-Saturday, April 10, 2010%1:13 AM Y
Government in Ancient India
Kings ruled India during its ancient period. Many kings ruled different parts of ancient India at any one time. Some kings took charge over large kingdoms while others ruled over smaller ones. People worshipped the kings as gods. In order to gain more land, ancient India kings were always fighting among themselves as such the kingdoms did not have obvious outer boundaries the way countries nowadays do. The king's authorities was
only powerful at his capital and became weaker as he moved away from the centre. The king only ruled in the capital city and the remnants of the kingdom was broken down into smaller regions called provinces.
Inner Circle--- Capital City
The innermost circle represented the capital city. The king's palace as located here and he was located here and he was the most powerful man in the capital city. He was surrounded by nobels (members of his own family) and a huge number of officials. However, the 'brains' of his government were the mantris, or ministers. The ministers were usually educated priests, or holy men, who were respected and given important duties because of their knowledge. they would advise the king on how to rule.
Second Circle --- Inner Provinces
The next circle out from the centre represented the inner provinces, or areas closest to the capital. Often, these provinces were the lands of kings who had been defeated during wars. In each province, a governor - a representative and often a relative of the king - was in charge. He reported directly to the king at the capital city and watched over many officals, whose duities included collecting taxes from farmers and traders, maintaining law and order and working as judges in the law courts.
Third Circle --- Outer Provinces
The third circle represented the outer provinces. Here,the king's power was weaker and his governors might have had to share their power with local kings who had been defeated during wars,but still had some power. So long as these local kings recognised that the king at the capital city was more powerful than them and gave some of the taxes they collected to him,they were left alone. In order for the king to maintain his control over these provinces,he made frequent elephant-back tours to show himself to the people. He also kept strong armies in these provinces to watch over the local kings.
Fourth Circle--- Outer Provinces
The last circle represented the border zones, where the king's power was the most weak. His authority would overlap with that of neighbouring kings here. People living in these places had an opportunity of which king they wanted to show their loyalty to. Sometimes they might have wanted the protection of one king instead not another.
Chandragupta Maurya
By 600 BCE, Maghadha was the most powerful kingdom, with its capital at
Pataliputra. In 326 BCE, the Indus region was invaded by a young Greek emperor named Alexandra the Great. His invasion created disorder and chaos in the northern part of India and allowed a young prince, Chandragupta Maurya, to overthrow the king of Magadha and establish the Mauryan dynasty (c. 322-185). When Alevandra withdrew from India, Chandragupta expanded his power from Magadha into the Indus region and so laid the foundations of the Mauryan empire and dynasty.
Government under Chandragupta Maurya's leadership was highly organised, with Pataliputra as the capital. His empire was divided into provinces, each under the rule of a trusted officer and the cities were in turn each ruled by committees. Each committee was responsible for one main area such as public works or trade. However, all committees were directly responsible to Chandragupta who had absolute authority over all government matters. He also kept a large army to expand and control his empire by setting up a War Office that consisted of thousands of soldiers and war elephants.
According to a Greek visitor, Megasthenes< Chandagupta believed in having an efficient system of justice. Megasthenes reported that Chandragupta would listen to his people's request even while having his daily massage. Those found guilty of being disloyal or disobedient were severely punished. For example, thieves or tax evaders wer punished by havng either their ears or noses cut off.
Despite his harsh punishments, Chandragupta is also known to improve the welfare of his people. He built roads including the Great Royal Highway for easy travel. The highway connected Pataliputra to the northwestern border areas of Chandragupta's empire. Farmers were able to grow their crops more easily when Chandragupta ordered irrigation systems be maintained to ensure a steady supply of fresh water to the fields.
The first time when the whole of northern India was unfied under one rule was during the Mauryan dynasty c. 185 BCE, ancient India was again broken up into several competing kingdoms. It was almost five hundred years later that the northern kingdoms were unified under the Gupta dynasty (c. 320-550 BCE). the kingdoms of the south were unified under one rule during the Chola dynasty (850-1267CE). Under centralised rule, the empire was ruled by the emperor from one place --- the capital. The rest of the empire followed the emperor's laws.
Government of Ancient China
Feudalism
Unlike India, the way of system in China is different. The king of China only take charge of a small area around its capital. He would then distribute the other divided parts of the land to trusted and loyal men to take over. These trusted and loyal men are called shi. In return, these Shi had to give tribute to the king as a form of respect to the king. Some examples of tribute are produces of the land like grain or precious gifts. This method is called feudalism and the land Shi owned were called feudal states.
After the Shang dynasty, the Western Zhou dynasty(1027-771 BCE), the Shi respected the king and gave him support. However, after years, the Eastern Zhou dynasty's Shi became greedy for more states and the king could not control them. The Shi started to fight for the next 232 years. This period was known as the Period of Warring States. Northern China was divided into many competing kingdoms with one king each.
In 221BCE, feudalism finally ended and was replaced with a centralised government, known as unitary system of goverment. A prince defeated the other Shi to unit China together and form the Qin dynasty. Later he called himself Qin Shihuang. This change from feudalism to a unitary system of government.
Unitary government under Qin Shihuang
Qin Shihuang firstly wanted China to be ruled as one. Hence, from then on, he took away all the fedual shi's authorities as well as their lands. Qin Shihuang then divided the empire into 36 provinces and every province was under his command. A civilian would be around to keep an eye on the govenor in each province who is in charge of daily things. All officials were to give him an account of what happen. This system of government continued for the next 2200 years.
Soon, he fastened his authorities by announcing the laws he officially implemented in China. That time, with standard measures, coins were first made known throughout the whole empire. The different forms of writings were removed from history and was replaced with a single script which is still known today. Since it, it helped to bring a sense of unity among the people.
Although Qin Shihuang was the first to unify China, he was also infamous of his cruelty to the people. If someone go against the law, he would be merciless and execute him along with his kins.
This arose the anger of the people and they tried to overthrow the Qin Dynasty after the death of Qin Shihuang in 210 BCE. In the end, Qin Dynasty was overthrown four years later.
Mandate of Heaven
The chinese in the past thought that heaven wanted people to be ruled wisely and justly. Therefore,heaven would give its blessing to a good ruler. The blessing is called Mandate of Heaven and the ruler given this blessing was named the Son of Heaven. If the ruler became self-centered or corrupt, the citizens would suffer great hardships. Then they would then look for signs from Heaven that the ruler has lost his Mandate of Heaven.
This type of signs normally came in the form of natural disasters such as floods,which would cause widespread suffering. This was a sign that people had the authority to overthrow the ruler and bring about a new government which would then set up a new dynasty.
The civil service
The civil service of a country includes the government departments and the people who work in them. The civil service had always consisted of members of rich and powerful families.
Nonetheless,new laws for the recruitmentof civil servants were introduced during the Han dynasty. The emporer ,Han Wudi decided that good government depended on attracting rich and powerful people. Men who wished to be civil servants then had to take the Imperial Civil Service Examintaions.
The examination tested on their understanding on subjects. Han wudi started the first imperial universitiy to educate those who wanted to sit for the examinations. Those who performed well in the exams were appointed to the civil service known as scholar officials.
Government in Ancient Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia unlike China and India, make up of two distinct areas:
-Mainland
-Island
During its ancient period, there were many kings ruling over different sizes of kingdoms.
Khmer Kingdom
It covered all of present day Cambodia as well as large parts of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. Khmer kings built hundreds of stunning stone temples like the pictures above over a big area centred on the capital at Angkor.
Government in ancient Southeast Asia was quite similar to that of ancient India. Government officials were called mratan in the Khmer kingdoms and they were in charge of matters like taxation, justice, the army and organising labour in the kingdom.
Divine kingship
Similar to ancient India kings, Southeast Asian kingdoms saw themselves as divine rulers. For instance, in Khmer kingdom, the palaces in capital cities act as the home of the gods. The palaces would become temples after the king's decease. The kings would be the middlemen between gods and the people and would help transfer their wishes from one side to the other. This idea was quite identical to ancient India's.
When Southeast Asian rulers decided to change to Islam around 14th century CE, they changed their views of being gods. However, they did not stop using the Indian emblems of kingship, for example, the scared royal umbrella. This implied that ancient Southeast Asian kings only adapt features of a foreign government that were helpful and cast aside those which were not applicable for their local environment. This is called cultural adaptation.
Government in the Melaka Sultanate
One of the most capable kings of the Meleka Sultanate was Parameswara.
The Melaka Sultanate was one of the richest and powerful kingdoms in the history of Southeast Asia. It controlled the whole Malay Peninsula and the eastern part of Sumatra at its strongest.The Melaka Sulatante was classified into three circles--the capital,the provinces and the vassal states.
Inner Circle - Capital City
The inner circle was made up of the city of Melaka,which was the capital city. It was ruled by a sultan. Ministers helping the sultan out ensured that law and order was maintained.The most important minister was the chief minister(bendahara). After the bendahara was the finance minister(bendahari),the chief police(temengong) and the commander of the navy and army(lakasama). The four of them also had many ohter officials to assist them. The most important of these were the customs magistrates(syahbandars),whose duties were to greet foreign traders and look after their needs.
Middle circle - Provinces
Provinces were ruled by governors appointed by the sultan. The provinces provided manpower and were a significant source of rice,fish and vegetables. This made the provinces vital to the Melaka Sultanate. The provinces also provided tin. Tin was melted and made into coins. Tin products were much sought after for traders.
Outer Circle - Vassal States
It is made up of areas that were mostly independent but were also under the protection of sultan. These were called vassal states. The rulers who are usually the sultan's relatives paid tribute to the sultan.
Parameswara suddenly understood that Melaka had the ability to be a great trading port. It had a safe harbour and was situated along the straits of Melaka,which was part of the trade route between China and India. As such, its location made it the best centre for distribution and collection of goods brought from other pasrts of SEA and beyond. Thus, Parameswara took action to make Melaka an attractive port.
Parameswara built a friendship with the Chinese emperor to make sure that protection from foe's attacks since China was very powerful then. He also appointed syahbandars to take care of the needs of foreign traders who stopped at the port in Melaka. Next, Parameswara married a Muslim princess from pasai and converted to Islam. By doing so, Parameswara won the support of wealthy Indian-Muslim and Arab traders. These traders then changed their trading headquarters from north Sumatra to Melaka.
CHAP 5__ORGANISATION OF SOCIETY
Social system:
-a group of people ruled by same government
-share common needs and practices
Members organise themselves into groups and divide work among themselves so they can produce the things that they need. Each group plays different role and specialises in different kind of work.(EG. leaders govern, farmers produce food and soldiers protect people) A real-life example is the organisation of teachers in NHHS. Teachers specialised in history will be placed under the history department and so on...
- It ranks people according to how wealthy and powerful they are. This arrangement is called a hierarchy.
Hierarchy
It take the shape of a pyramid. The higher the level of pyramid, the more wealth and power they got.
_TOP of pyramid_: upper/ruling class
members are the wealthiest and most powerful
eg of members: rulers, officials and priest
_MIDDLE of pyramid_: business class
made up of merchants
_BOTTOM of pyramid_:working class
farmers, craftsmen, soldiers and labourers
Unlike India, the way of system in China is different. The king of China only take charge of a small area around its capital. He would then distribute the other divided parts of the land to trusted and loyal men to take over. These trusted and loyal men are called shi. In return, these Shi had to give tribute to the king as a form of respect to the king. Some examples of tribute are produces of the land like grain or precious gifts. This method is called feudalism and the land Shi owned were called feudal states.
