| A | B |
|---|
| massacre | The killing of large numbers of people |
| Mestizos | In colonial Latin America, Spanish/Native America who were denied basic political, economic, and social rights due to their mixed heritage. |
| Middle Ages | Time period in European history between the fall of Rome in 476 C.E. and the beginning of the Italian Renaissance in the early 15th century. |
| middle class | Social and economic class usually composed of merchants, artisans, and business people. In some societies, the richest class, but without a title of nobility. The middle class is usually the backbone of society as they are generally more moderate in their economic, social, and political habits. |
| migration | The mass movement of people from one area to another. |
| Milosevic, Slobodan | (1941- ) Former Yugoslavian President. He fought to keep non-Serbs from breaking away from Yugoslavia. During the 1990s, he used his army to terrorize ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, who were asking for self rule. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) finally put a stop to this violence, and Milosevic has since been arrested and awaits trial for war crimes. |
| minority | A small group of people from a larger group. |
| mulattoes | In colonial Latin America, Spanish/African who were denied basic political, economic, and social rights due to their mixed heritage. |
| Native Americans & Slaves | In colonial Latin America, lowest social class. They had no rights and were often treated poorly and used as a labor source by the plantation owning Creoles. |
| NATO | North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an international defense alliance between the United States, Great Britain, and others formed in 1949 as a response to the spread of communism. |
| natural rights | Concept of John Locke’s that states all people have the right to life, liberty, and property. |
| Nazi | Name of German National Socialist Party, which gained control of Germany in 1933 under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. |
| New Economic Policy | An economic policy of Vladimir Lenin’s in the Soviet Union where government controlled most banks and industry, but did allow some private ownership. |
| nuclear weapons | Weapons in which the explosive potential is controlled by nuclear fission or fusion. |
| occupation (military) | The control of one country by another through the stationing of military troops and military government. |
| Orthodox Christianity | A branch of Christianity developed in the Byzantine Empire, after its split from the Roman Empire. It spread throughout the eastern Mediterranean and Russia. |
| Peninsulares | In colonial Latin America, Spanish official sent to govern Latin American colonies. They controlled government completely. |
| persecution | Treating a person, or a group of people unfairly or cruelly due to ethnic background, gender, or other difference. |
| Pol Pot | (1925-1998) Leader of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Pol Pot is responsible for the deaths of almost 2 million of his own people due to starvation, execution, and beatings. |
| political rights | Rights such as voting, and the ability to hold public office. |
