History Before 1200: Agricultural Revolution and Early Civilizations

Vocabulary flashcards detailing the development of agriculture, world religions, and major empires prior to 1200 CE based on lecture notes.

Agricultural/Neolithic Revolution

The transition to societies based on hunting and farming where people settled for crops and religion, often near river valleys.

Mesopotamia

The region from which the original farmers emerged.

River Valley Civilizations

Early settlements like the Nile, Yellow, Indus, Mesoamerica, and Andes that grew around rivers and introduced hierarchies and laws.

Epic of Gilgamesh

An early example of literature used to explain the creation of the world and the purpose of life.

Hinduism

A religion from the Indus River Valley that served as an ordering principle for India through the caste system.

Zoroastrianism

The religion practiced by the Persians.

Judaism

A monotheistic religion spread by merchants and forced migration.

Pastoralists

Groups that continued hunting and gathering ways and fostered important exchanges between different societies.

Buddhism

A religion that emerged from Hinduism, rejecting the caste system and teaching that suffering is caused by desire, which can be overcome by the Eightfold path.

Confucianism

The bedrock of Chinese society based on an ordered, hierarchical system and the following of rules and roles.

Daoism

An East Asian belief system that looks to the order of nature rather than human affairs.

Animism

The belief that the natural world possesses spiritual power and that shamans have control over it.

Achaemenid Empire

A Persian empire from $550$ to $350$ BCE that used regional leaders and elaborate highways before being conquered.

Qin/Han Dynasties

Chinese empires established in $220$ BCE that utilized the Mandate of Heaven, Legalism, and a strict bureaucracy.

Legalism

A Chinese governing philosophy featuring clear rules of command, strict layers of bureaucracy, and heavy punishments.

Phoenician Empire

A sea-faring civilization that established colonies in Italy, North Africa, and Spain and created the oldest known alphabet.

Greek Empire

A civilization from $600$ to $330$ BCE that introduced the concept of citizenship and democracy for free white men.

Roman Empire

A civilization influenced by Greek culture known for roads and aqueducts; its Western half fell in $476$.

Mayans

A civilization featuring monumental structures, writing systems, astronomical charting, and human sacrifice.

Teotihuacan

A city-state with a complex government bureaucracy, stone apartments, and large reservoirs.

Moche Civilization

An Andes Mountains civilization from $100$ to $800$ CE that was controlled by warrior priests.

Social Hierarchy

The political and social structure of early empires ordered as Political, merchants, warriors, crafts, laborers, and slaves.