The Original Ultimate AP World History Set
Shinto
"Way of the Kami"; Japanese worship of nature spirits
Tanzimat
'Restructuring' reforms by the nineteenth-century Ottoman rulers, intended to move civil law away from the control of religious elites and make the military and the bureacracy more efficient.
devshirme
'Selection' in Turkish. The system by which boys from Christian communities were taken by the Ottoman state to serve as Janissaries.
Theravada
'Way of the Elders' branch of Buddhism followed in Sri Lanka and much of Southeast Asia. It remains close to the original principles set forth by the Buddha; it downplays the importance of gods
Battle of Hastings
(1066 CE) The Norman invasion of England; this was the largest battle.
Battle of Manzikert
(1071 CE) Saljuq Turks defeat Byzantine armies in this battle in Anatolia; shows the declining power of Byzantium.
Aztecs
(1200-1521) 1300, they settled in the valley of Mexico. Grew corn. Engaged in frequent warfare to conquer others of the region. Worshiped many gods (polytheistic). Believed the sun god needed human blood to continue his journeys across the sky. Practiced human sacrifices and those sacrificed were captured warriors from other tribes and those who volunteered for the honor.
Delhi Sultanate
(1206-1526 CE) The successors of Mahmud of Ghazni mounted more campaigns, but directed their goals to creating this empire.
Yuan Dynasty
(1279-1368 CE) The dynasty with Mongol rule in China; centralized with bureaucracy but structure is different: Mongols on top->Persian bureaucrats->Chinese bureuacrats.
Ibn Battuta
(1304-1369) Morrocan Muslim scholar, the most widely traveled individual of his time. He wrote a detailed account of his visits to Islamic lands from China to Spain and the western Sudan. His writings gave a glimpse into the world of that time period.
Henry the Navigator
(1394-1460) Portuguese prince who promoted the study of navigation and directed voyages of exploration down the western coast of Africa.
Olmecs
(1400 B.C.E. to 500 B.C.E.) earliest known Mexican civilization,lived in rainforests along the Gulf of Mexico, developed calendar and constructed public buildings and temples, carried on trade with other groups.priests/aristocrats were at the top of society, built a ceremonial center, wroshiped the jaguar and werejaguar, best remains are the stone carved heads at la venta, use of calendar, spread through trade, known for art, most important legacy was priestly leadership and devotion
Ivan the Terrible
(1533-1584) earned his nickname for his great acts of cruelty directed toward all those with whom he disagreed, even killing his own son. He became the first ruler to assume the title Czar of all Russia.
Coucil of Trent
(1545-1563 CE) Council of the Catholic Reformation that reemphasized and justified the Roman Catholic beliefs. In response to the Protestant Reformation.
Thirty Years' War
(1618-1648 CE) War within the Holy Roman Empire between German Protestants and their allies (Sweden, Denmark, France) and the emperor and his ally, Spain; ended in 1648 after great destruction with Treaty of Westphalia.
Qing Dynasty
(1644-1911 CE), the last imperial dynasty of China which was overthrown by revolutionaries; was ruled by the Manchu people: began to isolate themselves from Western culture,
Seven Years' War
(1756-1763 CE) Known also as the French and Indian war. It was the war between the French and their Indian allies and the English that proved the English to be the more dominant force of what was to be the United States both commercially and in terms of controlled regions.
Shang Dynasty
(1766-1122 BCE) The Chinese dynasty that rose to power due to bronze metalurgy, war chariots, and a vast network of walled towns whose recognized this dynasty as the superior.
Congress of Vienna
(1814-1815 CE) Meeting of representatives of European monarchs called to reestablish the old order after the defeat of Napoleon.
Otto von Bismarck
(1815-1898) German prime minister who intentionally provoked three wars to provide the people with a sense of nationalism.
Mexican-American War
(1846-1848) The war between the United States and Mexico in which the United States acquired one half of the Mexican territory.
Crimean War
(1853-1856) Russian war against Ottomans for control of the Black Sea; intervention by Britain and France cause Russia to lose; Russians realize need to industiralize.
Mexican Revolution
(1910-1920 CE) Fought over a period of almost 10 years form 1910; resulted in ouster of Porfirio Diaz from power; opposition forces led by Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata.
Great Purge
(1934), Stalin cracked down on Old Bolsheviks, his net soon widened to target army heroes, industrial managers, writers and citizens, they were charged with a wide range of crimes, from plots to failure to not meeting production quotas.
Han Dynasty
(202 BCE-220 CE) This dynasty continued the centralization of the Qin Dynasty, but focused on Confucianism and education instead of Legalim.
Qin Dynasty
(221-207 BCE) The first centralized dynasty of China that used Legalism as its base of belief.
Gupta Empire
(320-550 CE) The decentralized empire that emerged after the Mauryan Empire, and whose founder is Chandra Gupta.
Mauryan Empire
(321-185 BCE) This was the first centralized empire of India whose founder was Chandragupta Maurya.
Council of Nicaea
(325 CE) A council called by Constantine to agree upon correct Christian doctrine and settle some disputes of the time.
Peloponnesian War
(431-404 BCE) The war between Athens and Sparta that in which Sparta won, but left Greece as a whole weak and ready to fall to its neighbors to the north.
Socrates
(470-399 BCE) An Athenian philosopher who thought that human beings could lead honest lives and that honor was far more important than wealth, fame, or other superficial attributes.
Sui Dynasty
(589-618 CE) The Chinese dynasty that was like the Qin Dynasty in imposing tight political discipline; this dynasty built the Grand Canal which helped transport the rice in the south to the north.
Tang Dynasty
(618-907 CE) The Chinese dynasty that was much like the Han, who used Confucianism. This dynasty had the equal-field system, a bureaucracy based on merit, and a Confucian education system.
Umayyad Caliphate
(661-750 CE) The Islamic caliphate that established a capital at Damascus, conquered North Africa, the Iberian Pennisula, Southwest Asia, and Persia, and had a bureaucracy with only Arab Muslims able to be a part of it.
Battle of Tours
(732 CE) European victory over Muslims. It halted Muslim movement into Western Europe.
Charlemagne
(768-814 CE) Crowned king in 800 CE by the pope; can be compared to Harsha; brought back unified rule to Europe only during his life; used the missi dominici to check up on imperial officials.
Song Dynasty
(960 - 1279 AD); this dynasty was started by Tai Zu; by 1000, a million people were living there; started feet binding; had a magnetic compass; had a navy; traded with india and persia (brought pepper and cotton); first to have paper money, explosive gun powder; *landscape black and white paintings
Song Dynasty
(960-1279 CE) The Chinese dynasty that placed much more emphasis on civil administration, industry, education, and arts other than military.
Mehmed the Conqueror
(r.1451-1481), captured Constantinople in 1453, which later became Istanbul, the Islamic capital; Ruled with an absolute monarchy and centralized his power; Expanded into Serbia, Greece, and Albania (attacked Italy).
Suleyman the Magnificent
(r.1520-1566 CE) He promoted Ottoman expanison, conquered Baghdad in 1543, and subjected Vienna to siege in 1529.
Qin Shihuangdi
(r.221-210 BCE) The first emperor of the Qin Dynasty who believed strongly in Legalism and sought to strengthen the centralized China through public works.
Harsha
(r.606-648 CE) He restored centralized rule in northern India after the collapse of the Gupta. He can be compared to Charlemagne.
Emperor Menelik
. Emperor of Ethiopia (r. 1889-1911). He enlarged Ethiopia to its present dimensions and defeated an Italian invasion at Adowa (1896).
Four Noble Truths
1. Suffering is always present in life 2. Desire is the cause of suffering 3. Freedom from suffering can be achieved in nirvana 4. The Eightfold Path leads to nirvana
First Crusade
1099 CE, Jerusalem fell the Christian crusaders; the only successful crusade.
Medieval Japan
1185 - 1608 a period of Japanese history when aristocratic Japanese warlords controlled land and economy.
Battle of Chaldiran
16th Century. The Safavids vs the Ottomans; Ottomans won, and this symbolized the two greatest world powers at the time clashing together; religious war (Shi'ites Vs. Sunnis).
John Locke
17th century English philosopher who opposed the Divine Right of Kings and who asserted that people have a natural right to life, liberty, and property.
Treaty of Nanjing
1842, ended Opium war, said the western nations would determine who would trade with china, so it set up the unequal treaty system which allowed western nations to own a part of chinese territory and conduct trading business in china under their own laws; this treaty set up 5 treaty ports where westerners could live, work, and be treated under their own laws; one of these were Hong Kong.
Boxer Rebellion
1899 rebellion in Beijing, China started by a secret society of Chinese who opposed the "foreign devils". The rebellion was ended by British troops.
Crimean War
19th century war between the Ottomans and Russia. France, Britain, and Italians helped the Ottomans to defeat Russia but it ultimately proved the growing weakness of the Ottoman Empire.
Qin
1st unified imperial Chinese dynasty
Phillip II
336 BC, was an ancient Greek king of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336. He was the father of Alexander the Great.
Yellow Turban Revolt
A 184 C.E. peasant revolt against emperor Ling of Han. Led by Daoists who proclaimed that a new era would be3ing with the fall of the Han. Although this specific revolt was suppressed, it triggered a continuous string of additional outbreaks.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
A 1946 United Nations covenant binding signatory nations to the observance of specified rights.
Bourbon
A European Royal family that is most known for its rule of France from the 16th through the 18th centuries.
Huguenot
A French Protestant
diaspora
A Greek word meaning 'dispersal,' used to describe the communities of a given ethnic group living outside their homeland. Jews, for example, were spread from Israel to western Asia and Mediterranean lands in by the Romans.
Daimyo
A Japanese feudal lord who commanded a private army of samurai; warlord but not as powerful as a shogun.
Apostle Paul
A Jew from the Greek city of Tarsus in Anatolia, he initially persecuted the followers of Jesus but, according to Christian belief, after receiving a revelation on the road to Syrian Damascus, he became arguably the most significant figure in the spread of Christianity and the shaping of its doctrine.
Zionism
A Jewish movement starting in the 1800s that resulted in the migration of Jews to Palestine and the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.
Israel
A Jewish state on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, both in antiquity and again founded in 1948 after centuries of Jewish diaspora.
Nicolaus Copernicus
A Polish astronomer who proved that the Ptolemaic system was inaccurate, he proposed the theory that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the solar system.
Society of Jesus
A Roman Catholic order founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in 1534 to defend Catholicism against the Reformation and to do missionary work.
Bread and Circuses
A Roman bribery method of coping with class difference. Entertainment and food was offered to keep plebeians quiet without actually solving unemployment problems.
Kulak
A Russian peasant farmer who owns land. Late imperial and early Soviet eras.
Safavids
A Shi'ite Muslim dynasty that ruled in Persia (Iran and parts of Iraq) from the 16th-18th centuries that had a mixed culture of the Persians, Ottomans and Arabs.
Nikita Khrushchev
A Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also famous for denouncing Stalin and allowed criticism of Stalin within Russia.
Marshall Plan
A United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe (1948-1952).
Twelver Shiism
A belief that there were 12 infallible imam (religious leaders) after Muhammad and the 12th went into hiding and would return to take power and spread the true religion.
Bhagavad Gita
A book in popular Hinduism that was a response to Buddhism and made reaching moksha way easier.
Little Ice Age
A century-long period of cool climate that began in the 1590s. Its ill effects on agriculture in northern Europe were notable.
ideograms
A character or figure in a writing system in which the idea of a thing is represented rather than it's name (example: Chinese)
Hoplite
A citizen-soldier of the Ancient Greek City-states. They were primarily armed as spear-men.
Young Turks
A coalition starting in the late 1870s of various groups favoring modernist liberal reform of the Ottoman Empire. It was against monarchy of Ottoman Sultan and instead favored a constitution. In 1908 they succeed in establishing a new constitutional era.
Code of Hammurabi
A collection of 282 laws. One of the first (but not THE first) examples of written law in the ancient world.
Hebrew Bible
A collection of sacred books containing diverse materials concerning the origins, experiences, beliefs, and practices of the early Hebrew people. Most of the extant text was compiled by members of the priestly class in the fifth century B.C.E.
Persepolis
A complex of palaces, reception halls, and treasury buildings erected by the Persian kings Darius I and Xerxes in the Persian homelan
aqueduct
A conduit, either elevated or under ground, using gravity to carry water from a source to a location-usually a city-that needed it. The Romans built many of these in a period of substantial urbanization.
Geneva Conference
A conference between many countries that agreed to end hostilities and restore peace in French Indochina and Vietnam.
Cuban Missile Crisis
A confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1962 over the presence of missile sites in Cuba
Roman Senate
A council whose members were the heads of wealthy, landowning families. Originally an advisory body to the early kings, in the era of the Roman Republic the Senate effectively governed the Roman state and the growing empire.
Malay
A designation for peoples originating in south China and Southeast Asia who settled the Malaysian Peninsula, Indonesia, and the Philippines, then spread eastward across the islands of the Pacific Ocean and west to Madagascar. (p. 190)
Gulf War
A dispute over control of the waterway between Iraq and Iran broke out into open fighting in 1980 and continued until 1988, when they accepted a UN cease-fire resolution.
Great Western Schism
A division in the Latin (Western) Christian Church between 1378 and 1417, when rival claimants to the papacy existed in Rome and Avignon. (p. 411)
Boddhisatva
A enlightened being who put off nirvana to come back and help others become enlightened.
Theocracy
A government ruled by or subject to religious authority.
encomienda
A grant of authority over a population of Amerindians in the Spanish colonies. It provided the grant holder with a supply of cheap labor and periodic payments of goods by the Amerindians. It obliged the grant holder to Christianize the native Americans.
manumission
A grant of legal freedom to an individual slave.
Uigurs
A group of Turkic-speakers who controlled their own centralized empire from 744 to 840 in Mongolia and Central Asia. (p. 284)
Islamic Golden Age
A hypothetical period that describes the status of the Islamic world from the mid-8th to the mid-13th century CE (sack of Baghdad by Mongols). During this period, artists, engineers, scholars, poets, philosophers, geographers and traders in the Islamic world contributed to agriculture, the arts, economics, industry, law, literature, navigation, philosophy, sciences, sociology, and technology, both by preserving earlier traditions and by adding inventions and innovations of their own.
Enconmienda
A labor system set up by the Spanish government where Spanish colonists could work the native Americans on their land while compensating them and agreeing to educate some of them and teach them about Christianity. The system was meant to curb exploitation but actually made the exploitation of Native Americans worse.
Constantinople
A large and wealthy city that was the imperial capital of the Byzantine empire and later the Ottoman empire, now known as Istanbul
Teotihuacan
A large central city in the Mesoamerican region. Located about 25 miles Northeast of present day Mexico City. Exhibited city planning and unprecedented size for its time. Reached its peak around the year 450.
Xia
A legendary Chinese dynasty that was not believed to exist until relatively recently. Walled towns ruled by area-specific kings assembled armies, built cities, and worked bronze. Created pictograms which would evolve in to the first Chinese script.
Western Front
A line of trenches and fortifications in World War I that stretched without a break from Switzerland to the North Sea. Scene of most of the fighting between Germany, on the one hand, and France and Britain, on the other.
Ramesses II
A long-lived ruler of New Kingdom Egypt (r. 1290-1224 B.C.E.). He reached an accommodation with the Hittites of Anatolia after a military standoff. He built on a grand scale throughout Egypt.
steam engine
A machine that turns the energy released by burning fuel into motion. Thomas Newcomen built the first crude but workable one in 1712. James Watt vastly improved his device in the 1760s and 1770s. It was then applied to machinery.
Bantu
A major African language family. Collective name of a large group of sub-Saharan African languages and of the peoples speaking these languages. Famous for migrations throughout central and southern Africa.
Neo-Assyrian Empire
A major Mesopotamian empire between 934-608 BCE. They used force and terror and exploited the wealth and labor of their subjects. They were an iron-age resurgence of a previous bronze age empire.
Upanishads
A major book in Hinduism that is often in the form of dialogues that explored the Vedas and the religious issues that they raised.
Ming Dynasty
A major dynasty that ruled China from the mid-fourteenth to the mid-seventeenth century. It was marked by a great expansion of Chinese commerce into East Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia
Civilian Conservation Corps
A major public works program in the United States during the Great Depression.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
A measurement of the total goods and services produced within a country.
Berlin Conference
A meeting from 1884-1885 at which representatives of European nations agreed on rules colonization of Africa.
Sikh
A member of a religious community founded in the Punjab region of India. Developed in the 15th century. They believe in One Immortal Being and the teachings of ten Gurus, starting with Guru Nanak.
Sufi
A member of the more mystical third sect of Islam famous for their dance and their poetry.
Samurai
A member of the warrior class in premodern feudal Japan
Nation-State
A modern concept of a government that controls an area and represents the people of that area, often idealized as a homogeneous people that share a common language and feeling of nationality.
Solomon's Temple
A monumental sanctuary built in Jerusalem by King Solomon in the tenth century B.C.E. to be the religious center for the Israelite god Yahweh. The Temple priesthood conducted sacrifices, received a tithe or percentage of agricultural revenues.
Indian National Congress
A movement and political party founded in 1885 to demand greater Indian participation in government. Its membership was middle class, and its demands were modest until World War I. Led after 1920 by Mohandas K. Gandhi, appealing to the poor.
Mestizo
A new racial concept that develops in Latin America following the intermixing that occurred between European colonists and the native American population.
Qin
A people and state in the Wei Valley of eastern China that conquered rival states and created the first short-lived Chinese empire (221-206 B.C.E.). Their ruler, Shi Huangdi, standardized many features of Chinese society and enslaved his subjects.
Hittites
A people from central Anatolia who established an empire in Anatolia and Syria in the Late Bronze Age. With wealth from the trade in metals and military power based on chariot forces, they vied with New Kingdom Egypt over Syria.
Zulu
A people of modern South Africa whom King Shaka united beginning in 1818.
Vedic Age
A period in the history of India; It was a period of transition from nomadic pastoralism to settled village communities, with cattle the major form of wealth.
Italian Renaissance
A period of intense artistic and intellectual activity, said to be a 'rebirth' of Greco-Roman culture. From roughly the mid-fourteenth to mid-fifteenth century followed by this movement spreading into the Northern Europe during 1400-1600
Mestizo
A person of mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry.
scholasticism
A philosophical and theological system, associated with Thomas Aquinas, devised to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy and Roman Catholic theology in the thirteenth century.
Enlightenment
A philosophical movement in eighteenth-century Europe that fostered the belief that one could reform society by discovering rational laws that governed social behavior and were just as scientific as the laws of physics.
The Enlightenment
A philosophical movement which started in Europe in the 1700's and spread to the colonies. It emphasized reason and the scientific method. Writers of the enlightenment tended to focus on government, ethics, and science, rather than on imagination, emotions, or religion. Many members of the Enlightenment rejected traditional religious beliefs in favor of Deism, which holds that the world is run by natural laws without the direct intervention of God.
pictograms
A pictorial symbol or sign representing an object or concept
Tennis Court Oath
A pledge signed by all but one of the members of the Third Estate in France. Marks the first time the French formally opposed Louis XVI.
Zionism
A policy for establishing and developing a national homeland for Jews in Palestine.
White Australia Policy
A policy that intentionally restricted non-white immigration to Australia
Fascism
A political theory advocating an authoritarian hierarchical government (as opposed to democracy or liberalism).
Fascism
A political theory advocating an authoritarian hierarchical ultra-nationalist government. Favors nationalizing economic elites rather than promoting egalitarian socialist collectivization.
Mandate of Heaven
A political theory developed during the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China in which those in power were believed to have the the right to rule from divine authority.
Deism
A popular Enlightenment era belief that there is a God, but that God isn't involved in people's lives or in revealing truths to prophets.
Enlightenment
A popular philosophical movement of the 1700s that focused on human reasoning, natural science, political and ethical philosophy.
Habsburg
A powerful European family that provided many Holy Roman Emperors, founded the Austrian (later Austro-Hungarian) Empire, and ruled sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain.
Sparta
A powerful Greek miliary polis that was often at war with Athens. Used slaves known as helots to provide agricultural labor.
Teotihuacan
A powerful city-state in central Mexico (100-75 C.E.). Its population was about 150,000 at its peak in 600.
Vietnam War
A prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the non-communist armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States.
Satrapy
A province and/or the title of a client kings of the Persian Empire. Based on the system where conquered territory would maintain much of their identity and sovereignty within the Persian Empire.
Mesopotamia
A region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that developed the first urban societies. In the Bronze Age this area included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires, In the Iron Age, it was ruled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires.
Daoism
A religion in China which emphasizes the removal from society and to become one with nature.
three-field system
A rotational system for agriculture in which one field grows grain, one grows legumes, and one lies fallow. It gradually replaced two-field system in medieval Europe.
legalism
A school of Chinese philosophy. Prominent during Warring States Period. Had great influence on the policies of the Qin dynasty. Based on a pessimistic view of human nature. Social harmony could only be attained through strong government control and the imposition of strict laws, enforced absolutely.
Rebellions of 1848
A series of rebellions throughout Europe in 1848; they were crushed by the conservative powers.
Persian Wars
A series of wars between the Greeks (mainly Athens) and the Persians in which the Greeks were usually victorious.
Napoleonic Wars
A series of wars fought between France (led by Napoleon Bonaparte) and alliances involving England and Prussia and Russia and Austria at different times (1799-1812).
Tanzimat Reforms
A set of reforms in the Ottoman Empire set to revise Ottoman law to help lift the capitulations put on the Ottomans by European powers.
Suez Canal
A ship canal in northeastern Egypt linking the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea
Janissary
A slave soldier of the Ottoman Army
city state
A small independent state consisting of an urban center and the surrounding agricultural territory. A characteristic political form in early Mesopotamia, Archaic and Classical Greece, Phoenicia, and early Italy.
caravel
A small, highly maneuverable three-masted ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish in the exploration of the Atlantic.
Bourgeoisie
A social class that derives social and economic power from employment, education, and wealth, as opposed to the inherited power of aristocratic family of titled land owners or feudal privileges. It's a term for the middle class common in the 19th century. It's characterized by their ownership of property and their related culture.
Communist Manifesto
A socialist manifesto written by Marx and Engels (1848) describing the history of the working-class movement according to their views.
sepoy
A soldier in South Asia, especially in the service of the British.
World Bank
A specialized agency of the United Nations that makes loans to countries for economic development, trade promotion, and debt consolidation. Its formal name is the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Songhay Empire
A state located in western Africa. From the early 15th to the late 16th century, it was one of the largest Islamic empires in history.
Great Zimbabwe
A stone-walled enclosure found in Southeast Africa. Have been associated with trade, farming, and mining.
Jati
A sub-varna in the caste system that gave people of sense of community because they usually consisted of people working in the same occupation.
cuneiform
A system of writing in which wedge-shaped symbols represented words or syllables. It originated in Mesopotamia and was used initially for Sumerian and Akkadian but later was adapted to represent other languages of western Asia.
ziggurat
A temple tower of ancient Mesopotamia, constructed of square or rectangular terraces of diminishing size, usually with a shrine made of blue enamel bricks on the top
Roman Principate
A term used to characterize Roman government in the first three centuries C.E., based on the ambiguous title princeps ('first citizen') adopted by Augustus to conceal his military dictatorship.
Han
A term used to designate (1) the ethnic Chinese people who originated in the Yellow River Valley and spread throughout regions of China suitable for agriculture and (2) the dynasty of emperors who ruled from 206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E.
Hydrogen bomb
A thermonuclear bomb which uses the fusion of isotopes of hydrogen
Royal African Company
A trading company chartered by the English government in 1672 to conduct its merchants' trade on the Atlantic coast of Africa. (p. 507)
hadith
A tradition relating the words or deeds of the Prophet Muhammad; next to the Quran, the most important basis for Islamic law.
Mahabharata
A vast epic chronicling the events leading up to a cataclysmic battle between related kinship groups in early India. It includes the Bhagavad-Gita, the most important work of Indian sacred literature. Mahayana Buddhism,Branch of Buddhism followed in China, Japan, and Central Asia. The focus is on reverence for Buddha and for bodhisattvas, enlightened persons who have postponed nirvana to help others attain enlightenment.
Berlin Wall
A wall separating East and West Berlin built by East Germany in 1961 to keep citizens from escaping to the West.
War of 1812
A war (1812-1814) between the United States and England which was trying to interfere with American trade with France.
World War I
A war between the allies (Russia, France, British Empire, Italy, United States, Japan, Rumania, Serbia, Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Montenegro) and the central powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria) from 1914 to 1918.
Proxy war
A war instigated by a major power that does not itself participate
Qanat
A water management system that originated in Perisa thousands of years ago. It provided water to people even in hilly, desert, hot, and arid areas (like Iran).
Leonardo da Vinci
A well known Italian Renaissance artist, architect, musician, mathemetician, engineer, and scientist. Known for the Mona Lisa.
Zambos
According to Spanish and Portuguese colonizedrs, these are people of mixed Native American and African descent. Lowest tier of social class in colonial America.
World Trade Organization
Administers the rules governing trade between its 144 members. Helps producers, importers, and exporters conduct their business and ensure that trade flows smoothly.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
Adopted August 26, 1789, created by the National Assembly to give rights to all (except women).
Asante
African kingdom on the Gold Coast that expanded rapidly after 1680. A major participant in the Atlantic economy, trading gold, slaves, and ivory. It resisted British imperial ambitions for a quarter century before being absorbed into Britain.
Atlantic
After 1500, world economic activity gradually began to shift toward this body of water, noncontributing to the rise of Western European colonialism and economic dominance in the world.
Philippines
After decades of nationalist resistance against the Spanish (and violent repression of activists) this Pacific Island nation proudly declared independence in 1898. But the Spanish had handed control over to the USA, who had no plans to recognize their independence.
Khmer Empire
Aggressive empire in Cambodia and Laos that collapsed in the 1400's when Thailand conquered Cambodia
Four Noble Truths
All life invoves suffering; desire is the cause of suffering; elimination of desire brings an end to suffering; a disciplined life conducted life brings the elimination of desire.
Plebeians
All non-land-owning, free men in Ancient Rome
Warsaw Pact
Alliance against democracy, supporting communism
Delian League
Alliance between Athens and many of its allied cities following the first attempted invasion of Perisa into Greece. Caused a lot of wealth to flow into Athens and thus contributed to the Athenian "golden age."
NATO
Alliance of the allied powers against the Soviets
Mandate System
Allocation of former German colonies and Ottoman possessions to the victorious powers after World War I, to be administered under League of Nations supervision. Used especially in reference to the Western European possession of the Middle East after WWI.
Mandate System
Allocation of former German colonies and Ottoman possessions to the victorious powers after World War I; to be administered under League of Nations supervision.
Neocolonialism
Also called economic imperialism, this is the domination of newly independent countries by foreign business interests that causes colonial-style economies to continue, which often caused monoculture (a country only producing one main export like sugar, oil, etc).
Aztecs
Also known as Mexica, they created a powerful empire in central Mexico (1325-1521 C.E.). They forced defeated peoples to provide goods and labor as a tax.
Genghis Khan
Also known as Temujin; he united the Mongol tribes into an unstoppable fighting force; created largest single land empire in history.
Mahayana Buddhism
Also known as popular Buddhism, is allows people more ways to reach enlightenment and boddhisatvas can help you reach enlightenment.
Yellow River
Also known as the Huang-He. The second longest river in China. The majority of ancient Chinese civilizations originated in its valley.
Thomas Edison
American inventor best known for inventing the electric light bulb, acoustic recording on wax cylinders, and motion pictures.
Hammurabi
Amorite ruler of Babylon (r. 1792-1750 B.C.E.). He conquered many city-states in southern and northern Mesopotamia and is best known for a code of laws, inscribed on a black stone pillar, illustrating the principles to be used in legal cases.
Monroe Doctrine
An American foreign policy opposing interference in the Western hemisphere from outside powers.
Muslim
An adherent of the Islamic religion.
Triple Entente
An alliance between Great Britain, France and Russia in the years before WWI.
Iroquois Confederacy
An alliance of five northeastern Amerindian peoples (after 1722 six) that made decisions on military and diplomatic issues through a council of representatives. Allied first with the Dutch and later with the English, it dominated W. New England.
Hittites
An ancient Anatolian group whose empire at largest extent consisted of most of the Middle East. Some of the first two-wheeled chariots and iron.
Stoicism
An ancient Greek philosophy that became popular amongst many notable Romans. Emphasis on ethics. They considered destructive emotions to be the result of errors in judgment, and that a wise person would repress emotions, especially negative ones and that "virtue is sufficient for happiness." They were also concerned with the conflict between free will and determinism. They were also non-dualists and naturalists.
Jainism
An ancient religion of India with a small following today of only about 10 million followers. Originated in the 800s BCE. They prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice rely mainly on self-effort to progress the soul up the spiritual ladder to divine consciousness. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state of supreme being is called jina (Conqueror or Victor).
Olaudah Equiano
An antislavery activist who wrote an account of his enslavement.
Goths
An array of Germanic peoples, pushed further westward by nomads from central Asia. They in turn migrated west into Rome, upsetting the rough balance of power that existed between Rome and these people.
Estates General
An assembly that represented the entire French population through three groups, known as estates; King Louis XVI called this in May 1789 to discuss the financial crises.
Ren
An attitude of kindness and benevolence or a sense of humanity for Confucianism.
Shang
An early Chinese dynasty. Not a unified Chinese state. Instead rulers and their relatives gave orders through a network of cities. Earliest evidence of Chinese writing comes from this period.
Hanseatic League
An economic and defensive alliance of the free towns in northern Germany, founded about 1241 and most powerful in the fourteenth century.
Epic of Gilgamesh
An epic poem from Mesopotamia, and among the earliest known works of literary writing.
Zheng He
An imperial eunuch and Muslim, entrusted by the Ming emperor Yongle with a series of state voyages that took his gigantic ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa.
Wheel of Life
An important symbol of Buddhism. It represents the endless cycle of life through reincarnation.
OPEC
An international oil cartel originally formed in 1960. Represents the majority of all oil produced in the world. Attempts to limit production to raise prices. It's long name is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
NATO
An international organization created in 1949 by the North Atlantic Treaty for purposes of collective security.
United Nations
An international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace, security, and cooperation.
League of Nations
An international organization formed in 1920 to promote cooperation and peace among nations; suggested in Wilson's Fourteen Points.
European Union
An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members.
African National Congress
An organization dedicated to obtaining equal voting and civil rights for black inhabitants of South Africa. Founded in 1912 as the South African Native National Congress, it changed its name in 1923. Eventually brought greater equality.
OPEC
An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the production and sale of petroleum.
United Nations
An organization of independent states formed in 1945 to promote international peace and security; it replaced the League of Nations.
Spanish Inquisition
An organization of priests in Spain that looked for and punished anyone suspected of secretly practicing their old religion instead of Roman Catholicism.
labor union
An organization of workers in a particular industry or trade, created to defend the interests of members through strikes or negotiations with employers.
European Community
An organization promoting economic unity in Europe formed in 1967 by consolidation of earlier, more limited, agreements. Replaced by the European Union (EU) in 1993.
Triumvirate
An unofficial coalition between Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus was formed in 60 B.C.E. Eventually results in civil war that brings down the republic and results in the Roman Empire.
mita
Andean labor system based on shared obligations to help kinsmen and work on behalf of the ruler and religious organizations.
Ibn Khaldun
Arab historian. He developed an influential theory on the rise and fall of states. Born in Tunis, he spent his later years in Cairo as a teacher and judge. In 1400 he was sent to Damascus to negotiate the surrender of the city.
Faisal
Arab prince, leader of the Arab Revolt in World War I. The British made him king of Iraq in 1921, and he reigned under British protection until 1933.
Franz Ferdinand
Archduke of Austria-Hungary assassinated by a Serbian nationalist. A major catalyst for WWI.
Macedonia
Area between the Greek and Slavic regions; conquered Greece and Mesopotamia under the leadership of Philip II and Alexander the Great
John Stuart Mill
Arguably the most famous English philosopher and politician of the 1800s. Champion of liberty over unlimited state control. Also famous for adding falsification as a key component of the scientific method.
Pericles
Aristocratic leader who guided the Athenian state through the transformation to full participatory democracy for all male citizens.
Crusades
Armed pilgrimages to the Holy Land by Christians determined to recover Jerusalem from Muslim rule. The Crusades brought an end to western Europe's centuries of intellectual and cultural isolation.
Schlieffen Plan
Attack plan by Germans, proposed by Schliffen, lightning quick attack against France. Proposed to go through Belgium then attack France, Belgium resisted, other countries took up their aid, long fight, used trench warfare.
Sigmund Freud
Austrian neurologist known for his work on the unconscious mind. Father of psychoanalysis.
Sigmund Freud
Austrian physician whose work focused on the unconscious causes of behavior and personality formation; founded psychoanalysis.
Pearl Harbor
Base in hawaii that was bombed by japan on December 7, 1941, which eagered America to enter the war.
Kingdom of Kongo
Basin of the Congo (Zaire) river, conglomeration of several village alliances, participated actively in trade networks, most centralized rule of the early Bantu kingdoms, royal currency: cowries, ruled 14th-17th century until undermined by Portuguese slave traders
Moksha
Becoming liberated for the cycle of reincarnation in Hinduism.
1880s
Before this decade, Europeans were mostly on the coasts of Africa as traders, explorers, and missionaries. After this decade Europeans began to conquer African territory and destroy African kingdoms.
Reconquista
Beginning in the eleventh century, military campaigns by various Iberian Christian states to recapture territory taken by Muslims. In 1492 the last Muslim ruler was defeated, and Spain and Portugal emerged as united kingdoms.
Sahel
Belt south of the Sahara where it transitions into savanna across central Africa. It means literally 'coastland' in Arabic.
Indian Ocean
Between 1450-1750 in this body of water European empires (particularly the Portuguese and Dutch) had many interconnected trading posts and enclaves.
Alexander the Great
Between 334 and 323 B.C.E. he conquered the Persian Empire, reached the Indus Valley, founded many Greek-style cities, and spread Greek culture across the Middle East.
Shi'a
Branch of Islam believing that God vests leadership of the community in a descendant of Muhammad's son-in-law Ali. Mainly found in Iran and a small part of Iraq. It is the state religion of Iran. A member of this group is called a Shi'ite.
Cuban Missile Crisis
Brink-of-war confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the latter's placement of nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba.
Cecil Rhodes
British entrepreneur and politician involved in the expansion of the British Empire from South Africa into Central Africa. The colonies of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) were named after him. (p. 736)
Lusitania
British passenger ship holding Americans that sunk off the coast of Ireland in 1915 by German U-Boats killing 1,198 people. It was decisive in turning public favor against Germany and bringing America into WWI.
Winston Churchill
British statesman and leader during World War II; received Nobel prize for literature in 1953
Crystal Palace
Building erected in London, for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Made of iron and glass, like a gigantic greenhouse, it was a symbol of the industrial age.
Forbidden City
Built in the Ming Dynasty, was a stunning monument in Bejing built for Yonglo. All commoners and foreigners were forbidden to enter without special permission.
Trading Post Empires
Built initially by the portuguese, these were used to control the trade routes by forcing merchant vessels to call at fortified trading sites and pay duties there.
caudillos
By the 1830s, following several hopeful decades of Enlightenment-inspired revolution against European colonizers, Latin America was mostly ruled by these creole military dictators.
Li
Called for individuals to behave in conventionally appropriate fashion in Confucianism.
Ottoman Empire
Called the "Sick Man of Europe" due to their slow imperial decline and inability to adapt to the new political and economic developments of the nineteenth century.
Noble Eightfold Path
Calls for individuals to lead balanced and moderate lives, rejecting both the devotion to luxury and the regimes of extreme asceticism. (Buddhist Belief).
Cultural Revolution
Campaign in China ordered by Mao Zedong to purge the Communist Party of his opponents and instill revolutionary values in the younger generation.
Thebes
Capital city of Egypt and home of the ruling dynasties during the Middle and New Kingdoms. Amon, patron deity of Thebes, became one of the chief gods of Egypt. Monarchs were buried across the river in the Valley of the Kings. (p. 43)
Tenochtitlan
Capital of the Aztec Empire, located on an island in Lake Texcoco. Its population was about 150,000 on the eve of Spanish conquest. Mexico City was constructed on its ruins.
Isfahan
Capital of the Safavid Empire.
Floating Worlds
Centers of Tokugawa urban culture; called ukiyo; where entertainment and pleasure quarters housed teahouses, theaters, brothels, and public baths to offer escape from social responsibilities and the rigid rules of conduct that governed public behavior.
Otto von Bismarck
Chancellor of Prussia from 1862 until 1871, when he became chancellor of Germany. A conservative nationalist, he led Prussia to victory against Austria (1866) and France (1870) and was responsible for the creation of the German Empire
Alexander the Great
Chandragupta Maurya is believed to have modeled his conquest of India (forming the Mauryan Empire) off of the conquests of what other leader?
Egalitarian
Characterized by belief in the equality of all people, especially in political and social life.
Carolingian Empire
Charlemagne's empire; covered much of western and central Europe; largest empire until Napoleon in 19th century
Beijing
China's northern capital, first used as an imperial capital in 906 and now the capital of the People's Republic of China.
Ming
Chinese dynasty between 1368-1644. Economy flourished and the government even explored the Indian Ocean through many expeditions led by Zheng He. Ultimately they were taken over by the Manchurians from the North in 1644.
Ming
Chinese dynasty that followed the overthrow of the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty in China. Among other things, the emperor Yongle sponsored the building of the Forbidden City and the voyages of Zheng He. It was mostly a time of vibrant economic productivity. It is regarded as the last great Chinese dynasty (1368-1644). In 1644 they fall to Manchurian (Qing Dynasty) from the North who who rule China until the Nationalist revolution in 1911.
Confucianism
Chinese ethical and philosophical teachings of Confucius which emphasized education, family, peace, and justice
Sun Yat-Sen
Chinese nationalist revolutionary, founder and leader of the Guomindang until his death. He attempted to create a liberal democratic political movement in China but was thwarted by military leaders.
Daoism
Chinese religion that believes the world is always changing and is devoid of absolute morality or meaning. They accept the world as they find it, avoid futile struggles, and deviate as little as possible from 'the way' or 'path' of nature.
Mandate of Heaven
Chinese religious and political ideology developed by the Zhou, was the prerogative of Heaven, the chief deity, to grant power to the ruler of China.
Treaty Ports
Cities opened to foreign residents as a result of the forced treaties between the Qing Empire and foreign signatories. In the in these cities, foreigners enjoyed extraterritoriality.
Constantinople
City founded as the second capital of the Roman Empire; later became the capital of the Byzantine Empire
Hiroshima
City in Japan, the first to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, on August 6, 1945. The bombing hastened the end of World War II.
Stalingrad
City in Russia, site of a Red Army victory over the Germany army in 1942-1943. The Battle of Stalingrad was the turning point in the war between Germany and the Soviet Union. Today Volgograd.
Medina
City in western Arabia to which the Prophet Muhammad and his followers emigrated in 622 to escape persecution in Mecca.
Carthage
City located in present-day Tunisia, founded by Phoenicians ca. 800 B.C.E. It became a major commercial center and naval power in the western Mediterranean until defeated by the expanding Roman Republic in the third century B.C.E.
Alexandria
City on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt founded by Alexander. It became the capital of the Hellenistic kingdom of Ptolemy. It contained the famous Library and the Museum and was a center for leading scientific and literary figures in the classical and postclassical eras.
Timbuktu
City on the Niger River in the modern country of Mali. It was founded by the Tuareg as a seasonal camp sometime after 1000. As part of the Mali empire, Timbuktu became a major major terminus of the trans-Saharan trade and a center of Islamic learning.
Great Zimbabwe
City, now in ruins (in the modern African country of Zimbabwe), whose many stone structures were built between about 1250 and 1450, when it was a trading center and the capital of a large state.
Operation Barbarossa
Codename for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II.
Asian Tigers
Collective name for South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore-nations that became economic powers in the 1970s and 1980s.
Truman Doctrine
Common name for the Cold War strategy of containment versus the Soviet Union and the expansion of communism. This doctrine was first asserted by President Truman in 1947.
Deng Xiaoping
Communist Party leader who forced Chinese economic reforms after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976.
Deng Xiaoping
Communist Party leader who forced Chinese economic reforms after the death of Mao Zedong.
Twelve Tables
Completed in 449 BCE, these civil laws developed by the Roman Republic following demands by plebeians.
Filial Piety
Concept is stressed in Confucianism. Reflected the high significance of the family in Chinese history.
Berlin Conference
Conference that German chancellor Otto von Bismarck called to set rules for the partition of Africa. It led to the creation of the Congo Free State under King Leopold II of Belgium.
Peloponnesian War
Conflict between Athens and Sparta
English Civil War
Conflict from 1640 to 1660; featured religious disputes mixed with constitutional issues concerning the powers of the monarchy; ended with restoration of the monarchy in 1660 following execution of previous king
Korean War
Conflict that began with North Korea's invasion of South Korea and came to involve the United Nations (primarily the United States) allying with South Korea and the People's Republic of China allying with North Korea.
Persian Wars
Conflicts between Greek city-states and the Persian Empire in the 400s BCE. Essentially Perisa--biggest empire in the world at the time--invaded Greece twice with an overwhelming force and lost both times. It contributed heavily to the rise of Athens as a mini-empire and the "golden age" of Athenian culture.
Persian Wars
Conflicts between Greek city-states and the Persian Empire, ranging from the Ionian Revolt (499-494 B.C.E.) through Darius's punitive expedition that failed at Marathon. Chronicled by Herodotus.
Civil Service Exam
Confucian exam given in China to aspiring bureaucrats to test them on Confucian beliefs and goverment understanding.
Tang
Continuing the imperial revival started by the Sui Dynasty this dynasty that followed restored the Chinese imperial impulse four centuries after the decline of the Han, extending control along the silk route. Trade flourished and China finally reached its western limits when its forces were defeated by the imperial armies of the Muslim Abbasid Empire at the Talas River--which stopped future expansion by both empires.
Audiencias
Courts appointed by the king who reviewed the administration of viceroys serving Spanish colonies in America.
Cyrus
Created the Persian Empire by defeating the Medes, Lydians, and Babylonians; was known for his allowance of existing governments to continue governing under his name
Four-field rotation
Crop rotation methods are ancient but this Dutch method from the 1500s was popularized in Britain in the 1700s and led to a large increase in agricultural productivity. It typically involved rotating wheat, turnips, barley and clover, and allowed livestock to be bred year-round.
Fidel Castro
Cuban revolutionary leader who overthrew the regime of the dictator Batista in 1959 and soon after established a Communist state
Fidel Castro
Cuban socialist leader who overthrew a dictator in 1959 and established a Marxist socialist state in Cuba
Fidel Castro
Cuban socialist leader who overthrew a dictator in 1959 and established a Marxist socialist state in Cuba (born in 1927).
1987
Date: 1st Palestinian Intifada (Hint: 1__7)
1756
Date: 7 years war between France and Britain begins (Hint: 1__6)
2001
Date: 9/11 Attacks
323 BCE
Date: Alexander the Great dies (Hint: "_23 BCE")
1776
Date: American Revolution/Smith writes Wealth of Nations (Hint: 1__6)
1571
Date: Battle of Lepanto (Hint: 1__1)
1071 CE
Date: Battle of Manzikert (Hint: __71 CE)
1600
Date: Battle of Sekigahara - Beginning of Tokugawa (Hint: 1__0)
732 CE
Date: Battle of Tours (Hint: _32 CE)
3000s BCE
Date: Beginning of Bronze Age and river valley civilizations (Hint: _000s BCE)
4th century CE
Date: Beginning of Trans-Saharan Trade Routes (Hint: ___ century CE)
10000 BCE
Date: Beginnings of Agriculture
32 CE
Date: Beginnings of Christianity (Hint: _2 CE)
1885
Date: Berlin Conference - Division of Africa (Hint: 1__5)
1347 CE
Date: Black Death hits Europe (Hint: ___7 CE)
1899
Date: Boer War - British in control of South Africa (Hint: 1__9)
1949
Date: Chinese Communist Revolution
1911
Date: Chinese Revolution against traditional Chinese Imperial system. (Hint: 1__1)
1492
Date: Columbus "Sailed the Ocean Blue" / Reconquista of Spain (Hint: 1__2)
1853
Date: Commodore Perry opens Japan to trade (Hint: 1__3)
1815
Date: Congress of Vienna (Hint: 1__5)
1521
Date: Cortez conquered the Aztecs (Hint: 1__1)
1962
Date: Cuban Missile Crisis
1959
Date: Cuban Revolution (Hint: 1__9)
1810s
Date: Decade when Independence in mainland Latin America began (Hint: 1__0s)
1588
Date: Defeat of the Spanish Armada by the British (Hint: 1__8)
1488
Date: Dias rounded Cape of Good Hope (Hint: 1__8)
1054 CE
Date: East-West Great Schism in Christian Church (Hint: __54 CE)
1863
Date: Emancipation Proclamation in US (Hint: 1__3)
220 CE
Date: End of Han Dynasty (Hint: _20 CE)
180 CE
Date: End of Pax Romana (Hint: _80 CE)
1861
Date: End of Russian Serfdom/Italian Unification (Hint: 1__1)
1433 CE
Date: End of Zheng He's Voyages/Rise of Ottomans (Hint: __33 CE)
476 CE
Date: Fall of Rome (Hint: _76 CE)
1095 CE
Date: First Crusade (Hint: ___5 CE)
1839
Date: First Opium War in China (Hint: 1__9)
1607
Date: Founding of Jamestown (Hint: 1__7)
1789
Date: French Revolution begins
1871
Date: German Unification (Hint: 1__1)
1939
Date: German blitzkrieg in Poland starting WWII in Europe.
1689
Date: Glorious Revolution / English Bill of Rights (Hint: 1__9)
5th century BCE
Date: Greek Golden Age - Philosophers (Hint "___ century BCE")
1804
Date: Haitian Independence (Hint: 1__4)
1979
Date: Iranian Revolution (Hint: 1__9)
1300 BCE
Date: Iron Age (Hint: 1_00 BCE)
1935
Date: Italian invasion of Ethiopia (Hint: 1__5)
1931
Date: Japanese invasion of Manchuria (Hint: 1__1)
527 CE
Date: Justinian rule of Byzantine Empire (Hint: _27 CE)
1950
Date: Korean War starts
1324 CE
Date: Mansa Musa's Pilgrimage (Hint: __24 CE)
1848
Date: Many European Revolutions / Marx and Engles write Communist Manifesto (Hint: 1__8)
1271-1295 CE
Date: Marco Polo Travels (Hint: "__71-__95 CE")
1517
Date: Martin Luther and 95 Theses (Hint: 1__9)
1258 CE
Date: Mongols sack Baghdad (Hint: __58 CE)
1066 CE
Date: Norman Conquest of England (Hint: __66 CE)
6th century BCE
Date: Origin of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism (Hint ___ century BCE)
1453 CE
Date: Ottomans capture Constantinople (Hint: __53 CE)
1941
Date: Pearl Harbor, entry of US into WWII
1533
Date: Pizarro Toppled the Incas (Hint: 1__3)
221 BCE
Date: Qin Unified China (Hint: _21 BCE)
632 CE
Date: Rise of Islam (Hint: __2 CE)
333 CE
Date: Roman Capital moved to Constantinople (Hint: _33 CE)
1905
Date: Russo-Japanese War (Hint: 1__5)
1857
Date: Sepoy Mutiny or failed Indian revolution against British East India Company colonial rule (Hint: 1__7)
1967
Date: Six-day war in Israel; Chinese Cultural Revolution (Hint: 1__7)
1502
Date: Slaves begin moving to Americas (Hint: 1__2)
1898
Date: Spanish-American War - US acquires Philippines,Cuba, Guam, and Puerto Rico (Hint: 1__8)
1910
Date: Start of the ten year long Mexican Revolution. Not to be confused with Mexican war of Independence (1810-1821) (Hint: 1__0)
1929
Date: Stock Market Crash
1618
Date: Thirty Years War begins (Hint: 1__8)
1989
Date: Tiananmen Square protest in China; Fall of Berlin Wall in Germany
1325 CE
Date: Travels of Ibn Battuta begin (Hint: __25 CE)
1919
Date: Treaty of Versailles - End of WWI
1954
Date: Vietnamese defeat French at Dien Bien Phu (Hint: 1__4)
1914-1918
Date: WWI (from start to finish) (Hint: "19__-19__")
1917
Date: Year of successful Russian Revolution(s)
1956
Date: de-Stalinization in Russia; Egyptian nationalization of Suez Canal (Hint: 1__6)
1948
Date: declaration of of Israeli statehood
1945
Date: end of WWII
1991
Date: fall of USSR; 1st Gulf war near Iraq (Hint: 1__1)
1994
Date: genocide in Rwanda/1st all race elections in S. Africa (Hint: 1__4)
1947
Date: independence & partition of India
1683
Date: unsuccessful Ottoman seige of Vienna (Hint: 1_83)
Revolutions of 1848
Democratic and nationalist revolutions that swept across Europe during a time after the Congress of Vienna when conservative monarchs were trying to maintain their power. The monarchy in France was overthrown. In Germany, Austria, Italy, and Hungary the revolutions failed.
creole
Descendants of the Europeans in Latin America, usually implies an upper class status.
Abbasid Caliphate
Descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's uncle, al-Abbas, they overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate and ruled an Islamic empire from their capital in Baghdad (founded 762) from 750 to 1258.
Copernicus
Devised a model of the universe with the Sun at the center, and not earth.
Sectarian
Devoted to a particular religious sect, particularly when referring to religious involvement in politics
Porfirio Diaz
Dictator in Mexico from 1876 to 1911. Overthrown by the Mexican Revolution of 1910.
Getulio Vargas
Dictator of Brazil from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Defeated in the presidential election of 1930, he overthrew the government and created Estado Novo ('New State'), a dictatorship that emphasized industrialization.
League of Nations
Diplomatic organization created after World War I. Proposed by Wilson but the US did not join. The organization is widely regarded as a huge failure.
Millet System
Divided regions in the Ottoman Empire by religion (Orthodox Christians, Jews, Armenian Christians, Muslims). Leaders of each millet supported the Sultan in exchange for power over their millet.
Divine Right of Kings
Doctrine that states that the right of ruling comes from God and not people's consent
cultural imperialism
Domination of one culture over another by a deliberate policy that encourages cultural assimilation of neighboring foreign peoples or by economic or technological superiority.
Japan
During the 19th century, industrialization spread significantly to new places in Europe, the United States, to Russia, and also to this East Asian country.
nonaligned
During the Cold War, countries who did not want to support either side sometimes declared themselves to be.
Solon
Early Greek leader who brought democratic reforms such as his formation of the Council of Four Hundred
Vedas
Early Indian sacred 'knowledge'-the literal meaning of the term-long preserved and communicated orally by Brahmin priests and eventually written down.
conquistadors
Early-sixteenth-century Spanish adventurers who conquered Mexico, Central America, and Peru. (Examples Cortez, Pizarro, Francisco.)
Ethiopia
East African highland nation lying east of the Nile River.
Byzantine Empire
Eastern half of the Roman Empire that survived the fall of the Western half.
neocolonialism
Economic dominance of a weaker country by a more powerful one, while maintaining the legal independence of the weaker state. In the late nineteenth century, this new form of economic imperialism characterized the relations between the Latin American republics.
Mercantilism
Economic policy common to many absolute monarchies. Government control of foreign trade is of paramount importance for ensuring the military security of the country. In particular, it demands a positive balance of trade and desires new sources of gold and silver bullion, thus fueling more colonialism.
Manorialism
Economic system during the Middle Ages that revolved around self-sufficient farming estates where lords and peasants shared the land.
Akhenaten
Egyptian pharaoh (r. 1353-1335 B.C.E.). He built a new capital at Amarna, fostered a new style of naturalistic art, and created a religious revolution by imposing worship of the sun-disk.
Mentuhotep I
Egyptian pharaoh who founded the Middle Kingdom by REUNITING Upper and Lower Egypt in 2134 BCE.
ma'at
Egyptian term for the concept of divinely created and maintained order in the universe. Reflecting the ancient Egyptians' belief in an essentially beneficent world, the divine ruler was the earthly guarantor of this order.
Thomas Malthus
Eighteenth-century English intellectual who warned that population growth threatened future generations because, in his view, population growth would always outstrip increases in agricultural production.
House of Burgesses
Elected assembly in colonial Virginia, created in 1618.
Theodosius
Emperor of the Roman Empire who made Christianity the official religion of the empire.
Constantine
Emperor of the Roman Empire who moved the capital to Constantinople. He eventually converted to Christianity as well.
Mali
Empire created by indigenous Muslims in western Sudan of West Africa from the thirteenth to fifteenth century. It was famous for its role in the trans-Saharan gold trade (see Mansa Musa)
Mali
Empire created by indigenous Muslims in western Sudan of West Africa from the thirteenth to fifteenth century. It was famous for its role in the trans-Saharan gold trade.
Qing Empire
Empire established in China by Manchus who overthrew the Ming Empire in 1644. At various times they also controlled Manchuria, Mongolia, Turkestan, and Tibet. The last emperor of this dynasty was overthrown in 1911 by nationalists.
Babylonian Empire
Empire in Mesopotamia which was formed by Hammurabi, the sixth ruler of the invading Amorites
Song Dynasty
Empire in southern China (1127-1279) while the Jin people controlled the north. Distinguished for its advances in technology, medicine, astronomy, and mathematics.
Tang Empire
Empire unifying China and part of Central Asia, founded 618 and ended 907. The Tang emperors presided over a magnificent court at their capital, Chang'an.
Empress Dowager Cixi
Empress of China and mother of Emperor Guangxi. She put her son under house arrest, supported anti-foreign movements like the so-called Boxers, and resisted reforms of the Chinese government and armed forces.
Treaty of Westphalia
Ended Thirty Years' War in 1648; granted right to individual rulers within the Holy Roman Empire to choose their own religion-either Protestant or Catholic.
Josiah Wedgwood
English industrialist whose pottery works were the first to produce fine-quality pottery by industrial methods.
Richard Arkwright
English inventor and entrepreneur who became the wealthiest and most successful textile manufacturer of the first Industrial Revolution. He invented the water frame, a machine that, with minimal human supervision, could spin several threads at once.
Isaac Newton
English mathematician and scientist- invented differential calculus and formulated the theory of universal gravitation, a theory about the nature of light, and three laws of motion. was supposedly inspired by the sight of a falling apple.
Yellow River
English name for the Huang He River in the north of China where the first Chinese civilization emerged.
Charles Darwin
English naturalist. He studied the plants and animals of South America and the Pacific islands, and in his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859) set forth his theory of evolution.
James Cook
English navigator who claimed the east coast of Australia for Britain and discovered several Pacific islands (1728-1779).
The Directory
Established after the Reign of Terror / National Convention; a five man group as the executive branch of the country; incompetent and corrupt, only lasted for 4 years.
Enclaves
Ethnic ________ were territories or communities with a distinct ethnicity, often developing during the mass migration to big cities in the 19th century. Examples, "China Towns," "Little Italies" etc
Humanists
European scholars, writers, and teachers associated with the study of the humanities (grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, languages, and moral philosophy), influential in the fifteenth century and later.
1880s
Europeans scramble for Africa colonies started in this decade
Semitic
Family of related languages long spoken across parts of western Asia and northern Africa. In antiquity these languages included Hebrew, Aramaic, and Phoenician. The most widespread modern member of the this language family is Arabic.
Benito Mussolini
Fascist dictator of Italy (1922-1943). He led Italy to conquer Ethiopia (1935), joined Germany in the Axis pact (1936), and allied Italy with Germany in World War II. He was overthrown in 1943 when the Allies invaded Italy.
Ram Mohan Roy
Father of modern India; he called for the construction of a society based on both modern Euorpean science and the Indian tradition of devotional Hindusim.
Manchus
Federation of Northeast Asian (from Manchuria) peoples who founded the Qing Empire.
Bartolome de Las Casas
First bishop of Chiapas, in southern Mexico. He devoted most of his life to protecting Amerindian peoples from exploitation. His major achievement was the New Laws of 1542, which limited the ability of Spanish settlers to compel Amerindians to labor.
Liu Bang
First emperor of the Han dynasty under which a new social and political hierarchy emerged. Scholars were on top, followed by farmers, artisans, and merchants. He chose his ministers from educated men with Confucian principals.
Umayyad Caliphate
First hereditary dynasty of Muslim caliphs (661 to 750). From their capital at Damascus, the Umayyads ruled one of the largest empires in history that extended from Spain to India. Overthrown by the Abbasid Caliphate.
Ghana
First known kingdom in sub-Saharan West Africa between the sixth and thirteenth centuries C.E.
Ghana
First known kingdom in sub-Saharan West Africa between the sixth and thirteenth centuries C.E. Also the modern West African country once known as the Gold Coast. gold and salt trade.
Babur
First sultan of the Mughal Empire; took lots of land in India.
Congress of Vienna
Following Napoleon's exile, this meeting of European rulers in Austria established a system by which the balance of power would be maintained, liberal revolutions would be repressed, as would imperial expansion, and the creation of new countries in Europe.
Glorious Revolution
Following the English Civil War, this event involve the British Parliament once again overthrowing their monarch in 1688-1689. James II was expelled and William and Mary were made king and queen. Marks the point at which Parliament made the monarchy powerless, gave themselves all the power, and wrote a bill of Rights. The whole thing was relatively peaceful and thus glorious.
extraterritoriality
Foreign residents in a country living under the laws of their native country, disregarding the laws of the host country. 19th/Early 20th Centuries: European and US nationals in certain areas of Chinese and Ottoman cities were granted this right.
chiefdom
Form of political organization with rule by a hereditary leader who held power over a collection of villages and towns. Less powerful than kingdoms and empires, they were based on gift giving and commercial links.
Seven Years War
Fought between France/Russia and Prussia- Frederick kept fighting against heavy odds and was saved when Peter III took Russian throne and called off the war.
Tokugawa Shogunate
Founded in Japan by Ieyasu whose family ruled Japan from 1600-1867. Court was based in Tokyo (then called Edo). With the policy of alternate attendance, they were able to keep the daimyo from gaining too much power (they spent money on good houses rather than armies). Shoguns closely controlled relations between Japan and the outside world. Agricultural production increased under them (bar graph time) leading to population increase. Samurai became learned in the arts, because peace was widespread. Merchants became more prominent. Neo-Confucianism was sponsored by the shoguns, but didn't catch on.
Shah Ismail
Founder of Safavid Empire in 1501, ruled until 1524; made Twelver Shiism the official religion of the empire and imposed it upon his Sunni subjects; his followers became known as qizilbash.
Cyrus
Founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Between 550 and 530 B.C.E. he conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylon. Revered in the traditions of both Iran and the subject peoples.
Osman
Founder of the Ottoman Empire.
Shi Huangdi
Founder of the short-lived Qin dynasty and creator of the Chinese Empire (r. 221-210 B.C.E.). He is remembered for his ruthless conquests of rival states and standardization.
Shi Huangdi
Founder of the short-lived Qin dynasty and creator of the Chinese Empire (r. 221-210 B.C.E.). He is remembered for his ruthless conquests of rival states and standardization. (163
gens de couleur
Free men and women of color in Haiti. They sought greater political rights and later supported the Haitian Revolution.
Charles de Gaulle
French General who founded the French Fifth Republicn in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969
National Assembly
French Revolutionary assembly (1789-1791). Called first as the Estates General, the three estates came together and demanded radical change. It passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789. nationalism,Political ideology that stresses people's membership in a nation-a community defined by a common culture and history as well as by territory. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, nationalism was a force for unity in western Europe
Voltaire
French philosopher and writer whose works epitomize the Age of Enlightenment, often attacking injustice and intolerance.
Abbasid Dynasty
From 750-1258 this was the 3rd dyansty of the Islamic Caliphate. They built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphate.
Chiang Kai-Shek
General and leader of Nationalist China after 1925. Although he succeeded Sun Yat-sen as head of the Guomindang, he became a military dictator whose major goal was to crush the communist movement led by Mao Zedong.
Christopher Columbus
Genoese mariner who in the service of Spain led expeditions across the Atlantic, reestablishing contact between the peoples of the Americas and the Old World and opening the way to Spanish conquest and colonization.
Schlieffen Plan
German General Staff's early 20th century overall strategic plan for victory in a possible future war where it might find itself fighting on two fronts: France to the west and Russia to the east.
Kepler
German astronomer and mathematician of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, known as the founder of celestial mechanics
Karl Marx
German journalist and philosopher, founder of the Marxist branch of socialism. He is known for two books: The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (Vols. I-III, 1867-1894).
Max Planck
German physicist who developed quantum theory and was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1918.
Habsburg
German princely family who ruled in alliance with the Holy Roman Empire and controlled most of Central Europe
Weimar Republic
German republic founded after the WWI and the downfall of the German Empire's monarchy.
Deism
God is a watchmaker; The religion of the Enlightenment (1700s). Followers believed that God existed and had created the world, but that afterwards He left it to run by its own natural laws.
Kievan Russia
Government established at Kiev in Ukraine around 879 CE by Scandinavian adventurers asserting authority over a mostly Slavic farming population.
Totalitarianism
Government ruled by a single party and/or person that exerts unlimited control over its citizen's lives.
Viceroy
Governor of a country or province who rules as the representative of his or her king or sovereign; think Spanish colonies.
Herodotus
Greek Historian, considered the father of History. He came from a Greek community in Anatolia and traveled extensively, collecting information in western Asia and the Mediterranean lands.
trireme
Greek and Phoenician warship of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. It was sleek and light, powered by 170 oars arranged in three vertical tiers. Manned by skilled sailors, it was capable of short bursts of speed and complex maneuvers.
Sparta
Greek city-state that was ruled by an oligarchy, focused on military, used slaves for agriculture, discouraged the arts
Hellenistic Age
Greek culture spread across western Asia and northeastern Africa after the conquests of Alexander the Great. The period ended with the fall of the last major Hellenistic kingdom to Rome, but Greek cultural influence persisted until the spread of Islam.
Acropolis
Greek for "high city". The chief temples of the city were located here.
Trireme
Greek ships built specifically for ramming enemy ships.
Yuan Empire
He created this dynasty in China and Siberia. Khubilai Khan was head of the Mongol Empire and grandson of Genghis Khan.
Hammurabi
He designed a legal code in early Babylon that gave punishment based on crime and social status. Relied on the principle of lex talionis.
Caesar Augustus
He established his rule after the death of Julius Caesar and he is considered the first Roman Emperor.
Tamerlane
He is very much like Ghengis Khan; a military leader who conquered the lands of Persia; his empire was decentralized with tribal leaders.
Gamal Abdel Nasser
He led the coup which toppled the monarchy of King Farouk and started a new period of modernization and socialist reform in Egypt
Mikhail Gorbachev
Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His liberalization effort improved relations with the West, but he lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in Eastern Europe.
hoplite
Heavily armored Greek infantryman of the Archaic and Classical periods who fought in the close-packed phalanx formation. Hoplite armies-militias composed of middle- and upper-class citizens supplying their own equipment. Famously defeated superior numbers of opponents by fighting as a unit.
Ptolemy
His ideas on science influenced Muslim and European scholars from Roman times until the Scientific Revolution. He was a Greco-Roman writer famous as a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet. He lived in the city of Alexandria in the Roman province of Egypt, wrote in Greek, and held Roman citizenship.
Byzantine Empire
Historians' name for the eastern portion of the Roman Empire from the fourth century until its downfall to the Ottomans in 1453. Famous for being a center of Orthodox Christianity and Greek-based culture.
New Imperialism
Historians' term for the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century wave of conquests by European powers, the United States, and Japan, which were followed by the development and exploitation of the newly conquered territories.
Charles V
Holy Roman Emperor and Carlos I of Spain, tried to keep Europe religiously united, inherited Spain, the Netherlands, Southern Italy, Austria, and much of the Holy Roman Emperor from his grandparents, he sought to stop Protestantism and increase the power of Catholicism. He allied with the pope to stamp out heresy and maintain religous unity in Europe. He was preocuppied with struggles with Turkey and France and could not soley focus on the rise of Protestantism in Germany.
Liberia
In 1820, the American Colonization Society created a colony in West Africa for freed slaves to go. By the 1840s this colony had its own constitution and became and independent nation.
Meiji Restoration
In 1868, a Japanese state-sposored industrialization and westernization effort that also involved the elimination of the Shogunate and power being handed over to the Japanese Emperor, who had previously existed as mere spiritual/symbolic figure.
Filial Piety
In Confucian thought, one of the virtues to be cultivated, a love and respect for one's parents and ancestors.
Central Powers
In World War I the alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary and other nations allied with them in opposing the Allies.
creoles
In colonial Spanish America, term used to describe someone of European descent born in the New World. Elsewhere in the Americas, the term is used to describe all nonnative peoples.
bourgeoisie
In early modern Europe, the class of well-off town dwellers whose wealth came from manufacturing, finance, commerce, and allied professions.
Shogun
In feudal Japan, a noble similar to a duke. They were the military commanders and the actual rulers of Japan for many centuries while the Emperor was a powerless spiritual figure.
New Monarchy
In the 15th century, government in which power had been centralized under a king or queen, particularly France, England, and Spain.
Java War
In this war (1825-1830), the people of the Island of Java rebelled against their Dutch colonizers. The Dutch won after suffering 8000 deaths and killing perhaps as many as 200,000 islanders.
1857
In what year did the Indians attempt a widespread but disorganized rebellion against the British, resulting in even more intense colonization of India more directly by the British Government?
Rama
Incarnation of Hindu god Vishnu made famous in the Ramayana
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Indian Muslim politician who founded the state of Pakistan. A lawyer by training, he joined the All-India Muslim League in 1913. As leader of the League from the 1920s on, he negotiated with the British/INC for Muslim Political Rights
Sikhism
Indian religion founded by the guru Nanak (1469-1539) in the Punjab region of northwest India. After the Mughal emperor ordered the beheading of the ninth guru in 1675, warriors from this group mounted armed resistance to Mughal rule.
Nehru
Indian statesman. He succeeded Mohandas K. Gandhi as leader of the Indian National Congress. He negotiated the end of British colonial rule in India and became India's first prime minister (1947-1964).
United Nations
International organization founded in 1945 to promote world peace and cooperation. It replaced the League of Nations.
Gunpowder
Invented within China during the 9th century, this substance was became the dominate military technology used to expand European and Asian empires by the 15th century.
Safavid Empire
Iranian kingdom (1502-1722) established by Ismail Safavi, who declared Iran a Shi'ite state.
Parthians
Iranian ruling dynasty between ca. 250 B.C.E. and 226 C.E.
caliphate
Islamic empire ruled by those believed to be the successors to the Prophet Muhammad.
Sharia
Islamic law; a combination of the Quran and the Hadith.
Mahmud of Ghazni
Islamic leader who ruled parts of Iran and India between the years 997-1030. Islamic presence in India was quite new at the time. Unaccustomed to ruling a non-Muslim population, he destroyed various Hindu and Buddhist temples. His raids into India are often portrayed as being motivated by money.
Ottoman Empire
Islamic state founded by Osman in northwestern Anatolia. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire was based at Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) from 1453-1922. It encompassed lands in the Middle East, North Africa, the Caucasus, and eastern Europe.
95 Theses
It was nailed to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517 and is widely seen as being the catalyst that started the Protestant Reformation. It contained Luther's list of accusations against the Roman Catholic Church.
Marco Polo
Italian explorer who wrote about his travels to Central Asia and China.
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Italian patriot whose conquest of Sicily and Naples led to the formation of the Italian state (1807-1882).
Fascist Party
Italian political party created by Benito Mussolini during World War I. It emphasized aggressive nationalism and was Mussolini's instrument for the creation of a dictatorship in Italy from 1922 to 1943.
keiretsu
Japanese business groups after the post-WWII dismantling of the zaibatsu. They are Alliances of corporations each often centered around a bank. They dominate the post-WWII Japanese economy.
Tokugawa Shogunate
Japanese ruling dynasty that strove to isolate it from foreign influences. shogunate started by Tokugawa Leyasu; 4 class system, warriors, farmers, artisans, merchants; Japan's ports were closed off; wanted to create their own culture; illegal to fight; merchants became rich because domestic trade flourished (because fighting was illegal); had new forms of art - kabuki and geishas
Belgium
King Leopold II of this country acquired the massive territory of the Congo as his own private possession, which became one of the most brutal episodes of African colonial history and has left violent legacy in places like Congo and Rwanda today.
King Leopold II
King of Belgium (r. 1865-1909). He was active in encouraging the exploration of Central Africa and became the infamous ruler of the Congo Free State (to 1908).
King Henry VIII of England
King of England from 1509 to 1547 and founder of the Church of England; he broke with the Catholic Church because the pope would not grant him a divorce.
Louis XVI
King of France (r.1774-1792 CE). In 1789 he summoned the Estates-General, but he did not grant the reforms that were demanded and revolution followed. Louis and his queen, Marie Antoinette, were executed in 1793.
Charlemagne
King of the Franks (r. 768-814); emperor (r. 800-814). Through a series of military conquests he established the Carolingian Empire, which encompassed all of Gaul and parts of Germany and Italy. Illiterate, though started an intellectual revival.
Sudetenland
Land that Germany thought was rightfully theirs due to the large German speaking population
Indian Ocean
Large amounts of rade happened in this body of water between Arab, Persian, Turkish, Indian, African, Chinese, and Europe merchants. Particularly in the postclassical period 9600-1450)
Gothic Cathedrals
Large churches originating in twelfth-century France; built in an architectural style featuring pointed arches, tall vaults and spires, flying buttresses, and large stained-glass windows.
Zaibatsu
Large conglomerate corporations through which key elite families exerted a great deal of political and economic power in Imperial Japan. By WWII, four of them controlled most of the economy of Japan.
Dhows
Large ships favored by Indian, Persian, and Arab sailors that could carry up to four hundred tons of cargo.
Inca
Largest and most powerful Andean empire. Controlled the Pacific coast of South America from Ecuador to Chile from its capital of Cuzco.
Mohenjo-Daro
Largest city of the Indus Valley civilization. It was centrally located in the extensive floodplain of the Indus River. Little is known about the political institutions of Indus Valley communities, but the large-scale implies central planning.
Mongol Empire
Largest land empire in the history of the world, spanning from Eastern Europe across Asia.
The Mahdi
Last imam in a series of twelve descendants of Muhammad's son-in-law Ali, whom Shi'ites consider divinely appointed leaders of the Muslim community. In occlusion since ca. 873, he is expected to return as an apocolyptic messiah at the end of time.
Khubilai Khan
Last of the Mongol Great Khans (r. 1260-1294). Ruled the Mongol Empire from China and was the founder of the Yuan Empire in China after finishing off the Song Dynasty.
Atahualpa
Last ruling Inca emperor of Peru. He was executed by the Spanish.
Boer War
Lasting from 1899 to 1902, Dutch colonists and the British competed for control of territory in South Africa.
Justinian's Code
Laws of the byzantine empire based the twelve tables of Roman law, became a basis for laws in many European nations
Vladimir Lenin
Leader Russia's Bolshevik movement.
Muhammad Ali
Leader of Egyptian modernization in the early nineteenth century. He ruled Egypt as an Ottoman governor, but had imperial ambitions. His descendants ruled Egypt until overthrown in 1952.
Vladimir Lenin
Leader of the Bolshevik (later Communist) Party. He lived in exile in Switzerland until 1917, then returned to Russia to lead the Bolsheviks to victory during the Russian Revolution and the civil war that followed.
Mao Zedong
Leader of the Chinese Communist Party (1927-1976). He led the Communists on the Long March (1934-1935) and rebuilt the Communist Party and Red Army during the Japanese occupation of China (1937-1945).
Emilio Aguinaldo
Leader of the Filipino independence movement against Spain (1895-1898). He proclaimed the independence of the Philippines in 1899, but his movement was crushed and he was captured by the United States Army in 1901.
Toussaint L'Ouverture
Leader of the Haitian Revolution. He freed the slaves and gained effective independence for Haiti despite military interventions by the British and French.
Mohandas Gandhi
Leader of the Indian independence movement and advocate of nonviolent resistance. After being educated as a lawyer in England, he returned to India and became leader of the Indian National Congress in 1920.
Augustus
Leader of the Roman Empire who disguised it as a republic, and under who the Roman Empire came to be at its greatest extent.
Joseph Stalin
Leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Vladimir Lenin.
Hundred Days Reforms
Led by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao . Established Imperial University of Beijing and an all new education system. They innitialted many new Chiefs for offices. They also made a government budget. It ended without much success by Cixi.
samurai
Literally 'those who serve,' the hereditary military elite in Feudal Japan as well as during the Tokugawa Shogunate.
monasticism
Living in a religious community apart from secular society and adhering to a rule stipulating chastity, obedience, and poverty. (Primary Centers of Learning in Medieval Europe)
Holy Roman Empire
Loose federation of mostly German states and principalities, headed by an emperor who had little control over the hundreds of princes who elected him. It lasted from 962 to 1806.
Philip II
Macedonian king who sought to unite Greece under his banner until his death or murder. He was succeeded by his son Alexander.
Julius Caesar
Made dictator for life in 45 BCE, after conquering Gaul, assassinated in 44 BCE by the Senate because they were afraid of his power
Indo-Europeans
Many people and languages of Europe, Iran, and northern India share a common linguistic traits due to being part of this ancient group.
Congress of Vienna
Meeting of representatives of European monarchs called to reestablish the old order and establish a plan for a new balance of power after the defeat of Napoleon.
Timur
Member of a prominent family of the Mongols' Jagadai Khanate, Timur through conquest gained control over much of Central Asia and Iran. He consolidated the status of Sunni Islam as orthodox, and his descendants, the Timurids, maintained his empire.
Sandinistas
Members of a leftist coalition that overthrew the Nicaraguan dictatorship of Anastasia Somoza in 1979 and attempted to install a socialist economy. The United States financed armed opposition by the Contras. They lost national elections in 1990.
Rajputs
Members of a mainly Hindu warrior caste from northwest India. The Mughal emperors drew most of their Hindu officials from this caste, and Akbar I married a Rajput princess.
Jesuits
Members of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic order founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1534. They played an important part in the Catholic Reformation and helped create conduits of trade and knowledge between Asia and Europe.
Maya
Mesoamerican civilization concentrated in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and in Guatemala and Honduras but never unified into a single empire. Major contributions were in mathematics, astronomy, and development of the calendar.
Olmec
Mesoamerican civilization in lower Mexico around 1500 BCE to about 400 BCE focused. Most remembered for their large stone heads.
Persian Empire
Mesopotamian empire that conquered the existing Median, Lydian, and Babylonian empires, as well as Egypt and many others. Also known as the Achaemenid Empire.
Jose Morelos
Mexican priest and former student of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, he led the forces fighting for Mexican independence until he was captured and executed in 1814.
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
Mexican priest who led the first stage of the Mexican independence war in 1810. He was captured and executed in 1811.
Golden Horde
Mongol khanate founded by Genghis Khan's. It was based in southern Russia and quickly adopted both the Turkic language and Islam. Also known as the Kipchak Horde.
Aurangzeb
Mughal emperor in India and great-grandson of Akbar 'the Great', under whom the empire reached its greatest extent, only to collapse after his death.
Hijra
Muhammad's move to Medina. Start of the Islamic calendar (632 CE)
ulama
Muslim religious scholars. From the ninth century onward, the primary interpreters of Islamic law and the social core of Muslim urban societies. (p. 238)
Mughal Empire
Muslim state (1526-1857) exercising dominion over most of India in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Mughal Empire
Muslim state (1526-1857) exercising dominion over most of India in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; a minority of Muslims ruled over a majority of Hindus.
Sunnis
Muslims belonging to branch of Islam believing that the community should select its own leadership. The majority religion in most Islamic countries.
Guomindang
Nationalist political party founded on democratic principles by Sun Yat-sen in 1912. After 1925, the party was headed by Chiang Kai-shek, who turned it into an increasingly authoritarian movement.
Pearl Harbor
Naval base in Hawaii attacked by Japanese aircraft on December 7, 1941. The sinking of much of the U.S. Pacific Fleet brought the United States into World War II.
Maya
Never an empire but an extensive and culturally advanced Mesoamerican society with many cities in the Yucatan.
Maori
New Zealand indigenous culture established around 800 CE
Separate Spheres
Nineteenth-century idea in Western societies that men and women, especially of the middle class, should have different roles in society: women as wives, mothers, and homemakers; men as breadwinners and participants in business and politics
Toltecs
Nomadic peoples from beyond the northern frontier of sedentary agriculture in Mesoamerica; established capital at Tula after migration into central Mesoamerican plateau; strongly militaristic ethic, including cult of human sacrifice.
NAFTA
North American Free Trade Agreement; allows open trade with US, Mexico, and Canada.
Manchus
Northeast Asian peoples who defeated the Ming Dynasty and founded the Qing Dynasty in 1644, which was the last of China's imperial dynasties.
Marie Curie
Notable female Polish/French chemist and physicist around the turn of the 20th century. Won two nobel prizes. Did pioneering work in radioactivity.
Hellenistic
Of or influenced by the Greek Empire. A type of culture typically referred to after the conquests of Alexander the Great.
Nuremberg Trials
One key set of trials held for certain Germans accused of war crimes.
Armenia
One of the earliest Christian kingdoms, situated in eastern Anatolia (east of Turkey today) and the western Caucasus and occupied by speakers of the Armenian language. The Ottoman Empire is accused of systematic mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century.
Minoans
One of the early proto-Greek peoples from 2600 BCE to 1500 BCE. Inhabitants of the island of Crete. Their site of Knossos is pictured above.
Zoroastrianism
One of the first monotheistic religions, particularly one with a wide following. It was central to the political and religious culture of ancient Persia.
Jenne-Jeno
One of the first urbanized centers in western Africa. A walled community home to approximately 50,000 people at its height. Evidence suggests domestication of agriculture and trade with nearby regions.
Aswan High Dam
One of the world's largest dams on the Nile River in southern Egypt. A key project under Gama Abdel Nasser.
Rigveda
One of the worlds oldest religious texts. It is a book composed by Vedic Brahman priests that contains hymns and Sanskrit poetry.
Quinto
One-fifth: amount the Spanish crown was to receive of all precious metals mined in the Americas.
Iconoclasm
Opposing or even destroying images, especially those set up for religious veneration in the belief that such images represent idol worship.
Bureaucracy
Organized system of administration of a government chiefly through bureaus or departments staffed with non elected officials.
dalai lama
Originally, a title meaning 'universal priest' that the Mongol khans invented and bestowed on a Tibetan lama (priest) in the late 1500s to legitimate their power in Tibet. Subsequently, the title of the religious and political leader of Tibet.
Suleyman the Magnificent
Ottoman Sultan (1512-20) expansion in Asia and Europe, helped Ottomans become a naval power, challegned Christian vessles througout the Mediterranian. 16th Century. The "lawgiver" who was so culturally aware yet exacted murder on two of his sons and a grandson in order to prevent civil war. Ottoman.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Overthrew the French revolutionary government (The Directory) in 1799 and became emperor of France in 1804. Failed to defeat Great Britain and abdicated in 1814. Returned to power briefly in 1815 but was defeated and died in exile.
Julius Caesar
Part of the first triumvirate who eventually became "emperor for life". Chose not to conquer Germany. Was assassinated by fellow senators in 44 B.C.E.
Octavian
Part of the second triumvirate whom the power eventually shifted to. Assumed the name Augustus Caesar, and became emperor. Was the end of the Roman Republic and the start of the Pax Romana.
Cossacks
Peoples of the Russian Empire who lived outside the farming villages, often as herders, mercenaries, or outlaws. Cossacks led the conquest of Siberia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Celts
Peoples sharing a common language and culture that originated in Central Europe in the first half of the first millennium B.C.E.. After 500 B.C.E. they spread as far as Anatolia in the east, Spain and the British Isles in the west. Conquered by Romans and displaced by Germans and other groups, today they are found in some corners of the British Isles.
Isfahan
Persian capital from the 16th to 18th centuries under the Safavid Empire. Still a major cultural center of Iran today.
Nasir al-Din Tusi
Persian mathematician and cosmologist whose academy near Tabriz provided the model for the movement of the planets that helped to inspire the Copernican model of the solar system.
Humanism
Philosophy that celebrates human cultural achievements and emphasizes human reason and ethics.
Daoism
Philosophy that teaches that everything should be left to the natural order; rejects many of the Confucian ideas but coexisted with Confucianism in China
Five Year Plans
Plans that Joseph Stalin introduced to industrialize the Soviet Union rapidly, beginning in 1928. They set goals for the output of steel, electricity, machinery, and most other products and were enforced by the police powers of the state.
New Economic Policy
Policy proclaimed by Vladimir Lenin in 1924 to encourage the revival of the Soviet economy by allowing small private business and farming using markets instead of communist state ownership. His idea was that the Soviet state would just control "the commanding heights" of the economy like major industry, while allowing ordinary citizens to operate business and property ownership as normal. Joseph Stalin ended this in 1928 and replaced it with greater state ownership, collectivization, and a series of Five-Year Plans.
Solidarity
Polish trade union created in 1980 to protest working conditions and political repression. It began the nationalist opposition to communist rule that led in 1989 to the fall of communism in eastern Europe.
Helsinki Accords
Political and human rights agreement signed in Helsinki, Finland in 1975 by the Soviet Union and western European countries.
All-India Muslim League
Political organization founded in India in 1906 to defend the interests of India's Muslim minority. Led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, it attempted to negotiate with the Indian National Congress. Demanded the partition of a Muslim Pakistan.
Guomindang
Political party that ruled China from 1911 to 1949; enemy of the Communists. Often abbreviated at GMD.
Realpolitik
Political realism or practical politics, especially policy based on power rather than on ideals.
Janapadas
Political units in India in the years 700-600 BC. They are the major realms or kingdoms of Vedic (Iron Age) India. They are the earliest kingdoms set up by the Indo-Aryans migrants to India.
Jizya
Poll tax that non-Muslims had to pay when living within a Muslim empire
Songhay Empire
Portion of Mali after that kingdom collapsed around 1500; this empire controlled Timbuktu.
Matteo Ricci
Portuguese Jesuit missionary who went to China, assimilated into Chinese culture and language and ran a Christian mission in China.
Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese explorer who found a sea route to the Spice Island by sailing around the American continent. His crew was the first to circumnavigate the world.
Bartolomeu Dias
Portuguese explorer who in 1488 led the first expedition to sail around the southern tip of Africa from the Atlantic and sight the Indian Ocean.
Vasco da Gama
Portuguese explorer. In 1497-1498 he led the first naval expedition from Europe to sail to India, opening an important commercial sea route.
Bartholomew Dias
Portuguese navigator that discovered the Cape of Good Hope in Southern Afica.
Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese navigator who led the Spanish expedition of 1519-1522 that was the first to sail around the world.
Gupta Empire
Powerful Indian state based, like its Mauryan predecessor, in the Ganges Valley. It controlled most of the Indian subcontinent through a combination of military force and its prestige as a center of sophisticated culture.
Truman Doctrine
President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology.
Juan Peron
President of Argentina (1946-1955, 1973-1974). As a military officer, he championed the rights of labor. Aided by his wife Eva Duarte Peron, he was elected president in 1946. He built up Argentinean industry, became very popular among the urban poor.
Saddam Hussein
President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. Waged war on Iran in 1980-1988. In 1990 he ordered an invasion of Kuwait but was defeated by United States and its allies in the Gulf War (1991). Defeated by US led invasion in 2003.
Woodrow Wilson
President of the United States (1913-1921) and the leading figure at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. He was unable to persuade the U.S. Congress to ratify the Treaty of Versailles or join the League of Nations.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
President of the United States during most of the Depression and most of World War II.
Minoan
Prosperous civilization on the Aegean island of Crete in the second millennium B.C.E. Exerted powerful cultural influences on the early Greeks.
Thirty Years War
Protestant rebellion against the Holy Roman Empire ends with peace of westpahlia.1618-48) A series of European wars that were partially a Catholic-Protestant religious conflict. It was primarily a batlte between France and their rivals the Hapsburg's, rulers of the Holy Roman Empire.
John Keynes
Published a book that discussed the causes of recessions. He argued that the government should spend heavily during a recession even if it had to run a deficit in order to jump start the economy. Although FDR was reluctant he did buy into the idea.
Hatshepsut
Queen of Egypt (1473-1458 B.C.E.). Dispatched a naval expedition down the Red Sea to Punt (possibly Somalia), the faraway source of myrrh. There is evidence of opposition to a woman as ruler, and after her death her name was frequently expunged.
Champa Rice
Quick-maturing rice that can allow two harvests in one growing season. Originally introduced into Champa from India, it was later sent to China as a tribute gift by the Champa state (as part of the tributary system.)
Bolsheviks
Radical Marxist political party founded by Vladimir Lenin in 1903. They eventually seized power in Russia in 1917.
Jacobins
Radical republicans during the French Revolution. They were led by Maximilien Robespierre from 1793 to 1794.
chinampas
Raised fields constructed along lake shores in Mesoamerica to increase agricultural yields.
Sandinista
Rebel forces in Nicaragua who struggled against what they saw as US occupation of their nation and US backed puppet rulers in their nation's government. Particularly active in the 1970s and 1980s. The US frequently arranged groups to fight against these rebels, sometimes covertly as in the case of the Iran-Contra Affair.
Manchuria
Region of Northeast Asia North of Korea.
Bengal
Region of northeastern India. It was the first part of India to be conquered by the British in the eighteenth century and remained the political and economic center of British India throughout the nineteenth century. Today this region includes part of Eastern India and all of Bangladesh.
Gold Coast
Region of the Atlantic coast of West Africa occupied by modern Ghana; named for its gold exports to Europe from the 1470s onward.
Gujarat
Region of western India famous for trade and manufacturing.
Victorian Age
Reign of Queen Victoria of Great Britain (1837-1901). The term is also used to describe late-nineteenth-century society, with its rigid moral standards and sharply differentiated roles for men and women and for middle-class and working-class people
Yongle
Reign period of Zhu Di (1360-1424), the third emperor of the Ming Empire (r. 1403-1424).Sponsored the building of the Forbidden City, a huge encyclopedia project, the expeditions of Zheng He, and the reopening of China's borders to trade and travel
Khubilai Khan
Reigned in China after establishing the Yuan Dynasty; he actively promoted Buddhism; descendant of Chinggis Khan.
Holy Roman Empire
Religious divisions due to the Reformation and religious wars in 16th and 17th centuries split Germany among Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist prince. Gave way to new empires
Catholic Reformation
Religious reform movement within the Latin Christian Church, begun in response to the Protestant Reformation. It clarified Catholic theology and reformed clerical training and discipline.
Zapata
Revolutionary Leader in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution who originated from the lower classes and was especially appealing to the peasants because he wanted to take land from the haciendas and return it to them.
Emilano Zapata
Revolutionary and leader of peasants in the Mexican Revolution. He mobilized landless peasants in south-central Mexico in an attempt to seize and divide the lands of the wealthy landowners. Though successful for a time, he was ultimately assassinated.
Constantine
Roman emperor (r. 312-337). After reuniting the Roman Empire, he moved the capital to Constantinople and made Christianity a tolerated/favored religion.
Diocletian
Roman emperor of 284 C.E. Attempted to deal with fall of Roman Empire by splitting the empire into two regions run by co-emperors. Also brought armies back under imperial control, and attempted to deal with the economic problems by strengthening the imperial currency, forcing a budget on the government, and capping prices to deal with inflation. Civil war erupted upon his retirement.
Constantine
Roman emperor who adopted Christianity for the Roman Empire and who founded Constantinople as a second capital
Diocletian
Roman emperor who divided the empire into a West and an East section.
Justinian's Code
Roman law that was modified by revising old and not needed laws. Named after the Byzantine Emperor Justinian.
Joesph Stalin
Ruled the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953. Ruled with an iron fist, using Five-Year Plans to increase industrial production and terror to crush opposition.
King Louis XIV of France
Ruled with an iron fist for 60 years, and always wanted war. Believed in Divine Right theory, in which God chose him to rule over the masses and that anyone who challenged him would be challenging God. Thought that an absolute monarchy was the best form of government, and that men couldn't be trusted to govern themselves.
Pericles
Ruler of Athens who zealously sought to spread Athenian democracy through imperial force
Mansa Musa
Ruler of Mali (r. 1312-1337). His extravagant pilgrimage through Egypt to Mecca in 1324-1325 established the empire's reputation for wealth in the Mediterranean world.
Mansa Musa
Ruler of Mali (r.1312-1337 CE) who made a hajj to Mecca; on the way there, he spread enormous amounts of gold showing the wealth of Mali; on the way back, he brought back education and Islamic culture.
gulag
Russian prison camp for political prisoners
Leon Trotsky
Russian revolutionary intellectual and close adviser to Lenin. A leader of the Bolshevik Revolution (1917), he was later expelled from the Communist Party (1927) and banished (1929) for his opposition to the authoritarianism of Stalin
Perestroika
Russian term for the political and economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Its literal meaning is "restructuring", referring to the restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system.
Abbas the Great
Safavid ruler from 1587 to 1629; extended Safavid domain to greatest extent; created slave regiments based on captured Russians, who monopolized firearms within Safavid armies; incorporated Western military technology.
James Watt
Scottish engineer and inventor whose improvements in the steam engine led to its wide use in industry (1736-1819).
Mycenae
Sea-faring Greek kingdom. A major center of Greek Civilization in the 1000s BCE, centuries before Greek's "Golden Age" of Athenian influence. It's center was located about 90 km southwest of Athens.
Shang Dynasty
Second Chinese dynasty (about 1750-1122 B.C.) which was mostly a farming society ruled by an aristocracy mostly concerned with war. They're best remembered for their art of bronze casting.
Hundred Years War
Series of campaigns over control of the throne of France, involving English and French royal families and French noble families.
Hundred Years' War
Series of campaigns over control of the throne of France, involving English and French royal families and French noble families. England loses and losses half of its land but that land was in France. The negative impact- France became an absolute power. Positive impact- France formed a nation-state. Ended in 1453.
Shah Abbas I
Shah of Iran (r. 1587-1629). The most illustrious ruler of the Safavid Empire, he moved the imperial capital to Isfahan in 1598, where he erected many palaces, mosques, and public buildings. (p. 533)
Ayatollah Khomeini
Shi'ite philosopher and cleric who led the overthrow of the shah of Iran in 1979 and created an Islamic Republic of Iran.
Ayatollah Khomeini
Shiite religious leader of Iran, led the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and ordered the invasion of the US Embassy.
Suez Canal
Ship canal dug across the isthmus of Suez in Egypt, designed by Ferdinand de Lesseps. It opened to shipping in 1869 and shortened the sea voyage between Europe and Asia. Its strategic importance led to the British conquest of Egypt in 1882.
Tiananmen Square
Site in Beijing where Chinese students and workers gathered to demand greater political openness in 1989. The demonstration was crushed by Chinese military with many deaths.
Mycenae
Site of a fortified palace complex in southern Greece that controlled a Late Bronze Age kingdom. In Homer's epic poems Mycenae was the base of King Agamemnon, who commanded the Greeks besieging Troy.
Harappa
Site of one of the great cities of the Indus Valley civilization of the third millennium B.C.E. It was located on the northwest frontier of the zone of cultivation, and may have been a center for the acquisition of raw materials.
Plato
Socrates' most well known pupil. Founded an academy in Athens.
Western Wall
Sometimes called the Wailing Wall, this Sacred Jewish site is what remains of the former Israelite temple prior to the 1st century CE war with Rome and subsequent Jewish diaspora.
Timur
Sometimes known as Tamerlane, this was the Central Asian leader of a Mongol tribe who attempted to re-establish the Mongol Empire in the late 1300's. His empire included Persia (Iran) and many surrounding lands. He is the great great grandfather of Babur. who later founds the Mughal Empire in India.
Afrikaners
South Africans descended from Dutch and French settlers of the seventeenth century. Their Great Trek founded new settler colonies in the nineteenth century. Though a minority among South Africans, they held political power after 1910.
Nazca
South American civilization famous for its massive aerial-viewable formations
Four Asian Tigers
South Korea (largest), Taiwan (moving towards high tech), Singapore (Center for information and technology), Hong Kong(Break of Bulk Point): Because of their booming economies.
Berlin Blockade
Soviet blocking of Berlin from allies; Causing the Berlin Airlift
Leonid Brezhnev
Soviet leader from 1962 to 1984 who is most known internationally for actions such as his hard-line stance against the pro-democracy Prague Spring protesters in 1968 and well as overseeing Russia's long, costly, and futile war in Afghanistan.
Hacienda
Spanish estates in the Americas that were often plantations. They often represent the gradual removal of land from peasant ownership and a type of feudalistic order where the owners of Haciendas would have agreements of loyalty to the capital but would retain control over the actual land. This continued even into the 20th century.
Hernan Cortes
Spanish explorer and conquistador who led the conquest of Aztec Mexico in 1519-1521 for Spain.
Francisco Pizarro
Spanish explorer who conquered the Incas in what is now Peru and founded the city of Lima (1475-1541).
Fransisco Pizarro
Spanish explorer who led the conquest of the Inca Empire of Peru in 1531-1533.
Francisco Franco
Spanish general whose armies took control of Spain in 1939 and who ruled as a dictator until his death
Francisco Franco
Spanish general whose armies took control of Spain in 1939 and who ruled as a dictator until his death (1892-1975).
Peninsulares
Spanish-born, came to Latin America; ruled, highest social class.
Balfour Declaration
Statement issued by Britain's Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour in 1917 favoring the establishment of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine.
Open Door Policy
Statement of U.S. foreign policy toward China. Issued by U.S. secretary of state John Hay (1899), the statement reaffirmed the principle that all countries should have equal access to any Chinese port open to trade.
Declaration of the Rights of Man
Statement of fundamental political rights adopted by the French National Assembly at the beginning of the French Revolution.
Second Industrial Revolution
Steel, chemicals, electricity. This is the name for the new wave of more heavy industrialization starting around the 1860s.
Zhou
Succeeded the Shang dynasty. Similar to the Shang And Xia dynastic periods in that China was fragmented politically. Yet, despite the lack of true centralization, this was one of the longest Chinese dynasties, lasting about 600 years. It left substantial written records, unlike the preceding dynasties.
scramble for Africa
Sudden wave of conquests in Africa by European powers in the 1880s and 1890s. Britain obtained most of eastern Africa, France most of northwestern Africa. Other countries (Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, and Spain) acquired lesser amounts.
John Calvin
Swiss theologian (born in France) whose tenets (predestination and the irresistibility of grace and justification by faith) defined Calvinism (1509-1564).
John Calvin
Swiss theologian (born in France) whose tenets (predestination and the irresistibly of grace and justification by faith) defined Presbyterianism (1509-1564)
khipu
System of knotted colored cords used by preliterate Andean peoples to transmit information. These knots are interesting because the Inca are notable for being a relatively sophisticated empire and civilization, but they had no written language (very unusual). Some have gone so far as to suggest that these knots were themselves a language, but this probably isn't true.
hieroglyphics
System of writing in which pictorial symbols represented sounds, syllables, or concepts. Used for official and monumental inscriptions in ancient Egypt.
Little Ice Age
Temporary but significant cooling period between the fourteenth and the nineteenth centuries; accompanied by wide temperature fluctuations, droughts, and storms, causing famines and dislocation.
Hinduism
Term for a wide variety of beliefs and ritual practices that have developed in the Indian subcontinent since antiquity. It has roots in ancient Vedic, Buddhist, and south Indian religious concepts and practices.
Pax Romana
The "Roman Peace", that is, the state of comparative concord prevailing within the boundaries of the Roman Empire from the reign of Augustus (27 B.C.E.-14 C.E.) to that of Marcus Aurelius (161-180 C.E.)
kamikaze
The 'divine wind,' which the Japanese credited with blowing Mongol invaders away from their shores in 1281.
Grand Canal
The 1,100-mile (1,700-kilometer) waterway linking the Yellow and the Yangzi Rivers. It was begun in the Han period and completed during the Sui Empire.
Enclosure Movement
The 18th century privatization of common lands in England, which contributed to the increase in population and the rise of industrialization.
Long March
The 6,000-mile (9,600-kilometer) flight of Chinese Communists from southeastern to northwestern China. The Communists, led by Mao Zedong, were pursued by the Chinese army under orders from Chiang Kai-shek.
Axum
The Christian state in Africa that developed its own branch of Christianity, Coptic Christianity, because it was cut off from other Christians due to a large Muslim presence in Africa.
Neo-Confucianism
The Confucian response to Buddhism by taking Confucian and Buddhist beliefs and combining them into this. However, it is still very much Confucian in belief.
Indonesia
The Dutch had a presence in in this place, which they called the East Indies from 1595. But during the 19th century their control of this set of islands expanded and became their biggest colony.
King Charles I
The English monarch who was beheaded by Puritans (see English Civil War) who then established their own short-lived government ruled by Oliver Cromwell (1650s).
Theory of Progress
The European Enlightenment idea that stated that society was always progressing.
Bushido
The Feudal Japanese code of honor among the warrior class.
1830
The Greeks gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in this year.
British East India Company
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 caused the British Government to take direct control over the Indian colony, which had previously been controlled by this organization.
Sati
The Indian custom of a widow voluntarily throwing herself on the funeral pyre of her husband.
Zen
The Japanese word for a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on highly disciplined meditation.
Minoans
The Mediterranean society that formed on the island of Crete and who were a big maritime society.
Serbia
The Ottoman province in the Balkans that rose up against Janissary control in the early 1800s. Terrorists from here triggered WWI. After World War II it became the central province of Yugoslavia.
1867
The Serbians gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in this year.
Cortes
The Spanish conqueror of Mexico.
Fertile Crescent
The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers gave life to the first known agricultural villages in this area about 10,000 years ago and the first known cities about 5,000 years ago.
Dominoe Theory
The US theory that stated, if one country would fall to Communism then they all would.
Safavid
The _________ Empire that ruled Persia (Iran) between 1502-1736.
McCarthyism
The act of accusing people of disloyalty and communism
Neo-Assyrian
The agressive Mesopotamian empire created after an Assyrian resurgence, which initiated a series of conquests until a combined attack by Medes and Babylon defeated them resulting in the Persian Empire.
Social Darwinism
The application of ideas about evolution and "survival of the fittest" to human societies - particularly as a justification for their imperialist expansion.
mechanization
The application of machinery to manufacturing and other activities. Among the first processes to be mechanized were the spinning of cotton thread and the weaving of cloth in late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century England. (p. 603)
Vaishyas
The artisan and merchant varna of the caste system.
Five Pillars
The basic tenets of Islam: Allah is the only god and Muhammad is his prophet; pray to Allah five times a day facing Mecca; fast during the month of Ramadan; pay alms for the relief of the weak and the poor; take a hajj to Mecca
Karma
The belief that actions in this life, whether good or bad, will decide your place in the next life.
Analects
The book that Kong Fuzi wrote and that stresses the values and ideas of Confucianism.
Sufi
The branch of Islam that believes in a more mystical connection with Allah.
Memphis
The capital of Old Kingdom Egypt, near the head of the Nile Delta. Early rulers were interred in the nearby pyramids.
Tenochtitlan
The captial city of the Aztecs.
Agricultural Revolution
The change from food gathering to food production that occurred between around 8000 and 2000 B.C.E. Also known as the Neolithic Revolution.
Talmud
The collection of Jewish rabbinic discussion pertaining to law, ethics, and tradition consisting of the Mishnah and the Gemara.
ummah
The collective community of Islamic peoples, which is thought to transcend ethnic and political boundaries.
Black Death
The common name for a major outbreak of plague that spread across Asia, North Africa, and Europe in the mid-fourteenth century, carrying off vast numbers of persons.
Pleibians
The common people during the Roman era.
umma
The community of all Muslims. A major innovation against the background of seventh-century Arabia, where traditionally kinship rather than faith had determined membership in a community.
Flu Pandemic of 1918
The deadliest natural disaster in human history. Killed between 50-100 million people following WWI.
Gobi
The desert to the north of China
Sikhism
The doctrines of a monotheistic religion founded in northern India in the 16th century by Guru Nanak and combining elements of Hinduism and Islam.
Shang
The dominant people in the earliest Chinese dynasty for which we have written records (ca. 1750-1027 B.C.E.). Ancestor worship, divination by means of oracle bones, and the use of bronze vessels for ritual purposes were major elements of this culture.
Silla Dynasty
The dynasty in Korea that rallied to prevent Chinese domination in the seventh century CE.
Oracle Bones
The earliest known Chinese writing is found on these from ritual activity of the Shang period.
cuneiform
The earliest known form of writing, which was used by the Sumerians. The name derives from the wedge shaped marks made with a stylus into soft clay. Used from the 3000s BCE to the 100s BCE.
Mercantilism
The economic theory that the world has a limited amount of wealth so the more wealth a nation has, the more powerful it is.
Indian Civil Service
The elite professional class of officials who administered the government of British India. Originally composed exclusively of well-educated British men, it gradually added qualified Indians.
Seleucid Empire
The empire in Syria, Persia, and Bactria after the breakup of Alexander's empire.
Columbian Exchange
The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.
Colonization
The expansion of countries into other countries where they establish settlements and control the people
Imperialism
The extension of political rule by one people over other, different peoples. First done by Sargon of Akkad to the Sumerian city states.
Fall of the Roman Empire
The fall of this empire was precipitated by Germanic attacks and toward the mid fifth century barbarian chieftains replaced roman emperors. Rome and Western Europe was overrun by the German tribes but they respected the Roman culture and learned from their roman sunjects. Some Roman government and cultural ideas survived and blended with Germanic culture.
Arthashastra
The famous ancient Indian book on statecraft, economic policy, and military strategy. Written by Kautilya.
Delhi Sultanate
The first Islamic government established within India from 1206-1520. Controled a small area of northern India and was centered in Delhi.
Salvador Allende
The first Marxist politician elected president in the Americas. He was elected president of Chile in 1970 and overthrown by a US-backed military coup in 1973.
Olmec
The first Mesoamerican civilization. Between ca. 1200 and 400 B.C.E., these people of central Mexico created a vibrant civilization that included intensive agriculture, wide-ranging trade, ceremonial centers, and monumental construction.
Chavin
The first major urban civilization in South America (900-250 B.C.E.). Its capital was located high in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Chavin became politically and economically dominant in a densely populated region.
Mauryan Empire
The first state to unify most of the Indian subcontinent. It was founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 324 B.C.E. and survived until 184 B.C.E. From its capital at Pataliputra in the Ganges Valley it grew wealthy from taxes.
gunpowder
The formula, brought to China in the 400s or 500s, was first used to make fumigators to keep away insect pests and evil spirits. In later centuries it was used to make explosives and grenades and to propel cannonballs, shot, and bullets.
Varna
The four major social divisions in India's caste system: the Brahmin priest class, the Kshatriya warrior/administrator class, the Vaishya merchant/farmer class, and the Shudra laborer class.
Julius Caesar
The general during the Roman Republic who took over after the civil war and established Rome as an empire.
Aborigine
The general named often used to describe the original inhabitants of Australia.
Martin Luther
The german monk who is widely regarded as the leader of the Protestnat Reformation. He was excommunicated by the Catholic church due to his opposition to certain practices and he began his own sect of Christianity in the 16th century.
Spanish Armada
The great fleet sent from Spain against England by Philip II in 1588; defeated by the terrible winds and fire ships.
Paris Peace Conference
The great rulers and countries excluding Germany and Russia met in Versailles to negotiate the repercussions of the war, such leaders included Loyd George (Britain), Woodrow Wilson (America), Cleamancu (France) and Italy. The treaty of Versailles was made but not agreed to be signed and the conference proved unsuccessful.
laissez faire
The idea that government should refrain from interfering in economic affairs. The classic exposition of laissez-faire principles is Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (1776).
Cold War
The ideological struggle between communism (Soviet Union) and capitalism (United States) for world influence. The Soviet Union and the United States came to the brink of actual war during the Cuban missile crisis but never attacked one another.
WTO
The initials of the international body established in 1995 to foster and bring order to international trade. World Treaty Organization.
Scientific Revolution
The intellectual movement in Europe, initially associated with planetary motion and other aspects of physics, that by the seventeenth century had laid the groundwork for modern science.
Menes
The king who unifed Egypt.
Mali
The kingdom in West Africa that followed the Kingdom of Ghana; its wealth is also based on trans-Saharan trade; this kingdom encouraged the spread of Islam.
Ghana
The kingdom in West Africa that prospered because of trans-Saharan trade especially in gold; this kingdom was around at the time of Muslim control in North Africa.
Tamil Kingdoms
The kingdoms of southern India, inhabited primarily by speakers of Dravidian languages, which developed in partial isolation, and somewhat differently, from the Aryan north.
Patricians
The land-owning noblemen in Ancient Rome
Shudras
The landless peasants and serfs of the caste system.
Babylon
The largest and most important city in Mesopotamia. It achieved particular eminence as the capital of the king Hammurabi in the eighteenth century B.C.E. and the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century B.C.E. (p. 29)
Montezuma II
The last Aztec emperor. Here he is on vacation at the beach, just days before being captured and killed by Cortés in 1520.
Sasanid Empire
The last of pre-Islamic Persian Empire, from 224 to 651 CE. One of the two main powers in Western Asia and Europe alongside the Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire for a period of more than 400 years
Taiping Rebellion
The most destructive civil war in China before the twentieth century. A Christian-inspired rural rebellion threatened to topple the Qing Empire. Leader claimed to be the brother of Jesus.
Akbar
The most famous Muslim ruler of India during the period of Mughal rule. Famous for his religious tolerance, his investment in rich cultural feats, and the creation of a centralized governmental administration, which was not typical of ancient and post-classical India.
Suleiman the Magnificent
The most illustrious sultan of the Ottoman Empire (r. 1520-1566); also known as 'The Lawgiver.' He significantly expanded the empire in the Balkans and eastern Mediterranean.
Simon Bolivar
The most important military leader in the struggle for independence in South America. Born in Venezuela, he led military forces there and in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.
Bhagavad-Gita
The most important work of Indian sacred literature, a dialogue between the great warrior Arjuna and the god Krishna on duty and the fate of the spirit.
Jacobins
The most radical political faction of the French Revolution who ruled France during the Reign of Terror.
Teotihuacan
The most significant pre-Columbian Mesoamerican city.
British Raj
The name for the British government's military rule of India between 1858 and 1947.
British Raj
The name given to the period and territory of direct British colonial rule in South Asia between 1858 and 1947--from the time of the attempted Indian Revolt (Sepoy Mutany) to the Independence of India.
Hellenistic Empire
The name of Alexander the Great's Empire
Achaemenid Empire
The name of an ancient Persian Empire (c. 550-330 BCE) which was composed of many smaller kingdoms. The realm was divided into twenty-three satrapies whose administration and taxation was managed by subordinate local rulers.
zollverein
The name of the free trade zone that German states created in the early 19th century, decades prior to their unification.
Mahayana
The name of the more mystical and larger of the two main Buddhist sects. This one originated in India in the 400s CE and gradually found its way north to the Silk road and into Central and East Asia.
Great Circuit
The network of Atlantic Ocean trade routes between Europe, Africa, and the Americas that underlay the Atlantic system.
Siberia
The northeastern sector of Asia or the Eastern half of Russia.
Middle Passage
The part of the Great Circuit involving the transportation of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas.
Zhou
The people and dynasty that took over the dominant position in north China from the Shang and created the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule. Remembered as prosperous era in Chinese History.
Nubians
The people in Eastern Africa south of Egypt who were rivals of the ancient Egyptians and known for their flourishing kingdom between the 400s BC and the 400s CE. They speak their own language and were known by the Egyptians for their darker skin.
Roman Republic
The period from 507 to 31 B.C.E., during which Rome was largely governed by the aristocratic Roman Senate.
Roman Republic
The period from 507 to 31 B.C.E., during which Rome was largely governed by the aristocratic Roman Senate. (p. 148)
Period of Warring States
The period in Chinese history (403-221 BCE) in which many different states emerged and were fighting for control of China.
Pax Mongolica
The period of approximately 150 years of relative peace and stability created by the Mongol Empire.
Glasnost
The policy of openness and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s.
Camillo di Cavour
The political mastermind behind all of Sardinia's unification plans, he succeeded in creating a Northern Italian nation state.
Meiji Restoration
The political program that followed the destruction of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868, in which a collection of young leaders set Japan on the path of centralization, industrialization, and imperialism.
Urban II
The pope that issued the crusades in 1095 CE
shamanism
The practice of identifying special individuals (shamans) who will interact with spirits for the benefit of the community. Characteristic of the Korean kingdoms of the early medieval period and of early societies of Central Asia. (p. 292)
Ancestor Veneration
The practice of praying to your ancestors. Found especially in China.
Brahmins
The priest varna of the caste system.
Siddhartha Gautama
The prince who is said to have founded Buddhism.
Romanization
The process by which the Latin language and Roman culture became dominant in the western provinces of the Roman Empire. Romans did not seek to Romanize them, but the subjugated people pursued it.
modernization
The process of reforming political, military, economic, social, and cultural traditions in imitation of the early success of Western societies, often with regard for accommodating local traditions in non-Western societies.
Collectivization
The process seen in the Soviet Union and Communist China to form communal work units for agriculture and manufacturing--from private hands to large, collective, government operations.
Deism
The religion of the Enlightenment (1700s). Followers believed that God existed and had created the world, but that afterwards He left it to run by its own natural laws. Denied that God communicated to man or in any way influenced his life.
mantra
The repetition of mystic incantations in Hinduism and Buddhism.
Reconquista
The retaking of the Iberian Peninsula by Spanish forces from the Moors. It was completed in 1492.
Sepoy Mutiny
The revolt against the British by many different groups across India 1857 but led particularly by some of the disgruntled Indian soldiers working for the British. It caused the British government to take over more direct control of India from the British East India Company.
Sepoy Rebellion
The revolt of Indian soldiers in 1857 against certain practices that violated religious customs in India against the Brisith; also known as the Sepoy Mutiny.
African diaspora
The separation of Africans from their homeland through centuries of forced removal to serve as slaves in the Americas and elsewhere.
Sui Dynasty
The short dynasty between the Han and the Tang; built the Grand Canal, strengthened the government, and introduced Buddhism to China
Diffusion
The spread of ideas, objects, or traits from one culture to another
Monophysites
The supporters of a doctrine in the early Christian Church that held that the incarnate Christ possessed a single, wholly divine nature. they opposed the orthodox view that Christ had a double nature, one divine and one human, and emphasized his divinity at the expense of his capacity to experience real human suffering.
Mita System
The system recruiting workers for particularly difficult and dangerous chores that free laborers would not accept.
Jizya
The tax on people in the Umayyad Caliphate who did not convert to Islam.
Brahman
The term for The Univeral Soul in Hinduism.
Prague Spring
The term for the attempted liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
mestizo
The term used by Spanish authorities to describe someone of mixed native American and European descent.
mulatto
The term used in Spanish and Portuguese colonies to describe someone of mixed African and European descent.
ulama
The theologians and legal experts of Islam. Best known as the arbiters of sharia law.
Darius
The third king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. He ruled the empire at its peak. He organized the empire by dividing it into provinces and placing satraps to govern it. He organized a new uniform money system, along with making Aramaic the official language of the empire. He also worked on construction projects throughout the empire.
Colombian Exchange
The trading of various animals, diseases, and crops between the Eastern and Western hemispheres
Estates General
The traditional group of representatives from the three Estates of French society: the clergy, nobility, and commoners. Louis XVI assembled this group to deal with the financial crisis in France at the time, but the 3rd estate demanded more rights and representation.
Industrial Revolution
The transformation of the economy, the environment, and living conditions, occurring first in England in the eighteenth century, that resulted from the use of steam engines, the mechanization of manufacturing in factories, transit, and communications
Treaty of Versailles
The treaty imposed on Germany by France, Great Britain, the United States, and other Allied Powers after World War I. It demanded that Germany dismantle its military and give up some lands to Poland. It was resented by many Germans.
Treaty of Versailles
The treaty imposed on Germany by the Allied powers in 1920 after the end of World War I which demanded exorbitant reparations from the Germans.
syncretism
The unification or blending of opposing people, ideas, or practices, frequently in the realm of religion. For example, when Christianity was adopted by people in a new land, they often incorporate it into their existing culture and traditions.
Macartney Mission
The unsuccessful attempt by the British Empire to establish diplomatic relations with the Qing Empire in 1793.
Middle Passage
The voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies.
Forbidden City
The walled section of Beijing where emperors lived between 1121 and 1924. A portion is now a residence for leaders of the People's Republic of China.
Fourteen Points
The war aims outlined by President Wilson in 1918, which he believed would promote lasting peace; called for self-determination, freedom of the seas, free trade, end to secret agreements, reduction of arms and a league of nations.
Kshatriyas
The warrior and aristocrat varna of the caste system.
Patricians
The wealthy, hereditary aristocrats during the Roman era.
Sumer
The world's first civilization, founded in Mesopotamia, which existed for over 3,000 years.
Green Revolution
The worldwide campaign to increase agricultural production from the 1940s to 60s, stimulated by new fertilizers and strains of wheat such as that by Norman Borlaug. The movement saved millions from starvation.
1991
The year of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
1453
The year that Constantinople was sacked by the Ottoman Turks and meant that Byzantium had collapsed. Hint: __53
Maya
They settled in the Yucatan Peninsula, not far from the Olmecs. A very cultural and intellectual people who used astronomy to create and very accurate calendar.
Asoka
Third ruler of the Mauryan Empire in India (r. 270-232 B.C.E.). He converted to Buddhism and broadcast his precepts on inscribed stones and pillars, the earliest surviving Indian writing.
Darius I
Third ruler of the Persian Empire (r. 521-486 B.C.E.). He crushed the widespread initial resistance to his rule and gave all major government posts to Persians rather than to Medes.
Louis XIV
This French king ruled for the longest time ever in Europe. He issued several economic policies and costly wars. He was the prime example of absolutism in France.
Henry The Navigator
This Portuguese prince who lead an extensive effort to promote seafaring expertise in the 14th century. Sent many expedition to the coast of West Africa in the 15th century, leading Portugal to discover a route around Africa, ultimately to India.
Indian Ocean
This area possessed the biggest network of sea-based trade in the postclassical period prior to the rise of Atlantic-based trade.
Kepler
This astronomer stated that the orbits of planets around the sun were elliptical, the planets do not orbit at a constant speed, and that an orbit is related to its distance from the sun.
Carthage
This city has existed for nearly 3,000 years, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC into the capital of the Carthaginian Empire. The expanding Roman Republic took control of many of its outposts after the two Punic Wars.
Florence
This city was once of hot spots of Renaissance culture in the 1400s,
Partition of India
This led to the movement of millions of people in South Asia after India got its independence from Britian.
Pancho Villa
This military leader dominated Northern Mexico during the Mexican Revolution between 1910 and 1915. His supporters seized hacienda land for distribution to peasants and soldiers. He robbed and commandeered trains. Allied with Zapata. He was eventually defeated though before the revolution ended in 1920.
Pope Gregory I
This pope strongly emphasized the sacrament of penance and encouraged confession for the remission of sins which made people more dependent on the church for salvation.
Galileo Galilei
This scientist proved Copernicus' theory that the sun was the center of the solar system and developed the modern experimental method.
Scholasticism
This sought to synthesize the beliefs and values of Christianity with the logical rigor of Greek philosophy. Often associated with St. Thomas Aquinas.
Franco-Prussian War
This was a major war between the French and the Germans in 1871 that brought about the unification of Germany. It was caused by Otto Von Bismarck altering a telegram from the Prussian King to provoke the French into attacking Prussia, thus hoping to get the independent German states to unify with Prussia (which they did, thus creating Germany).
Zimmerman telegram
This was sent by Germans to encourage a Mexican attack against the United States. Intercepted by the US in 1917.
Reign of Terror
This was the period in France where Robespierre ruled and used revolutionary terror to solidify the home front. He tried rebels and they were all judged severely and most were executed.
Chinese Examination system
To maintain centralized control, rulers recruited and use bureaucratic elites and the development of military professionals. For example the Chinese used this system.
Chiang Kaishek
Took control of the Guomindang. Led troops on the Northern Expedition to end warlord era and unify China.
The Golden Triangle
Trade triangle between US, Britain, and Africa. Ships would take valued goods to Britain from America, get money, sail down to Africa, buy slaves, and take them back to America
Hadith
Traditional records of the deeds of Muhammad, and his quotations
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Treaty in which Russia lost substantial territory to the Germans. This ended Russian participation in the war (1918).
Treaty of Versailles
Treaty particularly known for its harsh reparations towards the Germans after World War I.
Warsaw Pact
Treaty signed in 1945 that formed an alliance of the Eastern European countries behind the Iron Curtain; USSR, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.
Treaty of Nanking
Treaty that concluded the Opium War. It awarded Britain a large indemnity from the Qing Empire, denied the Qing government tariff control over some of its own borders, opened additional ports of residence to Britons, and ceded Hong Kong to Britain.
1861
Tsar Alexander II (r.1855-1881) emancipated the serfs in this year. (Hint:18_1)
Ottomans
Turkish empire based in Anatolia. Arrived in the same wave of Turkish migrations as the Seljuks.
Safavid Empire
Turkish-ruled Iranian kingdom (1502-1722) established by Ismail Safavi, who declared Iran a Shi'ite state.
Battle of Midway
U.S. naval victory over the Japanese fleet in June 1942, in which the Japanese lost four of their best aircraft carriers. It marked a turning point in the pacific theater of World War II.
Cixi
Ultraconservative empress in Qing (Manchu) dynasty China. Ruled china in the turbulent late 19th century, not as a true Empress but as an Empress Dowager.
Mamluks
Under the Islamic system of military slavery, Turkic military slaves who formed an important part of the armed forces of the Abbasid Caliphate of the ninth and tenth centuries. Mamluks eventually founded their own state, ruling Egypt and Syria (1250-1517)
Consul
Under the Roman Republic, one of the two magistrates holding supreme civil and military authority. Nominated by the Senate and elected by citizens in the Comitia Centuriata, the consuls held office for one year and each had power of veto over the other.
Eli Whitney
United States inventor of the mechanical cotton gin (1765-1825).
The Great Game
Used to describe the rivalry and strategic conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire before WWI.
Vasco da Gama
Using the new trade route around the Cape of Good Hope, he brought spices back to Portugal and made a profit of several thousand dollars.
Peloponnesian War
War between Athens and Spartan Alliances. The war was largely a consequence of Athenian imperialism in the Aegean region. It went on for over 20 years. Ultimately, Sparta prevailed but both were weakened sufficient to be soon conquered by Macedonians, later leading to the Hellenistic Empire and Alexander the Great.
Hundred Years War
War between France and Britain, lasted 116 years, mostly a time of peace, but it was punctuated by times of brutal violence (1337 to 1453)
Russo-Japanese War
War between Russia and Japan; Japan wins and takes parts of Manchuria under its control.
World War II
War fought from 1939 to 1945 between the Allies and the Axis, involving most countries in the world. The United States joined the Allies in 1941, helping them to victory.
Dirty War
War waged by the Argentine military (1976-1982) against leftist groups. Characterized by the use of illegal imprisonment, torture, and executions by the military.
Opium Wars
Wars between Britain and the Qing Empire (mind 1800s), caused by the Qing government's refusal to let Britain import Opium. China lost and Britain and most other European powers were able to develop a strong trade presence throughout China against their wishes.
Punic Wars
Wars between the Romans and Carthaginians that marked Rome as the preeminent power in the eastern as well as the western Mediterranean.
Saddam Hussein
Was a dictator in Iraq who tried to take over Iran and Kuwait violently in order to gain the land and the resources. He also refused to let the UN into Iraq in order to check if the country was secretly holding weapons of mass destruction.
Kingdom of Kongo
Was in the basin of the Congo river; conglomeration of several village alliances; it participated actively in trade networks; most centralized rule of the early Bantu kingdoms; ruled 14th-17th century until undermined by Portuguese slave traders.
cottage industry
Weaving, sewing, carving, and other small-scale industries that can be done in the home. The laborers, frequently women, are usually independent. Most manufacturing was done this way before the industrial revolution.
Ghana
West African state that supplied the majority of the world's gold from 500 CE-1400's
Mita
When colonists were allowed to use Indians for forced labor in colonial South America as a form of taxation. The Inca had previously used a similar practice.
Umayyad Dynasty
Who: Governor of Syria, Muawiya, and his successors, Shi'ites, Sunnis, Kharijites, Uthman. What: Dynasty based on succession rather than election following the first period of caliphates. Continued advances in the kingdom, venturing as far as China and deep into Asia, claiming Afghanistan for a Muslim base. Fell apart due to tension in the kingdom between the Sunnis, Shi'ites, and Kharijites, the malawis (Muslim converts) and born Muslims, and the religion and state. When: 661-750 Where: Middle East, Damascus Why: Beginning of great strife in the Muslim community
Eva Peron
Wife of Juan Peron and champion of the poor in Argentina. She was a gifted speaker and popular political leader who campaigned to improve the life of the urban poor by founding schools and hospitals and providing other social benefits.
Nirvana
Within several Indian religious this is the peace of mind that comes from ending the cycle of rebirth. For some it is from overcoming suffering while for others it comes from joining with Brahman.
Indulgence
Within the Catholic Church, this is the remission punishment for ones sins. Such as for a sin that has already been forgiven by God but which still carries with it some kind of punishment. Centuries ago the Church would sell certificates that would get a person out of purgatory. This practice contributed to the Protestant reformation.
Fourteen Points
Woodrow Wilson's post WWI plan, most of which was rejected by European leaders following the war.
Philosophes
Writers during the Enlightenment and who popularized the new ideas of the time.
Maximillien Robespierre
Young provincial lawyer who led the most radical phases of the French Revolution. His execution ended the Reign of Terror. See Jacobins.
Maximilien Robespierre
Young provincial lawyer who led the most radical phases of the French Revolution; his execution ended the Reign of Terror.
Tito
Yugoslav statesman who led the resistance to German occupation during World War II and established a communist state after the war
Treaty of Tordesillas
a 1494 agreement between Portugal and Spain, declaring that newly discovered lands to the west of an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean would belong to Spain and newly discovered lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal.
Mycenaeans
a group of people who settled on the Greek mainland around 2000 B.C.; leading city called Mycenae which could withstand any attack; nobles lived in splendor; these people invaded many surrounding kingdoms
Bronze Age
a period of human culture between the Stone Age and the Iron Age, characterized by the use of weapons and implements made of bronze
Marshall Plan
a plan for aiding the European nations in economic recovery after World War II in order to stabilize and rebuild their countries and prevent the spread of communism.
Yurt
a portable dwelling used by the nomadic people of Centa Asia such as Mongols, consisting of a tentlike structure of skin, felt or hand-woven textiles arranged over wooden poles.
Buddhism
a religion, originated in India by Buddha (Gautama) and later spreading to China, Burma, Japan, Tibet, and parts of southeast Asia, holding that life is full of suffering caused by desire and that the way to end this suffering is through enlightenment that enables one to halt the endless sequence of births and deaths to which one is otherwise subject.
Crusades
a series of military expeditions in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries by Westrn European Christians to reclain control of the Holy Lands from the Muslims
Revolutions of 1848
a series of political upheavals throughout the European continent. Described by some historians as a revolutionary wave, the period of unrest began in France and then, soon spread to the rest of Europe.
Caste System
a set of rigid social categories that determined not only a person's occupation and economic potential, but also his or her position in society
Rape of Nanjing
a six-week period following the Japanese capture of the Chinese city of Nanjing. During this period, hundreds of thousands of civilians were murdered and 20,000-80,000 women were raped[1] by soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army.
Tanakh
a term for the books of the Bible that make up the Hebrew canon.
Dar al-Islam
a term used by Muslims to refer to those countries where Muslims can practice their religion freely.
Great Wall
a vast Chinese defensive fortification begun in the 3rd century B.C. and running along the northern border of the country for 2,400 km
Humanism
a worldview and a moral philosophy that considers humans to be of primary importance. It is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality. A major component of the Italian Renaissance.
Roman roads
allowed for better military transportation and facilitated trade throughout their empire. Cities grew larger and more powerful. Appian Way, 53,000 miles make up all the Roman roads, User-contributed everyone could share supplies, 55,000miles of roads, communication, soldiers
Dar al islam
an Arabic term that means the "house of Islam" and that refers to lands under Islamic rule
Mughal Empire
an Islamic imperial power that ruled a large portion of Indian subcontinent which began in 1526, invaded and ruled most of Hindustan (South Asia) by the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and ended in the mid-19th century.
European Union
an association of European nations formed in 1993 for the purpose of achieving political and economic integration.
English East India Company
an early joint-stock company; were granted on English royal charter with the intention of favoring trade privileges in India.
Mercantilism
an economic system (Europe in 18th C) to increase a nation's wealth by government regulation of all of the nation's commercial interests
Diaspora
any group migration or flight from a country or region; dispersion. Particularly used in relation to Jews scattered by Romans in 70 CE or to Africans spread to new places during the Atlantic Slave Trade.
Tanzimat Reforms
began under Sultan Mahmud II. On November 3, 1839, Sultan Abdülmecid issued an organic statute for the general government of the empire named the Hatt-ı Şerif of Gülhane (the imperial garden where it was first proclaimed). It guarantees to ensure the Ottoman subjects perfect security for their lives, honour, and property introduction of the first Ottoman paper banknotes
Sunni Islam
believe that only the fourth successor (Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law) had the right to succeed the prophet - in Ottoman empire
Vedas
compilations of hymns, religious reflections, and Aryan conquests
Spanish-American War
conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States. Fought mainly for the issue of Cuban independence from Spain.
investiture
controversy Dispute between the popes and the Holy Roman Emperors over who held ultimate authority over bishops in imperial lands.
Hieroglyphics
designating or pertaining to a pictographic script, particularly that of the ancient Egyptians, in which many of the symbols are conventionalized, recognizable pictures of the things represented
Bubonic plague
disease brought to Europe from the Mongols during the Middle Ages. It killed 1/3 of the population and helps end Feudalism. Rats, fleas.
Tang Dynasty
dynasty often referred to as China's Golden age that reigned during 618 - 907 AD; China expands from Vietnam to Manchuria
Great Leap Forward
economic and social plan used in China from 1958 to 1961 which aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern industrial society.
Wudi
emperor under the Han Dynasty that wanted to create a stronger central government by taking land from the lords, raising taxes and places the supply of grain under the government's control
Teotihuacan
first major metropolis in Mesoamerica, collapsed around 800 CE. It is most remembered for the gigantic "pyramid of the sun".
Balkans
geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe. Greece and the region North of Greece.
Aryans
immigrants who arrived at the Ganges river valley by the year 1000 BC
Han Dynasty
imperial dynasty that ruled China (most of the time) from 206 BC to 221 and expanded its boundaries and developed its bureaucracy
James Watt
invented the condenser and other improvements that made the steam engine a practical source of power for industry and transportation. The watt, an electrical measurement, is named after him.
Shia Islam
is the belif that people should have Mohammeds descands as their leaders
Sokoto Caliphate
large Muslim state founded in 1809 in what is now northern Nigeria.
Huns
large nomadic group from northern Asia who invaded territories extending from China to Eastern Europe. They virtually lived on their horses, herding cattle, sheep, and horses as well as hunting.
Khomeini
leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution
Hegemony
leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation over others, as in a confederation.
Phoenicians
located on eastern Mediterranean coast; invented the alphabet which used sounds rather than symbols like cuneiform
Sufis
mystical Muslim group that believed they could draw closer to God through prayer, fasting, & simple life
Scientific Revolution
period in the 16th and 17th centuries where many thinkers rejected doctrines of the past dealing with the natural world in favor of new scientific ideas.
Socrates
philosopher who believed in an absolute right or wrong; asked students pointed questions to make them use their reason, later became Socratic method. condemed to death for corrupting young minds.
Daoism
philosophical system developed by of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu advocating a simple honest life and noninterference with the course of natural events
Iron Law of Wages
proposed principle of economics that asserts that real wages always tend, in the long run, toward the minimum wage necessary to sustain the life of the worker.
Trans Saharan trade
route across the sahara desert. Major trade route that traded for gold and salt, created caravan routes, economic benefit for controlling dessert, camels played a huge role in the trading
Catherine the Great
ruled Russia from 1762 to 1796, added new lands to Russia, encouraged science, art, lierature, Russia became one of Europe's most powerful nations
Berlin Airlift
supplied food and fuel to citizens of west Berlin when the Russians closed off land access to Berlin, which was located in the middle of Russian controlled East Germany.
Neo-Confucianism
term that describes the resurgence of Confucianism and the influence of Confucian scholars during the T'ang Dynasty; a unification of Daoist or Buddhist metaphysics with Confucian pragmatism
Qin Dynasty
the Chinese dynasty (from 246 BC to 206 BC) that established the first centralized imperial government and built much of the Great Wall
Red Guards
the Radical youth of the Cultural Revolution in China starting in 1966. Often wore red armbands and carried Mao's Little Red Book.
Tao-te Ching
the central text of Daoism.
Samsara
the cycle of life and rebirth in Hinduism
Commercial Revolution
the expansion of the trade and buisness that transformed European economies during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Chavin
the first major South American civilization, which flourished in the highlands of what is now Peru from about 900 to 200 B.C.
Dharma
the fulfillment of one's social and religious duties in Hinduism
Paterfamilias
the head of the family or household in Roman law -always male- and the only member to have full legal rights. This person had absolute power over his family, which extended to life and death.
Andes Mountains
the largest mountain range in the world; home of the Chavin and Inca civilizations.
Qing Dynasty
the last imperial dynasty of China (from 1644 to 1912) which was overthrown by revolutionaries. Also known for its extreme isolationism.
Zhou dynasty
the longest lasting Chinese dynasty, during which the use of iron was introduced.
Mahabharata
the longest single poem in the world, about a war fought between two branches of the same family. One of India's greatest epics written between 1000 and 700 BC
Empress Wu
the only woman to rule China in her own name, expanded the empire and supported Buddhism during the Tang Dynasty.
Reichstag
the parliament of Germany before 1945 (and the name of its building). Previously the general assembly of the Holy Roman Empire, and later the North German Confederation. After 1949 it was replaced with the current German parliament, the Bundestag.
Concordat
the peace agreement made between Napoleon and the Pope following the chaos of the French Revolution.
Warring States Period
the period from 475 BC until the unification of China under the Qin dynasty, characterized by lack of centralized government in China. It followed the Zhou dynasty.
Counter Reformation
the reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to the Reformation reaffirming the veneration of saints and the authority of the Pope (to which Protestants objected)
385
the year the Roman Empire Split. (Hint _85)
Empiricism
theory that all knowledge originates from experience. It emphasizes experimentation and observation in order to truly know things.
Roman Law
this Roman contribution delt mostly with the rights of Roman citizens; one belief was that it should be fair and equal to all people
Warring States Period
time of warfare between regional lords following the decline of the Zhou dynasty in the 8th century B.C.E.
Portuguese Empire
took lead in European exploration (sponsored by Prince Henry); went East and found gold in Africa (the Cape of Good hope) and India for spice trade
Crimean War
war fought between the Russian Empire on one side and an alliance of the British Empire, French Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Duchy of Nassau on the other.
Congress of Vienna
was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from November, 1814 to June, 1815. Its objective was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.
Tokugawa Shogunate
was a semi-feudal government of Japan in which one of the shoguns unified the country under his family's rule. They moved the capital to Edo, which now is called Tokyo. This family ruled from Edo 1868, when it was abolished during the Meiji Restoration.
Che Guevara
was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat, military theorist, and major figure of the Cuban Revolution. Since his death, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous counter-cultural symbol.
