ABSTRACT
Preindustrial states flourished in Asia, among them the Indus civilization of the Indus Valley, which ruled over a large area between about 2700 and 1700 BC, trading with Mesopotamia. The state was centered around several important cities, among them Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Meanwhile, civilizations rose in both northern and southern China at about the same time. In the north, Shang rulers achieved dominance by force among a jigsaw of competing kingdoms. Their artisans were famous for their bronzeworking. A period of competing kingdoms headed by war lords followed, until the first Chinese emperor, Shihuangdi, unified China by force in 221 BC. The institutions of civilization passed from India and China to Southeast Asia, where the Khmer civilization, based on Angkor in modern-day Cambodia, flourished from AD 802 under powerful rulers based on Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. The Angkor state came apart as a result of climate change, social unrest, and warfare during the fifteenth century.
