| A | B |
|---|
| conquistadors | Spanish conquerors of Latin America |
| containment | U.S. policy in the late 1940s and 50s to stop Soviet expansion |
| contras | Nicaraguan forces that opposed the Sandinistas |
| cottage industry | small business conducted in the home |
| coup d'etat | revolt, often by military leaders, against a nations government |
| creole | American-born descendants of Spanish settlers |
| cuneiform | term used to describe the wedge-shaped writing of the ancient Sumarians |
| daimyo | powerful sumurai warriors under the control of Japan's Tokugawa shogunate |
| democracy | form of government in which the people have supreme power |
| desertification | the change of semidesert land to desert land |
| dharma | in Hinduism, the duties and obligations of each cause |
| diaspora | migration or scattering of a homogeneous people |
| dictatorship | form of government in which a ruler holds power by force |
| diffusion | movement of customs or ideas from one place to another |
| "dirty war" | brutal campaign launched in 1976 by the Argentinean army against workers, students, and anyone else |
| domino theory | belief that if one nation fell under communist domination, neighboring nations would also fall |
| drought | prolonged periods of little of no railfall |
| dynastic cycle | rise and fall of Chinese rulers, according to the Mandate of Heaven |
| dynasty | ruling family |
