| A | B |
|---|
| monsoon | seasonal wind |
| slash-and-burn | form of agriculture; cut down trees and burn them |
| Mansa Musa | Muslim king of Mali; took a hajj to Mecca |
| Timbuktu | city in Mali; center for education in West Africa |
| Swahili | culture and language; a mixture of Bantu and Arabic |
| samurai | Japanese warrior |
| Shinto | "Way of the Gods"; native Japanese religion |
| Genghis Khan | absolute ruler of the Mongols |
| Kublai Khan | Mongol emperor of China |
| Pax Mongolica | Mongol Peace (stabiltiy through tolerance) |
| Marco Polo | European trader who lived in the Yuan Court |
| Allah | god in Arabic |
| caliph | successor, the leaders of the Muslim community after Muhammad |
| czar | "caesar" in Russian; title taken by king of Moscow |
| hijra | Muhammad's journey from Mecca to Medina |
| icon | image of religious figures or events |
| Islam | Muslim, five pillars, Muhammad, Mecca, Medina, jihad |
| mosque | Islamic house of worship |
| Muslim | a person who practices Islam |
| patriarch | top religious figure in the Eastern Orthodox Church (not the pope) |
| Qur'an | Islamic holy text |
| schism | a break or separation |
| Shi'a | branch of Islam; believed that only Muhammad's descendants should rule the Muslim Empire |
| Constantinople | capital of Byzantium |
| Baghdad | capital of the Muslim Abbasid empire |
| Hagia Sofia | Church of the Holy Wisdom; built by Justinian in Constantinople |
| Justinian | Byzantine emperor; restored empire, organzed Roman law |
| Theodora | Byzantine empress; wife of Justinian |
| Ka'bah | center for Muslim worship in Mecca |
| Athens | led Delian League, supported ideas of democracy and education |
| Sparta | led Peloponnesian League, supported idea of military dominance |
| Acropolis | high hill in a Gree city |
| democracy | form of government where the people rule |
| Hellenistic | mixture of Greek, Egyptian, Persian, and Indian cultures |
| monarchy | form of government where a king or queen rules |
| polis | city-state |
| tyranny | form of government where one person seized power illegally |
| Pericles | Athens' leader during the Golden Age |
| Athena | goddess of wisdom and war, patron goddess of Athens |
| Zeus | King of the gods |
| Aphrodite | Goddess of love and beauty |
| oracle | women through which the gods communicated; could tell the future |
| Minoans | peace-loving people who settled Crete |
| Mycenaens | first to settle the Greek mainland; may have destroyed the Minoans, fought the Trojan war for "Helen" |
| chivalry | knights' code of honor |
| feudalism | exhchange of services for land |
| fief | land given to a vassal |
| guild | artisan association (like a modern trade union) |
| knight | warrior; exchanged services for land |
| Magna Carta | "Great Charter"; signed by King John |
| serf | peasant; virtual prisoner of the land |
| vassal | knight or noble who has taken an oath of loyalty to a noble |
| William the Conqueror | Norman noble who conquered England |
| King John | English king forced to sign the Magna Carta |
| Ivan the Great | first czar of Russia |
| atman | in Hinduism the soul or spirit |
| caste | Hindu social class |
| dharma | sacred individual duty to have good karma |
| karma | sum of all your good and bad actions |
| moksha | Hindu; relase from cycle of samsara |
| Brahman | Hindu supreme god |
| Aryans | nomads from central Asia, invaded India 1700 BCE and settled on the Ganges |
| Brahmins | teachers, priests |
| Kshatriyas | Kings, warriors |
| Vaisyas | Farmers, merchants, artisans |
| Sudras | servants, unskilled laborers |
| Untouchables | outside of the caste system; slaves, perform "unclean" tasks |
| Buddha | The "enlightened one" |
| Nirvana | Buddhist; Release from reincarnation |
| Siddhartha Gautama | born a Hindue, later became the Buddha |
| Four Noble Truths | basic beliefs of Buddhism |
| Asoka | Mauryan king; converted to Buddhism |
| Gupta Empire | Indian Golden Age |
| Alphabet | form of writing; symbols represent sounds (credited to the Phoenicians) |
| City-state | city and surrounding farmlands with an independent gov't |
| Covenant | a binding agreement (ex. Jews with God) |
| Diaspora | occurs when Jews live outside of Israel |
| Dynasty | a series of rulers from the same family |
| Hieroglyphics | Egyptian writing system |
| Irrigation | man-made system to direct water to fields |
| Monotheism | belief in one god |
| Pharaoh | Egyptian king |
| Polytheism | belief in many gods |
| Ziggurat | Sumerian temple |
| Code of Hammurabi | Babylonian law code (1st known code |
| Nebuchadnezzar | King of New Babylon; built the Hanging Gardens |
| Phoenicians | Traders from Canaan; invented 1st alphabet |
| Moses | Led the Israelites out of slavery |
| Abraham | Founding father of Judaism |
| Hebrew | Israelite (Jewish) written language |
| Cuneiform | Sumerian written language; 1st written language |
| The Exodus | Israelites escaped from slvaery in Egypt |
| Israelites | first group to be monotheistic |
| Yahweh | Name of Israelite god |
| Torah | Jewish holy book |
| Hatshepsut | Female pharaoh; expanded trade |
| Ramses the Great | Egypt's greatest builder (pyramids) |
| Jerusalem | capital of Kingdom of Israel |
| Pax Romana | Roman Peace |
| Punic Wars | Series of wars fought with Carthage |
| latifundia | large farms worked by slaves |
| patricians | wealthy aristocrats |
| plebeians | lower class; 95% of the population |
| republic | form of democracy where the people elect representatives |
| tribune | plebeian representative |
| Hannibal | Carthaginian general |
| 12 Tables | Roman law code |
| Carthage | city-state in North Africa |
| Julius Caesar | dictator of Rome; killed by fellow Senators |
| Jesus | Jewish teacher crucified by the Romans |
