508 government organization: Africa a number of reasons, including lack of an heir to the throne or conquest by another nation In some civilizations, power struggles emerged when no clear heir existed, and ruling dynasties would change when, for example, a king’s brother or nephew seized power Kingship was the dominant form of government in the ancient world, but this does not mean that the ancient world did not provide the first stirrings of democracy While modern historians make generalizations about large nations, at the time it was difficult to extend rule over a wide geographical area The result was the emergence of city-states These city-states often shared a common language and culture with other nearby city-states, but they tended to be self-governing In ancient Mesopotamia, for example, early city-states often governed themselves, and this government had some of the characteristics of a democracy, with citizens taking part in decisions that affected the community Ancient Greece, too, consisted of a number of city-states, such as Sparta, which were often in competition and conflict with other Greek citystates These Greek city-states, too, offered some measure of citizen government Sometimes, for protection and trade, a handful of city-states formed a league Another ancient form of government organization was the oligarchy This term refers to government by a small group, usually prominent or powerful citizens who held some interest in common While the civilizations of ancient Europe were monarchies, they had some of the characteristics of an oligarchy, for kings remained dependent on a class of powerful land-owning nobles who supported the king with taxes and military service—but who also sometimes opposed their king when their interests demanded it Government and government organization necessarily became more complex as the notion of empire became more common Ancient Rome provides a classic example Rome began humbly as a city-state in about the ninth century b.c.e Over the next 12 centuries, it evolved into first a monarchy ruled by a king, then into an oligarchy, and finally into a massive empire The power of the king, and later the emperor, was restricted by various advisory and legislative bodies The Roman Senate, for example, was a body that served in an advisory capacity to the emperor, who found it difficult to rule without the Senate’s support Over time, a large class of officials was appointed to administer the affairs of the empire In the outlying provinces another class of officials was appointed to administer the affairs of each province AFRICA BY J USTIN CORFIELD Ancient Africa was largely made up of kingdoms controlled by hereditary rulers Most followed the domestication of animals, which ended the nomadic existence of many tribes and resulted in the introduction of more structured governmental systems Although the extent of some of these entities can be ascertained from archaeological evidence, information on how most were run comes from oral sources, so there are obvious doubts about their accuracy However, the Greek historian Herodotus, of the fift h century b.c.e., recorded a few descriptions of kingdoms in North Africa that predated the dominance of Carthage, which was, for several centuries, the major economic and military power in North Africa Egyptian, Persian, Greek, and Roman sources also provide some information CARTHAGE The city of Carthage, founded by Phoenicians from Tyre, was initially ruled by a governor appointed by the king of Tyre This was the same as for other Phoenician settlements such as Hadrumetum (modern-day Sousse), Utica (Bordj bou Chateur), Hippo Regius (Hippone, near Annaba/Bône) and Hippo Diarrhytus (Bizerta) Similarly, the Greeks also established colonies such as Cyrene, ruled by the Theraeans since its foundation in 630 b.c.e At Cyrene the Greek merchants seem to have established an intermediary center of trade, which may have been controlled by a business class, with the minting of their own coins to a similar standard of those produced in Athens, Corinth, and Samos It appears that by the seventh century b.c.e Carthage was ruled by hereditary kings, including Mago, who may have reigned from 550 to 530 b.c.e.; his son Hastrubal, who also reigned for about 20 years; and Hamilcar, a grandson of Mago, who ruled from about 510 to 490 b.c.e Hanno the Navigator was the ruler who extended the size of Carthage along the coast of North Africa; it already had bases on Sicily and Sardinia The other kings recorded are Hannibal (d 406 b.c.e.), Himilco (r 406–396 b.c.e.), and Mago (r 396–375 b.c.e.) The role of the government in Carthage included taxation and the coining of money, with the revenue expended on the defense of the city of Carthage, its hinterland, and also the lands of its allies; maintaining law and order within the city of Carthage; gaining and sustaining access to reliable supplies of food; and public works projects All of this required a relatively complicated government structure, and it seems that Carthage had a significant aristocratic and administrative class Because important decisions were made in the city of Carthage itself, there seems to have developed a centralized form of government whereby edicts from Carthage were transmitted to the hinterland and to the Carthaginian bases in Sicily, Malta, and other locations By the sixth century b.c.e Carthage had come to be dominated by a city-based aristocratic oligarchy (government controlled by a small group) Although Roman authors such as Livy (59 b.c.e.–17 c.e.) wrote extensively about the Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome, it is clear that he knew little about how Carthage was governed As a result, many of the descriptions come from the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 b.c.e.), and hence the comparisons are largely with Greek models It is uncertain exactly when Carthage changed from a monarchy to a republic, though the date is tradition-