The term "gunpowder empire" is usually traced to the work of historian Marshall G. Hodgson, who sought to explain the rise of empires in the Islamic world. He used the term to describe new forms of states that appeared in Turkey, Persia, and Mughal India. According to Hodgson, artillery and other firearms had wide social and political consequences for these states. Because acquiring and maintaining guns demanded a highly developed government administration and extensive financial resources, the use of gunpowder tended to produce highly centralized governments that could buy large quantities of tin and copper, manufacture weapons, and train soldiers in the use of firearms.  The term could also easily apply to the largest land empire of the era in Russia.