Exam Vocab Flashcards

44924966	Stone Age	The historical period characterized by the production of tools from stone and other nonmetallic substances. It was followed in some places by the Bronze Age and more generally by the Iron Age	0
44924967	Hammurabi	Amorite ruler of Babylon. He conquered many city-states in southern and norther Mesopotamia and is best known for a code of laws, inscribe on a black stone pillar, illustrating the principles to be used in legal cases	1
44924968	Mandate of Heaven	Chinese religious and political ideology developed by the Zhou, according to which it was the prerogative of Heaven, the chief deity, to grant power to the ruler of China and to take away that power if the ruler failed to conduct himself justly and in the best interests of his subjects	2
44924969	Indulgence	The forgiveness of the punishment due for past sins, granted by the Catholic Church authorities as a reward for a pious act.	3
44924970	Monotheism	Belief in the existence of a single divine entity	4
44924971	Caliphate	Office established in succession to the Prophet Muhammad, to rule the Islamic empire; also the name of that empire	5
44924972	Persian Wars	Conflicts between Greek city-states and the Persian Empire, ranging from the Ionian Revolt through Darius's punitive expedition that failed at Marathon and the defeat of Xerxes' massive invasion of Greece by the Spartan-led Hellenic League	6
44924973	Peloponnesian Wars	A protracted and costly conflict between the Athenian and Spartan alliance systems that convulsed most of the Greek world. The war was largely a consequence of Athenian imperialism.	7
44924974	Socrates	Athenian philosopher who shifted the emphasis of philosophical investigation from questions of natural science to ethics and human behavior. He attracted young disciples from elite families by revealing the ignorance and pretensions of others, culminating in his trial and execution by the Athenian state.	8
44924975	Hellenistic Age	Historians' term for the era, usually dated 323-30 BCE, in which Greek culture spread across western Asia and northeastern Africa after the conquest 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	9
44924976	Tribute System	A system in which defeated peoples were forced to pay a tax in the form of goods and labor. This forced transfer of food, cloth, and other goods subsidized the development of large cities. An important component of Aztec and Inca economies	10
44924977	Roman Principate	A term used to characterize Roman government in the first three centuries CE, based on the ambiguous title princeps adopted by Augustus to conceal his military dictatorship	11
45161329	Alexander	King of Macedonia in northern Greece. Between 334 and 323 BCE he conquered the Persian Empire, reached the Indus Valley, founded many Greek-style cities, and spread the Greek culture across the Middle East	12
45161330	Pax Romana	Literally, Roman Peace, it connoted the stability and prosperity that Roman rule brought tot he lands of the Roman Empire in the first two centuries of CE. The movement of people and trade goods along Roman roads and safe seas allowed for the spread of cultural practices, technologies, and religious ideas	13
45161331	Jesus	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	14
45161332	Bubonic Plague	A bacterial disease of fleas that can be transmitted by flea bites to rodents and humans; humans in late stages of the illness can spread the bacteria by coughing. Because of its very high mortality rate and the difficulty of preventing its spread, major outbreaks have created crises in many parts of the world	15
45161333	Third-Century Crisis	Historians' term for the political, military, and economic turmoil that beset thr Roman Empire during much of the third century BCE: frequent changes of ruler, civil wars, barbarian invasions, decline of urban centers, and the near destruction of long-distance commerce and the monetary economy	16
45161334	Byzantine Empire	Historians' name for the eastern portian of the Roman Empire from the fourth century onward, taken from "Byzantium," an early name for Constantinople, the capital	17
45161335	Varna	Two categories of social identity of great importance in Indian history. Varna are the four major social divisions: the Brahmin priest class, the Kshatriya warrior/administrator class, the Vaishya merchant/ farmer class, and the Shudra laborer class.	18
45161336	Monsoon	Seasonal winds in the Indian Ocean caused by the differences in temperature between the rapidly heating and cooling landmasses of Africa and Asia and the slowly changing ocean waters. These strong and predictable winds have long been ridden across the open sea by sailors, and the large amounts of rainfall that they deposit on parts of India, Southeast Asia, and China allow for the cultivation of several crops a year	19
45161337	Moksha	The Hindu concept of the spirit's "liberation" from the endless cycles of rebirths. There are various avenues- such as the physical discipline, meditation, and acts of devotion to the gods- by which the spirit can distance itself from desire for the things of this world and be merged with the divine force that animates the universe	20
45161338	Sassanid Empire	Iranian empire, established ca. 224 with a capital in Ctesiphon, Mesopotamia. The Sassanid emperors established Zoroastrianism as the state religion. Islamic Arab armies overthrew the empire ca. 651.	21
45161339	Bantu	Collective name of a large group of sub-Saharan African languages and of the peoples speaking these languages	22
45161340	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	23
45161341	Atlantic Circuit	The network of trade routes connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas that underlay the Atlantic system	24
45161342	Encomienda	A grant of authority over a population of the Amerindians in the Spanish colonies. It provided the grant holder with a supply of cheap labor and periodic payments of goods by the Amerindians. It obliged the grant holder to Christianize the Amerinidians	25
45161343	Manumission	A grant of legal freedom to an individual slave	26
45161344	Movable 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 carvings of entire pages at a time. It may have been invented in Korea in the 13th century	27