A kingdom is a piece of land that is ruled by a king or a queen. In a kingdom, one person, who has inherited their position by birth or marriage, is the leader or head of state.
One of the earliest types of societies on earth, kingdoms date back thousands of years ago, and throughout history, there have been hundreds of different kingdoms.
Thousands of years ago, leaders began conquering and controlling cities and settlements. This was how the early kingdoms developed. The rulers of the kingdoms gave protection to their subjects and had the power to create and enforce laws.
Moist ancient kingdoms were empires. These are large geopolitical units made of many different cultural or ethnic groups that are often headed by monarchs.
These empires used religion, dynastic family ties, and control of conquered territories to enforce their power and keep their people in line.
The people of an empire must accept that the ruling family has a legitimate right to rule for an empire to work. The power that a ruler yields is associated with the ruling family or dynasty. The family then is synonymous with the empire.
Another means of having effective imperial authority is for the ruler to claim support by the gods or that he has the “mandate of heaven.” This makes the ruler’s power legitimate.
For the rulers to have better control of the conquered territories, they would bring their religion to conquered territories. But the process of creating religious unity was often violent.
Ensuring the people’s loyalty throughout the kingdom was not easy. The rulers often employ many different strategies to ensure loyalty from their subjects, most often in brutal ways. Ensuring loyalty among the subjects is important for the reason of collecting taxes and preventing revolts.
Establishing peace and order was paramount for the rulers if they are to maintain their power. One way they were able to establish peace and order was through the code of laws they instituted throughout the kingdom empire. Some established legislatures for more efficient administration of the laws within the kingdom.
The rulers also established stronger diplomatic ties with neighboring kingdoms to reduce conflict. They relied on treaties to create stronger alliances. These alliances included marriages between the monarchs. Marriage for political, economic, or diplomatic reasons was the pattern for centuries among kingdom rulers. Marriage was seen as an important way to bind together royal families and their kingdoms and affect peace throughout the land.