| A | B |
|---|
| Congress Party | A major national political party in India - also known as the Indian National Congress; made up mostly of Hindus |
| Muslim League | An organization formed in 1906 to protect the interests of India's Muslims, which later proposed that India be divided into separate Muslim and Hindu nations |
| Partition | A division into parts, like the 1947 division of the British colony of India into the two nations of India and Pakistan |
| Muhammad Ali Jinnah | Leader of the Muslim League which officially proposed the partition of India into separate Hindu and Muslim nations, insisted that only the league spoke for Muslims and not the Indian National Congress; rejected the Indian National Congress's 1st leader of Pakinstan |
| Lord Mountbatten | Last viceroy of India, gradually accepted the idea that partition of India into two nations was unavoidable if there was to be peace in the region |
| Jawaharlal Nehru | Independent India's first prime minister; emphasized democracy, unity, and economic modernization; held office for 17 years; led other newly independent nations in forming an alliance of countries that were neutral during the Cold War; pushed for industrialization and sponsored social reforms; tried to elevate the status of the lower castes and expand the rights of women |
| Indira Gandhi | Chosen as prime minister of India in 1966, daughter of Nehru, country increased production of food grains under her leadership, assassinated in 1984 |
| Rajiv Gandhi | Succeeded his mother as prime minister in 1984, held office until 1989 |
| Benazir Bhutto | Twice elected as prime minister of Pakistan, removed from office in 1996 |
| Ferdinand Marcos | Elected president of the Philippines in 1965, authoritarian leader who stole millions of dollars from the public treasury, governed until 1986 |
| Corazon Aquino | Defeated Marcos for president of the Philippines in 1986, a new constitution was ratified and the lease on U.S. military bases was ended during her presidency |
| Aung San | Leader of the Burmese nationalists' army that helped drive the Japanese out of Burma, assassinated by political rivals just as Burma was about to become independent |
| Aung San Suu Kyi | Daughter of Aung San who returned to Burma in 1988 and consequently placed under house arrest for pro-democracy activities for which she won the Nobel Peace prize in 1991 |
| Sukarno | A leader of the Indonesian independence movement who proclaimed Indonesia independence from the Dutch and himself president for life in 1945, his attempt at creating a parliamentary democracy failed |
| Suharto | General who suppressed a coup against the Indonesian government in 1965 while blaming communists; became president in 1967 and turned country into a police state and imposed frequent periods of martial law; human rights violations, discrimination, bribery, and corruption became commonplace; economy benefitted the rich; had communists and many Chinese killed |
| Negritude Movement | A movement in which French-speaking Africans and West Indians celebrated their heritage of traditional African culture and values |
| Mau Mau | A secret society of Kikuyu tribesmen that attempted to drive British settlers out of Kenya in the mid-20th century using terrorist tactics |
| FLN | The National Liberation Front - an Algerian group that waged a guerrilla struggle for independence from France |
| Kwame Nkrumah | In the 1940s, he worked to liberate the Gold Coast from the British using nonviolent tactics; upon independence in 1957, he became Ghana's first prime minister and later president for life; his costly programs for improving his country undermined the economy; criticized for spending too much time on Pan-African efforts and neglecting economic problems; lost power in 1966 |
| Jomo Kenyatta | Kenyan nationalist, became president of the new country in 1963, worked hard to unite ethnic and language groups in the country |
| Mobutu Sese Seko | Seized power in the Congo in 1965; renamed country Zaire; though Zaire had vast mineral resources/natural resources, under his rule the country was reduced to one of the Africa's poorest countries; his corrupt government was finally overthrown in 1997 |
| Ahmed Ben Bella | Leader of the FLN who had been imprisoned by the French; named first prime minister (1962-1963) and first president (1963-1965); reestablished national order, began land reforms, and developed new plans for education; overthrown in 1965 |
| Balfour Declaration | A statement that the British government supported the establishment of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine, made in a 1917 letter by British foreign secretary Sir Arthur Balfour |
| Suez Crisis | An international crisis that occurred after Egypt seized control of the Suez Canal in 1956 when Israel, with the support of Britain and France, invaded Egypt and marched toward the canal but withdrew under pressure from the U.S. and Soviet Union |
| Six-Day War | A brief 1967 conflict between Israel and several Arab states, during which Israel took control of Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, and the West Bank |
| Camp David Accords | With U.S. President Jimmy Carter presiding,the first signed agreement between Israel and an Arab country, in which Egyptian president Anwar Sadat recognized Israel as a legitimate state and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin agreed to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt |
| PLO | The Palestine Liberation Organization - an organization dedicated to the establishment of an independent state for Palestinians in the Middle East; led by Yassir Arafat; often usees terrorist tactics |
| Anwar Sadat | Succeeded Nasser as president of Egypt, planned the 1973 Arab attack on Israel, later agreed to recognize Israel as a legitimate state in the Camp David Accords (1978), assissinated by Muslim extremists |
| Golda Meir | Prime minister of Israel during 1973 War, launched a counterattack and regained most of the lost territory |
| Menachem Begin | Israeli prime ministr who signed the Camp David Accords in 1978 in which he agreed that Israel would return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt |
| Hosni Mubarak | Succeeded Sadat as president of Egypt, maintained peace with Israel |
