinct species, based on skeletal differences, such as Homo Rudolfensis,
could easily be included within the classification of Homo Habilis if sex-
ual dimorphism is accepted.12 Sexual dimorphism refers to the physical
differences between males and females in the same species. The next
incarnation of the species in the genus ‘Homo’ was Homo Erectus. This
species was regarded as the intermediate link between early hominins and
Homo Sapiens.13 However, according to the latter, Homo Erectus may be
representative of itself and another species, Homo Ergaster. With the lat-
ter being the immediate predecessor to Homo Erectus, a species with new
intellectual abilities and the capacity to leave Africa—the first hominin to
do so—arose in Africa about 2 million years ago.14 The latter suggests
that the move out to Africa, first to Asia and then to Europe, occurred
about 1 million years ago. Homo Erectus had a larger body frame com-
pared to Homo Habilis, as well as a larger brain. The move out of Africa
could have occurred because of the need for Homo Erectus to find new
sources of food, perhaps due to a population explosion. In addition to
extending its range beyond Africa and in comparison, to its predecessors,
Homo Erectus exhibited innovative behaviour in many ways. These
included the first use of fire, systematic hunting, systematic tool making,
the use of a consistent location to live, and the first indication of an
extended childhood.15 The use of fire may have helped Homo Erectus
cook meat. This allowed the meat to become more digestible, allowing
nutrients in the meat to be absorbed and processed more easily by the
11
Ibid.
12
Arsuaga, J., and Martinez, I. (1998), The Chosen Species: The Long March of Human Evolution,
Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.
13
Lewin, R. (2005), Human Evolution: An Illustrated Introduction, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.
14
Ibid.
15
52 S. Ramesh
body.16 This in turn facilitated the increase in the brain size of Homo
Erectus. This gave this species increased cognitive capacity and, therefore,
the ability to live a more complex life than its ancestors did. Homo
Erectus was the first hominin species to exhibit a nomadic, hunter-
gatherer existence. This kind of behaviour would diffuse across time to be
exhibited by his direct descendant, Homo Sapiens. Homo Erectus was
followed by Homo Heidelbergensis which was a species very similar skel-
etally to Homo Neanderthalensis.17 This is perhaps because Homo
Neanderthalensis is the direct descendant of Homo Heidelbergensis, and
this species may have given rise to a third archaic human species, the
Denisovans,18 although there is not much fossilised evidence of the
Denisovans except a finger bone from which DNA was extracted for
analysis. Modern-day Southeast Asians share 5% of Denisovan DNA.19
However, of the two species, Homo Neanderthalensis evolved in Europe
over several hundred thousand years. The species managed to survive
until up to 30,000–24,000 years ago, when the last of the species died in
Iberia—to where the species had been pushed by the ever-expanding
groups of Homo Sapiens, diffusing out of Africa through the near east,
Anatolia, and then into Europe, Asia, and the rest of the world. On the
other hand, Homo Neanderthalensis tended to stay in the valleys in
which they were born and grew, although females may have moved from
one group to another for mating practices.20 The latter also suggests that
Homo Neanderthalensis did not travel far in order to source raw materi-
als, maintained a small social network, and may have had cannibalistic
tendencies. The young of Homo Neanderthalensis matured more quickly
than their Homo Sapien counterparts, typically by the age of 14.21 As a
16
Wrangham, R. (2010), Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, Profile Books Ltd.,
London.
17
Sarmiento, E., Sawyer, G., and Milner, R. (2007), The Last Human: A Guide to Twenty-Two
Species of Extinct Humans, Yale University Press, London.
18
Coolidge, F., and Wynn, T. (2018), The Rise of Homo Sapiens: The Evolution of Modern
Thinking, Oxford University Press, New York.
19
Ibid.
20
Ibid.
21
group, according to the latter, Homo Neanderthalensis were less able to

benefit from a division of labour, as the entire group would join in the
hunt for animals for meat. However, there tended to be more of a divi-
sion of labour amongst Homo Sapien groups. This ensured that, for
Homo Sapiens, a diversity of food resources ranging from plant matter to
meat could be accumulated over a period of time. The Homo Sapien
population would then be better able to balance and change their dietary
intake as dictated by the environment.22
The main anatomical differences between Homo Neanderthalensis
and Homo Sapiens lies in the skeletal frame and the structure of the
brain, although the brain of the former was bigger than that of the lat-
ter.23 Homo Neanderthalensis was more stocky, shorter, and more mus-
cular than Homo Sapiens. However, there are many differences between
the structures of the brains of the two species. Compared to the brain of
Homo Sapiens, the brain of Homo Neanderthalensis had smaller olfac-
tory bulbs, larger occipital cortices, narrower orbitofrontal cortices, nar-
rower temporal lobes with less forward-projecting temporal lobes.24 The
olfactory bulbs encoded smell information from the nose to be sent to
the brain. The occipital cortices were involved in the processing of infor-
mation by the eyes. The orbitofrontal cortices were involved in decision
making. The cerebellum was involved in the coherent co-ordinating of
limb movements. And the temporal lobes were involved in the processing
and interpretation of sensory input so that it may be retained as memory.
The structural differences between the brains of Homo Neanderthalensis
and Homo Sapiens suggests that the former had a lower capacity for the
retention in memory of sensory inputs, was less able to co-ordinate limb
movements (was awkward), was indecisive, better able to process visual
information but less able to smell ‘danger’. In the context of differences
in the structure of the brains of the two species, in a conflict between the
two species, Homo Sapiens would have the advantage. This perhaps
22
Ibid.
23
Ibid.
24
Wynn, T., Overmann, K., and Coolidge, F. (2016), The False Dichotomy; A Refutation of the
Neanderthal Indistinguishability Claim, Journal of Anthropological Sciences, Vol. 94, pp. 201–221.
54 S. Ramesh
explains why Homo Neanderthalensis was unable to survive in the face of

competition from Homo Sapiens. However, Homo Neanderthalensis did
exhibit some recognisable innovation in the context of developing ‘haft-
ing’—attaching handles to tools.25 The latter suggests that Homo
Neanderthalensis also used the Levallois Technology, a method of using
rocks to chip away at other rocks of a specific kind in order to create sharp
edges for cutting.
While Homo Neanderthalensis and Homo Sapiens were co-existing
contemporaries, Homo Erectus was the direct descendant of both spe-
cies. This may have arisen because of location specific speciation in a
group or multi-locational speciation. For Homo Neanderthalensis, spe-
ciation is more likely to have occurred in Europe from Homo Erectus,
with Homo Heidelbergensis acting as an intermediary. On the other
hand, for Homo Sapiens, it is likely that speciation occurred in a group
in Africa from where Homo Sapiens moved out of Africa to inhabit other
parts of the world. Location-specific speciation and multi-local specifica-
tion represents two models of evolution.26 On the balance, recent genetic
evidence suggests that all the Homo Sapiens on the planet today evolved
from a small group in Africa from between 180,000 years to 150,000 years
ago.27 This small group of early Homo Sapiens itself originated from one
‘Adam’ and ‘Eve’, with the ‘Eve’ appearing 80,000 years before the
‘Adam’.28 Homo Sapiens began to leave Africa 100,000–60,000 years ago
and spread to Europe and Asia, reaching the Americas only 15,000 years
ago.29 The migration out of Africa may have started due to climatic
changes.30 A possible route out of Africa could have been the present Red
Sea where, in those times, the sea levels would have been lower, allowing
25
26
27
Cartwright, J. (2016), Evolution and Human Behaviour; Darwinian Perspectives on the Human
Condition, Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
28
Wells, S. (2017), The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
29
Cartwright, J. (2016), Evolution and Human Behaviour; Darwinian Perspectives on the Human
Condition, Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
30
Tierney, J., de Menocal, P., and Zander, P. (2017), A Climatic Context for the out of Africa
migration, Geology, 45, 11, pp. 1023–1026.
a migration path for the first Homo Sapiens to emerge from Africa. Waves
and waves followed over subsequent millennia, using the coasts of the
landmass to get to Australia 40,000 years ago. Innovativeness and adapt-
ability allowed the new Homo Sapien settlers to settle into diverse habi-
tats—from extreme heat to the extreme cold of Siberia. Crude sewing
needles were developed to produce the clothing, from animal skins,
needed to survive in extreme sub-zero temperatures. Crude structures, in
the modern context, were built from timber and animal hides as domi-
ciles. The racial diversity seen in modern-day humanity is a relatively
recent phenomenon in the context of human evolution. Up to
15,000 years ago, the migrating Homo Sapiens were of one type of colour
and facial features.31 Racial differentiation has only happened within the
last 15,000 years.
Early Civilisations
Gobekli Tepe: 10,000 BC
It has long been contested that settled farming came before religion.
Furthermore, the reasons for why Homo Sapiens as a hunter-gatherer
took to farming and animal husbandry at a single location have been a
subject of debate. However, the Neolithic archaeological site at Gobekli
Tepe may finally be able to settle this debate. Before the discovery of
Gobekli Tepe, it had been thought that the Neolithic Revolution had
been a moment of ‘genius’ in which the domestication of wild plants and
animals occurred at a single site in the lands of present-day southern
Iraq.32 Perhaps this flash of genius could have been brought about by
environmental changes that limited the quantity of wild plants that could
be collected for consumption as well as reducing the availability of wild
animals, which could have migrated to other areas.
Roberts, A. (2009), The Incredible Human Journey, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

31
Mann, C. (2011), The Birth of Religion, National Geographic Magazine, http://ngm.national-

32
geographic.com/print/2011/06/gobekli-tepe/mann-text
56 S. Ramesh
Gobekli Tepe is 15 km north of the city of Sanliurfa in the south-east

of modern-day Turkey. Archaeologists consider Gobekli Tepe to be the
most ancient archaeological site to be found anywhere in the world.33
However, there may be even older archaeological sites which have yet to
be found. When Gobekli Tepe was under construction between 9600 BC
and 9500 BC, a mini ice age was coming to an end in Europe.34 According
the latter, Gobekli Tepe pre-dates the pyramids of ancient Egypt by at
least 7000 years. The site constituted megalithic blocks, each weighing
7–50 tons in weight, with intricate carvings of animals, arms, hands, and
clothing.35,36 The carvings of animals depicted insects, snakes, bulls, foxes,
boars, and gazelles.37 This animal symbolism might suggest that the ritu-
als and rites celebrated at Gobekli Tepe were perhaps associated with
nature. Some of the megalithic stones were over 18 ft. in height.38 It is
suggestive that, in the area surrounding the megalithic stones, a large
variety of ancient flint tools such as knives, axes, and spearhead points
were also found. Moreover, at the site, archaeologists have also found a
miniature Sphinx, with similar characteristics to the giant Sphinx of
ancient Egypt, which was built seven thousand years later.39 Nevertheless,
the hunter-gatherers who built Gobekli Tepe did so without any knowl-
edge of writing, pottery, and metal.40 However, the builders of Gobekli
Tepe were innovative enough to develop the technology associated with
33
Debertolis, P., Gulla, D., and Savolainen, H. (2017), Archaeoacoustic Analysis in Enclosure D at
Gobekli Tepe in South Anatolia, Turkey, History and Archaeology, The 5th Human and Social
Sciences at the Common Conference.
34
Collins, A. (2014), Gobekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods: The temple of the Watchers and the
Discovery of Eden, Bear & Company, Rochester, Vermont, USA.
35
Vinter, J.C. (2011), Ancient Earth Mysteries, AEM Publishing.
36
Notroff, J., Dietrich, O., Dietrich, L., Tvetmarken, C., Kinzel, M., Schlindwein, J., Sanmez, D.,
and Clare, L. (2017), Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 57–74.
37
Ibid.
38
39
40
stone masonry.41 Nevertheless, linguistic expression in written form did

not emerge until 3000 BC, up to 6000 years after the completion of
Gobekli Tepe.42 It is now regarded as a site used for worship, celebration,
and feasting, and not as a permanent home.43 However, the earliest evi-
dence of the earliest cultivated grain has been found in the region sur-
rounding Gobekli Tepe.44
Gobekli Tepe was constructed at a time when the Neolithic population
was increasing causing increased pressures, perhaps greater conflicts, on
the social fabric of Neolithic society. This led to the development of ritu-
als.45 Perhaps to bring about a sense of ‘community’ and maintain the
cohesiveness of that society. However, the rituals could have been a cul-
tural innovation symbolising Homo Sapiens’ conquest of nature.46 It is
not clear what kind of rituals were conducted at Gobekli Tepe, although
no burials have been found on the site.47 However, where areas of the site
have been filled in with soil, fragments of human bone have been found,
including three partially preserved skulls. These shows cut marks, sug-
gesting that when the victim had been killed, that the skull was defleshed
using flint tools.48 The latter also suggests that the skulls had probably
been hung from cords, with at least one skull modified using red ochre.
But it is open to question as to whether ritual killings and/or cannibalism
took place at the site.
41
Scranton, L. (2014), China’s Cosmological Prehistory: The Sophisticated Science Encoded in
Civilisation’s Earliest Symbols, Simon & Schuster.
42
Ibid.
43
Schmidt, K. (2010), Gobekli Tepe – the Stone Age Sanctuaries: New results of ongoing excava-
tions with a special focus on sculptures and high reliefs, Docomenta Praehistorica, Ljubljana, Vol.
37, pp. 239–256.
44
Scranton, L. (2014), China’s Cosmological Prehistory: The Sophisticated Science Encoded in
Civilisation’s Earliest Symbols, Simon & Schuster.
45
Simmons, A. (2007), The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East; Transforming the Human
Landscape, The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
46
47
Gresky, J., Haelm, J., and Clare, L. (2017), Modified human crania from Gobekli Tepe provide
evidence for a new form of Neolithic skull cult, Science Advances, Vol. 3, No. 6.
48
Ibid.
58 S. Ramesh
The construction of Gobekli Tepe must have involved a sizable num-

ber of people over an extended period, a process of building and rebuild-
ing over centuries, transporting heavy stones over a distance. The building
of the religious architecture at the site can be split into two phases. The
T-shaped monoliths incorporate the first phase of building and has been
dated to the 10th millennium BC.49 On the other hand, according to the
latter, the second phase incorporated the monumental round-oval build-
ings, the older layer has been dated to the 9th millennium BC. Now all
people around the world were living a hunter-gatherer existence, except
in the fertile crescent.50 However, some argue that smaller-scale projects
of a nature similar to Gobekli Tepe were occurring in other parts of the
world, independently, albeit perhaps not at the same time.51 The fertile
crescent represents the present-day Middle East, incorporating present-
day Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. It was in this part of the world that
permanent village settlements came into existence, although Gobekli
Tepe was a site where communal rituals were conducted.52 So far, no
evidence has been found to suggest that it was a site of permanent human
habitation.
The round-oval buildings at the site were accumulated over a period of
1200 years, during what is known as the pre-pottery period.53 The stones
could have been moved by rolling and pulling them over a series of
blocks. The enduring mystery of Gobekli Tepe is the contradiction
between the level of technology and innovation used to build at the site
and the apparent lack of technological sophistication in contemporary
society, for example, no pottery.54 However, at an intuitive level, in a
49
50
Ibid.
51
Stanish, C. (2017), The Evolution of Human Co-operation: Ritual and Social Complexity in
Stateless Societies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
52
53
Notroff, J., Dietrich, O., Dietrich, L., Tvetmarken, C., Kinzel, M., Schlindwein, J., Sanmez, D.,
and Clare, L. (2017), Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 57–74.
54
Constable, N. (2009), World Atlas of Archaeology, Thalamus Publishing.
hunter-gatherer society, why would anyone need pots? Food could be

eaten from where it was either picked or killed; and storage could have
been in pits, perhaps lined with some protective substance. To sustain the
builders, a large and consistent food supply would have been required,
assuming there were no breaks in the time taken to construct the monu-
ment at Gobekli Tepe. There seems to have been significant feasts at the
site, perhaps as a reward for the work undertaken there by its builders
over a millennium.55 The latter suggests that the groups in the region sur-
rounding the site may have had a common culture with its own norms
and values. This could have led to segmentation within the groups, such
that a smaller number of people, the ‘nobility’, controlled a much larger
‘workforce’.56 These cultural norms and values would have established
standards by which the members of the groups would behave, as well as
behaving with each other. In this case, it would have made sense to grow
crops as well as maintain animals for slaughter near the building site. This
would be logical explanation as to why hunter-gatherers made the transi-
tion to a settled life, laying the roots of early western civilisation. The
Neolithic Revolution was important because location-specific crop culti-
vation and animal husbandry, perhaps in conjunction with a smaller-
scale hunter-gathering existence,57 suggests that this may have involved
some form of division of labour amongst the members of the settlement.
Some gathering berries, some gathering firewood, some tending animals,
some making sure that the communal fire did not go out, some collecting
water and some looking after the crops. This allowed the individual to
benefit from a sustained nutritional diet. In the foetal stage and in early
life this would have allowed for an improvement in brain development.58
An improved diet would have led to people having an increased and
55
Dietrich O., Notroff J., Schmidt K. (2017), Feasting, Social Complexity, and the Emergence of
the Early Neolithic of Upper Mesopotamia: A View from Gobekli Tepe. In: Chacon R., Mendoza
R. (eds) Feast, Famine or Fighting?, Studies in Human Ecology and Adaptation, Vol. 8. Springer,
Cham.
56
Ibid.
57
Simmons, A. (2007), The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East; Transforming the Human
Landscape, The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
58
Cakmak, I., Graham, R., and Welch, R. (2009), Agricultural and Molecular Genetic Approaches
to Improving Nutrition and Preventing Micronutrient Malnutrition Globally, in ‘Impacts of
60 S. Ramesh
improved access to a range of foods. It follows that the consumption of a

diverse range of foods would be micronutrient rich, and this would allow
the body to absorb a range of micronutrients—vitamins and minerals.
The assimilation of these micronutrients by the body would allow the
brain’s potential to be more utilised. Learning would become more effi-
cient, new ideas would arise, which could be exchanged and discussed
with individuals in a growing population. In other words, there would be
greater technological and social innovation as a result.59 Thus, a combina-
tion of onsite crop cultivation, animal husbandry, the gathering of plants
and fruits, the hunting of animals and fish would lead to increased cogni-
tive capacity due to the development and more efficient use of brain tis-
sue. This would have an immediate impact on innovation and learning
and would not need long-term evolutionary development over millennia.
Therefore, it would be justifiable that the roots of human civilisation lie
in the development of the human mind, the ability to absorb facts related
to the environment, form ideas and then project these ideas into reality
by implementing practical applications.
Sumer: 3500 BC
Between 700,000 BC and 9000 BC, there were no permanent settle-

ments of Homo Sapiens. Existence was at the hunter-gatherer level, in
which groups would move from one location to another gathering plants
and seeds and hunting wild animals. Furthermore, technology remained
at a basic level and it involved the use and the manufacture of stone
implements.60 According to the latter, the earliest permanent settlements
began in the near east in the Neolithic period at around 9000 BC. These
settlements were based around the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers.61
Subsequently, this form of settlement spread to the rest of the world,
Agriculture on Human Health and Nutrition – Volume 1’, Cakmak, I., and Welch, R. (Eds), Eolss
Publishers Co. Ltd., United Kingdom.
59
60
Nemet-Nejat, K. (1998), Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, Greenwood Press, London.
61
Hunter, N. (2015), Daily Life in Ancient Sumer, Heinemann-Raintree, Chicago.
including China, by 4000 BC. The most important feature of these earli-

est forms of permanent settlement was the onsite cultivation of crops and
animal husbandry. In a contemporary sense, these early permanent settle-
ments were made up of a few hundred individuals. However, as time
went by, individual settlements began to engage in trading activities and,
as a result, more complex forms of social organisation evolved.62 The lat-
ter suggests that, in the period 6000 BC to 4000 BC, specific cultures
emerged in northern Mesopotamia. These cultures included the Hassuna,
Samarra, and the Halaf. In the period of the Hassuna culture, spindle
whorls were used to produce cloth, gems evidenced trade, and private
property rights existed.63 This was denoted by the stamp of a seal as proof
of ownership. Buildings were either connected with a central courtyard
or were separate. Some of the larger buildings were designated for reli-
gious or ceremonial purposes.64 The period of the Samarra culture was
defined by its elaborately decorated pottery and architecture, with build-
ings displaying wall junctions and external buttresses.65 According to the
latter, the period of Halaf culture was characterised by workshops for
pottery production, indicating the specialised division of labour, and vil-
lages had cobbled streets. It was in the Halaf culture that the tournette
was invented, to be followed by the potter’s wheel in the following Ubaid
period between 4000 BC and 3500 BC.66 The invention and introduc-
tion of the potter’s wheel into pottery production increased production
through the division of labour and allowed for the production of pottery
of a uniform quality. The Ubaidian was the largest ethnic group of
Mesopotamia, having settled there in small southern fishing villages that
then expanded into sizable urban centres for the time, such as Eridu, Ur,
and Uruk, which was the largest of the three. Other cities included Umma
and Lagash; together with Eridu, Ur, and Uruk, these cities exercised
considerable economic, social, and political control over their respective
62
63
Ibid.
64
Ibid.
65
Ibid.
66
Ibid.
62 S. Ramesh
surrounding areas. As such, they formed the city states of the ancient
Sumerian civilisation.67 The latter suggests that Sumerian cities were
walled, with a temple at the centre of the city. The king was divine and
Sumerian society was segmented into nobles, commoners, and slaves.
The nobility included members of the royal family as well as the priests.
The commoners included the people who worked for the palace and the
temple, as well as tradespeople, crafts people, farmers, and fishermen.68
The latter suggests that 90% of the population were engaged in farming.
The invention and exploitation of irrigation allowed the Sumerians to
maximise the harvest potential of the nutrient rich soil which composed
their land.69 The use of irrigation and the rich fertile land allowed the
Sumerians to produce surpluses of wheat and barley. These surpluses
could be used for trade or to distribute to people when the harvest failed.
However, while the economy was primarily agricultural, the Sumerians
did produce pottery, textiles, and metal work. The Sumerians also
imported copper, tin, and timber in exchange for wheat, barley, metal
goods, and dried fish.70 They also traded with the peoples of the
Mediterranean and with Meluhha—the Sumerian name for the Indus
Valley civilisation, which would have been in modern-day northern
India.71 During the Harappan phase (2600 BC to 2500 BC), the people
of the Indus Valley built ships with a ‘house’ on the deck and steered with
an oar at the helm.72 Using such ships, the people of the Indus Valley
could traverse waterways and seas in order to trade with the Sumerian/
Babylonian merchants and traders. The Sumerians valued the individual
and the individual’s achievement.73 This ideal was enforced by laws,
67
Duiker, W., and Spielvogel, J. (2007), World History, Thomson-Wadsworth.
68
Ibid.
69
Kramer, S. (1963), The Sumerians: Their History, Culture and Character, The University of
Chicago Press, London.
70
Ibid.
71
Crawford, H. (1991), Sumer and the Sumerians, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
72
Parpola, A. (2015), The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilisation,
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: August 2015, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:
oso/9780190226909.001.0001
73
Ibid.
which the Sumerians were the first to enact anywhere in the world. The
Sumerians were also able to express their language in written form.
Possibly the first to do so in history. This was often on clay tablets, some
of which have survived to this day. The combination of a consistent diet,
the emphasis on individual achievement, and a written language allowed
the Sumerians to be highly innovative. They are reputed to have invented
the wheel and to have been the first to divide the day into hours and
minutes.74
Tepe Gawra and Uruk were the dominant cultures of ancient
Mesopotamia, with the former being prevalent in the north and the lat-
ter in the south of the country.75 This latter suggests that, between
3000 BC and 2900 BC, the empty northern regions had been settled by
Sumerian speakers. In the Uruk region, large-scale building projects were
undertaken. This would suggest that there was a small elite in control of
a larger supply of craftsmen and builders. The number of buildings in
the Uruk region were greater than those in the Tepe Gawra region. It
follows that the Uruk, Babylonian civilisation was more complex in
organisation.76 This can be attributed to its large population density and
high level of productivity. By 3000 BC, the language spoken in
Mesopotamia was Sumerian, with the dominant ethnic group being the
Sumerians. Writing on clay tablets was invented in the period 3200 BC
to 2900 BC, the Protoliterate period, (Nemet-Nejat 1998). It was ini-
tially used for accounting purposes. During the Protoliterate period, the
main centres of economic, political, and social activity were the temples.
The temples owned the land, hired labourers and specialist craftsmen,
was responsible for co-ordinating trade, and exercised political control
across the city and its surroundings.77 The latter suggests that each city
was a self-contained irrigated environment surrounded by dessert and
swamps. These cities would eventually become city states which were
loosely connected through trade.
74
75
76
Ibid.
77
Ibid.
64 S. Ramesh
Sargon the Great (2334 BC to 2279 BC) was the first king to unite the
city states of Mesopotamia; and by establishing his capital in the city of
Akkad, his empire was named the Akkadian Empire. Sargon was the first
ruler of a unified state to have a standing army and military installations
dotted across his lands. The city of Akkad was one of the wealthiest cities
of the ancient world.78 The Akkadian Empire was located to the north of
the Sumerian city states; and it conquered these states in 2340 BC.79 The
Akkadian Empire was ended by the Gutians, invaders from Southeast
Kurdistan.80 This happened in 2100 BC, after which the Sumerian city
states regained their autonomy and continued to co-exist while warring
with each other.81 However, according to the latter, the Sumerian city
states were again unified by Hammurabi in 1792 BC. As king, Hammurabi
built more irrigation channels, temples, and defensive walls.82 Hammurabi
also established a more robust codified system of law, now known as the
Code of Hammurabi. These laws were received by Hammurabi from the
Sun god in 2250 BC, and were found inscribed on a black diorite, 8 ft.
high and about 6 ft. in circumference, in the ancient city of Susa in
1901.83 The latter suggests that the Code of Hammurabi was written at a
period of world history when the people of Western Europe were living
far less sophisticated lives. The Code of Hammurabi was very comprehen-
sive in covering the economic, social, and cultural lives of the citizens of
Sumer. For example, the Code dealt with Family Law, the amounts of fees
and salaries which should be paid to various occupations, compensation
for merchants robbed by marauders, and the need for written contracts to
facilitate transactions.84 The Code of Hammurabi also specifies the social
order of Babylonian society. This was structured into three levels.85 The
78
Ibid.
79
80
Saggs, H. (2000), Peoples of the Past: Babylonians, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los
Angeles.
81
82
Ibid.
83
McNeil, D. (1967), The Code of Hammurabi, 53 A.B.A. J. 444.
84
Ibid.
85
Bertman, S. (2003), Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, Oxford University Press,
Oxford.
first tier included members of land-owning families, the Awilum. The

second tier included all freemen who did not own any land, the
Mushkenum. The lowest, third tier included the slaves who owned nei-
ther their freedom nor land, the Wardum. According to the Code, inter-
tier crime was less severely punished than was intra-tier crime. However,
at the same time, harsher penalties were specified for the privileged in
Babylonian society who infringed on any aspect of the Code, in contrast
to the less privileged.86 The Code of Hammurabi also increases the oppor-
tunity for social mobility, perhaps through marriage. Nevertheless, prop-
erty ownership became more concentrated during the reign of Hammurabi,
and thus, political power.87
Early Dynastic Period Egypt: 3100 BC
The ancient history of Egypt spans from 2950 BC to 30 BC. It encom-

passes thirty-one dynasties, not including the Macedonian Dynasty
(332 BC to 309 BC) and the Ptolemaic Period (309 BC to 30 BC). The
First Dynasty was established in 2950 BC with the unification of Egypt
by Namer; and there are three other notable dynasties. Firstly, the Twelfth
Dynasty (1938 BC to 1755 BC) included the reign of Amenemhat IV
(1770 BC to 1760 BC), during which time the Shang Dynasty was
founded in China in 1766 BC.88 The Eighteenth Dynasty (1190 BC to
1069 BC) includes the reign of Ramesses IV (1156 BC to 1150 BC),
which encompasses the collapse of the Mycenaen Civilisation in the
Mediterranean.89 The Nineteenth Dynasty encompassed the reign of
Ramesses II (1279 BC to 1213 BC), also known as Ramesses the Great.
The Macedonian Dynasty encompassed the time of Alexander the Great;
and the Ptolemaic Period encompasses the time of Cleopatra (51 BC to
30 BC) as well as the Roman invasion of Britain, which at that time was
86
Ibid.
87
Ibid.
88
Wilkinson, T. (2010), The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt: The History of a Civilisation from
3000 BC to Cleopatra, Bloomsbury, London.
89
Ibid.
66 S. Ramesh
occupied by native British tribes such as the Iceni and the Trinovante.
These tribes revolted against Roman rule in 60 AD, following the inva-
sion of Britain by Julius Caesar in 54 AD.90
Due to its unique geographical position, Egypt has served as part of
the migratory route for hominin species leaving East Africa to the other
parts of the Old World.91 However, according to the latter, no human
presence has been detected in Egypt between 11,000 BC and
8000 BC. Nevertheless, the earliest Neolithic cultures emerged in the
western desert.92 The latter suggests that short-term camps were set up at
Nabta Playa and Bir Kiseiba by hunter-gatherers in the early Neolithic
Period, between 8800 BC and 6800 BC. At Bir Kiseiba there is also evi-
dence of well digging, semi-domestication of cattle for milk and blood,
and the use of primitive grinding equipment.93 However, the people still
led a hunter-gatherer existence despite the evidence of semi-permanent
settlement. Moving from the Middle Neolithic (6500 BC to 5100 BC)
to the Late Neolithic Period (5100 BC to 4700 BC), the human occupa-
tion of the western desert began to increase, perhaps because of an excep-
tionally wet period in its history. Moving through this period, there is
also evidence of an increase in the number of wells as well as an increase
in wattle and daub constructions.94 The earliest evidence for crop cultiva-
tion and animal husbandry, perhaps in permanent settlements, is to be
found in the Badarian Culture, named after a site found near Sohag, of
Upper Egypt.95 So, around 5000 years ago, people began to settle and
build simple homes along the fertile land surrounding the River Nile, still
the world’s longest river.96 The latter suggests that, for these early ancient
90
Barker, H. (2004), Iceni, Bladud Books, Bath, United Kingdom.
91
Hendrickx, S., and Vermeersch, P. (2000), Pre-history: From the Palaeolithic to the Badarian
Culture (700,000 to 4000 BC, IN: The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Shaw, I. (Ed), Oxford
University Press, New York.
92
Ibid.
93
Ibid.
94
Hendrickx, S., and Vermeersch, P. (2000), Pre-history: From the Palaeolithic to the Badarian
Culture (700,000 to 4000 BC, IN: The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Shaw, I. (Ed), Oxford
95
Ibid.
96
Deady, K. (2012), Great Civilisations, Ancient Egypt, Beyond Pyramids, Capstone Press,
Minnesota.
Egyptians, life changed from a hunter-gatherer like existence to that of a

farmer. People caught fish in the Nile and still hunted, but at the same
time engaged in animal husbandry—cattle, sheep and goats—as well as
crop cultivation along the land surrounding the banks of the River Nile.
They grew crops such as wheat and barley, as well as cultivating fruits and
vegetables.97 Over time, as more and more people began to settle, more
and more villages and towns were established such that, between 3900 BC
and 3100 BC, some of the towns became wealthy and powerful.98 This
second period of early Egyptian predynastic culture was known as the
Naqada Period (4000 BC to 3200 BC), named after the site of Naqada in
Upper Egypt.99 The increase in population and the agglomeration of the
area led to the formation of two distinct regions, Lower Egypt and Upper
Egypt. The rulers of these regions fought each other for supremacy.
However, in 3100 BC, King Narmer of Upper Egypt conquered Lower
Egypt to form the unified state of Egypt.100 The period encompassing the
Egyptian Old Kingdom (2650 BC to 2134 BC) corresponded with the
mature phase of urbanisation in the Indus Valley civilisation and the
presence of the Akkadian Empire (2350 BC to 2100 BC). So, it is con-
ceivable that trade took place between these three ancient civilisations.
Indeed, there is some evidence for a ‘village’ of Indus Civilisation mer-
chants in southern Iraq between 2114 BC and 2004 BC.101
In the early predynastic period, many innovations were introduced.
The irrigation techniques were improved upon and, as a result, agricul-
tural production increased.102 During the period 3800 BC to 3500 BC,
vessels made of stone and pottery were made in large numbers.103
97
Ibid.
98
Ibid.
99
Midant-Reynes, B. (2000), Pre-history: From the Palaeolithic to the Badarian Culture (700,000
to 4000 BC: In The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Shaw, I. (Ed), Oxford University Press,
New York.
100
Minnesota.
101
Lawler, A. (2008), Boring No More, a Trade-Savvy Indus Emerges, Science, Vol. 320, No. 5881,
pp. 1276–1281.
102
Shaw, I. (2012), Ancient Egyptian Technology & Innovation, Transformations in Pharaonic
Material Culture, Bloomsbury, London.
103
Ibid.
68 S. Ramesh
Furthermore, buildings made of mud brick were built during the early
part of the Naqada period, 4000 BC to 3600 BC. But these buildings
co-existed with buildings made of wattle and mud. Perhaps buildings
made of wattle and mud were cheaper to produce than were buildings
made of mud brick. Developments in metallurgy occurred by 4000 BC,
with the smelting of copper to produce wood working tools.104 The latter
suggests that basket weaving techniques were applied to produce textiles
using linen. The use of dyed thread and dyed cloth also began to make an
appearance. Archaeological evidence also suggests that the ground or
horizontal loom was used to weave textiles in the Badarian period between
4500 BC and 3800 BC. Knowledge of copper smelting technology was
expanded to the use and production of other metals such as gold, silver,
and lead, which were used to make artefacts, chariot parts, and weapons.
It was during the early Badarian period that the methods of artificial
mummification also began to emerge.105 Many interrelated innovations
in the lands of what would become dynastical ancient Egypt between
3400 BC and 3000 BC helped to establish a new society in around
3000 BC.106 The first of these innovations was the invention of writing in
3250 BC.107 However, this writing system has emerged as the ancient
Egyptians had begun to use a pictorial system to denote meanings for
their written language by 4000 BC.108 There is some debate as to whether
the ancient Egyptian writing system developed independently from the
Sumerian writing system or if it developed as a result of the diffusion of
knowledge. The latter is possible, given the geographical closeness of the
two civilisations, which also overlapped in time. The southern
Mesopotamian city of Uruk is most likely to have invented writing.109
104
Ibid.
105
Ibid.
106
De Mieroop, M. (2011), A History of Ancient Egypt, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester,
United Kingdom.
107
Ibid.
108
109
Over time, the idea, use, and benefits of writing diffused to the ancient
Egyptians, who then set up their own pictorial system of writing. The
knowledge of writing could have been spread from Uruk by travelling
priests, scholars, merchants, or even through captured slaves and prison-
ers. As with all inventions throughout history, if the inventing society
benefits from the discovery, other societies will adapt and use the inven-
tion for their benefit. The writing used in Uruk was in the form of simple
pictorial depictions, dating to about 3100 BC.110 The invention and use
of writing can be ascribed to the ruler of Uruk Enmerkar, as stated in the
ancient texts of Uruk. The invention of writing in Uruk can be attributed
to the need to maintain a written record of the transactions through
trade, as well to ascertain the levels of state inventories of grain, gold,
holdings of land and slaves, and the wealth of the citizens. This would
allow the state to be in a better position to extract taxes from the house-
holds of Uruk. The simple pictorial script of Uruk took a longer period
to develop into Sumerian cuneiform.111
In ancient Egypt, writing developed further over the subsequent cen-
turies until the world’s first complete sentence was constructed in
2750 BC.112 The benefits of writing are that it improves memory, allows
the transmission of knowledge as well as its accumulation.113 As a result,
writing may help to indirectly stimulate the development of ideas based
on existing knowledge. The oldest writing in ancient Egypt has been
found in the predynastic tomb of King Abdju, an ancient Egyptian ruler
who ruled 150 years before King Narmer unified Upper and Lower
Egypt.114 The writing found in the tomb was a short inscription, which
was pictorial in nature, which evidenced the complexity that would be
found in the hieroglyphics that would develop over the next 3500 years.115
110
Dumper, M., and Stanley, B. (2007), Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical
Encyclopaedia, ABC-CLIO Inc., Santa Barbara, California.
111
Ibid.
112
De Mieroop, M. (2011), A History of Ancient Egypt, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester,
United Kingdom.
113
114
Ibid.
115
Ibid.
70 S. Ramesh
The Egyptian form of writing was called hieroglyphics, and was written
on papyrus—Egyptian paper—to keep records. However, the people of
ancient Egypt also studied Mathematics, Science and Medicine and they
built pyramids and obelisks.116 These are still marvelled at in the modern
world. Writing and papyrus also enabled the ancient Egyptians to make
mathematical calculations—number operations, areas and angles.117 The
latter suggests that the ancient Egyptians may have used their knowledge
of mathematics to aid their construction of the pyramids and obelisks.
Along with limestone quarrying, pyramid construction began in the 3rd
dynasty in the period 2686 BC to 2613 BC.118
Aegean Civilisation: 2700 BC
The civilisations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley

had arisen for centuries when Europe was still embracing the savagery of
tribal hunter-gatherer society. It would be centuries before Europe would
emerge from the darkness of barbarity into the twilight of civilisation on
the shores of the Mediterranean.119 The blossoming of culture in settle-
ments, with people cultivating crops and engaging in animal husbandry—
alongside the odd bit of hunting and gathering—began in the late
Neolithic Period, at around 4000 BC.120 At this time, the trajectory to
the Mycenaean and Minoan civilisations was established.121 The develop-
ing cultures of the islands of the Aegean and southern Laconia came to be
at the forefront of development and innovation. The Minoan culture,
associated with Knossos, would develop the potter’s wheel for producing
116
Minnesota.
117
118
Ibid.
119
Glotz, G. (1998), The Aegean Civilisation, Routledge.
120
Van Andel, T., and Runnels, C. (1988), An essay on the ‘emergence of civilisation’ in Greece and
the Aegean, Antiquity 62: 234–47.
121
Ibid.
pottery.122 This would signify increasing demand from a growing popula-

tion being met with the increased specialisation and division of labour.
This would require people to be trained, workshops to be built, and
wheels produced. The Minoan civilisation would also produce distinct
architecture on a big scale, record official transactions on documents,
engage in long distance trade, engage in ritual practice, store agricultural
surpluses centrally, and practice political organisation at a regional
level.123
Following the rise of settlements and culture on the islands of the
Aegean in 4000 BC, the settlements of central and north-eastern Greece
began to fall behind, and would not be able to catch up for centuries.124
Excavations at Dimini and Sesklo in Thessaly, mainland Greece, and
Knossos on the island of Crete, have revealed stone tools and pottery made
in the early Neolithic period.125 Dimini was a settlement of 5000 BC. It
covered a site with an area of one hectare, which was divided into concen-
tric walls with a three-roomed building in a central court.126 It has been
thought that the central structure is for the elite.127 The implication is that
Dimini society was hierarchical.128 The first known human occupation of
Knossos occurred at around 7000 BC. The pottery of this age found on
Knossos bears a distinctively decorated style that is found nowhere else in
the Aegean. It must be concluded that Knossos culture developed in isola-
tion from the rest of the Mediterranean.129 Furthermore, archaeological
evidence suggests that the people of Knossos kept domesticated animals
122
Knappett, CJ. (1999), Tradition and Innovation in Pottery Forming Technology: Wheel-
Throwing at Middle Minoan Knossos, BSA 94: 101–29.
123
Ibid.
124
Feuer, B. (1983), The northern Mycenaean border in Thessaly, British Archaeological Reports.
International Series 176.
125
Tomkins, P. (2010), Neolithic Antecedents, IN: The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age (ca.
3000–1000 BC), Cline, E.(Ed), Oxford University Press, New York.
126
Tsountas, K. (1908). Ai Proistorikai Acropolis Diminiou Kai Sesklo, Athens: Athens,
Archaeological Society.
127
Halstead, P. (1993), Spondylus shell ornaments from late Neolithic Dimini, Greece: specialised
manufacture or unequal accumulation? Antiquity 67, 603–9
128
Fried, M.H. (1967), The evolution of political society, New York (NY): Random House.
129
Isaakidou, V., and Tomkins, P. (2008), Escaping the Labyrinth: The Cretan Neolithic in Context,
Oxbow Books.
72 S. Ramesh
and cultivated crops from the time of the earliest occupation of the site.130
There has been controversy regarding the innovation of animal husbandry
and crop cultivation creating agricultural economies, which over the cen-
turies led to further innovation and development. The widely accepted
hypothesis is that the practice of onsite animal husbandry and crop culti-
vation occurred in the near east first, and then spread to the rest of the
world. However, there is no reason why crop cultivation and animal hus-
bandry could not occur independently at different times in different
places. This view is supported by some evidence. For example, the domes-
tication of the dog occurred at different times in different parts of the
world.131 However, agricultural colonisation may have spread agricultural
practice and innovations such as the use of the plough, as would have
knowledge of the exploitation of secondary products such as milk and
wool, which would have occurred in the period 3000 BC to 4000 BC.132
As the population grew, land would have become more scarce, leading to
a dispersal of habitation leading to greater inter-settlement trade rather
than just intra-settlement trade.133 Furthermore, the archaeological evi-
dence of burial sites and stone axes does suggest that there was contact
between the peoples of Knossos and those on mainland Greece.134 The
flint sickles have also been found at Dimini and Sesklo,135 on the main-
land, and at Demeter136 on Knossos. At Dimini and Sesklo, archaeologists
130
Ibid.
131
Higgs, E., and Jarman, M. (1969), The Origins of Agriculture: A Reconsideration, Antiquity
XLIII.
132
Sherratt, A. G. (1981), Plough and pastoralism: aspects of the secondary products revolution.
IN Pattern of the Past: Studies in Honour of David Clarke (eds I. Hodder, G. Isaac and
N. Hammond). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
133
Halstead, P. (1981), Counting sheep in Neolithic and bronze age Greece. IN Pattern of the Past:
Studies in Honour of David Clarke (eds I. Hodder, G. Isaac and N. Hammond). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, pp. 307–337.
134
Higgs, E., and Jarman, M. (1969), The Origins of Agriculture: A Reconsideration, Antiquity
XLIII.
135
Runnels, C., and Murray, P. (2001), Greece Before History: An Archaeological Companion and
Guide, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.
136
Hagg, R. (1998), Ancient Greek cult practice from the archaeological evidence: Proceedings of
the Fourth International Seminar on Ancient Greek Cult, organized by the … Sueciae, series in 8)
(Swedish Edition), Svenska Institutet i Athen.
have also found storage and cooking pots, querms for grinding corn, and
knives made of obsidian.137
It was many centuries later, between 3000 BC and 2000 BC, that
stone buildings and towns began to emerge, with the first palace on
Knossos being built between 2000 BC and 1800 BC.138 Minoan culture
on Knossos was at its peak during the period 1600 BC to 1500 BC. Its
architecture and decorative style were reflected across Crete and as far as
Egypt.139 By that period, two types of written archaic scripts had emerged.
These included Cretan hieroglyphics and Linear A; both scripts of the
Minoan/Knossos culture have not been deciphered yet.140 Cretan hiero-
glyphics appeared for the last time at around 1500 BC. It was exclusively
used in Crete, with its syllabary being composed of 90 symbols.141 The
first evidence of the use of Cretan hieroglyphics has been traced to the
end of 3000 BC.142 However, there is no evidence that suggest that it was
used to convey a specific meaning.143 Linear A was used more widely by
people on the other islands of the Aegean, as well as in settlements on the
mainland in southern Laconia, with its use continuing until 1450 BC.144
It is believed that an archaic form of Linear A was used to inscribe the
first text by stylus on clay tablets in 1800 BC, its syllabary being com-
posed of 75 signs.145 The third Aegean script was Linear B, derived from
Linear A, which was used exclusively by the royalty for inscriptions on
Mycenaean palaces—on Knossos in Crete as well as at other sites on the
137
Runnels, C., and Murray, P. (2001), Greece Before History: An Archaeological Companion and
Guide, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.
138
Scarre, C., and Stefoff, R. (2003), The Palace of Minos at Knossos, Oxford University Press,
Oxford.
139
Ibid.
140
Ferrara, S. (2015), The beginnings of Writing on Crete: Theory and Context, The Annual of the
British School at Athens, 110 (1), pp. 27–49.
141
Oliver, J. (1986), Cretan Writing in the Second Millennium BC, World Archaeology, Vol. 17,
No. 3, Early Writing Systems, pp. 377–389.
142
Yule, P. (1980), Early Cretan Seals: A Study of Chronology, Philipp von Zabern Verlag, Mainz.
143
144
Ibid.
145
Ibid.
74 S. Ramesh
mainland, such as Pylos and Mycenae.146 Linear B was used until

1200 BC, and its syllabary was represented by 87 signs.147 It is believed
that Linear A was amended by the Mycenaeans in order to form Linear
B, so that they could write their own language, Greek, in visual form.148
A version of Cretan writing survived in Cyprus until 1000 BC, its sylla-
bary being represented by 55 signs.149 The development of a written form
of language possibly started with a need to record, store, and exchange
information. When records of transactions could be ‘stored’, even in
symbolic form, taxes to be collected by the state from individuals and
households could be more easily calculated. As the population of the
Aegean expanded and settlements dispersed, inter-settlement trade
expanded, generating information that needed to be recorded due to the
limitations of human memory. Over time, more and more uses for the
writing came into being, and it ceased to be used just for recording and
for bronze stamps denoting either title or rank. Thus, there were eco-
nomic reasons for the development of a written form of language over
time.150
However, following an earthquake in 1480 BC, the Mycenaeans took
control of the administration of Knossos from 1450 BC to 1380 BC,
with control ending in 1250 BC, after which Knossos entered a phase of
semi-habitation.151
Indus Valley Civilisation: 2600 BC
The Indus Valley civilisation was a contemporary civilisation with that

of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia (Sumer and Akkadian), and ancient
China, (Dick 2006). However, while its contemporary civilisations
146
Ibid.
147
Ibid.
148
Ibid.
149
Ibid.
150
151
Scarre, C., and Stefoff, R. (2003), The Palace of Minos at Knossos, Oxford University Press,
Oxford.
continued to prosper, the Indus Valley civilisation went into decline

and eventually disappeared, leaving abandoned cities, towns, and vil-
lages, (McIntosh 2008). Nevertheless, based on the number of other
excavated sites in the Indus Valley and its surrounding regions, the area
covered by the Indus Valley civilisation extended 1100 km north to
south; and 1600 km from west to east.152 Some archaeologists contend
that the Indus Valley civilisation may have been much bigger, extending
as far as Mesopotamia.153 Thus, at its height, the Indus Valley civilisa-
tion would have covered an area much bigger than the areas covered by
either the civilisation of ancient Egypt or that of Mesopotamia (Sumer
and Akkadian).
About 9000 years ago, people lived in the hills to the west of the Indus
Valley, through which the River Indus flows.154 The people were still
hunter-gatherers, but kept animals such as cows for milk, However,
sometime around 4000 BC, people began to cultivate crops on the nutri-
ent rich lands surrounding and including the flood plains of the Indus
River.155 As a result, over the next few centuries, permanent settlements
were established. By 3000 BC, a process of urbanisation had started. This
can be associated with the establishment of cities such as Harappa and
Mohenjo Daro. The former was situated on the banks of the River Ravi,
the latter on land between the River Indus and the River Ghaggar-
Hakra.156 These ancient cities were 400 miles apart, but each had an iden-
tical architecture for the buildings, a layout of buildings and roads, with
the same building technology having been used at both sites, (Sen 1988).
However, Mohenjo Daro was slightly bigger than Harappa, and the city
occupied 200 square hectares with a population of 20,000–40,000 peo-
ple.157 It would have been comparable to today’s cities of Ur in Iraq and
152
Sen, S. (1988), Ancient Indian History and Civilisation, New age International, New Delhi.
153
Ibid.
154
Dick, R. (2006), The Indus Valley Civilisation, Evan Brothers Limited, London.
155
Ibid.
156
Sen, B. (2011), Smart Green Civilisations: Indus Valley: Green Lessons from The Past, The
Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi.
157
Lawler, A. (2008), Boring no more, a Trade Savvy Indus Emerges, Vol. 320, Science.
76 S. Ramesh
Memphis in Egypt.158 Other sites associated with the Indus Valley civili-
sation include Amri and Chanhu-daro in southern Sind, Shortughai in
north-east Afghanistan, and Lothal.159 In Lothal, archaeologists found a
brick dockyard that was linked to the Gulf of Cambay by a water chan-
nel.160 In Rakhigarhi, another Indus city 340 km south-east of Harappa,
archaeologists have found evidence of large-scale craft production.161
Rakhigarhi was situated on the banks of the River Sarasvati. When this
river dried up and disappeared, Rakhigarhi lost the source of its water
and the people left the city, which decayed.162 Archaeological evidence
from Dholavira, another Indus city 800 km south of Harappa, suggests
that the Indus Valley civilisation was based on a hierarchy of wealth rather
than on totalitarianism.163 This is evidenced by the fact that some homes
had private wells and covered drains, while other homes had open drains
and were next to cesspools.164 It has also become evident that the people
of Dholavira innovated and devised several hydraulic tools and strategies
to ensure their city and land had a sufficient source of water because their
city was not close to river as were some of the other cities of the Indus
Valley civilisation.165
An analysis of the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro illustrates the
detailed and thorough town planning of the peoples of the Indus Valley
civilisation. Each city had a citadel to the west, with residential town to
the east.166 The houses were built of mud brick, and the brick junctures
was sealed with bitumen to ensure water resistance. Moreover, each house
had a central courtyard, a water well, as well as a bathroom. The waste
point of each bathroom was connected to a central sewer system that ran
158
Ibid.
159
Sen, S. (1988), Ancient Indian History and Civilisation, New age International, New Delhi.
160
Ibid.
161
162
Sankhyan, A., and Rao, V. (2007), Human Origins, Genome and People of India; Genomic,
Palaeontological & Archaeological Evidences, Allied Publishers Private Limited, New Delhi.
163
164
Ibid.
165
Possehl, G. (2002), The Indus Civilisation: A Contemporary Perspective, Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers Inc., London.
166
Ibid.
at street level, covered by stone slabs or mud bricks.167 The residential

areas was laid out in a grid pattern with blocks of houses, connected by
narrow roads, with no windows facing the road.168 However, there was
one main road which was about 30 ft. wide.169 The cities also had grana-
ries to stock the surplus of agricultural crops. Mohenjo Daro also had a
great bath, which was presumably used for communal bathing. However,
it may also have been used to collect rainwater, functioning as a water
reservoir. But while neither city had a palace, as did the cities of other
ancient civilisations, each city was surrounded by a very tall and very
thick mud brick wall. This probably reflected the external dangers faced
by the civilisations of the time.
Not only was the Indus Valley civilisation much bigger in terms of
land area and population than its contemporary civilisations in ancient
Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was also more advanced in some areas of
engineering and technology.170 The latter suggests that the Indus Valley
civilisation was also a major driver in the world’s first era of globalisation,
5000 years ago. In this case, it could trade goods with ancient Egypt and
Mesopotamia. At the same time, this helped spread ideas through the
movement of people from one civilisation to another such that an Indus
translator went ‘native’ in Mesopotamia.171 The key characterisation of
Indus Valley civilisation was standardisation, from cities, to weights and
bricks.172 Moreover, as already discussed, the houses of the Indus Valley
people were more sophisticated than the houses of the peoples of other
contemporary civilisations, as they had wells to draw drinking water; and
bathrooms which fed into the city’s sewer system. This kind of homely
sophistication would not occur again until the period of the Roman
Empire (27 BC to 395 AD).173 However, in contrast to its standardisa-
tion, oven baked bricks, and sewers, the Indus Valley civilisation did not
167
Ibid.
168
Ibid.
169
Ibid.
170
171
Ibid.
172
Ibid.
173
Ibid.
78 S. Ramesh
leave behind any evidence of its cultural sophistication. There was no

evidence of libraries with thousands of written clay tables, no temples, no
palaces, no monuments, and no identifiable rulers of the time.174
Furthermore, the written language of the Indus people has not been deci-
phered, and only consists of pictorial symbols on seals. No extensive form
of the written language has yet been found. One possibility is that, unlike
the written language of either Mesopotamia or ancient Egypt, the written
language of the Indus Valley civilisation was put down on some type of
paper which decayed over time, leaving no trace other than dust.
Moreover, the sudden appearance of the Indus Valley cities on virgin
land, some 600 years after the emergence of the first cities in Mesopotamia
in 3200 BC, has puzzled archaeologists.175 Here, the possibility arises that
the peoples of the Indus Valley civilisation were either settlers from
Mesopotamia, or were from some other unknown civilisation which
archaeology has not yet found. However, recent excavations have found
that some of the Indus cities were not built from scratch. For example,
Harappa sits on a site which has been continuously occupied since
3700 BC.176 Furthermore, archaeological evidence suggests that the pot-
tery style was unique to the Indus Valley civilisation.177 As was the
religious practice, which seems to have revolved around goddess worship,
tree worship, and the sacred bull. This has some similarities with the type
of Hinduism practiced today in the villages of Gujarat in today’s India,
very close to the region which encompassed the Indus Valley civilisa-
tion.178 In addition to having unique pottery and religious practices, the
people of the Indus Valley civilisation learned how to mine metals such as
copper and bronze, as well as then use these metals to produce weapons;
and they also used polished metal as mirrors.179 They also produced fish
174
Ibid.
175
Ibid.
176
Ibid.
177
Ibid.
178
Robinson, A. (2015), The Indus: Lost Civilisations, Reaktion Books, London.
179
Sen, B. (2011), Smart Green Civilisations: Indus Valley: Green Lessons from The Past, The
Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi.
hooks and razors using mined metal.180 The world’s oldest glass has been
found at Harappa.181 Other Indus Valley civilisations included the circu-
lar saw, saws with cutting ‘teeth’, and tubular drills, all of which would
have been used for different types of woodworking.182
Neolithic China
Geographically, China can be divided between north and south. The

division is created naturally by the Qinling Mountains. Northern China
is dry and cool; and the climate is suitable for cultivating different type of
crops, such as millets, barley, and soybeans.183 On the other hand, the
climate in southern China is much wetter, and the region is blessed with
more lakes and rivers than the north.184 Unlike the north, the south of
China was home to a variety of ethnic peoples, including the Han, the
majority ethnic group in China today. However, many of these ethnic
peoples were either absorbed or displaced because of Han migration in
conjunction with overwhelming and superior military force.185
When fossilised Homo Erectus fossils were found in a cave at
Zhoukoudian, it was originally thought that the Han evolved from
Homo Erectus. However, mitochondrial DNA analysis has proved that
Han Chinese people are descended, like all peoples around the world,
from Homo Sapiens who left their East African homeland about
100,000–70,000 years ago. Between 8000 BC and 3000 BC, the climate
in China was much wetter than it is today. In addition, the geographical
structure of the land was also very much different. For example, Shandong
was cut off from the rest of the mainland by a sea dried up over time, and
180
181
Ibid.
182
Agrawal, D. (2007), The Indus Civilisation: An Interdisciplinary Perspective, Aryan Books
International.
183
Tanner, H. (2010), China – A History – Volume 1 – From Neolithic Cultures through the Great
Qing Empire, Hackett Publishing Company Inc., Indiana, USA.
184
Ibid.
185
Ibid.
80 S. Ramesh
became filled in.186 It was in this environment that the ancestors of the
modern Chinese took up farming and established permanent settlements.
A warmer climate, a scarcity of edible wild plants, and the reduced num-
ber of animals to hunt, in conjunction with increasing population densi-
ties, may have created a need for people to find other sources of
sustenance.187 The people then turned to crop cultivation and animal
husbandry. This could only be done efficiently in permanent fixed settle-
ments. This gave rise to the emergence of agricultural settlements in the
north and in the south of China. In the north, archaeological evidence
from Henan, Hebei, Shaanxi, and Gansu supports the view of a domi-
nant Peiligang Culture.188 On the other hand, in the south, archaeologi-
cal evidence from the provinces of Jiangxi, Guangxi, and Guangdong
supports the view of a dominant Cord marked pottery culture.189 The
Peiligang Culture seems to have been the root of Chinese civilisation.
This is because they buried their dead with turtle shells, and other posses-
sions, which had a symbol inscribed on them. This could have been the
beginning of ancestor worship, which is still practised in China today.190
Turtle shells would then be used 6000 years later by the Shang people to
conduct complex rites of divination; and the Peiligang symbols on the
turtle shells resembled symbols in the Shang writing system, from which
contemporary Chinese writing is derived.191 While the symbols may not
be sufficient evidence of the emergence of writing in Neolithic China, it
could be a feature of the use of sign language, which eventually led to the
development of a written language.192 Writing in China developed over a
period of time. It was not until the late Shang period (1200 BC to
186
Ibid.
187
Ibid.
188
189
Ibid.
190
Perkins, D. (1999), Encyclopaedia of China: History and Culture, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers,
New York, USA.
191
192
Li, X., G. Harbottle, J. Zhang, and C. Wang. (2003), The earliest writing? Sign use in the sev-
enth millennium BC at Jiahu, Henan Province, China. Antiquity 77 (295): 31–44.
1045 BC) that the earliest bronze—on objects belonging to either the
nobility or the political elite—inscriptions appear.193 The inscriptions
usually denoted the name of the owner and his/her family, and the
inscriptions were usually found on weapons or containers.194 The earliest
literature in China emerged during the Zhou dynasty. The literature was
usually written on either silk or strips of bamboo and included historical
records such as the ‘Rites of Zhou’ and poetry such as the ‘The Book of
Songs’.195
The Peiligang Culture was not the only one in Neolithic China. It is
more likely that, in addition to the two mentioned cultures, these co-
existed with other Neolithic Chinese cultures at the same time. These
other cultures included the Longshan, Yangshao, Dawenkou, Xinle, and
the Hongshan in the north, and the Majiabang, Hemudu, Daxi,
Qujialing, and the Dapenkeng in the south.196 Therefore, the impact on
contemporary Chinese culture and society over time is most likely
multicultural.
Two of the best-known Neolithic Chinese cultures are the Yangshao
and the Longshan. The latter is the predecessor of the former. The
Yangshao culture was based around the middle reaches of the Yellow
River and the valleys of the River Wei.197 This encompassed the modern-
day Chinese provinces of Gansu and Henan. The Yangshao Culture
existed between 5000 BC and 3000 BC. The innovative features of the
Yangshao culture was the production of advanced stoneware and the
practice of advanced agriculture.198 The Yangshao culture cultivated dry
crops such as millet and broomcorn millet.199 All the tools used in the
Yangshao culture were made of stone. Stone hammers were used for
193
Moore, O. (2000), Reading the Past: Chinese, University of California Press, Los Angeles.
194
Ibid.
195
196
Ibid. Tanner, H. (2010), China – A History – Volume 1 – From Neolithic Cultures through the
Great Qing Empire, Hackett Publishing Company Inc., Indiana, USA.
197
Perkins, D. (1999), Encyclopaedia of China: History and Culture, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers,
New York, USA.
198
Yinke, D. (2010), Ancient Chinese Civilisations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
199
The Editorial Committee of Chinese Civilisation. (2007), China: Five Thousand Years of
History and Civilisation, City University of Hong Kong.
82 S. Ramesh
construction purposes. Thin stone shovels were used to dig the earth—
for weeding and planting—and thin sickles with legs were used for har-
vesting crops.200 For fishing, the peoples of the Yangshao culture used
lances and hooks. These could have been made from stone or bone, as
these have been found at archaeological sites. Similarly, for hunting ani-
mals, the peoples of the Yangshao culture used arrows, with inverted
spikes, made from bone and stone.201 The inverted design of the arrow
head was innovative, as it would be deadlier to animals than the normal
arrowhead. The Yangshao people were also able to spin and weave cloth
at a primitive level, using spinning wheels made of pottery.202 They were
also able to sew primitive cloth and animal skins using bone needles.
However, the Yangshao culture also exhibited very well-developed pot-
tery making skills.203 They also exhibited spatial and environmental
considerations by being able to draw geometric figures and patterns in
the shape of animals. The earliest copper artefacts unearthed in the
world were found in Anatolia, dating from 9000 years ago.204 However,
the unearthed evidence of Yangshao bronze artefacts were dated to
3000 years later than the copper artefacts found in Anatolia. On the
other hand, the Longshan Culture existed between 3000 BC and
1900 BC, along the middle and the lower reaches of the Yellow River.
This encompasses the locations of the contemporary Chinese provinces
of Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi.205 The Longshan Culture
served as the platform for the early Chinese states and the Xia
(2100 BC–1600 BC), Shang (1600 BC to 1050 BC), and Zhou
(1046 BC to 256 BC) dynasties.206 Archaeological evidence supports
the view that the Longshan Culture used bronze implements made from
200
Ibid.
201
Ibid.
202
Ibid.
203
Yinke, D. (2010), Ancient Chinese Civilisations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
204
Ibid.
205
Ibid.
206
Liu, Li. (2004), The Chinese Neolithic: Trajectories to Early States, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, England.
a combination of tin and copper. Some take the view that, as time pro-
gressed, this changed the hierarchical structure of society from a matri-
archal one to a patriarchal one.207 In other words, the use of metal tools
in agriculture may have favoured males and disadvantage females. As a
result, there was a divergence between the crafts sector (copper/bronze
metallurgy, pottery, weaving, silk manufacture, jade carving) to the agri-
cultural sector of the primitive economy.208 However, there is no doubt
that the Longshan Culture exhibited technological advancement in
comparison to the Yangshao Culture. For example, the carving of Jade
and the production of silk would have required specific knowledge and
a certain level of technical sophistication. The Longshan Culture also
exhibited a complex social organisation as well as class stratification.209
This could have been due to differences in agricultural production
between different farmers. Those farmers who produced more surpluses
could accumulate wealth much faster. The wealth would have given
these farmers a higher social status than farmers who did not produce as
much. Over time, the differences in wealth in Longshan Culture could
have given rise to nobility and common folk. Complex social organisa-
tion and class stratification could have been associated with increasing
population, which would have stimulated increasing urbanisation and
the emergence of walled towns. The fortified walls of Longshan cities
were built using a technique known as ‘hangtu’. This technique involved
ramming earth into a dense structure for building the walls of cities as
well as platforms in buildings.210 The Longshan Culture shares many
similarities with the later Shang and Zhou dynasties. The use of Jade in
rituals, oracle bones in divination, well-made wheels, and standardised
hard-fired pottery.211
207
Ibid.
208
Ibid.
209
Dematte, P. (1999), Longshan-Era Urbanism: The Role of Cities in Predynastic China, Asian
Perspectives, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 119–153.
210
Ibid.
211
Ibid.
84 S. Ramesh
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4
The Babylonian Empire: 1900 BC
to 539 BC
The history of Sumer and Akkad have been mostly derived from archaeo-
logical evidence, unlike the history of either Greece or Rome which have
been accorded a written tradition.1 There was no Herodotus or Thucydides
in the case of either Sumer or Akkad as there was in the case of Greece,
except for Berossus.2 However, he wrote in the latter Greek-Babylonian
period, in the third century BC. Knowledge of Mesopotamian dynasties
and kings have been mostly derived from inscribed tablets uncovered
during archaeological excavations of ancient sites. Throughout the rise of
Mesopotamian civilisation was the increased use of writing,3 for record-
ing transactions, but also as a tool of social and political control through
written laws and regulations. Furthermore, there was also continuous
innovation in the context of different forms of economic and political
organisation.4 However, as ancient Mesopotamia transitioned from
Sumer to Assyria and Babylonia, the latter two civilisations inherited the
1
Charpin, D. (1995), The History of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Overview, IN Sasson, J. (Ed),
Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, Vol. 2, Simon and Schuster, New York.
2
Ibid.
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid.

90 S. Ramesh
institutions and ideas of the former, but in a different language, Akkadian.5

Furthermore, other technological innovations such as the horse drawn
chariot and iron metallurgy had already taken place by 1500 BC and
1000 BC respectively.6
Historians of ancient Mesopotamia have given thought to state forma-
tion of pre-state societies bordering contemporary civilisations, as well to
the case of state collapse.7 Such a state collapse engulfed the Akkadian
empire circa 2200 BC.8 Some of the archaeological evidence relating to
the resolution of these questions was focused on the ancient site of Tell
Leilan, which was one of the three urban centres of its time on the Haberl
plains.9 Tell Leilan was continuously occupied from around 5500 BC,
and became the political centre of the region from 1500 BC to 1000 BC.10
The Amorites: 1900 BC

To the west of the Euphrates River were located the Amorites. When the
Sumerian dynasty collapsed in 2000 BC, the region plunged into chaos
and disorder.11 This may have been the result of a harsh and long drought
which caused the agricultural economy of the Sumerians to collapse.12
Akkadian cities in the northern plains were abandoned, and there was a
mass migration of peoples to the south.13 This caused greater demand for
5
Grayson, A. (1980), Assyria and Babylonia, Orientalia, NOVA SERIES, Vol. 49, No. 2,
pp. 140–194.
6
7
Weiss, H., Courty, M., Wetterstrom, W., Guichard, F., Senior, L., Meadow, R., and Curnow, A.
(1993), The Genesis and Collapse of the Third Millennium North Mesopotamian Civilisation,
Science, New Series, Vol. 261, No. 5124, pp. 995–1004.
8
Ibid.
9
Ibid.
10
Ibid.
11
De Lafayette, M. (2014), Thesaurus Lexicon of Similar Words & Synonyms in 21 Dead and
Ancient Languages, Volume II ‘A’ 9Alma-Azu), Times Square Press, New York.
12
Wilford, J. (1993), Collapse of Earliest Known Empire Is Linked to Long, Harsh Drought, The
New York Times.
13
Ibid.
The Babylonian Empire: 1900 BC to 539 BC 91
scarce food and water in the south, leading to the fall of the Sargon
dynasty.14 The world’s first known empire.15 It was at this time that the
Amorites invaded Mesopotamia and, by taking advantage of the chaos,
they became dominant.16 The Amorites were pastoralists, and their econ-
omy was not based on agricultural production. At the time, the scribes of
the city of Ur noted that the Amorites were beasts of plunder and did not
know of the grain.17 This would tend to support the idea that the Amorite
culture was based on a non-agricultural economy.
While the drought had ended in 1900 BC, leadership of the region
had passed from the Akkadians to the city of Ur, and thence onto
Babylon, the increasingly dominating city of the region and the home of
the Amorites.18 Ibbi-Sin was the last ruler of Ur, who lost control of
Mesopotamia simply because of communication breakdowns with other
cities he controlled, who saw it as a chance to reassert their indepen-
dence.19 So, although the downfall of the civilisation of Ur may not have
been directly due to Amorite military pressure, the state was weakened
from within. Furthermore, the dependence of Ur on the use of Amorite
mercenaries may explain why Amorite dynasties emerged so rapidly from
the ashes of Ur.20 Also, the arrival of the Amorite dynasties completely
replaced the preceding civilisation, in both Mesopotamia and in Egypt.21
The break between the civilisations was so distinct that it was deemed
necessary to also make a distinction between two historical periods.22 In
this case, the time before the Amorites is known as the Early Bronze Age,
14
Ibid.
15
Ibid.
16
De Lafayette, M. (2014), Thesaurus Lexicon of Similar Words & Synonyms in 21 Dead and
Ancient Languages, Volume II ‘A’ 9Alma-Azu), Times Square Press, New York.
17
Wilford, J. (1993), Collapse of Earliest Known Empire Is Linked to Long, Harsh Drought, The
New York Times.
18
Ibid.
19
Whiting, R. M. (1995), Amorite tribes and nations of second millennium western-Asia. In
Civilizations of the Ancient near East, Vol. 2 (ed. J. M. Sasson, with J. Baines, G. Beckman and
K. Robinson), New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, pp. 1231–42.
20
Ibid.
21
Kenyon, K. (1965), Archaeology in the Holy Land, 2nd edition, Ernest Benn.
22
Prag, K. (1985), Ancient and Modern Pastoral Migration in the Levant, Levant, 17:1, pp. 81–88.
92 S. Ramesh
and the time after they came became known as the Intermediate Early
Bronze- Middle Bronze Age (EB, MB).23 The dispersion of Amorite cul-
ture from Syria to Mesopotamia may have started has a gradual process
in the 3rd millennium BC, culminating in the early 2nd millennium
BC.24 It is because of this that there has been some debate as to whether
the Amorite incursion into Mesopotamia was caused by a military incur-
sion or by a process of economic colonisation.25 The archaeological evi-
dence is more in favour of the latter, with such evidence also supporting
the idea that the Mesopotamian kings militarily campaigned against
Amorite settlements as far back as 2250 BC.26 However, this persecution
only helped the Amorites forge a distinct national identity.27 This would
have helped the Amorites become a more cohesive fighting force at the
time of the fall of the Sumerian dynasty in 2000 BC, helping them to
become dominant in Mesopotamia. The Amorites brought with them
new burial techniques as well as new types of pottery.28 Once the Amorites
had become established in the southern Levant, they controlled a num-
ber of towns, including Ashkelon, Byblos, Ullaza, and Irqatum.29
Nevertheless, the archaeological evidence is not so robust as to allow for
a detailed historical reconstruction of either the names of the rulers of
this period or the span of the territories they controlled.30 However, his-
torical sources do suggest that, by the end of the intermediate Middle
Bronze Age, the whole of the Levant was dominated by Amorite king-
doms.31 At its heart lay Babylon. However, by 1600 BC, the Amorites of
23
Ibid.
24
Burke, A. (2014), ‘Introduction to the Levant During the Middle Bronze Age’, IN: The Oxford
Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant C: 8000–332 BCE, Steiner, M., and Killebrew, A.
(Eds), Oxford University Press, Oxford.
25
Ibid.
26
Ibid.
27
Ibid.
28
Prag, K. (1985), Ancient and Modern Pastoral Migration in the Levant, Levant, 17:1, pp. 81–88.
29
Burke, A. (2014), ‘Introduction to the Levant During the Middle Bronze Age’, IN: The Oxford
Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant C: 8000–332 BCE, Steiner, M., and Killebrew, A.
30
Ibid.
31
Ibid.
Babylon and the middle Euphrates region were coming under increasing
pressure from the Hurrians, Kassites, and the Hittites.32 It would be the
latter who would end the glorious reign of Hammurabi
(1728 BC–1686 BC) and his dynasty in Babylon.33 Of all the kings of
the Amorite dynasties of Babylon, Hammurabi was probably the best
known historically. The Babylonian Empire vastly expanded once he
ascended to the throne. In the first few decades of his rule, Hammurabi
focused on expanding public works, such as strengthening the defensive
walls of Babylon and expanding the temple network within the city.34 He
also freed Babylon from Elamite dominance, and conquered the cities of
Isin, Larsa, Eshnunna, Kish, Lagash, Nippur, Ur, Uruk, Umma, Adab,
and Endu.35 Furthermore, Hammurabi expanded fortifications and tem-
ple networks in other parts of the Babylonian Empire, improved irriga-
tion by organising the digging of a canal between Kish and the Persian
Gulf; and laid down the Code of Hammurabi.36 It was also after the
reign of Hammurabi that the development of algebra began in around
1650 BC to 1700 BC, which encompasses the period of the reign of
Hammurabi, his son, and grandson.37 However, this development was
not unique to Babylonia because such work was also being carried out in
Egypt at the same time,38 but it is uncertain as to whether there was a
diffusion of knowledge between Babylonia and Egypt.39 However,
knowledge of algebra did spread from Babylonia to Greece between the
fifth and the third centuries BC, Arabia and India in 700 AD, and Europe
32
Whiting, R. M. (1995), Amorite tribes and nations of second millennium western-Asia. In
Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, Vol. 2 (ed. J. M. Sasson, with J. Baines, G. Beckman and
K. Robinson), New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, pp. 1231–42.
33
Ibid.
34
Sharma, S., and Pahuja, D. (2017), Five Great Civilisations of Ancient World, Educreation
Publishing, New Delhi.
35
Ibid.
36
Ibid.
37
Stallings, L. (2000), A Brief History of Algebraic Notation, School of Science and Mathematics,
Vol. 100, No. 5, pp. 230–235.
38
Ibid.
39
Ibid.
94 S. Ramesh
in 1100 AD.40 Nevertheless, it is known from written narratives such as

the Ahmes papyri and Hammurabi-period clay tablets that Egyptian
algebra was less sophisticated than Babylonian algebra.41 This may have
been because the numerical system in use in Egypt was less well devel-
oped than what was in use in Babylonia at the time.42 The origins of
Mathematics in Babylonia lies with the Sumerians and their develop-
ment of writing in 3000 BC. It is believed that the Sumerian spoken
language of the time utilised a sexagesimal counting structure based on
number words.43 Furthermore, there was a connection between
Babylonian place notation and the sexagesimal system of counting.44 The
development of mathematical notations and a system of writing must
have developed around the same time during the Sumerian period of
Babylonia. Moreover, the development of writing also developed in par-
allel with the emergence of the cities of ancient Sumer.45 These ancient
cities began to agglomerate around centres of worship such as temple
complexes, which also acted as storehouses, and as sites of scholarship
and learning.46 The need to store goods for future consumption would
have required a way in which to record the quantities of such goods
being kept. This may have been the way by which primitive writing first
emerged in the world. Temples also owned the largest estates in a society
in which most people survived on a subsistence living.47 However, in
40
Baumgart, J. K. (1969), The history of algebra: An overview, In Historical topics for the mathe-
matics classroom. 31st National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Yearbook. Washington, DC:
NCTM.
41
Gullberg, J. (1997), Mathematics from the birth of Numbers, W.W. Norton, New York.
42
Stallings, L. (2000), A Brief History of Algebraic Notation, School of Science and Mathematics,
Vol. 100, No. 5, pp. 230–235.
43
Powell, M. (1976), The Antecedents of Old Babylonian Place Notation and the Early History of
Babylonian Mathematics, Historia Mathematica J, 3, pp. 417–439.
44
Ibid.
45
Modelski, G. (1999), Ancient World Cities 4000–1000 BC: Centre/hinterland in the World
System, Global Society, 13:4, pp. 383–392.
46
Ibid.
47
Jursa, M. (2010), Aspects of the Economic History of Babylonia in the First Millennium
BC. Economic Geography, Economic Mentalities, Agriculture, the Use of Money and the Problem
of Economic Growth, Ugarit Verlag, Münster.
contrast to Egypt—where the temples and, u ltimately, the Pharaoh

owned all land—in Babylonia, there was a tradition of the private owner-
ship of land as well as ownership of land by the King and by the tem-
ples.48 Temples may also have been the place from which prostitution
emerged into a commercial activity, following sacred prostitution in the
context of fertility cults and the worship of goddesses associated with
fertility.49 However, by 1200 BC, a new alphabet-based form of writing
had emerged and spread from the coast of the Levant.50 Moreover, while
the development of cities in the near east as well as in the Indus Valley
occurred under the same conditions, and Sumer ceased to be the centre
of the urban system.51 It is also interesting to note that the ancient civili-
sations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley were all active at
parallel times in history, with the latter being larger than the first two.
Hittites and the Kassites: 1595 BC

Samsu-ditana (1625 BC–1595 BC) was the last of the kings of the first
dynasty of Babylon.52 By 1595 BC, the Babylonian Empire had become
so militarily weak that the Hittite king, Mursilis I, raided Babylon unop-
posed and took away the city’s deities, Marduk and his consort.53
However, Mursilis I did not occupy Babylon, and nothing was heard of
Samsu-ditana and the royal family after the raid.54 But the raid and its
48
Carmona, S., and Ezzamel, M. (2007), Accounting and accountability in ancient civilisations:
Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 20, Issue 2.
49
Bullough, V and Bullough, B. (1978), The History of Prostitution: An Illustrated Social History,
Crown Publishers, New York.
50
Modelski, G., and Thompson, W. (1999), Evolutionary Pulsations in the World Economy, Paper
presented to the International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Convention, San Diego, April
1996, The Evolutionary Pulse of the World System: Hinterland Incursions and Migrations
4000 BC to 1500 AD, in P.N. Kardulias (ed.), World Systems Theory in Practice: Leadership,
Production, and Exchange, Rowman and Littlefield, Boulder.
51
Modelski, G. (1999), Ancient World Cities 4000–1000 BC: Centre/hinterland in the World
System, Global Society, 13:4, pp. 383–392.
52
Saggs, H. (2000), Peoples of the Past: Babylonians, University of California Press, Berkeley.
53
Ibid.
54
Ibid.
96 S. Ramesh
aftermath may have proved to be an opportune moment for the nearest

kingdom, the Sealands to the south of Babylon, to seize the city.55 This
view is evidence by the existence of a boundary stone in the region which
names Gulkishar, a king of the Sealands dynasty, as a king of Babylon.56
Nevertheless, the rule of the Sealands dynasty over Babylon must have
been a brief one because Babylon was taken over and ruled by the Kassites,
another peoples of the Zagros, from 1595 BC to 1157 BC.57 The Kassite
conquest of the Sealands dynasty had probably been completed by the
latter part of the sixteenth century.58 The defeat of the Sealands allowed
the Kassites to create a national identity over southern Mesopotamia.59
However, while the Kassites instituted a new form of political organisa-
tion over southern Mesopotamia, the old city state model being aban-
doned in favour of a national one, they abandoned hope of reintegrating
northern Mesopotamia under their hegemony, settling its rule by the
Assyrians through a treaty.60 The formerly autonomous city states became
provincial capitals, with Babylonia itself divided into 20 provinces.61
Each province was governed by a Governor, appointed by the royal court
in Babylon, who would be responsible for a hierarchy of functionaries
with distinctly new titles from the previous ancient ones.62 However,
provinces at the frontier, further away from Babylon, were governed
along tribal, family lines.63 This would have allowed for greater control,
compared to the case where a royal appointed governor would have less
regional influence as well as less local knowledge.64 The temples in
Babylonia gained more influence as administrative centres, with complex
55
Ibid.
56
Ibid.
57
Ibid.
58
Stiebing, W. (2009), Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture, 2nd Edition, Routledge,
London.
59
Ibid.
60
Ibid.
61
Liverani, M. (2011), The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy, Routledge,
New York.
62
Ibid.
63
Ibid.
64
Ibid.
but logical accounting systems in place.65 This institutional support

allowed for a stable and diversified Kassite economy.66 In this economy,
the Kassites also put in place a local taxation system, province by prov-
ince, upon which was the basis of the revenue streams for the king and
the state.67 The tax was imposed on crop production and on animal hus-
bandry, and was collected from urban and from rural populations.68 Land
grants and tax exemptions would be given by the king to those in his
favour, promoting more agricultural production, and generating more
revenues for the king.69 There would also have been an increase in the use
of labour for agricultural production and for animal husbandry, conse-
quently increasing employment levels in the rural and urban sectors.70
The proximity of the cities of Mesopotamia to the Euphrates and Tigris
rivers would have ensured low transport costs, as well as acting as the
agent of the economic integration of space.71 However, the integration of
economic space in ancient Mesopotamia did not necessarily also mean
that there would be economic homogeneity.72 In this case, land in differ-
ent regions was used to grow different crops, and the nature of tenure was
also different between regions.73
Before, their conquest of Mesopotamia, it is known that the Kassites
were active in Babylonia, both militarily, and perhaps even economically,
having fought with Samsu-ditana and his son, as well as peacefully
migrating to the region and the environs of Babylon itself.74 It is also pos-
sible that a Kassite kingdom had become established, at the time, in the
65
Ibid.
66
Ibid.
67
Ibid
68
Ibid.
69
Ibid.
70
Ibid.
71
Jursa, M. (2010), Aspects of the Economic History of Babylonia in the First Millennium
BC. Economic Geography, Economic Mentalities, Agriculture, the Use of Money and the Problem
of Economic Growth, Ugarit Verlag, Münster.
72
Malko, H. (2014), Investigation into the Impacts of Foreign Ruling Elites in Traditional State
Societes: The Case of the Kassite State in Babylonia (Iraq), ProQuest, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
73
Ibid.
74
98 S. Ramesh
middle Euphrates region under Hittite protection.75 The name of the

king of the Khana kingdom, in the middle Euphrates, was Kassite.76 This
would explain why it would have been possible for the Hittite king
Mursilis I to pass through and to pass out of the region to raid Babylon,
unhindered.77 It was at the time the Kassites were dominant in Babylon
that another ethnic group, the Hurrians, introduced the horse into
Mesopotamia.78 It would also seem that the Hurrians were the first peo-
ples to use the two-wheel, horse-drawn chariot for military purposes.79
However, it is equally possible that the Kassites from Central Asia were
the first to introduce the horse-drawn chariot into Mesopotamia.80 It is
possible that Kassites may have been serving in the Babylonian military
under the previous regime, prior to their takeover.81 This may have given
the Kassites an advantage in the takeover of Babylonia when the previous
regime collapsed. The technological innovation was that the wheels of the
chariots used by the Kassites/Hurrians were spoked, rather than consist-
ing merely of pieces of heavy wood bolted together.82 The spoked design
of the wheels allowed the chariots to be driven faster and to be more
manoeuvrable, giving the Kassites an advantage in battle. The horse could
have been domesticated in the Ukraine region in the fourth millennium
BC, arriving in Anatolia and Iran by the third millennium BC; and in
Susa and northern Mesopotamia by the first half of the second millen-
nium BC.83 The Hurrians acted as a conduit of knowledge from one
region to another, not just knowledge of the horse, but also cultural
75
76
Ibid.
77
Ibid.
78
Ibid.
79
Ibid.
80
McNeese, T. (2002), Ancient Egypt and other Early Civilisations: The Ancient World Set II,
Milliken Publishing Company, a Lorenz Company, Dayton, Ohio, US.
81
82
McNeese, T. (2002), Ancient Egypt and other Early Civilisations: The Ancient World Set II,
Milliken Publishing Company, a Lorenz Company, Dayton, Ohio, US.
83
knowledge. In this case, the Hurrians were the conduit of Mesopotamian

literature and culture to the archaic Greeks through the Hittites.84 The
Kassites adopted Babylonian Akkadian for speech as well as for writing.85
However, the Kassites not only adopted the local language, but they also
adopted the local customs and religion.86 The literature written by the
Kassite scribes of the time emphasised self-reflection, as well as a hope for
stability and peace.87 It was during the Kassite period of Babylonia that
the classic work of literature, the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’, was written and the
‘Creation Epic’ took its classical form.88 The former emphasises the jour-
ney of the human soul through hardship and toil, emerging as the but-
terfly of wisdom and inner peace.89 In addition to contributing towards
innovation in military technology, and literature, the Kassites also con-
tributed in other ways to Mesopotamian civilisation. For example, in
architecture, a new type of adornment was affixed to mud brick build-
ings.90 These adornments were represented as figures in moulded bricks.91
The radial vault technique was also used in the construction of store
rooms at the Kassite Palace of Aqar Ouf, although the vaults were lower
in pitch than usual.92 In the case of the measurement of time, a new year
would start from the coronation of a new king.93 New techniques were
developed to produce glass, as result glass utensils were in widespread use
at the time.94 Changes in land ownership were marked physically using
boundary stones, known as Kudurru stones.95 The use of the latter
84
Ibid.
85
London.
86
Ibid.
87
Ibid.
88
Ibid.
89
Ibid.
90
Ibid.
91
Crawford, H. (2015), Ur: The City of the Moon God, Bloomsbury Academic, London.
92
Baqir, T. (1945), Iraq Government excavations at Aqar Quf, Iraq Supplement. London.
93
London.
94
Arnold, B. (2004), Who Were the Babylonians?, Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta.
95
Ibid.
100 S. Ramesh
signified the emergence of a new form of land ownership in Babylonia,

the granting of land ownership by the King to members of the adminis-
trative and religious elites.96 This could have been either as a reward or to
buy loyalty. Either way, the deed would have acted as an incentive to
excel. A notion of the communal ownership of land also came back into
vogue under Kassite rule, with sales of land to ‘outsiders’ having to be
approved by the local tribe.97 Moreover, the family of the seller of the
land also had a right of veto.98 The sale of land to aliens was therefore
restricted, allowing land to be held amongst kinfolk.
The Kassite period of rule of Babylonia provided political and eco-
nomic stability.99 This in turn provided an environment which was con-
ducive to innovation and to cultural development. Hypothetically, the
stability ensured that some of the state’s resources could be diverted
towards facilitating education and training. People would also have time
to think about other things, rather than to think about ways in which
economic and political stability could be maintained on a day to day
basis. However, the arrival of the ‘Sea People’, circa 1200 BC signalled
the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, and the end of many
of the preceding civilisations such as the Hittites and the Mycenaeans.100
The ‘Sea People’ bought with them new techniques of iron production as
well as hundreds of years of political and institutional instability.101 This
period of ancient history has many similarities to the political and eco-
nomic chaos which followed the collapse of the western Roman Empire
many centuries later.102
96
New York.
97
Ellickson, R., and Thorland, C. (1995), Ancient Land Law: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, Chicago-
Kent Law Review, Vol. 71, No. 321.
98
Ibid.
99
New York.
100
Arnold, B. (2004), Who Were the Babylonians?, Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta.
101
Ibid.
102
Ibid.
The Assyrians: 911 BC

The history of the Assyrians, who were prominent in the period 911 BC
to 680 BC, can be divided into three phases, the Old, the Middle, and
the Late.103 In the Old period, between the nineteenth and the eighteenth
centuries, Assyrian merchants were trading with urban centres on the
Anatolian plateau.104 In fourteenth century BC, the Assyrians enjoyed
greater prosperity and power when they were able to remove the
Mitannian hold over them.105 Power in the Middle Assyrian period
extended as far as the Euphrates, although volatile, lasting until the death
of King Tiglath-pileser I in 1076 BC.106 After this time, the Assyrians
remained in a state of weakness until the ascendancy of King Adad-Nirari
II in 911 BC.107 The reign of this king begins in the Late Assyrian period,
in which the state began to regain central control of the original Assyrian
heartlands, and also to conquer new territories.108 The Late Assyrian
period lasted until the destruction of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, in
611 BC.109 Following Adad-Nirari II, there was a succession of notable
Assyrian kings, which included Assurnasirpal II (883 BC to 859 BC),
whose reign would mark the beginning of the Assyrian empire.110 Under
this king, there was also an expansion of the Assyrian kingdom to as far
as the shores of the Mediterranean, with other weaker contemporary
kingdoms forced to pay tribute to the Assyrian King. The revenues flow-
ing from the tributes were used to finance the building of a new capital
of Nimrud, with the old capital, Assur, becoming a religious centre.111
The city was surrounded by a wall that had been built using 70 million
103
Scarre, C., and Fagan, B. (2016), Ancient Civilisations, 4th edition, Routledge, New York.
104
Ibid.
105
Ibid.
106
Ibid.
107
108
Ibid.
109
Ibid.
110
Ibid.
111
Ibid.
102 S. Ramesh
sundried bricks.112 A site of prominence within the city was the royal
palace, which incorporated a new form of decoration for its walls, in the
form of friezes.113 These friezes were painted in deep colours, as were the
ceilings.114 Shalmaneser III (858 BC to 824 BC) continued the expansion
of the Assyrian empire by holding the lands of Syria and the Mediterranean
coastal areas.115 Nevertheless, while the kingdoms to the west of the
Euphrates had remained independent from Assyrian control, during the
declining years of the rule of Shalmaneser III, they sought to reassert their
full independence.116 However, the tables were turned during the reign of
Tiglath-Pileser III (744 BC to 727 BC), when the western kingdoms
were conquered and integrated into the Assyrian Empire.117 The progres-
sive expansion of the Assyrian Empire continued under Sargon II
(721 BC to 705 BC) and Sennacherib (704 BC to 680 BC).118 The latter
moved the capital of the Assyrian Empire from Nimrud to Nineveh.119
And it was Sargon II who razed the city of Babylon to the ground, ending
its centuries of dominance over northern Mesopotamia and the region.
Following Sennacherib, the subsequent kings of the Assyrian Empire,
Esarhaddon (680 BC to 669 BC) and Assurbanipal (669 BC to 627 BC),
conquered Egypt and the Elamites in 671 BC and 647 BC respectively.120
However, Egypt would fall out of the grasp of the Assyrians, and Elam
was conquered at a high cost.121 During Assurbanipal’s reign, palace
libraries maintained clay tablets which depicted religious, mathematical,
scientific, and religious works of scholarship.122 The King’s agents were
sent near and far to find ancient and contemporary clay tablets for the
112
Ibid.
113
Ibid.
114
Ibid.
115
Ibid.
116
Ibid.
117
Ibid.
118
Ibid.
119
120
Ibid.
121
Ibid.
122
Ibid.
palace library at Nineveh.123 Around 20,000 clay tablets survived the fires
which ravaged the palaces of Nineveh in 612 BC, and these tablets are
now housed at the British Museum in London.124 The libraries of Nineveh
would tend to substantiate the fact that the Assyrian empire, at its height,
was not just a military machine, but also a centre of learning and scholar-
ship. Specialists and scholars from newly conquered territories were
transported to the heart of the Assyrian empire so that it should benefit
from a diffusion of knowledge facilitating further innovation.125 The Late
Assyrian empire also saw the growing importance of trade within it, in
which Karum’s—or trading posts—were established.126 Furthermore, to
ensure that trade could be effectively carried out, the Aramaic language
was adopted throughout the empire.127And conquered states were tightly
integrated with other parts of the empire, with Assyrian advisors being
sent to guide local rulers.128 As a result of trade, the Assyrian king accu-
mulated capital in the form of gold and silver, which resulted from the
payment of taxes by traders to the state.129 Trade was also facilitated by
usury as a primitive form of banking, sited in temples such as the Ishtar
of Arbela.130 In this case, merchants and traders would have been able to
borrow ‘money’ or ‘capital’ at a specified rate of interest to pay for the
resources that would be needed to set up a trading mission with other
parts of the empire, and with other civilisations.131 In this case, as the
Assyrian royalty and elite became wealthier and wealthier, the greater the
quantity of luxury goods and goods of different types, which they would
have needed from other civilisations in the Mediterranean, Africa, the
123
Ibid.
124
Radner, K. (2015), Ancient Assyria: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press,
Oxford.
125
Ibid.
126
Hirmis, A. (2018), The Economics of Iraq: Ancient Past to Distant Future, Grosvenor House
Publishing, Guildford, Surrey, UK.
127
Ibid.
128
Ibid.
129
Ibid.
130
Ibid.
131
Hirmis, A. (2018), The Economics of Iraq: Ancient Past to Distant Future, Grosvenor House
Publishing, Guildford, Surrey, UK.
104 S. Ramesh
levant, Arabia, and ancient India.132 In order to achieve trade to this

extent, the Assyrians would have had access to the trading networks of
the Phoenicians.133 Thus, trade in ancient Mesopotamia was more signifi-
cant under the Assyrian Empire than it had been in Babylonia. This
would suggest that it was Assyria rather than Babylonia that served as the
conduit for the meeting of different cultural, political, religious, and sci-
entific traditions of the time.134
The rise of the Assyrian Empire was centred at a time when the Iron
Age began in 1000 BC, facilitating a shift from bronze to iron swords.135
This shift in technology allowed for greater decisiveness in battle, in
which the thrust of the sword would deal a mortal blow to the enemy
without the need for too much reliance on body contact.136 The Assyrians
also introduced the use of archers on horseback, giving greater range
from which to strike the enemy.137 This would allow for fewer Assyrian
casualties, with large numbers of enemy soldiers having already been
struck down before encountering the Assyrian infantry. Reed boats were
also used to carry archers into battle across rivers and seas.138 However,
the first fleet of Assyrian ships, with two decks of oarsman, was built in
694 BC and used in the military campaign against the kingdom of
Elam.139 In order to waterproof the ships, pitch or asphalt gathered from
surface petroleum deposits140 would have been used as a sealant.
Organisational and procedural innovations were also instituted into the
military by the Assyrians. This included not only regular maintenance of
weapons, but also training programmes for the soldiers to learn different
132
Ibid.
133
Ibid.
134
Wiseman, D. (1965), Assyria and Babylonia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
135
Dunnigan, J. (2000), Wargames Handbook: How to Play and Design Commercial and
Professional Wargames, 3rd edition, Writers Club Press, New York.
136
Ibid.
137
Ibid.
138
Gabriel, R. (2002), The Great Armies of Antiquity, Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT, USA.
139
Oxford.
140
Ray, G. (1979), Energy Economics – A Random Walk in History, Energy Economics, 3,
pp. 139–143.
techniques, and perhaps even to specialise in one aspect of warfare.141

Soldiers were also divided into smaller tactical groups.142 This allowed for
greater flexibility in deployment and control. Assyrian soldiers were also
equipped with better clothing and footwear. In the case of the latter, the
Assyrian innovation was the equipping of soldiers with knee length
leather boots, with thick soles and shin pads of thin iron plates sewn into
the boots.143 This kind of footwear allowed soldiers to fight on different
types of terrain throughout the year.144 Battles were the predominant
means of engagement for the Assyrian military, while sieges were to be
avoided because of the high cost and the lack of effective weaponry.
Catapults that could be used to destroy the walls of a city were not inno-
vated and used until the fourth century BC.145
Nabopolassar: 612 BC
The kings of Assyria who followed Ashurbanipal Ashur-etil-ilani, Sin-
shum-lishir and Sin-shar-ishkun were less militarily and politically skilled
and able than the kings they succeeded. This may partly explain why the
Assyrian Empire went into decline, unable to survive growing internal
dissension. The last king of Assyria was Sin-shar-ishkun, who reigned
until 612 BC, when Nineveh was destroyed by a military coalition of the
Babylonians, Medes, Scythians, and the Chaldean’s.146 Nabopolassar
(625 BC to 605 BC) was the Chaldean king of Babylonia who usurped
Assyria as the dominant power in the region by leading the forces which
destroyed Nineveh in 612 BC. ‘Chaldean’ is a term used by the Greeks to
141
Dunnigan, J. (2000), Wargames Handbook: How to Play and Design Commercial and
Professional Wargames, 3rd edition, Writers Club Press, New York.
142
Gabriel, R. (2002), The Great Armies of Antiquity, Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT, USA.
143
Ibid.
144
Ibid.
145
Oxford.
146
Finegan, J. (1969), Light from the Ancient Past: The Archaeological Background of the Hebrew-
Christian Religion, Vol. 1, 2nd edition, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
106 S. Ramesh
describe the tribes of Kaldu, who had been in occupation of the extreme
southern part of Babylonia since the latter half of the ninth century
BC.147 The Chaldeans, like the original inhabitants of Babylonia, wor-
shipped Marduk, the deity of the city of Babylon.148 This would facilitate
the binding of the Chaldeans with the inhabitants of Babylonia, making
them essentially one.
There is some dispute as to how Nabopolassar became King of
Babylonia. Some say that he simply seized power following the death of
Babylonia’s Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, who had succeeded his brother
Shamash-shum-ukin, as King of Babylonia.149 On the other hand, others
say that Nabopolassar was an Assyrian envoy sent to southern Babylonia
who, seeing the chaos, seized the moment to take the throne and become
King of Babylon himself.150 In this case, it would be fair to say that the
final years of the Assyrian Empire are shrouded in mystery, with light
being shed on this period by the works of Roman and Greek writers
200 years later, as well as by the works of the old Testament prophets.151
Nevertheless, however it happened, Nabopolassar did become King of
Babylonia and, in doing so, he reconstituted a new Babylonian Empire.152
However, while the capital of the Assyrian Empire, Nineveh, had fallen
to Nabopolassar in 612 BC, what was left of the Assyrians all moved to
the western city of Haran where an Assyrian King, Ashur-uballit, contin-
ued to rule for a few years until 606 BC, when Haran too fell to the
Scythians.153 However, once Haran had fallen, the Assyrians moved their
capital to Carchemish, which was on the banks of the Euphrates River.
It was at Carchemish that an alliance of Assyrians and Egyptians were
147
Sack, R. (2004), Images of Nebuchadnezzar: The Emergence of a legend, Selinsgrove,
Susquehanna University Press, London.
148
Ibid.
149
150
Gill, A. (2010), Gateway to the Gods: The Rise and Fall of Babylon, Quercus.
151
Price, I. (1924), The Nabopolassar Chronicle, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 44,
pp. 122–129.
152
153
Ibid.
defeated by a Babylonian army under the command of Nebuchadnezzar,

the King of Babylon and the son of Nabopolassar, in 605 BC. There is
no evidence to support the idea that there was more than one battle at
Carchemish.154 This defeat removed the Assyrians as a political entity in
Mesopotamia, in which Babylonia under the Chaldean’s was now mak-
ing a resurgence, both politically and economically. While the Assyrians
had been completely crushed, remnants of the Egyptian army escaped
back to Egypt. However, Egypt never regained the power it once had
and the Pharaoh Neco (609 BC to 595 BC) had to cede Egyptian terri-
tories to Babylon. The combined armies of Egypt and Assyria had been
outmatched at the Battle of Carchemish by the armies of the Babylonians,
who had formed military alliances, amongst others, with the Medes
allowing for greater action in the Tigris and Euphrates regions, to the
surprise of the Assyrians.155 One of the reasons put forward for the
demise of the Assyrian empire was that the Assyrians did not respect
either Babylonian culture or Babylonian religion, and they were seen by
the Babylonians to be morally corrupt.156 The feeling of the desecration
of their religion and their civil society, which the Babylonians must have
long held, was underlined when Babylon itself was sacked by the Assyrian
King Sennacherib in the seventh century BC.157 The behaviour of the
Assyrians was in contrast to the morally upright and humble faith of
Nabopolassar in the Babylonian god Marduk, the deity of the city of
Babylon itself. The strength of Nabopolassar’s faith may have encour-
aged the people of Babylon to rally to him, whilst the behaviour of the
Assyrians repelled the people of Babylonia. Moreover, the sudden and
quick collapse of the Assyrian Empire facilitated the rise of a political,
cultural, and economic vacuum which nearby states sought to fill.158
154
Thiele, E. (1956), New Evidence on the Chronology of the Last Kings of Judah, Bulletin of the
American Schools of Oriental Research, No, 143, pp. 22–27.
155
Price, I. (1924), The Nabopolassar Chronicle, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 44,
pp. 122–129.
156
Beaulieu, P. (2003), Nabopolassar and the Antiquity of Babylon, Eretz-Israel: Archaeological,
Historical and Geographical Studies, Vol. Hayim and Miriam Tadmar Volume, pp. 1–9.
157
Ibid.
158
Beaulieu, P. (2003), Nabopolassar and the Antiquity of Babylon, Eretz-Israel: Archaeological,
Historical and Geographical Studies, Vol. Hayim and Miriam Tadmar Volume, pp. 1–9.
108 S. Ramesh
However, this was only accomplished by Babylon itself, under the unify-
ing figure of Nabopolassar, and then his son Nebuchadnezzar. The latter
is best known for the conquest of Judea, with the fall of Jerusalem in
586 BC,159 and the deportation of the Jews, as well as for the building of
imposing walls around the city of Babylon.160 Moreover, Nebuchadnezzar
was also the first King of Babylon to simultaneously also rule over
Egypt.161 He is famed for being responsible for the famous ‘Hanging
Gardens of Babylon’. This was both architecturally and technically an
innovation, because the growing of plants upon vaults required a unique
irrigation system.162 It was also known that Nebuchadnezzar was respon-
sible for other large building works. For example, the building of two
cross-country walls to keep invaders out of Babylonia.163 Nebuchadnezzar
also continued the Assyrian policy of resettling conquered tribes in
Babylonia, and this ensured an increase in the population of Babylonia.164
It is interesting to note that the Babylonians had no concept of ‘race’, as
exists in the modern world, and neither did their language allow for the
articulation of racial distinction.165 This lack of racial distinction,
between themselves and others, made it easier for the Babylonians to
deport conquered tribes back to Babylonia. As a result, the population of
Babylonia was racially diverse in the modern context.166 Moreover, the
159
Horn, S. (1968), The Babylonian Chronicle and the Ancient Calendar of the Kingdom of Judah,
Andrews University Seminary Studies 6, pp. 29–45.
160
Sack, R. (2004), Images of Nebuchadnezzar: The Emergence of a legend, Selinsgrove,
Susquehanna University Press, London.
161
Lambert, W. (1965), Nebuchadnezzar King of Justice, Iraq, Vol. 27, Issue 1, pp. 1–11.
162
Dalley, S. (1994), Nineveh, Babylon and the Hanging Gardens: Cuneiform and Classical
Sources Reconciled, Iraq, Vol. 56, pp. 45–58.
163
Baker, H. D. (2012). The Neo-Babylonian Empire. In Potts, D. (ed.), A Companion to the
Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 914–930.
164
Wunsch, C. (2010), Neo-Babylonian Entrepreneurs, IN: The Invention of Enterprise:
Entrepreneurship from Ancient Mesopotamia to Modern Times, Landes, D., Mokyr, J., and
Baumol, W. (Eds), Princeton University Press, Princeton.
165
Bahrani, Z. (2006), Race and ethnicity in Mesopotamian Antiquity, World Archaeology, 38:1,
pp. 48–59.
166
Bertin, G. (1889), The Races of the Babylonian Empire, The Journal of the Anthropological
Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 18, pp. 104–120.
increase in population created more economic needs, fostering more

economic activity and, therefore, facilitating increased economic growth.
Economic growth was also facilitated by entrepreneurial activity. In con-
trast to Roman times, in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, entrepreneurship
was not seen in a negative way, but was regarded as a socially rewardable
activity.167 However, it was typically the case that entrepreneurs did not
arise from wealthy families.168 Moreover, entrepreneurs were social
climbers without a family name, and they did not arise from the urban
establishment.169 The most successful entrepreneurs, established either
by working in the administrative structure of the royalty or by having
close links with it.170 Once established, the entrepreneurs would then be
able to climb up the social ladder by marrying into established fami-
lies.171 This would allow them to increase their network capacity, and
thus bring more financial opportunities.172 Land ownership and prop-
erty rights were the basis of entrepreneurship in neo-Babylonian times.173
The land was the basis of self-sufficiency for the family, and any excess
agricultural or animal production could be sold, generating profits.
These profits were then used to buy more land, which could be rented
out to tenant farmers and sharecroppers.174 However, entrepreneurial
opportunities were also available for transportation of agricultural pro-
duce from rural farms to urban centres.175 Throughout the history of
Babylonia, property rights, law, and taxation played a role in economic
growth and economic activity in the state. It would follow that, in
167
Ibid.
168
Ibid.
169
170
Ibid.
171
Ibid.
172
Ibid.
173
Ibid.
174
Ibid.
175
Ibid.
110 S. Ramesh
ancient times, when states are competing for the dominance of wealth
and political power through military means, such a quest would need a
vast amount of resources, financial and material, to be successful. Such a
situation would only arise when entrepreneurship was vibrant and
unconstrained. In the case of Babylonia, the deported Judeans contin-
ued their tradition of entrepreneurship in Babylonia itself, as well as
when some returned to Judea.176 Entrepreneurship is also the engine of
institutional development.177 Such a situation would only be possible if
the rulers of the successful states—in the long run—would need to grant
private property rights, ensure the rule of law, as well as maintain a fair
and effective tax system.178 That ancient Babylonia was a market econ-
omy has been established through the analysis of data relating to how
much one Shekel of silver would buy in the context of six goods, barley,
dates, mustard, cardamom, sesame, and wool for the period 464 BC to
72 BC. This data was found by archaeologists to be recorded in cunei-
form on stone clay tablets in the ancient city of Babylon. The data analy-
sis of the prices suggested a random walk, and therefore that the ancient
Babylonian economy, at least in the period 464 BC to 72 BC, was a
market economy.179 This would lead to greater incentives to make prof-
its, leading to the greater availability of resources, which would be able
to support more scholarship, learning, and innovation. As can be seen in
Babylonia, there was a fair amount of military innovation. However, the
level of innovation will have a direct correlation with the level of eco-
nomic development.180
176
Ackroyd, Peter R. 1968. Exile and Restoration: A Study of Hebrew Thought of the Sixth
Century B.C. Philadelphia, Westminster Press.
177
Abrutyn, S. (2015), The institutional evolution of religion: innovation and entrepreneurship in
ancient Israel, Religion, 45:4, 505–531.
178
Bernholz P. (1998), International Competition Among States: Institutions, Market Regime and
Innovations in Antiquity. In: Bernholz P., Streit M.E., Vaubel R. (eds) Political Competition,
Innovation and Growth. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
179
Temin, P. (2002), Price Behaviour in Ancient Babylon, Explorations in Economic History, 39,
pp. 46–60.
180
Bernholz P. (1998), International Competition Among States: Institutions, Market Regime and
Innovations in Antiquity. In: Bernholz P., Streit M.E., Vaubel R. (eds) Political Competition,
Innovation and Growth. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Cyrus the Great: 539 BC

The first clash of the Babylonian’s with the Persians probably occurred in
southern Babylonia in 540 BC.181 This prompted Nabonidus to request
the sending of all of the statues of the gods from temples in the provincial
cities of Babylon.182 However, Cyrus II of Persia conquered Babylon in
539 BC, and this ended the 11th Babylonian dynasty.183 Allegedly, the
Persians and their allies, the Medes, had diverted the flow of the Euphrates
River so that their soldiers could march across the river bed and under-
neath the city walls, at the end of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar’s grand-
son.184 The Persians left Babylonian institutional and administrative
structures in place, so that the economic growth of Babylonia could con-
tinue, which would only benefit the Persian state.185 Furthermore, Cyrus
incorporated Babylonia, the lands of the Syrian coast, Palestine, Syria,
and regions of Mesopotamia, under the province of Babylon in the
Persian Empire, ruled by Persian governors.186 Babylon would remain
under the domination of the Persians for the next 200 years before falling
under the yoke of Macedonia and Alexander the Great in 330 BC.187
During their rule, the Persians, notably under the rule of Darius I
(521 BC to 486 BC), instituted some administrative changes.188 This was
particularly in the context of the contribution of military assets by ten-
ured farmers, with some families having to contribute archers, some
181
Zawadzki, S. (2012), The End of the Neo-Babylonian Empire: New Data Concerning
Nabonidus’s Order to send the Statutes of Gods to Babylon, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol.
71, No. 1.
182
Ibid.
183
Lambert, W. (1965), Nebuchadnezzar King of Justice, Iraq, Vol. 27, Issue 1, pp. 1–11.
184
Rogers, D. (2008), The Weeping Merchants: The Earth Weeps and Heaven Rejoices, Lulu
Enterprises, Morrisville, North Carolina.
185
186
187
Ibid.
188
Ibid.
112 S. Ramesh
families contributing chariots, and others still contributing horses.189

Tenured land was administered through institutions called ‘hatrus’, in
domains which allowed for them to be separated for fiscal purposes as
well as with regards to military and agricultural exploitation.190 The
Persian rule of Babylonia, with a number of revolts by the local popula-
tion, especially between the death of Cambyses and the start of the reign
of Xerves.191 This King has been seen as the one who laid the roots for the
demise of the Persian rule of Babylonia.192 However, the Persians in
Babylonia also used it as a base to lay claim to the Persian Empire, nota-
bly Darius II in 423 BC and Cyrus the Younger in 401 BC.193 Persian
rule also saw a decline in the use of cuneiform writing for maintaining
records in Babylonia, because it was a cumbersome system to use.194 This
may explain why there were more state records on clay tablets during the
eight-year rule of Cambyses, compared to the thirty-two-year rule of
Artaxerxes II (404 BC to 359 BC).195 However, traditional Babylonian
families still wrote in cuneiform, as these families sought to maintain
daily use of the traditions of Babylon and Uruk, during the Seleucid and
Arsacid dynasties.196 In this way, cuneiform was still in use in Babylonia
upon the arrival of Alexander the Great in 330 BC, and it continued to
be used until 70 BC.197
189
190
Ibid.
191
192
Kuhrt, A. (1988), The Achaemenid Empire: A Babylonian Perspective, Proceedings of the
Cambridge Philological Society (New Series), Vol. 34.
193
194
Ibid.
195
Ibid.
196
Ibid.
197
Ibid.
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Crawford, H. (2015), Ur: The City of the Moon God, Bloomsbury Academic,
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De Lafayette, M. (2014), Thesaurus Lexicon of Similar Words & Synonyms in
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Ellickson, R., and Thorland, C. (1995), Ancient Land Law: Mesopotamia,
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Finegan, J. (1969), Light from the Ancient Past: The Archaeological Background
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Gabriel, R. (2002), The Great Armies of Antiquity, Praeger Publishers, Westport,
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5
Ancient Greece: 1100 BC to 30 BC
The Dark Ages of Greece (1100 BC to 750 BC)

The collapse of the Mycenaean civilisation of the Mediterranean coin-
cided with the commencement of the Greek Dark Ages.1 The period of
this age was between the thirteenth century BC and the eleventh cen-
tury BC, and it coincided with a dramatic drop in Greece’s population.2
This drop may have been caused by a fall in agricultural productivity,
due to the effects of climate change, being unable to support a large
population base.3 The specific climate change could have been a pro-
longed drought, leading the soil to become unable to sustain agricultural
crops.4 However, an alternative argument for the collapse of civilisation
1
Bryant, J. (1996), Moral Codes and Social Structure in Ancient Greece: A Sociology of Greek
Ethics from Homer to the Epicureans and Stoics, State University of New York Press, Albany.
2
Drake, B. (2012), The Influence of Climatic Change on the Late Bronze Age Collapse and the
Greek Dark Ages, Journalof Archaeological Science, 39, pp. 1862–1870.
3
Ibid.
4
Carpenter, R. (1966), Discontinuity in Greek Civilization. Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, UK.

118 S. Ramesh
in the eastern Mediterranean between the thirteenth and the eleventh

centuries is that there was a collapse of the economic system.5Despite
what factors may have caused the Mycenaean civilisation to collapse, the
next four centuries were characterised by a decline in long distance trade;
and the predominance of rural as opposed to urban settlements.6 These
two characteristics would suggest that, during these four centuries, the
political and institutional structure of Greek society has also collapsed.
This is because it is centralised political control of society with strong
institutional support that is capable of facilitating the rise of urban cen-
tres, as well as long distance trade to support the increasing populations
of these urban centres. In addition to the four centuries spawning rural
and self-sustaining agricultural communities with little if any long dis-
tance trade, there was also an increase in illiteracy. The lack of political
control, the lack of institutions, and the lack of commerce meant that
there was no need to keep records or engage in scholarly ways of life. As
a result, writing systems such as Linear B disappeared.7 Furthermore,
during the Mycenaean era, there was contact between the Mycenaeans
and the Hittites.8 In order to facilitate dialogue for trade or peaceful
coexistence, the Mycenaeans may have been bilingual, speaking their
own language as well as the language of the Hittites, Hatti.9 In any case,
once the Mycenaean civilisation collapsed, the use of Hatti in the Aegean
and the eastern Mediterranean disappeared.10 The level of literacy in the
Aegean and in the eastern Mediterranean did not begin to increase again
until the start of the eighth century BC, with the introduction of the
5
Greek Dark Ages, Journal of Archaeological Science, 39, pp. 1862–1870.
6
Ibid.
7
Palaima, T.G. (2010), Linear B. In: Cline, E. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age
Aegean. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 356–372.
8
Castleden, R. (2005), Mycenaeans, Routledge, New York.
9
Janse, M. (2002), Aspects of Bilingualism in the History of the Greek Language, IN: Bilingualism
in Ancient Society: Language Contact and the Written Text, Adams, J., Janse, M., and Swain, S.
10
Fortson IV, B.W. (2004), Indo-European Language and Culture, an Introduction, Blackwell
Publishing, Malden, MA.
Ancient Greece: 1100 BC to 30 BC 119
Phoenician script by a resurgent Greek civilisation.11 Associated with the

loss of political control, supportive institutions, as well as the rise of lit-
eracy, it was at also at the end of the Late Bronze Age that urban centres
throughout the eastern Mediterranean region were abandoned.12
However, this abandonment did not occur at the same time, but over
the course of two centuries.13 However, the de-urbanisation process had
been completed by 1050 BC.14 Non-existent civil governance, non-exis-
tent political control, and the rise of rural settlements meant that there
were no more grand building projects. The result was that the four cen-
turies encompassing the Greek Dark Ages left no architectural heritage.15
A lack of adequate defences caused by the decline of the Mycenaen civil-
isation allowed large migrations of the Phoenicians into the eastern
Mediterranean.16
Archaic Greece (750 BC to 500 BC)

The designation of the period from 750 BC to 500 BC as archaic in the
context of ancient Greece is due principally to the form of art that emerged
during that period.17 However, perhaps more importantly, from an eco-
nomic perspective, is the emergence of a different form of social and polit-
ical organisation which had never been seen in antiquity.18 This may have
provided the context for the spectacular achievements in Greece’s Classical
11
Sass, B. (2005), The Alphabet at the Turn of the Millennium: The West Semitic Alphabet CA.
1150–850 BCE, the Antiquity of the Arabian, Greek, and Phrygian Alphabets, Ravgon, Tel Aviv.
12
Mazar, A. (1990), Archaeology of the Land of the Bible 10,000–586 BCE. Doubleday, New York,
NY.
13
Greek Dark Ages, Journal of Archaeological Science, 39, pp. 1862–1870.
14
Ibid.
15
Desborough, V.R. (1964), The Last Mycenaeans and Their Successors. Oxford University Press,
Oxford.
16
Sandars, N.K. (1987), The Sea Peoples: Warriors of the Ancient Mediterranean. Thames and
Hudson, New York.
17
Martin, T. (2013), Ancient Greece – From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times, Yale University Press,
New Haven.
18
Ibid.
120 S. Ramesh
Age, which followed its Archaic Age.19 However, while democracy

bloomed in the Classical Age of Greece, in its Archaic Age, aristocratic
rule can be replaced by a narrower governing institution, the tyrant.20
While all Polis entered the Archaic Age with power concentrated in the
hands of a small number of noble families, the Polis exited the age with
governance in the context of a broad range of representation by the people
themselves.21 In the Archaic Age, there were hundreds of Polis in ancient
Greece and, in each of these, democracy evolved at a different pace.22 Each
Polis was a community of citizens, into which new citizens were readily
accepted.23 In essence, each Polis represented a society which was of a
complex hierarchy in nature, comprised of thousands of individual peas-
ant households who owned the means of production.24 These households
neither paid dues to a central government, nor did they rely on a central
government for the necessities of life.25 The concentration of households
in the Polis also gave way to an impersonal exchange of goods, shoes,
clothes for agricultural products, which over time gave rise to marketised
exchange, especially in Athens.26 However, over the Archaic Age as a
whole, a period characterised by increasing population and economic
growth, the governance of the Polis was becoming increasingly autarkic
with the rise of the tyrant.27 The tyrant arose in the Polis, which were cen-
tres of commercial activity such as Athens, Corinth and Argos, rather than
the Polis which were centres of agriculture such as Thebes and Sparta.28
19
Snodgrass, A. (1981), Archaic Greece, The Age of Experiment, University of California Press,
Berkeley and Los Angeles.
20
Fleck, R., and Hanssen, F. (2013), How Tyranny Paved the Way to Democracy: The Democratic
Transition in Ancient Greece, The Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 56, No. 2, pp. 389–416.
21
Grant, M. (1987), The Rise of the Greeks. New York: Charles Scribner.
22
23
Ehrenberg, V. (1937), When did the polis rise?, JHS 57, 147–59.
24
Morris, I. (1990), The Early Polis as City and State, IN City and Country in the Ancient World,
Rich, J., and Wallace-Hadrill, A. (Eds), Routledge, London.
25
Ibid.
26
Ibid.
27
Andrewes, A. (1956), The Greek Tyrants, Hutchinson’s University Library, London.
28
Tyrants were also in favour of supply-side economic policies, such as the

investment in infrastructure, the building of aqueducts, pump houses,
and ports, for example.29 Furthermore, it was in the Polis, in which the
tyrants had been in power during the Archaic Age, that democracy flour-
ished during the subsequent Classical Age.30 Lastly, the end of tyranny
always took two forms: either death or exile.31 Throughout history, tyrants
have been seen from a negative point of view. However, in the context of
ancient Greece, tyrants were a break from the past, and their succession to
power neither depended on parentage or status of birth.32 One argument
that may support the evolution of democracy from tyranny, relates to the
supposition that the pro-economic growth policies of the tyrants allowed
the citizenry to become economically and financially self-sufficient, such
that they entered the next level of individualism, the quest for political
freedom. This was in a society in which a measure of a person’s personal
quality was the level of their economic success.33
The evolution of the political and social organisation which culminated
in the Archaic age began in ancient Greece’s Dark Age.34 The concern
with the political, social, and economic issues were reflected in the poetry
of the time.35 It can be seen as a structural transformation that laid the
economic basis for Greek society in the ensuing centuries.36 However, the
change from the Archaic Age to the Classical Age of Greece was more
associated with an intellectual transformation.37 In the structural transfor-
mation, urban centres and adjoining regions with villages were organised
29
Jeffrey, L. (1976), Archaic Greece: The City-States c. 700–500 B.C, St. Martin’s Press, New York.
30
31
Ibid.
32
Saxonhouse, A. (1988), The Tyranny of Reason in the World of the Polis, American Political
Science review, Vol. 82, No. 4.
33
Ulf, C. (2009), The World of Homer and Hesiod, IN A Companion to Archaic Greece, Raaflaub,
K., and Van Wees, H. (Eds), Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
34
35
Kurke, L. (1992), The Politics of Archaic Greece, Classical Antiquity, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 91–120.
36
Ibid.
37
Ibid.
122 S. Ramesh
into city states, or Polis, whose free men, women, and children were clas-
sified as citizens, while each city states population would also have
included free non-citizen foreigners and non-free slaves.38 However, it
was only the men who had the right to participate in political activities,
even though both free men and women were classed as citizens of the
Polis, from which is derived the term ‘politics’.39 One of the most impor-
tant characteristics of these Greek city states of the Archaic Age was the
ability of the poorest in society to not only exist as citizens, but also to
have a fair degree of political rights as well.40 While in contemporary
democratic societies this may not seem as a privilege but a right, it is
astonishing that it existed in antiquity. For example, besides in ancient
Rome, which will be examined in the next chapter, it was not recognised
until the American Declaration of Independence was made in the late
eighteenth century, that all men were created equal. Thus, it is not clear
how the poor free citizens of Archaic Greece could be given a certain level
of inalienable rights when amongst them existed slaves. In this case,
despite the hardships that the poor free of Archaic Greece faced, as did
the slaves, the condition they enjoyed of citizenship and limited political
rights gave their existence some meaning in contrast to the existence of
the slaves.41 How this new form of social and political organisation began
to emerge in the Dark Ages of ancient Greece has been a subject of debate
amongst scholars. It may be the case that it may have existed in the cities
of Cyprus and Phoenicia, and knowledge of its existence diffused through
to the Greeks through contact with near-eastern traders and/or schol-
ars.42 However, while it may be easier to accept that technological, reli-
gious, and cultural innovations could pass from one society to another in
this way, innovations in governance would have required equitable power
in society. In other words, everyone must have been equal to some extent
anyway without a polarisation of power in society. In this case, as the
38
New Haven.
39
Ibid.
40
Ibid.
41
Ibid.
42
Ibid.
extinction of the Mycenaean civilisation in the Mediterranean left a void

of power, it may be the case that smaller states arose in the context of
equitable power.43 In other words, everyone’s contribution to that society
was required for survival, so everyone was treated equally. Furthermore,
it is inconceivable that the idea of equality or even the idea of citizenship
would have come from the states of the near east, where there was a
polarisation of power. Moreover, the reinvention of politics in the Greece
of the Dark Ages was leading to concepts which had previously been
unknown, such as the equality of treatment under the law and the ability
to speak one’s mind on political issues.44 This contrasts with the differen-
tiation between the rich and the poor which had been marked in the era
of the near east and Greece during the Mycenae civilisation; and was
gaining in strength again during the latter part of the Dark Ages.45 The
only sign of class struggle was evidenced by farmers in Attica openly chal-
lenging exploitative landlords in the late seventh and the early sixth cen-
tury BC.46 However, despite the rising inequality of income in Greek
society and rising equality of treatment under the law, in the case of
women, there were added restrictions and regulations in the context of
property ownership and sexual behaviour.47
At the start of the Archaic Age, the Greeks also started to migrate and
establish settlements and trading posts in Ionia, southern France, Sicily,
and Spain, where they interacted with the Phoenicians at sites where
they too had established trading posts and settlements interacting with
the indigenous populations.48 It was in around 750 BC that the island of
Thera was occupied and recolonised by the Spartans specifically because
Sparta was becoming overpopulated.49 However, whereas individuals
43
New Haven.
44
Ibid.
45
Ibid.
46
Rose, P. (2012), Class in Archaic Greece, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
47
New Haven.
48
Ibid.
49
Percy, W. (1996), Pederasty and Pedagogy in Archaic Greece, University of Illinois Press, Chicago.
124 S. Ramesh
and merchants may have had ships, it is unlikely that, at a community

level, the Polis would have possessed a navy.50 The political, social, and
economic disruptions of the Dark Ages as well as the depopulation of
Greece, which had occurred at the time, had led to a large amount of
available unoccupied land. However, as the population levels began to
rise towards the later Dark Ages and into the Archaic Age—a population
explosion in the eighth century BC.51 In fact, the increase in population
between 780 BC and 720 BC may have been by a factor of seven.52 This
led to less and less land being available for occupation, so people had to
migrate to make a living either through agriculture or through trade, or
through a combination of both.53 The other factor, which led to increas-
ingly less agricultural food production, was that the sons inherited
equally after their father’s death.54 The impact of this would have been
that, over generations, the size of the plots of land owned by families
would become smaller and smaller with the result that not enough food
would have been produced to sustain the families.55 In this case, land-
owners would have resorted to borrowing grain, as Greece was a pre-
monetary society at the time, in order to feed themselves and their
families using themselves or family members as collateral. Furthermore,
the grain shortage was exacerbated by big landowners exporting grain to
other cities and regions to obtain goods which were not available in the
Polis.56 In this case, these factors associated with a rising population
ensured the occurrence of a severe political, social, and economic crisis.57
50
De Souza, P. (1998), Towards thalassocracy? Archaic Greek naval developments, IN Archaic
Greece: New Approaches and New Evidence, Fisher, N., and Van Wees, H. (eds), Duckworth with
The Classical Press of Wales, London.
51
52
Ibid.
53
New Haven.
54
Parker, V. (2007), Tyrants and Lawgivers, IN The Cambridge Companion to Archaic Greece,
Shapiro, H. (Ed), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
55
Ibid.
56
57
Ibid.
Due to this, Solon was appointed as the second lawgiver in the Polis of
Athens in 594 BC.58 The role of lawgiver developed from that of arbitra-
tor, a position filled by a wise man who would be just and able to medi-
ate between disputing citizenry.59 Existing laws could be used by
aristocratic judges to cause justice and oppression.60 At the same time
there was a requirement for existing laws, regulations, and customs to be
reformed to ensure equality of just treatment under the law. Therefore,
in order to prevent injustice, to reform existing laws, and to implement
new laws, the arbitrator became the lawgiver.61 The shift towards written
laws in archaic Greece can be seen as a shift towards citizen equality and
equal treatment under the law.62 However, the laws were implemented
on an ad hoc basis when existing regulations were not able to resolve
developing crises.63 In this case, the development of written laws in
archaic Greece should be seen as helping to develop the Polis, rather than
as a means of democracy in itself. Nevertheless, the development of writ-
ten laws can be seen as an important step towards that end. Moreover,
the coherency of culture, customs, religious practices, and laws only
came about in the archaic Greece of seventh century BC because that is
when the laws were written.64 These written laws, however, are distinct
from rules and customs that were orally transmitted.65 The difference
between the two is that the former represents a permanent institution in
the context of the Polis, which could not be forgotten.66 Solon stipulated
58
Ibid.
59
Holkeskamp, K. (1992), Written Law in Archaic Greece, Proceedings of the Cambridge
Philological Society, 38, pp. 87–117.
60
Ibid.
61
Ibid.
62
Robinson, E. (1997), The First Democracies: Early Popular Government Outside Athens, Franz
Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart.
63
Ibid.
64
Blok, J. (2018), Retracing Steps: Finding Ways into Archaic Greek Citizenship, IN Defining
Citizenship in Archaic Greece, Duplouy, A., and Brock, R. (Eds), Oxford University Press, Oxford.
65
Gagarin, M. (2003), Letters of the Law: Written Texts in Archaic Greek Law, IN: Written Texts
and the Rise of Literate Culture in Ancient Greece, Yunis, H.(Eds), Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge.
66
Ibid.
126 S. Ramesh
policies which the Polis of Athens should follow, rather than just specific
laws. For example, he forbade the export from Athens of any agricultural
produce except olive oil.67 Furthermore, Solon also required that fathers
should teach their sons a trade, the produce of which could be exchanged
for agricultural produce so that they could feed themselves in the event
of their families not being able to grow enough food.68 During his ten-
ure, Solon also contributed to Athens’ democratic future, through tyr-
anny, by laying its foundations through institutional innovation in a
number of ways.69 Firstly, Solon introduced a class system based on
wealth, which in terms of highest to the lowest, was represented by the
Pentakosiomedimni, the Hippeis, the Zeugitae, and the Thetes.70 This
classification would also help to make tax collection more efficient.
Secondly, Solon established institutions such as the popular law courts,
the assembly of the citizens that discussed and formulated policies, and
the Council of the Four Hundred.71 The latter was to organise and pres-
ent the business to be discussed and considered by the people’s assem-
bly.72 The Council of the Four Hundred, had its members, selected in
groups of one-hundred from the several tribes that made up the popula-
tion of the Polis of Athens.73 Its other obligation was to appoint the
officers of the state.74 Solon also stipulated regulations for office, the
holding of which depended on wealth.75
67
68
Ibid.
69
Salmon, J. (2003), Lopping off the heads? Tyranny, politics and the polls, IN The Development
of the Polis in Archaic Greece, Mitchell, L., and Rhodes, P. (Eds), Routledge.
70
Grote, G. (1856), History of Greece, Murray.
71
Hammond, B. (1895), Political Institutions and the Greeks, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge.
72
Sealey, R. (1976), A History of the Greek City States, 700–338 BC, University of California
Press, Los Angeles.
73
Ibid.
74
Sandys, J. (1912), Aristolelous, Athenaian, Politeia, The Lawbook Exchange Ltd., Union, New
Jersey.
75
Hammond, B. (1895), Political Institutions and the Greeks, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge.
The economy of the Polis cannot be described as a capitalistic one.76

However, while money can be associated with capitalism, coinage did
come to be used in Archaic Greece, either in the sixth century BC77 or at
the start of the eighth century BC.78 Despite the emergence of coinage in
Archaic Greece, it is important not to overstate the contribution of coin-
age to the economy of the Polis.79 This is because the coins’ values repre-
sented very large denominations, and their usage was limited to the
environs of the Polis.80 In this case, the only political interest in economic
problems emanated from the citizens of the Polis with their daily needs,
in terms of food and services.81 The citizens were seen primarily as con-
sumers and not as producers, the role of which was taken up by the slaves
and by the foreign residents of the Polis.82 This would suggest that the
mode of production in ancient Greece should be looked upon from a
political perspective rather than from either a capital or kin perspective83;
from a political perspective, because production depended on status in
the context of either being a citizen or being free. Nevertheless, the rapid
increase in population and the establishment of new settlements and
trading posts may have lent itself to an ever-increasing need for a more
complex form of structural organisation for Greek society.84 Without an
effective co-ordination mechanism, the ever-increasing diffusion of
knowledge, and the division of labour would have proved to be difficult
to manage.85 In this light, perhaps the equality of treatment and citizen-
ship mechanism which had been evolving since the Dark Ages was the
76
Morris, I. (1986), Gift and Commodity in Archaic Greece, Man, New Series, Vol. 21, No. 1,
pp. 1–17.
77
Kraay, C. (1976), Archaic and Classical Greek coins. London.
78
Kagan, D. (1982), The dates of the earliest coins, Am. J. Archaeol. 86, 52–73.
79
Morris, I. (1986), Gift and Commodity in Archaic Greece, Man, New Series, Vol. 21, No. 1,
pp. 1–17.
80
Cook, R. M. (1958), Speculations on the origin of coinage, Historia 7, 257–62.
81
Ibid.
82
Ibid.
83
Ibid.
84
85
Ibid.
128 S. Ramesh
best solution such that it’s use was consolidated during the Archaic Age.
Citizenship may have been the mechanism for managing interactions
within the Polis, but ultimately, it was these interactions which facilitated
economic growth. However, having said this, it is evident that economic
growth and living standards were higher and bigger towards the end of
the Classical Age and the start of the Hellenistic Age of Greece.86
Classical Greece (500 BC to 324 BC)

The Classical Age of Greece encompasses the end of the wars with Persia
in 479/8 BC and the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.87 The
naval battle at Salamis in 480 BC was a turning point in ancient Greek
history and, in hindsight, it not only saved Greece, but also western civili-
sation, from the Persian conquest.88 This was also a turning point for
Greek society because it was the rowers of Athens who powered the Greek
ships to victory over the Persians. They represented the poorest of
Athenian society, but their contribution to the Greek victory gave them
more confidence and a growing interest in participating in the political
affairs of the Polis.89 The conflict with Persia finally came to an end in
479 BC, when the Greeks defeated the Persian army at the Battle of
Plataea.90 This victory ensured that Athens was now a great power; and its
military supremacy necessitated that now there was more to discuss in the
assembly.91 However, it was military action by Sparta in 511 BC which
dealt a deadly blow to tyranny in Athens and brought about its demise.92
86
Morris, I. (2004), Economic Growth in Ancient Greece, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical
87
Walter, U. (2010), The Classical Age as a Historical Epoch, IN A Companion to the Classical
Greek World, Kinzl, K. (Ed), Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford.
88
Strauss, B. (2004), The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece and Western
Civilisation, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, New York.
89
90
Shepherd, W. (2012), Plataea 479 BC: The Most Glorious Victory Ever Seen, Osprey Publishing.
91
92
Osborne, R. (1996), Greece in the Making, 1200–479 BC, Routledge, New York.
It was after this that the Polis of Athens became an egalitarian democracy
in which any citizen could make an equal contribution to the city’s politi-
cal discourse.93 Nevertheless, the rise of an egalitarian democracy was not
a smooth one. It was only possible because of institutional-structural, and
physical reforms that had been implemented by Solon and Kleisthenes
respectively.94 Much has been discussed about the contributions of Solon
to the emergence of Greek democracy in the previous section, but not
much has been said about the contribution of Kleisthenes to this. In this
case, it was felt at the time that the one constraint to efficiency in Athenian
politics was the centuries-old division of its people into the four tribes.
Tribal divisions in the assembly would mean that the time taken to dis-
cuss and make decisions would be long, if at all possible. Therefore, in
order to allow Solon’s structural institutional reforms to work, physical
reforms of the old tribal groupings were required to ensure that Athenians
acted as one nation.95 In this case, at the start of the Classical Age,
Kleisthenes sub-divided the four original tribal groups into ten ‘phyle’,
without abolishing the tribes.96 Furthermore, the neighbourhoods of the
Polis were organised into smaller hamlets, each with its own local assem-
bly and leader.97 This spread of power along a more diverse base of the
population allowed for each citizen to have a say in the political, military,
and economic affairs of the state. Each sub-division of land was known as
a deme, and its inception and implementation by Kleisthenes was nothing
other than a political revolution.98 It may have emerged as a result of the
political infighting of the three main political groupings in Athens of the
time.99 These political groupings were demarcated by geographical
features and included those living in the Attica coastal areas, the plains
93
94
Ibid.
95
Andrewes, A. (1977), Kleisthenes’ Reform Bill, CQ 27, pp. 246–7.
96
Ibid.
97
Ibid.
98
99
Gaeta, L. (2004) Athenian democracy and the political foundation of space, Planning Theory &
amp; Practice, 5:4, pp. 471–483.
130 S. Ramesh
surrounding the Polis of Athens, and the mountainous regions.100 The

Paralion, the Pedieis, and the Hyperakrioi respectively.101
The physical reorganisation of the neighbourhoods of the Polis of
Athens into demes had a number of repercussions for Athenian politics.
These included the remodelling of the army, and the emergence of a new
institution of the five-hundred to which each Phlae contributed fifty
citizens.102 Every deme was also represented in this new council.103 The
reforms instituted by Kleisthenes focused on the spatial re-orientation of
power.104 The mechanism of power that had held sway for centuries, that
of the aristocratic families through their wealth and bloodlines, was now
irrevocably broken.105 The mechanism of power had now moved from
the aristocratic families of the Polis of Athens to the land and its peo-
ple.106 This was the first time, in known and recorded human history
that this had happened and, many centuries later, would form the foun-
dations for the governance of contemporary western civilisation, with
countries in other parts of the world also utilising similar governance
systems.
The rise of Phillip II of Macedonia signalled the end of the indepen-
dent Greek city states. It may be said that Phillip introduced civilisation
into a kingdom in a poor part of northern Greece, which the other
Greek states considered backward.107 However, when Phillip seized
power and became King in 359 BC after the death of his two older
brothers, he set about modernising Macedonia.108 In particular, Phillip
set about modernising the Macedonian army using his experience
gained from the Theban general Epaminondas, while he had been exile
100
Ibid.
101
Ibid.
102
103
Ibid.
104
Gaeta, L. (2004) Athenian democracy and the political foundation of space, Planning Theory &
amp; Practice, 5:4, pp. 471–483.
105
Ibid.
106
Ibid.
107
Cawthorne, N. (2004), Alexander the Great, Haus Publishing, London.
108
Ibid.
in Thebes.109 The Macedonian army was organised into an elite cavalry,

behind which was a powerful phalanx of six brigades of infantry.110 Each
brigade contained 1500 men, with each man carrying a pike which was
much longer than that used by the military of other Greek states.111 This
innovation may have given the Macedonians an advantage in battle, by
disabling oncoming cavalry or infantry without Macedonian cavalry or
men being in harm’s way. The Macedonian infantry was also densely
packed, such that injured men could be quickly replaced in the heat of
battle, encouraging a continuous forward motion of soldiers. To sup-
port siege warfare, the Macedonian army would be followed by siege
warfare engineers.112
The convening of the Amphictyonic Council, an ancient religious
association of Greek tribes predating the rise of the Polis, in 339 BC sig-
nalled the start of the Fourth Sacred War against the Polis of Amphissa.113
The meeting was convened because the Amphissans accused Athens of
impiety. However, the Athenians in turn accused the Amphissan’s of
impiety by cultivating part of the sacred plain of Cirrha.114 This was con-
firmed by the Council who appointed Phillip II, Alexander the Great’s
father, as the head of the Amphictyonic Council army, which was to be
sent to punish the Amphissans.115 Nevertheless, Athens and Thebes did
not send representatives to the special Council meeting at which Phillip
II was appointed commander of the Council’s army.116 This was for two
reasons. Firstly, the Thebans did not want to wage war against the
Amphissan’s.117 Secondly, the Athenians did not want to compromise
their relationship with the Thebans by backing Phillip II, and this view
109
Ibid.
110
Ibid.
111
Ibid.
112
Ibid.
113
Worthington, I. (2013), Demosthenes of Athens and the Fall of Classical Greece, Oxford
114
Ibid.
115
Ibid.
116
Ibid.
117
Ibid.
132 S. Ramesh
was supported by the Athenian politician Demosthenes.118 It was he who

saw the threat which Phillip II posed to the independence of the Greek
city states. For this reason, Demosthenes wanted to form an alliance with
Thebes to defeat Phillip II.119 Thebes was not on friendly terms with
Macedonia. For example, the Thebans had seized the fortress of Nicaea
from the Macedonian garrison placed there by Phillip in 344 BC.120 But
while Phillip was in control of the Amphictyonic army, he was free to do
as he liked in Greece. Thus, Phillip seized the town of Elatea, and
demanded that the Thebans return Nicaea to its rightful owners.121
Furthermore, Phillip also demanded that the Thebans join his army and
the Macedonians in a war to defeat the Athenians, in return for keeping
the booty for the sacking of the city.122 However, the Thebans stuck with
the Athenians, but even their combined forces would not have been
enough to stop Phillip and the Macedonians from overrunning the city
states of Greece. The Athenians and the Thebans, therefore put out a call
to the other Greek city states receiving support from Megara, Corinth,
Achaea, Euboea, Acarnania, and some outlying island.123 On the other
hand, the Thessalians and the Phocians supported Phillip and his forc-
es.124 These opposing forces met at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC,
whereupon Phillip II and his forces emerged as the victors.125 It was at the
Battle of Chaeronea that the Greek city states lost their independence.126
However, Athens suffered its final naval defeat at the hands of the
Macedonians in 322 BC.127 Phillip then established the League of
118
Ibid.
119
Ibid.
120
Ibid.
121
Ibid.
122
Ibid.
123
Ibid.
124
Ibid.
125
126
Ibid.
127
Davies, J. (1993), Democracy and Classical Greece, Harvard University Press, Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
Corinth.128 This was formed to facilitate cohesion in Greece by placing

each of the former city states on an equal footing, whether they had pre-
viously been an ally or an enemy to Phillip and the Macedonians.129 The
League of Corinth was also allow all the resources, manpower, and weap-
ons manufacturing, to be focused on Phillip’s military objective of chal-
lenging, containing, and eventually defeating the Persians. Furthermore,
Phillip’s strategy of making formerly weaker states stronger and formerly
stronger states weaker had the effect of destroying the former system of
political control that the independent former city states had enjoyed.130
However, this strategy did not prevent a revolt in Thebes in 335 BC or a
war with Sparta in 331 BC.131 But it may have prevented the spreading of
revolts and military action against the Macedonians from one former city
state to others.132 The impact of Phillip and the Macedonians on Greece
was to unite it physically.133 However, Greece remained politically dis-
united simply because local nationalism at the level of the city state would
not converge with nationalism at a national level.134 Nevertheless, the
formation of the League of Corinth signalled the end of formal military
operations by Phillip and the Macedonians in Greece.135 They would not
return there until after the assassination of Phillip, when his son Alexander
and his forces would return to quell discontent. The focus of Macedonian
military forces would turn to Anatolia, and then, under Alexander, to a
far wider area stretching from Europe to the frontiers of India and
beyond.136
128
129
Roebuck, C. (1948), The Settlements of Phillip II with the Greek States in 338 BC, Classical
Philology, Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 73–92.
130
Ibid.
131
Ibid.
132
Ibid.
133
Ibid.
134
Ibid
135
Ellis, J. (1976), Phillip II and Macedonian Imperialism, Princeton University Press, Princeton,
New Jersey.
136
Ibid.
134 S. Ramesh
Hellenistic Greece (323 BC to 31 BC)

The term ‘Hellenistic’ denotes the period of ancient Greek history that
encompasses the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of
Cleopatra VII of Egypt in 30 BC.137 Within two decades of Alexander’s
death, his generals carved up the empire he had created between themselves.
Macedonia and Greece were taken by Antigonus (382 BC–301 BC) and his
son Demetrius (336 BC to 283 BC).138 Syria and the old Persian kingdom,
whose frontiers lay in western Asia, were taken by Seleucus (358 BC to
281 BC), and Ptolemy (367 BC to 282 BC) took Egypt.139 However, it took
several decades after Alexander’s death for the boundaries of the new king-
doms to become stable.140 The Seleucids Empire, founded by Seleucus, was
by far the biggest in terms of the size of territory, stretching from Syria as far
as Afghanistan.141 However, it continued to lose territory both in the west
and in the east.142 Moreover, the new rulers were not descended from royal
bloodlines, and so the legitimacy for their Kingships were derived solely
from their military experience and positions under Alexander.143 The new
political economy of Greece and the near east was a combination of
Macedonian and near-eastern traditions, a combination of exogenous rulers
taking over the rule of peoples with endogenous religious, cultural, social,
economic, political, and military traditions.144 The new political economy of
governance emerged during the conquests of Alexander when he made
Macedonian kingship the centre of governance in the lands he acquired.145
137
Martin, T. (2013), Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times, Yale University Press,
New Haven.
138
Ibid.
139
Ibid.
140
Ibid.
141
Price, S. (2001), The History of the Hellenistic Period, IN The Oxford History of Greece and
the Hellenistic World, Boardman, J., Griffin, J., and Murray, O. (Eds), Oxford University Press,
Oxford.
142
Ibid.
143
Ibid.
144
New Haven.
145
Oxford.
The Hellenistic Age encompasses a time in which Greek traditions

fluxed with the indigenous traditions of the eastern Mediterranean to form
a multicultural social and cultural life.146 This was facilitated by the
Hellenistic kings encouraging Greeks to move to their kingdoms, intro-
ducing new ideas and customs into non-Greek societies.147 This diffusion
of ideas from Greece to the new Hellenistic kingdoms had its biggest
impact in the densely populated regions of Egypt and Southwest Asia.148
One of the innovative ideas that was transferred from Greece to the new
Hellenistic kingdoms was that of the institution of the Gymnasion.149 This
was the ancient Greek equivalent of the contemporary ‘school’ in which
both physical and intellectual achievements are supported.150 Mental and
physical fitness allowed for the dynamism of thought, facilitating innova-
tion in a diverse range of areas. This included the law, in which institutional
changes occurred during the second and third centuries BC, such that
there was greater inter-city co-operation in the dispensation of justice.151 In
this case, judges from other cities could sit in on the judgement panels and
tribunals of other cities. Inter-state co-operation in the dispensation of jus-
tice became more integrated during the Hellenistic Age, making it more
difficult for foreigners to evade justice.152 However, the Greeks also estab-
lished new cities in the Hellenistic kingdoms, which also facilitated the
Greek influence on other cultures.153 On the other hand, this process had
already begun under Alexander when his armies conquered other civilisa-
tions—this also facilitated the diffusion of the Greek language, lifestyles as
well as Greek institutions, such as the theatre and the Gymnasion.154 Other
146
New Haven.
147
Ibid.
148
Ibid.
149
Oxford.
150
Ibid.
151
Chamoux, F. (2002), Hellenistic Civilisation, Blackwell Publishing, London.
152
153
New Haven.
154
Thonemann, P. (2018), The Hellenistic Age: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University
Press, Oxford.
136 S. Ramesh
innovations in the Hellenistic Age were made in the arts, in architecture,

and in warfare with the use of elephants in battles between two opposing
armies.155 Nevertheless, knowledge of the use of war elephants was acquired
by the Macedonians and the Greeks during Alexander’s incursions into the
Hindu Kush kingdoms of ancient India.156 In literature, Polybius (200 BC
to 118 BC) innovated in the way he wrote, choosing to write only on the
history of actions at a turning point in world history through his ‘Histories
of Rome’.157 The strong link between political hegemony and cultural
influence is evidenced centuries later by the European nations’ influence on
their colonies throughout the world.158 A prime example would be the
impact of the British Empire on indigenous societies from the seventeenth
century AD onwards.
Despite their apparent stability in a cosmopolitan society, the
Hellenistic kingdoms were losing ground to another rising power in the
Mediterranean, the power of Rome. It was the poor decisions taken by
the Macedonian kings, from a diplomatic as well as from a military per-
spective, starting in the third century BC, which encouraged the Romans
to take an interest in Greece.159 This led to the increasing dominance of
Rome in Greek affairs. This led to the control of Macedonia by Rome by
the middle of the second century BC when, in 168 BC, Rome conquered
Macedonia160 and Greece became a Roman province in 146 BC.161 After
155
156
Ibid.
157
Godin, B., and Lucier, P. (2012), Innovation and Conceptual Innovation in Ancient Greece,
INRS, Chaire Fernand Dumont Sur La Culture, Project on the Intellectual History of Innovation,
Working Paper No.12.
158
Oxford.
159
New Haven.
160
Oxford.
161
Smith, W., and Greene, G. (1861), A History of Greece from the Earliest Times to the Roman
Conquest, Harper Brothers Publishers, New York.
this time, Roman and Greek history became intertwined.162 The end of
the Hellenistic kingdoms was met by the rise of the Roman Empire under
its first Emperor, Augustus (31 BC to 14 AD), and the demise of the
Roman Republic.163
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6
The Roman Empire (443 BC to 395 AD)
Early Rome and the Republic

Not much has been written about the beginnings of Rome, because most
historical records have not survived. Much of early Roman history has
been pieced together from a combination of myth, records of scholars
who were active many centuries after the collapse of the Roman Empire,
and from the fragments of texts of scholars who were contemporary to
Rome. The first of these include Titus Livius (59 BC to 17 AD) and
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, his Greek contemporary. Both ancient schol-
ars provide parallel accounts of early Rome until 443 BC, but after this
year, only Titus Livius continued to do so.1 On the other hand, the works
of Livius and Dionysius is augmented by the works of Cicero (106 BC to
43 BC) such as ‘On the State’, which provides a narrative on early Roman
history, despite the fact that the text did not survive in its entirety.2
Nevertheless, Plutarch (46 AD–120 AD) draws upon the works of Livius
and Dionysius for his own narratives, but does make his own contribution
1
Cornell, T. (1995), The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic
Wars (c. 1000–264 BC), Routledge, New York.
2
Ibid.

142 S. Ramesh
to Rome’s historical narrative in the Life of Pyrrhus, covering the period

293 to 264.3 The works of Diodorus Siculus, especially books 11–20
survived, and provide insights into early Rome from 486 BC to 302 BC.4
Furthermore, fragments of surviving texts by Cassius Dio, as well as a
summary of it by the twelfth-century Byzantine monk Zonaras, provide
an account of early Rome up to the Punic Wars.5 Book 5 of the works of
the scholar Strabo (63 BC to 21 AD) also provides an insight into the
very early history of Rome.6 Other ancient scholars, such as Polybius
(210 BC to 131 BC) and Cornelius Tacitus (56 AD to 120 AD), also
contributed to the study of the history of Rome, but in different times.7
The work of Polybius tells of the rise of Rome up to the Punic Wars with
Carthage. His work is considered important because it is 100 years older
than are the other existing accounts of classical antiquity.8 Moreover,
Polybius is not only able to shed light on the nature of treaties between
Rome and Carthage, but also for its early history, extending back to
450 BC.9 Finally, the work of Cornelius Tacitus sheds light on the evolu-
tion and development of institutions in ancient Rome.10
There has been some debate in the literature as to the specific date at
which Troy was destroyed by the Mycenaeans. However, it may be the
case that Troy was destroyed at some point within the range of dates
encompassing the thirteenth to the twelfth centuries BC.11 After the
destruction of Troy, the chief associate of Hector, Aeneas, fled with the
other Trojans to the west coast of Italy.12 The story of how Aeneas goes to
the west coast of Italy and what he does there subsequently is told by the
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid.
7
Ibid.
8
Ibid.
9
Ibid.
10
Ibid.
11
Cline, E. (2013), The Trojan War – A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
12
Duncan, M. (2016), The History of Rome – Volume 1: The Republic, Herodotus Press.
The Roman Empire (443 BC to 395 AD) 143
ancient scholar Vergil in his epic, the ‘Aeneid’.13 Once Aeneas landed in
Italy, he was met there by King Latinus who, rather than fight Aeneas and
the Trojans, offered his daughter Lavinia in marriage.14 Aeneas accepted
the offer, but the problem was that Lavinia had already been promised in
marriage to the leader of the Rutuli tribe. As a result, the Rutuli tribe
attacked the Trojans and the Latins coalition, who successfully repelled
and defeated them. However, as King Latinus was killed, the control of
the Trojan and Latins coalition passed to Aeneas.15 The remnants of the
Rutuli then joined forces with another tribe, the Etruscans, to attack the
Latin and Trojan coalition, but were again defeated by Aeneas. He then
established the Tiber River as the border between the Etruscans and the
Latins.16 Asconius, the son of Aeneas, then followed him to become king,
establishing a settlement at Alba Longa. Numitor followed Asconius as
king, but he had a brother, Amulius, who also wanted to be king. The
result was that Numitor was ousted and his sons killed, and his daughter
Rhea was forbidden from marrying or to having any personal relations.17
However, Rhea was taken advantage of and, as a result, gave birth to twin
sons, Romulus and Remus. As they would pose a threat to his kingship,
Amulius ordered the infants to be drowned. However, they were left
amongst the reeds on the banks of the Tiber by a shepherd who brought
the twins up as his own.18 When Romulus and Remus grew into young
men, they engaged in fighting low brigands. As a result, Remus was cap-
tured and taken to the stronghold of Numitor, who had become a local
lord. Numitor then determined that Romulus and Remus were his grand-
sons. And with this knowledge, he seized back the throne of the Latins.
Eventually, Romulus and Remus founded a new settlement on the banks
of the Tiber, at the location where they had been abandoned.19 Rome
13
Neel, J. (2017), Early Rome: Myth and Society: A Sourcebook, John Wiley & Sons Inc.,
Hoboken, NJ, USA.
14
15
Ibid.
16
Ibid.
17
Ibid.
18
Ibid.
19
Ibid.
144 S. Ramesh
coalesced from a series of smaller settlements along the banks of the River
Tiber, of which two of the main ones were the settlements of the Latins
and the Sabines.20 As time went on, there arose a conflict between
Romulus and Remus as to who should be king. Because of the conflict,
Romulus killed his brother Remus and became king of the city that was
to be named after him, Rome, in 753 BC.21 As it turns out, both Romulus
and, many centuries later, Genghis Khan would have killed their brothers
to achieve supremacy in their respective tribes. Romulus killed his twin
and Genghis Khan killed his half-brother.
Between the ninth and the sixth centuries BC, Rome was one of sev-
eral powerful settlements in the central Italy of the time.22 The period
that encompasses Rome as a republic is from 509 BC to 49 BC.23 It was
during this time that Rome acquired its empire.24 The last King of Rome,
Tarquin the Proud, was expelled in 507 BC.25 When the King was away,
the behaviour of his sons led L. Tarquinius Collatinus and L. Junius
Brutus, his relatives, to lead a revolt that overthrew the monarchy, and
the establishment of a republic.26 The people were then freely able to elect
a chief magistrate.27 This would have been the equivalent of the consul,
the highest form of magistrate.28 Annually, two consuls with equal power
were elected, both initially being of the Patrician class.29 However, in the
20
Raaflaub, K. (2006), Between Myth and History: Rome’s Rise from Village to Empire (the eighth
century to 264), IN: A Companion to the Roman Republic, Rosenstein, N., and Morstein-Marx,
R. (Eds), Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, USA.
21
22
Lomas, K. (2017), The Rise of Rome, 1000 BC to 264 BC, Profile Books Ltd., London.
23
Flower, H. (2014), Preface, IN: The Cambridge Companion to The Roman Republic, Flower, H.
(Eds), Cambridge University Press, New York.
24
Ibid.
25
26
Mackay, C. (2004), Ancient Rome: A Military and Political History, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge.
27
Wiseman. T. (1998), Roman Republic Year One, Greece & Rome, Vol. XLV, No. 1.
28
McCarty, N. (2008), Rome – The Greatest Empire of the Ancient World, The Rosen Publishing
Group, Inc., New York.
29
Ibid.
fourth century BC, in order to ensure that the Plebeians were not unjustly
treated, one of the two consuls had to be a Plebeian.30 Tribunes were also
magistrates with both political and military duties.31 They were elected by
the Comitia Tributa; and only those born Plebeians or elected by the
people could become tribunes.32 The tribunes had the power to arrest and
fine people, to organise public meetings, as well as to veto decisions made
by the consuls.33 The military power of the tribunes lay with the Roman
Army.34 Following the period of adjustment after the end of kingship, the
time during which Rome was a republic could be broken down into fur-
ther specific time periods. For example, the period 494 BC to 450 BC,
during which there was no written legal code—the Twelve Tables.35 The
period of the consular tribunes, 450 BC to 366 BC, and the period of the
Patricians and the Plebeians, 366 BC to 300 BC,36 and notably, the
period of dictatorship by Caesar between 49 BC and 44 BC.37 There is
nothing to suggest that, within the time that Rome was a republic, all of
central Italy’s settlements would have been acquired by it so that it would
be recognised as an empire by the second century BC.38
The Twelve Tables represented the first form of codified law, which also
formed the basis of all subsequent Roman Law.39 It arose because of the
conflict between the Patricians and the Plebeians, and laid down rights
and fixed penalties, so that the law could not be used as a means of
oppression.40 The Patricians were the ruling class of families from the
earliest days of the birth of the republic, while the Plebeians represented
30
McCarty, N. (2008), Rome – The Greatest Empire of the Ancient World, The Rosen Publishing
Group, Inc., New York.
31
Ibid.
32
Ibid.
33
Ibid.
34
Ibid.
35
Flower, H. (2014), Preface, IN The Cambridge Companion to The Roman Republic, Flower, H.
(Eds), Cambridge University Press, New York.
36
Ibid.
37
Ibid.
38
Lomas, K. (2017), The Rise of Rome, 1000 BC to 264 BC, Profile Books Ltd., London.
39
Conant, E. (1928), The Laws of the Twelve Tables, 13, St Louis L.Rev.231.
40
Ibid.
146 S. Ramesh
the oppressed general citizenry. The battle for equality between the
Patricians and the Plebeians reached a climax in the mid-fifth century
BC.41 It was at around this time that the Twelve Tables came into exis-
tence. They represented the rights of the citizens and the penalties erring
citizens would be subject to, inscribed on bronze or copper plates fas-
tened to pillars in public spaces.42 In themselves, the Twelve Tables did
not represent an enactment of new laws, but rather, the codification of
existing laws. Each of the Tables dealt with a different aspect of the law.
For example, Table 3 addressed the rights of creditors,43 Table 4 dealt
with the legal aspects of paternal power,44 Table 5 dealt with succession
and guardianship.45 Table 6 dealt with the legal aspects of ownership and
possession.46 In this case, with regards to the rights of possession, Table 6
stipulated that for land, this would be qualifiable after 2 years, but for all
other property, 1 year.47 On the other hand, Table 9 dealt with the aspects
of Public Law.48 While the plates depicting the Twelve Tables were
destroyed by the invading Gauls in 390 BC, the legal codification embod-
ied in the Twelve Tables were themselves embodied in the Code of
Justinian.49 This put together old imperial statutes in one collection, the
Codex, but also consisted of two other parts, the ‘Digest’ and the
‘Institutes’.50 The writing of the Code of Justinian was ordered by the
Emperor Justinian of the eastern Roman Empire in the sixth century
AD.51 And it was at this time that the unwritten legal code that all men
should be free to navigate the sea and use its resources was finally
41
Ibid.
42
Ibid.
43
Ibid.
44
Ibid.
45
Ibid.
46
Ibid.
47
Ibid.
48
Ibid.
49
Ibid.
50
Shapiro, M. (1981), Courts: A Comparative and Political Analysis, The University of Chicago
Press, Chicago.
51
Ibid.
c odified.52 Following the Twelve Tables in the fifth century BC, the devel-
opment of Roman Law centred upon two pivotal events in Roman histo-
ry.53 The first was the expansion of the frontiers of Roman control in the
Mediterranean following the end of the second Carthaginian War (218
BC–200 BC). The second event was the death of the Emperor Alexander
Severus (235 AD). These two historical events mask three different ages
associated with three different law systems.54 These being strictly Roman
Law, the universal Roman Law and the Greek-Roman Law.55 Strictly
Roman Law applied in the first period during which Rome was a semi-
closed rural society. On the other hand, universal Roman Law and
Greek-Roman Law represented a shift towards a more progressive and
open society, with the latter gaining ground under the Emperor Justinian
1 of the eastern empire.56 As the legal changes progressed over several
centuries, the political structures of Roman society shifted from those
necessary to support a rural community to one which could support a
complex central government. In this case, there was a shift away from
familiae (family), gentes (group of family with a common ancestor), and
tribus (original tribes of Rome, the Ramnes, Tities, and the Luceres) to a
nuclear family and a centralised form of government.57 As the political
structures of Rome shifted away from clan structures, to one which was
based on a nuclear family, there was progressively greater emphasis on the
rights of the individual. This led to a certain degree of emancipation for
women, who increasingly became free from the protection of guardians,
which had restricted their freedom.58
At the heart of the military success of the Roman Republic may have
been its constitution. Indeed, the scholar Polybius positively correlates
52
Fenn, P. (1925), Justinian and the Freedom of the Sea, The American Journal of International
Law, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 716–727.
53
Biagini, E. (1994), Roman law and Political Control – from a Primitive Society to the Dawn of
the Modern World, GeoJournal, 33.4, pp. 331–340.
54
Ibid.
55
Ibid.
56
Ibid.
57
Ibid.
58
Ibid.
148 S. Ramesh
the strength of the constitution with military success.59 This is because

the constitution of the Roman Republic consisted of elements of the
monarchy and democracy, as well as that of the patriarchy.60 The combi-
nation of different governance structures had two consequences.61 Firstly,
it ensured that the freedom of the Roman citizens could be safe from the
consequences of autocratic power. Secondly, freedom allowed the Roman
Republic to project its own freedoms by shaping its own destiny. Freedoms
allowed the best and the brightest of Roman citizens to enter public life.62
Furthermore, freedom lends itself to a more dynamic society which is
creative and innovative from many perspectives, including the political,
social, technological, managerial, as well as the economic.63 This contrasts
with a society with less individual freedom, in which creativity and inno-
vation would be constrained because of a lack of incentive to be so.
However, while western literature denotes Rome as the starting point of
innovation, the history of invention and innovation is far older in the
context of the Indian subcontinent, for example, from where the concept
of ‘zero’ emanates.64
The scholar-philosopher Plato, in his ‘Republic’, states that the objec-
tive of any city state’s constitution should be military success.65 However,
the sixth king, Servius Tullius, made an institutional change to the mili-
tary.66 This was the adoption of the ‘hoplite phalanx’, which was replaced
in the fifth and in the fourth centuries by the manipolar system, which
59
Lintott, A. (1999), The Constitution of the Roman Republic, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
60
Scott-Kilvert, I. (1979), The Rise of the Roman Empire, Polybius; translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert;
selected with an Introduction by F.W. Walbank, Penguin Classics, Harmondsworth.
61
Ibid.
62
Buttle, N. (2001), Republican Constitutionalism: A Roman Ideal, The Journal of Political
Philosophy, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 331–349.
63
64
Sahay, A. (2005), Review Essay: Managing Innovation and Technology, The Journal of Business
Perspectives, Vol. 9, No. 4.
65
Lintott, A. (1999), The Constitution of the Roman Republic, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
66
Mackay, C. (2004), Ancient Rome: A Military and Political History, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge.
was more flexible.67 This involved heavily armed infantry soldiers

equipped with round shields moving towards the enemy in a closely
ranked formation. The phalanx was composed of groups of 96 men, to a
depth of 8 men and a width of 12 men.68 The strategic advantage of the
phalanx was that the frontal assault could continue even with the loss of
men on the frontline, as they would be replaced by the second man in the
line stepping forth.69 To assist in the adoption of the hoplite phalanx, the
organisation of the citizen assembly was adjusted by additional infantry
units for older citizens.70 Furthermore, the citizen body was adjusted into
units distinguished by tribe and district.71 In the context of governance,
decision making in early Rome was based around the King, the experi-
enced elders (Patricians) and an assembly of land-owning families.72 The
coalescence of settlements had led to the formation of Rome and, by the
seventh century BC, it had become a unified city.73 New innovations
included a paved forum area in the centre, encompassing an assembly
area (comitium), a meeting place for the Senate (curia), the seat of the
King (Rex), as well as shrines and sanctuaries.74 The expansion of public
spaces continued with the development of the ‘cattle market’, more sanc-
tuaries throughout the city as well as on the Capitol, upon which the
construction of the temple of Capitoline Triad was begun in the latter
part of the sixth century BC.75
67
68
Keppie, L. (1998), The Making of the Roman Army: From Republic to Empire, University of
Oklahoma Press, Norman.
69
Ibid.
70
71
Ibid.
72
Ibid.
73
Ibid.
74
Ibid.
75
Ibid.
150 S. Ramesh
The year 264 BC would be a good starting point for the analysis of the
evolution of Rome as a powerful city state in the Mediterranean, which
would end the dominance of other powers in the region such as Carthage
and the Greeks. It was in the year 264 BC that Rome sent an army abroad,
for the first time, to confront the power of Carthage. This first war
between Rome and Carthage heralded the rise of Rome and the eventual
fall of Carthage and other powers in the Mediterranean region.76 Between
400 BC and 300 BC, Rome controlled the majority of mainland Italy
with control of the whole of the Mediterranean region following between
200 BC and 100 BC.77 Much of the expansion of the republic occurred
incrementally, whereby neighbouring cities, towns, and tribes were
absorbed into Rome’s orbit of control either through military superiority,
the offer of military protection, or Roman citizenship. This was an indi-
vidual status rather than as an individual capacity.78 In this case, Roman
citizens were not expected to take an active part in the democratic pro-
cess. However, they were not expected to be passive either. For Roman
citizens who did participate in the democratic process, this participation
took two forms.79 Firstly, they could take part in the decision making of
the assemblies. Secondly, take part in the elections for the magistrates and
the consuls.
The incremental growth of the boundaries of the Roman Republic,
and the fact that it had a standing army, meant that, in contrast to Qin
dynasty China, Rome did not need to maintain a sophisticated and com-
plex administrative structure to mobilise resources for military conflict.80
76
Cornell, T. (1995), The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic
Wars (c. 1000–264 BC), Routledge, New York.
77
Rosenstein, N. (2009), War, State Formation, and the Evolution of Military Institutions in
Ancient China and Rome, IN Rome and China: Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World
Empires, Scheidel, W. (Ed), Oxford University Press, Oxford.
78
Buttle, N. (2001), Republican Constitutionalism: A Roman Ideal, The Journal of Political
Philosophy, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 331–349.
79
Nicolet, C. (1980), The World of the Citizen in Republican Rome, University of California Press,
Berkeley.
80
Rosenstein, N. (2009), War, State Formation, and the Evolution of Military Institutions in
Ancient China and Rome, IN Rome and China: Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World
Empires, Scheidel, W. (Ed), Oxford University Press, Oxford.
On the other hand, in the case of Qin dynasty China and the warring
states period, in particular, the state was continually threatened by foes,
and there was a need to ensure that the state could mobilise its maximum
resources in a very short period of time in order to combat imminent
military threats.81 As a result, in Qin dynasty China, there was a need to
maintain a sophisticated and permanent administrative structure to max-
imise the mobilisation of the state’s resources at short notice. However, in
the case of the Roman Republic, public affairs were controlled by the
aristocrats of the Senate, from whose body were drawn the magistrates.82
This was an electable office, potentially dependent on the votes of the
eligible population, but elections tended to be far from democratic due to
institutional rigidities.83 Nevertheless, eligible voters and those due to pay
direct taxes were identified by means of a census, but its accuracy
depended on the willingness of citizens to take part.84 Direct taxes were
abolished in 167 BC by the Senate, although the state recouped revenues
lost through a set of indirect taxes.85 While the Senate lacked formal
authority, due to the social status of its members, its informal authority
on Roman society was strong.
he Fall of the Roman Republic (32 BC

T
to 30 BC)
The Roman Empire would extend from the west to the east. The western
provinces could be divided into two zones, depending upon their dis-
tance from the zone and the nature of geographical barriers.86 The first
zone was the Mediterranean zone, in which regions were separated from
81
Ibid.
82
Ibid.
83
Ibid.
84
Ibid.
85
Ibid.
86
Leveau, P. (2007), The Western Provinces, IN: The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-
Roman World, Scheidel, W., Morris, I., Saller, R. (Eds), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
152 S. Ramesh
Rome by the sea.87 The second zone was the oceanic and the continental
zone, which was separated from Rome by the Alps.88 This zone comprised
the linguistic zones associated with the Germanic tribes, the Celts, the
Iberians, and the Libyans, although the language of administration was
Latin—the language of Rome.89 A frontier zone existed between the Celts
in Gaul and the Germanic tribes.90 The latter proved to be difficult for
the Roman Empire.91 On the other hand, the eastern part of the Roman
Empire, comprising the eastern Mediterranean, consisted of areas includ-
ing modern Greece, the former Yugoslavia, the Republic of Macedonia,
modern Turkey, Syria, Judea, and Arabia.92
When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River in 49 BC, at the end of
his tenure as the Roman Governor of a region stretching from Gaul to
Illyricum, with the 13th Legion, it marked the beginning of the end of
the Roman Republic and the rise of autocracy and Imperial Rome. Caesar
had been appointed as Governor by the Senate of the Roman Republic.
However, once his tenure as Governor had been completed, the Senate
instructed Caesar not to march his troops back to Rome. But Caesar did
not obey the Senate’s instructions, and they saw this as treason. As a
result, once Caesar and his troops had crossed the Rubicon River, a
boundary between Rome and its provinces, it signalled the beginning of
a twenty-year civil war and the end of the Roman Republic.93 The reason
why the republic came to an end was the ineffectiveness of traditions and
institutions—the use of force in the place of laws and the constitution.94
Chaotic governance substituted freedom for autocracy. The starting point
87
Ibid.
88
Ibid.
89
Ibid.
90
Cherry, D. (2007), The Frontier Zones, IN: The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-
Roman World, Scheidel, W., a Morris, I., Saller, R. (Eds), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
91
Ibid.
92
Alcock, S. (2007), The Eastern Mediterranean, IN: The Cambridge Economic History of the
Greco-Roman World, Scheidel, W., Morris, I., Saller, R. (Eds), Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge.
93
Gruen, E. (1974), The Last generation of the Roman Republic, University of California Press,
Berkeley.
94
Ibid.
for an analysis of the end of the Roman Republic could start with the rise
of Sulla the Dictator.95 Sulla began his dictatorship of the Roman Republic
in 82 BC following the end of the Social War between 88 BC and
82 BC.96 Historically, the strength of both political practices and the
institutions of the Roman Republic were built around the ideal of the
freedom of the Roman people.97 Moreover, the late republic political dia-
logue emphasised the ideal of the free Roman citizen living in a free
state.98 This ideal is very much prevalent in the present-day United States.
As well as the basis upon which the Republic was founded, departing the
tyranny of the monarchy of Great Britain in the latter part of the eigh-
teenth century AD. The ideal of the freedom of the Roman citizen was
the bedrock of the Roman Republic, and the source of its political and
ideological legitimacy.99 Furthermore, the ideal of freedom ensured that
Roman citizens had access to at least a basic level of civil rights, such as
the right of appeal against sentences determined by magistrates.100 As well
as the right to elect their own leaders, and the right to assistance from the
tribunician.101 The latter was chosen from the Plebeians, and accorded
the right of veto against decisions made by Patrician magistrates and the
Senate. The civil rights of Roman citizens, even at a basic level, enabled
them to pursue their own goals, and so, protect the ideal of freedom.102
Moreover, the civil rights of the ordinary citizen were a means by which
individual goals could be achieved by overcoming the obstructive
behaviour of the ruling Patrician class of families.103 Roman citizens
could also own property.104
95
Ibid.
96
Vervaet, F. (2004), The ‘Lex Valeria’ and Sulla’s Empowerment as Dictator (82–79 BCE), Cahiers
du Centre Gustave Glotz, Vol. 15, pp. 37–84.
97
Mouritsen, H. (2004), Plebs and Politics in the Late Roman Republic, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge.
98
Ibid.
99
Ibid.
100
Ibid.
101
Ibid.
102
Ibid.
103
Ibid.
104
Arena, V. (2012), Libertas and the Practice of Politics in the Late Roman Republic, Cambridge
154 S. Ramesh
In the years before Sulla’s ascendancy, many factors may have played a
part in the decay of republican institutions. Firstly, from a theoretical
perspective power lay in the hands of the people in the assembly.105 The
latter was responsible for the passing of all laws as well as for the election
of the magistrates.106 Two consuls represented the leadership of the mag-
istrates; and during their tenure assumed a range of uncontested pow-
ers.107 In contrast to the assembly, the Senate was supposed to be a docile
legislative body. The composition of the Senate encompassed those who
had previously served as magistrates. It was the knowledge that they had
accumulated in that capacity which gave them membership of the Senate
whose sole purpose was consultative.108 In this case, serving magistrates
would call upon the members of the Senate for advice as the need arose.
However, at the time Sulla entered the scene, the Senate had assumed
upon itself a directorial government role for which there had been no
legislation by the people’s assembly.109 The usurped dominance of the
Senate arose from the assumed superior knowledge of the ex-magistrates
who made up its body, which allowed its opinions to substitute for the
laws of the republic.110 Lastly, the final factor that contributed to the
instability and the decay of the institutions of the Roman Republic
related to the political geography of the Italian mainland itself. This con-
stituted a federation of states with the power of the Roman Republic at
its heart.111 However, it was very much an unequal confederation because
only Roman citizens enjoyed the benefits of citizenship, a perk denied to
non-Romans. This infuriated other states on the Italian mainland that
provided a significant contribution of men to the Roman Army. Thus,
the Social War, 91 BC to 89 BC, may have resulted not just because of a
desire to be treated equally as citizens of Rome, but perhaps a quest for
105
Keaveney, S. (2005), The Last Republican: Sulla, Routledge, New York.
106
Ibid.
107
Ibid.
108
Ibid.
109
Ibid.
110
Ibid.
111
Ibid.
total independence from Roman control.112 However, after the first few
months of the war, the people of Rome passed the first laws that would
allow other peoples of the Italian mainland to share some of the rights of
Roman citizens.113 Nevertheless, the implementation of the rights won
during the Social War took place over the next two to three centuries.114
For example, Roman citizenship did not become widely available until
212 AD, although common people were not well treated.115 A formal
thought process or logic, which had been distinguished from language by
the Greeks, therefore proved to be an effective tool for the unification of
the Italian mainland and the Roman Republic.116 However, in the con-
text of formal thought, the Romans of the republic failed to make a dis-
tinction between science and philosophy.117 But Aristotle stated that,
while philosophy consisted of ‘confused aggregates’, science involved the
determination of the elements and principles of those ‘confused aggre-
gates’ through formal analysis.118
The Zenith of the Roman Empire (117 AD)

The end of the Roman Republic was followed by the rise of the early
Roman empire in 27 BC.119 This was based on a political structure known
as a principate, which was in effect monarchic, developed under
112
Ibid.
113
Millar, F. (1986), Politics, Persuasion and the People before the Social War, Journal of Roman
Studies, lxxvi, pp. 1–11.
114
Nicolet, C. (1980), The World of the Citizen in Republican Rome, University of California
Press, Berkeley.
115
116
Moatti, C. (2015), The Birth of Critical Thinking in Republican Rome, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge.
117
Ibid.
118
Frank, P. (2004), Philosophy of Science: The Link Between Science and Philosophy, Dover
Publications Inc., New York.
119
Temin, P. (2006), The Economy of the Early Roman Empire, Journal of Economic Perspectives,
Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 133–151.
156 S. Ramesh
Augustus.120 In the early Roman Empire, the Italian peninsula was only
30% urbanised.121 Slaves were also a feature of the Roman Empire.
However, slaves could become free if they worked hard, developed spe-
cialist skills, or bought their own freedom.122 Nevertheless, despite the
fact that slaves could keep any money they earned and accumulated, they
still could own property, which was a privilege for only Roman citizens.123
On the other hand, slaves who became free kept connections with as well
as the names of their former owners.124 This had advantages for slave-
owning families because productive slaves would be readily able to
increase the incomes of their former masters.125 Furthermore, former
slaves were able to marry Roman citizens, and their children and grand-
children arising from such a formal union were readily accepted into
Roman society.126 The allure of freedom incentivised slaves to work hard,
progress, and gain their freedom.127 From an economic perspective, a
freed slave was just as attractive to commercial agents as a freeman because
such freed slaves were able to act as commercial agents as well as transact
business as merchants.128 In the early Roman Empire, slavery was a for-
mally enforceable labour contract, the benefits of which attracted poor
people as a means to better their lives.129 The labour market in the early
Roman Empire had slaves being used alongside waged freemen.130 In this
case, there can be no doubt that the labour market in the Roman Empire
was a unified one with the level of wage dispersion being comparable to
that of pre-industrial Europe.131
120
Ibid.
121
Hopkins, K. (1978), Conquerors and Slaves, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
122
Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 133–151.
123
Ibid.
124
Ibid.
125
Ibid.
126
Ibid.
127
Ibid.
128
Ibid.
129
Ibid.
130
Ibid.
131
Temin, P. (2004), The Labour Market of the Early Roman Empire, Journal of Interdisciplinary
History, XXXIV:4, pp. 513–538.
In an economic context, Romans also loaned money to each other,

with the loans being used for either production or consumption.132 In
this case, loans were also made to finance trade, with Roman merchants
acquiring loans on the condition of the safe return of trading ships from
other parts of the world.133 However, the interest rate charged for this
type of loan was particularly high.134 Loans were often obtained from
banks in places such as Delos in Greece, where banks had been operating
before Rome, as well as after the Roman conquest.135 The Romans patron-
ised Delos because of its economic importance to the empire, allowing it
to develop as a major free port in the Mediterranean while other com-
mercial urban centres such as Carthage and Corinth were destroyed by
military force.136 Nevertheless, not many private banks acted as financial
intermediaries in the exchange of pooled funds between savers and bor-
rowers.137 But it is apparent that financial markets in the world of the
Roman Empire were connected, with losses in Asia contributing to losses
at home.138 This interconnectedness of Roman financial markets could
have arisen from the fact that loans in one part of the Roman world
became deposits in another part of the Roman world. And at a
Macroeconomic level, the Roman Empire was not run based on the
imperial government borrowing money, as is now done in modern econ-
omies, but on the basis of accumulated tax revenues.139 This may explain
why the Roman Empire neither had a national debt nor a central bank,
which would have been responsible for raising loans to finance state
132
Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 133–151.
133
Ibid.
134
Ibid.
135
Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 133–151.
136
Glynn, D. (2002), The Development of Greek and Roman Money, 600 BC–610 AD, History
of Money, University of Wales Press.
137
Temin, P. (2004), Financial Intermediation in the Early Roman Empire, The Journal of
Economic History, Vol. 64, No. 3, pp. 705–733.
138
Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 133–151.
139
Ibid.
158 S. Ramesh
expenditure in the advent of shortfalls in tax revenues.140 The legal, finan-

cial, and governance institutions of the early Roman Empire allowed for
stability and safety as more lands were conquered, and as the market for
Roman traders expanded. At the time of the Roman Empire, information
for merchants was at a premium. In the case of Roman grain merchants,
who may have had to import large stocks of grain for Rome’s needs,
information asymmetry was overcome using economic and social institu-
tions so that transaction costs and uncertainty would be reduced.141 In
the long run, security, trade, and tax collection facilitated economic
growth.142 Moreover, there is no doubt that the consumption and pro-
duction encapsulated a market economy in the Roman Empire in which
exchanges of goods and services were on the basis of payment in coins.143
Furthermore, there is no doubt that the Roman Empire was a monetised
economy, with people using a standard unit of value as payment for the
exchange of goods and services throughout the lands of the empire.144
The use of coinage developed in Lydia and Ionia and was inherited by the
Roman Empire through its contacts with Greece.145 However, it is
indeterminate whether coinage was used in the Indian subcontinent,
although it is highly likely that it was, given the extent of trade between
east and west. This was especially true between the sixth century BC and
the fourth century BC, when there was a great intermixing of cultures.146
But it is known that there was contact between the Mauryans of north
India and the Hellenistic kingdoms of the Ptolemies and the Seleucids
140
Temin, P. (2004), Financial Intermediation in the Early Roman Empire, The Journal of
Economic History, Vol. 64, No. 3, pp. 705–733.
141
Kessler, D., and Temin, P. (2007), The organisation of the Grain Trade in the early Roman
Empire, Economic History Review, 60, 2, pp. 313–332.
142
Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 133–151.
143
Ibid.
144
Kessler, D., and Temin, P. (2005), Money and Prices in the Early Roman Empire, Working
Paper 05–11, MIT.
145
Davies, G. (2002), The Development of Greek and Roman Money, 600 BC–610 AD, History
146
Ibid.
during the third century BC is known.147 Nevertheless, Roman maritime

trade represented the most significant contact between the cultures of
Asia and Europe.148 And merchant trading ships from southern India
even sailed along the Red Sea to the port of Alexandra.149
The Empire did not have a central banking system, but did have a mint
to produce silver coinage, managed by the Roman Treasury, but under
the direct control of the Emperor.150 One of the functions of the Treasury
was to maintain reserves and, in association with the reserves held by
private banks such as the one at Delos, it was possible to control the level
of inflation.151 This unit of payment, the silver coinage produced by the
Roman Mint, was represented by the Sesterii in the western empire and
by the Drachmae in the eastern empire, both having a fixed exchange rate
between them.152 The result of this was that the market area encompassed
by the Roman Empire had the characteristics of a common currency
area.153 However, the extent of this market economy was restricted by
lack of technology and the lack of infrastructure and population size in
the context of today’s globalised market economy. But the use of a com-
mon currency and the imposition of political structure by the Romans in
their empire allowed trade to expand and unify the price level between
different regions of the empire, to some extent.154 Nevertheless, the
Roman Empire of the Mediterranean traded with other civilisations of
the time, such as the Chola Dynasty in Southern India.
147
Thapar, R. (1988), Epigraphic evidence and some Indo-Hellenistic contacts during the Mauryan
period, in Maity, S.K., and Thakur, U. (eds.), Indological Studies, Prof. D. C. Sircar Commemoration
Volume, New Delhi, pp. 15–19.
148
Thapar, R. (1992), Black Gold: South Asia and the Roman Maritime Trade, South Asia: Journal
of South Asian Studies, 15:2, pp. 1–27.
149
Ibid.
150
Davies, G. (2002), The Development of Greek and Roman Money, 600 BC–610 AD, History
151
Ibid.
152
Ibid.
153
Ibid.
154
Ibid.
160 S. Ramesh
Stability also improved throughout the Roman Empire once pirates

had been cleared from the Mediterranean in 67 BC.155 In contrast, while
the Greek city states also promoted stability through efficient political
conditions, the lands ruled by the Greek city states were much smaller in
size.156 The markets were, therefore, also much smaller. The early Roman
Empire came to an end at the beginning of the third century AD.157 This
occurred for many reasons associated with many autocratic and brutal
short-term emperors, army revolts, and destabilising and rampantly rising
inflation in the second century AD. The banks that had financed much of
imperial trade in Rome also disappeared during the third century AD.158
Furthermore, the plague spread throughout the empire in the second cen-
tury AD, having started at a military camp in the east.159 Successive waves
of the plague also spread throughout the empire for a twenty-five-year
period, from around 250 AD.160 The impact of the disease would have
reduced the capacity of the military as well as a reduction in economic
activity. However, the reign of Aurelian between 270 AD and 275 AD
offered the empire some recovery from the crisis it had been facing. This
was specifically true because of Aurelian’s political, financial, and religious
innovations which helped to bring Romans together. At a political level,
Aurelian gave amnesties to those who had committed political offences
against the Roman state as well as being opposed to it.161 Furthermore,
Aurelian gave amnesties to those in debt to the Roman state by having
such financial records burned publicly in the forum.162 Lastly, Aurelian
established the Cult of Sol, and this became Aurelian’s personal deity.163
155
Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 133–151.
156
Ibid.
157
Ibid.
158
Ibid.
159
Giardina, A. (2007), The Transition to Late Antiquity, IN: The Cambridge Economic History
of the Greco-Roman World, Scheidel, W., Morris, I., Saller, R. (Eds), Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge.
160
Ibid.
161
Dmitriev, S. (2004), Traditions and innovations in the Reign of Aurelian, Classical Quarterly,
54.2, pp. 568–578.
162
Ibid.
163
Ibid.
The later Roman Empire began in 200 AD, and its main characteris-
tics were economic and political instability.164 The decline of the Empire
was matched by increasing centralisation of power in the government and
greater government control over both social and economic activity.165 The
latter ranged from the control of prices to the control of agricultural pro-
duction.166 At the same time, private enterprise, innovation, and creativ-
ity became progressively static with no significant change.167 Centralisation
of power became the dominant political structure, and while the evolu-
tion of private enterprise progressed, the social structure in towns and
cities were less open to innovation.168 It would take many centuries after
the demise of Rome for the individual values realised during its time to
be coupled with innovation during the Industrial Revolution in late
eighteenth-century England. This in turn would lead to rapid technologi-
cal advancement over the subsequent 200 years, rising incomes, rising
populations, the advancement of human rights, and a more connected
world. The reason why innovation and individual freedoms did not lead
to an Industrial Revolution in Roman times may have been because
printing technology was not available. In this case, ideas could not be
shared leading to a lack of innovation.169 As a result, knowledge could not
be readily accumulated and built upon over time. Nevertheless. Some
interesting innovations did emerge from the Roman Empire.170 The
Romans were the first to develop and use concrete for construction. They
also developed the arch for use in construction and a water pumping
system that could be used to pump water for irrigation, bathing, and
drinking simultaneously.171 However, the problem was that the Roman
164
Goodman, M. (1997), The Roman World, 44 BC–AD 180. London, Routledge.
165
166
Ibid.
167
Ibid.
168
Ibid.
169
David, P. (1998), Common Agency Contracting and the Emergence of ‘Open Science’
Institutions. American Economic Review. 88:2, pp. 15–21.
170
Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 133–151.
171
Ibid.
162 S. Ramesh
Empire used lead for the construction of water pipes.172 Similarly, the
Romans of the time also used lead for making cooking utensils.173 But the
problem with this was that it made them susceptible to lead poisoning.174
Lead poisoning in early life will have disastrous effects on mental devel-
opment175 and, over time, this may have contributed to the decline of
Roman civilisation.176 The forensic analysis of the bones of ancient
Romans supports this view because the bone concentrations of lead are
significant. The Romans used water wheels for grounding grain and pow-
ering saw mills.177 They also used hydraulic mining techniques which
remained unsurpassed until the nineteenth century AD.178 In the arts,
the Romans also showed innovations, for example, by depicting allegori-
cal figures, the symbols of war, and those of religious significance on
sculptures.179
The Empire Divides (395 AD)

The Roman Empire was rich when Augustus became Emperor in
31 BC.180 The state’s financial resources were plentiful, both from the loot
and plunder acquired during conquests as well as from gold and silver
mines. Furthermore, the empire possessed rich agricultural lands, the
172
Korn et al. (2006), Separation and preconcentration procedures for the determination of lead
using spectrometric techniques: A Review, Talanta, 69, pp. 16–24.
173
Ibid.
174
Ibid.
175
Byers, R., and Lord, E. (1943), Late Effects of Lead Poisoning on Mental Development, Am J
Dis Child, 66(5), pp. 471–494.
176
Korn et al. (2006), Separation and preconcentration procedures for the determination of lead
using spectrometric techniques: A Review, Talanta, 69, pp. 16–24.
177
Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 133–151.
178
Wilson, A. (2002), Machines, Power, and the Ancient Economy, Journal of Roman Studies. 92,
pp. 1–32.
179
Robinson, D. (1926), Roman Sculptures from Colonia Caesarea (Pisidian Antioch), The Art
Bulletin, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 4–69.
180
Morgan, J. (2012), The Roman Empire, Fall of the West: Survival of the East, AuthorHouse,
Bloomington, USA.
army was well-trained and could be readily deployed, taxes were being
collected, and work could be completed by slaves.181 However, by the
third century AD, agricultural production in the Roman Empire was
beginning to decline. In the empire’s North African domains, the Berbers
were reclaiming their former domain and destroying crops.182 A diversity
of crops and foodstuffs needed by the empire were produced in Hispania.
However, due to a decline in population because of the plague as well as
increasing transport costs, the crops and foodstuffs could not be moved
to parts of the Empire, where it was needed.183 The Rhine-Danube fron-
tier separated the lands controlled by the Roman Empire, to its south,
and the lands of the Germanic tribes. Over the centuries, it became
increasingly difficult for the Roman legions to keep back the Germanic
hordes from the region’s rich agricultural lands.184 As a result, the
Germanic hordes could destroy crops and occupy more and more land
on an ever-increasing basis, and agricultural production began to decline
in this region too. In conjunction with the increasing attacks by the
Germanic hordes, the Roman Empire was itself going through a series of
self-destructive civil wars. The result was that the legions were being
drained of resources that could have been used to subdue the invaders on
a sustained basis. The first of the Germanic peoples to enter the lands of
the Roman Empire were the Goths, who crossed the Danube in 376 AD,
fleeing the Huns who were in turn entering their lands from the Eurasian
Steepes.185 In 378 AD, the Goths inflicted a substantial defeat on the
Empire’s eastern army at the Battle of Hadrianopolis.186 However, it was
the western empire which was to suffer the most at the hands of the
Goths who entered northern Italy in 401 AD.187 The western Roman
Empire’s armies were stretched even further in 406 AD, when three more
181
Ibid.
182
Ibid.
183
Ibid.
184
Ibid.
185
Ward-Perkins, B. (2005), The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilisation, Oxford University Press,
Oxford.
186
Ibid.
187
Ibid.
164 S. Ramesh
Germanic tribes, the Vandals, the Sueves, and the Alans crossed the River
Rhine into Roman-occupied Gaul.188 From then on, the Romans were
challenged in their own territories, with the Vandals even capturing
Carthage, the Roman capital of north Africa, in 429 AD and 439 AD.189
The Roman Empire was also engaging in trade in silk, spices, and jew-
ellery with the civilisations of the east, such as those on the Indian sub-
continent. This had the effect of draining even more wealth from the
Romans.190 The Romans also made the situation worse when, in 395 AD,
the empire was divided between east and west. The former, now known
as the eastern empire acquired the protected and highly productive rich
agricultural lands, while the western empire acquired the less productive
and the less protected agricultural lands to the west.191 Following the
division of the Empire between east and west in 395 AD, the western
empire collapsed 81 years later, in 476 AD.192 It was in this year that the
last Roman Emperor of the western empire, Romulus Augustulus, was
ousted by a mercenary of Germanic origin, Odoacer. The title of Emperor
of the western empire passed to Nespos. However, there is some ambigu-
ity as to whether it was King Odoacer of Italy or Emperor Nespos of the
western empire who ruled Italy.193 Nevertheless, while Nespos was mur-
dered in 480 AD, Odoacer held the power in Italy.194 But the removal of
Romulus Augustulus was the event that marked the end of the western
empire. The military, economic, and political disintegration of the west-
ern empire resulted in the start of the Dark Ages of intellectual and mate-
rial poverty in Europe.195 It was a time during which no nation or
civilisation was sophisticated enough to fill the shoes left by a vanishing
188
Ibid.
189
Ibid.
190
Bloomington, USA.
191
Ibid.
192
Ibid.
193
Thompson, E. (1982), Romans and Barbarians – The Decline of the Western Empire, The
University of Madison Press, Madison, USA.
194
Ibid.
195
Ward-Perkins, B. (2005), The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilisation, Oxford University Press,
Oxford.
civilisation. As the end of the western empire, ancient Rome marked the
start of the Dark Ages in Europe and also heralded the beginning of the
Middle Ages and Feudalism in Europe.196 The Germanic kingdoms which
emerged in the west, in the aftermath of the end of the western empire,
were better able to defend their borders at less of a cost than the cost to
the western empire of defending its borders.197 The lands of the north
African coast had been the granary of the Roman Empire.198 But, when
the Vandals had taken north Africa from the Romans, they were manag-
ing agriculture efficiently—leading to greater prosperity than had been
possible under the Romans.199 However, when the Eastern Roman
Emperor Justinian reconquered the region from the Vandals, the region’s
prosperity began to decline.200 These two cases may suggest that the mar-
ginal return on social investment will be the larger, the lower the level of
complexity of governance.201 On the other hand, in contrast to the west-
ern empire, the eastern empire was far wealthier and, as a result, it was
able to better finance the management of its complexity, in terms of the
army, food production, administration, and construction. As a result, the
eastern empire was able to survive longer simply because its marginal
return on social investment was higher than that of the western empire.202
The eastern empire survived for nearly another 1000 years more than
the western empire did. There were two factors which were most respon-
sible for the collapse of the western empire and the continued survival of
the eastern empire. The first was the decline in agricultural productivity.
And the second was the difference in the possession of the most produc-
tive and well protected lands between the western empire and the eastern
empire. In this case, both factors favoured the eastern empire rather than
196
Ibid.
197
Tainter, J. (1988), The Collapse of Complex Societies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
198
Davies, G. (2002), From Primitive and Ancient Money to the Invention of Coinage,
3000–600 BC, History of Money, University of Wales Press.
199
Tainter, J. (1988), The Collapse of Complex Societies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
200
Ibid.
201
Ibid.
202
Ibid.
166 S. Ramesh
the western empire.203 A decline in agricultural productivity resulted in

less food to feed the people and the legions, as well as a decline in taxa-
tion.204 This would mean that the state would have been unable to buy
the foodstuffs that it could not produce, nor be able to pay its soldiers or
hire mercenaries to protect its borders. Nevertheless, in the eastern
empire, the Emperor Justinian did resort to heavy taxation to carry out
an extensive building programme or reconquer the former lands of the
western empire.205 The eastern empire was far wealthier too, in compari-
son to the former western empire, and taxes could draw substantial finan-
cial resources from skimming the surpluses of the wealthy.206
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7
The Chola Dynasty: 350 BC to 1279 AD
Introduction
The earliest written indication of the states of southern India was by the
King of Kalinga in the second century BC, in the form of inscriptions
celebrating a victory in a battle against a Tamil confederacy in 155 BC.1
Kautilya, advisor to Chandragupta, the first Mauryan Emperor noted—
in the classical work, the Arthashastra—in the fourth century BC that
the southern land route was easily travelled.2 These facts would suggest
that the first Tamil kingdoms were established around the fourth century
BC. The roots of the Chola dynasty lie in 850 AD, when the Chola chief-
tain Vijayalaya captured the city of Tanjavur with the approval of the
Pallava dynasty from the Muttaraiyars.3 Furthermore, the Velirs of
Kodumbalur provided military assistance to Vijayalaya.4 Nevertheless,
1
Kainikara, S. (2016), From Indus to Independence: A Trek Through Indian History, Volume II,
The Classical Age, Vij Books India Pvt Ltd., New Delhi.
2
Danino, M. (1988), Vedic Roots of Early Tamil Culture, Vivekananda Kendra Patrika, Vol. 40,
No. 1, 79th Issue.
3
Schmidt, K. (1995), An Atlas and Survey of South Asian History, Routledge, New York.
4
Ibid.

172 S. Ramesh
the descendants of the Chola royal line, from its preeminent time, served
as subservient princes to the Pallavas and sought to reassert their power at
a time when Chola power was on the wane.5 In this case, the latter sug-
gests that, when the Pallavas were away fighting the Pandyans in the
north, the Chola Prince Aditya challenged the commander of a Pallava
army and won. Aditya was succeeded by King Parantika 1 (907 AD–946
AD). The latter consolidated the power of the Chola dynasty in southern
India for the next few centuries.6 Parantika 1 defeated the Pandyans and
absorbed their lands into that of the Chola dynasty, as well as militarily
destroying the power of the Pallavas. Nevertheless, despite the successes
of Parantika 1, he also suffered a serious military defeat at the hands of
the Rashtrakuta King, Krishna 3 and, compared to Parantika 1, his next
five successors were militarily weaker.7 Therefore, the Cholas were a minor
dynasty in southern India until they supplanted the other dynasties of the
region, their rule not only encompassing southern India, but also other
parts of Asia.8 This geographical expansion had been achieved not only
due to military power, but also through the development of a ruling ide-
ology which took account of the pre-existing chiefly customs, and at the
same time increased the hold of the Chola kings over the Tamil lands.9
The latter suggests that the Chola Kings maintained power through a
process of exchange and accessibility. The exchange of women between
the King and his local chieftains served to achieve ‘family’ loyalty.
Moreover, while the King was being divine because he maintained a Siva
cult at his place of worship, protected the brahmans, and was the epitome
of dharma, his spirituality was not a monopoly.10 It would become
5
Kulke, H., and Rothermund, D. (1998), A History of India, Routledge, New York.
6
Chaurasia, R. (2008), History of Ancient India: Earliest Times to 1200 AD, Atlantic Publishers
& Distributors (p) Ltd., New Delhi.
7
Ibid.
8
Heitzman, J. (1991), Ritual Polity and Economy: The Transactional Network of an Imperial
temple in Medieval South India, Journal of the Economic and the Social History of the Orient,
Vol. 34, No. ½, pp. 23–54.
9
Stein, B. (1985), Politics, Peasants and the Deconstruction of Feudalism in Medieval India, in
Feudalism and Non-European Societies, Byres, T., and Mukhia, H. (Eds), Frank Cass and
Company Limited, London.
10
Ibid.
The Chola Dynasty: 350 BC to 1279 AD 173
a ccessible to local village chieftains who accepted the suzerainty of the

Chola King. Thus, the process of exchange and accessibility could be a
way in which the Chola kings were able to maintain their control over
Southern India. Because of the rising power of the Cholas, Tamil mer-
chants were able to engage in maritime trade with the Middle East,
Southeast Asia, and China. These maritime links may also have extended
to include Japan.11 Military, economic, and political power allowed the
Cholas to remain a dominant power for a few hundred years.12 The Chola
dynasty was also mentioned in the chronicles of China’s Song dynasty,
the Songshi, and was referred to as Zhunian.13 The Songshi also cites a
visit to the Song court in China by a Chola ambassador in 1077.14 The
southern states of India lie below the Deccan Plateau, and this region is
often referred to as the Tamil country. The early history of the South
Indian states in the period BC and in the early part of the period AD are
celebrated in the Sangam, the earliest form of Tamil literature.15 The
Sangam was a gathering of scholars and poets under royal patronage.
Supposedly, there were three Sangams, with the last Sangam taking place
in the city of Madurai in the fifth century BC; and the Sangam period
encompassed 350 BC to 300 AD. This approximates to the early Chola
period, but there is no evidence of any link between the early Chola
period and the new Chola dynasty, which reigned from 850 AD to 1279
AD.16 This period can be broken down into four sections: rise and con-
solidation (850 AD to 985 AD), imperial expansion (986 AD to 1070
11
DeRouen, K., and Heo, U. (2005), Defense and Security: A Compendium of National Armed
Forces and Security Policies: Vol. 1, ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, CA.
12
Sastri, K. (1958), A History of South India from Pre-historic Times to the fall of Vijayanagar,
Oxford University Press, London.
13
Mahalakshmi, R. (2016), Chola Empire, IN MacKenzie, J. (Ed), The Encyclopedia of Empire,
John Wiley & Sons Ltd., London.
14
Sen, T. (2010), The Military Campaigns of Rajendra Chola and the Chola-Sri Vijaya-China
Triangle. In H. Kulke et al. (Eds.), Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa: Reflections on the Chola Naval
Expeditions to Southeast Asia: 61–75.
15
16
174 S. Ramesh
AD), a struggle to maintain power (1071 AD to 1178 AD), and eco-

nomic and political decline (1179 AD to 1279 AD).
The Sangam Period

It was during the Sangam period—200 BC to 200 AD—that the earliest
classical Tamil writings emerged. Three Sangams—or gathering of schol-
ars, poets, and writers—were held over a 6000-year period, with the first
Sangam being held in around 6000 BC. Each Sangam had a period of
about 2000 years. The Sangam classical Tamil writings vary in length,
from a few lines to hundreds of lines, written by under five-hundred
authors.17 Moreover, the latter suggests that the Sangam can be decom-
posed into nine schematic anthologies, which includes the Narrinai, the
Kurundogai, the Aingurunuru, the Padirruuppattu, the Paripadal, the
Kalottogai, the Ahananuru, the Purananuru, and the Pattuppattu. The
time in which these anthologies developed coincides with the emergence
of the Tolkappiyam, the epic treatise on Tamil grammar. Despite the exis-
tence of some works of Tamil literature, others, such as the translation of
the Mahabharata in the period encompassing early Pandyan rule, have
been lost in the mists of time.18 The importance of the Sangam antholo-
gies is that, while they may be a mixture of fact and faction, they never-
theless provide a picture of daily social lives.19 Moreover, the Sangam
literature also provides evidence of trade between the Tamil states and
Greece and Rome, which is corroborated by the works of the Greek writ-
ers Strabo and Ptolemy and the Roman writer Pliny.20 The evidence of
trade between the South Indian states and Greece and Rome in ancient
times, depicted in the Sangam literature as well as in the literature of
Rome and Greece, has been supported by archaeological evidence, such
as the Greco-Roman port at Arikamedu, Pondicherry, in southern India,
17
18
Ibid.
19
Ibid.
20
Ibid.
and the discovery of Roman coins from the first and second century
AD.21 Greco-Roman trade with southern India increased after the Greek
navigator Hippalus discovered how to make the best use of the monsoon
winds in order to traverse the ocean from west to east.22 According to the
latter, better knowledge of the geography of the South Indian coast also
helped the Greco-Romans to sail to southern India. However, other
South Indian ports such as Alagankulam and Puhar also facilitated Greco-
Roman trade, with Roman colonies existing at each port including the
inland city of Madurai.23 The Tamils called the Greco-Romans ‘Yavanas’,
and the ‘Yavanas’ were in demand by the Tamils to work for them as
craftsmen, carpenters, and traders.24 The Romans consumed more than
they produced, and much of Rome’s gold bullion went to South India.25
Nevertheless, the Arabs were the first to trade with South Indian mer-
chants, and were only superseded by the Greek subjects of the Roman
Empire in the early Christian period.26 The trade in spices, precious
stones, and muslins thrived from 31 BC, to the time of Nero in 68
AD. However, this trade declined after his death, although it continued
until the third century. The reason for the decline in trade between Rome
and South India was that the Emperor Vespasian, who succeeded Nero,
curbed the appetite of the wealthy Romans by restricting the import of
goods from South India. This reduced the outflow of Roman gold.27 This
outflow had amounted to 550 million sesterces a year.28 The ancient link
21
22
Howard, M. (2012), Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies: The Role of Cross-
Border Trade and Travel, McFarland & Company, North Carolina.
23
Mukund, K. (2012), The World of the Tamil Merchant: Pioneers of International Trade, Penguin
Books, Haryana, India.
24
Ball, W. (2016), Rome in the past: The Transformation of an Empire, 2nd Edition, Routledge,
Oxon.
25
26
Mendis, G. (2005), The Early History of Ceylon: And Its Relations With India and Other
Foreign Countries, Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, Chennai.
27
28
Thapar, R. (1990), A History of India: Volume 1, Penguin Books, London.
176 S. Ramesh
between the Greeks and the Tamils was so strong that some spices such as
pepper and ginger are in fact derived from Tamil words.29
The different regions of southern India were ruled by three dynasties in
ancient times. Wilkinson (1996) refers to this regional power configura-
tion as one of ‘hegemonic unipolarity’ in which there is either one super-
power, no great powers, or three or more local powers. While the three
dynasties—the Cheras, the Cholas, and the Pandyas—were the domi-
nant powers, smaller regions were ruled by local chieftains or Vallals who,
while they owed allegiance to a dynasty, were able to exercise unilateral
authority over the peoples in their jurisdiction. The first recorded king in
the ancient Chola dynasty is Ilanjetcenni, who is descended from an ear-
lier unknown Chola king who is reported to have had the wind do his
bidding. This may be a reference to the early Chola maritime excursions.30
The King who followed Ilanjetcenni was Karikala Peruvalathaan, his son,
who ruled around 270 BC. Karikala won many notable battles, including
the Battle of Veni, in which he defeated 11 minor kings or chieftains, and
the Battle of Vahaiparandalai, in which he defeated 9 minor kings. In
another battle, Karikala defeated the combined armies of the Pandya and
the Chera kings.31 Karikala maintained his capital at Kaveri Pattinam,
and from here he instigated policies that prevented migration from his
lands, the resettlement of forested lands, the development of flood banks
along the River Kaveri, and the development of irrigation canals, water
tanks, and dams to sustain agriculture.32 One of these dams was the
Kallanai Dam across the Kaveri River, which is still in use today. The
Chola king who took it to the height of its powers was Rajaraja 1 (985
AD–1014 AD) at the beginning of the eleventh century. Rajaraja 1 over-
came the military strength of dynasties such as the Pandyan kingdom, the
island of Ceylon, the Western Chalukyas, as well as the Eastern Chalukyas.
In order to celebrate his military victories, Rajaraja 1 built a major temple
29
Mendis, G. (2005), The Early History of Ceylon: And Its Relations With India and Other
Foreign Countries, Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, Chennai.
30
31
Ibid.
32
Ibid.
complex, the Rajarajesvara Temple, in his capital city of Tanjavur.33 At

the time, the Rajarajesvara Temple was the largest in the world and, hav-
ing taken seven years to build, it also exhibited a number of architectural
innovations.34
The Chola State

In pre and early Chola periods, peasant localities were organised into
units, each of which were referred to as a ‘nadu’. Together with brahman
elements playing a central role in daily life, the nadu represented a politi-
cal system.35 Nevertheless, the nadu also represented a specific land area
in which agricultural production was organised.36 The nadus themselves
were organised into ‘Periyanadu’ in the thirteenth century and ‘Mandalam’
in the eighteenth century. The ‘Periyanadu’ was in fact a guild of agricul-
turalists, producers, and traders in agricultural commodities.37 It has also
been noted that, in the ‘Periyanadu’, all four castes were represented, and
the ‘Periyanadu’ acted in conjunction with other supra-local institutions
in order to organise production.38 Moreover, the same association between
these institutions allowed for the support of trading and merchants in the
years following the collapse of the Chola Empire in the 13th dynasty.39
The brahman elements of the nadus incorporated learned individuals
33
Heitman, J. (1997), Gifts of Power: Lordship in an Early Indian State, Oxford University Press,
Delhi.
34
Reddy, V. (2009), Temples of South India, Guyan Publishing House, New Delhi.
35
Stein, B. (1977), Circulation and the Historical Geography of Tamil Country, The Journal of
Asian Studies, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 7–26.
36
Karashima, N., Subbarayalu, Y., and Shanmugam, P. (2008), Nagaram During the Chola and
Pandyan Period: Commerce and Towns in Tamil Country AD 850–1350, The Indian Historical
Review, Volume XXXV, No. 1, pp. 1–33.
37
Champakalakshmi, R. (1996), Trade, Ideology and Urbanization in South India 300 BC to AD
1300, Oxford University Press, Delhi.
38
Krishnan, K.G. (1982), ChittiramemlMip-periyanamdDu – An Agricultural Guild of Medieval
Tamil Nadu. Journal of the Madras University, Vol. 54:1.
39
Karashima, N., and Subbarayalu, Y. (2004), The Emergence of the Periyanadu Assembly in South
India during the Chola and Pandyan Periods, International Journal of Asian Studies, 1,1,
pp. 87–103.
178 S. Ramesh
with a knowledge of Sanskrit, centred around temples and the worship of

puranic gods, societal norms associated with purity and respectability
derived from the Sanskrit shastras which emphasised the support of legit-
imate kingship, and stressed the righteousness of vegetarianism.40 The
building of the Rajarajesvara Temple was both an act of worship as well
as a symbol of the institutional power of the King.41 The temple was dedi-
cated to the Hindu god Shiva, with the King and other royal notables
making substantial donations for its construction, maintenance, and
daily functioning. Due to the importance of the Rajarajesvara Temple,
priests, temple dancers, and other types of workers necessary for the func-
tioning of the temple were drawn from smaller temples throughout
Southern India. At the time of its construction, the Rajarajesvara Temple
was the tallest site of worship in South Asia, rising to 190 ft.42 The height
of the tower was a physical manifestation of Rajaraja’s skills, abilities, and
power.43 The message of the temple to citizens was clear. The creator of
the temple was the leading citizen, the King, who had the role of main-
taining stability in the cosmos. In other words, to ensure stability and
peace in the country so that the citizens could go by their daily lives.
Making donations to the temple evidenced piety and humility to the
Lord Shiva and, in a way, to the King, as the protector of the cosmos. The
façade of the temple exemplifies traditional architectural practice and
innovation.44 This was because the traditional tiers of the façade were
kept, but the proportions were such as to make the physical appearance
wider but smaller.45 Rajaraja’s successor built the Gangaikondachokpuram
40
41
Vol. 34, No. ½, pp. 23–54.
42
Ibid.
43
Talwai, P. (2010), Praying through Politics, Ruling Through Religion: The Rajarajeswaram as an
instrument of Economic and Political Unification in the Chola Empire, UC Berkeley, scholarship,
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/70v1v9dh
44
Prichard, P. (1995), Tanjavur Brhadisvara: An Architectural Study, Indira Gandhi Centre for the
Arts, New Delhi.
45
Ibid.
temple. Other innovations also occurred in metallurgy, and the produc-

tion of South Indian medieval icons such as the dance of the Lord Shiva.46
According to the latter, the medieval icons were produced using the first
used high-tin beta bronzes. Furthermore, high-tin delta bronze mirrors
were also produced.47 The number of inscriptions to Temples in general,
also increased during the Chola period from the ninth century AD
onwards.48 Chola era sculpture also showed innovation in showing more
humanism.49,50,51
While, the temple architecture was both a religious and political sym-
bol, the temple itself also held economic significance.52 This was because
of the high level of employment it created in the context of teachers,
dancers, watchmen, shepherds, musicians, tailors, carpenters, lamplight-
ers, and actors. The military also had a role in setting up icons, maintain-
ing lamps and making donations of ornaments.53 The construction and
the daily functioning of the temple can be seen as a way in which Rajaraja
1 sought to legitimise and sustain his power in the face of the people.54 In
other words, Rajaraja I pivoted the political and economic power of his
empire at the Rajarajeswaram Temple.55 In general, temples in southern
46
Srinivasan, S. (1998), The use of tin and bronze in prehistoric southern Indian metallurgy,
Journal of Metals, 50(7), 44–9.
47
Ibid.
48
Karashima, N. (1996), South Indian Temple Inscriptions: A New Approach to their study, South
Asia: Journal of Asian Studies, 19, 1, 1–12.
49
Irwin, J. (1948), South Indian Figure Sculpture, 7th–10th Centuries AD, Journal of the Royal
Asiatic Society.
50
Lippe, A. (1960), The Sculpture of Greater India, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin,
New Series, Vol. 18, No. 6, pp. 177–192.
51
Barrett, D. (1964), An Early Cola Lingodbhavamurti, The British Museum Quarterly, Vol. 28,
No. 1/2, pp. 32–39
52
Venkataraman, B. (1985), Rajarajesvaram: The Pinnacle of Chola Art, Mudgala Trust, Madras.
53
Ibid.
54
Vol. 34, No. ½, pp. 23–54.
55
180 S. Ramesh
India were the centres of economic, social, and political life.56 The size
and splendour of the Rajarajeswaram Temple gave it a greater level of
significance in this context. The temple was not only funded by the inter-
est from deposits, but also by the collection of taxes. The main source of
income to pay the wages of temple workers was through a system of land
grants, the devadana. Property rights during the time of the Cholas were
not in the same context as that of a capitalist economy.57 All land was
owned by the King, and there was only a ‘shift’ of land possession through
sales.58 This perhaps excluded temples. Land sales were of four types.59
These included the sale of cultivator’s land, the sale of the land of con-
demned officials, the sale of village land, and the sale of land by temples.
There were two types of devadana. The first type allowed the temple to
retain rights to revenues from the land, while the cultivator retained pos-
session of the land. The second type of devadana conferred ownership of
the land to the temple.60 However, according to the latter, the tenant
cultivators were responsible for producing the crops. The tax due from
the cultivated land was collected by the merchants, Rajaraja again using a
pre-existing social condition, with the collected revenues going to the
temple.61 Nevertheless, the produce of the land would be shared between
the temple, the state, and by the cultivator.62 However, this traditional
system of dividing the produce of the land was changed by Rajaraja so
56
57
Subrahmanyam, S. (1990), The Political Economy of Commerce: Southern India, 1500–1650,
58
Gough, K. (1980), Modes of Production in Southern India, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.
15, No. 5/7.
59
Sastri, K. (1958), A History of South India from Pre-historic Times to the fall of Vijayanagar,
Oxford University Press, London.
60
Venkatachari, K.K.A. (1987), Rajaraja the Great: Seminar Proceedings, Ananthacharya
Indological Research Institute, Bombay.
61
62
that the temple and the state would receive more revenues. It should be
noted that the ‘share’ system was very similar to the modern-day concept
of the ‘mutual’ in the context of increasing incentives to work harder, and
thus to produce more.63
The devadana was a system by which Rajaraja could maintain political
control of not only his kingdom, but also over his conquered lands.64 The
importance of specific geographical regions to tax collection increased,
the greater the distance of the region from the imperial capital Palaiyarv.65
For it was in Palaiyarv that royal rituals took place, donations received,
and royal residences persisted. On the other hand, Tanjavur can be seen
as the informal capital, whose construction and development would facil-
itate economic activity and economic development.66 This economic
activity and economic development was facilitated by the use of coinage.
Coinage has been used in India to facilitate transactions for over
2000 years; and the use of coinage in India has preceded the use of coin-
age in Britain by a few centuries.67 According to the latter, because the
Southern Indian dynasties were able to prevail over the Islamic invasion
of the north, traditional Indian coin design continued with the distinc-
tive fish design on coins in Chola territory. Other excavations have pro-
duced early period (circa fourth/fifth century) Chola copper coins with
depictions of the elephant, the ritual umbrella, and Hindu symbols such
as the Srivatsa and the Swastika.68 Furthermore, despite the Muslim
incursions into northern India, southern India under the Cholas and the
other dynasties were able to remain Hindu in character.69
63
64
Vasudevan, G. (2003), The Royal Temple of Rajaraja: An Instrument of Imperial Chola Power.
New Delhi: Abhinav.
65
Heitzman, J. (1987), Temple Urbanism in Medieval South India, Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 46,
No. 4, pp. 791–826.
66
Ibid.
67
Cribb, J. (2003), The Origins of the Indian Coinage Tradition, South Asian Studies, 19, 1,
pp. 1–19.
68
Danino, M. (1988), Vedic Roots of Early Tamil Culture, Vivekananda Kendra Patrika, Vol. 40,
No. 1, 79th Issue.
69
Basham, A. (1954), The Wonder that was India, Sidgwick and Jackson, London.
182 S. Ramesh
The Brahmadeya, Ur, and the Nagaram were the towns and the villages
that were included in the nadu. However, they may also be thought of in
the context of democratic assemblies that presided over the governance of
villages and towns.70 According to the latter, these institutions predated
the ascendancy of the Cholas and the other South Indian dynasties. The
brahmadeya were the villages granted to the brahmans. As these brahman
settlements received money deposits, they were the centres of develop-
ment and of capital accumulation.71 The Ur were the villages controlled
by landowners and by the temples. The Nagaram represented a town,
with a very similar word in Sanskrit, nagara. The Nagaram can be thought
of as a corporate institution due to its exclusive membership of mer-
chants.72 Moreover, the Nagaram represented sites of economic density,
because they were the abode of the merchants who were vital for com-
merce, trade, and urbanisation.73 The merchants of the Nagaram were
called ‘Nagarattar’ and were themselves organised into local guilds. The
merchant guilds which traded abroad were able to buy the resources, such
as ships, horses, donkeys, carts, and even soldiers to protect their goods,
they needed to do so.74 Furthermore, according to the latter, the mer-
chant guilds were responsible for governing parts of towns on behalf of
the King. And they also paid for the building of temples that they also
managed on a day-to-day basis. The number of Nagarams varied from
one nadu to another. And while the Chola kings encouraged the estab-
lishment of Nagarams in each nadu, there was no official economic policy
to do so. However, the rising prominence of the Nagaram may contradict
this view. Therefore, it may have been the case that one Nagaram may
70
71
Heitzman, J. (1987), Temple Urbanism in Medieval South India, Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 46,
No. 4, pp. 791–826.
72
73
Hall, K. (1980), Trade and Statecraft in the Age of the Cholas, Abhinav Publications, New Delhi.
74
Gough, K. (1980), Modes of Production in Southern India, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.
15, No. 5/7.
have served several nadus.75 Nevertheless, unlike the Nagaram, the

Brahmadeya were important for local government, and so, there was an
official policy to develop at least one Brahmadeya per nadu.76 However,
the Nagarams were placed under the strict monitoring of the state.77 This
may have been due to their commercial importance and the tax revenues
arising from trade. Thus, a town (Nagaram) in the Chola state did not
enjoy the same level of freedom as did the medieval towns in Europe and
Japan.78 And the merchants or nagarattars in the Nagarams co-operated
to a greater extent than did their counterparts in Europe. The nagarattars
were also landowners, and any donations they made to temples were tax
free.79 The interest from the donations would be used to pay for services
such as the materials needed to bathe the temple idols or repair temple
structures. Typically, the interest would accrue as a percentage of specific
commodities sold by merchants based on the money deposited with
them.80 The latter suggests that Nagarattars owned land, and they paid
taxes on the land they owned to the state but controlled agricultural pro-
duction on the same land. The most important Nagarattars or merchants
in the Nagarams were the Viyapari (general merchants), the Sankarapadi
(oil merchants), and the Saliya (weavers). Trading urban centres
(Nagaram)as well as the local fiefdoms of chieftains enjoyed a degree of
self-government. Moreover, the Chola kings franchised merchants by
granting special charters which exempted them from either punitive or
75
76
Karashima, N. (1984), South Indian History and Society: Studies from Inscriptions, AD
850–1800, OUP, New Delhi.
77
78
Ibid.
79
Ibid.
80
184 S. Ramesh
custodial sanctions.81 During the Chola period, trade and craft specialisa-
tion flourished due to the highly productive agricultural sector of the
economy, which had been facilitated by the Chola state.82 Nevertheless,
in the Chola state, the King was not above the law, as interpreted by the
brahmans, and the people were encouraged to overthrow the King if he
did violate the law.83 This was in contrast to China, where the Emperor
was considered to be divine, and the centre of power. China then emerged
as a stronger state than did India over the centuries. From a historical
perspective, this led to China retaining its sovereignty, while only tempo-
rarily ceding parts of its territory to the European powers in the nine-
teenth century. However, India was completely absorbed by the British
into the British Empire. Therefore, China’s Emperor-oriented central rule
acted as a force to unify the whole country. However, while this gave rise
to the wars, such as the warring states period and the Spring and Autumn
wars, this was not experienced in India’s chronology because, before the
advent of the British, India was never a unified state.84 The roots of the
institutional differences in power in India and China allowed both coun-
tries to evolve different forms of governance in the twentieth century.
India inherited the western democratic model from its coloniser, although
elements of democratic suffrage were exhibited in its ancient history.
China, after a brutal foreign invasion, entered into a civil conflict which
only ended with the victory of the Communist Party in 1949, resulting
in one party rule, with a democratic element, ever since.
Increased trade facilitated craft specialisation to be concentrated in
urban centres which also became a focal point for production. Local
guilds of merchants specialising in the trade of a specific commodity
emerged, and guilds of foreign merchants, mostly Arabs, but perhaps
including Greeks and Romans, also existed. Karikala was also a follower
81
Spencer, G. (1976), The Politics of Plunder: The Cholas in Eleventh-Century Ceylon, The
Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 405–419.
82
83
84
Ibid.
of the Vedic religion, which had permeated through the Deccan Plateau
from the Aryan invaders in the north.85 Under Chola rule, the formation
of merchant guilds specialising in specific artisan sectors of the economy
was also more favoured then before. The Chola Empire capitalised on the
economic and maritime networks left by the Pallava empire following its
demise in the eighth century AD, advancing them by using the power of
the merchant guilds.86 Increased trade between southern India, the
Middle East, Southeast Asia, and China facilitated the rapid develop-
ment of the weaving and dyeing industries, in southern India, with the
introduction of the loom in the eleventh century and the spinning wheel
in the thirteenth century.87 This was 600 years earlier than the introduc-
tion of the spinning wheel at the start of the industrial revolution in
England in the latter part of the eighteenth century. The thirteenth cen-
tury also saw a rise in South Indian exports of printed and dyed textiles
to the Middle East and Southeast Asia.88,89 Furthermore, the merchant
associations not only controlled the South Indian non-agrarian economy,
but also internal and external trade from areas controlled by the Cholas.90
Due to the monopoly power they held, the merchant guilds were able to
accumulate sufficient wealth and patronise and support temples, as well
as acting on behalf of the Chola state in order to collect taxes. However,
while there was trade and agriculture, aspects of production were limited
to textiles and dyes. The small composition of production in the Chola
economy may have been due to the thinly distributed population, with
pockets concentrated in the fertile deltas and valleys, in conjunction with
85
86
Christie, J. (1998), The medieval Tamil-language inscriptions in Southeast Asia and China,
JSEAS, 29, 2, 257–8, Sastri, History, pp. 132–3.
87
Abraham, M. (1988), Two Medieval Merchant Guilds of South India, Manohar Publications.
88
Barnes, R. (1993), Indian Block-Printed Cotton Fragments in the Kelsey Museum, The
University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.
89
Christie, J. (1993), Texts and Textiles in Medieval Java, Bulletin de l’Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-
Orient 80, 1, pp. 193–95.
90
186 S. Ramesh
a pastoral existence in the peripheral regions.91 The staple food in Chola

India was rice—and fermented rice soups—and it was traded for either
barter or for gold, but also acted as a common measure of value by itself.92
However, other commonly eaten groceries included dhal, curd, salt,
spices such as cardamom, pepper, mustard, cumin, and betel leaves. Fish
was also eaten alongside venison meat sold by forest hunters.93 The latter
suggests that salt and lemons were taxable commodities.
Trade and Plunder
At the end of the Sangam period, the three Tamil kingdoms disappeared
for three centuries.94 The new Chola dynasty emerged in around 850
AD, when Vijayalaya conquered Tanjavur and set up his capital there.95
According to the latter, one of the greatest Indian kings came to the
Chola throne in 985 AD, Rajaraja 1, who would rule until 1014 AD. In
general, Chola warfare can be seen as an economic activity bent on profit
as plunder rather than as profit as territorial gain.96 In this context,
according to the latter, the Chola kings used plunder to satisfy two strate-
gies. Firstly, to increase a sustained supply of resources to the royal court,
while plunder may be short term, it is different from long-term methods
of financing the state through levies and tributes. The former was based
on a quantification of land, goods, population and produce while the
91
Subrahmanyam, S., and Bayly, C. (1988), Portfolio capitalists and the political economy of early
modern India, The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 25, 4.
92
Sakhuja, V., and Sakhuja, S. (2009), Rajendra Chola 1’s Naval Expedition to Southeast Asia, in
‘Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa: Reflections on the Chola Naval Expeditions to Southeast Asia’,
Kulke, H., Kesavapany, K., and Sakhuja, V. (Eds), Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore.
93
Ibid.
94
The Classical Age, Vij Books India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.
95
Heitzman, J. (1997), Gifts of Power: Lordship in an Early Indian State, Oxford University Press,
Delhi.
96
latter depended on the size of a local chieftain’s military force.97 And,

secondly plundering involved the central co-ordination of a decentralised
socio-political system. However, in the case of Rajaraja 1 (985 AD–1014
AD) and his son Rajendra 1 (1012 AD–1044 AD), this strategy evolved
into plunder and the establishment of semi-permanent camps from
which more plundering could be conducted.98 This was the strategy fol-
lowed by the Chola kings of the new dynasty under Rajaraja 1 and
Rajendra 1 in Ceylon, present-day Sri Lanka, perhaps to gain control of
the island due to its strategic location in the Arabian-China maritime
trade link.99 According to the latter, the Chola kings were engaged in
regional and long distance trade through ports they controlled, with mili-
tary support, perhaps in order to benefit from the levies which such trade
would bring. Under the kingship of Rajendra 1, the Chola empire
stretched from its Tamilakam heartlands to Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,
and Kedah in modern Malaysia.100 Furthermore, the Chola influence also
extended to Cambodia and Indonesia, with Tamil merchants recorded to
have been in Sumatra.101 Chola naval power was exerted in the Melaka
Straits, in which the largely Malay population depended on maritime
trade for their subsistence.102 The Chola navy was used to defeat the
Srivijaya Malay kingdom and bring it under the control of the Chola
Empire in 1025 AD.103 The mighty Chola Naval expedition of 1025 AD
to Southeast Asia was unprecedented in Indian history.104 The rise of the
97
Ibid.
98
99
Ibid.
100
101
102
Heng, D. (2013), State formation and the evolution of naval strategies in the Melaka Straits,
c.500–1500 CE, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 44(3), pp. 380–399.
103
Kuiper, K. (2011), Understanding India: The Culture of India, Britannica Educational
Publishing, New York.
104
Kulke, H. (2009), The Naval Expeditions of the Cholas in the Context of Asian History, in
188 S. Ramesh
Cholas in southern India in 985 AD synchronised with the rise of the

Song dynasty in China in 960 AD and the Fatimids in Egypt in 969
AD. The rise of the Fatimids in Egypt coincided with the decline of the
Abbasids dynasty in Baghdad. The shift in Middle Eastern power from
Baghdad to Egypt caused a shift in the focus of Muslim trading activities
from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea. This caused the decline in trade
with India’s west coast, and increased trade with the Cholas and the
Malabar coast.105 Ships from the Red Sea ports were able to take advan-
tage of the monsoon winds and sail quite easily to the South Indian
Malabar coast. This shift increased Chola trade, which required a navy to
defend and expand. The shift of dynasties and increased trade placed
southern India at the centre of maritime trade between the Middle East
and China. The result was that the Cholas would protect and expand
their trading networks, eliminating competing powers like the Srivijaya
kingdom in Sumatra. One reason put forward for the Chola military
expansion in southern India and in Southeast Asia has been the need to
acquire and stabilise sources of gold, precious stones, and wealth, so that
the nobility and the military could continue to make donations to the
ever-expanding Temples in southern India, including the Rajarajesvaram
Temple.106 Moreover, the Srivijaya kingdom was interfering with Chola
trade with Song dynasty China.107 This may have either been overtly or
transparently, because of the perception by the Song court that the Chola
state was weaker and subject to the Srivijaya kingdom, leading to Tamil
merchants receiving fewer trading opportunities in China. Furthermore,
in 987 AD, the Chinese government under the Song dynasty monopo-
lised foreign trade by establishing the Bureau of Licensed Trade, which
bought all imported goods and sold them at its own prices to the people.
105
Abulughod, J. (1991), Before European Hegemony: The World System AD.1250–1350, Oxford
University Press Inc., New York.
106
Kulke, H., and Rothermund, D. (1998), A History of India, Routledge, New York.
107
Sen, T. (2009), The Military Campaigns of Rajendra Chola and the Chola-Srivijaya-China
Triangle, in ‘Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa: Reflections on the Chola Naval Expeditions to
Southeast Asia’, Kulke, K., Kesavapany, K., and Sakhuja, V. (Eds), Institute of Southeast Asian
Studies, Singapore.
So financially lucrative was this for the Song dynasty that they sent dip-
lomatic missions to the Southeast Asian nations and the Cholas, encour-
aging them to increase trade with Song dynasty China. As an incentive,
the Song dynasty government promised these trading nations that they
would be given special facilities and import licences.108 Economically, tax
revenues from trade became more important for China following the An
Lushan rebellion in 755 AD during the Tang dynasty, which, although it
failed, caused the dynasty to relax an extremely rigid economic system in
which China was essentially a closed economy, opening the economy up
to foreign trade.109 The dismantling of the rigid economic system also saw
the emergence of private entrepreneurship.110 Moreover, the planting of
new types of crops from Southeast Asia and the development of irrigation
techniques facilitated a surge in China’s population from the late Tang
dynasty and increased migration from China’s interior region to its coastal
areas, where the demand for foreign products mainly lay.111 The incenti-
visation of trade by the Song dynasty in China ushered in a global econ-
omy in the tenth century, which consisted of the Middle East-South and
Southeast Asia-China tripartite.112 The linking of market trade with the
tribute system by Song dynasty China also led to increased competition
between foreign merchants, (Sen, 2009). The latter suggests that the
greater the tribute presented to the Song court, by merchants on behalf
of foreign kingdoms, the higher the tax rebates which the foreign mer-
chants received. The Chola Emperor Rajaraja 1 sent the first Chola mis-
sion to the Song dynasty in 1015 AD, carrying tribute goods to the Song
108
Sen, T. (1995), Maritime Contacts between China and the Chola Kingdom of South India:
850–1279’, in ‘Marines, Merchants and Oceans: Studies in Maritime History’, Matthew, K. (Eds),
Manohar, New Delhi.
109
Sen, T. (2009), The Military Campaigns of Rajendra Chola and the Chola-Srivijaya-China
Triangle, in ‘Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa: Reflections on the Chola Naval Expeditions to
Southeast Asia’, Kulke, K., Kesavapany, K., and Sakhuja, V. (Eds), Institute of Southeast Asian
Studies, Singapore.
110
Sen, T. (2003), Buddhism, Diplomacy and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations,
600–1400, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.
111
Sen, T. (2003), Buddhism, Diplomacy and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations,
600–1400, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.
112
Modelski, G., and Thompson, W. (1996), leading Sectors and World Powers: The Coevolution
of Global Economics and Politics, Columbia University Press.
190 S. Ramesh
Emperor of a robe, a cap, pearls, ivory, and incense along with a personal
letter from the Chola Emperor to the Song Emperor.113 The latter also
suggests that the close contact between the Chinese empire and South
India continued under the Yuan dynasty between 1271 AD and 1368
AD, with both sides exchanging annual diplomatic missions and estab-
lishing settlements in Quanzhou, China, and Nagapattinam in South
India. A Siva Temple being built in Quanzhou and a three-storey Chinese
Pagoda in Nagapattinam, which existed until 1867 AD. The Melaka
Straits was a vital maritime trade link between India and China centred
around the Buddhist Srivijaya kingdom which flourished in parts present-
day Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Chinese monks
would stop off at Buddhist monasteries in the Srivijaya kingdom in order
to learn Malay and Sanskrit before continuing on their journey to India.
Between 1017 and 1025, the Chola navy raided Malay ports in the
Melaka Straits as well as in the Gulf of Siam.114 Though this naval engage-
ment may have been brief, it did allow for the extension of Chola influ-
ence over the northern Melaka Straits for the next century.115 However, it
must be recognised that the Chola navy was not made up of warships on
permanent station ready for combat, but on a fleet built up when neces-
sary from merchant trading vessels.116 Moreover, Chola seafaring vessels
had neither a magnetic compass nor rudder, and had to rely on a knowl-
edge of weather systems, prevailing winds, and heavenly bodies to navi-
gate ships from the Malabar coast to ports in Southeast Asia, and on to
China.117 However, the latter suggests that they had instruments for
locating stars, speed measurements, as well as a flat bronze plate for
113
Kulke, H. (2009), The Naval Expeditions of the Cholas in the Context of Asian History, in
114
115
116
Sakhuja, V., and Sakhuja, S. (2009), Rajendra Chola 1’s Naval Expedition to Southeast Asia, in
117
Ibid.
easuring water depth. Furthermore, pigeons were used to locate land

m
and the human hand was used to measure the altitude of the stars. Voyages
were made from Nagapattinam, the main port and the seat of governance
of the Cholas. Lighthouses were maintained day and night along the
coast in order to allow ships to navigate safely to port without hazard.118
The latter suggests that knowledge of scurvy existed, such that ships were
furnished with ‘martabans’ jars containing a mixture of lemons, mangoes,
and salted ginger pepper condiments to be consumed by sailors on long
voyages to provide them with the quantities of vitamin C necessary to
prevent scurvy. The defining innovation of the Chola state was its
extended use of naval power to conquer distant states.119 The Cholas did
have a professional army composed of regiments of cavalry, elephants to
carry bowmen, infantry, and swordsmen.120 The latter notes that, in 1178
AD, a Chinese scholar wrote that the Cholas had around 60,000 ele-
phants in the army. At the time, it was noted that the Chola army was
huge in number, perhaps with as many as 900,000 soldiers.121 However,
it has been suggested that the longevity and effectiveness of the Chola
army, unlike the armies of Macedonia, Rome, and Greece, was denigrated
by a lack of discipline because of the army’s close links to South Indian
society.122 According to the latter, in this case, the Chola army reflected
the lack of bonding in Indian society, as well as its divisions. The centre
of Indian civilisation was not political, but rather, one based on religion
and ritual.123 The temple was at the heart of Indian socioeconomic life,
and through this, the King attained power. The Chola influence was such
that Tamil inscriptions have been found at sites on the Malay peninsula
(Kedah), in northern Sumatra (Lobu Tua) and in eastern China
118
Ibid.
119
Barua, P. (2003), The State at War in South Asia, Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.
120
Sastri, K. (1935), The Cholas, The University of Madras.
121
Subbarayalu, Y. (2009), A Note on the Navy of the Chola State, in ‘Nagapattinam to
Suvarnadwipa: Reflections on the Chola Naval Expeditions to Southeast Asia’, Kulke, H.,
Kesavapany, K., and Sakhuja, V. (Eds), Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore.
122
123
192 S. Ramesh
(Quanzhou).124 Nevertheless, by the second half of the twelfth century,

the Srivijaya navy had gained the upper hand in the control of the Melaka
Straits maritime trade due to the withdrawal of the Chola navy due to
upheavals at home.125 The latter suggests that this is in contrast to the first
half of the twelfth century in which the Cholas were able to maintain
diplomatic and economic relations with Song dynasty China. However,
there are contradicting claims that direct Chola trade with China ceased
in the latter part of the eleventh century, only for Chinese-South Indian
trade to be resurrected by the Yuan dynasty in the latter part of the twelfth
century.126
End of Empire
The Chola empire collapsed finally in the thirteenth century due to
repeated and successful attacks from the Pandyans from the far south, the
Hoysalas from Karnataka, and from local chieftains in Tamil Nadu
itself.127 The combined attacks of the Pandyans and the Hoysalas weak-
ened the Chola state to such an extent that when King Rajendra IV, the
last king of the Cholas, died in 1279 AD.128 The lands of the Chola
dynasty were then incorporated into the emergent Pandyan kingdom.129
The rise of the military strength of the Pandyans and the Hoysalas, and
the decreasing military strength of the Cholas can be explained by two
124
125
126
127
Heitzman, J. (1987), Temple Urbanism in Medieval South India, Journal of Asian Studies,
Vol46, No. 4, pp. 791–826.
128
129
Schmidt, K. (1995), An Atlas and Survey of South Asian History, Routledge, New York.
factors.130 Firstly, the development of advanced forms of agriculture such

as the use of flooded fields to grow rice seedlings;131 according to the lat-
ter, this agricultural innovation occurred in China in the ninth century
AD. This would have led to an increase in the yield of rice crops, which
would facilitate an increase in the population as well as an agricultural
surplus that could be used for either internal and external trade, or put in
store for later use. The increase in the population led to an increase in the
size of cities, and increased the possibilities for the ‘division of labour’.132
Secondly, peasant chiefs learned that their wealth could buy power. The
increase in population discussed previously also facilitated an increase in
the size of the ruling class.133 The ideological innovations, and the favour-
able environment which gave rise to the ascendancy of the Cholas, were
no longer valid.134 Furthermore, the exchange and accessibility strategy
the Cholas followed to maintain power were no longer effective.
The Chola navy continued to receive fewer and fewer resources and
was not the fighting force it had been at the time of the conquest of the
Srivijaya kingdom in 1025 AD, or at the time of support for the Chola
Malay dependent states in 1078 AD. So, by the time the Chola Empire
was brought to an end in 1261 AD, by the rise of the neighbouring
Pandyan kingdom, the Chola navy had been in a state of hibernation.135
The demise of the Chola state was also recognised by the Chinese writer
Zhao Rugua, based in Quanzhou in 1225 AD, who also recognised that
while the Chola empire was engaged in a fight for survival, it was still
130
131
Gough, K. (1980), Modes of Production in Southern India, Economic and Political Weekly,
Vol. 15, No. 5/7.
132
Ibid.
133
Ibid.
134
135
Roy, K. (2015), Warfare in Pre-British India – 1500 BCE to 1740 BCE, Routledge, New York.
194 S. Ramesh
managing to export textiles.136 Following the demise of the Chola state in

the thirteenth century, the merchant guilds continued, but were in
decline until the seventeenth century, functioning without the state sup-
port they had enjoyed under the umbrella of the Chola empire. However,
as the merchant guilds declined individual traders on the South Indian
coast carried on exporting textiles and dyes to the Middle East and
Southeast Asia.137 The fourteenth-century Vijayanagar kingdom incorpo-
rated the remnants of the Chola empire. Despite the demise of the Chola
empire, it did leave its mark on southern India and Southeast Asia
through its innovations in architecture, metallurgy, naval power, and
‘political’ ideology. Architectural innovation was evidenced in the design
and construction of temples such as the Rajarajeswaram Temple at
Thanjavur, which at the time of its completion was the tallest standing
building in the world. The Cholas also made innovations in metallurgy
with regards to the production of bronze statutes. This metallurgical
innovation may have extended to the production of swords and other
metallic fighting implements. However, the most prominent innovation
of the medieval Chola dynasty was the scale of the use of naval power to
subdue the other kingdoms on the Malay peninsula and in Sumatra and
Java. This military expansion by the Cholas was to gain more trade with
China to acquire wealth that could be donated to the temples in order to
gain divine favour with the Hindu deity. The logistics and the co-
ordination required for the transport of soldiers, elephants, and the
required provisions on ships is astounding. This is especially in the con-
text of the lack of modern communications we have today. The Cholas
also innovated in the establishment of a political ideology through
exchange and accessibility in order to stabilise and prolong the power of
the King and the dynasty. However, the development and the growth of
the agricultural sector allowed local chieftains to accumulate wealth,
which was possible due to the way in which revenues from the proceeds
of the land were distributed. Rajaraja had changed the pre-existing
136
Hirth, F., and Rockhill, W. (1911), Chau Ju-Kua: His Work on the Chinese and Arab Trade in
the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, entitled Chu-fan-chi, Paragon Press, New York.
137
istribution system so that the state and the temples would receive a
d
much bigger share. The ‘state’ may have included local chieftains. In con-
junction with exchange and accessibility, the increasing wealth of the
local chieftains may have given them enough confidence to usurp the
power of the Chola king at a time when the Chola state itself was under
attack and in a weak condition. Perhaps, by colluding with the enemies
of the Cholas to strengthen their power.
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8
The Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) and
the Song Dynasty (960 AD to 1279 AD)
Introduction
The Qin dynasty collapsed fifteen years after it had unified China.1 The
Qin dynasty, though repressive, had offered China peace and stability
after 500 years of war and instability.2 However, after the collapse of the
Qin dynasty, there followed further civil strife in which the military forces
of Liu Bang and Xiang Yu fought each other for the control of the lands
of the Qin. The kings of the Liu family were to form the Han dynasty.3
In order to stop five years of civil war, the nobles and the generals gath-
ered on the banks of the River Fan on 28 February, 202 BC, in order to
proclaim Liu Bang as the first Emperor of the Han dynasty, which would
last for over four hundred years.4 Liu Bang was born a peasant and showed
1
Feng, Li. (2013), Early China: A Social and Cultural History, Cambridge University Press,
New York.
2
Hardy, G., and Kinney, A. (2005), The Establishment of the Han Empire and Imperial China,
Greenwood Press, London.
3
Rawson, J. (1999), The Eternal Palaces of the Western Han: A New View of the Universe, Artibus
Asiae, Vol. 59, No. 1/2, pp. 5–58.
4

202 S. Ramesh
humility in refusing to become Emperor at the urging of his advisors,

following the death of his rival Xiang Yu. However, Liu Bang finally
accepted the title in order to bring peace and stability to China.5 The lat-
ter suggests that institutions implemented by the Han dynasty were con-
tinued by successive dynasties until the collapse of the last of China’s
dynasties, the Qing dynasty, in 1912. The Han dynasty was matched in
terms of military power, territorial and population size; and cultural
strength, only by the Roman Empire.6 Geographically, the Han dynasty
can be represented as the shift between the highlands of the upper Yellow
River and the flood plains of the lower Yellow River.7 The Song dynasty,
on the other hand, was formed several hundred years later and existed in
the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries AD. It was formed in southern
China as a result of losing the northern Chinese heartlands to marauding
northern tribes such as the Khitan. The southern Song dynasty was the
heartbeat of innovation in economic systems, navigation and maritime
trade, and a naval military force.
The Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD)

Early Governance
The governance structures put in place by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC

survived in its basic form for 2000 years, until the end of dynastic rule in
China in 1911.8 However, the governance structures were amended in a
number of ways, firstly, by the Han dynasty, which overthrew the Qin.
The main difference between the Han dynasty and the Qin dynasty was
that the rule of the former was based on the mandate of heaven while the
latter relied on a model of political change based on earth, wood, metal,
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid.
7
Lewis, M. (2009), China Between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties, The Belknap
Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
8
Yu-ch’uan, W. (1949), An Outline of The Central Government of the Former Han Dynasty,
Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1 / 2, pp. 134–187.
The Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) and the Song Dynasty… 203
fire, and water.9 According to the latter, the first Emperor of the Qin
dynasty defeated the previous Zhou dynasty through the use of overpow-
ering military force, and not by claiming the mandate of heaven. This
refers to the divine right to rule by a family given to it by heaven, which
could be revoked if the common people suffered.
The commanderies (provinces) and the kingdoms were the two types
of regional governments which existed under the Han dynasty.10 The
commanderies themselves were formed of a number of counties, the
counties administered themselves, but the counties in a commandery
were administered at the commandery level. The county was the third
lowest form of administrative region in both the commanderies as well as
in the kingdoms. Commanderies had also been established in what is
modern-day Korea at the time of the Emperor Wu of Han (141 BC–87
BC).11 The counties were divided into districts and the districts into ‘li’.12
Several commanderies made up a kingdom. At the start of the Han
period, each kingdom was made up of at least six commanderies, and the
kingdoms made up at least two-thirds of the country, with the remaining
third of the country being made up of regional commanderies.13 The lat-
ter suggests that the role of king in the kingdoms was hereditary in nature,
and the King was responsible for appointing administrators at both the
commandery and county levels.14 Nevertheless, although the role of king
was hereditary, the Emperor could ultimately replace a royal house and
appoint a king of his choosing. This is what Liu Bang did as the first
emperor of the Han dynasty, appointing several members of his family as
kings in several kingdoms. This was in the belief that familial links would
9
10
Edwards, R. (2009), Federalism and the Balance of Power: China’s Han and Tang Dynasties and
the Roman Empire, Pacific Economic Review, 14:1, pp. 1–21.
11
Pai, H. (1992), Culture contact and culture change: The Korean peninsula and its relations with
the Han Dynasty commandery of Lelang, World Archaeology, 23:3, 306–319.
12
13
14
Bielenstein, H. (1980), The Bureaucracy of Han Times, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
204 S. Ramesh
breed loyalty. Liu Bang replaced all the kings in place at the time of his
ascendancy to Emperor with family members, except in Changsha.15
According to the latter, when Liu Bang died in 195 AD, the control of
the imperial throne was taken by Empress Lu, one of his consorts, who
appointed two puppet emperors and put to death the sons of other con-
cubines who had become kings under Liu Bang’s rule; and replaced by Lu
family members. In some cases, land was also taken away from the king-
doms ruled by Liu kings in order to supplement the kingdoms of the
newly appointed Lu kings.16 However, the ascendancy of the Lu kings
was brief.
Institutional Reforms
Some of the earliest institutional reforms of the Han date back to the first
emperor, Hui Tsung, and his Grand Councillor, Wang An-Shih, who was
in office in the period 1070 AD to 1076 AD, at different times. The state
monopolisation of commercial activity, the equalisation of prices by the
state, the organisation of local militia for the defence of the country; and
the substitution of the conscription of labour, for example. For when the
Empress Lu died in 180 AD, a son of Liu Bang, the Emperor Wendi,
ascended to the throne. As a result, Lu kings were dethroned, but a mis-
trust between the imperial court and the regional kings continued to
exist.17 In order to reduce the possibility of rebellion by the kings, the
Emperor Wendi reduced the size of existing kingdoms and increased the
number of kingdoms and commanderies.18 The stability of this strategy
relied on the existence of a central unifying authority, the Emperor, and
a ruling dynasty. During successive periods of China’s history, when this
15
16
Ibid.
17
Ibid.
18
Loewe, M. (1986), The Former Han Dynasty, in Twitchett, D., and Loewe, M. (Eds), The
Cambridge History of China – Volume 1, The Ch’in and Han Empires, 221 BC–220 AD,
was not possible, China ceased to exist as a single entity. For example,
during the period of the three kingdoms—220 AD to 280 AD—and the
period of the five dynasties and ten kingdoms 907 AD to 960
AD. However, the increase in the number of kingdoms continued to fuel
the tensions between the imperial court and the regional kings. As a
result, more institutional reforms were instigated when the Emperor
Wendi died in 157 BC, and was replaced by his son, the Emperor Jingdi.
These institutional changes can be mainly associated with the imperial
court taking direct control over the resource-rich commanderies of some
of the most powerful kingdoms.19 This proved to be destabilising, as the
kings resented the eroding of their power. As a result, the Seven Kings
Rebellion against the imperial court took place in 154 BC. This rebellion
was suppressed by the imperial court with the despatch of two imperial
armies.20 Rebellious kings were killed and replaced. However, the institu-
tional changes made by the Emperor Jingdi were more far reaching
because the kings lost their power to appoint administrators and officials
within their domains. Many posts were eliminated, specifically, those
with fiscal and military responsibilities.21 The Kings roles became titular
in nature, and they were ‘pensioned’ off, receiving an income from the
revenues raised in their kingdoms.22 The Emperor Jingdi was succeeded
by his son, the Emperor Wudi, in 141 BC. Under the Emperor Wudi, the
centralising institutional reforms were continued.23 According to the lat-
ter, these institutional changes continued with the reduction in the size of
kingdoms through either the establishment of new kingdoms or the for-
mation of new commanderies. Agriculture was also well developed in the
Han dynasty, with at least five grains in production, rice—the principal
19
Ibid.
20
Joyner, H. (1978), The Recruitment, Organisation, and Control of Former Han Military
Leadership, Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Department of Far Eastern Languages and Civilisations,
University of Chicago.
21
22
Bielenstein, H. (1980), The Bureaucracy of Han Times, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
23
206 S. Ramesh
crop—millet, hemp, wheat, and soybeans.24 Irrigation and fertiliser was

also used. The agricultural techniques used during the Han dynasty
would be used to boost production in the Song dynasty, during which
high yielding strains of agriculture were experimented with and put into
production.25 However, Chang Ch’ien, sent on a diplomatic mission to
West Asia by the Emperor Wudi, brought back new crops such as the
grapevine, alfalfa, soybeans, and horses.26 The system of accounting
inherited from the Qin dynasty was improved upon. The invention of
paper and the abacus during the latter stages of the Eastern Han Dynasty
(25 AD to 220 AD) facilitated the better record keeping of transactions
as well as an improved method of calculation.27 The Han government
adopted an accounting system that depended upon the determination of
government expenditures and revenues. The latter arose from taxes, of
which there were four main types.28 There were taxes on merchants, arti-
sans, the land, and on males between the ages of 15 and 56. Under the
Han dynasty, tax levies were increased because taxes were the main source
of government revenues.29 Moreover, according to the latter, during the
Han dynasty, the Shangji system of reporting was introduced. It was an
annual conference during which the financial accounts of various regions
would be presented to the Vice Premier, the Inspector of Taxes, and the
Emperor himself. The Emperor would be able to ask questions. In this
way, officials in regions doing well could be rewarded whilst officials in
regions doing badly could be punished and measures needed to improve
performance introduced.
24
Ballas, D. (1965), Some Notes on Agriculture in Han China, The Professional Geographer, 17:4,
pp. 13–14.
25
Golas, P. (1980), Rural China in the Song, Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. XXXIX, No. 2.
26
Hirth, F. (1917), The Story of Chang Ch’ien, China’s Pioneer in West Asia, Journal of the
American Oriental Society, Vol. 37, pp. 89–152.
27
Aiken, M., and Lu, W. (1993), Historical Instances of Innovative Accounting Practices in the
Chinese Dynasties and beyond, The Accounting Historians Journal, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 163–186.
28
Chou, C. (1974), An Economic History of China, Western Washington State College Bellingham,
Washington.
29
Between 9 AD and 23 AD, there was an interlude in the Han dynasty,

with the usurpation of the Han throne by Wang Mang to form the Xin
dynasty. Emperor Wang Mang proposed reforms which were akin to
today’s Socialist/Communist manifesto. Policies he championed included
taking big holdings of land and dividing it up amongst the peasants.30
However, drought and starvation fermented rebellion amongst the peas-
ants, and his reforms fermented rebellion amongst the nobility. Wang
Mang was killed in 23 AD, and the Xin dynasty came to an end with the
beginning of the Eastern Han dynasty (25 AD to 220 AD).
Centralisation of Power
By the last decades of the second century AD, the Han empire included
the territories comprising modern-day China, southern Manchuria,
northern Korea, and Tonkin, but it did not include the extreme south-
west.31 The Han had relied on a belief in marriage diplomacy, marrying
Han princesses to the leaders of confrontational tribes. However, under
the Emperor Wu of Han (141 BC to 87 BC), the Han Empire’s borders
extended into Xinjiang, Yunnan, Korea, and Vietnam.32 The latter sug-
gests that, at the time, the Han empire counted 12.2 million households
and 60 million individuals. It was also at the height of its military and
economic power. And for the first time in China’s history, the Han had
introduced a centralised imperial government, with the Emperor possess-
ing total authority over all his subjects. The governance of such a large
population required a large and structured administrative network. This
network was a hierarchy of twenty ranks, although, after 32 BC, this was
30
Chih-P’ing, C. (2013), English Writings of Hu Shih, Chinese Philosophy and Intellectual
History (Volume 2), Springer, London.
31
32
Chin, T. (2010), Defamiliarizing the Foreigner: Sima Qian’s Ethnography and Han-Xiongnu
Marriage Diplomacy, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 70, No. 2, pp. 311–354.
208 S. Ramesh
reduced to sixteen ranks.33 The latter suggests that the rank assigned to a
bureaucrat would indicate his status, salary, privileges, what type of
clothes he wore, and what type of carriage he could ride. At the head of
this administrative hierarchy was the Emperor. The Emperor appointed
officials with a salary of six hundred bushels. These officials included
those in the central government cabinet and, at a local level, the Emperor
also appointed provincial governors, county prefects, and county chiefs.
As well as being the source of all laws, the Emperor was also the ultimate
judge over all matters. Moreover, while in pre-Han China, being in gov-
ernment and having political power also meant having wealth and social
prestige. However, post-Han, the Emperor was the only source of pow-
er.34 However, in two cases, the enthronement of Emperor Wendi (179
BC to 157 BC) and Emperor Hsuan (73 BC to 49 BC) was decided by a
debate between nobles and ministers in a court conference.35
The assistant to the Emperor was the Chancellor, who was responsible
for all the officials in the service of the Emperor as well as state finances.
In addition to the Chancellor, there were also the roles of Tutor and
Guardian. The Chancellor, the Tutor, and the Guardian were known as
the ‘Three Councillors’, instigated in the reign of the Chou, abolished by
the Qin but reinstated by the Han dynasty.36 The latter suggests that there
were also two standing armies, one in the capital and a national army. The
capital army was controlled by military officers under the direction of
three governors. The national army was commanded by a general and
four lieutenant generals, known as the right, left, front, and the rear.37
The Supreme Court was instigated by the Qin dynasty but survived into
the Han dynasty, being attached to the Palace, with the Chief Justice
being appointed by the Emperor.38 The ministers of importance in the
33
34
Ibid.
35
Ibid.
36
Koo, T. (1920), The Constitutional Development of the Western Han Dynasty, Journal of the
37
Ibid.
38
Ibid
central government were the Three Lords (San Kung) and the Nine
Ministers (Chiu Ch’ing).39 Other important government positions
included the Commandant of Justice and the Grand Herald. The former
settled legal disputes which could not be resolved by the provincial gov-
ernors, while the latter was responsible for the integration into Han soci-
ety of barbarians who had submitted to the rule of the Emperor. Between
the period 194 BC and 141 BC, the Han Empire was ruled by a ‘Politik’
of the children of the founding father of the dynasty, Liu Bang, whose
friends had also become ministers.40 The latter suggests that, by 140 BC,
the traditional Minister in the imperial cabinet had been replaced by
Confucian scholars. Knowledge and learning had a very prominent place
in ancient China, especially during the Han dynasty. However, it may
have been the case that three schools of thought—Confucianism,
Legalism, and Taoism—may have been prevalent in the imperial court,
with officials having leanings towards particular schools of thought.41 The
latter suggests that the intellectual environment in the Han period was
also attached to the Way of the Tao of Taoism. Some of the assertions of
Taoism related to a belief in the specialisation of production, that people
should specialise in the production of a good or service to which their
innate skills was proficient.42 At the same time, there should also be a
complementary evolution of the tradespeople in general in order to facili-
tate exchange.43 The scholarly tradition continued in succeeding dynas-
ties. Knowledge and learning related to a process of accumulation,
dissemination, and refinement.44 In Mathematics, the Southern Song
mathematician Qin Jiushao laid out the principles for solving high order
algebraic expressions in the ‘Shu-shu Chiu-Chang’, also known as the
39
40
Ibid.
41
Kaufman, C. (1987), The evaluation of marketing in a society: The Han dynasty of ancient
China. Journal of Macromarketing 7:52–64
42
43
Ibid.
44
Baark, E. (2007), Knowledge and Innovation in China: Historical Legacies and Emerging
Institutions, Asia Pacific Business Review, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 337–356.
210 S. Ramesh
‘Nine Chapters of Mathematics’ in 1247 AD. However, the work derived

much benefit from the mathematical techniques developed in the Han
period.45 The work of Qin Jiushao related to using mathematics to solve
real-world problems such as surveying, taxation, construction, as well as
the relationship between interest and price. In astronomy, there were also
developments, with Liu Hong devising the first complete Chinese theory
of the moon.46 And in literature, there was a focus on history and the
works of Pan Ko and Ssuma Ch’ien, the ‘History of the Former Han
Dynasty’ and the ‘Records of the Historian’ respectively, emerged.47 This
literary tradition continued into the fourteenth century, with the publi-
cation of the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’. This book depicted the
events in the late Han dynasty and the machinations of the Emperor Cao
Cao.48
Chinese civilisation has always had a reverence for learning, and this
has been recognised as a cornerstone of traditional Chinese culture.49
This was derived from the Confucian ideal that learning cultivated intel-
lectually and morally able men. Scholars were placed at the highest level
in the Confucian scale of values, to be followed by farmers, artisans, and
merchants.50 According to the latter, this form of social organisation was
very popular in Han China. However, at a wider level, the scholars, farm-
ers, artisans, and merchants were the commoners, and were positioned at
the penultimate level of the Han social ladder, just above the slaves. The
Emperor and the royal family, the nobles and the officials preceded the
45
Wang, L., Ling, W., and Needham, J. (1955), Horner’s Method in Chinese Mathematics: Its
Origins in the Root Extraction Procedures of the Han Dynasty, T’oung Pao, Second Series, Vol. 43,
Livr. 5, pp. 345–401.
46
Cullen, C. (2002), The First Complete Chinese Theory of the Moon: The Innovations of Liu
Hong, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 33;1–24.
47
48
Wang, L., Ling, W., and Needham, J. (1955), Horner’s Method in Chinese Mathematics: Its
Origins in the Root Extraction Procedures of the Han Dynasty, T’oung Pao, Second Series, Vol. 43,
Livr. 5, pp. 345–401.
49
50
Ibid.
commoners in that order.51 Confucianism became more prominent in

the Han period, as there was a requirement that potential government
employees should do well in the civil service entrance exams. However,
while Confucianism was the state adopted school of thought, there were
also other critical thinkers, especially during the period of the Eastern
Han. These thinkers included Wang Chong, Wang Fu, Xu Gan, and Xun
Yue.52 Wang Chong and Xu Gan were more innovative thinkers than
Wang Fu and Xun Yue, both of whose work revolved around Confucianism.
Wang Chong wrote critically on a varying range of subjects, which
included physics, anatomy, cosmology, ethics, and meteorology.53
According to the latter, Xu Gan developed the concept of ‘actuality’, or
the state of development, which led to the name of an entity and how this
may have been shattered.
Any knowledge (scientific, technical, and cultural) which was gener-
ated could be easily disseminated because of the ready availability of
printing technology. The focus of analysis was the order of the cosmos
and the Dao, behaviour.54 The latter also suggests the nature of the analy-
sis was, in the context of the universe, encompassing heaven, earth, soci-
ety, and the individual. However, although China was innovative,
inventing paper, printing, gunpowder, and the magnetic compass. Paper
was invented by Cai Lun during the time of the Eastern Han Dynasty,
and printing was invented in 220 AD.55 However, while gunpowder was
produced in the ninth century by unknown alchemists, its original pur-
pose was medicinal and not for warfare. The innovation of the compass
did not take place until after the Han dynasty, during the Song period.
These innovations did not have as far reaching consequences for China’s
51
52
McLeod, A. (2015), Philosophy in Eastern Han Dynasty China (25 – 220 CE), Philosophy
Compass, 10/6, pp. 355–368.
53
Ibid.
54
55
Van Someren, T.C.R. & Van Someren-Wang, S. (2013), Chinese culture, strategy, and innova-
tion. Innovative China: Innovation Race between East and West (pp. 2756). Berlin: Springer
212 S. Ramesh
economic development as it did for Europe.56 Perhaps the Chinese were

not as creative in devising applications for these innovations, as were the
Europeans due to a lack of political and economic stability. Maybe the
swing to one dynasty after another over China’s long history ensured that
there was never any cultural, economic, or political cohesion to allow for
the further innovation of accumulated knowledge. Or perhaps, the
Confucian ideology of ‘knowing one’s place in society’ limited creativity
and abstract science.57
According to Confucian theory, the best form of governance was that
by benevolent rulers. In other words, the fate of the empire depends on
the upright behaviour of the Emperor.58 During the reign of the Emperor
Wudi, there was much conflict between the Emperor and the Imperial
Cabinet. This necessitated the creation of a new position to act as a go-
between between the Emperor and the Cabinet, the Grand Minister of
the Mount, or the Prime Minister.59 The Prime Minister acted as a regent
on behalf of the Emperor, with unlimited power, but subordinate to the
Chancellor. However, the impact on the imperial government of creating
the regency was that the positions of Chancellor and Imperial Secretary
were relegated to that of mere administrators. Moreover, the Chancellor
had been ‘replaced’ by the someone close to the Emperor, the Regent,
and the government was now referred to as the Inner Court rather than
the Outer Court, because government now moved to the Palace.60 The
latter suggests that another signature feature of the transfer of political
power from day-to-day ministers to individuals close to the Emperor was
the appointment of eunuchs and Masters of Documents. The latter were
lowly officials in the service of the bursar of the imperial household. The
promotion of the Masters of Documents occurred because they had
56
Shaffer, L. (1986), China, Technology and Change, World History Bulletin 4, No. 1, pp. 1–6.
57
Tsou, C. (1998), Science and Scientists in China, Science, New Series, Vol280, No. 5363,
pp. 528–529.
58
59
Koo, T. (1920), The Constitutional Development of the Western Han Dynasty, Journal of the
60
gained the trust of the Emperor through frequent political consultations

that had occurred because of their preparation of decrees and rescripts.61
According to the latter, the Masters of Documents would keep notes on
officials throughout the empire, so they could give information to the
Emperor on those officials most meriting promotion.
Impacts of Centralised Power

Although the Han Emperor did not ‘own’ the empire, he did have two
valuable resources.62 These included the labour of the people and the
taxes which could be collected. These taxes included a land tax and a poll
tax on adults (Suan-fu) and children (K’ou-ch’ien).63 According to the
latter, further taxes on merchant’s property and on livestock were intro-
duced in 119 BC and 114 BC respectively. The revenues from the taxes
allowed the Emperor to pay his administrative officials and maintain a
standing army that could be called upon to defend the borders of the
Empire as well as to maintain internal control. The ranks of the army
were also increased by conscription. Individuals were required to serve
two years in the army: one year for training and the second year for sta-
tioning at a garrison.64 Moreover, according to the latter, individuals were
also required to carry out annual monthly military service in their locali-
ties. Furthermore, the central government gaining strength over time
allowed it to control the production and supply of iron and salt as well as
coinage in 119 BC and 115 BC respectively.65 Nevertheless, to unify the
people and win their loyalty, the Emperor also embarked on the building
of ancestral temples in his empire. This has some resonance with the
activities of the Chola dynasty in tenth-century southern India. However,
61
Ibid.
62
63
Ibid.
64
Ibid.
65
Ibid.
214 S. Ramesh
by the middle of the first century BC, the Han empire was much weaker
due to a combination of socioeconomic factors.66
Agriculture also saw development during the Han period. In this case,
two modes of production co-existed: the peasant holding and the
‘manor’—in which there was one landlord and many peasant farmers.67
The latter suggests that, in the early Han period, the peasant farmer
holding was the basic unit of agricultural production, with government
policy focusing on eradicating the manor or the large estate. The reason
for this was that manor land was farmed by peasant farmers on behalf of
the land owner. The land owner was supposed to take the tax from the
peasants and pass it on to the government. However, the land owner
kept a portion of the tax for themselves and charged the peasant farmers
a rent. The state was losing income, and the only way this could be
stopped was by eradicating manors and large estates. The small peasant
holdings were integrated in to the wider market economy but, at unsta-
ble times, the peasant farmer returned to subsistence living, but these
periods in the 400 years of the Han period were relatively short. The
government provided the infrastructure necessary for the peasant farm-
ers to increase production and interventionist measures to allow the
peasant farmers to maintain their independence.68 The infrastructure
projects included the building of canals in Honan and Shansi in order to
irrigate six million acres of arable land. Other small-scale irrigation proj-
ects were also undertaken in the Huai and the Wei River valleys as well
as in Northwest China.69 The latter suggests that, as a direct result of the
irrigation projects, the crop yield in the lower Yellow River Valley was six
million bushels of grain by the middle part of Emperor Wu-Ti’s reign
(140 BC to 87 BC). However, the crop yield had only been a few hun-
dred thousand bushels before the irrigation works. The government also
66
Ibid.
67
Bray, F. (1979), Agricultural Technology and Agrarian Change in Han China, Early China, Vol.
5, pp. 3–13
68
5, pp. 3–13
69
Ibid.
provided the seeds and the agricultural tools to the peasant farmers as
loans or as gifts. To increase agricultural production, year-round produc-
tion was encouraged in different parts of the country. Moreover, to grow
crops during winter time, experiments were undertaken to grow crops in
pits in which they could be protected by frost and cold weather to some
extent. However, in the latter Han period, the rise of the large estates or
manors followed the rise of large powerful families. The large estates
were able to rationalise agricultural production in order to suit the needs
of commercial production.70 In a modern economics context, commer-
cial production and commercial activity requires formalised contracts.
However, in Han literature, there was no mention of contracts as one
would think in a modern context.71 The latter notes that this inattention
was despite the widespread commercial activity and the Han tradition of
enforcing contracts. However, in a cultural context, there was the con-
cept of ‘Yueh’, or binding. The latter is a Confucian notion that knowl-
edge allows an individual to know what is proper, and so, can refrain
from doing anything improper. In other words, at a cultural and a philo-
sophical level, there is a moral obligation for individuals to honour an
agreement, although such an agreement is not represented in a for-
malised contract. Another ethical quality attached to the formation of
informal contracts was that of ‘hsin’, which can be equivalently trans-
lated as trustworthiness or credibility.72 In the Han period, the media-
tion of disputes was undertaken in the belief that there had been some
form of negligence on the part of the mediator, the scholar. If the people
in dispute can be taught well, then there would never have been a dis-
pute in the first place. This is a central Confucian belief.73 Whereas
Roman Law was split into criminal and civil law, and then to include
70
Ibid.
71
Scogin, H. (1990), Between Heaven and Man: Contract and the State in Han Dynasty China,
63 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1325.
72
Scogin, H. (1990), Between Heaven and Man: Contract and the State in Han Dynasty China,
63 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1325.
73
Pei, C. (1999), The Origins of Mediation in Traditional China, Dispute Resolution, 54, 2.
216 S. Ramesh
canon law, Chinese law was not, and the civil law strand was replaced by
Confucian ethics.74 But this approach takes human nature at its face
value and does not account for the cunning and Machiavellian behav-
iour human beings actually exhibit in practice. Therefore, legal protec-
tion of inventions, in the form of patents, represent the path to economic
efficiency and prosperity.75 This is clearly evidenced if a comparison is
made between the legal protection available for invention in seven-
teenth/eighteenth-century England and China, whether Han, the Song,
or any other Chinese dynasty before 1911. In the case of England, pat-
ents gave inventors the incentives, income, to invent. On the other
hand, in China, because of the lack of patent protection, income for
inventors was not sure so potential inventors studied for the civil service
exams in order to secure a well payed and secure government job.76 But
this did not mean that there was no innovation in Han China. For
example, in the early Han period, the best-known patterned bronze mir-
rors in China began to appear.77
The law in China came to be a symbol of imperial tyranny and power
ever since the Qin dynasty tried to eliminate Confucian ethics.78 The
penal code in Han China was issued as statutes, ordinances, or regula-
tions.79 In the context of state power, statutes were the most important.
This is the role that the law took in China from the time of the Han
dynasty.80 However, the symbolism for the political legitimacy of imperial
74
Lehman, J. (2006), Intellectual Property Rights and Chinese Tradition Section: Philosophical
Foundations, Journal of Business Ethics, 69:1–9.
75
Li, R. (2009), Private Property Rights, Legal Enforcement and Economic Prosperity: The Fall of
Early Civilised China and the Rise of the United Kingdom in the 18th–19th century Asian Science
Journal, Vol. 5, No. 10.
76
Ibid.
77
Cammann, S. (1948), The ‘TLV’ Pattern on Cosmic Mirrors of the Han Dynasty, Journal of the
American Oriental Society, Vol. 68, No. 4, pp. 159–167.
78
79
MacCormack, G. (2004), The Transmission of Penal Law (Lü) from the Han to the T’ang: A
Contribution to the Study of the Early History of Codification in China, Revue Internationale des
Droits de l’Antiquité LI (2004): 47–83.
80
regimes in China arose from the name of the state, dynasty, and the asso-
ciated cyclical cosmic power.81
In the latter Han period, big investments were needed in terms of seeds
and tools, which the small peasant holder farmer was unable to provide.
Moreover, a growing population meant that small land holdings were
becoming less feasible. According to the latter, the main regions of agri-
cultural production in Han China encompassed the lands surrounding
the lower part of the Yellow River and the valley of the Wei River. This
region of China had been farmed continuously over a period of 5000 years,
since Neolithic times. The soil of the valley of the Wei River was fertile,
but more susceptible to water loss through evaporation. On the other
hand, the soils of the land surrounding the Yellow River, were much
‘heavier’, perhaps due to its ability to retain moisture. In these lands,
drainage was the main problem.82 In the case, of the valley of the Wei
River, a light plough was used, with ploughing done at a time when the
soil held enough moisture. The plough did not penetrate the soil by more
than 3–4 inches. On the other hand, the lands surrounding the lower
Yellow River required the use of the mouldboard plough. The use of the
mouldboard plough has numerous advantages. These advantages included
the use of less seed, which could be thinned allowing the resulting plants
to be spaced correctly, and the convenience of hoeing.83
As the Han dynasty collapsed and centralised power became decentral-
ised through the three kingdoms, the Jin, and the Northern and Southern
dynasties, a sense of individualism in ‘social, philosophical and literary
ideas’ emerged.84 According to the latter, this is best evidenced by the
quantity and the quality of biographical works that appeared after the
end of the Han dynasty.
81
Chan, H. (2008), The ‘Song’ Dynasty Legacy: Symbolism and Legitimation From Han Liner to
Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 68, No. 1,
pp. 91–133.
82
5, pp. 3–13.
83
Ibid.
84
Chen, S. H. (1953). An Innovation in Chinese Biographical Writing. The Journal of Asian
Studies, 13, 49–62.
218 S. Ramesh
The Song Dynasty (960 AD to 1279 AD)

The Northern Song Dynasty (960 AD to 1127 AD)
By 907 AD, the Tang dynasty had been brought to an end having been
weakened by the An Lushan rebellion in 755 AD.85 Between 907 AD
and 959 AD, China disintegrated and was not united again until 960
AD, by the founder of the Song dynasty (960 AD to 1279 AD), the
beginnings of which was the Northern Song Dynasty (960 AD–1126
AD). In spite of this, northern China remained under the control of the
Jin dynasty, the forest dwelling Jurchen people of northern Manchuria,
who were also skilled horsemen.86 However, the Song were able to move
the capital to the south of the country, to Kaifeng in modern-day Henan
province, where the Emperor presided over the central government.87 At
the time, there were six ministries: Revenue, Civil Appointments, Rites,
Works, Punishment, and War. The heads of these six ministries reported
to the Grand Councillor, who was appointed by the Emperor. Unlike
the Han dynasty, where the government had been moved to the palace,
the Song emperors were able to either contribute to the functioning of
government or to remain indifferent.88 In this case, according to the lat-
ter, some Song emperors chose to delegate governance matters to the
Grand Councillor and spend time in leisurely and scholarly activity,
while other emperors chose to show a direct interest in the governance
of their empire. The latter suggests that government officials were
selected on the basis of performance in the civil service exams, which
was one of the innovations of the Song dynasty. The transition from the
Tang dynasty to the Song dynasty left in place the political structures
that had existed since the time of the Han dynasty. The prefectures had
85
Hansen, V., and Curtis, K. (2010), Voyages in World History, Volume 1, Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning, Boston, USA.
86
Ibid.
87
Ibid.
88
Ibid.
been the largest administrative features in the Tang dynasty, and in the
Song dynasty there were 220 prefectures that were grouped into 20
larger structures called circuits.89 The latter suggests that each prefecture
in a circuit was further divided into sub-prefectures that were governed
by a magistrate and his staff, their main role being to administer the
Emperor’s justice and to collect imperial taxes. However, one important
change made by the first Song emperor was to transfer control of regions
from the military to bureaucrats.90 This was due to the perception that
the Tang dynasty had crumbled because of too much power in the hands
of regional governors who had been generals. However, the Northern
Song dynasty was brought to an end by the Jin dynasty, following an
alliance between them to defeat the nomadic Khitan tribe who inhab-
ited what would be recognised as present-day Mongolia.91 The Jin cav-
alry proved to be swift and effective in defeating the Song army, and
Kaifeng was besieged and captured in late 1127 AD with the use of
explosive devices made using bamboo, gunpowder, and porcelain
shards.92 The Jin would continue to rule over 40 million Chinese until
1234.93 The capture of Kaifeng indicated the wonders of Chinese archi-
tecture to the non-Chinese nomadic northern tribes, such as the Khitan
or the Liao to whom Chinese culture spread.94 In addition to architec-
tural knowledge, knowledge of calligraphy also spread. Both men and
women practised calligraphy in the imperial court.95 It is possible that
knowledge of this aspect of Chinese culture may also have spread to the
northern tribes such as the Khitan.
89
Ibid.
90
91
Ibid.
92
Ibid.
93
Ibid.
94
Kuhn, D. (2000), Liao Architecture: Qidan Innovations and Han-Chinese Traditions? T’and
Pao, Second Series, Vol. 86, Fasc.4/5, pp. 325–362.
95
Lee, H. (2004), The Emperors Lady Ghost-writers in Song-Dynasty China, Artibus Asiae, Vol.
64, No. 1, pp. 61–101.
220 S. Ramesh
he Southern Song Dynasty (1127 AD

T
to 1279 AD)
One of the sons of the Emperor Huizong, the Northern Song emperor
who reigned from 1101 AD to 1125 AD, escaped Kaifeng and became
the first emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty in 1127 AD. This
emperor established his capital in Hangzhou, in present-day Zhejiang
province, and ruled over 60 million Chinese.96 Those who fled Kaifeng
and crossed the Yangzi River, following its conquest by the Jin included
not only the first Southern Song Emperor but also government officials,
clerks, soldiers, and the poet Li Qingzhao. It has been said that the fall of
Kaifeng to the Jin caused one of the world’s first biggest mass migration
in history, in which over 500,000 people out of a total Chinese popula-
tion of 100 million moved from the north to the south.97 According to
the latter, after years of warfare, the Jin and the Southern Song signed a
peace treaty in 1142, according to which the Jin would be paid an annual
tribute of silver and silk. All the tribute was paid by a strong state to a
weaker state, and proved to be in the Southern Song’s favour, as the Jin
would use the tribute to buy Song goods. However, the loss of profitable
lands in the North meant that, in the short term, the Song look to other
sectors of the economy to make money. In this case, the Emperor Gao
Zong (1127 AD to 1162 AD) viewed maritime trade, if managed prop-
erly, as a source of considerable profits.98 Products produced in Song
dynasty China, such as ceramics, were exported as far as the Philippines
and Indonesia.99 The latter suggests that, in this case, under the Emperor’s
direction, the government invested in improving facilities at southern
coast ports, widening canals, building warehouses, and navigation
96
97
98
Levathes, L. (1994), When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne,
1405–33, Open Road Distribution, New York.
99
Little, S. (1996), Economic Change in Seventeenth-Century China and Innovations at the
Jingdezhen Kilns, Ars Orientalis, Vol. 26, pp. 47–54.
b eacons along the southern coast. Moreover, by 1132 AD, the navy was
established as part of the structure of the Song military in order to protect
trade routes and merchant ships from pirates. By 1237 AD, the Song
navy grew into a professional fighting force that controlled the seas from
China’s southern ports to as far as Korea and Japan.100 At the time, it also
had the largest standing army in the world.101 According to the latter, by
1237 AD, the Song navy comprised 52,000 men, 20 squadrons, and 600
vessels. Further innovations in ship design, ships weaponry, and naviga-
tion systems such as the maritime compass occurred at this time at the
instigation of the Emperor.102 Different parts of ships would be made
from different woods. For example, China fir would be used to make the
sternpost and planks, the frames from Camphor and pine, and cypress
would be used to make the bulkheads.103 When the ships planks and
superstructure had been nailed together, the whole ship was waterproofed
using a mixture of putty and jute fibres.104 Furthermore, Chinese scholars
innovated by studying the maritime traditions of other cultures, in par-
ticular, the Hindus and the Arabs.105 However, by the early thirteenth
century, command of ships was transferred from professional naval offi-
cers to the imperial court. Scholars and historians consider the period
encompassing the Southern Song Dynasty as a ‘commercial revolution’.
The Song was the first dynasty in China to rely on commercial activity for
tax revenues, rather than the agricultural sector.106 To encourage com-
mercial activity, the Song government either did not raise taxes, or it
100
101
Golas, P. (1980), Rural China in the Song, Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. XXXIX, No. 2
102
103
Kenderdine, S. (1995), Bai Jiao 1 – the Excavation of a Song Dynasty Shipwreck in the Dinghai
Area, Fujian Province, The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 24, 4, pp. 247–266.
104
Guo-Qing, L. (1989), Archaeological evidence for the use of ‘Chu-nam’ on the 13th Century
Quanzhou Ship, Fujian Province, China, The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology and
Underwater Excavation, 18, 4, pp. 277–283.
105
106
Grass, N. (2017), The Economic History of China – From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century,
Ming Studies, 2017:76, 109–112.
222 S. Ramesh
chose to lower it.107 Merchants kept accounts to determine whether they

were making a profit or a loss from their business activities. A four-
column reporting system, developed in the Tang dynasty, was used and
elaborated upon throughout the Song period.108 According to the latter,
the equation identified with this system was (old + newly received= pay-
ment + balance).109 The government also published annually a book on
national accounts and accounts.110 Due to the level of commercial activ-
ity and economic growth, there were more and more financial accounts
to record and balance. As a result, the accounting system during the Song
dynasty became more sophisticated than at any other time in traditional
Chinese history.111 Nevertheless, developments in accounting systems
were less at the start of the Song dynasty. But the pace of development
increased as commercialism took hold.112 The latter suggests that increas-
ing commercial activity brought credit sales into fashion. In conjunction
with the issuing of paper money by the Song government, there was a
need for accounting systems to change in order to incorporate these
developments.
There was no political ideology which could explain this detachment
of tax revenues from the land.113 However, unlike previous dynasties, the
Song were more reliant on market forces to resolve social welfare.
Nevertheless, beginning during the Song period, the concept of the
107
108
Ibid.
109
Lin, J. (1992), Chinese Double-entry Book-keeping Before the Nineteenth Century, The
Accounting Historians Journal, The Academy of Accounting Historians, Vol. 19, No. 2,
pp. 103–122.
110
111
Fu, Y. (1968), A Study of Governmental Accounting in China: with Special Reference to the
Song Dynasty, PhD Dissertation, University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign.
112
Lin, J. (1992), Chinese Double-entry Book-keeping Before the Nineteenth Century, The
Accounting Historians Journal, The Academy of Accounting Historians, Vol. 19, No. 2,
pp. 103–122.
113
Ming Studies, 2017:76, 109–112.
‘clan’ became very important in Chinese society.114 The clan provided

the welfare support, which the Song state never did.115 The latter sug-
gests that the clan was also responsible for tax collection, dispute resolu-
tion, the conduct of its members, as well as the preparation of clan
members for the civil service entrance exams. At feasts, traditional
Chinese folk instruments such as the ‘Zheng’ would be played according
to clan custom.116
The clans acted as an enforcement mechanism for the state. It, there-
fore, did not maintain a granary of surplus grain for the ‘hard’ times, but
instead depended on the seasons to balance the shortfalls of grain from
one year to the next.117 The commercial revolution in Song China,
emerged due to a change in the local ecosystem and innovation in the
agricultural sector of the south of China. Unlike the north of China, the
southern lands were swampy and mosquito ridden, and this limited the
availability of land for the growing of crops. However, the new migrants
from the war-ridden north drained the swamps, walled fields, and built
agricultural channels. Farmers experimented with different varieties of
rice and found that a strain of rice from Vietnam had a short lifecycle,
allowing for two annual harvests of rice.118 The Southern Song, therefore,
experienced a surplus in rice production. This had many implications for
Song society. Firstly, farmers’ incomes increased, and they could buy
other goods. This in turn created a market for handicrafts and allowed the
agricultural sector to diversify into other types of agricultural production,
such as the production of fruits and textiles. As demand for textiles grew,
agricultural workers left the land to produce textile fibre from hemp or
114
Fei, J., and Ts’ui-Jung, L. (1982), The Growth and Decline of Chinese Family Clans, Journal of
Interdisciplinary History, 12(3): 375–408
115
Greif, A., and Tabellini, G. (2010), Cultural and Institutional Bifurcation: China and Europe
Compared, The American Economic Review, Vol. 100, No. 2, pp. 135–140.
116
Zheng, C., and Knobloch, Y. (1983), A Discussion of the History of the Gu Zheng, Asian
Music, Vol. 14, No. 2, Chinese Music History, pp. 1–16.
117
Ming Studies, 2017:76, 109–112.
118
224 S. Ramesh
silk, or a combination of both.119 These textile workers became more

innovative over time, developing new types of weaves of increasing com-
plexity. Furthermore, small but effective technological innovations
increased the productivity of the textile workers.120 Iron production also
increased, and China’s output of iron, in the twelfth century, was not
matched by any other country until England experienced its industrial
revolution in the late eighteenth century. Secondly, the increased produc-
tion of rice meant that the population of the south experienced dramatic
increases. Such was the case that, while in 742 AD 60% of the population
lived in the north, by 980 AD, 62% of the population lived in the south
of China.121 The increase in population also meant that the size of urban
centres, cities, and towns also began to increase. Allied to increased trade
and commercial activity, the rise of urban centres also meant that the
number of disease and illness causing pathogens was also on the rise.122
Under the direction of the Emperor and the government, there was a
revival of interest in medicine. This exhibited itself in three ways.123
Firstly, there was an increase in the number of medical books published
and distributed. Secondly, there was a revival of interest in traditional
medicines, practices and doctrines—things which had fallen by the way
side since the demise of the Han dynasty. Thirdly, the number of medi-
cines used to treat illnesses doubled during the period of the Northern
Song dynasty. Finally, in the Song dynasty, the constituents of medicines
as well as the dosage prescribed changed, both of which, before the Song
dynasty, had remained unchanged for over 1000 years.
As the handicrafts and the market for other goods expanded, the Song
authorities increased the money supply. People were no longer buying
goods just for subsistence, (Eckhardt et al. 2010). The development of
119
Sheng, A. (1990), Textile Use, Technology and Change in Rural Textile Production in Song
China (960AD to 1279AD), PhD Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.
120
Ibid.
121
122
Goldschmidt, A. (2005), The Song Discontinuity: Rapid Innovation in Northern Song Dynasty
Medicine, Asian Medicine – Tradition and Modernity, 1.1:53–90.
123
Ibid.
printing allowed the money supply to be composed of not only coins, but
also paper money, which entered circulation in 1000 AD.124 The paper
money entered circulation in Song China at a time when the technology
was diffusing to the Middle East, but had not yet reached Europe. In
1069 AD, a new Grand Councillor instigated policy which called for
government officials to be paid their salaries using paper money.125 But,
under pressure to increase military expenditure, in order to protect the
land from central Asian invaders, the Song government printed too much
paper money, which subsequently lost its value due to rising prices.126 At
this time, a new policy that facilitated the availability of low interest loans
for peasants was also launched as an initiative of the Grand Councillor.
However, the peasants were unable to repay the loans and, over time, this
policy failed. Rising incomes and the expansion of the market also allowed
innovations to be effective. For example, before 700 AD, book printing
was a laborious process but, after 700 AD, the use of the woodblock
allowed books to be printed much more quickly and in large numbers.127
Rising incomes and the lower cost of books allowed reading to take off,
children could be educated more effectively, and more individuals could
sit the civil service exams.128 Books on topics such as medicine, astron-
omy, agriculture, and geography were published in significant numbers
and widely distributed to the population.129 The poet, philosopher, and
statesman, Wang Anshi (1021 AD to 1086 AD) wrote the ‘Wan Yan
Shu’.130 This was a text which related to how the civil service should be
124
125
Ibid.
126
Rowe, D. (2005), The Origins of Value, Goetzmann, W., and Rouwenhorst, G. (Eds), Global
Association of Risk Professionals, Issue 6, pp. 28.
127
128
Ibid.
129
Goodrich, L. C. (1963), The Development of printing in China and its effects on the renaissance
under the Sung Dynasty (960–1279 CE), The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 3:
36–43.
130
Drechsler, W. (2013), Wang Anshi and the origins of modern public management in Song
Dynasty China, Public Money & Management, 33:5, pp. 353–360.
226 S. Ramesh
reformed. Wang Anshi also proposed other reforms, including ones to

strengthen the military. However, his ideas were resented by court offi-
cials because of the modernity of the reforms. Court officials wanted to
enjoy the quiet and peaceful life the Chinese people had enjoyed in
ancient times. In 1040 AD, a book printer called Bi Sheng invented a
movable printing technology in which individual characters could be
placed in a frame to print the required page.131 Rising incomes and
cheaper book production caused a boom in the educational sector.132 The
latter suggests that there was intense competition for government jobs. As
a result, people who had studied for but failed the civil service exams were
hired as tutors for those seeking to take the exams. The exams took place
every three years in two rounds: once in the home prefecture and once in
the capital. Although, the exams had been used for 1000 years, it was
only in the Song dynasty that the majority of those in government ser-
vice—90%—had taken and passed the exams. The implication is that the
Song dynasty was the first in the history of China in which government
officials were selected on the basis of birth rather than on their status.133
According to the latter, the imperial civil service exams were designed to
test a range of abilities. Candidates had to correctly identify texts from
literary works of the Confucian tradition, write poems and essays of a
fixed word count, and write essays on matters which should concern the
government.134 Academic learning was centred on learning and repro-
ducing the same five classic texts; this may have acted as a constraint to
creativity and innovative thinking.135 However, the Song dynasty repre-
sents a period in which there was a rapid transformation of Chinese soci-
ety in the context of demographic changes, changes in governance,
learning, and innovation in association with a commercial revolution.
This has led some scholars to suggest that, in the eleventh century, Song
dynasty China was on the cusp of an industrial revolution—which did
131
132
Ibid.
133
Ibid.
134
Ibid.
135
Van Someren, T.C.R. & Van Someren-Wang, S. (2013), Chinese culture, strategy, and innova-
tion. Innovative China: Innovation Race between East and West (pp. 2756). Berlin: Springer.
not occur for another 500 years, until late eighteenth-century England.136

However, the diversion of intellectual attention and capacity towards
passing the civil service examinations may have prevented China’s intel-
lectuals from transitioning from primary research to secondary modern
research.137
In ancient China, death rituals were an important moment for the
immediate family members of the deceased to fulfil their filial duties.138
This was one of the core values of the time. Death rituals were also sym-
bolic of the expression of religious and philosophical belief. In eleventh
century AD China, the prominent religious and philosophical leanings
were towards either Buddhism or Daoism.139 The values associated with
both were expressed especially in the practice of death rituals, which were
a way in which the wellbeing of the soul for the next life could be achieved.
However, the extant way in which death rituals were conducted in ancient
China also exhibited the economic disparities within that society.140 For
example, the grandness of the death ritual would depend upon the mate-
rials the dead would wear, as well as the size of the burial plot and the
quality of the coffin. The authenticity of the death rituals also depended
upon the way in which the classical texts were interpreted. These classical
texts gave detailed instructions on how the corpse was to be washed, how
it would be dressed, as well as how the burial was to be conducted.141 In
this context, there was a divergence between how officials and the impe-
rial court interpreted the classical texts for the purposes of the p
erformance
of the death ritual.142 The latter suggests that this was reflected by the
136
Elvin, M. (1973), The Pattern of the Chinese Past: A Social and Economic Interpretation,
Stanford University Press, Stanford.
137
Lin, Y. J. (1995), The Needham Puzzle: Why the Industrial Revolution Did ‘Not Originate in
China’, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 269–292.
138
Choi, M. (2017), Death Rituals and Politics in Northern Song China, Oxford University Press,
New York.
139
Ibid.
140
Ibid.
141
Standaert, N. (2008), The Interweaving of Rituals, Funerals in the Cultural Exchange between
China and Europe, University of Washington Press, Seattle.
142
Choi, M. (2017), Death Rituals and Politics in Northern Song China, Oxford University Press,
New York.
228 S. Ramesh
charges brought against the officials by the imperial court for performing
death rituals according to an inaccurate interpretation of the classical
texts. Because of the conflict between officials and the imperial court, the
performance of the death rituals came under state control with violations
subject to the penal code. In eleventh-century Song dynasty China, there
was, therefore, a convergence of the forces relating to filial family duties,
the values of society, and state policies.143 The conflict relating to the
interpretation of the classical texts led to a revival of Confucianism in
eleventh century AD Northern Song China, and the emergence of Neo-
Confucianism or the Way of Learning Confucianism, Daoism, in twelfth
century AD.144 It was the scholars of Daoism, led by leading Song schol-
ars such as Zhu Xi (1130 AD to 1200 AD), who studied the classical
Confucian texts, and dissipated his findings to a wider society so that
commoners would not engage in errant ritual burial practices.145 In addi-
tion to a revival of Confucianism in the Song dynasty, there was also a
continuation of Tang dynasty ritual practices such as the Taiqing Palace
ritual and the Nine Palace ritual.146 The former related to the celebration
of the birthday of the sage Lao Zi, the founder of Taoism. The Nine
Palaces ritual relates to the movement of energy through the universe,
where energy is represented as the Pa-k’ua (wind, fire, mother, lake,
father, water, mountain, thunder, and wind).147
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9
The Mongol Empire: 1206 AD to 1368 AD
When Temuchin, later to be recognised as Genghis Khan, was born in

1167, the Mongols were part of a small group of nomads amongst many.
Yet, at the peak of the power of the Mongolian Empire that he would
establish, a population of one million Mongolians would control two-
thirds of the old world, including three major civilisations1; and a mobile
pastoral society would become highly militarised.2 His father, Yesugei
Baghutur, was the Khan of the small Kiyad tribe of the Mongols.3 At the
time of the birth of Genghis Khan, his father was returning from a
revenge military campaign against another group of Mongols, the
Tartars.4 Genghis Khan and his first wife, Borte became betrothed in
1175 AD, when he was only eight years old. Borte was a few years older
than he at the time.
1
Biran, M. (2013), The Mongol Empire in World History: The State of the Field, History Compass
11/11, pp. 1021–1033.
2
Di Cosmo, N. (1999), State Formation and Periodization in Inner Asian History, Journal of
World History, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 1–40.
3
Lattimore, O. (1963), Chingis Khan and the Mongol Conquests, Scientific American, Vol. 209,
No. 2, pp. 54–71.
4
Ibid.

234 S. Ramesh
The Mongols were aware of Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and

Nestorian Christianity, but were not attached to any of these, preferring
to base their beliefs on the souls of humans and animals.5 When Genghis
Khan died in 1227 AD, his successors continued to expand and refine the
organisational and political structure of his empire.6 This realpolitik was
based on an empire built for trade and exchange without regard to cul-
ture, tribal affiliations, language, or religion.7 It was the idea that the
Mongol Empire was not just imperial in nature, but also an economy
based on trade and the exchange of goods, which served as a driving force
for the Mongols’ ongoing and future conquests.8 In other ways, the
Mongol Empire served to make the world a smaller place, with its inter-
continental trading links. It also acted to agglomerate peoples of the same
or similar language, giving them a more coherent national identity. One
example of this would be the Turkic speaking tribes in the empire.9 By
conquering Islamic peoples in the Middle East and elsewhere in the
empire, the Mongols also helped in the spread of Islam to places where it
had never existed before, such as China.10 Another way in which the
Mongols introduced cohesiveness into their empire was through the
exchange of daughters.11 In this way, the Mongols would marry Mongol
women to the warriors of conquered tribes and, in turn, Mongol warriors
would marry women from conquered tribes. When Genghis Khan had
consolidated his power amongst the Mongolian tribes and conquered the
Uighurs and the Kirghiz, only two other powerful states lay to his south
and to west.12 These states were China and Khorezm, respectively. In
5
Humphrey, C., and Hurelbaatar, A. (2005), Regret as a Political Intervention: An Essay in the
Historical Anthropology of the Early Mongols, Past & Present, No. 186, pp. 3–45.
6
Buell PD. (2007), How Genghis Khan has changed the World? Center for East Asian Studies,
Western Washington University. http://www.mongolianculture.com/How%20Genghis%20
Khan%20Has.pdf.
7
Kotkin, S. (2007), Mongol Commonwealth? Exchange and Governance across the Post-Mongol
Space, Kritika Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 487–531.
8
Ibid.
9
Ibid.
10
Ibid.
11
Ibid.
12
Prawdin, M. (2017), The Mongol Empire: Its Rise and legacy, Routledge.
The Mongol Empire: 1206 AD to 1368 AD 235
1209 AD, the western Xia Dynasty of China submitted to the power of
the Mongols, becoming a vassal state.13 However, it had to be subdued by
military force in 1227 AD to ensure its loyalty to Genghis Khan and the
Mongols.14 In 1211, Genghis Khan took control of a Mongol army to
conquer the Jin dynasty of China. So much of the areas in the north had
been subdued by the Mongols that, by 1214 AD, the Jin Emperor
Xuanzong moved the Jin capital to Kaifeng in the south of China.15
Kaifeng itself fell in 1233 AD to Ogedei Khan, the third son of Genghis
Khan.16Khorezm was defeated in 1221 AD after a four-month campaign
in which the Mongols took Bukhara, Samarkand, and Urgench.17
Between 1211 AD and 1225 AD, the climate of the steppes of Mongolia
was wetter and warmer, resulting in an abundance of food, which resulted
in an enhancement of the concentration of military resources.18 More
births increased the manpower available to the Mongols to conduct war-
fare. During Genghis Khan’s early teen years, the climate in Mongolia
was less welcoming and featured several years of drought.19 This resulted
in conflict between the nomadic tribes of the steppes over limited
resources, providing a background for the emergence of Genghis Khan as
the unifier of the Mongolian people.
The expansion of the Mongols from the Steepes of Mongolia to the
edge of Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, China, and Siberia brought
together the cultures of the east and the west under one ‘umbrella’ for the
first time in world history. Despite their conquests, the Mongols retained
their Mongolian identity, but benefited from an exchange of ideas with
other cultures and civilisations.20 An Uighur seal-keeper who had worked
13
Hung, M. (2016), From the Mongols to the Ming Dynasty: How a Begging Monk Became
Emperor of China, Zhu Yuan Zhang, Algora Publishing, New York.
14
Ibid.
15
Ibid.
16
Ibid.
17
18
Jackson, P. (2017), The Mongols and the Islamic World – From Conquest to Conversion, Yale
19
Ibid.
20
Schurmann, H. (1956), Mongolian Tributary Practices of the Thirteenth Century, Harvard
Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 19, No. 3/4, pp. 304–389.
236 S. Ramesh
for the ruler of the Turkic Naiman tribe, worked at the court of Genghis
Khan after the Mongols had conquered the Naiman.21 It was this Uighur
seal-keeper who introduced the 14-letter Uighur alphabet in to the fledg-
ling Mongolian state.22 From the Khitans, who had ruled northern China
and most of Mongolia from the tenth to the twelfth century, the Mongols
received seasoned administrators who opted to work for them.23
Furthermore, the Khitans were knowledgeable about how a state should
be run. They, therefore, provided the Mongols with knowledge about the
protocols and institutions that the Mongolian Empire would need for
stability and growth.24 Some argue that the Mongol Empire lacked the
formal institutions of political power.25 However, the protocols would
have been associated with how a conquered state should be administered
and taxed through the institution of a court-appointed Governor.26
Mongolian taxation was of two types.27 The first was a tribute, an annual
percentage payment of the product of the common Mongolian and the
subject vassal to his Lord. The second type of tax was a levy, the same as
a tribute, but applied whenever extra revenue was needed. The other
institutions of governance would have included a codified legal system,
the Yasa, a hierarchy of political power, Khan, Council, nobility, and
common folk. So, instead of saying that the Mongols did not have the
formal institutions of political power, perhaps it would be more appro-
priate to say that these institutions did exist, but were less formal because
the Khan’s authority was the state.
The Khitans and the Uighurs were closely related to the Mongols,
although this is truer of the Khitans, a proto-Mongol race, rather than of
21
Morgan, D. (1982), Who ran the Mongol Empire?’, JRAS 124–36).
22
Blunden, J. (2004), Mongolia – the Bradt Travel Guide, The Globe Pequot Press Inc., USA.
23
Morgan, D. (1982), Who ran the Mongol Empire?’, JRAS 124–36).
24
Ibid.
25
Skrynnikova, T. (2011), Mongolian Nomadic Society of the Empire period, IN: Alternatives to
Social Evolution, Kradin, N., Korotayev, A., Bondarenko, D. (Eds), LAP Lambert Academic
Publishing.
26
Morgan, D. (1982), Who ran the Mongol Empire?’, JRAS, pp. 124–36.
27
Smith, J. (1970), Mongol and Nomadic Taxation, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 30,
pp. 46–85.
the Uighurs.28 However, although the Mongols tried, Japan, Burma, and
Java were never conquered.29 Furthermore, while Vietnam was invaded
on three occasions by the Mongols, it was never conquered. However, the
Mongols did stimulate an increase in Vietnamese nationalism.30 The rise
and the fall of the Mongol Empire also saved as the force for awakening
Europe from its long and primitive seclusion.31
The Mongols and Khorezm

The Khorezm civilisation was based around the banks of the River Amu-
dar’ya, in what is now present-day Turkmenistan. The first Neolithic sites
appeared in the Khorezm region in about 6000 BC, and the area contin-
ued to support the hunter-gatherer existence of people until 7 BC.32After
this year, fortified sites began to appear; and between 6 BC and 2nd BC
the region was known as Khorezm and it was a vassal state of the Persian
Achaemenid Empire.33 Archaeological evidence suggests that ancient
Khorezm had many fortified settlements, villages, and an elaborate irri-
gation system using canals to divert water from the oasis to agricultural
land.34 However, after 1 BC, Khorezm became an independent state,
having freed itself from Persian rule.35 When the armies of Alexander the
Great passed through Central Asia, Khorezm was neither assaulted nor
conquered because Alexander the Great was heading for India.36
Following the death of Alexander the Great, nomadic tribes living on
28
Morgan, D. (1982), Who ran the Mongol Empire?’, JRAS, pp. 124–36.
29
Khan%20Has.pdf.
30
Ibid.
31
Ibid.
32
Yagodin, V., and Betts, A. (2006), Ancient Khorezm, UNESCO.
33
Ibid.
34
Bolelov, S. (2016), Boris Vasilevich and the Study of Irrigation in Ancient Khorezm, IN Ancient
Irrigation Systems of the Aral Sea Area: The History, Origin, and Development of Irrigated
Agriculture, Andrianou, B., and Mantellini, S. (2016), Oxbow Books, Oxford.
35
36
Ibid.
238 S. Ramesh
China’s frontiers began moving into the Samarkand region.37 Over time,
out of this movement of peoples emerged the Kushan Empire, based in
northern Afghanistan around 1 BC.38 The power of the Kushan Empire
declined with the rise of the Sasanians in Persia.39 The region was then
invaded by the Huns, the Turks, the Arabs who brought Islam to the
region, and finally, by the Mongols. By the time of the arrivals of the
Mongols, Khorezm had an established Islamic tradition, with the region
passing from the Afrighids (9 AD to 11 AD), Khorezmshah (12 AD to
13 AD), and finally, the Golden Horde (13 AD to 14 AD).40 Khorezm
under the Khorezmshah was a prosperous and powerful Islamic king-
dom. Trade routes—north and south, east and west—were revived, and
Khorezm prospered. As a result, there was also scholarship—the word
‘algorithm’ can be traced to Khorezm.41 Khorezm was an empire that
stretched from Iraq to Azerbaijan to eastern Afghanistan and, by the end
of the twelfth century, its capital city was at Gurganj.42 However, the
Mongols would decimate the population of the conquered settlements
and cities of Khorezm, but only after shipping back to Mongolia those
who would be of worth—such as artisans.
Genghis Khan had initially wanted to maintain trading and commer-
cial contacts with the Khorezmshahs.43 However, in 1218 AD, a Mongol
envoy travelling with some merchants was put to death alongside the
merchants.44 This brought the wrath of Genghis Khan down on the
Khorezmshahs and Khorezm. At the same time, Genghis Khan sent the
Mongolian cavalry under Subodai and Jebe, his two generals, towards
southern Russia and the Caucasus, where they could win battles.45
37
Ibid.
38
Ibid.
39
Ibid.
40
41
Metcalfe, D. (2009), Out of Steppe, Arrow Books, London.
42
Ibid.
43
Brummell, P. (2005), Turkmenistan – The Bradt Travel Guide, The Globe Pequot Press Inc.,
USA.
44
Ibid.
45
Khan%20Has.pdf.
The Mongols and China

In China, the Mongols conquered the northern Jin dynasty by 1233
AD. Kublai Khan was appointed as the Viceroy of northern China in
1251 AD by his eldest brother, the 4th Great Khan of the Mongol empire.
Kublai Khan was the grandson of Genghis Khan and the son of Tolui and
his wife Sorkaktani, from the Turkish speaking Kerait tribe.46Upon the
death of his older brother, Kublai became the 5th Great Khan of the
Mongol Empire, in 1260 AD. Kublai proclaimed the beginning of the
Yuan dynasty in 1271 AD. And he had built his capital Dadu, which was
to become Beijing, in 1267 AD.47 Dadu was built according to plans very
similar to the ones used by preceding non-Chinese dynasties to build
their own capital cities.48 The Mongols sacked the capital of the Jin
dynasty, Zhongdu, in 1234 AD. The Jin had based their capital on the
capitals of the Liao dynasty (Nanjing) and the Northern Song (Bianjing
in Henan province), whom they had defeated in 1125 AD and in 1126
AD, respectively.49 However, it would take another eight years before the
Song armies could be finally crushed. Kublai Khan was the first emperor
of a united China (north and south) at the start of the Yuan dynasty. This
was accomplished in 1279 AD, when Lin’an, the capital of the Song
dynasty, was captured by the Yuan army, and the Southern Song dynasty
was crushed.50 To effectively rule and control a population of 60–70
million Han Chinese by much fewer Mongols, Kublai centralised impe-
rial administration, with the establishment of a secretariat that would
enact laws and disburse punishments.51 Kublai also retained the services
of Confucian scholars in administrative positions. But the Chinese were
46
Smith, J. (2000), Dietary Decadence and Dynastic Decline in the Mongol Empire, Journal of
Asian History, Vol. 34, No. 1.
47
Lim, S. (2011), Asian Civilisations – Ancient to 1800 AD, Asiapac, Singapore.
48
Steinhardt, N. (1983), The Plan of Khubilai Khan’s Imperial City, Artibus Asiae, Vol. 44, No.
2/3, pp. 137–158.
49
Ibid.
50
Lim, S. (2011), Asian Civilisations – Ancient to 1800 AD, Asiapac, Singapore.
51
Ibid.
240 S. Ramesh
distrusted, and thus, prevented from having any political capability.52

The Mongols facilitated the emergence of China as a unified state, which
succeeding dynasties would preserve and extend. However, despite the
Mongol tendency towards more centralised control, the controls were
not tight and there was no accountability.53 In contrast, the Uighurs and
the Khitans had been more hierarchical and politically centralised.54 The
lack of accountability in Mongol central control led to the Mongols being
easily bribed and deceived, leading to endemic corruption in the Mongol
rule of China.55 The Mongols were susceptible to being corrupted because
of their love of decadence and profit.56 However, despite these failings,
the Mongols’ success was due to their ability to mobilise human and
material resources at will and on a massive scale.57
Tughon Temur was the last and the longest reigning Mongol Emperor
of the Yuan dynasty in China.58However, due to revolts against his rule in
China and natural disasters and plague, the rule of the Yuan dynasty in
China became weakened, and it ended in 1368, when Tughon Temur was
forced to flee China and return to Mongolia.59 Like the other Mongolian
elite of the Yuan dynasty, its last Emperor sought refuge in the central
Mongolian city of Kharakhorum.60 Although Mongol rule had ended,
the institution of the ‘Emperor’ would continue to enshrine the principle
52
Ibid.
53
Dardess, J. (1978), Ming T’Ai-Tsu on the Yuan: An Autocrat’s assessment of the Mongol Dynasty,
Bulletin of Sung and Yuan Studies, No. 14, pp. 6–11.
54
Rogers, J. D. (2015), Empire dynamics and Inner Asia. IN: J. Bemmann & M. Schmauder
(Eds.), Complexity of interaction along the Eurasian steppe zone in the first millennium
(pp. 73–88). Bonn: Bonn University Press.
55
Ibid.
56
Ibid.
57
Jackson, P. (2000), The State of research: The Mongol Empire, 1986–1999, Journal of Medieval
History, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 189–210.
58
Morgan, D. (2009), The Decline and Fall of the Mongol Empire, JRAS, Series 3, 19, 4,
pp. 427–437.
59
Ibid.
60
Honeychurch, W., and Amartuvshin, C. (2006), States on horseback: the rise of inner Asian
confederations and empires. IN Archaeology of Asia, Stark, M. (Ed), PP. 255–278, London:
Blackwell.
of Cakravartin in the subsequent Ming and Qing dynasties.61 An official

history of the Yuan dynasty, the Yuanshi, was written after the Mongols
had been driven from China.62 Its main themes: the identity of the
Mongols related to military rhetoric and the notion of kingship legiti-
mated by heaven.63 The Qing dynasty also drew on the religious practices
of the Mongols for their own court practices.64
China and Persia were the first of the four Khanates to become
detached from Mongol control. It has been noted that both China and
Persia were much more urbanised and sophisticated than were other con-
temporary societies.65 In contrast to these urbanised and sophisticated
societies, the Mongols were a nomadic people. In this case, it is evident
that the Mongols found it difficult to manage and control urbanised soci-
eties.66 However, through their military prowess, the Mongols were the
architects of the world’s first era of globalisation. In the context of China,
Kublai Khan was probably the most international and outward looking
of all the Yuan Emperors. During his reign, merchants from Persia would
sell Persian goods in the markets of China and Persian engineers would
design irrigation systems for Chinese cities and fields.67 The Silk Route
from China, through Central Asia, to Europe would flourish for the last
time in the mid-thirteenth century. The Mongol Empire was the last
imperial power to be able to give its protection to this ancient trade route.
Furthermore, during the time of the Mongol Empire, the Silk Route had
to pass through the Mongol capital, Karakorum, deep inside Mongolia.68
61
Crossley, P. (1992), The Rulership’s of China, American Historical Review, Vol. 97, No. 5,
pp. 1468–1483.
62
Dardess, J. (1978), Ming T’Ai-Tsu on the Yuan: An Autocrat’s assessment of the Mongol Dynasty,
Bulletin of Sung and Yuan Studies, No. 14, pp. 6–11.
63
Francesca F. (2014), The Borders of Rebellion: The Yuan Dynasty and the Rhetoric of Empire,
IN: Fiaschetti, F., and Schneider, J. (Eds), Political Strategies of Identity Building in non-Han
empires in China (Asiatische Forschungen), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden.
64
Waley-Cohen, J. (2004), The New Qing History, Radical History Review, Issue 88, pp. 193–206.
65
Marshall, R. (1993), Storm from the East, From Genghis Khan to Khubilai Khan, University of
California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles.
66
Ibid.
67
Ibid.
68
Christian, D. (2000), Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History, Journal of
World History, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 1–26.
242 S. Ramesh
The Persians also gained knowledge from China, especially with regards
to ceramics and painting.69 But whereas the Persian and Islamic connec-
tion with China began to lessen after the reign of Kublai Khan, Europe
began to learn more from China, leading it into a period of conquest and
innovation that lasts to this day. The North American landmass was
encountered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 because he had set forth
to discover a sea route to Kublai Khan’s fabled Cathay.70 Furthermore, the
unilateral flow of knowledge and trade between China and Europe was
such that it has been suggested that bubonic plague originated in China,
but was ‘transported’ to Europe through Mongolian trade routes.71
The Mongols and Persia (Iran) and Iraq

Following the onslaught against the Khwarazmian Empire, the last ruler,
Jalal-ad-Din, fled to northern India. Once Genghis Khan had returned to
Mongolia, Jalal-ad-Din began the reconstruction of the Khwarazmian
Empire.72 However, Jalal-ad-Din could not return to the previous regions
or cities he had controlled because these were now under Mongol con-
trol. In this case, Jalal-ad-Din seized Isfahan and Jibal in western Persia.73
Jalal-ad-Din then went on to conquer Azerbaijan, while also militarily
engaging the Christian kingdoms of Transcaucasia.74 Because of his mili-
tary engagements, Jalal-ad-Din conquered the whole of Persia by 1226
AD.75 He then raided Georgia, which had become a Mongol vassal state,
in 1226 AD, and again in 1228 AD.76 This was then followed by a thrust
69
Marshall, R. (1993), Storm from the East, From Genghis Khan to Khubilai Khan, University of
California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles.
70
Ibid.
71
Ibid.
72
Sicker, M. (2000), The Islamic World in Ascending: From the Arab Conquests to the Siege of
Vienna, Praeger Publishers, Westport.
73
Ibid.
74
Ibid.
75
Ibid.
76
Ibid.
into the territory of the Ayyubids of Syria, who as a result formed an alli-
ance with the Seljukids of Damascus.77This coalition of Ayyubids and
Seljukids defeated a military incursion into Anatolia by Jalal-ad-Din’s
armies.78 In 1229 AD, the Great Khan Ogodei sent Mongolian troops,
under the control of General Chormaghun, to quell the possibility of a
resurgent Khwarazmian Empire.79 Over time, Mongol forces took con-
trol of Azerbaijan, Greater Armenia, western and southern Persia, as well
as Georgia in 1239.80 In 1253 AD, the Great Khan Mongke sent his
brother Hulegu to lead the Mongol armies in Persia and Iraq.81 Hulegu
conquered Alamut in Persia in 1256 AD, and Baghdad in 1258 AD,
going on to conquer northern Syria but returning to Mongolia in 1260
AD to elect a new Great Khan.82 This was to be his brother Kublai, who
would also found the Yuan dynasty in China and become its first Emperor.
The forces which Hulegu left in northern Syria were to be defeated by the
Malmuks at the Battle of Ain Jalut, ending the Mongols’ ambitions of
gaining a foothold in either Egypt or Africa. In 1260 AD, following the
election of Kublai as the Great Khan, the Mongol Empire was split into
four and Hulegu took the Ilkhanate, which covered western Asia and
Iraq.
In their conquests, the Mongolians used what was termed a ‘Tsunami
Strategy’, in which a large Mongol force invaded a region and devastated
it, but then drew back, retaining only a small part of the devastated region
within their empire.83 However, before the invasion, the Mongols would
gather intelligence on the location of towns, military garrisons, the lay of
the land, the culture, and the religion of the population from merchants
77
Ibid.
78
Ibid.
79
Jackson, P. (2017), The Mongols and the Islamic World – From Conquest to Conversion, Yale
80
Ibid.
81
Christie, N. (2014), Muslims and Crusaders: Christianity’s Wars in the Middle East, 1095–1382,
From The Islamic Sources, Routledge, New York.
82
Ibid.
83
May, T. (2016), Mongol Conquest Strategy in the Middle East, IN: The Mongols Middle East –
Continuity and Transformation in Ilkhanaid Iran, De Nicola, B., and Melville, C. (Eds), Brill,
Leiden.
244 S. Ramesh
and traders. The Mongols would then enter the region in a large force
and attack the most populous, prosperous town before the force was
divided to continue to ravage and devastate the entire region. The reason
for the division of the initial invading force into many columns was to
prevent the opposition from regrouping in large numbers.84 The objec-
tive of the Mongols was to destroy the defensive and offensive military
capabilities of the opposition, not to make the invaded region uninhabit-
able.85 Thus, once this objective had been achieved, the Mongols would
withdraw, without invading the whole region, and withdrawing to areas
which had become stabilised.86 The Mongols incorporated territories into
their empire incrementally, without a sudden acquisition of territory.87
However, the advance of the Mongols was rapid because once a stabilised
region can be incorporated into their empire, they moved invaded unoc-
cupied areas whose defences had been neutralised.88 Furthermore, the
Mongols used sophisticated signalling techniques on the battlefield. In
conjunction with their policy of acquiring substantive intelligence about
the area they were invading, the Mongols were never surprised.89 The
Mongols also invaded in large numbers, and their soldiers were highly
mobile. So even if one column was defeated by an enemy, that enemy
would have to face another Mongol column very soon after, without hav-
ing the opportunity to rest its soldiers or replenish supplies.90 The most
important aspect of the stabilisation of conquered territory, and their
incorporation into the empire was the transition from military to civilian
rule.91 Associated with this transition, the Mongols used a governing
institution called a ‘tamma’. This was a governing council in which the
84
Ibid.
85
Ibid.
86
Ibid.
87
Ibid.
88
Ibid.
89
May, T. (2016), Mongol Conquest Strategy in the Middle East, IN: The Mongols Middle East –
Continuity and Transformation in Ilkhanaid Iran, De Nicola, B., and Melville, C. (Eds), Brill,
Leiden.
90
Ibid.
91
Ibid.
nucleus was the Mongolian nobility, supported by administrators from

the local population.92 The ‘tamma’ also included the main military
advance force and the scouts.93 While the Mongols did not build fortified
garrisons in conquered territories, they razed all such existing fortifica-
tions so they could not be used against them.94 Furthermore, the Mongols
used ‘tamma’ camps at the frontiers of their empire, in conquered territo-
ries, in order to defend and expand the borders of their empire.95 Over
time, the governance structure in conquered territories would change
from a ‘tamma’ to a governor, secretary, and administrator, who would be
responsible for collecting taxes and for maintaining local law and order.96
The inclusion of a governing body within the main invading army allowed
for flexibility in which the army was used. The ‘tamma’ would be used to
stabilise and administer invaded regions that had come to normality,
while the main body of the army could be diverted to areas in which
revolts were occurring.97
The Mongols and Europe

The first Mongolian foray into Europe occurred in 1221, under their
generals Subodei and Jebe. The Mongolian incursion into Europe, whose
inhabitants knew little if anything of the Mongol hordes, occurred fol-
lowing Genghis Khan’s invasion of Central Asia and the demise of the
Khwarizm sultanate.98 Once this had been accomplished, Genghis Khan
gave his permission to Subodei and Jebe to take their armies to the north
and into Europe, in what then was unknown territory for the Mongols.
The first Christian kingdom the Mongols found was the small kingdom
92
Ibid.
93
Ibid.
94
Ibid.
95
Ibid.
96
Ibid.
97
Ibid.
98
Weatherford, J. (2004), Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, Crown Publishers,
New York.
246 S. Ramesh
of Georgia, which was quickly subdued, becoming a Mongolian vassal

state in the process.99 Once a state attained vassal status under the
Mongols, they were saved from any military attack by the Mongols if
they continued to pay tribute. For example, when the Tibetans stopped
paying tribute to the Mongols, an army was sent in 1240 AD, 1244 AD,
and 1251 AD.100
Following the subjugation of Georgia, the Mongols then moved on
into the flat lands of eastern Europe in order to reconnoitre and gather
information about the size of the population, the number and the loca-
tion of cities, as well as their political affiliations.101 On the way, Subodei
and Jebe encountered a nomadic tribe called the Kipchak, some of whom
were persuaded by the Mongols to become their allies.102 The Mongolians
also made a pact with Venetian merchants in which the Venetians would
send back information to the Mongols about the peoples of the lands in
which they traded.103 In return, the Mongolians gave the Venetians
monopoly trading rights in their lands with the promise of disposing of
any rivals.104 By April 1223 AD, the Mongols had reached the River
Dnieper, by which time the local population had become aware of the
invaders. As such, word reached the ears of the Christian city states in the
paths around the invading Mongol armies. These Christian city states
included Smolensk, Galich, Chernigov, Kiev, Volhynia, Kursk, and
Suzdal.105 As well as a proportion of the Kipchaks, whose allegiance had
not been won by the Mongols. While the Christian city states sent out
armies to defeat the Mongols, the Christian armies were themselves out-
manoeuvred and crushed by the Mongolian guruns. The Mongols left
Europe in 1224 AD, 3 years after they arrived, on their way to Mongolia
99
Ibid.
100
Wylie, T. (1977), The First Mongol Conquest of Tibet Reinterpreted, Harvard Journal of Asiatic
Studies, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 103–133.
101
Ibid.
102
Ibid.
103
Gabriel, R. (2006), Genghis Khan’s Greatest General Subotai the Valiant, University of
Oklahoma, Norman.
104
Ibid.
105
New York.
via the banks of the Syr Darya River, where they would be met by Genghis
Khan himself.106 However, in 1237 AD, the Mongol armies returned to
start the conquest of southern Russia, and then, entered Poland and
Hungary in 1241 AD.107 However, news reached the Mongol armies of
the death of Ogodei, the Great Khan, soon afterwards, and they headed
back to Mongolia in 1241 AD.108 Hundreds and thousands of people
were killed by the Mongols, in eastern Europe, Central Asia, and in other
parts of the Mongol Empire. Europe would not get to witness such bar-
barity until the third and the fourth decade of the twentieth century,
when Hitler would unleash a similar level of barbarity.109
It was due to the Mongols that the knowledge of printing, gunpowder,
and the compass diffused from China to Europe.110 Knowledge of these
three Chinese inventions would catapult the European powers to world
conquest and dominance over the following centuries. In 1300 AD,
Marco Polo’s travel logs, ‘The Travels of Marco Polo’, became available.
The book describes Polo’s travels in Asia as well as his experiences at the
court of Kublai Khan, between 1271 AD and 1295 AD. He set out from
Venice in 1271 AD on his travels in the east, at the age of eighteen with
his father and uncle, and ended up in the court of the Great Khan, Kublai.
While Polo, his father and uncle may have served as auditors for the
Mongols, he also claims that he had served in an administrative and dip-
lomatic role for the Mongols.111 This claim may not be as farfetched
because Polo would have been able to learn to speak, and maybe to write
Mongolian, Chinese, and Persian.112 The first language would have been
106
Gabriel, R. (2006), Genghis Khan’s Greatest General Subotai the Valiant, University of
Oklahoma, Norman.
107
Pacey, A. (1990), Technology in World Civilisation: A Thousand Year History, The MIT Press,
108
Grant De Pauw, L. (1998), Battle Cries and Lullabies, Women in War from Prehistory to the
Present, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
109
Breitman, R. (1990), Hitler and Genghis Khan, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 25,
pp. 337–351.
110
New York.
111
Wolfe, A. (2014), Marco Polo: Factotum, Auditor, Language and Political Culture in the
Mongol World Empire, Literature Compass, 11/7, pp. 409–422.
112
Ibid.
248 S. Ramesh
the most important, as it would have allowed Polo to act as a functionary

for the Emperor.113 Polo was 42 when he returned home in 1295 AD.114
During the years he spent in the court of Kublai, Polo would have been
able to acquire knowledge about the technology to which the Mongols
and their subjects would have access. In this case, Polo may have brought
back with him to Europe specific knowledge of gunpowder, printing, the
compass, and the ships used by the Chinese. He had also witnessed the
use of paper money in Yuan China in 1298 AD.115 The Europeans then
could develop these Chinese inventions and design and build ships that
were more efficient at taking advantage of the winds to take them far
from their European homelands, with the assistance of the compass.
The Mongol Empire and Innovation

The Mongolians were not technical, agricultural, or cultural innovators.
They did not establish any religion, and neither were they craftsmen.116
In this case, the Mongols were not bakers, makers of pottery, metal work-
ers, artists, or weavers.117 And the Mongols were neither scholars nor
prolific writers, although they did use the services of scholars in the
domains they had conquered, when it was necessary. One of these
occasions was the writing of the ‘Secret History of the Mongols’ in 1240
AD.118 Although the original version in the Mongolian language disap-
peared many centuries ago, copies of the book in the Chinese script have
survived into recent times, and have been used by contemporary scholars
to study the Mongol Empire. However, while the Mongols may not have
been as innovative as either past or contemporary civilisations were, the
113
Ibid.
114
Ibid.
115
Gunaratne, S. (2001), Paper, Printing and the Printing Press, Gazette Vol. 63 (6), pp. 459–479.
116
New York.
117
Ibid.
118
No. 2, pp. 54–71.
founder of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan, was a tenacious military

genius with a formidable ability to organise and structure his forces in
such a way that the Mongols were able to use their cavalry, foot soldiers,
and archers to defeat more innovative civilisations. Not only Genghis
Khan, but his generals, Subedei and Jebe, were masters of the art of bat-
tlefield strategy, tactics, and operations.119 All three were versed in the art
of stealth and surprise, of the need to meet and defeat the enemy quickly
by passing the islands of resistance (walled cities), and of the need to live
off the land to ensure quick mobility.120 The Mongol warrior was typi-
cally dressed in armour that constituted numerous layers of bull hide,
which afforded the warrior secure and impenetrable protection.121
Furthermore, Mongol arrowheads were typically longer than those of the
Europeans, for example.122 Moreover, Mongol arrowheads were made of
iron, bone, or horn and, as the slit ends were bound tightly, Mongol
arrows could not fit European bows.123 Therefore, Mongol arrows could
have greater range and were more deadly than the arrows of their ene-
mies. Furthermore, Mongol arrows could not be reused by their enemies
in battle. However, Mongol warfare was given a competitive advantage
by its tenacity and its sheer size.124
The Mongols were also disciplined and, to some extent, this was the
second occasion on which a written document was produced. This docu-
ment, the Yasa, represented 22 laws which Genghis Khan laid down in
1206 AD.125 The Yasa were laws that bound the Mongols, and these laws
were based on a combination of the ancestral customs and laws of the
119
Bellamy, C. (1983), Heirs of Genghis Khan: The Influence of Tartar Mongols on the Imperial
Russian and Soviet Armies, The RUSI Journal, 128, 1, pp. 52–60.
120
Ibid.
121
Sweeney, J. (1982), Thomas of Spalato and the Mongols: A Thirteenth-Century Dalmatian View
of Mongol Customs, Florilegium, Vol. 4, pp. 156–183.
122
Ibid.
123
Sweeney, J. (1982), Thomas of Spalato and the Mongols: A Thirteenth-Century Dalmatian View
of Mongol Customs, Florilegium, Vol. 4, pp. 156–183.
124
Smith, J. (1975), Mongol Manpower and Persian Population, Journal of the Economic and
Social History of the Orient, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 271–299.
125
Morgan, D. (1986), ‘The “Great Yasa of Chingiz Khan” and Mongol Law in die Ilkhanate’,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, xlix, pp. 169–70.
250 S. Ramesh
Mongols, as well as new laws devised by Genghis Khan himself.126 The

laws related to how subject peoples and property should be divided up
amongst the Mongolian nobility and what crimes resulted in death or
some other form of punishment.127 In addition to the Yasa, there was also
another document, the Bilik, which represented Genghis Khan’s sugges-
tions and comments on various issues.128 Genghis Khan was illiterate, so
he probably expressed himself to scribes, who would have written his
words using either the Mongol or Uighur script in the Yasa and the
Bilik.129 The Yasa was made widely available throughout the empire, and
even the library at Baghdad had a copy.130 Furthermore, the Yasa may
have been modified as the Mongol Empire expanded into China in 1211
AD and Turkestan in 1219 AD, with the help of Persian, Chinese, and
Uighur scholars.131 However, the Yasa only survived in fragments, and
any interpretation of it is based on second accounts by other scholars.132
Thus, it was the military innovation and the discipline of the Mongols
which enabled their prowess to defeat more innovative and established
civilisations (Khorezm, China, Persia, Iran), as well as less advanced
civilisations (Europe). However, the Mongols also had the ability to
acquire knowledge about the peoples and the practices in specific regions
before they set forth on a military campaign. For example, in their con-
quest of Georgia, they had known that the local practice was to carry
Christian crosses—by the local military and the people. So, the invading
Mongol army carried a cross in front of it as it marched through
Georgia.133 The local population was beguiled into thinking that the
Mongols were friendly and Christian and so, on seeing the approaching
126
Ibid.
127
Ibid.
128
Bartold, V. (1928), Turkestan down to the Mongol Invasion, London, 1928.
129
Vernadsky, G. (1938), The Scope and Contents of Chingis Khan’s Yasa, Harvard Journal of
Asiatic Studies, Vol. 3, No. 3/4, pp. 337–360.
130
Ibid.
131
Ibid.
132
Ibid.
133
Jackson, P. (2005), The Mongols and the Faith of the Conquered, IN: Mongols, Turks and
Others – Eurasian Nomads and the Sedentary World, Amitai, R., and Biran, M. (Eds), Koninklijke
Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Mongol army, the city gates would be flung open and people would
approach the Mongols with crosses in their hands, only to be massacred.
And, as the frontiers of the Mongolian Empire continued to grow and
expand, the Mongols built transparent and non-transparent bridges to
connect the civilisations and the cultures they had conquered.134 This cre-
ated a cauldron in which a diverse range of innovations could mix and
generate further innovations. For example, the cannon emerged as result
of the combination of innovations associated with Chinese gunpowder,
the Muslim flamethrower, and European bell-making technology by
engineers from China, Persia, and Europe.135 The cannon was a cascading
technology from which emerged the pistol, the gun, and ultimately, mis-
siles.136 However, the Mongols should not be viewed as being just the
passive transmitters of religious, cultural, and technical knowledge. They
were able to adapt such knowledge in order to suit their own tastes, needs,
and circumstances.137 Following the withdrawal of the Mongol armies
following the conquest of Poland and Hungary in 1241 AD, the
Europeans were intrigued by the Mongols, and in the lands from which
they had come. As a result, a Papal ambassador was sent to Mongolia in
1245 AD, to be followed by William of Rubruck, who returned to Europe
in 1257 AD.138Not soon after his return in 1258 AD, the first reports of
the use of gunpowder in fireworks in the city of Cologne were to be writ-
ten in Europe.139 Two books about gunpowder weapons appeared in the
eastern Mediterranean in 1280 AD.140
While the Mongols did not use gunpowder weapons in Hungary in
1241 AD, it appears that they acquired it not long after.141 However,
134
New York.
135
Ibid.
136
Ibid.
137
Allsen, T. (1997), Commodity and Exchange in the Mongol Empire: a cultural history of Islamic
Textiles, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
138
139
Ibid.
140
Ibid.
141
Ibid.
252 S. Ramesh
another source suggests that the Mongols did use gunpowder for military
purposes at the Battle of Sajo in Hungary in 1241 AD.142 The Mongols
again made use of gunpowder for military purposes against Japan in 1274
AD and 1281 AD.143 Since gunpowder and associated technology were
invented in China, the Mongols acquired it from the Chinese. Gunpowder
with less explosive power was used to propel rockets in 1150 AD.144
However, by 1250 AD, the Chinese had developed a gunpowder formula
with more explosive power. This is evidenced by the fact that, in that year,
Mongolian armies invaded Iran and these armies took with them Chinese
engineers who operated catapults which could fling explosive devices
against any cities and armies in their path.145 Nevertheless, there is some
evidence to suggest that the development of gunpowder with such explo-
sive force as to propel projectiles at an enemy had already led to such use
at the siege of Kaifeng in 1126 AD.146 It is also evident that, by 1249 AD,
Islamic powers in the Middle East also had an awareness of gunpowder
weapons, because such weapons were used to repulse Christian crusaders
from Palestine in 1291 AD, following the siege of Acre.147 Furthermore,
the invading Mongol armies were also stopped by the Islamic use of
gunpowder weapons when they entered Syria in 1258 AD.148 However,
the presence of Iranian engineers in the Mongol army, in the last stages of
its campaign against the Song dynasty, between 1250 AD and 1276
AD,149 led to the development and use of more sophisticated catapults to
throw explosive devices more accurately and with greater impact.
Furthermore, by 1280 AD, both Chinese and Islamic armies were using
a crude form of gun called a ‘fire-lance’.150By 1288 AD, Chinese soldiers
142
Contamine, P. (1984), War in the Middle Ages. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
143
Ibid.
144
145
Ibid.
146
Ibid.
147
Ibid.
148
Ibid.
149
Ibid.
150
Ibid.
in the Mongol army were using gunpowder weapons that had evolved
further from the ‘fire-lance’. This is evidenced by the fact that a bronze
spherical barrel was found at the site of a battle in which the Mongolians
fought, in 1288 AD.151 Chinese gunpowder barrels evolved further by
having thicker walls, to better contain the explosive power leading to
greater projection of the projectile inside the barrel, and the explosion
was caused by ignition at the base of the barrel.152
Although Genghis Khan did not change the Mongols’ traditional
nomadic principles of warfare, he did structure the Mongolian cavalry, as
well as instil rigorous discipline into its ranks. He did this by winning the
loyalty of his commanders as well as that of the common soldier. Officers
had to treat soldiers fairly, booty was equally divided, and all soldiers were
given the same food regardless of their rank.153 Furthermore, Genghis
Khan also used unconventional battle tactics. One way he did this was to
divide the Mongolian cavalry into a ‘guran’, which was ten horsemen
deep and a hundred horsemen wide.154 Each ‘guran’ would train against
the other, with regards to flanking manoeuvres and sham fights.155
Furthermore, whenever the Mongols went on military campaigns, they
would take very many horses, such that there were 20–30 horses per
cavalryman.156 No stores were taken for the horses by the Mongols who
fed them on the grass of the plains where the Mongol army stopped. This
gave the Mongol armies great flexibility to march over long distances
whenever it was required to do so. Barrels also came to be fitted inside a
frame, in order that the shot could be better stabilised. European draw-
ings of gunpowder barrel guns in 1326 and 1327 show designs strikingly
like the earlier Chinese ones.
In association with the political restructuring of their empire, the
Mongols also created a common imperial culture which quickly spread
151
Ibid.
152
Ibid.
153
Ibid.
154
155
Ibid.
156
No. 2, pp. 54–71.
254 S. Ramesh
beyond the borders of the empire (Buell 2007). For example, the ele-
ments of Mongol culture included their dress style, their food, and the
musical instruments they played. Typical Mongolian dishes included
the Shulen (Mongol banquet soup), the Shaqimur (rape turnip soup),
Eggplant manta, and Gullach. These dishes had health-promoting
potential and were eaten in addition to animal body parts and herbs
that were also thought to promote health.157 A dietary manual, the
‘Yinshan Zhengyao’, was presented to the court of the Yuan Emperor in
1330 AD.158 As the best part of their diet was liquid in form, the
Mongols preferred the use of porcelain, because the glazed pottery
would prevent the absorption of the liquid.159 The Mongols favoured
medicinal cures from the Middle East, and the composition of these
were gathered in a manual called the ‘Huihui Yaofang’.160 The
Mongolians also created innovative common protocols, such as the
granting ‘diplomatic immunity’ rather than keeping hostages.
Furthermore, in China, the Yuan dynasty and its government also
undertook large-scale projects such as changing the course of the Yellow
River so it flowed into the sea south of the Shandong peninsula.161 This
was a technological feat in itself.
End of Empire
The death of Mongke, the fourth Great Khan of Mongolia, in 1259, may
have been the event that set in motion all the events which led to the
effective dissolution of the Mongolian Empire.162 In the choice of a Great
Khan to succeed Mongke, Mongolian traditional customary practices
157
158
Ibid.
159
160
Ibid.
161
Morgan, D. (2009), The Decline and Fall of the Mongol Empire, JRAS, Series 3, 19, 4,
pp. 427–437.
162
Jackson, P. (1978), The Dissolution of the Mongol Empire, Central Asiatic Journal, Vol. 22, No.
3/4, pp. 186–244.
came into conflict with the common-sense, seniority-based rules of suc-

cession.163 In this case, the customary practice was that the third son of
the chief wife of the ruling Great Khan should inherit his seat, or ‘ordo’.164
However, practicality emphasised the need for seniority to play a more
significant role in the choice of a successor to the Great Khan. This con-
flict and practicality pitted Kublai Khan against his younger brother Ariq
Boke, the sons of Tolui, Genghis Khan’s fourth son. In 1260 AD, Kublai
Khan was chosen by his people in a special meeting held in Kharakhorum,
becoming the 5th Great Khan of the Mongolian Empire. The selection
was contested by a rival, Ariq Boke, with whom Kublai fought many
battles, but with Boke dying of a non-battle related illness in 1266 AD.165
This followed five years of internecine fighting.166 At the same time as the
conflict between Kublai and his younger brother Ariq Boke, there was
also a conflict between their brother Hulegu and their cousin, Berke the
son of Jochi, Genghis Khan’s eldest son and the brother of Tolui Khan.
Hulegu was the Khan of the Ilkhanate, which initially encompassed Iran,
Azerbaijan, and parts of contemporary Turkey, but later expanded to
occupy neighbouring areas. Berke was the son of Jochi, who was the old-
est son of Genghis Khan. Berke became Khan of the Golden Horde, an
area encompassing parts of modern-day Russia and Central Asia, in 1255
AD, following the death of his brother Batu.167 Berke had become the
first Mongol to convert to Islam in the 1250s. Although his grandfather
Genghis Khan had forbidden the Muslim practice of killing animals to be
eaten according to Sharia law.168 When his cousin, Hulegu, Khan of the
Ilkhanate, executed the last Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad in 1258, Berke
163
Ibid.
164
Jackson, P. (1978), The Dissolution of the Mongol Empire, Central Asiatic Journal, Vol. 22 No.
3 /4, pp. 186–244.
165
Rossabi, M. (2009), Khubilal Khan: His Life and Times, University of California Press, Berkeley.
166
Jackson, P. (1978), The Dissolution of the Mongol Empire, Central Asiatic Journal, Vol. 22 No.
3/4, pp. 186–244.
167
Mikaberidze, A. (2011), Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia,
ABC CLIO, Oxford, England.
168
Jackson, P. (2005), The Mongols and the Faith of the Conquered, IN: Mongols, Turks and
Others – Eurasian Nomads and the Sedentary World, Amitai, R., and Biran, M. (Eds), Koninklijke
Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
256 S. Ramesh
was enraged.169 However, it was not this, but the threat of the Ilkhanate
expanding and taking further contested territory, the Caucasuses,
Azerbaijan, Syria, and Egypt, which led to a military conflict between the
Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate in 1262 AD.170 This saved Europe from
another Mongolian invasion, which Berke had been planning.171 In con-
trast to the conversion of Berke, Hulegu seemed more drawn to
Christianity. This is evidenced by a policy of co-operation between the
Ilkhanate and the Pope in Rome emerging in 1264 AD.172 However,
Hulegu seems to have been drawn to the Christians from a strategic point
of view rather than a faith-based one.
Since Kublai Khan also ruled northern China at the same time, he
moved his capital from Kharakhorum in the Mongolian heartlands to
Peking in China. This detracted from their traditional practice of ruling
over their lands through the mobility of the ‘gher’, the circular, domed
tent the Mongolians called home. The lack of a fixed capital, which other
civilisations did have, had given the Mongols the ability to dispatch war-
riors and to move with speed whenever it was needed.173 The year 1260
AD was a watershed year for the Empire founded by Genghis Khan and
his descendants. Firstly, in 1260 AD, the Mongols were defeated in the
Battle of Ain Jalut in Galilee by the Malmuks of Egypt.174 This stopped
the Mongols from conquering either Egypt or Africa.175 Furthermore,
after 1260 AD, the Mongol Empire split into four Khanates. Some attri-
bute this fragmentation of the Mongol Empire directly to the fact that
Kublai shifted his capital to Peking.176 The four Khanates included
169
Mikaberidze, A. (2011), Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia,
ABC CLIO, Oxford, England.
170
Ibid.
171
Morgan, D. (1989), The Mongols and the eastern Mediterranean, Mediterranean Historical
Review, 4:1, pp. 198–211.
172
Richard, J. (1969), The Mongols and the Franks, Journal of Asian History, Vol. 3, No. 1,
pp. 45–57.
173
No. 2, pp. 54–71.
174
Saunders, J. (1971), The History of the Mongol Conquests, University of Pennsylvania Press,
Philadelphia.
175
Ibid.
176
No. 2, pp. 54–71.
Mongol China under the Yuan dynasty (1260 AD–1368 AD), the
Golden Horde which dominated western Siberia and Russia, the Khanate
of Chaghadai which included Turkistan and the surrounding steepes, and
lastly, the Ilkhanate, which incorporated Iran and Iraq.177 The fragmenta-
tion of the Mongol Empire into the four Khanates led to less cohesion
and loyalty between the members of the Mongol ruling family. As a
result, the Khanates were less willing to support each other as each ruler
took to a specific religion. The turnover of Mongol rulers in the Khanates
was high, and compared to the Manchu dynasty in China, the Khanates
did not survive for as long. In this case, the Manchu dynasty in China
lasted for approximately two-and-a-half centuries—1644 to 1908—the
four Khanates, in comparison, lasted for an average of 107 years.178
Furthermore, whereas the Manchu dynasty had fewer Emperors with
longer average reigns, the Khanates had more rulers who reigned for
shorter periods of time. For example, the Yuan dynasty ruled China for
110 years with ten Emperors, the Golden Horde lasted for 132 years with
twelve Khans, and Mongol rule in the Middle East lasted for 80 years
with nine Mongol rulers.179 These statistics would lend to the view that
the Mongol rulers of the Khanates suffered high mortality rates due to a
poor diet as well as a high level of alcoholism.180 The Mongol diet mainly
consisted of meat (lamb, goat, horsemeat) and their favourite drink was
mare’s milk, which, when fermented, would turn into alcohol.181 In con-
trast, compared to prosperous Mongolians, poor Mongolians had a
healthy diet, as Temuchin (Genghis Khan) discovered in the early years of
his life, when he lived with his widowed mother and all the family’s live-
stock had been stolen.182 In this case, Temuchin’s mother taught him how
to survive by eating wild plants and hunting animals and fish as best he
could. This ensured that they had a balanced diet, and less time and
opportunity to engage in drinking fermented mare’s milk.
177
178
Smith, J. (2000), Dietary Decadence and Dynastic Decline in the Mongol Empire, Journal of
Asian History, Vol. 34, No. 1.
179
Ibid.
180
Ibid.
181
Ibid.
182
Ibid.
258 S. Ramesh
The social, cultural, religious, racial, and political make-up of inner

Asia was changed by the Mongol conquests in the east (China), south-
west (Iraq and Iran), south (northern India), and the west (Russia and
eastern Europe).183 The Mongol conquests of the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries also downgraded the importance and power of former trading
centres such as Samarkand.184 Furthermore, the end of the Mongol
Empire gave way to the rise of the Ming dynasty in China, the Empire of
Akbar in India, the Safavid Empire in Iran, and—even more game chang-
ing—the rise of the European powers and a new era of their imperial
power and colonisation.185 The most important and most consequential
of the European powers to world history would be the British Empire.
Without Genghis Khan and the Mongolian Empire, world history may
not have reached the level of innovative uniqueness it has achieved in the
twenty-first century.
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10
The British Empire: 1603 AD to 1997 AD
The Europe of the 1st millennium AD could be segmented into three

geographical regions.1 The segment around the Mediterranean was cul-
tured and civilised with professional armies, literature, banking, taxation,
architecture, and philosophy.2 This region and some areas around the
Rhine and the Danube were under Roman rule. On the other hand, the
peoples who were settled in northern and central Europe were relatively
late comers to history and were known as the Germani.3 The Germani
represented many tribes, some much smaller than others, with distinct
cultural and linguistic similarities. The Saxons were a small but signifi-
cant part of this tribal grouping.4 The Rhine Valley was the dividing line
between the Gauls to the west and the Germani to the north.5 Although
the Germani occupied an area from the Netherlands to western Russia.6
1
Heather, P. (2010), Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe, Oxford
2
Ibid.
3
Todd, M. (2004), The Early Germans, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK.
4
Ibid.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid.

264 S. Ramesh
The Romans recognised that the Gauls were attracted to the civilised
ways of life, but the Germani were not, and remained more primitive and
savage than any of the other barbarians the Romans had ever known.7
However, compared to the peoples of eastern Europe, those living near
the Rhine and the Danube were more into small-scale farming, although
they did not have a civilisation to speak of.8 Moreover, they had no known
written language, so any knowledge of these Germanic peoples has been
accumulated through their contact with the Romans.9
Rome itself fell to the Visigoths, a Germanic tribe, in 410 AD.10 The
Roman Empire began withdrawing from Britain in 388 AD, with the
withdrawal being completed by 410 AD.11 The remaining Romano-
British were unable to defend themselves against attacks by the Scots and
the Picts. For the defence of their frontiers, the Romano-British hired
Germanic Saxons, who eventually conquered Celtic England between
446 AD and 454 AD.12 The Saxon tribes, who came to Britain from what
is now present-day Germany, after the departure of the Romans, pos-
sessed the liberal democratic values of all the ancient Germanic tribes.13
Private property rights existed from the earliest Anglo-Saxon times,
whereby individuals were entitled to ‘ownership’ of land and goods that
they had acquired either through their own industry or through con-
quest.14 However, while ownership had to be kept within the family, if
the owner had no living descendants, the title of ownership could be
passed to another for money in the act of sale.15 Furthermore, although
7
Ibid.
8
Heather, P. (2010), Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe, Oxford
9
Olsen, B. (2007), Sacred Places Europe: 108 Destinations, Consortium of Collective
Consciousness.
10
Moorhead, S., and Stuttard, D. (2010), AD410 The Year That Shook Rome, The British Museum
Press, London.
11
Kubesh, K., McNeil, N., and Bellotto, K. (2006), The Romans in Britain, In the Hands of a
Child, Coloma, MI.
12
Stenton, F. (1971), Anglo-Saxon England, Third Edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
13
Dolan, N, (2009), Emerson’s Liberalism, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin.
14
Thrupp, J. (1862), The Anglo-Saxon Home: A History of the Domestic Institutions and Customs
of England, from the 5th to the 11th century, Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts.
15
Ibid.
The British Empire: 1603 AD to 1997 AD 265
the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England tended to form a centralised state,

there was an acknowledgement of individual freedom as long as the indi-
vidual fulfilled his obligations to the state in the context of military ser-
vice and the payment of tax to the King.16 This Anglo-Saxon sense of
individual freedom survived the Norman conquest of 1066 and the
imposition of a feudal society. However, the Norman conquest of England
concentrated power in the hands of King William and the Norman
knights, who formed a new aristocracy. Thus, the Normans introduced a
more robust form of feudalism into England, control of land being
cemented with the building of castles in which Norman knights with
royal titles to nearby lands lived.17 Nevertheless, despite the stronger cen-
tral control required to maintain a tight grip over a conquered people, the
framework of the Anglo-Saxon state and values continued to survive.18
The continual desire for the Anglo-Saxon sense of freedom and the need
to restrict the power of the King evidenced itself when King John was
forced to accept the terms of the nobility, in the context of the Magna
Carta in 1215.19 The Magna Carta can be seen as the source of the liber-
ties which are expected in contemporary western societies.20 Moreover,
perhaps the roots of the need for the freedom that sprouted in Great
Britain’s American colonies in the latter part of the eighteenth century
AD are to be found in the socioeconomic culture of the Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms which emerged in the fifth century AD in England. The Saxons
of England were themselves from the Germanic stock of tribes of north-
ern and central Europe. However, there is no concrete evidence to suggest
that the ‘freedom’ recognised by the Anglo-Saxons of England was cultur-
ally transposed from their ethnic homelands.21
16
Faith, R. (1997), The English Peasantry and the Growth of Lordship, Leicester University Press,
New York.
17
Thomas, H. (2006), The Norman Conquest: England and William the Conqueror, Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers Inc, New York.
18
Stenton, F. (1971), Anglo-Saxon England, Third Edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
19
Linebaugh, P. (2008), The Magna Carta Manifesto, Liberties and Commons for all, University of
California Press, Los Angeles.
20
King, F. (2015), A Magna Carta for All Humanity: Homing in on Human Rights, Routledge,
New York.
21
Harris, S. (2003), Race and Ethnicity in Anglo-Saxon Literature, Routledge, New York.
266 S. Ramesh
From total domination of England by the fifth century AD, the Anglo-
Saxon kingdoms developed over time. The strongest of these kingdoms
was Wessex. Athelstan, the grandson of King Alfred the Great of Wessex,
was the first king of a unified England, reigning from 924 AD to
939 AD.22 Athelstan was also able to successfully defend England from
invasion by the inhabitants of northern Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavia.23
He achieved this by uniting all of the Saxon kingdoms under his rule and
authority. Like his father, King Edward, Athelstan was able to expand the
boundaries of his English kingdom.24 Furthermore, Athelstan developed
and implemented a centralised administrative and legal system for
England.25 His courtiers and his soldiers ensured that his subjects showed
obedience towards him as well as the laws he proclaimed.26 During the
early years of Alfred the Great of Wessex, one king united the Picts and
the Scots in what is now Scotland, but then was known as the Kingdom
of Alba. The first king to rule over both the Picts and the Scots, as is
known, was King Kenneth MacAlpin I who ruled the Kingdom of Alba
from 843 AD to 858 AD.27
According to Henry VIII, a sovereign nation is an empire when it is
not subservient to either another sovereign state or ruler.28 Later in time,
the term ‘empire’ became applicable to a ‘merger’ between two states. But
the roots of the British Empire lie with the granting of a charter to the
East India Company in 1600, giving it monopoly rights in trade with the
kingdoms of the Indian subcontinent and China. The East India
Company was a joint stock company in which investors pooled their sav-
ings, giving the Company the financial resources to put together a fleet
22
Foot, S. (2011), Athelstan – The First King of England, Yale University Press.
23
Ibid.
24
Ibid.
25
Ibid.
26
Ibid.
27
Armstrong, D. (2002), The Kingdom of Scotland in the Middle Ages, 400–1450, Heinemann
Educational Publishers, Oxford.
28
Firth, C. (1918), The British Empire, The Scottish Historical Review, Vol. 15, No. 59,
pp. 185–189.
that would sale to the East Indies with gold bullion and other items to
trade for spices, silk, and textiles. Once the fleet returned to Britain with
these goods, they were sold for a tidy profit, which was distributed
amongst the investors according to their initial investment share. The
East India Company was Britain’s greatest innovation, the world’s first
corporation, which would marshal financial resources beyond the reach
of the British state, laying the foundations of the British Empire: the
mightiest and biggest empire the world has ever known. In 1603, when
James I became King of England and Scotland, an empire was created.29
To recognise this, James I as King issued a proclamation in 1604, in
which he identified himself as the King of Great Britain.30 At the same
time, at least two other names were used to refer to the ‘union’ between
England and Scotland, the ‘British Empire’ and the ‘Britannic Empire’.
However, it was not until 1707 that the kingdoms of England and
Scotland legally achieved the denomination of Great Britain, that Britain’s
emerging colonies in the Americas began to be included within the defi-
nition of either the ‘British Empire’ or the ‘Britannic Empire’.31 By 1763,
the population of Great Britain had reached 8 million, in addition to
which there were 20 million Indians in India under British rule, 2.5 mil-
lion people in the American colonies, and 2 million people in Ireland.32
In this case, by 1765, the use of the words ‘British Empire’ had become
more commonplace,33 such that by 1774, King George III began to use
the term to refer to his dominions.34 However, in the context of the
British Empire, the focus of analysis will remain with the region which
has left its mark on world history, the America’s, and a region which has
seen one of humanity’s oldest civilisations—the Indus Valley civilisation—
the Indian subcontinent.
29
Ibid.
30
Ibid.
31
Ibid.
32
Ibid.
33
Grigg, J. (2008), British Colonial America: People and Perspectives, ABC-CLIO, Oxford,
England.
34
Ibid.
268 S. Ramesh
The Americas
The British were not the first European power to attempt to colonise North
America. But, eventually it was one of the most dominant of the colonisers.
The Spanish established a colony at St Augustine in Florida in 1565. They
also established a Jesuit mission on the Chesapeake in the 1570s, although
all of the mission was later massacred by the local Indians.35 The British also
tried to establish a colony on Roanoke Island in 1587, but the colonists had
disappeared when relief British ships arrived with fresh supplies.
Nevertheless, the first British colony to be successfully founded in the
Americas was Jamestown in Virginia in 1607.36 The colonists only survived
by trading with the local Indians, and so, did not see it as necessary to plant
crops during their first year. The colonists in Jamestown only survived the
first winter because the local Indians shared their food resources with the
colonists.37 Powhatan, the local Indian chief, perhaps wanted access to
English goods, and so, allowed the settlement to survive, hoping at the
same time to limit its expansion.38 The establishment of the first colony in
Jamestown, was followed by the establishment of 12 more colonies in sub-
sequent years. These colonies did not share a common identity, despite
being British until 1789.39 But the beginnings of each colony had been a
royal charter. This provided each colony with a system of law based on
English Common Law, as well as a framework for governance.40 Nevertheless,
a common feature of these colonies was that the colonists were predisposed
to enjoying gradual economic and political liberty.41 The primary—perhaps
only—purpose of the Jamestown colony was to provide a profit to the
English investors who had financially supported its founding.42 However,
35
England.
36
Ibid.
37
Ibid.
38
Ibid.
39
Ibid.
40
Stoebuck, W. (1968), Reception of English Common Law in the American Colonies, 10 Wm. &
Mary L. Rev. 393.
41
Ibid.
42
Ibid.
the Chesapeake region possessed neither valuable jewels or gold. But it

did have plenty of fertile land, which would support the farming of tobac-
co.43 This was a valuable crop commodity which could be profitably sold
back in Britain. Despite having plenty of fertile land, the New World did
not have enough people to work the land and farm the tobacco. The set-
tlers themselves were indentured labourers.44 Thus, the only way in which
the land could be productively and profitably farmed with tobacco was to
kidnap people from Africa; and use them as slave labour. By 1700, there
were 6000 of such people in Virginia.45 Furthermore, some indentured
English labourers could acquire land after their term of indenture had
been completed. These new landowners were themselves doing well by
the 1680s.46 This signal of prosperity acted as an incentive for more
English settlers to leave the shores of England for the shores of the New
World. Thousands of Puritan families settled in New England between
1630 and 1642.47 However, it is impossible to tell the accuracy of such
migration figures because the requisite statistics are lacking.48 Nevertheless,
the Massachusetts Bay colony established itself much faster and was more
stable than the earlier Chesapeake English colony, though still facing the
same harsh conditions.49 The relative success and stability of the New
England colony may have been due to the more temperate climate that
prevented the establishment of lethal diseases, which had afflicted other
colonies before it.50 Furthermore, unlike the Chesapeake, the land was
not flat contiguous areas, but in small parcels surrounded by forests. This
made New England unsuitable for tobacco plantations.51 The Puritans
were the radicals of the age; because they were not able to reform the
43
Ibid
44
Ibid
45
Ibid.
46
Ibid.
47
England.
48
Fogelman, A. (1992), Migrations to the Thirteen British North American Colonies, 1700–1775:
New Estimates, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XXII:4, pp. 691–709.
49
England.
50
Ibid.
51
Ibid.
270 S. Ramesh
Anglican faith and the Church of England, they were both a threat to the
state as well as a challenge to the authority of the King.52 The settlements
of the Puritans was made up of homogenous family groups.53 This, allied
with a temperate climate, allowed for their population to increase at a
much faster rate than the population of other non-Puritan settlements.
On the other hand, the Chesapeake settlement was made up, in compari-
son, of a larger number of indentured men.54 However, the Puritans were
free and from the relatively prosperous strata of English society.55 These
differences between the Puritan settlements and the non-Puritan settle-
ments may explain the stability of the former in contrast to the latter. The
expansion of the English Puritan population in the New World threat-
ened the existence of the settlements of other European powers such as
the Dutch. The Dutch, who had been experiencing a ‘Golden Age’ in the
seventeenth century sensed the profits which could be made in the New
World. This followed the return of Henry Hudson from the New World—
who had been hired by the Dutch East India Company to find a sea pas-
sage to India and Asia.56 In this case, the Dutch West India Company did
not follow the English model of exploitation of the land. Instead, the
Dutch, through the Company, wanted to engage in fur trading with the
local Indians. And so, in order to facilitate this, they established a trading
post in the Hudson River Valley at Albany in 1620.57 Later, a second
colony was established on Manhattan Island, eventually coming to be
known as New Netherland, it became home to a diverse range of migrants
ranging from the Jewish, Portuguese Brazilians, Quakers, and Lutherans.58
New Netherland was taken over by the English in 1664, with the English
Puritan population of the New World increasing.59
52
Ibid.
53
Ibid.
54
Ibid.
55
Ibid.
56
Ibid.
57
Ibid.
58
Ibid.
59
England.
Although North America saw an increase in the number of English set-

tlers after 1607, the French also had an eye on the North American lands.
However, the English colonists fought off the French with British help;
and they were finally defeated in 1763. By then, the seeds of the conflict
between the English colonists and the British crown had been laid, but it
did not begin in earnest until 1765.60 On the other hand, the beginnings
of Canada as a British territory had its origins in the granting of control of
the seas and fisheries off the coast of New Foundland to the New Foundland
Company in 1610 by James I of England.61 It was on the basis of com-
mercial interest in fishing and, later, the fur trade, that British colonies
would develop in Canada for the next 150 years.62 It was only later that
the British state would provide the formal framework in the context of
governance, infrastructure, and diplomacy, which would provide the
means for state formation in Canada.63 To English merchants, the fisheries
of New Foundland offered large profits at home and, for the British
Economy, it generated employment as well as provided training.64 Placing
great value on the fisheries of New Foundland, Charles I then declared the
‘Western Charter’ in 1634, which legitimised the rights of all English sub-
jects to be able to fish in the seas off New Foundland.65 However, due to
increasing competition from other European nations for access to the seas
off New Foundland, it was recognised that the seas would be more secure
if the land of New Foundland was settled by the English. Competition
was mainly with the French, with the Spanish having conceded their
claims to North America—with the signing of the Treaty of Madrid in
1667 in exchange for the British curtailing the activities of pirates.66 On
60
Ibid.
61
Reid, J., and Mancke, E. (2008), From Global Processes to Continental Strategies: The Emergence
of British North America to 1783, In Buckner, P. (Eds), Canada and the British Empire, Oxford
62
Ibid.
63
64
Ibid.
65
Ibid.
66
Ibid.
272 S. Ramesh
the other hand the French were intent on consolidating their North
American territories into ‘New France’.67 The restoration of the English
monarchy in 1660 gave added momentum to Britain’s overseas commer-
cial pursuits, with the formation of the Royal African Company and the
Carolina Proprietors in 1663.68 Furthermore, an English fleet defeated the
Dutch and took their colony of the New Netherlands, renaming it
New York, in 1664.69 The Hudson’s Bay Company was formed in 1670
with rights to Rupert’s Land—around Hudson’s Bay—in the context of
the fur trade.70 In order to encourage English settlers to go, the New
Foundland Act was passed in 1699 in order to give grants of land to peo-
ple with land claims dating to before 1685.71 Colonies in New Foundland
became more viable as agricultural surpluses from British settlements in
Virginia and New England could be traded for fish.72 The Treaty of Utrecht
in 1713 further consolidated English claims in Canada, when the French
agreed to English sovereignty over New Foundland and Rupert’s Land.73
The English also gained control of Acadia from the French, renaming it
Nova Scotia.74 However, this was not an easy task, and took decades of
fighting before Acadia was brought under British control in 1758.75 The
war with the French between 1689 and 1713, served as the mechanism for
England’s ascendancy in the Americas.76 The Treaty of Utrecht was not a
single treaty, but a number of sub-treaties between the warring European
states. However, it was a critical part of Britain’s strategy of preventing the
67
Ibid.
68
Ibid.
69
Ibid.
70
Ibid.
71
Ibid.
72
Ibid.
73
Ibid.
74
Ibid.
75
Grenier, J. (2014), The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia, 1710–1760, University of
Oklahoma Press, Norman.
76
ascendancy of a European superpower, Spain.77 Its main European power

neutered, Britain’s only competitor to the formation of a global hegemony
was France. The French had formed Louisiana in 1699, as well as estab-
lishing Louisbourg following the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Following the
1707 Act of Union between England and Scotland with a single parlia-
ment in Westminster, the power of the British state became more concen-
trated and powerful than it had ever been. It had access to more resources
to project stronger military power abroad. Tensions had been simmering
between France and Britain over control of North American trade. These
tensions came to a head between these powers at a global level during the
Seven Years War between 1756 and 1763.78 The Seven Years War can be
seen as the first global war, spanning not only the Americas, but also India,
the Philippines, West Africa, and Europe.79 The ending of the war in
Britain’s favour laid the foundations of the British Empire, with France
relinquishing its control of territorial possessions in West Africa, India,
and the Americas. However, the War wasn’t just between the British and
the French, but also included their European allies. For example, on
Britain’s side was Prussia, Portugal, Hanover, and the smaller German
states.80 On the other hand, France’s allies included the Russian Empire,
Spain, Sweden, and the Holy Roman Empire under the leadership of
Austria.81 The reason for the war was that, after the Spanish War of
Succession, Silesia had been ceded from Austria to Prussia, and Austria
wanted its territory back.82 Britain, on the other hand, was worried that
France would seize its ally, Hanover, in which case Britain would be forced
to exchange its overseas territories for it.83 It was for this reason that Britain
and Russia negotiated a treaty in 1755, the basis of which was for Britain
77
Elliott, J. (2014), The Road to Utrecht: War and Peace, In Dadson, T. (Ed), Britain, Spain and
the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713–2013, Modern Humanities Research Association and Routledge,
New York.
78
Marston, D. (2012), The Seven Years War, Routledge, New York.
79
Ibid.
80
Ibid.
81
Ibid.
82
Calloway, C. (2006), The Scratch of a Pen:1763 and the Transformation of North America,
83
Ibid.
274 S. Ramesh
to pay Russia a sum of £100,000 per annum, for troops and ships, plus an
additional payment of £400,000 if Russian troops were stationed in
Hanover.84 The French surrendered the city of Montreal in Canada to the
British in September 1760.85 However, the Seven Years War was not for-
mally brought to an end until France, Britain, and Spain signed the Treaty
of Paris in February 1763.86 Britain’s strategy had been a simple one: to—
under William Pitt as Secretary of the Southern Department—reduce
France to a continental power by taking away its overseas territories.87 This
strategy took on two connotations. The first was to use the British Army
and its colonial militia to subjugate French forces abroad, and to use con-
tinental allies to engage them in Europe.88 The gradual impact of this
strategy was to reduce France’s military capability, so that it could not
contain the juggernaut of British overseas expansion. Following the defeat
of General Braddock’s army in Ohio in 1755, on the way to capture Fort
Duquesne from the French, the British military did not encounter a major
defeat such as that again. The years 1757 and 1759 represented a turning
point for Great Britain. In hindsight, these years and, in particular, 1759,
could be seen as the year after which Great Britain did not have to look
back on its destiny to forge the greatest empire the world has ever known,
the British Empire. In 1757, Robert Clive defeated the French army, and
its Indian allies, in India, at the Battle of Plassey. This allowed Britain to
dominate Bengal and then to gradually gain control over the whole of the
Indian subcontinent.89 In 1759, the British Army and Navy enjoyed a
string of victories over the French, not only—though mainly—in the
Americas, the Caribbean, as well as Africa.90 In America, the French were
gradually defeated following their abandonment of Fort Duquesne in
84
Ibid.
85
Ibid.
86
Ibid.
87
Ibid.
88
Ibid.
89
Haykin, M. (2012), Just before Judson, in Duesing, J. (Ed), Adoniram Judson: A Bicentennial
Appreciation of the Pioneer American Missionary, B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, Tennessee.
90
Calloway, C. (2006), The Scratch of a Pen:1763 and the Transformation of North America,
Ohio, following Britain’s Treaty of Easton with the Ohio Indians.91 In July
1759, Fort Niagara fell to the British, followed by General Wolfe’s con-
quest of Quebec in September of that year. The British Navy decimated
the French Atlantic fleet in November 1759, and no French reinforce-
ments or supplies ever reached the French Army or colonies in Canada.92
‘New France’ in the Americas effectively ended with the fall of Montreal
to the British in 1760. In 1759, British forces also took the sugar-rich
island of Guadeloupe from the French in the Caribbean, as well as the
slave station of Goree in Africa.93 France’s inability to counter the British
was perhaps due to the inefficiency and corruptness of the French state,
which led to a waste of resources, and not only to a lack of them.94 In a
desperate attempt to prevent total British victories in North America, the
Spanish allied themselves with the French in 1762.95 However, this move
cost the Spanish dearly, with Great Britain conquering Havana in Cuba as
well as Manila in the Philippines, where Indian sepoys were also used in
the fight.96 The Spanish were also removed from Florida, but remained
entrenched in Louisiana and New Orleans.97 The removal of the French
from North America was seen by the English colonists, whose birth rate
and energy were high, as a signal that they could acquire more lands by
crossing the Appalachian mountains.98 However, Great Britain clamped
down on this by requiring that no private person should buy land from
the native Indians; and if any such occasion did occur, then the purchaser
would be the British state.99 This land proclamation was the first in a num-
ber of steps taken by the British state and Crown that would antagonise
and cause growing resentment amongst the colonists who saw the land as
91
Ibid.
92
Ibid.
93
Ibid.
94
Ibid.
95
Ibid.
96
Ibid.
97
Kennedy, D., Cohen, L., Piehl, M. (2017), The Duel for North America, Cengage Learning,
Boston, USA.
98
Ibid.
99
Ibid.
276 S. Ramesh
their birth right.100 The terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1763 was that all
French territories in North America would be ceded to Great Britain,
except for the islands of St Pierre and Miquelon in the Gulf of St
Lawrence.101 However, Great Britain returned Guadeloupe, Martinique,
and St Lucia to France in exchange for French territories in Canada.102
Guadeloupe was economically important to the French. At the time, the
value of Guadeloupe’s sugar exports amounted to £6,000,000.103 Perhaps,
it was the loss of France’s empire in the Americas, especially with the fall
of Quebec and Montreal, which laid the seeds for Great Britain to lose its
colonies in America.104 This may have been due to a few factors: firstly, the
defeat of the French was not just due to the British military, but also due
to the contribution of the colonial militia who, as a result, increased con-
fidence in their own abilities.105 Secondly, Great Britain subscribed to the
theory of Mercantilism, in which stronger states should subdue weaker
ones that were then forced to trade under less than equal terms with the
strong state. Mercantilism caused currency shortages in the British
American colonies because the colonists imported more goods from Great
Britain than they exported to it.106 The British state and Crown subju-
gated the freedoms of the colonists to the extent of protecting Mercantilism.
For example, the production of finished iron products in the American
colonies was prohibited in 1750.107 Lastly, Great Britain had always treated
its colonial subjects as inferiors in the mother country-colony partner-
ship.108 These factors contributed to the growing resentment and alien-
100
Ibid.
101
Vaughan, F. (2003), The Canadian Federalist Experiment: From Defiant Monarchy to Reluctant
Republic, McGill-Queens University Press, Montreal and Kingston.
102
Ibid.
103
Calloway, C. (2006), The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America,
104
Boston, USA.
105
Ibid.
106
Ibid.
107
Morgan, E. (2013), The Birth of the Republic 1763–1789, Fourth Edition, The University of
Chicago Press, Chicago and London.
108
Boston, USA.
ation of the American colonists from Great Britain, and would eventually
lead to the formation of the American Republic. The ideal and principle
of freedom had become encapsulated from the very birth of the American
colonies because of the gradual—and later widespread—property owner-
ship by the settlers, in contrast to those they had left behind in the Old
World.109 Widespread property ownership by the settlers gave them not
only economic, but also political, freedom.110 The colonies themselves
formed through private enterprise, albeit under licence from the British
Crown.111 The expectations of freedom by the settlers in Great Britain’s
American colonies—and the lack of it under the British Crown—put the
colonies and the British state and Crown on a collision course, which
would see the American colonists, under the Continental Congress, sign
the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776.112 The
American colonies had become reliant on the import of British consumer
goods, which had been increasingly being produced by small firms in
England following an upturn in the English economy in 1690.113 The
boom in English production was a result of England being at the centre of
a global quasi-common market centred on its overseas colonies.114 In this
quasi-common market, Britain imposed unfavourable tariffs on imported
goods from its colonies, but allowed its goods to enter colonial markets at
a reduced tariff.115 This first boom in English manufacturing production
was then very different from that which occurred at the time of the English
Industrial Revolution from 1790 to 1870. This second boom in English
manufacturing production was entirely due to declining relative costs and
prices.116 During the first boom in English production, more goods were
109
Morgan, E. (2013), The Birth of the Republic 1763–1789, Fourth Edition, The University of
Chicago Press, Chicago and London.
110
Ibid.
111
Ibid.
112
Williams, B. (2002), The Declaration of American Independence, 4th July 1776, Cherrytree
Books, Slough, UK.
113
Breen, T. (1988), ‘Baubles of Britain’: The American and Consumer Revolutions of the
Eighteenth Century, Past & Present, No. 119, pp. 73–104.
114
Price, J. (1989), What Did Merchants Do? Reflections on British Overseas Trade, 1660–1790,
The Journal of Economic History, Vol. XLIX, No. 2.
115
Ibid.
116
Ibid.
278 S. Ramesh
supplied by Great Britain to its thirteen American colonies than vice versa.
In this case, Great Britain always ran a trade deficit with the colonies.117
Goods were supplied by English merchants on credit. This may have been
due to a shortage of paper and coin money in the United States.118 But the
English were content to raise as much revenue as possible from the
American colonists through the imposition of duties on the sale of British
imports.119 For the colonists, the Tea Act of 1773 proved to be the final
straw. Unlike other goods from England, tea was consumed in most
American colonial homes.120 The economic situation of the colonies at the
time was also extremely precarious. A credit crisis, which had started in
London, made it difficult for the colonists to acquire goods on credit;
colonists’ debts were accumulating and tobacco prices were weak.121 The
latter largely affected the southern colonies more, because it was in the
southern colonies that tobacco cultivation was centred.122 The colonial
economic environment of the time and the imposition of import duties by
the British made the colonial economic environment even more calami-
tous. The English duty on imported tea, therefore served to be the spark
which ignited the path of the thirteen colonies to a revolutionary war of
independence against the English.123 The English politician and writer,
John Wilkes was an ardent supporter of the American revolutionaries,
having recognised the rights and the grievances of the American colonies
against the King of Great Britain and his ministers.124
117
Gwyn, J. (1980) British government spending and the North American colonies 1740–1775,
The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 8:2, 74–84.
118
Weiss, R. W. (1970), The Issue of Paper Money in the American Colonies, 1720–1774, J. Econ.
Hist, 30 (4), pp. 770–84.
119
120
Ibid.
121
Sheridan, R. (1960), The British Credit Crisis of 1772 and the American Colonies, The Journal
of Economic History, Vol. XX, No. 2.
122
Shepherd, J., and Williamson, S. (1972), The Coastal Trade of the British North American
Colonies, 1768–1772, The Journal of Economic History, Vol. XXXIII, No. 4.
123
124
Maier, P. 91963), John Wilkes and American Disillusionment with Britain, The William and
Mary Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 373–395.
Great Britain fought to keep its colonies and the revolutionary war did
not end until 1783, when Great Britain recognised the sovereignty of an
independent United States of America, under the second Treaty of Paris,
which the thirteen former colonies had joined to become one nation.125
However, the citizens of the new country did not agree on a constitution
until 1787, and the first President of the new Republic, George
Washington, was not elected until 1789.126 Hopes were renewed of a
forced reconciliation between Great Britain and its former American
colonies following the start of the war of 1812.127 But the war was settled
by the Treaty of Ghent; and a new diplomatic order prevailed between
Great Britain and its former American colonies. Furthermore, in the
years that followed the birth of the American Republic, the collapse of
Mercantilism led to a surge in American exports to the colonies of the
European powers in South America and the Caribbean.128
The Indian Subcontinent

The British East India Company began its life as a commercial and impe-
rial vehicle for Britain’s ambitions in Asia, or the East Indies, as it was
known at the time.129 Although, it had gone through several organisa-
tional changes during its 258 years of existence, it will be referred to as
the ‘Company’. Never, and never since, has a company had the extent
and the depth of economic, political, and cultural influence which the
British East India Company possessed.130 Whereas some economists have
asserted that the emergence of the multi-divisional firm in 1920s America
125
Williams, B. (2002), The Declaration of American Independence, 4th July 1776, Cherrytree
Books, Slough, UK.
126
Ibid.
127
Adelman, J., and Aron, S. (1999), From Borderlands to Borders: Empires, Nation-States, and
the Peoples In between North American History, The American Historical Review, Vol. 104, No.
3, pp. 814–841.
128
Coatsworth, J. (1967), American Trade with European Colonies in the Caribbean and South
America, 1790–1812, The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 243–266.
129
Bowen, H. (2000), 400 Years of the East India Company, History Today, 50, 7.
130
Ibid.
280 S. Ramesh
was a major organisational innovation, they had failed to grasp the idea
that the British East India Company was an earlier historical example of
the multi-divisional organisation of a business enterprise.131 Moreover, in
order to function, the Company had to evolve into a multi-divisional
enterprise because, as a monopoly, holding sole British trading rights in
the East Indies, it was truly a big enterprise.132 A big enterprise functions
more effectively if different aspects of its business are separated by func-
tion. This is very similar to Adam Smith’s concept of the division of
labour. The Company was granted a royal charter by Queen Elizabeth I
in 1600 to conduct the business of trade with China, the Indian subcon-
tinent, and East Asia in general.133 However, an act of Parliament in 1698
created a New East India Company, with a provision that the New
Company should give the government a £2 million loan.134 The ‘New
Company’ was given a monopoly on the trade of Asia beyond the Cape
of Bona Esperanza up to the Straits of Magellan.135 This effectively
stopped the slave trade out of Madagascar, although it did resume briefly
for a five-year period from 1716.136 The old Company became known as
the ‘London Company’, and it was allowed to buy into the £2 m loan,
such that it gained access to a sixth of the trade of the ‘New Company’.137
The London Company and the New East India Company were effec-
tively merged in 1709 in order to form the United Company of Merchants
of England trading to the East Indies.138 Although, still known superfi-
cially as the British East India Company, the ‘merged’ organisation was
required to make an interest free loan to the government of £1.2 m.139
131
Anderson, G., McCormick, R., and Tollison, R. (1983), The Economic Organisation of the
English East India Company, Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation, 4, pp. 221–238.
132
Ibid.
133
134
Platt, V. (1969), The East India Company and the Madagascar Slave Trade, The William and
135
Ibid.
136
Ibid.
137
Ibid.
138
Ibid.
139
Platt, V. (1969), The East India Company and the Madagascar Slave Trade, The William and
The Company established its first factory in Surat, on the Indian sub-
continent, in 1608.140 Surat was a small city in Gujarat, western India,
which had been incorporated into the Mughal Empire in the sixteenth
century.141 The Company was authorised to trade in Mughal India by the
Emperor Jahangir in 1617.142 However, at the same time, the Company
also had factories in Japan, Siam, and the Malay peninsula, although
these factories were not financially viable and shut down by 1623.143
The reason for the emergence of the Company, the first joint stock
company in the world, was that as British trade expanded overseas, more
and more financial resources were required to build fortified trading posts
in foreign lands as well as to protect the trading ships that would plough
the seas.144 Before the emergence of the British East India Company, the
regulated company was prominent in British commerce. The regulated
company was merely an association of merchants within a specific sector
that facilitated and controlled trade within that sector.145 It was consti-
tuted solely of traders and partnerships which did not have the requisite
resources to be able to deal with Britain’s expanding trade frontier.146
However, while, in contrast to the regulated company, the British East
India Company was able to garner greater financial resources through the
pooling of investments, in the mid-seventeenth century, the Company
came under severe commercial pressure from the Dutch that it had to
shift its area of focus to South Asia.147 Moreover, following the Battle of
Plassey in 1757, years of rivalry between the British East India Company
140
Ansari, U. (2017), The Mega Year Book 2018: Current Affairs and General Knowledge, Third
Edition, Disha Experts, New Delhi.
141
Maloni, R. (2008), Europeans in Seventeenth Century Gujarat: Presence and Response, Social
Scientist, Vol. 36, No. 3/4, pp. 64–99.
142
Ansari, U. (2017), The Mega Year Book 2018: Current Affairs and General Knowledge, Third
Edition, Disha Experts, New Delhi.
143
Bassett, D. (1960), The Trade of the English East India Company in the Far East, 1624–84,
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vols. 1–4, pp. 32.
144
Baladouni, V. (1983), Accounting in the Early Years of the East India Company, The Accounting
Historians Journal, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 63–80.
145
Ibid.
146
Ibid.
147
282 S. Ramesh
and the French East India Company were ended. However, it was the
Treaty of Paris in 1763 which gave Great Britain the upper hand in India.
The terms of the Treaty were such that France was given back its pre-war
trading posts on the Coromandel coast, but Great Britain gained exclu-
sivity over Bengal.148 Robert Clive’s victory allowed the British East India
Company to dominate Bengal and, in subsequent years, it facilitated
Britain’s conquest of the whole of the Indian subcontinent. This started
with more and more encroachments in Bengal. For example, in 1760, the
Nawab of Bengal, Mir Qasim, signed over to the Company control of
Chittagong, Burdwan, and Midnapore for its support of his installation
as Nawab over his father-in-law, Mir Jafar.149 However, the demands and
actions of the Company were not in the best interests of Mir Qasim and
Bengal. In this case, Mir Qasim joined forces with the Nawab Wazir of
Oudh and the Mughal Emperor Shah Alum to wage war against the
Company.150 But the combined forces of all three were defeated by the
troops of the Company, led by Hector Munro, at the Battle of Buxar in
1764.151 The conflict was ended with the Treaty of Allahabad in 1765,
under which the Mughal Emperor ceded Bengal. Bihar and Orissa to the
Company.152 The Battle of Buxar was pivotal in changing the power
structures in India, reorienting power away from Indian rulers towards
the Company and the British. In this context, it was the Battle of Buxar
that laid the foundations of the British Empire rather than the Battle of
Plassey, by destroying the power of the Mughal Empire and its local
power structures.153 Robert Clive went on to become Governor of Bengal
from 1764 to 1767.154 During the time of his Governorship, Clive not
148
Sutherland, L. (1947), The East India Company and the Peace of Paris, The English Historical
Review, Vol. 62, No. 243, pp. 179–190
149
Serajuddin, A. (1971), The Origin of the Rajas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Their Relations
with the Mughals and the East India Company in the Eighteenth Century, Journal of the Pakistan
Historical Society, 19, 1.
150
Chaurasia, R. (2002), History of Modern India 1707 AD To Up to 2000 AD, Atlantic Publishers
& Distributors, New Delhi.
151
Ibid.
152
Ibid.
153
Ibid.
154
Lenman, B., and Lawson, P. (1983), Robert Clive, The ‘Black Jagir’, And British Politics, The
Historical Journal, 26, 4, pp. 801–829.
only limited the extent of the powers of the Company to Bengal, Orissa,
and Bihar, but he also carried out administrative changes which allowed
the Company to assume the power to tax in Bengal.155 These diplomatic
and administrative changes brought about by Clive during his
Governorship transformed the Company from a mere trading organisa-
tion to a sovereign power in the Indian context.156 Nevertheless, British
belief in the governance of Bengal was that Indian institutions were
adapted to Indian needs so, there was no need to supplant such institu-
tions with British or European ones.157
Since then, the Company’s main areas of focus on the Indian subcon-
tinent included Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta.158 The need to defend its
areas of business from local rulers meant that the Company employed a
private army, which grew to such an extent that it was comparable to the
regular British Army in terms of capability.159 However, a shortage of
manpower in India necessitated the supplementation of the Company’s
troops with British regulars in 1754.160 Moreover, the Company’s troop
contingent was supplemented with regular units of the British Army and
Navy, especially around the times of the Austrian War of Succession and
the Seven Years War.161 In 1749, there had only been 3000 troops guard-
ing the Company’s settlements in India but, by 1778, the number of the
Company’s troops in India had swollen to 67,000 men.162 This force not
only included British troops, but also native Indian sepoys who had been
trained in British military methods.163 Furthermore, between 1802 and
155
Ibid.
156
Bowen, H. (1987), Lord Clive and Speculation in East India Company Stock, 1766, The
Historical Journal, 30, 4, pp. 905–920.
157
Marshall, P. (2011), The British Presence in India in the 18th Century: Retrieved 5th May 2018
from BBC: History: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/east_india_01.shtml
158
159
Ibid.
160
Gilbert, A. (1975), Recruitment and Reform in the East India Company Army, 1760–1800,
Journal of British Studies 15, pp. 89–111.
161
Sutherland, L. (1947), The East India Company in Eighteenth-Century Politics, The Economic
History Review, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 15–26.
162
Bryant, G. (1978), Officers of the East India Company’s army in the days of Clive and Hastings,
The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 6:3, 203–227.
163
Ibid.
284 S. Ramesh
1858, 90,000 trained British recruits travelled from the Company’s bar-
racks on the Isle of Wight to India, to join the Company’s army as private
soldiers.164 The Company was then able to use military force in order to
protect trade, and was, therefore, known as a fighting company.165 In this
context, the activities and the contributions of men like Robert Clive,
Charles Cornwallis, and Warren Hastings from a trading house to a sov-
ereign power in its own right, having mastery over the lives of millions of
Indians by the mid-eighteenth century.166 The fortunes of the Company
and the British economy were closely tied. In this case, the Company can
be seen as an institution which laid the framework for business and, even-
tually, sovereign transactions between Great Britain and the peoples of
the Indian subcontinent.167 The returning ships of the Company, with
their valuable cargoes of tea, spices, and textiles would dock in London,
where the Company had not only its headquarters, but also vast ware-
houses for storing cargoes before the goods could be distributed. The
Company’s growth required more and more administrative staff to orga-
nise its business in India as well as trained military personnel to protect
such business. This was especially true in the context of its commercial
rivalry with the French in the Indian subcontinent.168 So, the Company
established a college to train its future administrators and military per-
sonnel at Haileybury, and a Military Seminary in Croydon, respective-
ly.169 Moreover, the Company maintained administrative offices
throughout Great Britain.170 The Company raised its financial resources
from the sale of its shares and bonds in the emerging British stock mar-
ket.171 The Company increased its profitability by changing its business
164
Mokyr, J. (1996), Height and Health In the United Kingdom 1815–1860: Evidence from the
East India Company Army, Explorations in Economic History, 33, 7, pp. 141–168.
165
166
Ibid.
167
Stern, P. (2009), History and Historiography of the English East India Company: Past, Present
and Future, History Compass, 7/4.
168
Gilbert, A. (1975), Recruitment and Reform in the East India Company Army, 1760–1800,
Journal of British Studies 15, pp. 89–111.
169
170
Ibid.
171
Ibid.
model from one of simply exchanging British goods and bullion for
Indian commodities, to a business model based on the acquisition of land
in north-east India and the collection of taxes.172 This was because the
elasticity of demand for British goods in India was very low because con-
sumer tastes were rigid.173 The result was that the Company was having
to exchange precious bullion rather than British goods for Indian goods.174
However, by the latter half of the eighteenth century, the Company was
also beginning to monopolise the textiles industry in Bengal. This was
achieved by instituting a legal framework which prohibited local weavers
from working for private merchants, if the weaver accepted cash advances
for orders from the Company.175 Furthermore, the weavers were driven
into debt when the Company returned textile products deemed to be
poor quality.176 Local weavers could not produce replacements due to
their ongoing delivery schedule.177 As a result, more and more local weav-
ers became indebted to the company and either had to take flight to
another region to work as weavers or stay where they were and move into
other sectors of the local economy, such as cultivation.178 The Company
relied on the legal framework and on enforceable contracts in order to go
about its business.179 In the case of employees, contracts were formulated
such that employees were incentivised to work on behalf of the company,
but at the same time morally obligated to do their duty. This kind of
behaviour was instituted by allowing employees not only to trade on
behalf of the Company directors, but also for themselves, with the added
threat of dismissal.180
172
Ibid.
173
Chaudhuri, K. (1963), The East India Company and the Export of Treasure in the Early 17th
century, The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 23–38.
174
Ibid.
175
Hossain, H. (1979), The Alienation of Weavers: Impact of the Conflict between the Revenue
and Commercial Interests of the East India Company, 1750–1800, The Indian Economic and
Social History Review, Vol. XVI, No. 3.
176
Ibid.
177
Ibid.
178
Ibid.
179
Hejeebu, S. (2005), Contract Enforcement in the English East India Company, The Journal of
Economic History, Vol. 65, No. 2.
180
Ibid.
286 S. Ramesh
By collecting taxes in India and using it to pay for British goods, the
British East India Company not only changed Britain’s terms of trade
with the subcontinent, but also stopped the use of British bullion to pay
for British goods.181 This helped the British economy to accumulate
wealth. The right to collect taxes had been given to the Company by the
Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II in 1765, in its stronghold of Bengal as
well as in the neighbouring states of Orissa and Bihar.182 The British
Treasury also received a share of the revenues accumulated by the
Company in Bengal in return for allowing the Company to administer
Bengal and to collect tax revenues in its own right.183 Thus, the British
state financially benefited without having to expend any resources what-
soever.184 The arrangement was a boon to the British state, which was
expending money to subdue and control its American colonies, which
was leading to an ever-increasing national debt.185 However, the
Company was unable to generate the sort of revenues which would help
its investors to thrive and pay the British state due to its increasing com-
plex role in India, which required the use and expenditure of more and
more resources. By 1772, the Company was on the verge of bankruptcy
and unable to deliver either the required returns to its investors or its
contribution to the coffers of the British state.186 As a result, in an
attempt to increase revenues for the British state in other ways, the
exclusive rights of the Company were increasingly eroded as time went
by. The importance of the Company to the British state and economy
was underlined by the need to make it more accountable to Parliament,
which would only serve to make it more efficient.187 This was achieved
by the passing of the Regulation Act of 1773 and the India Act of
181
Robins, N. (2002), Loot: in search of the East India Company, the world’s first transnational
corporation, Environment & Urbanisation, Vol. 14, No. 1.
182
183
Ibid.
184
Ibid.
185
Ibid.
186
Ibid.
187
Ibid.
1784.188 For example, its monopoly over trade in India was ended in
1813 and its exclusive right to trade with China was ended in 1833.189
The ending of the Company’s monopoly on trade with India, under-
lined Great Britain’s emergent commitment to free trade.190 The passing
of the East India Company Charter Act of 1813, allowed merchants
outside of Great Britain and the British East India Company to take
part in trade between Britain, India, and Southeast Asia.191 The Industrial
Revolution that began in England in the late eighteenth century resulted
in an ever-increasing supply of goods, which required more selling
opportunities in new markets.192 Finally, following the Indian Mutiny of
1857, the British state took over administration of India; and the British
Raj was born and the Company died. However, throughout colonial
times, the British in India were shaped by India.193 This began in
Calcutta, Great Britain’s administrative capital of its appropriated land
in Bengal from 1772.194 It was here that British and Indian society first
mixed. Bilateral societal knowledge was exchanged through informal
(relationships, trade) connections rather than through formal (schools)
connections.195 Through such informal and, later, formal connections,
Britain would establish an elite Indian class that would help it to admin-
ister an ever-expanding geographical reach on the subcontinent.
However, after the 1830s more formal establishments were set up to
train surveyors, administrators, accountants, and medical assistants.196
Over time, Great Britain would eventually unite the disparate kingdoms
of India into one country.
188
Ibid.
189
Ibid.
190
Webster, A. (1990), The Political Economy of Trade Liberalisation: The East India Company
Charter Act of 1813, The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 43, No. 3, pp. 404–419.
191
Ibid.
192
Mitchener, K., and Weidenmier, M. (2008), Trade and Empire, The Economic Journal, 118.
193
Marshall, P. (1997), British Society in India under the East India Company, Modern Asian
Studies, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 89–108.
194
Marshall, P. (2000), The White Town of Calcutta under the Rule of the East India Company,
Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 307–331.
195
Ibid.
196
Pernau, M. (2012), India in the Victorian Age, Victorian India? IN Victorian World, Hewitt, M.
(Ed), Routledge, New York.
288 S. Ramesh
Britain’s Other Colonies

At its height, the British Empire included Dominions (Canada, Australia,
New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Union of South Africa, Rhodesia, and
British India), colonies in Asia (including Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo,
Ceylon, and Hong Kong), colonies in Africa (including Nigeria, Gambia,
Kenya, Uganda, and Egypt), and colonies in the Caribbean (Trinidad,
Bahamas, Barbados, and British Guiana).197 The opening of trading posts
in Penang in 1786 and Singapore in 1819 heralded Great Britain’s arrival
on the Malaysian peninsula.198 The institutions which the British brought
with them to Malaysia, property rights, the rule of law, and individual
freedom ushered in opportunities for entrepreneurship as well as the
chance to make a fortune. This acted as a magnet for attracting a range of
peoples from Southeast China, India, West Asia, Indonesia, and Europe,
creating a melting pot of nationalities.199
China and Britain had been on par in terms of technological ability
until the start of the eighteenth century. However, towards the latter half
of the eighteenth century, this tilted in the favour of Great Britain, with
the start of the Industrial Revolution in England. This allowed England
to become more productive than any other country in the world through
technological and organisational innovation.200 It therefore needed more
resources, which it could acquire by dominating other peoples through
Mercantilism, using its far superior military forces. Until 1833, the
British East India Company could trade with China through the port of
Canton.201 However, the British found trade with China expensive
because they had to pay for Chinese tea and ceramics in silver.202 Britain
197
Mitchener, K., and Weidenmier, M. (2008), Trade and Empire, The Economic Journal, 118.
198
Gin, O. (2009), Politics Divided: Malaysia-Singapore Relations, In Shiraishi, T. 9Ed), Across the
Causeway: A Multi-Dimensional Study of Malaysia-Singapore Relations, Institute of Southeast
Asian Studies, Singapore.
199
Ibid.
200
Tsang, S. (2007), A Modern History of Hong Kong, I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd., London.
201
Gelber, H. (2016), Battle for Beijing, 1858–1860, Franco-British Conflict in China, Palgrave
Macmillan.
202
Ibid.
gained confidence from its naval victory at Trafalgar in 1815, and it was
fast losing patience with China.203 However, it grew opium in India and
then shipped it to China, where it was sold to the local population. This
drained China of vast amounts of silver.204 It fought the First Opium War
with China between 1840 and 1842, ending the war with a treaty with
China on highly unfavourable terms to that country. These terms included
the granting of Most Favoured Nation trading status to Britain, but at the
same time being reciprocated to other European powers.205 Furthermore,
Britain required that its consuls be stationed at trading ports in China,
and that China should pay reparations to Britain.206 However, while
Great Britain and the other European powers were able to weaken China,
they were not able to acquire China as a colony, as they had done in other
parts of the world. The reason that the European powers were not able to
subjugate China was that, by the time of their arrival in the nineteenth
century, China had become a vast, unified country, ruled by the Qing
Dynasty since 1644.207 Britain reverted control of its last remaining terri-
tory in Asia, Hong Kong, back to the People’s Republic of China in 1997.
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11
Conclusion
The purpose of this book has been to evaluate the role of innovation in
economics, the factors it depends upon, and how innovation emerges
over time. The latter is achieved based on a historical analysis of several
civilisations over a 10,000-year periods, but starting from the emergence
of humanity from its origins in the savannahs, jungles, and forests of
Africa. At this time, invention and innovation would have been driven by
the motivation to survive, and much of it would have been driven by
instinctive intelligence. For example, that it would be safer to sleep high
up in the trees at night than on the ground, and that being in large
groups would be safer than remaining solitary. However, the evolutionary
development of cognitive intelligence only occurred in Homo Sapiens.
This cognitive intelligence represents the ability to think, invent, and
innovate based on environmental information received via sight, hearing,
feeling, and smell. For example, Homo Erectus would have seen fire,
heard it, felt it, and smelt it. At the same time, Homo Erectus may have
come across deer or antelope ‘cooked’ by wildfire and tasted it. It would
then have put its limited cognitive capacity to use by harnessing fire, by
creating the conditions required to start it and to cook the animals it had
caught or the kills it had taken from other animals. The cognitive capac-
ity of Homo Erectus would have been limited compared to its successor,

296 S. Ramesh
Homo Sapiens, principally because the brains of Homo Erectus young

stopped growing after birth.1 Nevertheless, the brains of Homo Sapiens
young continued to develop years after birth, giving Homo Sapiens far
more cognitive capacity than that achieved by Homo Erectus. The latter
unknowingly aided this evolutionary development by eating cooked
meat. Eating cooked meat facilitated the evolutionary transition of the
large body and small brain of Homo Erectus, to the smaller body and
larger brain, packed with many more neurons, of Homo Sapiens.2
Nevertheless, the role of neurons in intelligence and creativity is being
actively challenged.3 In this case, new evidence suggests that the glia, the
matter between neurons, perform two functions in brain physiology.4
Firstly, the glia can replace themselves, as well as neurons acting as stem
cells. Secondly, the glia may act as stores of information. It has also been
found that higher intelligence requires a higher ratio of glia to neurons.
Thinking triggers the firing of neurons in the brain. This process will con-
nect the different regional glia, allowing for different information stores
to be accessed simultaneously, and for thoughts to form. Experiences and
observations will be connected through a thought process, allowing
insights to form, with creativity and innovation following. Therefore,
intentional actions, such as learning, may be best at directing the pace of
technological change in some phases of innovation than in others.5
Cooked meat provided far more calories for Homo Erectus than would
a day of foraging, so large bodies were no longer required, in evolutionary
terms.6 The greater cognitive capacity of early Homo Sapiens made the
species more inquisitive of its surroundings as well as being more aware
1
Coqueugniot, H., Hublin, J., Veillon, F., Houet, F., and Jacob, T. (2004), Early Brain Growth in
Homo Erectus and Implications for Cognitive Ability, Nature, 431, 299–302.
2
Fonseca-Azeuedo, K., and Herculano-Houzel, S. (2012), Metabolic Constraint Imposes Trade-off
Between Body Size and the Number of Brain Neurons in Human Evolution, PNAS, 109 (45)
18571–18576; doi: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1206390109
3
Ibid.
4
5
Hughes, T.P. (1983), Networks of Power: Electrification of Western Society 1880–1930, Johns
Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore, MD.
6
Ibid.
Conclusion 297
of its environment than any of its Homo-related ancestors. Knowledge of

the use of fire for light in darkness, heating, and cooking may have dif-
fused through communities, as well as knowledge of primitive weapons.
Early Homo Sapiens’ increased cognitive capacity would have enabled it
to adapt to any environment on earth by being inventive and innovative,
coming up with solutions to novel problems. However, the evolutionary
development of human society and economy over time suggests that the
development of human cognitive capacity is a dynamic one that is still
evolving. The development of human cognitive capacity continued as
Homo Sapiens set forth from the African continent to colonise the rest of
the earth. Homo Sapiens continued to experience a hunter-gatherer life-
style until 9000 BC, when the first permanent Neolithic settlements
emerged in ancient Sumer. Innovations such as the spindle whorl and the
potter’s wheel emerged during the Hassuna culture of 6000 BC to
4000 BC and the Ubaid period from 4000 BC to 3500 BC, respectively.
It was at around 4000 BC that metallurgy developed such that it enabled
the production of metal tools to shape and manipulate wood more effec-
tively. Nevertheless, more sophisticated innovations, such as the two-
wheel horse-drawn chariot with spoke wheels, did not appear in the
region until the rule of the Kassites from 1505 BC to 1157 BC. The
Kassites were the first rulers/civilisation to recognise a political organisa-
tion based on the notion of a nation state rather than upon a city state.
The Assyrian Empire, 2500 BC to 609 BC, on the other hand, was the
first civilisation to establish a permanent library with 20,000 cuneiform-
inscribed tablets at Nineveh. Therefore, the Assyrian Empire was not just
solely based on military dominance, but also through scholastic activity.
The earliest copper objects that have been unearthed in the world have
been found in Anatolia from around 9000 years ago. However, the
unearthed evidence of Yangshao bronze artefacts, from the Yangshao cul-
ture of China, were dated to 3000 years later than the copper artefacts
found in Anatolia. So, innovation and technological development was
occurring at a faster rate in the near east than it was in ancient China.
Moreover, the innovation of permanent settlement did not spread to
China until 4000 BC. Nevertheless, in the transition from a hunter-
gather existence to a more permanently settled lifestyle, intermediate sites
of worship and less permanently settled habitation such as the one at
298 S. Ramesh
Gobekli Tepe may have developed. Such semi-habitation of sites for wor-
ship may have provided the experiences and the learning to facilitate the
innovation towards the permanent settlement of sites near rivers and the
switch to crop rearing and animal husbandry from the previous hunter-
gatherer existence. This occurred in the plains of ancient Mesopotamia
and the Levant and, as a result, the first civilisations came into existence.
However, the transition from a hunter-gatherer existence to a settled
urban life in cities may have involved a semi-settled existence in Neolithic
times. In this case, while people were settled in specific sites and were
engaging in crop cultivation and animal husbandry, there may have been
a division of labour in which some of the population were still engaged in
hunting and gathering. This would have enabled the group to benefit
from a diverse diet, which would have contributed to enhancing the
development of the brain, not only during the foetal stage, but beyond,
into childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. As a result, the increased
number of neuronal connections linking each glia space would have
increased cognitive capacity of Homo Sapiens over time. The species
would then have been better able to innovate in order to adapt to a chang-
ing environment, and therefore, maximising survival. In this case, because
the development of Homo Sapiens’ cognitive capacity is a dynamic pro-
cess which changes over time, so is the process of innovation. However,
in order to develop, innovation is further facilitated by the accumulation
of knowledge over time. The development of a written form of analysis
would facilitate this. Archaeological evidence suggests that the first form
of a very simplified writing system was invented in ancient Egypt at
around 3250 BC. Egypt was part of the migratory route for Homo
Sapiens out of Africa, but no archaeological evidence of Homo Sapiens
has been found there between 11,000 BC and 8000 BC. However, the
late Neolithic period between 5100 BC and 4700 BC was a period, as
supported by archaeological evidence, of increased signs of human habi-
tation especially in the western desert region. Trade facilitated the diffu-
sion of knowledge of the early form of writing from ancient Egypt to the
settlement of Uruk, located in its time to the east of the channel of the
current flow of the Euphrates River. It was in this region that the Sumerian
civilisation, the first in the humanity of history, emerged at around
3500 BC. The Sumerian civilisation inherited a knowledge of writing
Conclusion 299
from Uruk, however, this too was centuries before the pictorial script of
Uruk developed into Sumerian Cuneiform—a more sophisticated form
of earlier writing that would have allowed for the transmission of more
information. Therefore, the Sumerians were the peoples of the first civili-
sation in humanity to have a written language, which facilitated the
development of written laws. Thus, a permanent record would exist
through which human behaviour could be regulated and human activity
more efficiently organised. In this case, the Sumerians also favoured indi-
vidual achievement. The development of a more elaborate form of writ-
ing in Sumer also enabled the development of mathematics which then
was based on a structure which encompassed number words. Writing in
China may have developed independently over a period of time although
there is the possibility that some form of trade link may have existed
between the near-eastern civilisations, the Indus Valley civilisations, and
that of ancient China, through trade. While writing may have developed
over time, either through knowledge diffusion or independently, it was
not until the late Shang period (1200 BC to 1045 BC) that the earliest
inscriptions appeared on bronze objects belonging to the nobility.
Furthermore, the earliest literature in China appeared during the Zhou
dynasty, from 1046 BC to 256 BC. An earlier, less sophisticated culture,
the Longshan culture, which extended from 3000 BC to 1900 BC, served
as the roots of the early Chinese states, the Xia (2100 BC to 1600 BC),
Shang (1600 BC to 1050 BC), and the Zhou (1046 BC to 256 BC). The
diffusion of knowledge in the ancient world may be deducible from the
fact that the people of ancient Sumer traded with the people of the Indus
Valley civilisation during the Harappan phase, which extended from
2600 BC to 2500 BC. The period encompassing the Egyptian Old
Kingdom (2650 BC to 2134 BC) corresponded with the sophisticated
urbanisation phase of the Indus Valley civilisation, as well as with the
presence of the Akkadian Empire from 2350 BC to 2100 BC. The Indus
Valley civilisation was based on a hierarchy of wealth rather than on
political control. Archaeological evidence suggests that the people of the
Indus Valley civilisation were able to build ships with a cabin on deck,
steered with an oar and a helm. Given the fact that the Chola Dynasty,
which ruled, on and off, from 350 BC to 1279 AD, had trading links
with both the Roman Empire and Song dynasty China, the diffusion of
300 S. Ramesh
knowledge through trade in the ancient world may not be so implausible.

Other civilisations have also contributed towards contemporary society.
It was in the city states of ancient Greece that the concept of freedom
centred on the citizen emerged. This was then embodied in the politic of
the Roman republic, in which the centralisation of power by the unelected
senate gave way to autarkic rule and the rise of the Roman Empire.
Certain aspects of the technical knowledge of the Roman Empire were at
the same level of sophistication as that of the Indus Valley civilisation,
which had existed millennia before. The Song dynasty represents a period
in which there was a rapid transformation of Chinese society in the con-
text of demographic changes, changes in governance, learning, and inno-
vation in association with a commercial revolution. This has led some
scholars to suggest that, in the eleventh century, Song dynasty China was
at the cusp of an industrial revolution, which did not occur for another
500 years until late eighteenth-century England.7 Therefore, The Song
dynasty came close to being the first civilisation in the world to undertake
industrialisation had it been not for the emergence of the civil service
exams and the Mongol conquest. This diffused knowledge of Chinese
innovations—gunpowder, printing, paper, the compass, and a civil ser-
vice—to the west, which innovated upon the accumulated knowledge. It
was the military innovation and the discipline of the Mongols which
enabled their prowess to defeat more innovative and established civilisa-
tions (Khorezm, China, Persia, Iran) as well as less advanced civilisations
(Europe). England then innovated by developing the forebear of the
modern-day corporation to establish itself as the British Empire, the last
vestiges of which did not die out until the late twentieth century, although
a tiny proportion remains today.
Contemporary innovation theory places an emphasis on the sources of
innovation either from a demand pull or a technology push perspective.
Demand-pull theory asserts that innovation arises because of market
demand. However, in doing so the theory is neither able to explain how
the innovative capacity changes over time or how innovation is related to
7
Elvin, M. (1973), The Pattern of the Chinese Past: A Social and Economic Interpretation,
Stanford University Press, Stanford.
Conclusion 301
market conditions. On the other hand, the Technology Push theory of

innovation asserts that purposeful scientific research is the initiator of
innovation. In other words, this theory asserts that the supply side of the
market is more efficient at delivering innovation than is the demand side.
However, the Technology Push theory of innovation fails to recognise the
importance of economic factors to innovation, and the causal relation-
ship between economic stability and the direction of technological
change. In this case, studies have shown that there is a direct link between
economic and institutional factors and the innovation process. For exam-
ple, economic stability depends on political stability as well as the rule of
law. For example, state ideology and support would foster creativity and
innovation, as is the case with contemporary China. Nevertheless, while
state support is an important driver of innovation, it also needs to be
recognised that people and their experiences are essential for innovation
and invention to occur. However, while economic theory may suggest
that education and learning by doing may contribute to innovation and
invention, it does not explicitly address the role of human cognition in
this process. This lack of recognition of human cognition in the inven-
tion and innovation process is also alluded to in both the Actor Network
theory and the Cultural-Historical Activity theory of innovation. The
former is based on the idea that the development of innovation is based
on the network of agents connected to it. On the other hand, the
Cultural-Historical Activity theory suggests that the factors driving inno-
vation may be unique due to cultural factors at a specific point in time.
In the context of both theories, the role of the individual and human
cognition is important for both invention as well as for innovation. In the
context of human cognition, invention and innovation may occur
because of observation, experience and trial and error. However, innova-
tion is sustainable and cumulative when knowledge can diffuse between
civilisations, as well as from one civilisation to another over time, result-
ing in the accumulation of a body of knowledge. In other words, inven-
tion in one time period is known about in another time period, leading
to innovation. But this lends to the proposition that there is some form
of continuity or stability in the economic and political environment of
civilisation. This could either be in the context of a continuing civilisa-
tion, developing and growing over time, such as the transformation of
302 S. Ramesh
England into the British Empire, or the immersion of a civilisation by

exogenous forces, as in the case of ancient Babylon. The transition of
England into the British Empire involved institutional changes with the
rising power of the merchant class and the dwindling power of the feudal
landed gentry. The personification of this transition was the ascendancy
of the doctrine of Mercantilism. In essence, this doctrine featured a bal-
ance of trade in favour of the mother country, with colonial outposts
supplying only raw materials and primary production but undertaking
no manufacturing of goods, which lay exclusively in the hands of the
merchants of the mother country, the mother country at the time being
England. This doctrine of Mercantilism allowed the merchants of England
to become wealthy. However, there had been a shift away from the
monopoly of the guilds towards more state control of business. The state
granted monopoly trading rights to a corporation of investors in favour
of financial assistance. As such, the power of the state became embedded
in commercial activities. The rise of the corporation, such as the British
East India company, was an English financial and organisational innova-
tion that allowed a large group of investors to pool financial resources,
and therefore, to finance far larger trading activities with the added incen-
tive of greater individual profits. In a monetary economy, individual
wealth accumulation facilitates individual and familial survival. Although
wealth accumulation will allow for the financing of innovation, the
notion of wealth accumulation may lead to Machiavellian behaviour. On
the other hand, in a non-monetary economy, survival depends on the
physical strength of the individual, on the strength of numbers as well as
on technological, organisational, and procedural innovations which
would give one army an advantage over another. In this case, the use by
the Mongols of lightly clad archers on horseback, coupled with their ter-
rifying reputation for ruthlessness in battle and upon defeated foe, gave
them an advantage over opposing armies. Furthermore, when a civilisa-
tion was militarily weak through internal dissension or through natural
disasters, it would become susceptible to conquest, as perhaps happened
with the Indus Valley civilisation, which was well advanced for its time
and was bigger than contemporary civilisations, such as that of ancient
Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. Although the intimate details of the
Indus Valley civilisation have been lost to time, its language not yet
Conclusion 303
aving been deciphered either, whatever knowledge of it does exist has

h
been obtained by archaeological digs and surveys. However, it is known
that the merchant ships of the Indus Valley civilisation traded with the
cities of ancient Mesopotamia, and trade would have allowed for the dif-
fusion of knowledge from one civilisation to that of another.
The institutions which have formed in China over the last 40 years of
its economic reforms, coupled with its technocratic democracy in which
people have economic freedom but not the political freedom favoured in
Europe, perfectly fits the economic, cultural, technological, and the soci-
etal environment of the early twentieth century. China needs its style of
technocratic democracy, in which people are selected by their peers to
represent them at a local level at the annual National Congress, because
of its vast population. Human behaviour needs to be controlled so that
the freedom for individuals to do bad is denigrated, but their freedom to
do good is promoted. The analysis for this conclusion results from
Fig. 1.1 in Chap. 1, where it was elucidated that the basis for human
existence is to maximise survival, and not to maximise utility. The maxi-
misation of survival would involve the interplay of a range of factors,
resulting in negative and positive behaviours, whereas the maximisation
of utility is unrealistic because it relies upon logic for a positive behav-
ioural outcome. Throughout its history, China’s governance has been
based on autocratic rule, firstly by the dynasties and, in recent history, by
one party. The static nature of change in the form of China’s governance
has not been matched by the emergence of different schools of thought,
which include Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism. These schools of
thought have, at different times, become culturally embedded and have
acted as the cement of autocratic rule. Legalism fulfils this role in modern-
day China. While the people of China have economic freedom and eco-
nomic prosperity, it is unlikely that they would want to change a system
of governance that has delivered them these things in 40 years, in con-
junction with further economic development in the future. The western
democratic model—being based on freedom of choice because of the
theoretical importance of utility maximisation from an economics per-
spective—ignores the bad behaviour—which results from economic free-
dom and political freedom—of individuals. Thus, this distinction
between the freedom to do good and the freedom to do bad is not
304 S. Ramesh
r ecognised in western-style traditional democracy. The latter was reincar-

nated from the ideals of ancient Greece and ancient Rome—at a time
when the world population was under 1 billion people, whereas now it is
over 7.5 billion people—in the late eighteenth century. It was at this time
period that the peak of the doctrine of freedom also occurred, with its
champion of economic discourse, Adam Smith, and the revolutionaries
who declared the Republic of America in 1776.8 But the stirrings of the
re-emergence of western freedom lay in the signing of the Magna Carta
in thirteenth-century England by King John, whose powers were sought
to be curtailed by the nobles.9 It was also in the thirteenth century that
the Mongol armies decimated the then-global population, at a time when
the estimated global population was only 360 million people.10 Not only
are China’s governance institutions better able to efficiently manipulate
the global economic, cultural, technological, and the societal environ-
ment of the early twentieth century, but it can do so more effectively than
can the traditional western concept of freedom and democracy, with its
roots in ancient Greece and ancient Egypt. Furthermore, China’s eco-
nomic reforms of the last 40 years and the incremental development of its
governing institutions has facilitated innovation, entrepreneurship,11 and
the embracing of free trade. However, despite embracing free trade,
China, like the England of the sixteenth century to the mid-nineteenth
century, is also following the doctrine of Mercantilism, in which its pur-
pose is to accumulate substantial foreign exchange reserves earned from
its exports, but at the same time increasingly gaining access to and con-
trol of other countries’ resources. The strategy to achieve this is to give
countries more and more loans which they cannot repay in kind, but to
the extent of giving long leases on strategic and economic assets. Therefore,
just as England was building its empire from the late seventeenth century
8
Williams, B. (2002), The Declaration of American Independence: 4th July 1776, Cherrytree
Book, Berkshire, UK.
9
Vincent, N. (2012), Magna Carta: A very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
10
Lopez, G. (2016), How the world went from 170 million people to 7.3 billion, in one map,
https://www.vox.com/2016/1/30/10872878/world-population-map
11
Ramesh, S. (2018), Entrepreneurship in China and India, Journal of the Knowledge Economy,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-018-0544-y
Conclusion 305
onwards, so too is the China of today following the same path to develop-
ment and economic and military dominance. However, whereas in the
context of western economic development the economic concept of the
free market—where resources were best and efficiently allocated by the
price mechanism through supply and demand—was closely linked with
freedom of choice, freedom of expression, and political freedom, this did
result in economic progress through innovation for a time when the pop-
ulation was small, colonisation possibilities made land not so scare—
although at the expense of indigenous peoples—and the vote was
restricted to the gentry and the land-owning class. However, after politi-
cal suffrage became universal in western countries after the early twenti-
eth century, this led to economic decline over subsequent decades. This
was also at a time when stealing other people’s land was no longer a viable
option, although wars were fought to promote the western model of
democratic governance. The result of increasing and widespread universal
suffrage in western countries like Britain was greater economic ineffi-
ciency. This was exacerbated after the 1960s by a drop in the calibre of
British politicians who were no longer tied to national goals, but to
European ones, despite having been a global power at odds with other
European powers for many centuries before. However, China’s economic
development has resulted in greater economic efficiency and greater
innovation than has the rise of the west simply because of the separation
of economic freedom from political freedom. China has produced flexi-
ble and dynamically changing institutions that have allowed it to become
a rapidly innovating economy. More so, because its governance structures
allow for the most efficient allocation of resources compared to the west-
ern model of governance, which was most appropriate at a time when the
populations of the world and of nation states was very much smaller than
they are today. When populations are large, central control produces bet-
ter economic results and increased allocative and production efficiency
because the divergence of economic freedom from political freedom
allows for the market mechanism of the ‘Intelligent Hand’ of a strong
central government to replace Adam Smith’s ‘Invisible Hand’, in which
economic freedom and political freedom were enshrined in the context of
choice. The implication of the ‘Invisible Hand’ was that citizens enjoyed
both economic and political freedom, but the latter dictated the nature of
306 S. Ramesh
the former. However, while the ‘Invisible Hand’ produced better eco-
nomic performance from the eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth
century in Europe, it occurred at a time when the populations of these
countries, and the world, was very much smaller than it is today. Today,
China’s form of governance is economically superior to that of the west-
ern model for two reasons. Firstly, simply because it reflects a better way
to economically manage a very large population. And secondly, a strong
central technocratic government is better able to allocate resources
through the ‘Intelligent Hand’. Moreover, while the species Homo
Sapiens is essentially an enlightened animal with higher cognitive capa-
bility than other species on earth, it is still an animal whose only natural
goal is to survive and pass on its genes in perpetuity. In doing so, it is
capable of uncivilised behaviour that can only be countered by strong
central government control that facilitates ‘good’ behaviours but is able
to prevent ‘bad’ behaviours. This contrasts with the western model in
which, although a distinction is made between the two kinds of behav-
iours, the freedom to do either is not prevented. Thus, China’s form of
governance is better suited to today’s global environment, to produce
better economic efficiency than is the contemporary western system of
governance. This is particularly evident in countries such as the United
States, Great Britain, and Italy—countries in which populism has arisen
due to the economic deprivation of its peoples. The governance systems
of these countries did contribute positively to their economic develop-
ment in the past, but this is no longer the case. This is because the gover-
nance systems of these countries, as well as countries with similar
governance systems, no longer efficiently allocate resources, as does
China’s current system of governance. However, China’s economic, social,
military, and political rise will lead to conflicts with the established order
of western governance. But this is inevitable in the rise of empires, the
next level of which will be heavily influenced by which nation is best able
to harness the power of artificial intelligence for warfare.
Conclusion 307
References
Coqueugniot, H., Hublin, J., Veillon, F., Houet, F., and Jacob, T. (2004), Early
Brain Growth in Homo Erectus and Implications for Cognitive Ability,
Nature, 431, 299–302.
Elvin, M. (1973), The Pattern of the Chinese Past: A Social and Economic
Interpretation, Stanford University Press, Stanford.
Fonseca-Azeuedo, K., and Herculano-Houzel, S. (2012), Metabolic Constraint
Imposes Tradeoff Between Body Size and the Number of Brain Neurons in
Human Evolution, PNAS, 109 (45) 18571–18576. doi: https://doi.
org/10.1073/pnas.1206390109
Lopez, G. (2016), How the world went from 170 million people to 7.3 billion,
in one map, https://www.vox.com/2016/1/30/10872878/world-population-
map.
Ramesh, S. (2018), Entrepreneurship in China and India, Journal of the
Knowledge Economy, doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-018-0544-y
Vincent, N. (2012), Magna Carta: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University
Press, Oxford.
Williams, B. (2002), The Declaration of American Independence: 4th July
1776, Cherrytree Book, Berkshire, UK.
Index1
A settlements, 80
Abdju, King, 69 techniques, 206
Accumulated, 24 Ahananuru, 174
Act of Union, 273 Ahmes papyri, 94
Actor-Network Theory (ANT), 23 Aingurunuru, 174
Adab, 93 Akkad, 64, 89
Adad-Nirari II, King, 101 Akkadian Empire, 64, 67, 90
Aegean, 70–74, 70n119, 70n120, Alagankulam, 175
118, 118n7 Alans, 164
Aeneas, 142 Alba, 143, 266
Aeneid, 143 Alchemists, 11, 211
Afghanistan, 76, 134, 238 Alexander the Great, 65, 111, 112,
Africa, viii, 1, 8, 31, 40, 42, 50, 51, 128, 130n107, 131, 134,
54, 54n30, 66, 69n110, 103, 237
164, 165, 243, 256, 269, 273, Alexandra, 159
288, 295 Alfred the Great, 266
Agriculture, 60n58, 72n131, Algebra, 93, 94, 94n40
72n134, 94n47, 97n71, 205, Alps, 152
206n24, 214, 225, 237n34 Amenemhat IV, 65
Note: Page numbers followed by ‘n’ refer to notes.

1

S. Ramesh, The Rise of Empires, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01608-1
310 Index
America, viii, 9n22, 35, 40, 54, 267, Anthropology, ix

267n33, 268, 268n35, Aptitude, 30
269n47, 269n49, 270n59, Argos, 120
271, 271n61, 271n63, Arikamedu, 174
272n76, 273n82, 274n90, Aristotle, 7
275n97, 276n103, 276n104, Arkwright, 31, 31n90, 31n92,
276n108, 279, 279n128 31n93
American colonies, 267, 276, 278, Arsacid dynasties, 112
279 Arthashastra, 171
American declaration of Asconius, 143
independence, 122 Ashkelon, 92
American Republic, 3 Ashur-etil-ilani, 105
Amorites, 90–95 Ashur-uballit, King, 106
Amorite settlements, 92 Assemblies, 150
Amphictyonic Council, 131 Assurnasirpal II, 101
Amri, 76 Assyrian infantry, 104
Amulius, 143 Assyrian ships, 104
Anatolia, 52, 56n33, 58n49, 58n52, Astronomy, 210, 210n46, 225
82, 98, 133, 243 Athelstan, 266, 266n22
Anatolian plateau, 101 Athens, 71n126, 73n140, 120, 125,
Ancient China, 4, 74, 209, 209n41, 125n62, 128, 130, 131,
209n42, 210n47, 211n51, 227 131n113, 132n125, 133n128
Ancient Egypt, 1, 2, 56, 69, 70, 74, Aurelian, 160, 160n161
77, 302 Australia, viii, 55, 288
Ancient Greek, 3, 7, 24, 128, 134, Australopthecines, 50
135 Autarkic, 120
Ancient Mesopotamia, 1, 3, 63, 89, Awilum, 65
90, 97, 104, 298, 302 Ayyubids, 243
Ancient Rome, 2 Azerbaijan, 238, 242, 243, 255
Anglo-Saxon, 264, 264n12, 264n14,
265n18, 265n21
Animal husbandry, 11, 55, 59, 61, B
66, 70, 72, 80, 97 Babylonian Empire, 2
Another, vii, 11, 24, 27, 32, 50, 60, Badarian Culture, 66, 66n91, 66n94,
76, 77, 80, 96, 98, 122, 136, 67n99
143, 157, 165, 176, 182, 212, Balance of payments, 37
227, 233, 239, 244, 250, 252, Barley, 62, 67, 79, 110
256, 264, 266, 285, 300, 303 Barter, 7, 186
Index 311
Battle of Ain Jalut, 243, 256 Bullion, 38, 41, 175, 267, 285, 286
Battle of Buxar, 282 Burma, 237
Battle of Chaeronea, 132 Byblos, 92
Battle of Hadrianopolis, 163
Battle of Plassey, 274, 281, 282
Battle of Plataea, 128 C
Battle of Vahaiparandalai, 176 Caesar, Julius, 66, 152
Battle of Veni, 176 Cakravartin, 241
Berossus, 89 Caliph of Baghdad, 255
Bihar, 282, 286 Cambodia, 3
Bilik, 250 Cambyses, 112
Biological, 8, 10, 30, 33, 49 Canada, viii, 37n135, 40, 271,
Bir Kiseiba, 66 271n61, 271n63, 272n76, 288
Bi Sheng, 226 Cannon, 11, 251
Blair, Tony, viii Capitalism, ix, 36, 127
Boke, Ariq, 255 Capitalist economy, 180
Bombay, 180n60, 283 Capitol, 149
Boulton, Matthew, 32 Carthage, 142, 150, 157, 164
Brahmadeya, 182 Cassius Dio, 142
Brahmans/Brahmins, 14, 172, 182, Caste, 14
184 Catapults, 105
Brain, 8, 28, 33, 50, 53, 59, 296 Cathay, 242
British East India Company, 279, Caucasus, 238, 256
281, 286, 288 Causal agency, 21
British Empire, 5, 14, 22, 24, 34, 37, Causal systems, 21
40n163, 41n177, 136, 184, Cavalryman, 253
258, 266, 266n28, 271n61, Central Asia, 98, 235, 237, 241,
271n63, 272n76, 273, 282, 245, 247, 255
288, 302 Century, viii, 3, 9, 11, 12, 14, 22,
British Navy, 275 24, 31, 34, 36, 38, 89, 93,
British tribes, 66 101, 105–107, 117, 122, 124,
Bronze Age, 1, 71n125, 100, 117n2, 127, 136, 142, 144, 144n20,
118n5, 118n7, 119, 119n13, 144n25, 146, 148, 149n67,
141n1, 150n76 149n70, 153, 158, 160, 161,
Bronze spherical barrel, 253 163, 171, 175–177, 181, 184,
Buddhism, 189n110, 189n111, 227, 185, 189, 192, 194, 207, 210,
234 211, 213, 216, 221, 224, 226,
Bukhara, 235 227, 236, 238, 241, 247, 258,
312 Index
264n14, 265, 266, 270, 281, 194n137, 201, 201n1, 201n2,

284, 285n173, 287, 288, 300 201n4, 202, 202n7, 203n9,
3rd, 89 203n10, 203n13, 204,
10th millennium, 58 204n15, 204n18, 205n21,
16th, 5, 12, 31, 35, 40, 41, 96, 205n23, 206n24, 206n25,
281 206n26, 206n28, 207,
18th, 3, 5, 14, 22, 24, 31, 38, 209n44, 210, 210n49, 211,
101, 122, 153, 161, 177, 185, 211n52, 211n54, 211n55,
216, 216n75, 224, 227, 265, 212n56, 212n57, 214,
283n157, 284, 285, 287, 288, 214n67, 214n68, 215n71,
300 215n72, 215n73, 216–218,
19th, 12, 101, 184, 216n75, 289 216n75, 216n79, 217n82,
20th, viii, 5, 9, 12, 184, 247 219n95, 220, 220n98,
Ceylon, v, 175n26, 176, 176n29, 220n99, 221n100, 221n101,
184n81, 186n96, 187, 221n102, 221n104, 221n105,
187n98, 288 221n106, 222n111, 222n113,
Chaldean, 105, 107 223, 223n115, 223n117,
Chalukyas, 176 224n119, 225, 225n129,
Chancellor, 208, 212 225n130, 226n135, 227,
Chandragupta, 171 227n137, 227n138, 227n141,
Chang Ch’ien, 206, 206n26 228n142, 228n145, 234, 235,
Changsha, 204 235n13, 238–243, 241n61,
Chanhu-daro, 76 241n63, 247, 250, 252, 254,
Chariot, 13, 14, 20, 68, 90, 98 256, 258, 266, 280, 287, 288,
Charles I, 271 288n201, 300, 301
Cheras, 176 China’s Lessons for India, vii
Chesapeake, 268 Chinese engineers, 252
Chieftains, 172, 183, 194 Chinese Pagoda, 190
Chimpanzees, 27n63, 50, 50n7 Chinese theory of the moon, 210
China, vii, 3, 57n41, 57n44, 61, 65, Chola ambassador, 173
79–83, 79n183, 80n188, Chola dynasty/empire, viii, 3, 171,
80n190, 80n191, 80n192, 172, 173n13, 173n16, 176,
81n196, 81n197, 81n199, 177, 178n43, 179n55,
83n209, 150, 150n77, 180n61, 181, 182, 184n81,
150n80, 173, 173n14, 184, 184n82, 185, 186n96, 187,
185, 185n86, 185n90, 187, 187n98, 187n104, 188,
188n107, 189n108, 189n109, 190n113, 192–194, 192n128,
192n124, 192n126, 193, 194, 213
Index 313
Christian period, 175 Consular tribunes, 145

Cicero, 141 Consumers, 6, 7, 41, 127
Cirrha, 131 Continental Congress, 277
Civilisations, 1, 11, 12, 19, 35, 67, Copper, 62, 68, 78, 82, 146, 181
68, 70, 74, 77, 89–91, 95n48, Corinth, 120, 132, 157
100, 103, 135, 159, 164, 233, Cornelius Tacitus, 142
235, 248, 250, 256, 267, 295, Corn Laws, 37
298, 300, 301 Cost of production, 7
Classical Age, 119–121, 128, Council of the Four Hundred, 126
128n87, 128n89, 128n91, Courtyard, 61, 76
129, 129n93, 171n1, 173n15, Creativity, 13, 18, 20, 21, 30, 34,
174n17, 175n21, 176n30, 148, 161, 212, 226, 296, 301
185n85, 186n94 Cretan hieroglyphics, 73
Classical texts, 227 Crete, 71, 73, 73n140
Cleopatra (51 BC to 30 BC), 65 Cuba, 275
Clive, Robert, 274, 282, 282n154, Cultivated grain, 57
284 Cult of Sol, 160
Code of Hammurabi, 64, 93 Cultural-Historical Activity Theory,
Cognitive intelligence, 8 23, 301
Coins, 127, 127n77, 127n78, 158, Cultural innovations, 122
175, 181, 225 Cuneiform, 69, 110, 112
Colonies, 37, 38, 40, 136, 175, 265, Cyrus II, 111
267, 268, 271, 278n117, 279,
286, 288
Columbus, Christopher, 242 D
Comitia Tributa, 145 Dadu, 239
Comitium, 149 Danube, 163, 263
Commandant of Justice, 209 Daoism, 227, 234
Communal fire, 59 Dark Ages in Europe, 165
Comparative advantage, 37 Dawenkou, 81
Competition, 39, 40, 54, 189, 226, Daxi, 81
271 Deccan Plateau, 173, 185
Concubines, 204 Delos, 157, 159
Confederation, 154 Demand-pull, 17
Confucian ethics, 216 Deme, 129
Confucian ideology, 212 Demosthenes, 131n113, 132,
Confucianism, 209, 211, 228, 234 132n125, 133n128
Consul, 144 Denisovan, 52
314 Index
Devadana, 180, 181 75, 77, 91, 95n48, 98n80,

Dharma, 172 98n82, 100n97, 102, 107,
Dholavira, 76 134, 135, 188, 243, 256, 288
Diffusion of knowledge, 2, 12, 24, Egyptian predynastic, 67
68, 93, 103, 127, 303 Elatea, 132
Dimini, 71, 71n127, 72 Elizabeth I, Queen, 280
Diodorus Siculus, 142 Emperor Alexander Severus, 147,
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 141 147n53
DNA, 10, 33, 50, 79 Emperor, Augustus, 137
Doklam Plateau, vii Emperor Cao Cao, 210
Drachmae, 159 Emperor Gao Zong, 220
Dutch, 270, 272, 281 Emperor Hsuan, 208
Dynamics, 13n33, 21, 23n45, Emperor Jingdi, 205
240n54 Emperor Justinian, 146, 165, 166
Emperor Justinian 1, 147
Emperor Vespasian, 175
E Emperor Wendi, 204, 205, 208
Early Bronze Age, 91 Emperor Wudi, 205, 212
Eastern empire, 147, 159, 164, 165 Emperor Wu of Han, 203, 207
Eastern Han dynasty, 206, 207, 211, Employment, 39
211n52 Empress Lu, 204
Economic crisis, 3, 39, 124 Endu, 93
Economic growth, vii, ix, 6, 13, 18, Enforceable contracts, 4
18n13, 109, 111, 120, 128, England, 5, 5n18, 14, 22, 26, 31,
158, 222 34, 36, 36n128, 36n129, 37,
Economics, ix, xi, 6, 8n19, 13n30, 37n141, 38n143, 40, 41,
18n14, 26, 27n61, 27n62, 82n206, 161, 185, 216, 224,
28n70, 37n135, 37n140, 227, 255n167, 256n169, 264,
38n149, 39n155, 41n178, 264n12, 264n14, 265n17,
42n182, 103n126, 103n131, 265n18, 266, 266n22, 267,
104n140, 120n20, 120n22, 267n33, 268n35, 269,
120n28, 121n30, 128n86, 269n47, 269n49, 270n59,
189n112, 215 271, 280, 287, 288, 300, 302
Edward, King, 266 English Common Law, 268, 268n40
Egypt, 1, 58, 65–70, 65n88, 66n91, English Crown, 6, 36
66n94, 66n96, 67n99, English duty, 278
67n100, 68n106, 68n109, Enmerkar, 69
69n112, 69n113, 70n116, 73, Entrepreneur, 18
Index 315
Entrepreneurship, 4, 23, 109, Fish hooks, 78–79

110n177, 189, 288 Fort Duquesne, 274
Environment, 9–11, 13, 24, 25, 29, Fourth Sacred War, 131
31, 32, 39, 49, 60, 63, 80, Freedoms, 148
100, 193, 209, 278, 297, 301
Epic of Gilgamesh, 99
Eridu, 61 G
Eshnunna, 93 Gangaikondachokpuram temple,
Eurasian Steepes, 163 178–179
Europe, viii, ix, 1, 11, 12, 14, 31, 37, Gansu, 80, 81
51, 54, 56, 64, 70, 93, 133, Gaul, 146, 152, 164, 263
156, 159, 164, 183, 212, General equilibrium, 19
223n115, 225, 227n141, Genetic, 10, 33, 49, 54
228n145, 235, 237, 241, 242, Genghis Khan, 144, 233, 234,
245–248, 250, 256, 258, 263, 234n6, 236, 237n29, 238,
263n1, 264n8, 264n9, 265, 238n45, 239, 241n65, 242,
273, 288, 300 242n69, 245, 245n98,
Europeans, 212, 248, 249, 251, 246n103, 246n105, 247,
281n141 247n106, 247n109, 247n110,
Evolution, 1, 8, 10, 26, 49, 54, 248n116, 249, 249n119,
71n128, 110n177, 121, 142, 251n134, 253, 255, 256, 258
150, 161, 187n102, 190n114, Gentes, 147
190n115, 192n125, 209 Geography, 27n60, 27n62, 94n47,
Exchange information, 74 97n71, 177n35, 178n40,
Exchange rate, 39, 159 187n100, 225
Exchange value, 7 George III, King, 267
Exports, 38, 40, 185, 276, 279 Georgia, 242, 243, 246, 250
Germani, 263
Germanic hordes, 163
F Germany, 5
Familiae, 147 Gher, 256
Family Law, 64 Glia, 33, 296
Fatimids, 188 Gobekli Tepe, 55–60, 56n33, 56n34,
February 202 BC, 201 57n43, 57n47, 58n49, 58n52,
Feudal, 35, 36, 40, 265, 302 59n55, 298
Feudalism in Europe, 165 Gold, 35, 38, 41, 68, 103, 162, 175,
Financial markets, 157 186, 188, 267, 269
Fire-lance, 252 Golden Horde, 238, 255, 257
316 Index
Goods, 12, 34, 36, 38, 40, 41, 62, Guadeloupe, 275, 276
77, 94, 103, 110, 120, 124, Guangdong, 80
158, 175, 182, 186, 220, 223, Guangxi, 80
224, 234, 241, 264, 267, 268, Guilds, 5, 35, 38, 182, 184, 194,
276, 284, 286, 302 302
Goree, 275 Gulf of Cambay, 76
Goths, 163 Gulf of St Lawrence, 276
Governance systems, 130 Gulkishar, 96
Grand Minister of the Mount, 212 Gullach, 254
Great Britain, viii, 23, 37, 37n134, Gunpowder, 3, 11, 24, 211, 219,
108n166, 153, 265, 267, 274, 247, 251, 253
279, 282, 284, 287, 288 Guran, 253
Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Gurganj, 238
239 Gutians, 64
Greece, 3, 70n120, 71, 71n127, Gymnasion, 135
72n133, 72n135, 73n137, 89,
93, 117–137, 117n1, 119n17,
120n19, 120n20, 120n22, H
120n28, 121n29, 121n30, Haileybury, 284
121n33, 121n34, 121n35, Halaf, 61
122n38, 123n43, 123n46, Hammurabi, 64, 64n83, 93
123n47, 123n49, 124n50, Han dynasty/empire/ period, 3, 79,
124n51, 124n53, 124n54, 201–205, 201n2, 201n3,
124n56, 125n59, 125n64, 201n4, 202n8, 203n9,
125n65, 126n67, 126n69, 203n10, 203n11, 203n12,
126n70, 127n76, 127n79, 203n13, 203n14, 204n15,
127n84, 128n86, 128n88, 204n18, 205n20, 205n21,
128n92, 129n98, 130n102, 205n22, 205n23, 206n24,
131n113, 132n125, 132n127, 207–211, 207n31, 207n32,
133n128, 134n137, 134n141, 208n33, 208n36, 209n39,
134n144, 134n145, 135n146, 209n41, 209n42, 210n45,
135n149, 135n153, 136n157, 210n47, 210n48, 211n51,
136n158, 136n159, 136n160, 211n52, 212n58, 212n59,
136n161, 137n162, 137n163, 212n60, 213, 213n62, 214,
144n27, 152, 157, 174, 191 214n67, 214n68, 215n71,
Greek Dark Ages, 117, 117n2, 215n72, 216–218, 216n77,
118n5, 119n13 216n79, 217n81, 217n82,
Greek society, 118, 121, 127, 128 219n94, 224, 239, 241n63
Index 317
Hangtu, 83 Huihui Yaofang, 254

Hanover, 273, 274 Hulegu, 243, 255
Harappa, 2, 75, 76, 78 Human, 6
Hassuna, 61 behaviour, 25, 28
Hatrus, 112 cognition, 8, 25, 26
Hebei, 80 development, 33
Hector, 142, 282 needs, 8
Hellenistic Age, 128, 135, 135n154 Hungary, 5, 247, 251
Hellenistic Kingdoms, 137 Huns, 163, 238
Hemudu, 81 Hunter-gatherer, 7, 11, 52, 55,
Henan, 80, 80n192, 81, 218, 239 58–60, 66, 67, 70, 237, 297
Herodotus, 89, 142n12, 143n14, Hurrians, 93, 98
144n21 Hydraulic mining, 162
Hierarchical, 14, 20, 71, 83, 240 Hyperakrioi, 130
Hinduism, 62n72, 78
Hindus, 221
Hippalus, 175 I
Hippeis, 126 Iberia, 52
Hispania, 163 Ideology, 20, 39, 172, 194, 212,
Historical transformation, 24 222, 301
Histories of Rome, 136 Ilanjetcenni, 176
History of the Former Han dynasty, Illyricum, 152
210 Imperial tyranny, 216
Hittites, 93, 95–100 Imports, 41, 278
Hominoidea, 49 India, vii, 1, 2n6, 14, 35, 37, 40, 62,
Homo Erectus, 8 76n162, 78, 93, 104, 133,
Homo Ergaster, 51 136, 158, 159, 171, 171n1,
Homo Habilis, 50, 50n10 172n5, 172n6, 172n8, 172n9,
Homo Neanderthalensis, 52–54 173n12, 173n15, 174,
Homo Sapiens, 1, 6 174n17, 175n21, 175n23,
Homo Sapiens and animals–factor 175n25, 175n26, 175n27,
analysis, 9 175n28, 176, 176n29,
Honan, 214 176n30, 177n34, 177n37,
Hongshan, 81 177n39, 178, 178n41,
Hoysalas, 192 179n50, 179n54, 180,
Huai, 214 180n56, 180n57, 180n58,
Hudson River Valley, 270 180n59, 181, 181n63,
Hudson’s Bay Company, 272 181n65, 181n69, 182n70,
318 Index
182n71, 182n72, 182n74, 57, 58, 67, 67n102, 68n108,

184, 184n83, 185, 185n85, 70, 70n117, 71n122, 72, 89,
185n87, 186n91, 186n94, 90, 98, 100, 103–105, 108,
187n103, 188, 188n106, 110n177, 110n178, 110n180,
189n108, 192n127, 193n130, 122, 126, 131, 135, 136,
193n131, 193n134, 193n135, 136n157, 148, 148n64, 149,
194, 213, 237, 242, 258, 266, 160, 160n161, 161, 177–179,
270, 273, 279, 279n129, 191, 193, 194, 202, 209n44,
280n131, 280n133, 280n134, 210n49, 211, 211n54,
280n139, 281, 281n143, 211n55, 216, 217n84, 218,
281n144, 281n147, 282n148, 221, 223–226, 224n122,
282n149, 282n150, 283, 226n135, 242, 248–254, 267,
283n157, 283n158, 283n160, 280, 288, 295, 298, 300, 302
283n161, 283n162, 284n164, Instinctive intelligence, 10, 295
284n165, 284n167, 284n168, Institutional changes, 38, 135, 205,
284n169, 285n173, 285n175, 302
285n179, 286, 286n181, Institutional instability, 100
286n182, 287n190, 287n193, Institutions, 4, 13, 22, 23, 36, 90,
287n194, 287n196, 288, 302 112, 118, 120, 125, 126, 130,
India Act of 1784, 286–287 135, 142, 152, 154, 158, 177,
Indian civilisation, 191 182, 202, 236, 240, 244, 283,
Indian Mutiny of 1857, 287 284, 288
Indigenous, 24, 123, 135 Interest rate, 157
Indus Valley civilisation, 1, 2 International relations, ix
Industrial Revolution, 5, 31n95, 36, Invention, 9
38n144, 161, 227n137, 277, Iraq, 55, 58, 67, 75, 97n72, 98n75,
287, 288 98n81, 99n92, 103n126,
Innovations, vii, ix, 1, 5, 6, 8, 11–13, 103n131, 108n161, 108n162,
11n24, 13n29, 13n32, 13n33, 111n183, 238, 242–245, 257,
15n38, 17, 18, 18n14, 18n15, 258
18n16, 19n17, 20–26, 20n25, Iron, 90, 100, 104, 213, 224, 249,
21n27, 21n29, 23n42, 23n43, 276
23n45, 25n53, 27n60, 27n61, Irqatum, 92
27n62, 27n64, 27n65, 28, Irrigation canals, 176
28n69, 28n70, 29n78, 29n81, Irrigation techniques, 67, 189
29n82, 30–32, 30n86, 30n88, Isin, 93
32n96, 32n102, 33n104, Islamic kingdom, 238
33n105, 34–42, 34n115, 54, Italian mainland, 154
Index 319
J King in the Kingdoms, 203

Jalal-ad-Din, 242 King of Babylon, 106
James I, 267, 271 King of Kalinga, 171
Jamestown, 268 Kirghiz, 234
Japan, vii, 173, 183, 221, 237, 252, Kish, 93
281 Kleisthenes, 129, 129n95, 130
Java, 185n89, 194, 237 Knossos, 70, 71, 71n122, 73,
Jebe, 238, 245, 246, 249 73n138, 74, 74n151
Jews, 108 Knowledge, 12, 22, 23n42, 27,
Jiangxi, 80 27n61, 27n62, 27n68, 68, 89,
Jin dynasty, 217, 218, 220, 235, 239 209, 209n44, 210n49, 211n54,
Jochi, 255 247, 281n140, 281n142, 297
John, King, 265 Knowledge diffusion, 6
Joint stock companies, 41 Kodumbalur, 171
Judea, 108, 110, 152 Korea, 203, 207, 221
K’ou-ch’ien, 213
Kshatriyas, 14
K Kudurru stones, 99
Kaifeng, 218–220, 235, 252 Kurundogai, 174
Kaldu, 106
Kallanai Dam, 176
Kalottogai, 174 L
Karakorum, 241 Lagash, 61, 93
Karikala Peruvalathaan, 176 Land ownership, 109
Kassite economy, 97 Language, 10, 63, 68, 74, 78, 80, 90,
Kassites, 93, 95–100 94, 99, 103, 108, 118, 135,
Kautilya, 171 152, 155, 185n86, 185n90,
Kaveri, 176 192n124, 192n126, 194n137,
Kedah, 191 234, 247, 248, 264, 302
Kerait tribe, 239 Lao Zi, 228
Khana kingdom, 98 Larsa, 93
Khanates, 241, 256 Late Assyrian, 101
Kharakhorum, 240, 255, 256 Late Neolithic Period, 66
Khitans, 202, 219, 236, 240 Latinus, King, 143
Khorezm, 234, 237–238, 237n32, Lead, 162, 162n175
237n34, 237n35, 238n40, League of Corinth, 132–133
250, 300 Learning, vii, 6, 13, 14, 20, 21n29,
Khorezmshahs, 238 23n47, 24, 24n50, 24n51, 25,
Khwarazmian Empire, 242 25n52, 27, 32, 33n104, 60,
320 Index
94, 103, 110, 193, 209, 210, Macedonian infantry, 131

218n85, 219n90, 220n96, Madurai, 173, 175
220n97, 223n118, 224n121, Magistrate, 144, 219
225n124, 225n127, 226, Magna Carter, 265
226n131, 228, 275n97, Majiabang, 81
276n104, 276n108, 296, 298, Malabar coast, 188
301 Malay peninsula, 191, 194, 281
Legalism, 209 Malaysia, 3
Levant, 35, 91n22, 92, 92n24, Malmuks, 243, 256
92n28, 92n29, 298 Marduk, 95, 106, 107
Li Qingzhao, 220 Marketized exchange, 120
Liao dynasty, 239 Markets, 4, 12, 15, 17, 23, 36, 40,
Libraries, 78, 102 110, 149, 156–160, 189, 214,
License, 39, 277 222–224, 241, 277, 284, 287,
Lighthouses, 191 300
Limited liability, 41 Martinique, 276
Linear A, 73 Marshall, Alfred, 7
Linear B, 73, 118, 118n7 Massachusetts Bay colony, 269
Linguistic, 57, 152, 263 Masters of Documents, 212
Liste, Friedrich, 37 Mathematical notation, 94
Literature in China, 81 Mathematics, 10, 32, 70, 93n37, 94,
Liu Bang, 201, 203, 204, 209 94n40, 94n41, 94n42, 94n43,
Liu Hong, 210, 210n46 209, 210n45, 210n48
Liu Kings, 204 Mauryan, 158
Livius, Titus, 141 Medes, 105, 107, 111
Lobu Tua, 191 Medicine, 70, 224, 224n122, 225
Longshan, 81, 83n209 Medieval Europe, 4
Loom, 68, 185 Mediterranean, 2, 56n36, 58n53,
Lothal, 76 62, 65, 70, 71, 101, 117, 118,
Louisiana, 273 119n16, 123, 135, 136, 147,
Lower Egypt, 67, 69 150, 151, 152n92, 157, 159,
Luceres, 147 160, 251, 256n171, 263
Lushan rebellion, 189, 218 Megara, 132
Meiji Restoration, vii
Mercantile, 5
M Mercantilism, 6, 14, 22, 24, 26,
Macedonia, 111, 130, 132, 134, 34–42, 34n116, 37n138,
136, 152, 191 37n140, 37n141, 38n142,
Macedonian dynasty, 65 38n143, 38n149, 39n155,
Index 321
40n163, 40n166, 41n173, Mongols, 5

41n175, 276, 279, 302 Mongol women, 234
Merchant guilds, 5, 182, 185, 194 Moulded bricks, 99
Metallurgy, 12, 68, 83, 90, 179, Mughal Emperor Shah Alum, 282
179n46, 194 Mun, Thomas, 26, 36, 39n153,
Micronutrients, 60 39n159, 40n162
Middle Bronze Age, 92, 92n24, Mursilis I, 95, 98
92n29 Mushkenum, 65
Middle East, 26, 58, 69n110, 173, Musket, 12
188, 194, 225, 234, 235, Muslins, 175
243n81, 243n83, 244n89, Muttaraiyars, 171
252, 254, 257 Mycenae, 74, 123
Middle Neolithic, 66 Mycenaean, 70, 71n124, 73, 117,
Ming dynasty, 258 123
Minoan, 70, 71n122, 73 Mycenaen civilisation, 65
Mitannian, 101
Mohenjo Daro, 2, 75, 76
Monetary, 35, 124, 302 N
Monetised economy, 7, 11, 158 Nabonidus, 111, 111n181
Money, 3, 10, 14, 38, 103, 127, 156, Nabopolassar, 105–110, 106n151,
157, 182, 220, 224, 248, 264, 107n155, 107n156, 107n158
278, 286 Nabta Playa, 66
Money supply, 3 Nagapattinam, 173n14, 186n92,
Mongke, Great Khan, 243, 254 187n104, 188n107, 189n109,
Mongol arrowheads, 249 190, 190n113, 190n116, 191,
Mongol Empire, 5, 233n1, 234, 191n121
234n12, 235n17, 236n21, Nagaram, 177n36, 180n62, 182,
236n23, 236n26, 237, 183n75, 183n77, 183n80,
237n28, 239n46, 240n57, 187n101
240n58, 241, 243, 247–254, Nagarattars, 183
251n137, 253n154, 254n157, Naqada period, 67
254n159, 254n161, 254n162, Narmer, King, 67, 69
255n164, 255n166, 256, Narrinai, 174
257n177, 257n178, 258 Nawab of Bengal, 282
Mongol hordes, 245 Nawab Wazir of Oudh, 282
Mongolian cavalry, 238, 253 Near east, 57n45, 59n57, 72, 89n1,
Mongolian Empire, 233, 236, 251, 90n6, 91n19, 93n32, 95,
254, 258 96n61, 100n96, 100n99,
322 Index
108n163, 111n186, 112n189, Ogedei Khan, 235

112n191, 112n193, 134 Old World, 66, 277
Neoclassical economics, 7 Optimisation, 25
Neo-Confucianism, 228 Orbitofrontal cortices, 53
Neolithic, 55, 57, 57n45, 57n47, 59, Organisational capacity, 21
59n55, 59n57, 60, 66, 70, 71, Orissa, 282, 286
71n125, 71n127, 71n129,
72n133, 79–83, 79n183,
80n188, 80n191, 81n196, P
82n206, 217, 237, 297 Padirruuppattu, 174
Neolithic Revolution, 55, 57n45, 59, Pa-k’ua, 228
59n57 Palaeolithic, 1
Nero, 175 Palestine, 58, 111, 252
Nespos, 164 Pallavas, 171
Neurons, 33, 296 Pan Ko, 210
New England, 269, 272 Pandyan rule, 174
New Foundland Company, 271 Pandyans, 172, 174, 176, 177n36,
New France, 272, 275 177n39, 180n62, 183n75,
New World, 269 183n77, 183n80, 187n101,
Nine Chapters of Mathematics, 210 192, 193
Nine Ministers, 209 Pandyas, 176
Nine Palace ritual, 228 Paralion, 130
Nineveh, 101, 105, 106, 108n162 Parantika 1, King, 172
Nobility, 4, 59, 62, 81, 83, 188, 207, Paripadal, 174
236, 245, 250, 265 Parliament, 38, 280, 286
Norman conquest, 265 Patent protection, 216
Normative, 26 Patriarchy, 148
North African domains, 163 Pattinam, 176
North-eastern Greece, 71 Pattuppattu, 174
Northern Mesopotamia, 61, 96, 98, Pedieis, 130
102 Peiligang Culture, 80, 81
Nucleotides, 50 Periyanadu, 177, 177n39
Numitor, 143 Persia, 111, 128, 238, 241–245, 250,
300
Pharaoh Neco, 107
O Phillip II, 130, 131, 133n129,
Obelisks, 70 133n135
Odoacer, 164 Phlae, 130
Index 323
Phocians, 132 Q
Phoenician script, 119 Qin dynasty, 150, 151, 201, 202,
Physics, 10 206, 208, 216
Picts, 264, 266 Qing dynasty, 202, 241
Plato, 148 Qin Jiushao, 209
Plebeians, 145, 153 Qinling Mountains, 79
Pliny, 174 Quakers, 270
Plutarch, 141 Quanzhou, 190, 192, 193, 221n104
Poland, 5, 247, 251 Qujialing, 81
Polis, 120, 120n24, 121n32, 122,
124, 126n69, 127, 128, 130,
131 R
Polis of Amphissa, 131 Rajaraja 1, 176, 178, 179, 180n60,
Polis of Athens, 126, 129, 130 181, 181n64, 186, 194
Political economy, ix Rajarajesvara Temple, 177, 178
Politics, ix Rakhigarhi, 76
Politik, 209 Ramesses II, 65
Polybius, 136, 142, 147, 148n60 Ramesses IV, 65
Pongidae, 49 Ramesses the Great, 65
Populism, 3 Ramnes, 147
Powhatan, 268 Rashtrakuta, 172
Prefects, 208 Rational, 7
Price level, 3 Rebellion, 204, 207
Principate, 155 Records of the Historian, 210
Procreate, 10 Red Sea, 54, 159, 188
Productive capacity, 22 Regulation Act of 1773, 286
Productivity, 7 Remus, 143
Property ownership, 65, 123, 277 Republic, 3, 141–152, 142n12,
Property rights, 3 143n14, 144n21, 149n68,
Prostitution, 95 154, 276n101, 276n107, 277,
Protoliterate, 63 277n109, 279, 289
Prussia, 14, 23, 273 Republican, 148n62, 150n78,
Ptolemaic Period, 65 150n79, 154, 154n105,
Ptolemy, 134, 174 155n114, 155n116
Punic Wars, 141n1, 142, 150n76 Residential, 76, 77
Purananuru, 174 Resource advantage, 19
Puritans, 41, 269 Rhea, 143
324 Index
Rhine, 163, 263 145n35, 147, 148n59,

Rhine-Danube frontier, 163 148n65, 149n67, 149n70,
Ricardo, 37 150–155, 152n93, 153n97,
Rice, 186, 193, 205, 223 153n104
Rituals, 56–58, 83, 181, 227 Roman society, 147, 151, 156
River Roman world, 157
Amu-dar’ya, 237 Rome, 1, 89, 122, 136, 141–152,
Dnieper, 246 141n1, 142n12, 143n13,
Ghaggar-Hakra, 75 143n14, 144n20, 144n21,
Indus flows, 75 144n22, 144n25, 144n26,
Kaveri, 176 144n27, 144n28, 145n30,
Nile, 66 145n38, 148n66, 149n67,
Ravi, 75 149n70, 150n76, 150n77,
Rubicon, 152 150n79, 150n80, 154,
Sarasvati, 76 155n114, 155n116, 157, 160,
Tiber, 143 161, 163n185, 164n195, 165,
Wei, 214, 217 174, 175n24, 191, 256,
Yellow, 81, 202, 214, 217, 254 263n1, 264, 264n8, 264n10
RNA, 10, 33 Romulus, 143, 164
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Romulus Augustulus, 164
210 Royal African Company, 272
Roman Empire, 3, 77, 100, 137, Rupert’s Land, 272
141, 146, 148n60, 151, Rutuli tribe, 143
155–162, 155n119, 156n122,
156n131, 157n132, 157n135,
157n137, 157n138, 158n140, S
158n141, 158n142, 158n144, Salamis, 128, 128n88
160n155, 161n170, 162n177, Saliya, 183
162n180, 164, 164n190, Samarkand, 235, 238, 258
166n203, 175, 202, 203n10, Samarra, 61
203n13, 204n15, 205n21, Samsu-ditana, 95, 97
205n23, 264, 273 Sangam, 173–177, 186
Roman Law, 145, 147, 147n53, Sanliurfa, 56
148n63, 155n115, 161n165, Sargon dynasty, 91
215 Sargon the Great, 64
Romano-British, 264 Saxon tribes, 264
Roman Republic, 3, 137, 144n20, Science, 20n26, 21n30, 21n31,
144n23, 144n25, 144n27, 21n34, 22n36, 31n90, 31n93,
Index 325
50n3, 50n7, 57n41, 57n44, Solon, 125, 129

57n47, 67n101, 70, 75n157, Solow Model, 6
76n161, 76n163, 77n170, Song dynasty, 3, 5, 188, 218–228,
79n180, 90n7, 93n37, 94n42, 221n103, 222n111, 224n122,
117n2, 118n5, 119n13, 225n130
121n32, 155, 155n118, Songshi, 173
161n169, 212n57, 216n75 Southeast Asia, 173, 194
Scotland, 266, 266n27, 267, 273 Southern Manchuria, 207
Sealands, 96 Southern Song, 3n7, 209, 220–228,
Seleucid, 112 239
Seljukids, 243 Southwest Asia, 135
Senate, 149, 151, 152, 154 Soybeans, 79, 206
Sennacherib, King, 107 Sphinx, 56
Sesklo, 71, 71n126 Spices, 164, 175, 186, 267, 284
Sesterii, 159 Sri Lanka, 3
Seven Kings, 205 Srivijaya Kingdom, 188, 193
Seven Years War, 273, 273n78, 283 Ssuma Ch’ien, 210
Sexagesimal, 94 Stability, 13, 19, 99, 100, 136, 158,
Shaanxi, 80, 82 160, 178, 201, 204, 212, 236,
Shang dynasty, 65 269, 301
Shangji system, 206 State, viii, 3, 11, 13, 14, 20, 23, 34,
Shansi, 214 36, 37, 64, 67, 69, 74, 90, 91,
Ships, 12, 41, 188 96, 101, 109, 111, 126, 129,
Shiva, 178 133, 135, 150, 151, 153, 157,
Shortughai, 76 160, 166, 180, 183, 185, 186,
Shrew, 49 192, 193, 204, 208, 211, 214,
Shulen, 254 216, 220, 223, 228, 235–237,
Shu-shu Chiu-Chang, 209 240, 242, 246, 265, 266, 270,
Siam, 190, 281 271, 286, 301
Signalling techniques, 244 St Augustine, 268
Sind, 76 Stone hammers, 81
Sin-shar-ishkun, 105 Straits of Magellan, 280
Sin-shum-lishir, 105 Suan-fu, 213
Siva, 172, 190 Subodai, 238
Smith, Adam, 7 Subsistence, 34, 94, 187, 214, 224
Social organisation, 4, 61, 83, 121, Sudras, 14
210 Sueves, 164
Sohag, 66 Sulla the Dictator, 153
326 Index
Sumatra, 187, 191, 194 Textiles, 31, 62, 68, 185, 194, 223,
Sumer, 9, 12, 60–65, 60n61, 62n71, 267, 284
63n74, 74, 89, 94, 297 Thebes, 120, 131, 133
Sun dried bricks, 102 Thera, 123
Supply and demand, 4 Thessaly, 71, 71n124
Syria, 58, 92, 102, 111, 134, 152, Thetes, 126
243, 252, 256 Three kingdoms, 205
Three Lords, 209
Tiglath-pileser I, King, 101
T Tities, 147
Taiqing Palace ritual, 228 Tolkappiyam, 174
Tamilakam, 187 Tolui, 239, 255
Tamil confederacy, 171 Tonkin, 207
Tamil literature, 173, 174 Tournette, 61
Tamil merchants, 173, 187 Trade, viii, 2, 7, 12, 14, 22, 31, 35,
Tamma, 244 37, 40, 41, 61, 63, 67, 69, 71,
Tang dynasty, 5 72, 74, 77, 103, 118, 124,
Tanjavur, 171, 177, 178n44, 181, 157, 159, 160, 164, 173, 174,
186 182, 184, 187, 193, 194, 202,
Taoism, 209, 228, 228n146, 220, 224, 234, 241, 242, 266,
228n147 271, 280, 281, 284, 286, 288,
Tarquinius Collatinus, 144 302
Tarquin the Proud, 144 Transcaucasia, 242
Tartars, 233 The Travels of Marco Polo, 247
Tea Act of 1773, 278 Treaty of Allahabad, 282
Technological change, 6, 10, 17, 34, Treaty of Easton, 275
296, 301 Treaty of Madrid, 271
Technological systems, 20 Treaty of Utrecht, 272, 273n77
Technology, 6, 17, 22, 30, 56, 58, Tribunes, 145
60, 68, 75, 77, 99, 104, 159, Trinovante, 66
161, 211, 225, 248, 251, 252, Troy, 142
300 Tubular drills, 79
Technology push theories, 17 Tughon Temur, 240
Tell Leilan, 90 Turkestan, 250, 250n128
Temples, 95, 177n34, 179, 188 Turkey, 56, 56n33, 58n49, 58n52,
Temporal lobes, 53 152, 255
Temuchin, 233 Turkic Naiman tribe, 236
Tepe Gawra, 63 Twelfth dynasty, 65
Index 327
Twelve Tables, 145, 145n39, 146 War of 1812, 279

Tyranny, 120n20, 120n22, 120n28, Welfare, 41, 222
121n30, 121n32, 126n69, 128 Wessex, 266
Western desert, 66
Western empire, 159, 163–165,
U 164n193
Ubaidian, 61 West Indies, 40
Uighurs, 234, 236, 240 Wheat, 41, 62, 67, 206
Ullaza, 92 Wheels, 71, 82, 98, 162
Umma, 61, 93 William, King, 265
Upper Egypt, 66, 67 Writing, xi, 10, 12, 13, 24, 56, 68,
Ur, 61, 75, 91, 99n91, 182 69, 74, 80, 80n192, 89, 94,
Urbanisation, 67, 75, 83, 119, 182 99, 112, 118, 146, 248
Uruk, 61, 63, 68, 93, 112 Written laws, 89, 125
V X
Vaisyas, 14 Xerves, 112
Vallals, 176 Xiang Yu, 201
Value, 7 Xinjiang, 207
Vandals, 164, 165 Xinle, 81
Velirs, 171 Xu Gan, 211
Venice, 247 Xun Yue, 211
Vice Premier, 206
Viceroy of northern China, 239
Vietnam, ix, 190, 207, 223, 237 Y
Vijayalaya, 171, 186 Yangshao, 81
Virginia, 268, 272 Yasa, 236, 249, 249n125, 250n129
Yavanas, 175
Yesugei Baghutur, 233
W Yinshan Zhengyao, 254
Wang Anshi, 225, 225n130 Yuan army, 239
Wang Chong, 211 Yuan dynasty, 5, 190, 192, 239, 240,
Wang Fu, 211 243, 254, 257
Wang Mang, 207 Yuanshi, 241
Watt, James, 32, 32n100 Yueh, 215
Wardum, 65 Yunnan, 207
328 Index
Z Zhongdu, 239
Zagros, 96 Zhou, 81–83, 203
Zeugitae, 126 Zhu Xi, 228
Zhejiang province, 220 Zhunian, 173
Zheng, C., 223, 223n116 Zonaras, 142

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THE RISE OF

The Rise of Empires

ISBN 978-3-030-01607-4 ISBN 978-3-030-01608-1 (eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018957627

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

Cover illustration: GettyImages/whitemay

As I wrote ‘China’s Lessons for India’, Volume 1 and Volume 2, published

cheaply, by using military force and occupation. This it did by invading

Oxford, UK Sangaralingam Ramesh

I would like to thank Rachel Sangster, the Global Head of Economics

2 Theory of Innovation and Causal Dynamics 17

3 Pre-History: Emergence and Palaeolithic to Bronze

4 The Babylonian Empire: 1900 BC to 539 BC 89

5 Ancient Greece: 1100 BC to 30 BC 117

6 The Roman Empire (443 BC to 395 AD) 141

7 The Chola Dynasty: 350 BC to 1279 AD 171

8 The Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) and the Song

9 The Mongol Empire: 1206 AD to 1368 AD 233

10 The British Empire: 1603 AD to 1997 AD 263

The purpose of this book is to evaluate the role of innovation in econom-

© The Author(s) 2018 1

c­ onstituted 80,000 settlements ranging from villages to towns to cities,

formed upon the r­emnants of ancient Mesopotamia. It too traded with

eighth century AD to the thirteenth century AD, through the period of

asserts that consumers maximise utility or satisfaction from consump-

Cognitive Intelligence Survival – shelter, food, heat Money

Norms Procreation Relationships

Innovation Instinctive Intelligence

Fig. 1.1 Homo Sapiens and animals—Factor analysis. (Source: Author)

c­ ognitive ability will allow it to survive in a monetised and a non-mone-

and innovation sequentially.38 As markets grew, merchants became pros-

Sector, The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 27–44.

Haines, W. (1982), Psychoeconomics of Human Needs: Maslow’s Hierarchy

The theories of technological change generally fall into two categories.1

© The Author(s) 2018 17

a passive and mechanical reaction.6 Secondly, the theory is indeterministic

individual’s relational context, for example, the extent of the development

innovation process and the interaction between institutional and eco-

Analysis of the Innovation Process

and pink dynamics, there is a non-linear relationship between the causal

umbrella of a dominant nation state controlling trade with its constituent

the innovation process should be analysed and studied from a cultural-­

individual’s society, and would eventually be improved upon by others.

Economics. However, the optimisation of human behaviour is less specific

fire—emerge. The knowledge of fire making would then have diffused

between individuals is very different from that between firms.69 Moreover,

result in unintended macro-level outcomes.83 However, the problem with

background. This is because, without a conducive economic environ-

be based on a linear sender-receiver model, but should be viewed as being

this context, the role of neurons in intelligence and creativity is being

Innovation of Thought: Mercantilism

monopolies known as guilds by trade, who lived in the towns as well as

politics and parliament. This served to counter-balance the hostility of

which the merchant guilds operated.142 This could be achieved in several

Mercantilists supported the export of bullion by merchants, by licence.151

way in which to counter the negative effects of economic crises in sixteenth-

favour of revenue generating taxes on imports.172 However, Mercantilist

innovation of contractual limited liability allowed for increased interna-

Gaido, D. (2016), Rudolf Hilferding on English Mercantilism, History of

Oxford, UK Sangaralingam Ramesh

2 Theory of Innovation and Causal Dynamics 17

3 Pre-History: Emergence and Palaeolithic to Bronze

4 The Babylonian Empire: 1900 BC to 539 BC 89

5 Ancient Greece: 1100 BC to 30 BC 117

6 The Roman Empire (443 BC to 395 AD) 141

7 The Chola Dynasty: 350 BC to 1279 AD 171

8 The Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) and the Song

9 The Mongol Empire: 1206 AD to 1368 AD 233

10 The British Empire: 1603 AD to 1997 AD 263

c onstituted 80,000 settlements ranging from villages to towns to cities,

formed upon the remnants of ancient Mesopotamia. It too traded with

c ognitive ability will allow it to survive in a monetised and a non-mone-

Analysis of the Innovation Process

the innovation process should be analysed and studied from a cultural-

Innovation of Thought: Mercantilism

Johnson, E.A.J. (1928), Some Evidence of Mercantilism in the Massachusetts-

Early Dynastic Period Egypt: 3100 BC

Aegean Civilisation: 2700 BC

Indus Valley Civilisation: 2600 BC

The Amorites: 1900 BC

contrast to Egypt—where the temples and, u ltimately, the Pharaoh

Hittites and the Kassites: 1595 BC

signified the emergence of a new form of land ownership in Babylonia,

The Assyrians: 911 BC

Cyrus the Great: 539 BC

families contributing chariots, and others still contributing horses.189

The Dark Ages of Greece (1100 BC to 750 BC)

Archaic Greece (750 BC to 500 BC)

Classical Greece (500 BC to 324 BC)

Hellenistic Greece (323 BC to 31 BC)

Early Rome and the Republic