Fiscal system” may be defined as the apparatus or bureaucracy installed by a state or a ruler in order to take in revenue in the form of taxes, dues, and so on, and also the apparatus designed to control expenditures. Such a system can be studied in at least three aspects: First, its relationship to the ruler or the government; second, its relationship to those groups in the population who serve as sources of revenue (“taxpayers”); and third, the policies it develops in its own interests. The first aspect concentrates on the task the fiscal administration is assigned: raising sufficient revenue to cover expected expenses (or to limit expenses according to income). The focus in this case is on the central administration where political decisions are made and where the final accounting takes place. The second aspect concentrates on the practical process of raising revenue. Thus, the focus should be on the provinces and on the face-to-face contact between fiscal agents and the “taxpayers.” The third aspect concentrates on the fiscal administration itself, the social background of the fiscal agents, and the good or bad functioning of the apparatus viewed as a social organism in its own right. It is the first aspect that has dominated research; in this article, an additional focus will be given to the “provincial” aspect.

Steps taken by Akbar to improve agriculture:

• Acceptance and following of the Todar Mai’s measures by which he ordered periodic survey of all the cultivable land in his empire.
• Abolition of Jagirs who created problem in the surveyed land.
• Implementation of zfibti system in 1582.  
• He assessed the crops in search of best crops and offered and appreciated the farmer with wealth who comes up with best crop of the year.

Islamic taxes are taxes sanctioned by Islamic law.

Islamic taxes include:

i. zakat - one of the five pillars of Islam. Only imposed on Muslims, it is generally described as a 2.5% tax on savings to be donated to the Muslim poor and needy. It was a tax collected by the Islamic state.
ii. jizya - a per capita yearly tax historically levied by Islamic states on certain non-Muslim subjects—dhimmis—permanently residing in Muslim lands under Islamic law, the tax excluded the poor, women, children and the elderly.
iii. kharaj - a land tax initially imposed only on non-Muslims but soon after mandated for Muslims as well.
iv. ushr - a 10% tax on the harvests of irrigated land and 10% tax on harvest from rain-watered land and 5% on Land dependent on well water. The term has also been used for a 10% tax on merchandise imported from states that taxed the Muslims on their products. Caliph `Umar ibn Al-Khattāb was the first Muslim ruler to levy ushr

Iqta System

• The Iqtadari was a unique type of land distribution and administrative system evolved during the sultanate of Iltutmish.
• Under this system, the entire empire was very evenly divided into several large and small tracts of land, called the Iqtas.
• These plots of land were assigned to the various nobles, officers and soldiers for the purpose of easy and flawless administration and revenue collection.
• The Iqtas were transferable, i.e., the holders of Iqtas-Iqtadars-were transferred from one region to other every three to four years.
• The holders of small Iqtas were individual troopers. They had no administrative responsibilities.
• Muhammad of Ghur in 1206 A.D. the able king was the first to introduce the Iqta system in India, but it was lltutrnish who gave it an institutional form. The Iqtadari system witnessed numerous changes during the Sultanate period. Initially, Iqta was a revenue-yielding piece of land which was assigned in lieu of salary. However, during Firuz Shah Tughlaq's reign,in the year  1351 A,D, it became hereditary.

The First Crusade took place in 1098-99. Soldiers from France and Italy captured Antioch in Syria and claimed Jerusalem. There was mass slaughter of Muslims and Jews in the city. The Franks quickly established four crusader states in the region of Syria-Palestine. These territories were collectively known as Outremer (the land of overseas).

The discovery of the Sumerian city of Ur has shed light on the lives of the early Mesopotamians. The Mesopotamian cities fell short in terms of town planning as compared to the Harappan centres but followed a uniform pattern nevertheless. The city was divided into three parts - the sacred area, the walled city on a mound and the outer town. The sacred area consisted of the temple tower or the <i>ziggurat </i>dedicated to the patron god of the city. There were also smaller temples of other gods. This area also had the storehouse as well as the offices. People resided in the walled city and the outer town areas. Houses were constructed along the streets, and each house had a central courtyard with rooms attached around it.

Hammurabi was a famous king of Babylonia. He got prepared the world's first Code of Laws. He also got it engraved on a very big stone shaft in the form of 282 articles.

These laws were connected with trade, exchange of money, payment of taxes, theft, murder etc. Most of the laws were based on the principal of "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth".

The code of Hammurabi is inscribed on this seven-foot basalt stele. The stele is now at the Louvre. The code of Hammurabi refers to a set of rules or laws enacted by the Babylonian King Hammurabi ( region 1792-1750 B.C. ) . The code governed the people living in his fast-growing empire.
 

1. The Mesopotamians were the first people to introduce the use of the potter's wheel to the world.

2. They were the first to enter into written trade agreement.

3. They also introduced to the world the idea of a written Code of Law.

4. They were the first people to divide a day into 24 hours, an hour into 60 minutes and a minute into 60 seconds.

5. They were first to develop a script and established the libraries and reading rooms.

The contributions: 
1. The Mesopotamians were the first people to introduce the use of the potter's wheel to the world.
2. They were the first to enter into written trade agreement.
3. They also introduced to the world the idea of a written Code of Law.
4. They were the first people to divide a day into 24 hours, an hour into 60 minutes and a minute into 60 seconds.
5. They were first to develop a script and established the libraries and reading rooms.

The wheel was a great pre-historic invention. Early men used the wheel to move heavy objects, as a means of transport & for pottery.People even today make great use of this invention.
The invention of the wheel brought about new ways of doing things. This made work easier and inspired even more new ideas for inventions.

The invention of wheel changed the life of early man in the following ways
1) It was used to carry goods from one place to another.
2) It was used to move from one place to another.
3) It was used to make carts like sledges and rafts.

a. Historians have referred various sources to study roman history.
b. These include both literary and archaeological sources.
c. We may give example of  various buildings, monuments which have been used by historians to re create history.

d. They have also used pottery, coins , mosaics of that period to understand and study the rich Roman civilization.

Both Greece and Rome were peninsulas. They both had plenty of mountains, they were both surrounded by sea(s) on three sides, and they both had a Mediterranean climate. But Rome had fertile soil on their Italian Peninsula, while the Greeks had poor soil on their Pelopennesus Peninsula. Rome's political structure provided for representation by two political parties in the Senate. The patricians represented the aristocracy, or nobles, while the plebeians represented the middle-class and wealthy merchants. The Greek government did not have political parties.

The western German tribes consisted of the Marcomanni, Alamanni, Franks, Angles, and Saxons, while the Eastern tribes north of the Danube consisted of the Vandals, Gepids, Ostrogoths, and Visigoths. The Alans, Burgundians, and Lombards are less easy to define. There were many Germanic tribes: the Goths, Vandals, Franks, Lombards, Angles, Saxons, Swedes, Danes, and others. During the first millennium AD a great deal of the European continent came under Germanic rule and thus their names were imported into southern regions such as Spain and Italy.

Mesopotamia is a Greek word which means ‘The land between the two rivers'. It was so called because the whole area of Mesopotamian civilization was planked by the two rivers, Tigers and Euphrates.
The important centres of this civilization were Sumer, Babylonia, Akkad and Assyria.

Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes that are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction.  Evolution in its contemporary meaning in biology typically refers to the changes in the proportions of biological types in a population over time (see the entries on evolutionary thought before Darwin and Darwin: from Origin of Species to Descent of Man for earlier meanings).

The three unique characteristics of Mesopotamian civilization were:

1. Towns were constructed according to pre-planned strategy.
2. Baked bricks were used for construction.
3. Most of the houses were of single story having a courtyard.

Vassalage is a kind of feudal system who is obliged to follow his lord or monarch. The obligation may be in the form of military support when required or mutual protection in return to certain privileges.

• City life began in Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia is derived from the Greek words ‘mesos’, meaning middle, and ‘potamos’, meaning river.)
• It is a flat land between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers that is now part of the Republic of Iraq.

• The Arabs were skilled warriors.
• The Arabs were successful merchants, who maintained their trade relations with the far off countries.
• The spread of Islam in different countries, also helped them in consolidating their empire.
• They collected information from the available sources and developed it still further.