Territorial state
Written and pictorial records from a settlement called Jericho maintain the existence of heavy urbanization for over two thousand years but throughout their history, states have only encompassed a small portion of the earth.
[6] Cities emerged around the same time period between 8000 and 7600 BC and eventually merged with states to create city-states that ruled for a few thousand years.
[7] Originally, Ancient Egypt was ruled through a strong central government in which Egyptian kings, or Pharaohs had complete say over political, economical or military matters.
[9] During the reign of the New Kingdom, diplomatic relations were established with the Hyksos and Hitites, where they each had sovereign communities within their nations that acted as territorial states.
The mainstream view of territorial state formation emerged around the 12th century as a consequence of the transfer of royal sovereign rights for a particular region to a feudal lord.
This is unlike the medieval hierarchical structure of control and jurisdiction that was in a state of perpetual uncertainty threatened by a shift in the balance of power.
"[13] The idea of a "collective" of nations that maintained a "rule of law" that offered a more stable security from the abuses typical of the medieval hierarchical authority and power structure.
The spirit of "exploration and commerce" that began as maritime routes and destination points on a map eventually gave way to the idea of a bound world as a place of outlined territories.
Economies on almost every continent that once were separated became connected in a global maritime trading system where risk was distributed more evenly and demand and supply networks became larger as a result which encouraged economic cooperation.
[23] These growing global market economies also allowed for many "prosperous urban centers" to be able to counter any opposing threats from neighbouring rulers.
Through the recognition of a shared executive, the separate smaller political units are able to qualify as part of a single territorial state.
The practice itself easily supports the idea of creating a sovereign unit that is unified and bound by a single governmental authority.
[28] The treaty at Nerchinsk is an example of how mutual trade benefits from commercial markets encouraged peaceful negotiations between the Chinese Qing emperor and the Russian tsar that resulted in the defining and mapping the borders between the two states.
For example, typical of many portolan charts representing Great Britain had England bound separately from Scotland as two distinct political entities.
They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire, closing a calamitous period of European history that killed approximately eight million people.
These gunpowder empires were characterized by a large central power which could purchase weaponry that smaller states could not afford, allowing them to expand rapidly.
[39] In addition, these Islamic Empires would spread their religion to conquered territories, while not forcing their subjects to accept their faith many received favorable status for converting.
However, because of the relative power dynamics of East Asia, only the Chinese under the Ming and Qing dynasties was able to expand rapidly, thus making them a gunpowder empire.
[43] The Ottoman Empire developed and extensively used artillery, handheld cannons/firearms, and gun carriages to aid their horsemen in conquering most of Southeastern Europe and most Arabic states throughout the Middle East, and North Africa.
[43] The Ottoman Empire had a centralized government in Istanbul which held power over the military, the provincial governors, and local religious leaders.
[42][43] In the Ottoman Empire, the military was controlled by the state, the lesser leaders of troops were all beholden to the Sultan, and in exchange, they were given territories to rule over.
[42] These separate entities make the empire appear to be fragmented, but these policies served to unite the people, they were given enough freedom not to break away.
The decisive victory of the Timurid forces is one reason opponents rarely met Mughal princes in pitched battle over the course of the empire's history.
The effort by the Ming to modernize their armies was spearheaded by Qi Jiguang, who only realized the power of the musket after being defeated in battle by Japanese pirates.
Jiguang trained his soldiers to function in small, flexible units that could be composed of any type of weapon, including the new guns that had only so recently entered China.
However, the highly trained and disciplined troops never broke ranks and when the Dutch realized this, along with the fact that they had been outflanked by a small force sent around them, they were the ones that fled the field of battle.
Their adaptation and use of the new gunpowder technology can be best seen in their conflict with the Russian Empire for control over the Amur Valley, which today is still the border region between China and Russia.
Documents dating back to the ancient states, have shown texts that have lists or descriptions of capitals, locations of tax stations and forts.
An early attempt at this was made by Henry the Lion of the House of Welf in the Stem Duchy of Saxony, but his plans foundered due to resistance of competing rulers who had opposing rights within the same territory.
To be able to tax other smaller political units would show that the ruling territorial state maintains a hegemonic control with economically coercive means.
