Xuni Migration Period

The Xuni Migration Period is a name given by scholars to the period between the 8th and 5th centuries BCE, when the Mañi people acquired the technology to construct ships with crab-claw sails and outriggers, used it to raid the coast of Soltenna and Akulanen, and used the wealth and power to spread inland. Before the Migration Period, archeologists believe that power in Mañi culture was based on gift-giving. Polities, ranging from villages to confederations of cities, were governed by the ruler who had the ability to distribute the most valuable gifts. The arrival of traders from Nagu with considerable wealth destabilized this system, as there was now evidence that even the most powerful rulers were less wealthy than the merchants from across the sea. The Mañi culture's response to this social upheaval was to begin raiding to provide increasingly profligate gifts. Armies of raiders became armies which confederations could use to turn others into tributaries or even subjects. This period ended with the First Xuni-Kwang War in 521 BCE, in which the Kwang armies stopped the Mañic expansion.