Ways of the World Chapter 1

Paleolithic era

Old Stone Age, represents 95 percent of the amount of time humankind has occupied the planet

Agricultural Revolution

It was highlighted by the deliberate cultivation of plants and the taming and breeding of animals
It directly lead to growing populations, settled villages, and a boom of technological innovation

pastoral societies

relied on domesticated animals(sheep, goats, horses, camels) to harvest meat hide and for transport and warfare.

chiefdoms

positions of power would be inherited

Hinduism is the

oldest and most prominent religion in India

Upanishads

a series of texts written between 800 and 400 BCE and were in summary, a unified understanding of reality itself from the point of view of Hinduism

Buddhism

suffering was a direct result of desire and that in order to live a peaceful life, one had to pronounce human weakness and desire in order to reach nirvana

Siddhartha Gautama

a prince from a small kingdom in north India, the founder of Buddhism, known as the Bhudda

Theravada Buddhism

portrayed the Buddha as a wise teacher but not divine

Mahayana Buddhism

later developed and offered a greater accessibility to a spiritual path

bhakti movement

devotion to several of India’s many gods and goddesses.

Confucianism

derived from Confucian, a learned aristocrat who believe that in order to reach social and political harmony respect had to be applied to unequal relationships ex: father and son, husband and wife, the older brother and younger brother, ruler and subject

Han dynasty

was around 200 B.C.E., Confucianism was the official ideology

Daoism

ridiculed the efforts of Confucianism and urged withdrawing into the world of nature and encouraged behavior that was spontaneous, individualistic, and natural

Silk Roads

begin around 200 B.C.E. and were a complex system linking China and the Mediterranean world

Sea Roads

traversed the Indian ocean in the South China Sea and linked the diverse people living between southern China and east Africa

Sand Roads

linked north Africa in the Mediterranean world with the people of interior west Africa