Margaret Cavendish Who was Margaret Cavendish? Margaret Cavendish was a little younger than Hobbes and Descartes, but she knew both men. She had many philosophical debates with them when they were all living [...]
Mary Astell Mary Astell's backstory Unlike the slightly older Masham, and most other Enlightenment philosophers, Mary Astell was not from a really rich family. Who was Damaris Masham? Enlightenment philosophers European philosophers [...]
Beginning of the Bill of Rights How much power did British rulers have? Ever since King John agreed to the Magna Carta in England in 1215 AD, people in England had agreed that the king [...]
Empress Wu of the T'ang Dynasty A regent is someone who rules for somebody else. Usually it is an uncle or mother who rules for a child. Maybe the child [...]
Palazzo Vecchio, where Florence's medieval government met (Florence, Italy, 1200s AD) Different kinds of medieval governments In the Middle Ages, Europe split up into many different states. Each state had its own [...]
Medieval feudalism: Harold swears an oath to William (Bayeux Tapestry, about 1077 AD) What is feudalism? Feudalism is a way to govern a large state when the king is poor and not very powerful, [...]
Indian government: Sanchi Stupa Northern Gateway (ca. 50 BC) Early Indian government Nobody knows what Indian government was like in the Harappan period. Probably they had a king over each city, the [...]
Government of ancient Greece: the Mask of Agamemnon, from Mycenae, Greece (1500 BC). Now in Athens What kind of government did Ancient Greece have? Ancient Greece had a lot of [...]
Hellenistic government: Philip of Macedon Philip of Macedon In the 300s BC, Philip of Macedon conquered Greece. He ruled all of Greece as the king. (In theory Philip was only leading a league of Greek [...]
Remains of the ziggurat at Warka, in Iraq, from about 3000 BC Probably the first states began in Sumer, around 3500 BC. There were also early states in Iran, India [...]
