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Concept
Hydraulic empire
Summary
A hydraulic empire, also known as a hydraulic despotism, hydraulic society, hydraulic civilization, or water monopoly empire, is a social or government structure which maintains power and control through exclusive control over access to water. It arises through the need for flood control and irrigation, which requires central coordination and a specialized bureaucracy.
Often associated with these terms and concepts is the notion of a water dynasty. This body is a political structure which is commonly characterized by a system of hierarchy and control often based on class or caste. Power, both over resources (food, water, energy) and a means of enforcement such as the military, is vital for the maintenance of control.
A developed hydraulic civilization maintains control over its population by means of controlling the supply of water. The term was coined by the German-American historian Karl August Wittfogel (1896–1988), in his book Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power (1957). Wittfogel asserted that such "hydraulic civilizations", although they were not all located in the Orient or characteristic of all Oriental societies, were essentially different from those of the Western world. According to Wittfogel, most of the first civilizations in history, such as Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, Pre-Columbian Mexico and Peru, are believed to have been hydraulic empires. Most hydraulic empires existed in arid or desert regions, but imperial China also had some such characteristics, due to the exacting needs of rice cultivation.
The Maurya Empire in India was classified by Wittfogel as a grandiose hydraulic economy. Kautilya while referring to the udakabhaga (water-cess, cess being a term used in India, Scotland and Ireland for an additional tax) lists various kinds of irrigation, viz., irrigated by manual labour, by carrying water on the shoulder, by water lifts, and by raising water from lakes, rivers etc.
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