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First States

First States

People built states at different times and in different places—but historians don’t always agree on the details.

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.

Key Ideas

Think about the following questions as you watch the video


  1. 00:48 According to Merry Wiesner-Hanks, where and when did states first emerge?
  2. 01:44 According to Urmi Willoughby and Merry Wiesner-Hanks, what are some features of a state?
  3. 02:23 According to Wiesner-Hanks, what kind of states were the first states in Sumer?
  4. 03:30 What evidence does Willoughby use to justify the argument that Cahokia and Moundville were states?
  5. 06:17 What do the two scholars think of the idea that states need collective imagination?