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AP World Unit I
AP World - 00 - Early Civ. to ~1200
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Hammurabi | Amorite ruler of Babylon (r. 1792-1750 B.C.E.). He conquered many city-states in southern and northern Mesopotamia and is best known for a code of laws, inscribed on a black stone pillar, illustrating the principles to be used in legal cases. (p. 34) |
| 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. (p. 11) |
| Neolithic | The period of the Stone Age associated with the ancient Agricultural Revolution(s). It follows the Paleolithic period. (p. 11) |
| Paleolithic | The period of the Stone Age associated with the evolution of humans. It predates the Neolithic period. (p. 11) |
| Agricultural Revolution | The change from food gathering to food production that occurred between ca. 8000 and 2000 B.C.E. Also known as the Neolithic Revolution. (p. 17) |
| Babylon | The largest and most important city in Mesopotamia. It 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. (p. 29) |
| Sumerians | The people who dominated southern Mesopotamia through the end of the third millennium B.C.E. They were responsible for the creation of many fundamental elements of Mesopotamian culture-such as irrigation technology, cuneiform, and religious conceptions. |
| Semitic | Family of related languages long spoken across parts of western Asia and northern Africa. In antiquity these languages included Hebrew, Aramaic, and Phoenician. The most widespread modern member of the Semitic family is Arabic. (p. 32) |
| city-state | A small independent state consisting of an urban center and the surrounding agricultural territory. A characteristic political form in early Mesopotamia, Archaic and Classical Greece, Phoenicia, and early Italy. (p. 32) |
| ziggurat | massive pyramidal stepped tower made of mudbricks. It is associated with religious complexes in ancient Mesopotamian cities, but its function is unknown. (p. 37) |
| cuneiform | A system of writing in which wedge-shaped symbols represented words or syllables. It originated in Mesopotamia and was used initially for Sumerian and Akkadian but later was adapted to represent other languages of western Asia. |
| ma'at | Egyptian term for the concept of divinely created and maintained order in the universe. Reflecting the ancient Egyptians' belief in an essentially beneficent world, the divine ruler was the earthly guarantor of this order. (See also pyramid.) (p. 42) |
| Memphis | The capital of Old Kingdom Egypt, near the head of the Nile Delta. Early rulers were interred in the nearby pyramids. (p. 43) |
| Thebes | Capital city of Egypt and home of the ruling dynasties during the Middle and New Kingdoms. Amon, patron deity of Thebes, became one of the chief gods of Egypt. Monarchs were buried across the river in the Valley of the Kings. (p. 43) |
| hieroglyphics | System of writing in which pictorial symbols represented sounds, syllables, or concepts. Used for official and monumental inscriptions in ancient Egypt. |
| papyrus | A reed that grows along the banks of the Nile River in Egypt. From it was produced a coarse, paperlike writing medium used by the Egyptians and many other peoples in the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East. (p. 44) |
| Harappa | Site of one of the great cities of the Indus Valley civilization of the third millennium B.C.E. It was located on the northwest frontier of the zone of cultivation , and may have been a center for the acquisition of raw materials. (p. 48) |
| Mohenjo-Daro | Largest city of the Indus Valley civilization. It was centrally located in the extensive floodplain of the Indus River. Little is known about the political institutions of Indus Valley communities, but the large-scale implies central planning. (p. 48) |
| loess | fine, light silt deposited by wind and water. It constitutes the fertile soil of the Yellow River Valley in northern China. Because loess soil is not compacted, easily worked, but it leaves the region vulnerable to earthquakes. (p.58) |
| Shang | The dominant people in the earliest Chinese dynasty for which we have written records (ca. 1750-1027 B.C.E.). Ancestor worship, divination by means of oracle bones, and the use of bronze vessels for ritual purposes were major elements of Shang culture. |
| divination | Techniques for ascertaining the future or the will of the gods by interpreting natural phenomena such as, in early China, the cracks on oracle bones or, in ancient Greece, the flight of birds through sectors of the sky. (p. 59) |
| 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. Remembered as prosperous era in Chinese History. (p. 61) |
| Mandate of Heaven | Chinese religious and political ideology developed by the Zhou, was the prerogative of Heaven, the chief deity, to grant power to the ruler of China. |
| yin/yang | In Chinese belief, complementary factors that help to maintain the equilibrium of the world. Yin is associated with masculine, light, and active qualities; yang with feminine, dark, and passive qualities. (p. 63) |
| 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. (p.52) |
| Confucius | Western name for the Chinese philosopher Kongzi (551-479 B.C.E.). 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.(p. 62) |
| Daoism | Chinese School of Thought: 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. |
| Hittites | A people from central Anatolia who established an empire in Anatolia and Syria in the Late Bronze Age. With wealth from the trade in metals and military power based on chariot forces, the hittites vied with New Kingdom Egypt over Syria (p.64) |
| Hatshepsut | Queen of Egypt (1473-1458 B.C.E.). Dispatched a naval expedition down the Red Sea to Punt (possibly Somalia), the faraway source of myrrh. There is evidence of opposition to a woman as ruler, and after her death her name was frequently expunged. (p.66) |
| Akhenaten | Egyptian pharaoh (r. 1353-1335 B.C.E.). He built a new capital at Amarna, fostered a new style of naturalistic art, and created a religious revolution by imposing worship of the sun-disk. (p.66) |
| Ramesses II | A long-lived ruler of New Kingdom Egypt (r. 1290-1224 B.C.E.). He reached an accommodation with the Hittites of Anatolia after a standoff in battle at Kadesh in Syria. He built on a grand scale throughout Egypt. (p. 68) |
| Meroë | Capital of a flourishing kingdom in southern Nubia from the fourth century B.C.E. to the fourth century C.E. In this period Nubian culture shows more independence from Egypt and the influence of sub-Saharan Africa. (p. 71) |
| Minoan | Prosperous civilization on the Aegean island of Crete in the second millennium B.C.E. The Minoans engaged in far-flung commerce around the Mediterranean and exerted powerful cultural influences on the early Greeks. (p. 73) |
| shaft graves | A term used for the burial sites of elite members of Mycenaean Greek society in the mid-second millennium B.C.E. At the bottom of deep shafts lined with stone slabs, the bodies were laid out along with gold and bronze jewelry, implements, and weapons (75 |
| fresco | A technique of painting on walls covered with moist plaster. It was used to decorate Minoan and Mycenaean palaces and Roman villas, and became an important medium during the Italian Renaissance. (p. 73) |
| Mycenae | Site of a fortified palace complex in southern Greece that controlled a Late Bronze Age kingdom. In Homer's epic poems Mycenae was the base of King Agamemnon, who commanded the Greeks besieging Troy. (74) |
| Troy | Site in northwest Anatolia, overlooking the Hellespont strait, where archaeologists have excavated a series of Bronze Age cities. One of these may have been destroyed by Greeks ca. 1200 B.C.E., as reported in Homer's epic poems. (p. 76) |
| 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. (86) |
| Chavín | The 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. (89) |
| Celts | Peoples sharing a common language and culture that originated in Central Europe in the first half of the first millennium B.C.E.. After 500 B.C.E. they spread as far as Anatolia in the east, Spain and the British Isles in the west, onquered by Romans (90) |
| Druids | The class of religious experts who conducted rituals and preserved sacred lore among some ancient Celtic peoples. They provided education, mediated disputes between kinship groups, and were suppressed by the Romans as potential resistance. (92) |
| Neo-Assyrian Empire | An empire extending from western Iran to Syria-Palestine, conquered by the Assyrians of northern Mesopotamia between the tenth and seventh centuries B.C.E. They used force and terror and exploited the wealth and labor of their subjects. (93) |
| Ashur | Chief deity of the Assyrians, he stood behind the king and brought victory in war. Also the name of an important Assyrian religious and political center. (p. 94) |
| mass deportation | Removal of entire peoples used as terror tactic by Assyrian and Persian Empires. (95) |
| Library of Ashurbanipal | A large collection of writings drawn from the ancient literary, religious, and scientific traditions of Mesopotamia. It was assembled by the sixth century B.C.E. Assyrian ruler Ashurbanipal. (98) |
| Israel | In antiquity, the land between the eastern shore of the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, occupied by the Israelites from the early second millennium B.C.E. The modern state of Israel was founded in 1948. (p. 98) |
| Hebrew Bible | A collection of sacred books containing diverse materials concerning the origins, experiences, beliefs, and practices of the Israelites. Most of the extant text was compiled by members of the priestly class in the fifth century B.C.E. (99) |
| First Temple | A monumental sanctuary built in Jerusalem by King Solomon in the tenth century B.C.E. to be the religious center for the Israelite god Yahweh. The Temple priesthood conducted sacrifices, received a tithe or percentage of agricultural revenues. (102) |
| monotheism | Belief in a single divine entity. The Israelite worship of Yahweh developed into an exclusive belief in one god, and this concept passed into Christianity and Islam. (102) |
| diaspora | A Greek word meaning "dispersal," used to describe the communities of a given ethnic group living outside their homeland. Jews, for example, spread from Israel to western Asia and Mediterranean lands in antiquity and today can be found in other places.103 |
| Phoenicians | Semitic-speaking Canaanites living on the coast of modern Lebanon and Syria in the first millennium B.C.E. From major cities such as Tyre and Sidon, Phoenician merchants and sailors explored the Mediterranean, and engaged in widespread commerce. (103) |
| Carthage | City located in present-day Tunisia, founded by Phoenicians ca. 800 B.C.E. It became a major commercial center and naval power in the western Mediterranean until defeated by Rome in the third century B.C.E. (p. 107) |
| tophet | cemetery containing burials of young children, possibly sacrificed to the gods in times of crisis, found at Carthage and other Phoenician settlements in the western Mediterranean. (p. 108) |
| Neo-Babylonian kingdom | (blank) |
| Cyrus | Founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Between 550 and 530 B.C.E. he conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylon. Revered in the traditions of both Iran and the subject peoples. |
| Darius I | Third ruler of the Persian Empire (r. 521-486 B.C.E.). He crushed the widespread initial resistance to his rule and gave all major government posts to Persians rather than to Medes. |
| satrap | The governor of a province in the Achaemenid Persian Empire, often a relative of the king. He was responsible for protection of the province and for forwarding tribute to the central administration. Enjoyed much power. (pg118) |
| Persepolis | A complex of palaces, reception halls, and treasury buildings erected by the Persian kings Darius I and Xerxes in the Persian homelan (119) |
| 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, the religion demanded that humans choose sides between good and evil (120) |
| hoplite | Heavily armored Greek infantryman of the Archaic and Classical periods who fought in the close-packed phalanx formation. Hoplite armies-militias composed of middle- and upper-class citizens supplying their own equipment: Superior to all other forces 128 |
| democracy | system of government in which all "citizens" (however defined) have equal political and legal rights, privileges, and protections, as in the Greek city-state of Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. (p. 127) |
| Herodotus | Heir to the technique of historia-"investigation"-developed by Greeks in the late Archaic period. He came from a Greek community in Anatolia and traveled extensively, collecting information in western Asia and the Mediterranean lands. (128) |
| Pericles | Aristocratic leader who guided the Athenian state through the transformation to full participatory democracy for all male citizens. (130) |
| Persian Wars | Conflicts between Greek city-states and the Persian Empire, ranging from the Ionian Revolt (499-494 B.C.E.) through Darius's punitive expedition that failed at Marathon. Chronicled by Herodotus. (131) |
| 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. (p. 132) |
| Socrates | Athenian philosopher (ca. 470-399 B.C.E.) who shifted the emphasis of philosophical investigation from questions of natural science to ethics and human behavior. He made enemies in government by revealing the ignorance of others. (133) |
| Peloponnesian War | Conflict between Athenian And Spartan Alliances. The war was largely a consequence of Athenian imperialism. Possession of a naval empire allowed Athens to fight a war of attrition. Ultimately, Sparta prevailed because of Athenian errors/Persian $$$ (135) |
| Alexander | King of Macedonia in northern Greece. Between 334 and 323 B.C.E. he conquered the Persian Empire, reached the Indus Valley, founded many Greek-style cities, and spread Greek culture across the Middle East. Later known as Alexander the Great. (p. 136) |
| Aleandria | City on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt founded by Alexander. It became the capital of the Hellenistic kingdom of the Ptolemies. It contained the famous Library and the Museum-a center for leading scientific and literary figures. (138) |
| Ptolemies | Descendents of Macedonian officers under Alexander. Gov't largely took over the system created by Egyptian pharaohs to extract the wealth of the land, rewarding Greeks and Hellenized non-Greeks serving in the military and administration. (p. 138) |
| Hellenistic Age | 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 spread of islam. (137) |
| Roman Republic | The period from 507 to 31 B.C.E., during which Rome was largely governed by the aristocratic Roman Senate. (p. 148) |
| Roman Senate | A council whose members were the heads of wealthy, landowning families. Originally an advisory body to the early kings, in the era of the Roman Republic the Senate effectively governed the Roman state and the growing empire. (148) |
| patron/client relationship | Anciant Roman: a fundamental social relationship in which the patron-a wealthy and powerful individual-provided legal and economic protection and assistance to clients, men of lesser status and means, and in return the clients supported their patrons (149 |
| Roman Principate | A term used to characterize Roman government in the first three centuries C.E., based on the ambiguous title princeps ("first citizen") adopted by Augustus to conceal his military dictatorship. (p. 151) |
| Augustus | Honorific name of Octavian, founder of the Roman Principate, the military dictatorship that replaced the failing rule of the Roman Senate. (151) |
| equites | In ancient Italy, landowners second in wealth and status to the senatorial aristocracy. The Roman emperors allied with this group to counterbalance the influence of the old aristocracy and used the equites to staff the imperial civil service (152) |
| pax romana | Roman peace," The stability and prosperity that Roman rule brought to the lands of the Roman Empire in the first two centuries C.E. The movement of people and trade goods along Roman roads and safe seas allowed for the spread of cuture/ideas (154) |
| Romanization | The process by which the Latin language and Roman culture became dominant in the western provinces of the Roman Empire. Romans did not seek to Romanize them, but the subjugated people pursued it. (155) |
| 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. (155) |
| Paul | 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. (156) |
| aqueduct | A conduit, either elevated or under ground, 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. (p. 156) |
| third century crisis | political, military, and economic turmoil that beset the Roman Empire during much of the third century C.E.: frequent changes of ruler, civil wars, barbarian invasions, decline of urban centers, and near-destruction of long-distance commerce. (157) |
| Constantine | Roman emperor (r. 312-337). After reuniting the Roman Empire, he moved the capital to Constantinople and made Christianity a favored religion. (p.159) |
| Qin | A people and state in the Wei Valley of eastern China that conquered rival states and created the first Chinese empire (221-206 B.C.E.). The Qin ruler, Shi Huangdi, standardized many features of Chinese society and enslaved subjects. (163) |
| Shi Huangdi | Founder of the short-lived Qin dynasty and creator of the Chinese Empire (r. 221-210 B.C.E.). He is remembered for his ruthless conquests of rival states and standardization. (163) |
| Han | A 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 206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E. (p. 164) |
| Chang'an | City in the Wei Valley in eastern China. It became the capital of the Zhou kingdom and the Qin and early Han Empires. Its main features were imitated in the cities and towns that sprang up throughout the Han Empire. >(p. 164) |
| gentry | In China, the class of prosperous families, next in wealth below the rural aristocrats, from which the emperors drew their administrative personnel. (166) |
| Xiongnu | A confederation of nomadic peoples living beyond the northwest frontier of ancient China. Chinese rulers tried a variety of defenses and stratagems to ward off these "barbarians," as they called them, and dispersed them in 1st Century. (168) |
| Vedas | Early Indian sacred "knowledge"-the literal meaning of the term-long preserved and communicated orally by Brahmin priests and eventually written down. (175) |
| varna/jati | 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. (177) |
| 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. Used in India to make people happy with their lot in life (177) |
| moksha | The Hindu concept of the spirit's "liberation" from the endless cycle of rebirths. (179) |
| Buddha | An Indian prince named Siddhartha Gautama, who renounced his wealth and social position. After becoming "enlightened" (the meaning of Buddha) he enunciated the principles of Buddhism. (180) |
| Mahayana Buddhism | Great Vehicle" branch of Buddhism followed in China, Japan, and Central Asia. The focus is on reverence for Buddha and for bodhisattvas, enlightened persons who have postponed nirvana to help others attain enlightenment. (p. 181) |
| Theravada Buddhism | "Way of the Elders" branch of Buddhism followed in Sri Lanka and much of Southeast Asia. Therevada remains close to the original principles set forth by the Buddha; it downplays the importance of gods (181) |
| Hinduism | 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. Spread along trade routes (181) |
| 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. (184) |
| Ashoka | Third ruler of the Mauryan Empire in India (r. 270-232 B.C.E.). He converted to Buddhism and broadcast his precepts on inscribed stones and pillars, the earliest surviving Indian writing. (p. 184) |
| Mahabharata | A vast epic chronicling the events leading up to a cataclysmic battle between related kinship groups in early India. It includes the Bhagavad-Gita, the most important work of Indian sacred literature. (p. 185) |
| Bhagavad-Gita | The most important work of Indian sacred literature, a dialogue between the great warrior Arjuna and the god Krishna on duty and the fate of the spirit. (p. 185) |
| Tamil Kingdoms | The kingdoms of southern India, inhabited primarily by speakers of Dravidian languages, which developed in partial isolation, and somewhat differently, from the Aryan north. (185) |
| Gupta Empire | Powerful Indian state based, like its Mauryan predecessor, on a capital at Pataliputra in the Ganges Valley. It controlled most of the Indian subcontinent through a combination of military force and its prestige as a center of sophisticated culture (186) |
| theater-state | 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. (186) |
| Malay Peoples | A designation for peoples originating in south China and Southeast Asia who settled the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, and the Philippines, then spread eastward across the islands of the Pacific Ocean and west to Madagascar. (p. 190) |
| Funan | An early complex society in Southeast Asia between the first and sixth centuries C.E. It was centered in the rich rice-growing region of southern Vietnam, and it controlled the passage of trade across the Malaysian isthmus. (p. 191) |
| Srivijaya | A state based on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, between the seventh and eleventh centuries C.E. It amassed wealth and power by a combination of selective adaptation of Indian technologies and concepts, and control of trade routes. (192) |
| Borobodur | A massive stone monument on the Indonesian island of Java, erected by the Sailendra kings around 800 C.E. The winding ascent through ten levels, decorated with rich relief carving, is a Buddhist allegory for the progressive stages of enlightenment. (193) |
| Silk Road | Caravan routes connecting China and the Middle East across Central Asia and Iran. (p. 203) |
| Parthians | Iranian ruling dynasty between ca. 250 B.C.E. and 226 C.E. (p. 204) |
| Indian Ocean Maritime System | In premodern times, a network of seaports, trade routes, and maritime culture linking countries on the rim of the Indian Ocean from Africa to Indonesia. (p. 207) |
| trans-Saharan Caravan Routes | Trading network linking North Africa with sub-Saharan Africa across the Sahara. (p. 210) |
| Sahel | Belt south of the Sahara; literally "coastland" in Arabic. (p. 215) |
| Ghana | First known kingdom in sub-Saharan West Africa between the sixth and thirteenth centuries C.E. Also the modern West African country once known as the Gold Coast. (p. 215) |
| sub-Saharan Africa | Portion of the African continent lying south of the Sahara. (p. 216) |
| Bantu | Collective name of a large group of sub-Saharan African languages and of the peoples speaking these languages. (p. 219) |
| Armenia | One of the earliest Christian kingdoms, situated in eastern Anatolia and the western Caucasus and occupied by speakers of the Armenian language. (p. 221) |
| Ethiopia | East African highland nation lying east of the Nile River. (See also Menelik II; Selassie, Haile.) (p. 221) |
| Shi'ites | 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. (See also Sunnis.) (pp. 225, 531) |
| Sunnis | Muslims belonging to branch of Islam believing that the community should select its own leadership. The majority religion in most Islamic countries. (See also Shi'ites.) (p. 225) |
| Sasanid Empire | Iranian empire, established ca. 226, with a capital in Ctesiphon, Mesopotamia. The Sasanid emperors established Zoroastrianism as the state religion. Islamic Arab armies overthrew the empire ca. 640. (p. 225) |
| Mecca | City in western Arabia; birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, and ritual center of the Islamic religion. (p. 230) |
| Muhammad (570-632 C.E.) | Arab prophet; founder of religion of Islam. (p. 230) |
| Muslim | An adherent of the Islamic religion; a person who "submits" (in Arabic, Islam means "submission") to the will of God. (p. 231) ) |
| 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. (231) |
| Medina | City in western Arabia to which the Prophet Muhammad and his followers emigrated in 622 to escape persecution in Mecca. (p. 231) |
| 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. (p. 231) |
| caliphate | Office established in succession to the Prophet Muhammad, to rule the Islamic empire; also the name of that empire. (See also Abbasid Caliphate; Sokoto Caliphate; Umayyad Caliphate.) (p. 232) |
| Quran | Book composed of divine revelations made to the Prophet Muhammad between ca. 610 and his death in 632; the sacred text of the religion of Islam. (p. 232) |
| Umayyad Caliphate | First hereditary dynasty of Muslim caliphs (661 to 750). From their capital at Damascus, the Umayyads ruled an empire that extended from Spain to India. Overthrown by the Abbasid Caliphate. (p. 232) |
| Abbasid Caliphate | Descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's uncle, al-Abbas, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate and ruled an Islamic empire from their capital in Baghdad (founded 762) from 750 to 1258. (p. 234) |
| mamluks | Under the Islamic system of military slavery, Turkic military slaves who formed an important part of the armed forces of the Abbasid Caliphate of the ninth and tenth centuries. Mamluks eventually founded their own state, ruling Egypt and Syria. (236) |
| ulama | Muslim religious scholars. From the ninth century onward, the primary interpreters of Islamic law and the social core of Muslim urban societies. (p. 238) |
| hadith | A tradition relating the words or deeds of the Prophet Muhammad; next to the Quran, the most important basis for Islamic law. (p. 241) |
| Charlemagne | 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. Illiterate, though started an intellectual revival. (250) |
| medieval | Literally "middle age," a term that historians of Europe use for the period ca. 500 to ca. 1500, signifying its intermediate point between Greco-Roman antiquity and the Renaissance. (p. 250) |
| 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. (250) |
| manor | In medieval Europe, a large, self-sufficient landholding consisting of the lord's residence (manor house), outbuildings, peasant village, and surrounding land. (p. 254) |
| serf | In medieval Europe, an agricultural laborer legally bound to a lord's property and obligated to perform set services for the lord. In Russia some serfs worked as artisans and in factories; serfdom was not abolished there until 1861. (pp. 254, 553) |
| vassal | In medieval Europe, a sworn supporter of a king or lord committed to rendering specified military service to that king or lord. (p. 256) |
| papacy | The central administration of the Roman Catholic Church, of which the pope is the head. (pp. 258, 445) |
| Great Western Schism | A division in the Latin (Western) Christian Church between 1378 and 1417, when rival claimants to the papacy existed in Rome and Avignon. (p. 411) |
| Holy Roman Empire | Loose federation of mostly German states and principalities, headed by an emperor elected by the princes. It lasted from 962 to 1806. (pp. 260, 449) |
| investiture | controversy Dispute between the popes and the Holy Roman Emperors over who held ultimate authority over bishops in imperial lands. (p. 261) |
| monasticism | Living in a religious community apart from secular society and adhering to a rule stipulating chastity, obedience, and poverty. (Primary Centres of Learning in Medieval Europe) (261) |
| Kievan Russia | State established at Kiev in Ukraine ca. 879 by Scandinavian adventurers asserting authority over a mostly Slavic farming population. (p. 267) |
| 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. (p. 269) |
| 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. (p. 270) |
| pilgrimage | Journey to a sacred shrine by Christians seeking to show their piety, fulfill vows, or gain absolution for sins. Other religions also have pilgrimage traditions, such as the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. (270) |
| Grand Canal | The 1,100-mile (1,700-kilometer) waterway linking the Yellow and the Yangzi Rivers. It was begun in the Han period and completed during the Sui Empire. (p. 277) |
| Tang Empire | 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. (p. 277) |
| Li Shimin | One of the founders of the Tang Empire and its second emperor (r. 626-649). He led the expansion of the empire into Central Asia. (p. 277) |
| tributary system | A system in which, from the time of the Han Empire, countries in East and Southeast Asia not under the direct control of empires based in China nevertheless enrolled as tributary states, acknowledging the superiority of the emperors in China. (279) |
| 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. High mortality rate and hard to contain. Disastrous. (280) |
| Uigurs | A group of Turkic-speakers who controlled their own centralized empire from 744 to 840 in Mongolia and Central Asia. (p. 284) |
| Song Empire | 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. (p. 285) |
| junk | A very large flatbottom sailing ship produced in the Tang and Song Empires, specially designed for long-distance commercial travel. (p. 288) |
| gunpowder | 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. (p. 289) |
| Zen | The Japanese word for a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on highly disciplined meditation. It is known in Sanskrit as dhyana, in Chinese as chan, and in Korean as son. (p. 289) |
| shamanism | The practice of identifying special individuals (shamans) who will interact with spirits for the benefit of the community. Characteristic of the Korean kingdoms of the early medieval period and of early societies of Central Asia. (p. 292) |
| Koryo | Korean kingdom founded in 918 and destroyed by a Mongol invasion in 1259. (p. 292) |
| 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. Invented in Korea 13th Century. (293) |
| Kamakura Shogunate | The first of Japan's decentralized military governments. (1185-1333). (p. 294) |
| 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. (See also tributary system.) (p. 295) |
| Teotihuacan | A powerful city-state in central Mexico (100-75 C.E.). Its population was about 150,000 at its peak in 600. (p. 300) |
| chinampas | Raised fields constructed along lake shores in Mesoamerica to increase agricultural yields. (p. 301) |
| 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. (p. 302) |
| Toltecs | Powerful postclassic empire in central Mexico (900-1168 C.E.). It influenced much of Mesoamerica. Aztecs claimed ties to this earlier civilization. (p. 305) |
| Aztecs | 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. (p. 305) |
| Tenochtitlan | Capital of the Aztec Empire, located on an island in Lake Texcoco. Its population was about 150,000 on the eve of Spanish conquest. Mexico City was constructed on its ruins. (p. 305) |
| 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 the Aztec and Inca economies. (p. 307) |
| Anasazi | Important culture of what is now the southwest (1000-1300 C.E.). Centered on Chaco Canyon in New Mexico and Mesa Verde in Colorado, the Anasazi culture built multistory residences and worshipped in subterranean buildings called kivas. (pg 308) |
| chiefdom | Form of political organization with rule by a hereditary leader who held power over a collection of villages and towns. Less powerful than kingdoms and empires, chiefdoms were based on gift giving and commercial links. (p. 311) |
| khipu | System of knotted colored cords used by preliterate Andean peoples to transmit information. (p. 312) |
| ayllu | Andean lineage group or kin-based community. (p. 312) |
| mit'a | Andean labor system based on shared obligations to help kinsmen and work on behalf of the ruler and religious organizations. (p. 312) |
| Moche | Civilization of north coast of Peru (200-700 C.E.). An important Andean civilization that built extensive irrigation networks as well as impressive urban centers dominated by brick temples. (p. 313) |
| Chimu | Powerful Peruvian civilization based on conquest. Located in the region earlier dominated by Moche. Conquered by Inca in 1465. (p. 314) |
| Tiwanaku | Name of capital city and empire centered on the region near Lake Titicaca in modern Bolivia (375-1000 C.E.). (p. 315) |
| Wari | Andean civilization culturally linked to Tiwanaku, perhaps beginning as colony of Tiwanaku. (p. 314) |
| Inca | Largest and most powerful Andean empire. Controlled the Pacific coast of South America from Ecuador to Chile from its capital of Cuzco. (p. 316) |
| acllas | Women selected by Inca authorities to serve in religious centers as weavers and ritual participants. (p. 318) |
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