Actually, it was pretty much what you would call an empire. They conquered or integrated via blackmail (Oh, look, we are so powerful & rich. Wouldn't it be nice to join our great, big nation? As local leaders, you & your family could get even richer than you are now with your own little kingdom. We will give your children very good education in our best schools in Cuzco. ... Oh, besides: Have I mentioned that our army has 50 times more men than yours?) quite a number of smaller societies (states, nations, kingdoms, whatever). On the height of Inca power several hundred languages were spoken in the empire. Power always lay in the hands of the Inca, although they divided their territory into four provinces.Maciamo said:I don't think that the Inca conquered any other state or organised societies to make their own state. In that sense it was more a kingdom.
Only, the empire didn't last for very long (though much longer than Hitler's Millennial Reich).
Since the rulers for most of the time were called (the Egyptian equivalent of) kings, you're right. Whether they conquered enough land or peoples to qualify, depends on the definition & the time you look at. Eg. Egypt at the time of Tuthmosis III may very well qualify as an empire even by your terms.I also think that Egypt was just a kingdom, as it didn't keep or integrate enough other land (more than its own size and population) outside its cultural borders to be called an empire.
I doubt that. Sure, a lot of technological advancements were done by people who had enough leisure time, because they or their ancestors chopped off others heads & stole their property, but there are enough inventions which were done by people who did not rely on "empirical data."nurizeko said:most of the worls empires were from history, and, frankly, this conquest probably did more for the overall advancement of the human species then lone little isolated and fragile tribes ever could.
Sorry, if you misunderstood that. I don't see it as a shameful past. There is nothing to be ashamed about, I (& most other living humans) never participated in empire building.In history people had much different values then our own and, maybe instead of seeing it as a shameful past,
Totally agree. There is absolutely nothing great about small kingdoms as well. You could add quite a number of other types of government here.In history you dont need a large empire for the type of behaviour you attribute to them, small kingdoms could be just as opressive, just as unfair as any large empire.