Ancient States

Ziggurat at Warka

Probably the first states began in Sumer, around 3500 BC. There were also early states in Iran, India and Egypt. States are mostly bigger and more complicated forms of chiefdoms: while in a chiefdom there is a super-chief, a chief, and then the chief's friends who help him out (3 levels of government), in a state there are usually at least five levels of government: like a king, generals, governors, mayors, and the mayor's assistants.

There are a lot of different kinds of states. The Greek philosopher Aristotle was the first to divide the kinds of states up into different categories, and we still pretty much use the categories that Aristotle thought of.
One kind of state is a monarchy, which means it is ruled by one man or woman: a king or queen.
Another kind is an oligarchy, where several men or women get together in a council and decide what to do. Oligarchy means the rule of the few.
States may also be tyrannies, which are ruled by one man but one who rules somehow outside of the law, by force or by charm.
Some states are democracies, ruled by the people, who vote on what to do.
And some ancient states were republics, where people vote for other people to represent them in a council, like Senators.
Many states mix more than one of these together, too.

Chiefdoms
Complex Chiefdoms
Empires
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