| Variable | Definition |
|---|---|
| Polity | The Seshat Polity ID |
| Year(s) | The years for which we have the data. [negative = BCE] |
| Tag | [Evidenced, Disputed, Suspected, Inferred, Unknown] |
| Verified | A Seshat Expert has approved this piece of data. |
| Variable | Definition |
|---|---|
| settlement_hierarchy_from | The lower range of settlement hierarchy for a polity. |
| settlement_hierarchy_to | The upper range of settlement hierarchy for a polity. |
| # | Polity | Year(s) | Settlement Hierarchy from | Settlement Hierarchy to | Description | Edit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 531 |
(Early Modern Sierra Leone) |
Full Year Range of Early Modern Sierra Leone is assumed. [1650, 1896] |
2 |
3 |
None | |
| 532 |
(Twelve Bhuyans) |
Full Year Range of Twelve Bhuyans is assumed. [1538, 1612] |
None |
None |
levels. (1) Capital city (2) TownTowns were often emporiums of trade as well as political centres. What distinguished them from villages, according to Majumdar, was that while they may also have had some agricultural activity, they served a “wide variety of functions, commercial, industrial, political, judicial and military.” But the greatest distinction was the luxury and wealth of the towns and it’s citizens, which the Ramacharita describes as “a city of rows of palaces” and as possessing ‘an immense mass of gems’.” [Majumdar 1943] “the archaeological record indicates that urban centres came up as early as the fifth century bce. During the following centuries large towns would develop along major rivers rather than on the exposed sea coast.” [van_Schendel 2009] (3) VillageMajumdar writes that since the beginning of historical record for Bengal, there have been well-established villages, in which the fields, meadows and woodlands have been organised to serve the population’s needs. They varied in size but people tended to live in compact groups within them They would all generally include livestock. The villages also contained “pits and canals (garta and nala) which might have served the purpose of drainage, barren tracts (ushara), tanks, reservoirs and temples, besides cattle-tracks and ordinary roads and paths.” [Majumdar 1943] (4) Hamlet [Furui 2020] |
|
| 533 |
(Chandra Dynasty) |
Full Year Range of Chandra Dynasty is assumed. [900, 1050] |
None |
None |
levels. (1) Capital city (2) TownTowns were often emporiums of trade as well as political centres. What distinguished them from villages, according to Majumdar, was that while they may also have had some agricultural activity, they served a “wide variety of functions, commercial, industrial, political, judicial and military.” But the greatest distinction was the luxury and wealth of the towns and it’s citizens, which the Ramacharita describes as “a city of rows of palaces” and as possessing ‘an immense mass of gems’.” [Majumdar 1943] “the archaeological record indicates that urban centres came up as early as the fifth century bce. During the following centuries large towns would develop along major rivers rather than on the exposed sea coast.” [van_Schendel 2009] (3) VillageMajumdar writes that since the beginning of historical record for Bengal, there have been well-established villages, in which the fields, meadows and woodlands have been organised to serve the population’s needs. They varied in size but people tended to live in compact groups within them They would all generally include livestock. The villages also contained “pits and canals (garta and nala) which might have served the purpose of drainage, barren tracts (ushara), tanks, reservoirs and temples, besides cattle-tracks and ordinary roads and paths.” [Majumdar 1943] (4)Hamlet |
|
| 534 |
(Deva Dynasty) |
Full Year Range of Deva Dynasty is assumed. [1150, 1300] |
None |
None |
levels. (1) Capital cityDevapatura (2) Citye.g. the smaller city of Pattikera [Majumdar 1943] (3) Town Towns were often emporiums of trade as well as political centres. What distinguished them from villages, according to Majumdar, was that while they may also have had some agricultural activity, they served a “wide variety of functions, commercial, industrial, political, judicial and military.” But the greatest distinction was the luxury and wealth of the towns and it’s citizens, which the Ramacharita describes as “a city of rows of palaces” and as possessing ‘an immense mass of gems’.” [Majumdar 1943] “The archaeological record indicates that urban centres came up as early as the fifth century bce. During the following centuries large towns would develop along major rivers rather than on the exposed sea coast.” [van_Schendel 2009] (4) VillageMajumdar writes that since the beginning of historical record for Bengal, there have been well-established villages, in which the fields, meadows and woodlands have been organised to serve the population’s needs. They varied in size but people tended to live in compact groups within them They would all generally include livestock. The villages also contained “pits and canals (garta and nala) which might have served the purpose of drainage, barren tracts (ushara), tanks, reservoirs and temples, besides cattle-tracks and ordinary roads and paths.” [Majumdar 1943] |
|
| 535 |
(British East India Company) |
Full Year Range of British East India Company is assumed. [1757, 1858] |
None |
None |
levels. (1) Capital cityMurshidabad: Writing in 1770, the German priest Fr. Joseph Tieffenthaeler, stated that Marshidabad was about five miles long, stretching from Bamian to Lalbagh along the Ganges River. There were many suburbs divided into towns in the Murshidabad-Qasimbazar complex with beautiful houses and gardens situated along the Ganges River which ran through the expanded city. [Ray_Sreemani 2020] Calcutta: TBC (2) Market Towns There were several larger market towns in the Bengal region which were famous for selling certain goods, such as Jiaganj (cotton, sugar and grain), Azimganj (where south India merchants used to bulk purchase their items) [Ray_Sreemani 2020] (3) TownWhat distinguished them from villages, according to Majumdar, was that while they may also have had some agricultural activity, they served a “wide variety of functions, commercial, industrial, political, judicial and military.” But the greatest distinction was the luxury and wealth of the towns and it’s citizens, which the Ramacharita describes as “a city of rows of palaces” and as possessing ‘an immense mass of gems’.” [Majumdar 1943] “the archaeological record indicates that urban centres came up as early as the fifth century bce. During the following centuries large towns would develop along major rivers rather than on the exposed sea coast.” [van_Schendel 2009] (3) VillageMajumdar writes that since the beginning of historical record for Bengal, there have been well-established villages, in which the fields, meadows and woodlands have been organised to serve the population’s needs. They varied in size but people tended to live in compact groups within them They would all generally include livestock. The villages also contained “pits and canals (garta and nala) which might have served the purpose of drainage, barren tracts (ushara), tanks, reservoirs and temples, besides cattle-tracks and ordinary roads and paths.” [Majumdar 1943] (4) Hamlet [Furui 2020] |
|
| 536 |
(Gauda Kingdom) |
Full Year Range of Gauda Kingdom is assumed. [600, 625] |
None |
None |
levels. (1) Capital city (2) TownTowns were often emporiums of trade as well as political centres. What distinguished them from villages, according to Majumdar, was that while they may also have had some agricultural activity, they served a “wide variety of functions, commercial, industrial, political, judicial and military.” But the greatest distinction was the luxury and wealth of the towns and it’s citizens.” [Majumdar 1943] And van Schendel confirms that “the archaeological record indicates that urban centres came up as early as the fifth century bce. During the following centuries large towns would develop along major rivers rather than on the exposed sea coast.” [van_Schendel 2009] (3) VillageMajumdar writes that since the beginning of historical record for Bengal, there have been well-established villages, in which the fields, meadows and woodlands have been organised to serve the population’s needs. They varied in size but people tended to live in compact groups within them They would all generally include livestock. The villages also contained “pits and canals (garta and nala) which might have served the purpose of drainage, barren tracts (ushara), tanks, reservoirs and temples, besides cattle-tracks and ordinary roads and paths.” [Majumdar 1943] |
|
| 537 |
(Nawabs of Bengal) |
Full Year Range of Nawabs of Bengal is assumed. [1717, 1757] |
None |
None |
levels. (1) Royal Capital cityMurshidabad (2) Provincial Capital CityMajor cities such as Dhaka, the previous capital, became a provincial capital. [Ray_Sreemani 2020] (3) TownTowns were often emporiums of trade as well as political centres. What distinguished them from villages, according to Majumdar, was that while they may also have had some agricultural activity, they served a “wide variety of functions, commercial, industrial, political, judicial and military.” But the greatest distinction was the luxury and wealth of the towns and it’s citizens, which the Ramacharita describes as “a city of rows of palaces” and as possessing ‘an immense mass of gems’.” [Majumdar 1943] “the archaeological record indicates that urban centres came up as early as the fifth century bce. During the following centuries large towns would develop along major rivers rather than on the exposed sea coast.” [van_Schendel 2009] (4) VillageMajumdar writes that since the beginning of historical record for Bengal, there have been well-established villages, in which the fields, meadows and woodlands have been organised to serve the population’s needs. They varied in size but people tended to live in compact groups within them They would all generally include livestock. The villages also contained “pits and canals (garta and nala) which might have served the purpose of drainage, barren tracts (ushara), tanks, reservoirs and temples, besides cattle-tracks and ordinary roads and paths.” [Majumdar 1943] (5) Hamlet [Furui 2020] |
|
| 538 |
(Eastern Zhou) |
Full Year Range of Eastern Zhou is assumed. [-475, -256] |
4 |
5 |
Inferred from contemporary polities. pre-reforms (fifth c bce): 1. Capital city 2. town 3. feudal estates (?) 4. village post-reforms (fifth c bce): 1. Capital city 2. Commandery capital 3. County 4. town 5. village |
|
| 539 |
(Macedonian Empire) |
Full Year Range of Macedonian Empire is assumed. [-330, -312] |
5 |
5 |
1. Capital - Pella 2. Other cities 3. Town 4. Village 5. Tribe (hamlet?) |
|
| 540 |
(Portuguese Empire - Early Modern) |
Full Year Range of Portuguese Empire - Early Modern is assumed. [1640, 1806] |
5 |
5 |
levels. 1. Lisbon __in Portugal__ 2. Provincial centers administered by royal government 2. Provincial centers administered by local grandes 2. Judicially privileged municipalities (inferred from information on administrative hierarchy)"The kingdom was also divided up into six judicial circuits, each corresponding to a province (comarca) and presided over by a superior magistrate known as a corregedor. In addition, Lisbon and sometimes Santarém had their own corregedores. These magistrates exercised administrative and judicial authority in the king’s name – though their right to enter and hold court in the seigneuries of the great lay and ecclesiastical magnates, and in the territories of the judicially privileged municipalities, was long resisted." [Disney 2009] 3. Smaller centers (inferred) 4. Villages (inferred) __in the colonies__ 2. Goa"In 1530 Goa became the permanent seat of the viceroy rather than Cochin, which had been the only possible alternative. In theory the viceroy’s jurisdiction was vast, including all Portuguese possessions and interests east of the Cape of Good Hope and even extending to the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic. However, the huge distances involved and the gradual emergence ofa parallel far-flung network of informal settlements and possessions meant that viceroys in practice controlled only a relatively small core area." [Disney 2009] __in the Estado da India (African and Asian colonies)__ 3. Other colonies4. Smaller settlements, largely indigenous population5. Pre-existing villages, largely indigenous population"Despite the elevated population density, the peopling of the Old Conquests was by nature markedly rural: the inhabitants were dispersed in various villages, some of large size, but with a scarcity of real urban centres. Only the capital (Goa City or “Old City”), stood out as a large city in the Goan context." [De_Matos_Jarnagin 2011] __in Brazil__ 3. Other colonial administrative centers4. Ports5. Farms and plantations E.g.: "For most of the colonial period Portuguese settlement in Brazil remained heavily concentrated along the coastal fringe. [...] Therefore ports played a major role in every captaincy. In most cases, the administrative capital was a port; otherwise a port was invariably sited nearby. Salvador, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Vitória, Santos and Ilhéus all conformed to this pattern. [...] Clustered round the ports of the principal captaincies, and along nearby rivers and coast, was a steadily widening zone of farms and plantations." [Disney 2009] |