Maps hiding in plain sight

Early Chinese elites were defined by their aristocratic control of land. That control came directly from the emperor and was documented on bronze ritual vessels, which were handed down from generation to generation. The land grant boundaries were defined using decorative symbols inscribed on bronze, and Western Zhou vessels containing these symbols were used to resolve land disputes. Methodical analysis comparing the inscriptions and symbols, combined with an understanding of early Chinese cartography and etymology, allows the bronze vessel land grants to be decoded.

Soldiers & Colonists: Imperial Soldiers as Settlers in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand

<p>The approximately 18,000 imperial troops who arrived in New Zealand with the British regiments between 1840 and 1870 as garrison and combat troops, did not do so by choice. However, for the more than 3,600 non-commissioned officers and rank and file soldiers who subsequently discharged from the army in New Zealand, and the unknown but significant number of officers who retired in the colony, it was their decision to stay and build civilian lives as soldier settlers in the colony. This thesis investigates three key themes in the histories of soldiers who became settlers: land, familial relationships, and livelihood. In doing so, the study develops an important area of settler colonialism in New Zealand history. Discussion covers the period from the first arrival of soldiers in the 1840s through to the early twentieth century – incorporating the span of the soldier settlers’ lifetimes. The study focuses on selected aspects of the history of nineteenth-century war and settlement. Land is examined through analysis of government statutes and reports, reminiscences, letters, and newspapers, the thesis showing how and why soldier settlers were assisted on to confiscated and alienated Māori land under the Waste Lands and New Zealand Settlement Acts. Attention is also paid to documenting the soldier settlers’ experiences of this process and its problems. Further, it discusses some of the New Zealand settlements in which military land grants were concentrated. It also situates such military settlement practices in the context of the wider British Empire. The place of women, children, and the regimental family in the soldier settlers’ New Zealand lives is also considered. This history is explored through journals, reminiscences, biography and newspapers, and contextualised via imperial and military histories. How and where men from the emphatically male sphere of the British Army met and married women during service in New Zealand is examined, as are the contexts in which they lived their married lives. Also discussed are the contrasting military and colonial policies towards women and marriage, and how these were experienced by soldier settlers and their families. Lastly, the livelihood of soldier settlers is explored – the thesis investigating what sort of civilian lives soldier settlers experienced and how they made a living for themselves and their families. Utilising newspapers, reminiscences, biography, and government records the diversity of work army veterans undertook in the colony is uncovered. Notable trends include continued military-style roles and community leadership. The failed farming enterprise is also emphasised. Going further, it offers analysis of the later years of life and the different experiences of soldier settlers in their twilight years, particularly for those with and without family networks in the colony. The thesis challenges the separation between ‘war’ and ‘settlement’ by focusing on a group whose history spanned both sides of the nineteenth-century world of colony and empire.</p>

Soldiers & Colonists: Imperial Soldiers as Settlers in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand

<p>The approximately 18,000 imperial troops who arrived in New Zealand with the British regiments between 1840 and 1870 as garrison and combat troops, did not do so by choice. However, for the more than 3,600 non-commissioned officers and rank and file soldiers who subsequently discharged from the army in New Zealand, and the unknown but significant number of officers who retired in the colony, it was their decision to stay and build civilian lives as soldier settlers in the colony. This thesis investigates three key themes in the histories of soldiers who became settlers: land, familial relationships, and livelihood. In doing so, the study develops an important area of settler colonialism in New Zealand history. Discussion covers the period from the first arrival of soldiers in the 1840s through to the early twentieth century – incorporating the span of the soldier settlers’ lifetimes. The study focuses on selected aspects of the history of nineteenth-century war and settlement. Land is examined through analysis of government statutes and reports, reminiscences, letters, and newspapers, the thesis showing how and why soldier settlers were assisted on to confiscated and alienated Māori land under the Waste Lands and New Zealand Settlement Acts. Attention is also paid to documenting the soldier settlers’ experiences of this process and its problems. Further, it discusses some of the New Zealand settlements in which military land grants were concentrated. It also situates such military settlement practices in the context of the wider British Empire. The place of women, children, and the regimental family in the soldier settlers’ New Zealand lives is also considered. This history is explored through journals, reminiscences, biography and newspapers, and contextualised via imperial and military histories. How and where men from the emphatically male sphere of the British Army met and married women during service in New Zealand is examined, as are the contexts in which they lived their married lives. Also discussed are the contrasting military and colonial policies towards women and marriage, and how these were experienced by soldier settlers and their families. Lastly, the livelihood of soldier settlers is explored – the thesis investigating what sort of civilian lives soldier settlers experienced and how they made a living for themselves and their families. Utilising newspapers, reminiscences, biography, and government records the diversity of work army veterans undertook in the colony is uncovered. Notable trends include continued military-style roles and community leadership. The failed farming enterprise is also emphasised. Going further, it offers analysis of the later years of life and the different experiences of soldier settlers in their twilight years, particularly for those with and without family networks in the colony. The thesis challenges the separation between ‘war’ and ‘settlement’ by focusing on a group whose history spanned both sides of the nineteenth-century world of colony and empire.</p>

Brāhmaṇ a Land Donees on Bengal’s Eastern Frontier, 600–1300

The role of Brāhmaṇa land-grantees in extending cultivation during the early medieval period has been noted by several historians. This study examines the evidence preserved in copper plates from sites in Bengal’s eastern ‘frontier’ formed by the present-day districts of Sylhet, Comilla, Neokhali and Chittagong in Bangladesh, issued between 600 and 1300 AD. The study aims at extracting from the evidence of the copper plates whatever can be gained about the composition of the Brāhmaṇa donees, their personal names, areas of origin and possible connexions with other castes that became subsequently prominent in Bengal, chiefly Kāyasthas. The mechanism of issue of land-grants, possible intermediaries and nature of grantees’ rights, so far as these can be legitimately inferred from evidence, are also discussed.

Maintenance of Armies and Its Impact on Rural Everyday Life Local Experiences 1550–1750

This chapter offers a long-term microhistorical perspective of the effects of the military on the rural population by following the history of two southern Finnish villages, Hyvinkää and Kytäjärvi, from the 16th to the 18th century. Although the villages were directly touched by war only a couple of times during the period, they were continuously shaped by the indirect presence of warfare and military readiness. They paid taxes to finance the military, lost a significant amount of their male workforce in wars, were obliged to provide upkeep for passing troops, and had to endure new manor lords who gained land grants in return for military service and disturbed the local power balance.

Ever the Handmaid? A Consideration of What a Medieval Archaeology in South Asia Might Be

This article shifts discussion of the medieval in South Asia away from conversations about ‘what’ took place towards ‘how’ it is studied. Following a brief review of what defines the South Asian medieval, this article starts with the premise that the entire period has not been studied archaeologically and that there is a great deal of potential in doing so. This potential is explored with reference to recent work in Central India, which has investigated a particular set of developments in which socio-economic histories first located the transition from the ancient to the medieval in South Asia, namely, royal grants of land to Hindu temples in the fourth to seventh centuries ce. Considering these land grants as archaeological objects and situating them in the very landscapes they existed within reveal a great deal of new information about early medieval social formation and the transition to the early medieval in this region. In presenting this research, I demonstrate not only the potential value of an archaeological approach to the study of the period but also the necessity of it. Consideration then turns to the directions and form(s) that a ‘medieval archaeology’ might usefully take in the study of South Asia, which by no means shares the same empirical (text–object) and theoretical (historical–archaeological) relationships as the study of the medieval elsewhere in the world.

On the Question of the Profitability of Land Plots of Orthodox Clergy in the early XX century (based on the materials of the Mordovian region)

Introduction. The article presents the results of a study of the land use of Orthodox parishes based on the materials of the Mordovian region of the beginning of the XX century. Materials and Methods. In the course of the study, general scientific and special historical methods were used. With the help of comparative-historical and problem-chronological methods, the evolution of the system of land ownership and land use is traced. The identification of common and special features in the financing of rural clergy is possible only if the method of system analysis and the structural method are applied. Results. The publication contains a brief digression into the history of land relations, it traces the trends in the development of church land ownership in the early 1900s. It is established that due to the shortage of land and agricultural overpopulation, land grants on the territory of the Mordovian territory have not received significant distribution. On the basis of archival materials and published sources, the main forms of land use of the parish clergy are analyzed, which include: self-cultivation of land; leasing of land; hiring of peasants for land cultivation; combination of forms of land use. The authors found that by the end of the period under review, the use of land prevailed among the forms of land use. As a result of the processing of clerical records, the amount of profitability of church plots was determined. By leasing church land, most parishes received a relatively small but stable income. In 1915, in the Ardatovsky district of the Simbirsk diocese, it was equal to about half of the state salary. Conclusions. At the end of the study, it is concluded that on the eve of the revolution, only a small part of the rural clergy was engaged in agriculture, that is, the process of turning the clergy into a professional group of Orthodox pastors was almost complete.