A state is a sovereign and political entity that can enforce laws and use violence within its boundaries.

Hunter-gatherers lived in more or less egalitarian groups. In small bands, where members were familiar with each other, would-be dictators could be kept in check by collaboration.

Around 12,000 years ago, however, human populations began to settle down to grow crops and domesticate animals. Homes were built, and irrigation systems and granaries were invented. Settlements began to grow along river sides, which provided fertile soils for agriculture.

In the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, more and more independent cities (or city-states) inhabited even by tens of thousands came into being. People who were clever or ruthless enough took control of vital resources, accumulated wealth, and became rulers. Uprisings of the poor and unhappy could be suppressed by paid armies, and the most unfortunate ones ended up slaves.

In Egypt, villages and towns emerged on the banks of the Nile River from the Nile Delta along the Nile Valley into the south. In art, rulers depicted themselves as powerful kings crushing their enemies without mercy. The best-known of them was Narmer (or Nemes), who eventually unified the vast land of the Egyptians into the first territorial state (as well as the first nation-state¹) around 3100 BCE.

Egypt began to grow and prosper. Recently invented hieroglyphics, one of the first writing systems, enabled kings and queens to govern the vast nation. The desert protected against possible invaders, and the Nile River provided not only fertile soils for agriculture but also an important transportation route along which people, food and material easily sailed across the land (travelling over the ground was very difficult because of the lack of roads).

Kings and queens became known as pharaohs, and pyramids were built for their afterlife. Today, we still wonder how structures so incredible were constructed with the simple tools available at the time. The pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) remained the tallest building in the world for nearly 4,000 years.

Ancient Egypt remained a sovereign state for over 3,000 years before falling to the Romans. In time, it became an empire, too, but not the first one, as the kingdom of Akkad in Mesopotamia had imperial sights first.

¹ In a nation-state, most people identify themselves as a nation by culture, descent, history, and/or a common language.

Bibliography

Dartnell, L. 2024. Being Human How Our Biology Shaped World History. London, United Kingdom: Penguin Random House. 358 p. ISBN 9781529925531. Pages 12-17.

Dyer, G. 2022. The Shortest History of War. Exeter, United Kingdom: Old Street Publishing Ltd. 247 p. ISBN 9781913083236. Pages 49-53.

Harari, Y. N. 2015. Sapiens a Brief History of Humankind. London, United Kingdom: Vintage. 498 p. ISBN 9780099590088. Page 116.

DK, 2021. Ancient Egypt the Definitive Visual History. London, United Kingdom: Penguin Random House. 320 p. ISBN 9780241446867. Pages 9, 14, 18, 24, 40-42, 130, 150-151, 278.

Lascelles, C. 2019. A Short History of the World. Surrey, United Kingdom: Crux Publishing. 263 p. ISBN 9781909979222. Pages 11-12.

Parker, P. 2020. World History from the Ancient World to the Information Age. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 416 p. ISBN 9780241457856. Pages 48-49.

Potter, W. 2023. Homo Sapiens the History of Humanity And the Development of Civilization. London, United Kingdom: Arcturus Publishing Limited. 256 p. ISBN 9781788280914. Pages 60-61.

DK. 2024. Africa the Definitive Visual History of a Continent. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 320 p. ISBN 9780241509166. Pages 42-43.

Next Story

3000 BCE
Money makes trading easier

Money is a medium of exchange, such as coins and notes. Once people got good enough at farming, surplus came into being, and not all had to grow their own food. Some could start to practice skills they were good at and become, for example, artisans, soldiers, and priests. In the process, economies became more complex, and money was invented to help people trade goods and services instead of making barter and reciprocal favours.

Previous Story

3300 BCE
First writing systems

Writing is a tool to store information outside human brains using marks, signs, and symbols. What started as simple record-keeping of taxes eventually evolved into words that could represent spoken language completely. Writing enabled small villages to grow into cities, states, and empires as rulers could store, organise, and share a growing amount of information needed to manage growing societies.