NCERT Solutions for Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 5 The Rise of Empires

About this chapter

An empire is a collection of smaller kingdoms or territories controlled by one powerful ruler. The word comes from the Latin imperium , ‘supreme power’. The smaller kings kept their thrones but became tributaries — they paid tribute and accepted the emperor's overlordship. An empire runs on six things: an army , an administration , laws, coins, weights and measures , control of resources , support for art and learning , and communication networks of roads and waterways. Trade paid for empire. Traders organised themselves into guilds (śhrenīs) with an elected head and their own internal rules; the king did not interfere. The Uttarapatha and Dakṣhiṇapatha were the two great trade routes. Magadha rose because of the fertile Ganga plains, forests for timber and elephants, iron ore from nearby

• Chapter opening
• Features of an empire (Fig. 5.4.1)
• Before ‘Trade, trade routes and guilds’
• The map of trade routes (Fig. 5.5, page 92)
• The Rise of Magadha
• The Arrival of the Greeks
• Alexander and Porus
• Kauṭilya's concept of a kingdom
• The King Who Chose Peace
• Aśhoka's edicts