created rules for social interactions, had the best memories
for sources of food and water, and knew all the tribal mythol-
ogy. Clans claimed territory based on sacred sites that were
special to them, but territories could overlap; no clan claimed
exclusive rights to any piece of land.
Th e islands of Oceania were separated from one another
by huge distances, so they tended to function independently.
Each one had its own chiefs and rituals considered essential
to the well-being of the community. Chieft ains gained their
position through a combination of family position and skill.
As populations grew, governments became more centralized
as a way of regulating competition for land and ensuring that
everyone could be fed. Chiefs implemented intensive agricul-
tural systems, organizing groups of islanders to dig terraces
and irrigation ditches and harvest crops. Priests and religious
leaders also appeared; in many cases, the priests helped chiefs
keep power by proclaiming them descendants of gods.
Eventually, many islands developed several layers of
government bureaucracy, with intermediate chiefs to run
regional and local settlements. Class stratifi cation appeared,
w it h people of lower status expected to give food and goods as
tribute to their chiefs and priests. Warfare was common, es-
pecially on the more densely populated islands. Chiefs trained
soldiers, led war parties, and built fortifi cations. Some groups
engaged in cannibalism and headhunting as part of their war
practices. Most islands were suffi cient unto themselves, but
some island groups developed semicentralized governments.
In Micronesia, for example, individual islands began by gov-
erning themselves. Th e islanders gradually developed a more
centralized system of government with the island of Yap at
its center.
EUROPE
BY MICHAEL J. O’NEAL
Government organization was not as advanced in ancient
Europe as it was in, for example, ancient Greece or Rome.
Europe was slower to develop, primarily because civilization
expanded outward to the north and west from Africa, the
Middle East, and regions around the Mediterranean Sea. For
much of prehistoric t i me Europe’s popu lat ion rema ined sma l l
and isolated until ice from the last ice age receded and Europe
became habitable. Accordingly, through much of the ancient
period Europe was populated by tribes and clans that had no
central governing authority. Put simply, Europe took a while
to catch up with much of the rest of the world in social, politi-
cal, economic, and cultural development as successive waves
of tribes migrated into Europe and created civilizations.
Th e principal form of political organization in ancient
Europe was thus the tribe. In general, people lived in com-
munities that remained isolated from one another because of
geographical features such as mountains and rivers. Th e Alps,
for example, were a formidable obstacle to contact between
peoples in central Europe, and the tribes of Scandinavia re-
mained isolated because of surrounding seas. While explor-
ers and traders made contact with other communities, it was
diffi cult for rulers to maintain authority over a wide region.
Th us, kings and chieft ains who held power locally ruled the
communities of ancient Europe. Th ese kings, though, were
not like the pharaohs of Egypt or the emperors of Rome, who
ruled vast empires with the aid of a large bureaucracy, includ-
ing administrators, census takers, tax collectors, governors,
and the like. Th eir names are largely lost to history, and to the
extent that their names are remembered, they are surrounded
by legends that are diffi cult to verify.
In reconstructing forms of ancient government, histori-
ans have to rely on a good deal of indirect and third-party
evidence. Th e nations of ancient Europe left little in the way
of written records, so historians in many cases must make
educated guesses about their governmental systems. Greek
and Roman writers left behind descriptions of the societies
they encountered, but these descriptions were usually biased
because these writers regarded the European tribes as bar-
baric and uncivilized enemies to be conquered. Otherwise,
some a rchaeolog ica l ev idence i n t he form of i nscript ions, tab-
lets, and coins has been found. Finally, historians oft en work
backward, starting with what they know from early medieval
European life. Since medieval Europeans did not spring from
nowhere, it is reasonable to conclude that their governmental
structures originated hundreds of years earlier.
A good example of this form of government is provided
by the Scythians. Th ese were a people who occupied the Pon-
tic-Caspian steppes, the vast treeless grasslands north of the
Black Sea and extending to the east of the Caspian Sea; the
area corresponds with modern-day Ukraine and parts of
Russia and Kazakhstan. Th e term Scythian is a catch-all for a
number of nomadic pastoral tribes that inhabited the region
over a period of many centuries. Little is known about the
ancient Scythians, who fi rst appeared sometime around 1000
b.c.e., other than what was reported by Greek historians. It
is known, however, that the Scythians had little in the way of
a central governing authority. Th e political organization was
that of the tribe. Th ere were several major tribal groups. In
the modern-day Poltava region was a major tribe of agricul-
tural Scythians. Other major tribes included the Callipidae,
the Alazones, and the Aroteres.
Historians refer to the dominant tribe as the Royal Scyth-
ians, who occupied the lower region of the Dnieper River and
the Crimea. Th is tribe established a dynasty of rulers. Th e
region under their control was divided into four separate
provinces. Each was ruled by a governor whose job it was to
collect taxes, administer justice, ensure the equitable distri-
bution of land, and collect tribute payments from city-states
in the Pontic, a region on the Black Sea inhabited by Greeks.
Th e Scythians had no system of coinage. Th e administra-
tion of the region was loosely conducted by tribal elders. In
time, power came to be held by social elites, including kings
and their military followers. Th ese tribes maintained a loose
federation for purposes of defense and trade, with herdsmen
trading with agriculturalists for food.524 government organization: Europe