historical country
Let an agent explain historical countries as a category, identify former states with dates, extents and successors from sources, describe their institutions and legacies, and present contested claims about them neutrally.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions
Understand What historical countries are.
Concept
Concept and kinds.
Concept
Concept.
- What counts as a historical country, and how do empires, kingdoms, feudal states and city states differ? definition
- Which state or period is meant? boundary
Identify
Identifying a state.
Identify
Identification.
- What were the dates, extent, capital and successors of this historical state, according to sources? provenance
- Which entry fits a specific state? action
Study Institutions and legacies.
Institutions
Institutions.
Institutions
Institutions.
- How were historical states governed, and what institutions did they have? provenance
- Which entry fits political history? action
Legacy
Legacies.
Legacy
Legacy.
- What legacies of historical states persist in borders, law, language and identity? provenance
- Which entry fits a successor state? action
Contested Contested claims.
Succession
Succession claims.
Succession
Succession.
- How do modern states and movements claim continuity with historical countries, with positions attributed? provenance
- Is the presentation neutral? boundary
Maps
Maps and names.
Maps
Maps.
- How should historical borders and names be represented without anachronism? provenance
- Which entry fits historical cartography? action
Learn Resources and teaching.
Resources
Resources.
Resources
Resources.
- Which atlases, databases and gazetteers document historical countries? provenance
- Which references are standard? provenance
Teach
Teaching.
Teach
Teaching.
- How can historical states be taught with maps and timelines? action
- Which misconceptions arise? provenance
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Physical world and living systems
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- PHY
- Domain
- PHY.PLC
- Other names and narrower kinds
- Griqua state, historic state of Italy, Beja Kingdoms, feudal state, feudal states of Kerala, Frontier states of the Gupta Empire, Pre-modern Korea, Roman client kingdoms in Britain, former proto-state, historical Chinese state, beylik, marcher lordship
What it is Filled
A state or polity that existed in the past and no longer exists as a sovereign or autonomous entity, including empires, kingdoms, republics, feudal states, princely states, city states and short-lived polities, such as the historic states of Italy, the feudal states of Kerala, the Beja kingdoms and the Griqua states; historical countries are studied for their institutions, borders and legacies, and their names, extents and dates are often contested and described with attribution.
Why it exists Filled
Let an agent explain historical countries as a category, identify former states with dates, extents and successors from sources, describe their institutions and legacies, and present contested claims about them neutrally.
Distinguishing features Filled
- No longer existing
- Defined by period
- Successor states
- Contested boundaries
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Use a historical country to support present-day territorial claims as if settled.
- Present nationalist myths about a former state as established history.
- Draw borders of a historical state with false precision.
Only with a human decision
- Publishing maps or statements that touch on contested territories.
May
- Describe a historical country, its dates and territory from historical sources.
- Distinguish between historical and present-day states with the same name.
Moral aspects Filled
- Histories of former states are used to justify conflict and exclusion.
- Descendant communities have their own memory of these states.
Who is affected
- Descendant communities
- Neighbouring peoples
Owners Filled
Steward
Nobody: a past polity; historians and archives keep its record.
Master systems
- National archives
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q19832712 - registry parent class
- Q19953632 - registry parent class
related
- historical administrative division - category
- former administrative territorial entity - category
- dynasty - ruling houses of former states
- chronology - dating of states
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.historical-country
- Wikidata: Q3024240 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3024240)
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
A historical country is a political and historical entity whose former territory can be measured, but it has no intrinsic physical properties as a category.
Recognition required Filled
- Former sovereign or autonomous state
- Empires, kingdoms, feudal states, city states
- Historical regions were not states; current states are separate
- Not physical; former polities shown on historical maps.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- explain the category
- identify former states
- describe institutions and legacies
- present contested claims neutrally
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Anachronistic borders and names
- Taking sides in succession claims
- Confusing states with regions
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- Historical cartography conventions
- Standards for historical place name authorities
- No regulation of the category
Context of use required Filled
- States that no longer exist.
- empires and kingdoms
- feudal and princely states
- city states and republics
- short-lived and unrecognised polities
- colonial and dependent territories
Sources Filled
- Wikidata item Q3024240: historical country - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Historical country - general description of the item
Open questions
- Should each historical country be a separate entry?
- How should historical atlases be linked?
- How should contested successions be attributed?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q3024240/spec.json