A | B |
andenes | terraces; used by the Inca to farm on mountain sides |
chinampas | "floating gardens"; used by Aztecs to farm on water |
Ghana | king |
Zimbabwe | stone house |
monsoon | seasonal wind |
slash-and-burn | form of agriculture; cut down trees and burn them |
quipu | lengths of knotted wool used by the Inca to keep records |
Cortez | Spanish leader who defeated the Aztecs |
Pizarro | Spanish leader who defeated the Inca |
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 |
kami | gods in Shinto |
nepotism | giving favor to relatives |
meritocracy | hiring workers based on merit |
aristocracy | class of wealthy nobles |
pastoralist | person who herds domesticated animals |
khan | Mongol ruler |
yurt | round tent used by Mongols |
Genghis Khan | absolute ruler of the Mongols |
Kublai Khan | Mongol emperor of China |
Pax Mongolica | Mongol Peace |
shogun | Japanese military leader |
Marco Polo | European trader who lived in the Yuan Court |
daimyo | Japanese landowners |
Allah | god |
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 |
iconoclast | "icon smasher"; supported the Byzantine emperor's ban on icons |
Islam | submission to the will of God |
mosque | Islamic house of worship |
Muslim | a person who practices Islam |
patriarch | top religious figure in the Eastern Orthodox Church |
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 |
Cyrillic | alphabet for Slavic languages; created by Orthodox monks |
Ka'bah | center for Muslim worship in Mecca |
Athens | led Delian League |
Sparta | led Peloponnesian League |
Acropolis | high hill in a Gree city |
Agora | gathering place |
democracy | form of government where the people rule |
Hellenic | Greek |
Hellenistic | mixture of Greek, Egyptian, Persian, and Indian cultures |
monarchy | form of government where a king or queen rules |
myth | religious story |
Oligarchy | form of government where a small group of aristocrats govern |
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 |
Hera | Queen 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 |
chivalry | knights' code of honor |
feudalism | exhchange of services for land |
fief | land given to a vassal |
guild | artisan association |
knight | warrior; exchanged services for land |
lay investiture | kings appoint Church officials |
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 |
Henry II | English king; established common law |
King John | English king forced to sign the Magna Carta |
Hugh Capet | founder of the French monarchy |
Ferdinand & Isabella | rulers of Spain; expelled Jews and Muslims |
Philip II | king of Spain who ruled during Spain's Golden Age |
Ivan the Great | first czar of Russia |
St. Benedict | founder of monasticism |
atman | in Hinduism the soul or spirit |
caste | Hindu social class |
dharma | sacred individual duty |
karma | sum of all your good and bad actions |
samsara | cycle of life, death, and rebirth |
moksha | Hindu; relase from cycle of samsara |
Brahman | Hindu supreme god |
Aryans | noamds from central Asia, invaded India 1700 BCE |
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 | became the Buddha |
Four Noble Truths | basic beliefs of Buddhism |
Ashoka | Mauryan king; converted to Buddhism |
Gupta Empire | Indian Golden Age |
Theravada | Branch of Buddhism practiced in SE Asia; views Buddha as a teacher |
Alphabet | form of writing; symbols represent sounds |
City-state | city and surrounding farmlands with an independent gov't |
Covenant | a binding agreement |
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 |
Nebuchadnezzar | King of New Babylon; built the Hanging Gardens |
Narmer/ Menes | 1st phraraoh of Egypt |
Phoenicians | Traders from Canaan; invented 1st alphabet |
Moses | Led the Israelites out of slavery |
Abraham | Founding father of Judaism |
Hebrew | Israelite 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 |
The Exile | Isralites forced to leave Israel; enslaved in Babylon |
Torah | Jewish holy book |
Hatshepsut | Female pharaoh; expanded trade |
Ramses the Great | Egypt's greatest builder |
Akhenaton | Egyptian pharaoh; only worshipped Aton |
Jerusalem | capital of Kingdom of Israel |
Pax Romana | Roman Peace |
Punic Wars | Series of wars fought with Carthage |
indemnity | war fine |
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 |
Etruscans | Group who conquered Rome in 620 BCE |
Romulus | mythic founder of Rome |
Conflict of the Orders | conflict between patricians and plebeians over political power |
12 Tables | Roman law code |
Carthage | city-state in North Africa |
Julius Caesar | dictator of Rome; killed by fellow Senators |
Octavian/ Augustus | Caesar's nephew; first emperor of Rome |
Jesus | Jewish teacher crucified by the Romans |
Paul | important Christian missionary |