Key Terms
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| 279420057 | Neolithic/Agricultural Revolution | Transformation of farming that resulted in the eighteenth century from the spread of new crops, improvements in cultivation techniques and livestock breeding, and the consolidation of small holdings into large farms from which tenants and sharecroppers were forcibly expelled | 0 | |
| 279420058 | Civilization | An ambiguous term often used to denote more complex societies but sometimes used by anthropologists to describe any group of people sharing a set of cultural traits | 1 | |
| 279420059 | Chavin | First major urban civilization in South America (900-250 B.C.E.). Its capital, Chavín de Huántar, was located high in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Chavín became politically and economically dominant in a densely populated region that included two distinct ecological zones, the Peruvian coastal plain and the Andean foothills | 2 | |
| 279420060 | Egypt | civilization located in modern-day Egypt; ruled by a pharoah; capitals included Memphis and Thebes; created the writing system using hieroglyphics; obsessed with ma'at and afterlife | 3 | |
| 279420061 | Mesopotamia | located in the Fertile Cresent; occupied by Sumerians, Semetic and Babylonians; organized in city-states; created writing system called cunieform | 4 | |
| 279420062 | Indus valley | Harappa and Mohenjo- daro were the largest cities; technologically advanced; cities were abandoned after 1900 B.C.E. | 5 | |
| 279420063 | Babylonia | Largest and most important city in Mesopotamia; achieved particular eminence as the capital of the Amorite king Hammurabi in the eighteenth century B.C.E. and the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century B.C.E. | 6 | |
| 279420064 | Hellenization | Historians' term for the era, usually dated 323-30 B.C.E., in which Greek culture spread across western Asia and northeastern Africa after the conquests of Alexander the Great. The period ended with the fall of the last major Hellenistic kingdom to Rome, but Greek cultural influence persisted until the spread of Islam in the seventh century C.E. | 7 | |
| 279420065 | Zoroastrianism | A religion originating in ancient Iran with the prophet Zoroaster. It centered on a single benevolent deity—Ahuramazda; Emphasizing truth-telling, purity, and reverence for nature; demanded that humans choose sides in the struggle between good and evil; good conduct indicated their support for Ahuramazda would be rewarded in the afterlife; religion of the Achaemenid and Sasanid Persians, Zoroastrianism may have spread within their realms and influenced Judaism, Christianity, and other faiths | 8 | |
| 279420066 | Olmec | The first Mesoamerican civilization. Between ca. 1200 and 400 B.C.E., the Olmec people of central Mexico created a vibrant civilization that included intensive agriculture, wide-ranging trade, ceremonial centers, and monumental construction. The Olmec had great cultural influence on later Mesoamerican societies, passing on artistic styles, religious imagery, sophisticated astronomical observation for the construction of calendars, and a ritual ball game | 9 | |
| 279420067 | Polis | The Greek term for a city-state, an urban center and the agricultural territory under its control; the characteristic form of political organization in southern and central Greece in the Archaic and Classical periods; some were oligarchic, others democratic, depending on the powers delegated to the Council and the Assembly | 10 | |
| 279420068 | Mauryan Empire | The first state to unify most of the Indian subcontinent. It was founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 324 B.C.E. and survived until 184 B.C.E. From its capital at Pataliputra in the Ganges Valley it grew wealthy from taxes on agriculture, iron mining, and control of trade routes | 11 | |
| 279420069 | Han Dynasty | term used to designate (1) the ethnic Chinese people who originated in the Yellow River Valley and spread throughout regions of China suitable for agriculture and (2) the dynasty of emperors who ruled from 202 B.C.E. to 220 C.E | 12 | |
| 279420070 | Silk Road | Caravan routes connecting China and the Middle East across Central Asia and Iran | 13 | |
| 279420071 | Horse collar | Harnessing method that increased the efficiency of horses by shifting the point of traction from the animal's neck to the shoulders; its adoption favors the spread of horse-drawn plows and vehicles | 14 | |
| 279420072 | Caravel | A small, highly maneuverable three-masted ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish in the exploration of the Atlantic | 15 | |
| 279420073 | Trans- Saharan trade | Trading network linking North Africa with sub-Saharan Africa across the Sahara | 16 | |
| 279420074 | Tibet | Country centered on the high, mountain-bounded plateau north of India. Tibetan political power occasionally extended farther to the north and west between the seventh and thirteen centuries | 17 | |
| 279420075 | Karma | In Indian tradition, the residue of deeds performed in past and present lives that adheres to a "spirit" and determines what form it will assume in its next life cycle. The doctrines of karma and reincarnation were used by the elite in ancient India to encourage people to accept their social position and do their duty | 18 | |
| 279420076 | Hinduisim | A general term for a wide variety of beliefs and ritual practices that have developed in the Indian subcontinent since antiquity. Hinduism has roots in ancient Vedic, Buddhist, and south Indian religious concepts and practices. It spread along the trade routes to Southeast Asia | 19 | |
| 279420077 | Jesus of Nazareth | A Jew from Galilee in northern Israel who sought to reform Jewish beliefs and practices. He was executed as a revolutionary by the Romans. Hailed as the Messiah and son of God by his followers, he became the central figure in Christianity, a belief system that developed in the centuries after his death | 20 | |
| 279420078 | Paul of Tarsus | A Jew from the Greek city of Tarsus in Anatolia, he initially persecuted the followers of Jesus but, after receiving a revelation on the road to Syrian Damascus, became a Christian. Taking advantage of his Hellenized background and Roman citizenship, he traveled throughout Syria-Palestine, Anatolia, and Greece, preaching the new religion and establishing churches. Finding his greatest success among pagans ("gentiles"), he began the process by which Christianity separated from Judaism | 21 | |
| 279420079 | Daoism | Chinese school of thought, originating in the Warring States Period with Laozi (604-531 B.C.E.). Daoism offered an alternative to the Confucian emphasis on hierarchy and duty. Daoists believe that the world is always changing and is devoid of absolute morality or meaning. They accept the world as they find it, avoid futile struggles, and deviate as little as possible from the Dao, or "path" of nature | 22 | |
| 279420080 | Legalism | In China, a political philosophy that emphasized the unruliness of human nature and justified state coercion and control. The Qin ruling class invoked it to validate the authoritarian nature of their regime and its profligate expenditure of subjects' lives and labor. It was superseded in the Han era by a more benevolent Confucian doctrine of governmental moderation | 23 | |
| 279420081 | Mongols | A people of this name is mentioned as early as the records of the Tang Empire, living as nomads in northern Eurasia. After 1206 they established an enormous empire under Genghis Khan, linking western and eastern Eurasia | 24 | |
| 279420082 | Muhammad | Arab prophet; founder of religion of Islam | 25 | |
| 279420083 | Islam | Religion expounded by the Prophet Muhammad (570-632 C.E.) on the basis of his reception of divine revelations, which were collected after his death into the Quran. In the tradition of Judaism and Christianity, and sharing much of their lore, Islam calls on all people to recognize one creator god—Allah—who rewards or punishes believers after death according to how they led their lives | 26 | |
| 279420084 | Byzantine Empire | Historians' name for the eastern portion of the Roman Empire from the fourth century onward, taken from "Byzantion," an early name for Constantinople, the Byzantine capital city. The empire fell to the Ottomans in 1453 | 27 | |
| 279420085 | Umma | The community of all Muslims. A major innovation against the background of seventh-century Arabia, where traditionally kinship rather than faith had determined membership in a community | 28 | |
| 279420086 | Tang dynasty | Empire unifying China and part of Central Asia, founded 618 and ended 907. The Tang emperors presided over a magnificent court at their capital, Chang'an | 29 | |
| 279420087 | Nomads | A way of life, forced by a scarcity of resources, in which groups of people continually migrate to find pastures and water | 30 | |
| 279420088 | Inca | Largest and most powerful Andean empire. Controlled the Pacific coast of South America from Ecuador to Chile from its capital of Cuzco | 31 | |
| 279420089 | Aztec | Also known as Mexica, the Aztecs created a powerful empire in central Mexico (1325-1521 C.E.). They forced defeated peoples to provide goods and labor as a tax | 32 | |
| 279420090 | Maya | Mesoamerican civilization concentrated in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula and in Guatemala and Honduras but never unified into a single empire. Major contributions were in mathematics, astronomy, and development of the calendar | 33 | |
| 279420091 | "Theatre state" | Historians' term for a state that acquires prestige and power by developing attractive cultural forms and staging elaborate public ceremonies (as well as redistributing valuable resources) to attract and bind subjects to the center. Examples include the Gupta Empire in India and Srivijaya in Southeast Asia | 34 | |
| 279420092 | Mecca | City in western Arabia; birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, and ritual center of the Islamic religion | 35 | |
| 279420093 | Crusades | Armed pilgrimages to the Holy Land by Christians determined to recover Jerusalem from Muslim rule. The Crusades brought an end to western Europe's centuries of intellectual and cultural isolation | 36 | |
| 279420094 | Charlemage | King of the Franks (r. 768-814); emperor (r. 800-814). Through a series of military conquests he established the Carolingian Empire, which encompassed all of Gaul and parts of Germany and Italy. Though illiterate himself, he sponsored a brief intellectual revival | 37 | |
| 279420095 | Ottoman Empire | Islamic state founded by Osman in northwestern Anatolia ca. 1300. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire was based at Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) from 1453 to 1922. It encompassed lands in the Middle East, North Africa, the Caucasus, and eastern Europe | 38 | |
| 279420096 | Black Death | An outbreak of bubonic plague that spread across Asia, North Africa, and Europe in the mid-fourteenth century, carrying off vast numbers of persons | 39 | |
| 279420097 | Papacy | The central administration of the Roman Catholic Church, of which the pope is the head | 40 | |
| 279420098 | Song Dynasty | Empire in central and southern China (960-1126) while the Liao people controlled the north. Empire in southern China (1127-1279; the "Southern Song") while the Jin people controlled the north. Distinguished for its advances in technology, medicine, astronomy, and mathematics | 41 | |
| 279420099 | Gunpowder | A mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal, in various proportions. The formula, brought to China in the 400s or 500s, was first used to make fumigators to keep away insect pests and evil spirits. In later centuries it was used to make explosives and grenades and to propel cannonballs, shot, and bullets | 42 | |
| 279420100 | Moveable type | Type in which each individual character is cast on a separate piece of metal. It replaced woodblock printing, allowing for the arrangement of individual letters and other characters on a page, rather than requiring the carving of entire pages at a time. It may have been invented in Korea in the thirteenth century | 43 | |
| 279420101 | Dhow | Ship of small to moderate size used in the western Indian Ocean, traditionally with a triangular sail and a sewn timber hull | 44 | |
| 279420102 | Junk | A very large flatbottom sailing ship produced in the Tang, Ming, and Song Empires, specially designed for long-distance commercial travel | 45 | |
| 279420103 | Trireme | Greek and Phoenician warship of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. It was sleek and light, powered by 170 oars arranged in three vertical tiers. Manned by skilled sailors, it was capable of short bursts of speed and complex maneuvers | 46 | |
| 279420104 | Atlantic system | The network of trading links after 1500 that moved goods, wealth, people, and cultures around the Atlantic Ocean Basin | 47 | |
| 279420105 | Champa rice | Quick-maturing rice that can allow two harvests in one growing season. Originally introduced into Champa from India, it was later sent to China as a tribute gift by the Champa state | 48 | |
| 279420106 | Sunni | Muslims belonging to branch of Islam believing that the community should select its own leadership. The majority religion in most Islamic countries | 49 | |
| 279420107 | Shi'ite | Muslims belonging to the branch of Islam believing that God vests leadership of the community in a descendant of Muhammad's son-in-law Ali. Shi'ism is the state religion of Iran | 50 | |
| 279420108 | Medina | City in western Arabia to which the Prophet Muhammad and his followers emigrated in 622 to escape persecution in Mecca | 51 | |
| 279420109 | Chang'an | City in the Wei Valley in eastern China. It became the capital of the Qin and early Han Empires. Its main features were imitated in the cities and towns that sprang up throughout the Han Empire | 52 | |
| 279420110 | Beijing | China's northern capital, first used as an imperial capital in 906 and now the capital of the People's Republic of China | 53 | |
| 279420111 | Grand Canal | The 1,100-mile (1,771-kilometer) waterway linking the Yellow and the Yangzi Rivers. It was begun in the Han period and completed during the Sui Empire | 54 | |
| 279420112 | Aquaduct | A conduit, either elevated or underground, using gravity to carry water from a source to a location—usually a city—that needed it. The Romans built many aqueducts in a period of substantial urbanization | 55 | |
| 279420113 | Kievan Russia | State established at Kiev in Ukraine ca. 882 by Scandinavian adventurers asserting authority over a mostly Slavic farming population | 56 | |
| 279420114 | Yuan Empire | Empire created in China and Siberia by Khubilai Khan; 1271-1368 | 57 | |
| 279420115 | Magellan | Portuguese navigator who led the Spanish expedition of 1519-1522 that was the first to sail around the world | 58 | |
| 279420116 | European Renaissance | A period of intense artistic and intellectual activity, said to be a "rebirth" of Greco-Roman culture. Usually divided into an Italian Renaissance, from roughly the mid-fourteenth to mid-fifteenth century, and a Northern (trans-Alpine) Renaissance, from roughly the early fifteenth to early seventeenth century | 59 | |
| 279420117 | Zheng He | (1371-1435) An imperial eunuch and Muslim, entrusted by the Ming emperor Yongle with a series of state voyages that took his gigantic ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa | 60 | |
| 279420118 | Creoles | In colonial Spanish America, term used to describe someone of European descent born in the New World. Elsewhere in the Americas, the term is used to describe all non-native peoples | 61 | |
| 279420119 | Mestizos | The term used by Spanish authorities to describe someone of mixed Amerindian and European descent | 62 | |
| 279420120 | Mulattos | The term used in Spanish and Portuguese colonies to describe someone of mixed African and European descent | 63 | |
| 279420121 | Columbian Exchange | The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages | 64 |
