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That makes sense, except in the case of colonial empires. Maybe since those empires were fairly diffuse and tended to be ruled from local sources of power (e.g.

That makes sense, except in the case of colonial empires. Maybe since those empires were fairly diffuse and tended to be ruled from local sources of power (e.g. Calcutta for British India), they were still only 1 month away? And, it seems that this kingdom was much smaller than what one could even walk in 1 month, even if there were no roads. 30km x 25km could easily be walked in a day by a relatively fit person at a reasonable pace. So maybe it isn't just travel time, but things like whether the state has enough power to prevent banditry (correlated with distance from capital) or distance-as-measured-by-armies-and-tax-collectors.

schiffern 4y ago
>this kingdom was much smaller I believe the argument was that countries couldn't be larger than 1 month travel time. It's a maximum size limit, not a minimum. Also as others have pointed out, I think you'd be surprised how difficult and slow it is to carry heavy army-supplying loads over a winding network of unimproved trails that periodically get flooded out or turn to mud, all while being assailed by bandits and toll collectors. Travel in that era was not only slow and expensive, but risky.
dalkvist 4y ago
Army movement is mostly limited by food, see https://acoup.blog/2022/07/15/collections-logistics-how-did-they-do-it-part-i-the-problem/ https://acoup.blog/2022/07/15/collections-logistics-how-did-...
dogma1138 4y ago
I think you’ll find 25-30km a day is very optimistic once you need to account for people having to make and break camp and forage for supplies along the way too and you need daylight for that. Those distances might be doable within the developed areas of an empire when you are moving between established settlements or way points with established infrastructure but not when there is no where to rest and no where to eat.
medstrom 4y ago
Have you hiked off-road with backpack? Many are exhausted after 15km, and that's with good shoes and good backpacks. To make it worse, a distance you can do in 1 day isn't the distance you can do every day for weeks, which has to be less. And it's always possible someone pulls an ankle or the rain comes, which will further lengthen the trip.

schiffern 4y ago

>this kingdom was much smaller I believe the argument was that countries couldn't be larger than 1 month travel time. It's a maximum size limit, not a minimum. Also as others have pointed out, I think you'd be surprised how difficult and slow it is to carry heavy army-supplying loads over a winding network of unimproved trails that periodically get flooded out or turn to mud, all while being assailed by bandits and toll collectors. Travel in that era was not only slow and expensive, but risky.

dalkvist 4y ago

Army movement is mostly limited by food, see https://acoup.blog/2022/07/15/collections-logistics-how-did-they-do-it-part-i-the-problem/ https://acoup.blog/2022/07/15/collections-logistics-how-did-...

dogma1138 4y ago

I think you’ll find 25-30km a day is very optimistic once you need to account for people having to make and break camp and forage for supplies along the way too and you need daylight for that. Those distances might be doable within the developed areas of an empire when you are moving between established settlements or way points with established infrastructure but not when there is no where to rest and no where to eat.

medstrom 4y ago

Have you hiked off-road with backpack? Many are exhausted after 15km, and that's with good shoes and good backpacks. To make it worse, a distance you can do in 1 day isn't the distance you can do every day for weeks, which has to be less. And it's always possible someone pulls an ankle or the rain comes, which will further lengthen the trip.