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Which historical instance of centralized single-authority rule should count as the origin of the unitary state as a system of government?

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Open Question

A unitary, centralised single-authority state is a structural form of government rather than a legal innovation with one founding document, and it has arisen independently, more than once, in civilisations separated by continents and centuries. No reference work's account of any one exemplar claims priority over the others as the form's true beginning.

What would resolve this A scholarly consensus naming one reference case for the unitary state's origin, the way a single written constitution settles the question for a federal system, rather than the several independently credited exemplars, ancient Egypt, Qin China's 221 BCE unification, and post-medieval France's long centralisation, presently named across general reference works with no one privileged over the others.
OpenComparative political science, history of political institutionsAtlas Relation Vocabulary
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This question is about the unitary state's origin year specifically, not about whether unitary states exist or how the form is defined.

Sources
Atlas Relation Vocabulary
Political Atlas
Unitary State (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia BritannicaView the Source
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The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.