What are traditional societies?

Before we can understand the world-wide revolution that has led to the development of modern nation-states, it is necessary to have some understanding of the kinds of social organization that were used before this massive revolution began. It is possible to distinguish three kinds of traditional societies that existed prior to the development of the modern world. These are aristocrat peasant society, tribal society, and a form of mixed tribal and aristocratic society that used to be common in lands that were not very fertile. It is also necessary to briefly describe colonial society, which spread across much of the world in the 19th and early 20th centuries.