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Neolithic Revolution

(10,000 - 8,000 BCE) The development of agriculture and the domestication of animals as a food source. This led to the development of permanent settlements and the start of civilization.

Nomads

people who wander from place to place

Hunting and Gathering

The killing of wild animals and fish as well as the gathering of fruits, roots, nuts, and other plants for sustenance.

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

Domestication

the taming of animals for human use, such as work or as food

Pastoralism

A type of agricultural activity based on nomadic animal husbandry or the raising of livestock to provide food, clothing, and shelter.

Paleolithic

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

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.

Nile River Valley

2nd urban hearth, dating to 3200 BCE, located in Egypt

Indus River Valley

chronologically, the third urban hearth, dating 2200 BCE. In present day Pakistan and India

Yellow River Valley

Place of origin for early Chinese civilizations Huang He and Yellow River.

Mesoamerican

A region of Central America, Mexico, and South America where several pre-Columbian civilizations lived including the Maya, Inca, and Aztecs.

Olmec Civilizations

1st Meso civ ca. 1500 - 400 B.C. -- corn, chocolate, rubber -- naturalistic art, heads, twins (la venta) -- decentralized (more: included intensive agriculture, wide-ranging trade, ceremonial centers, and monumental construction.)

Maya Civilization (300-900 CE)

Classical Mesoamerican civilization located on the Yucatan Peninsula, used slash and burn farming, organized into city-states

Chavin Civilization

American civilization, located on the Peruvian coast and known for jade work and a complex trade system

Hierarchy

a ranking system in which each thing is placed above or below others

Patriarchy/Matriarchy

Men having more authority than women Women having more authority than men

Bureaucracy

A large, complex organization composed of appointed officials

Hittites

The group of people who toppled the Babylonian empire and were responsible for two technological innovations--the war chariots and refinement of iron metallurgy.

Babylonians

Unified all of Mesopotamia c. 1800 B.C.E.; empire collapsed due to foreign invasion c. 1600 B.C.E.

Summerian Civilization

The first people to build cities and invent legal system, justice code, weapons, writing etc.

Ziggurat

A rectangular tiered temple or terraced mound erected by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians

Pyramid

Huge, triangular shaped burial tombs of Egyptian pharaohs built during the Old Kingdom

Temple

place of worship

Cuneiform

A form of writing developed by the Sumerians using a wedge shaped stylus and clay tablets.

Hieroglyphics

An ancient Egyptian writing system in which pictures were used to represent ideas and sounds

Quipo

Recording devices used in the Inca Empire; a quipo usually consisted of colored thread or strings that recorded numeric and other values using knots

Code of Hammurabi

the set of laws drawn up by Babylonian king Hammurabi dating to the 18th century BC, the earliest legal code known in its entirety

Vedic

Having to do with or pertaining to the Vedas-the oldest scriptures in India and the world, passed through oral tradition.

Hebrew Monotheism

Origins of the early Jewish religion with the state of Israel and the Israelites

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.

Buddhism

Belief system that started in India in the 500s BC. Happiness can be achieved through removal of one's desires. Believers seek enlightenment and the overcoming of suffering.

Confucianism

The system of ethics, education, and statesmanship taught by Confucius and his disciples, stressing love for humanity, ancestor worship, reverence for parents, and harmony in thought and conduct.

Daoism

philosophical system developed by of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu advocating a simple honest life and noninterference with the course of natural events

Legalism

A chinese belief that people were bad by nature and needed to be controlled by the government.

Mandate of Heaven

a political theory of ancient China in which those in power were given the right to rule from a divine source

Greco-Roman Philosophy

Ideas that emphasized logic, empirical observation, and nature of political power and hierarchy.

Christianity

A monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior.

Ancestor Veneration/Worship

The practice of giving reverence and worship, such as creating a shrine, to family member's after they have died.

Animism

Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a discrete spirit and conscious life.

Shamanism

an animistic religion of northern Asia having the belief that the mediation between the visible and the spirit worlds is effected by shamans

Monasticism

A way of life in which men and women withdraw from the rest of the world in order to devote themselves to their faith

Ashoka

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.

Emperor Constantine

Founded Constantinople; best known for being the first Christian Roman Emperor; issued the Edict of Milan in 313, granting religious toleration throughout the empire.

Persian Empire

Greatest empire in the world up to 500 BCE. Spoke an Indo-European language. A multi-ethnic and multi-religious empire. Fell to Alexander the Great.

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

Han Dynasty

(202 BC - 220 AD) dynasty started by Lui Bang; a great and long-lasting rule, it discarded the harsh policies of the Qin dynasty and adopted Confucian principles; Han rulers chose officials who passed the civil service exams rather than birth; it was a time of prosperity

Mauryan Dynasty

The first united Indian state, founded by Chandragupta in 324 BC, after Alexander's defeat of weakened India; it lasted for more than 100 years, before it declined, and fell in 183 BC

Gupta Empire

(320-550 CE) The decentralized empire that emerged after the Mauryan Empire, and whose founder is Chandra Gupta.

Phoenicians

located on eastern Mediterranean coast; invented the alphabet which used sounds rather than symbols like cuneiform

Greek city-states

• Ancient Greece was made up of city-states, also known as Polis

• they were developed out of the political chaos of the 1100's (BCE)

• each Polis was independent and so a range of political institutions developed across the Balkan Peninsula and Aegean Islands

• the largest city-states were Athens and Sparta

Hellenism/Hellenistic

The influence of Greek thought, language, values, and culture that began with Alexander the Great's conquest of the eastern Mediterranean works and intensified under his Hellenistic successors and various Roman emperors.

Roman Empire

Existed from 27 BCE to about 400 CE. Conquered entire Mediterranean coast and most of Europe. Ruled by an emperor. Eventually oversaw the rise and spread of Christianity.

Maya city-states

Classical culture in Southern Mexico and Central America; contemporary with Teotihuacan; extended over broad region; featured monumental architecture, written language, calendrical system, mathematical system; highly developed region.

Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa

Major cities of the Indus Valley civilization; both of which flourished around 2000 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 homeland

Athens

A democratic Greek polis who accomplished many cultural achievements, and who were constantly at war with Sparta.

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 in Egypt founded by Alexander the Great, center of commerce and Hellenistic civilization

Constantinople

City founded as the second capital of the Roman Empire; later became the capital of the Byzantine Empire

Tribute

Money paid by one country to another in return for protection

Silk Road Trade

The most famous of the trading routes established by pastoral nomads connecting the Chinese, Indian, Persian, and Mediterranean civilizations; transmitted goods and ideas among civilization.

Mediterranean Trade Routes

Trade routes in the Mediterranean Sea, traded grapes, wine, olives, olive oil, and mosaics from Europe to Northern Africa and the Middle East.

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

Indian Ocean Trade

connected to Europe, Africa, and China.; world's richest maritime trading network and an area of rapid Muslim expansion.