| A | B |
|---|
| fertile crescent | a arc of rich farmland in Southwest Asia, between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea |
| silt | the fine soil carried in the water of rivers |
| irrigation | the bringing of water to crop fields by means of canals and ditches |
| city-state | a city and its surrounding lands functioning as an independent political unit |
| dynasty | a series of rulers from a single family |
| cultural diffusion | the spreading of ideas or products from one culture to another |
| polytheism | a belief in many gods |
| empire | a political unit in which a number of peoples or countries are controlled by a single ruler |
| Hammurabi | a ruler during the Babylonian Empire and is famous for the creation of a code of laws |
| cataract | a waterfall or stretch of rapids in a river |
| delta | a marshy region formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of a river |
| Menes | king that united all of Egypt |
| pharaoh | a king of ancient Egypt, considered a god as well as a political and military leader |
| theocracy | a government in which the ruler is viewed as a divine figure |
| pyramid | a massive structure with a rectangular base and four triangular sides, like those built for burial places for pharaohs |
| mummification | a process of embalming and drying corpes to prevent them from decaying |
| hieroglyphics | an ancient Egyptian writing system in which pictures were used to represent ideas and sounds |
| papyrus | a tall reed that grows in the Nile delta, used by the ancient Egyptians to make a paperlike material for writing on |
| subcontinent | a large landmass that forms a distinct part of a continent |
| monsoon | a wind that shifts in direction at certain times of each year |
| loess | a fertile deposit of windblown soil |
| oracle bone | one of the animal bones or tortoise shells used by ancient Chinese priests to communicate with the gods |
| Mandate of Heaven | in Chinese history, the divine approval thought to be the basis of royal authority |
| dynastic cycle | the historical pattern of the rise, decline, and replacement of dynasties |
| feudalism | a political system in which nobles are granted the use of lands that legally belong ot their king, in exchange for loyalty, military service, and protection |
