Chapter 2 Key Terms Flashcards

135121113	Loess	fine, light silt deposited by wind and water. It constitutes the fertile soil of the Yellow River Valley in northern China.	0
135121114	Shang	The dominant people in the earliest Chinese dynasty for which we have written records (ca. 1750-1045 B.C.E.).	1
135121115	Divination	Techniques for ascertaining the future or the will of the gods by interpreting natural phenomena.	2
135121116	Zhou	The people and dynasty that took over the dominant position in north China from the Shang and created the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule.	3
135121117	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.	4
135121118	Legalism	In China, a political philosophy that emphasized the unruliness of human nature and justified state coercion and control.	5
135121119	Confucius	His doctrine of duty and public service had a great influence on subsequent Chinese thought and served as a code of conduct for government officials.	6
135121120	Daoism	Chinese school of thought, originating in the Warring States Period with Laozi (604-531 B.C.E.). _____ 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.	7
135121121	Yin/yang	In Chinese belief, complementary factors that help to maintain the equilibrium of the world.	8
135121122	Kush	An Egyptian name for Nubia, the region alongside the Nile River south of Egypt, where and indigenous kingdom with its own distinctive institutions and cultural traditions arose beginning in the early second millennium B.C.E.	9
135121123	Meroe	Capital of a flourishing kingdom in southern Nubia from the fourth century B.C.E. to the fourth century C.E.	10
135121124	Olmec	The first Mesoamerican civilization. Between 1200 and 400 B.C.E., the _____ people of central Mexico created a vibrant civilization that included intensive agriculture, wide-ranging trade, ceremonial centers, and monumental construction.	11
135121125	Chavin	The first major urban civilization in South America (900 B.C.E-250 B.C.E.).	12
135121126	Llama	A hoofed animal indigenous to the Andes Mountains in South America. It was the only domesticated beast of burden in the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans.	13