| A | B |
|---|
| Absolute monarch | ruler who has complete authority over government and lives of the people |
| Absolutism | the belief that monarchs hold supreme power and are responsible only to god |
| Acropolis | a hilltop fortress in a city-state of ancient Greece |
| Agrarian | pertaining to land and the agricultural interests of farmers |
| Alliance | any union, coalition, or formal agreement between nations in their common interest |
| Annexation | to add to existing possessions or territories |
| Apartheid | policy of racial segregation in the republic of South Africa |
| Appeasement | making concessions to an aggressor in order to preserve the peace |
| Anthropologist | scientist who studies the ways people organize societies |
| Apprentice | young person who learns a trade from a master craftsman |
| Archaeologist | scientist who studies the lives of early people by analyzing objects they left behind |
| Aristocracy | government headed by a privileged minority or upper class |
| Archipelago | chain of islands |
| Armistice | end to the fighting in a war |
| Artisan | skilled craftsman |
| Artifact | object made by human beings |
| Assimilation | policy whereby an imperial power tries to absorb a colony politically and culturally |
| Astrolabe | instrument used to calculate a ship's latitude by measuring the positions of the stars |
| Autocracy | government in which the ruler has unlimited power |
| Autonomy | self-government, ruling self |
| Barter economy | system in which one set of goods is exchanged for another |
| Blitzkrieg | German for lightning warfare; swift, massive attack, practiced by the armies of Nazi Germany |
| Brahma | in Hinduism, the single supreme force uniting everything in the universe |
| Bushido | the way of the warrior; during feudal period in Japan, a code of conduct for samurai, stressing obedience to one's lord |
| Caliph | successor to the prophet Muhammad who acted as both religious and political leader |
| Capital | money that can be invested in business |
| Capitalist | a person who invests in business in order to make a profit |
| Cash crop | crop that can be sold on the world market for money |
| Caste | social group based on birth; in India, caste determined the jobs people could hold and many other aspects of their life |
| Caudillo | during the 1800's in Latin America, a military dictator |
| Chivalry | code of conduct during the middle ages that combined Christian values with the values of a warrior |
| City-state | independent town or city and the surrounding countryside |
| Civil disobedience | refusal to comply with certain laws by means of passive resistance (method Gandhi used) |
| Clan | family group that traces its origin to a common ancestor |
| Coalition | temporary alliance between parties in government cold war state of tension and hostility among nations without armed conflict (after WWII - between USA and USSR) |
| Collective farm | large government -run farm; created in the soviet union in the 1930s |
| Collective security | group of nations acting together to preserve peace |
| Collectivization | a system in which the state owns and controls the means of production and distribution |
| Colony | territory that an outside power controls directly |
| Command economy | state controlled economic system |
| Common law | system of law in England based on decisions of royal courts that became accepted legal principles |
| Communism | form of complete socialism in which there is public ownership of all land and all means of production |
| Conquistador | conqueror; person given the right by rulers of Spain to establish outposts in the Americas |
| Containment policy | whereby the united states tried to prevent the soviet union from expanding beyond its borders; first applied in the 1940s |
| Corporation | business owned by many investors, who buy shares of stock and risk only the amount of their investment |
| Coup d'etat | revolt by military leaders to overthrow a government |
| Covenant | binding agreement |
| Creole | descendant of Spanish settlers born in Americas |
| Crusades | series of wars launched by Christians against Muslims who controlled the holy land - called by pope urban II |
| Cultural bias | the way a person's culture shapes his or her attitude toward and event |
| Cultural diffusion | when a custom or item of one culture moves from one culture to another, borrowing or sharing of ideas |
| Cultural diversity | variety of customs, ideas, and ways of life of a group of people |
| Culture | customs, ideas, and way of life of a group of people |
| Cyrillic alphabet | devised in the ninth century by Greek monks, Cyril and Methodius |
| Czar | Russian word for Caesar; title of the ruler of Russian empire |
| Daimyo | powerful warrior knights directly below the shogun, in Japan during the feudal period |
| Decentralization | to break down into smaller units with no central location or control |
| Deforestation | to clear land of forests and trees |
| Democracy | government in which citizens have ruling power; first developed in Athens |
| Denazification | removal of all traces of nazism in Germany after W.W.II. |
| Desertification | the spread of desert into semi-arid regions nearby |
| Détente | easing of the international tension between the soviet union and the united states |
| Developed countries | countries that have established agriculture, industries, advanced technology, and strong education systems. |
| Developing countries | countries that have limited resources and face obstacles, such as, overpopulation, natural disasters, and indebtedness in achieving modern industrial economies |
| Dissident | person who speaks out against a government |
| Dictator | ruler with absolute power |
| Dynastic cycle | rise and fall of Chinese dynasties according to the mandate of heaven |
| Dynasty | ruling family that passes the right to rule from one member to another |
| Empire | group of territories or peoples controlled by one ruler |
| Encomienda | right the Spanish government granted settlers in the Americas to demand taxes or labor services from Indians living on the land |
| Enlightenment | a period in the 1700s, when philosophers emphasized the use of reason, which they believed would free people from ignorance, and lead to a perfect society |
| Entrepreneur | merchant willing to take financial risks in the hope of making large profits |
| Extended family | large family group usually consisting of a husband and wife, their unmarried children, their married sons, and the sons' wives and children also referred to as joint family |
| Extraterritoriality | the right of foreigners to be protected by the laws of their own nations - tried by their own courts in a foreign land |
| Federation | the joining together of two or more states into a union federal republic a country that has a representative democracy with a centralized government |
| Feudalism | system of rule by local lords who were bound to a king by ties of loyalty; developed in western Europe during the middle ages |
| Fief | during the middle ages in western Europe, an estate that the lord provided a vassal in exchange for his loyalty |
| Genocide | the systematic extermination or destruction of an entire people or national group |
| Glasnost | policy of openness domestically and towards the west initiated by soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev |
| Green revolution | scientific efforts to increase the amount of food produced on the same amount of land |
| Gross national product | total value of goods and services produced by a nation in a year; abbreviated by GNP |
| Guerrilla warfare | Spanish word for war; fighting comprised of hit-and-run attacks |
| Guilds | association of merchants or artisans that governed a town or craft in the middle ages |
| Haiku | short Japanese poem with 17 syllables that creates a mood or describes a scene |
| Hejira | Mohammed's journey from Mecca to Medina in 622 |
| Hellenistic civilization | culture blending eastern and western influences that emerged in Greece and other lands conquered by Alexander the great |
| Holocaust | the systematic murder of over 6 million Jews by nazis before and during W.W.II |
| Humanism | the intellectual and literacy movement during the renaissance characterized by an emphasis on human interest and a study of Greek-roman classics |
| Illiteracy | inability to read or write |
| Imperialism | domination by one country of the political, social, economic, or cultural life of another country or region |
| Indulgence | reduction of the punishment a sinner would suffer in purgatory; often granted by medieval and renaissance popes |
| Industrialization | the process of establishing large-scale industries - moving away from cottage industry |
| Inflation | economic cycle in which an increase in the money supply results in an increase in prices |
| Interdependence | countries in the world being dependent upon each other for various resources and products for their mutual benefit |
| Isolationism | a policy of having little to do with foreign nations |
| Kami | spirits that early Japanese believed controlled the forces of nature |
| Karma | in Hinduism, all the actions in a person's life that effect his or her fate in the next life |
| Kibbutz | Israeli settlements in which people live in community housing projects, work together, and share the profits of their labor |
| Knight | in the middle ages, western Europe, lesser noble who served as a warrior for the lord |
| Kulak | prosperous peasant in the soviet union who opposed collectivization during the 1930s |
| Laissez-faire | an economic system in which the government does not interfere with the economy |
| Liberation theology | doctrine supported by many catholic priests, calling for the church to take an active role in changing the conditions that contribute to poverty |
| Life expectancy | the probable length of life for an individual |
| Literacy | the ability to read and write |
| Lord | in the middle ages, powerful noble who maintained his own land but owed allegiance to the king |
| Mandate | after World War I, an order to a league of nations member to establish a responsible government in conquered territory |
| Manor | during the middle ages, the lands, including a village and surround lands, administrated by a lord |
| Manorial | during the middle ages, the system economic system in which land, the manor, was administered by the lord and was the basis of the economy |
| Market economy | an economy based on the buying and selling of goods and services |
| Materialism | the belief that the accumulation of possessions is what is necessary for a good life |
| Matrilineal | describes a family in which the children trace their family line through their mother |
| Mercantilism | economic theory that stated that a nation's economic strength depends on the importation of gold and silver and the establishment of colonies to serve the needs of the mother country |
| Mestizo | person in Spain's colonies in the America who was of mixed European and Indian parentage |
| Middle Ages | period of history in Europe following the fall of the roman empire and lasting from about 500 to 1500 |
| Militarism | glorification of the military and readiness for war |
| Militarize | to train, prepare, or equip for war |
| Minaret | slender tower from which Muslims are called to prayer |
| Modernization | creation of a stable society capable of producing a high level of goods & services |
| Monarchy | government headed by a king or queen |
| Monopoly | total control of the market for a particular product by one corporation |
| Monotheism | worship of a single god |
| Monsoon | seasonal wind; in India, summer rain; winter hot & dry |
| Mosque | meeting place where Muslims assemble to pray |
| Nationalize | to bring a part of the economy under government control |
| Nationalism | feeling of pride & devotion to one's country |
| Nativism | to favor people born in a country over the foreigners living there |
| Natural resources | a source of wealth provided by nature, forests, minerals, oil, water |
| Neolithic | period of human culture characterized by the development of a system of settled agriculture |
| Neutral | not taking part for either side in a dispute |
| Nirvana | (Hindu & Buddhist) the ultimate goal in life; condition of wanting nothing |
| Nomad | person who travels in search of food |
| Non-alignment | foreign policy of many developing countries to remain neutral with respect to positions of the US & USSR |
| Nuclear family | family made up of parents, children, & occasionally grandparents |
| Pacifist | one who's opposed to war & serving in military |
| Pan-africanism | movement whose goal is to create a politically & economically unified Africa |
| Patrician | member of the class of wealthy landowners in ancient Rome |
| Partilineal | describes a family where children trace their family line through their father |
| Peninsulare | official sent by Spain to rule Spanish colonies in the Americas |
| Per-capita | for each person |
| Perestroika | restructuring of the soviet economy & society by Mikhail Gorbachev |
| Philosophe | French for philosopher; during enlightenment people who believed that using science and reason would lead to human progress |
| Philosopher | ancient Greece; person seeing wisdom & knowledge through systematic study & logic |
| Plantation | large estate operated by the owner or overseer & farmed by workers living on it plebeian member of class of common people in ancient Rome |
| Pogrom | violent raid on a Jewish community, often conducted by government troops |
| Polytheism | belief in many gods |
| Prime minister | head of the cabinet in parliamentary governments |
| Proletariat | working class |
| Proliferation | to grow rapidly |
| Propaganda | spread of ideas to further a cause or damage an opposing cause |
| Purdah | practice of secluding women |
| Quotas | part or a share required for each person, group or state |
| Regionalism | loyalty to a small geographic area |
| Reincarnation | rebirth of the soul in another bodily form (in Hinduism & Buddhism) |
| Renaissance | period from about 1350-1600 where European scholars revived the learning of ancient Greece & Rome |
| Republic | system of government where citizens who have the right to vote to choose their leaders |
| Revolution | the overthrow or replacement of a government or political system |
| Russification | policy of czars to have the people they conquered be forced to learn the Russian language & culture, converted to eastern orthodox religion |
| Samurai | warrior knights of Japan during the feudal period |
| Satrapy | province in the Persian empire ruled by a governor responsible to the king |
| Savanna | grasslands dotted with scattered trees with unreliable rainfall |
| Scarcity | inadequate supply |
| Self-sufficiency | able to support oneself without aid or cooperation from others |
| Serf | peasant who was tied to the lord's land |
| Shogun | after 1162, chief general in Japan, had more political power than emperor |
| Silt | soil rich in minerals deposited by flooding rivers |
| Simony | Middle Ages; buying & selling of religious offices |
| Social mobility | ability to move up or down in the social class system |
| Socialism | economic & political system where society, rather than individuals, owns all property & runs businesses |
| Socratic method | ancient Greece; question & answer technique, developed by Socrates, used reasoning to find truth |
| Status quo | existing state of affairs |
| Suffrage | right to vote |
| Tao | Taoism; a universal force that can only be felt; a way a person achieves harmony |
| Tariff | a price on imported or exported items |
| Technology | tools and skills people use |
| Terrorism | unlawful acts of violence by a political group to get publicity for their cause |
| Theocracy | form of government where priests serve as kings |
| Third world | developing nations that share common economic goals & problems |
| Tithe | payment to the church of 10% of a person's income |
| Topography | physical features of a region |
| Totalitarian State | country where the government is a single-party dictatorship that controls every aspect of citizen's lives |
| Totalitarianism | political system where the government has a single-party dictatorship & controls every aspect of citizen's lives |
| Tribe | group of related families who have a common ancestor |
| Tribalism | loyalty & devotion to one's tribe as opposed to one's nation |
| Tyranny | government headed by a single individual who seizes power by force |
| Universal suffrage | right or privilege of voting extended to all |
| Urbanization | quality or state of changing over from rural villages to cities |
| Usury | middle ages; practice of lending money for interest |
| Welfare State | state in which the government assures responsibility for people's social & economic well-being |
| Westernization | adoption of western ideas & customs by nonwestern nations |
| Zaibatsu | wealthy Japanese families who bought the chief industries of the country in 1880s & dominate Japanese economy |
