World History Test 1

Yin/Yang

In Chinese belief, complementary factors that help to maintain the equilibrium of the world. Yang is associated with masculine, light, and active qualities; yin with feminine, dark, and passive qualities

Celts

People 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, and later were overtaken by Roman conquest and Germanic Invasions. Their descendants survive on the western fringe of Europe (Brittany, Wales, Scotland, Ireland).

Foragers

People who support themselves by hunting wild animals and gathering wild edible plants and insects.

What cultural achievements characterized life in the Neolithic period?

Rise in agriculture (food producers) in combination of new kids of stone tools. Domesticated plants and animals. These stone tools and domesticated animals were used for agricultural purposes. Cattle were domesticated to help with plows, and dogs were domesticated to help with hunting. Metalworking became an important specialized occupation in the late Neolitich period. They even learned how to alternate crops or leave fields to have natural vegetation periodically to restore the soil. Different crops were grown in different places depending on what grew best in the environment. Pastoralism is a way of life dependent on large herds of small and large stock. The expanding farming communities were organized around kinship and marriage. These kinship units known as lineages or clans, acted together to defend their common interests and land. Pastoralists worshiped the Sky God who controlled the rains and guided their migrations. The relation of many farming communities centered on the Earth Mother, a female deity believed to be the source of all new life.

How did the early Chinese rulers use religion to justify and strengthen their power?

Wu declared that Heaven granted authority and legitimacy to a ruler as long as he looked out for the welfare of his subjects; the monarch, accordingly, was called the "Son of Heaven." The proof of divine favor was the prosperity and stability of the kingdom, but if the ruler persistently failed in these duties and neglected the warning signs of flood, famine, invasion, or other disasters, Heaven could withdraw this "Mandate" and transfer it to another, more worthy rule and family. This theory of the Mandate of Heaven, which validated the institution of monarchy by connecting the religious and political spheres, served as the foundation of Chinese political thought for three thousand years.

Mummy

A body preserved by chemical processes or special natural circumstances, often in the belief that the deceased we'll need it again in the afterlife. In ancient Egypt the bodies of people who could afford mummification underwent a complex process of removing organs, filling body cavities, dehydrating the corpse with natron, and then wrapping the body with linen bandages and enclosing it in a wooden sarcophagus.

Confucianism

A doctrine of duty and public service that had a great influence on subsequent Chinese thought and served as a code of conduct for government officials. Created by Chinese philosopher, Kongzi (western name: Confucius).

Loess

A fine, light silt deposited by wind and water. It constitutes the fertile soil of the Yellow River Valley in northern China. Because Loess soil is not compacted, it can be worked with a simple digging stick, but it leaves the region vulnerable to devastating earthquakes.

Llama

A hoofed animal indigenous to the Andes Mountains in South America. It was the only domesticated beast of burden in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans. It provided meat and wool. The use of llamas to transport goods made possible specialized production and trade among people living in different ecological zones and fostered the integration of theses zones by Chavin and later Andean states.

Pyramid

A large, triangular stone monument, used in Egypt and Nubia as a burial place for the king. The largest pyramids, erected during the Old Kingdom near Memphis with stone tools and compulsory labor, reflect the Egyptian belief that the proper and spectacular burial of the divine ruler would guarantee the continued prosperity of the land.

Ziggurat

A massive pyramidal stepped Tower made of mud bricks. It is associated with religious complexes in ancient Mesopotamian cities, but its function is unknown.

Papyrus

A reed that grows along the banks of the Nile river in Egypt. From it was produced a coarse, paperlike writing medium used by the Egyptians and many other peoples in the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East.

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.

Hieroglyphics

A system of writing in which pictorial symbols represented sounds, syllables, or concepts. It was used for official and monumental inscriptions in ancient Egypt. Because of the long period of study required to master this system, literacy in hieroglyphics was confined to a relatively small group of scribes and administrators. Cursive symbol-forms were developed for rapid composition on other media such as papyrus.

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 eastern Asia. Because so many symbols have to be learned, literacy was confined to a relatively small group of administrators and scribes.

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.

Kush

An Egyptian name for Nubia, the region alongside the Nile River south of Egypt, where an indigenous kingdom with its own distinctive institutions and cultural traditions arose beginning in the early second millennium B.C.E. It was deeply influenced by Egyptian culture and at times under the control of Egypt, which coveted its rich deposits gold and luxury products form sub-Saharan Africa carried up the Nile corridor.

Bronze

An alloy of copper with a small amount of tin (or sometimes arsenic), it is harder and more durable than copper alone. The term Bronze Age is applied to the era- the dates of which vary in different parts of the world- when bronze was the primary metal for tools and weapons. The demand for bronze helped create long-distance networks of trade.

Civilization

An ambiguous term often used to denote more complex societies, but sometimes used by anthropologists to describe any group of people sharing a set of cultural traits.

What does the material evidence tell us about the nature of the Indus Valley Civilization, and what is the most likely reason for its collapse?

Archaeologists have located several hundred sites, the culture is best know from the remains of two great cities first discovered 80 years ago: Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. They had settled agriculture back to at least 5000 B.C.E. They had some major urban centers with brick walls and streets that point to a strong central authority. There is a great amount of metal, mostly used for utilitarian tools or other everyday objects (as opposed to jewelry and other decor in Mesopotamia and Egypt). They had skill in irrigation, and they also had a writing system yet to be deciphered today. The Indus Valley cites were abandoned sometime after 1900 B.C.E. Archaeologists now believe this civilization suffered "system failure" - a breakdown of the fragile interrelationship of political, social, and economic systems that sustained order and prosperity. This could have happened through a natural disaster.

Ma'at

Egyptian term for the concept of divinely created and maintained order in the universe. Reflecting the ancient Egyptians belief in an essential beneficent world, the Divine ruler was the Earthly guarantor of this order.

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 Semitic family is Arabic.

History

The study of past events and changes in the development, transmission, and transformation of cultural practices.

What were the causes behind the spread of Celtic peoples across much of continental Europe, and the later retreat of Celtic cultures to the western edge of the continent?

The term Celtic refers to a branch of the large Indo-European family of languages found throughout Europe and in western and southern Asia. Many early Celts lived in or near hill-forts--lofty natural locations made more defensible by earthwork fortification. By 500 B.C.E. Celtic elites were trading with Mediterranean societies for crafted foods and wine. This contract may have stimulated the new styles of Celtic manufacture and art that appeared at this time. These new cultural features coincided with a period in which Celtic groups migrated to many parts of Europe. The motives behind these population movements, the precise timing, and the manner in which they were carried out are not well understood. By 300 B.C.E. Celtic peoples were spread across Europe north of the Alps, from present-day Hungary to Spain and Ireland. Their traces remain in many place names in Europe today. The roman conquest from the second century B.C.E. to the first century C.E. of Spain, southern Britain, France, and parts of Central Europe curtailed the evolution of Celtic society. From the third century C.E. on, Germanic invaders weakened the Celts still further, and the English language has a Germanic base. Only on the western fringes of the European continent- in Brittany (northwest France), Wales, Scotland, and Ireland- did Celtic peoples maintain their language, art, and culture into modern times.

Daoism

Chinese schools of thought originating in the Warring States Period with Laozi. Daoism offered an alternative to the Confucian emphasis on hierarchy and duty. Daoists believe that 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 Dao, or "path" of nature.

What role did interaction between humans and the environment play in the development of early civilizations in the Americas?

Over thousands of years the population of the Americas grew and spread throughout the hemisphere, adapting to environments that included polar extremes, tropical rain forests, and high mountain ranges as well as deserts, woodlands, and prairies. Mesoamerica is a region of great geographic and climatic diversity. Within these ecological niches, Amerindian peoples developed specialized technologies that exploited indigenous plants and animals, as well as minerals like obsidian, quartz, and jade. Early settlements depended on the region's rich plant diversity and on fishing. By 3500 B.C.E. the staples of the Mesoamerican diet- corn (maize), beans, and squash- had been domesticated. Eventually, contracts across environmental boundaries led to trade and cultural exchange.

Mohenjo-Daro

Largest of the cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. It was centrally located in the extensive floodplain of the Indus River in contemporary Pakistan. Little is known about the political institutions of Indus Valley communities, but the large-scale of construction at Mohenjo-Daro, the orderly grid of streets, and the standardization of building materials are evidence of central planning.

How did the technological and cultural influences of Egypt affect the formation of Nubia?

Nubia's location and natural wealth, along with Egypt's hunger for Nubian gold, explain the early rise of a civilization with a complex political organization, social stratification, metallurgy, monumental building, and writing. There were mutually beneficial interactions between Egypt and Nubia. Egyptian officials led donkey caravans south in search of gold, incense, ebony, ivory, slaves, and exotic animals from tropical Africa. This was dangerous work, requiring delicate negotiations with local Nubian chiefs to secure protection, but it brought substantial rewards to those who succeeded. In the Middle Kingdom Egyptians rulers sought to control the gold mines in the desert east of the Nile and to cut out the Nubian middlemen who drove up the cost of luxury goods from the tropics. Kush was an Egyptian name for Nubia, the region alongside the Nile River south of Egypt, where an indigenous kingdom with its won distinctive institutions and cultural traditions arose beginning in the early second millennium B.C.E. During the expansionist New Kingdom the Egyptians penetrated more deeply into Nubia. They destroyed Kush and its capital and extended their frontier to the Fourth Cataract. Exploiting the mines of Nubia, Egypt supplied gold to the states of the Middle East. Five hundred years of Egyptian domination in Nubia left many marks, The Egyptian government imposed Egyptian culture on the native population. Children from elite families were brought to the Egyptian royal court to guarantee the good behavior of their relatives in Nubia; they absorbed Egyptian language, culture, and religion, which they later carried home with them. Other Nubians served as archers in the Egyptian armed forces. The manufactured goods that they brought back to Nubia have been found in their graves. The Nubians built towns on the Egyptian model and erected stone temples to Egyptian gods, particularly Amon. The frequent depiction of Amon with the head of a ram may reflect a blending of the chief Egyptian god with a Nubian ram deity.

Chavin

The first major urban civilization in South America (900-250 B.C.E.). Its capital, Chavin de Huantar, was located high in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Chavin became politically and economically dominant in a densely populated region that included two distinct ecological zones, the Peruvian coastal plain and the Andean foothills.

Stone Age

The historical period characterized by the production of tools from Stone and other nonmetallic substances. It was followed in some places by the Bronze Age and more generally by the Iron Age.

Babylon

The largest and most important city in Mesopotamia. It achieved particular eminence as the capital of the Amorite King Hammurabi in the 18th century B.C.E. and the Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar in the 6th Century B.C.E.

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. This area, particularly the vigorous early period (1045-771 B.C.E.), was remembered in Chinese tradition as a time of prosperity and benevolent rule. In the later Zhou period (771-221 B.C.E.), centralized control broke down, and warfare among the many small states became frequent.

Sumerians

The people who dominated southern Mesopotamia through the end of the third millennium B.C.E. They were responsible for the creation of many fundamental elements of the Mesopotamian culture- such as an irrigation technology, cuneiform, and religious conceptions- taken over by their Semitic successors.

Neolithic

The period of the Stone Age associated with the ancient Agricultural Revolution. It follows the Paleolithic period.

Paleolithic

The period of the Stone Age associated with the evolution of humans. It predates the Neolithic period.

Mandate of Heaven

Chinese religious and political ideology developed by the Shang, according to which it was the prerogative of Heaven, the chief deity, to grant power to the ruler of China and to take away the power if the ruler failed to conduct himself justly and in the best interest of his subjects.

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.

Meroe

Capital of a flourishing kingdom in southern Nubia from the fourth century B.C.E. to the fourth century C.E. In this period Nubian culture shows more independence from Egypt and the influence of sub-Saharan Africa

Scribe

In the governments of many ancient societies a professional position reserved for men who had undergone the lengthy training required to be able to read and write using cuneiforms, hieroglyphics, or other early cumbersome writing systems.

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 (in modern Pakistan), and it may have been a center for the acquisition of raw materials, such as metals and precious stones, from Afghanistan and Iran.

Culture

Socially transmitted patterns of actions and expression.

Megaliths

Structures and complexes of very large stones constructed for ceremonial and religious purposes in Neolithic times.

How did the Mesopotamia civilization emerge, and what technologies promoted its advancement?

The Mesopotamians learned to construct to construct canals to carry water to their fields because of the unpredictable spring floods and the inadequate rainfall. Barley was their main crop because it could withstand the hot, dry conditions and the salt drawn to the surface by evaporation. The Sumerians were the people living in Mesopotamia at the start of the "historical period" (period for which we have a written record). There were other people there before them, but the Sumerians made the largest impact on the culture of that area. Mesopotamia was a land of villages and cities. Groups of farming families banded together in villages to protect one another, work together at key times in the agricultural cycle, and share tools, barns and threshing floors. Most cities developed from villages. In Mesopotamia most people worked in the agriculture field, but some had specialized crafts like pottery, artwork, clothing, weapons, tools and other metal forging. There were also some religious jobs. Mesopotamians opened new land to agriculture by building and maintaining irrigation networks.

What role did the environment and religion play in the evolution of Egyptian civilization?

The Nile River, their main source of water, was bordered mostly by desert, but the land on the banks supported lush vegetation. Most of the land around Egypt was not preferable for inhabitants. The river was a great source of travel and communication, with the most important cities located upstream away from the Mediterranean. The Nile flooded at the exact perfect times for agriculture. The increase in population led to more complex political organization, including a form of local kingship. The Egyptian state centered of the king, often known by the New Kingdom term pharaoh, from an Egyptian phrase meaning "palace." From the time of the Old Kingdom, if not earlier, Egyptians considered the king to be a god sent to earth to maintain ma'at, the divinely authorized order of the universe. He was the indispensable link between his people and the gods, and his benevolent rule ensured the welfare and prosperity of the country. So much depended of the kings that their deaths called forth elaborate efforts to ensure the well-being of their spirits on their perilous journey to rejoin the gods.

Olmec

The first Mesoamerican civilization. Between ca. 1200 and 400 B.C.E., the Olmec people of central Mexico created a vibrant civilization that included intensive agriculture, wide-ranging trade, ceremonial centers, and monumental construction. The Olmec had great cultural influence on later Mesoamerican societies, passing on artistic styles, religious imagery, sophisticated astronomical observation for the construction of calendars, and a ritual ball game.

Memphis

The capital of Old Kingdom Egypt, near the head of the Nile Delta. Early rulers were interred in the nearby pyramids.

Pharaoh

The central figure in the ancient Egyptian State. Believed to be an Earthly manifestation of the gods, he used his absolute power to maintain the safety and prosperity of Egypt.

Agricultural Revolution (ancient)

The change from food gathering to food production that occurs between ca. 8000 and 2000 B.C.E. Also known as the Neolithic Revolution.

Druids

The class of religious experts who conducted rituals and preserved sacred lore among some ancient Celtic peoples. They provided education, mediated deputes between kinship groups, and were suppressed by the Romans as a potential focus of opposition to Roman rule.

Shang

The dominant people in the earliest Chinese dynasty for which we have written records (ca. 1750-1045 B.C.E.). Ancestor worship, divination by means of Oracle bones, and the use of bronze vessels for ritual purposes were major elements of Shang culture.