World History Unit One Terms

Lori M.
83 words 7 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. artifact
    a man-made object
  2. culture
    all the knowledge and values shared by a society
  3. hominid
    a member of a family of primate mammals that includes humans
  4. Paleolithic Age
    second part of the Stone Age beginning about 750,00 to 500,000 years BC and lasting until the end of the last ice age about 8,500 years BC
  5. Neolithic Age
    latest part of the Stone Age beginning about 10,000 BC in the Middle East (but later elsewhere)
  6. technology
    the practical application of science to commerce or industry
  7. nomad
    a member of a people who have no permanent home
  8. hunter-gatherer
    a member of a hunting and gathering society
  9. domestication
    adaptation to close association with human beings
  10. civilization
    a society in an advanced state of social development
  11. specialization
    making something suitable for a particular purpose
  12. artisan
    a skilled worker who practices some trade or handicraft
  13. institution
    a custom that has been an important feature of some group
  14. scribe
    someone employed to make written copies of documents
  15. cuneiform
    an ancient wedge-shaped script used in Mesopotamia
  16. bronze age
    the third age of the world, marked by war and violence
  17. barter
    exchange goods without involving money
  18. ziggurat
    a rectangular tiered temple or terraced mound
  19. Fertile Crescent
    a geographical area of fertile land in the Middle East stretching in a broad semicircle from the Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates
  20. silt
    mud or clay or small rocks deposited by a river or lake
  21. irrigation
    the act of supplying dry land with water by artificial means
  22. city state
    a state consisting of a sovereign city
  23. dynasty
    a sequence of powerful leaders in the same family
  24. polytheism
    belief in multiple gods
  25. empire
    the domain ruled by a single authoritative sovereign
  26. Hammurabi
    Babylonian king who codified the laws of Sumer and Mesopotamia (died 1750 BC)
  27. cataract
    disease that involves the clouding of the lens of the eye
  28. delta
    a low area of alluvial deposits where a river divides
  29. Pharaoh
    the title of the ancient Egyptian kings
    means god-king
  30. theocracy
    a political unit governed by a deity
  31. mummification
    the act of embalming, drying, and wrapping a dead body
  32. hieroglyphic
    a writing system using picture symbols
  33. papyrus
    tall sedge of the Nile valley yielding fiber
  34. subcontinent
    a large, distinct landmass that is part of a larger landmass
  35. monsoon
    a seasonal wind in southern Asia
  36. loess
    a fine accumulation of clay and silt deposited by the wind
  37. feudalism
    the social system in which vassals were protected by lords
  38. Indo-European
    of or relating to the Indo-European language family
  39. steppe
    an extensive plain without trees
  40. migration
    the movement of persons from one locality to another
  41. Hittite
    of or relating to the Hittite people or their language or culture
  42. Anatolia
    a peninsula in southwestern Asia that forms the Asian part of Turkey
  43. Aryan
    a member of the prehistoric people who spoke Proto-Indo European
  44. Veda
    (from the Sanskrit word for `knowledge') any of the most ancient sacred writings of Hinduism written in early Sanskrit; traditionally believed to comprise the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishads
  45. brahmin
    the highest of the four Hindu varnas
  46. caste
    a social class separated by distinctions of hereditary rank
  47. Mahabharata
    (Hinduism) a sacred epic Sanskrit poem of India dealing in many episodes with the struggle between two rival families
  48. reincarnation
    a second or new birth
  49. karma
    effects of one's actions that determine his or her destiny
  50. Jainism
    religion founded in the 6th century BC as a revolt against Hinduism; emphasizes asceticism and immortality and transmigration of the soul; denies existence of a perfect or supreme being
  51. Siddhartha
    founder of Buddhism; worshipped as a god (c 563-483 BC)
    Siddhartha Gautama
  52. enlightenment
    education that results in the spread of knowledge
  53. nirvana
    the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation
  54. Minoan civilization
    the bronze-age culture of Crete that flourished 3000-1100 BC
  55. Aegean Sea
    an arm of the Mediterranean between Greece and Turkey
  56. Phoenician
    a member of an ancient Semitic people who dominated trade in the first millennium B.C.
  57. Palestine
    an ancient country in southwestern Asia on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea; a place of pilgrimage for Christianity and Islam and Judaism
  58. Canaan
    an ancient country in southwestern Asia on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea; a place of pilgrimage for Christianity and Islam and Judaism
  59. Torah
    the first of three divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures comprising the first five books of the Hebrew Bible considered as a unit
  60. Abraham
    the first of the Old Testament patriarchs and the father of Isaac; according to Genesis, God promised to give Abraham's family (the Hebrews) the land of Canaan (the Promised Land); God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son
  61. monotheism
    belief in a single God
  62. covenant
    an agreement between a god and the people
  63. Moses
    (Old Testament) the Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites from Egypt across the Red sea on a journey known as the Exodus; Moses received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai
  64. Israel
    an ancient kingdom of the Hebrew tribes at the southeastern end of the Mediterranean Sea; founded by Saul around 1025 BC and destroyed by the Assyrians in 721 BC
  65. Judah
    an ancient kingdom of southern Palestine with Jerusalem as its center
  66. tribute
    payment by one nation for protection by another
  67. Nubia
    an ancient region of northeastern Africa on the Nile
  68. Assyria
    an ancient kingdom in northern Mesopotamia which is in present-day Iraq
  69. Sennacherib
    king of Assyria who invaded Judea twice and defeated Babylon and rebuilt Nineveh after it had been destroyed by Babylonians (died in 681 BC)
  70. Nineveh
    an ancient Assyrian city on the Tigris across from the modern city of Mosul in the northern part of what is now known as Iraq
  71. Ashurbanipal
    king of Assyria who built a magnificent palace and library at Nineveh (668-627 BC)
  72. Chaldean
    of or relating to ancient Chaldea or its people or language or culture
  73. Nebuchadnezzar
    (Old Testament) king of Chaldea who captured and destroyed Jerusalem and exiled the Israelites to Babylonia (630?-562 BC)
  74. Cyrus
    Persian prince who was defeated in battle by his brother Artaxerxes II (424-401 BC)
  75. satrap
    a governor of a province in ancient Persia
  76. royal road
    an auspicious way or means to achieve something
  77. Zoroaster
    Persian prophet who founded Zoroastrianism
  78. Confucius
    Chinese philosopher whose ideas and sayings were collected after his death and became the basis of a philosophical doctrine known a Confucianism (circa 551-478 BC)
  79. bureaucracy
    a government administered primarily by nonelective officials
  80. Daoism
    philosophical system developed by Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu advocating a simple honest life and noninterference with the course of natural events
  81. legalism
    strict conformity to the law rather than its spirit
  82. 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
  83. autocracy
    a theory favoring unlimited authority by an individual
Created on Mon Jul 02 18:47:13 EDT 2012 (updated Fri Jul 27 21:33:26 EDT 2012)

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