ties of
kin, or by common language and customs. The control was held by the
elderly men of experience, and exercised according to unwritten law.
The horde was only loosely organized; it did not own land, but ranged
over the hunting-grounds within its reach, and often small units
separated permanently from the larger group. When hunting gave place
to the domestication of animals, the horde became more definitely
organized into the tribe, strong leadership developed in the defense
of the tribe's property, and the military chieftain bent others in
submission to his will. As long as land was of value for pasturage
mainly, it was owned by the whole tribe in common. When agriculture
was substituted for the pastoral stage of civilization, the tribe
broke up by clans into villages, each under its chief and advisory
council of heads of families. So far the mode of making a living had
determined custom and organization.

Village communities may remain almost unchanged for centuries, as in
China, or here and there one of them may become a centre of trade, as
in mediaeval Germany. In the latter case it draws to itself all classes
of people, develops wealth and culture, and presently dominates its
neighbors. Small city states grew up in ancient time along the Nile in
Egypt, and by and by federated under a particularly able leader, or
were conquered by the band of an ambitious chieftain, who took the
title of king. In such fashion were organized the great kingdoms and
empires of antiquity.

Social disintegration and foreign conquest broke up the great empires,
and for centuries in the Middle Ages society existed in local groups;
but common economic and racial interests, together with the political
ambition of princes and nobles, drew together semi-independent
principalities and communes, until they became welded into real
nations. At first the state was monarchical, because a few kings and
lords were able to dominate the mass, and because strength and
authority were more needed than privileges of citizenship; then the
economic interest became paramount, and merchants and manufacturers
demanded a share in government for the protection of their interests.
Education improved the general level of intelligence, and invention
and growing commerce improved the condition of the people until
eventually all classes claimed a right to champion their own
interests. The most progressive nations racially, politically, and
economically, outstrip