AP World, Ancient World

Big Bang

Matter concentrated at one point causing the _________

Gravity

The natural physical force that pulls any two objects with mass towards eachother

Theia Impact Hypothesis

Caused earths curst to go into orbit

Primary Sources

first hand accont

Secondary sources

second hand accont

Homo Sapiens

Dominate DNA in current humans

Neanderthal

Different branch of evolution, better at problem solving

Denisovans

Fully extinct group of ancient humans

Dunbar’s Number

How many people you can be friends with/empathise with

Nomads

A person who does not have a current home

Neolithic revolution

The transition from hunting and gathering

Argicultural revolution

The invention of farming

Domestication

The taming of hostile animals into peaceful animals

Sedentary Agriculture

Staying in one spot and having to wait for crops to grow

Food Surplus

Too much food

Specialization of Labor

Surplus of food leading to multiple jobs being assigned besides hunting and gathering

Social Stratification

Existence of non-farming elites, social class invention

Social Mobility

The movement of individuals, families, or groups up or down the socail pyramid

River Valley Civilization

Earliest human civilizations were developed in fertile river valleys

Mesopotamia

A historical region in southwest Asia located between the Tgtis and Euphrates rivers

Tigris and Euphrates River

A major waterway that defined Mesopotamia

Irrigation

Application of water to land to help grow crops

Sumerians

developed cuneiform, invented the wheel, lived in lower Mesopotamia

States

The infisturctures and structures that govern a certain area, CAN MAKE THEIR OWN DECSIONS

Cuneiform

Used pictures to represent objects and shapes to represent sound (Anceint Mespotamian writing form created by Sumerians)

Scribes

A person who copies documents by hand

Epic of Gilgamesh

The world’s oldest surviving epic poem

Mesopotamianin Polytheism

Believed gods/goddesses were all connected and called things in different areas of Mesopotamia

Animism

How the gods feel about you is how nature reacts

Akkadians

Founded by Sargon the Great, Rednecks, collapsed due to overfarming and political instability

Sargon the Great

Half man half god, Akkadian leader, first king in history

Amorite Babylonians

Semitic speaking tribal group who migrated from the desert to Mespotamia and created Babylon

Hammurabi’s code

Created the first rule set (Hammurabi’s code)

Assyrians

first professional army, exists to concur, universally hated, built Ninevah (Largest city of the time)

Bronze Age Collapse

(1200 BCE), violent societal breakdown

Genocide

Committed with the intent to destroy in whole or in part a certain group of people

Nineveh

Largest city in Mespotamia

Ashurbanipal

“nerd”, created Ashurbanipal library (brought text all across Mespotamian world)

Nile River

Provides natural resources for Egyptain people, Egypt build around Nile

Upper Egypt

Southern

Lower Egypt

North

Pharaoh

considered gods, supreme ruler of ancient Egypt

Egyptain Polytheism

religions assume everyone is worshipping the same gods under different names

Book of the dead

explains: how to prepare a body for the afterlife, where souls go, how to get there

Hieroglyphics

A formal writing system that used pictures and symbols instead of traditional alphabetical letters

Indus River Valley Civilization

A vast Bronze Age urban culture that included Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro

Harappa

writing hasn’t been decoded, city fizzled out, recently discovered

Mohenjo-Daro

city fizzled out, recently discovered

Huang He River Valley Civ.

came together because of flooding issues, domesticated rice, highly developed social class

Dynasty Cycle

starts with preparing broken things (gains legitimacy), then cracks begin and dynasty falls

Mandate of Heaven

The will of the universe, emporors have the blessing of heaven → good crops, strong army, and healthy nation

Shang Dynasty

mysteriously overthrown, earilest Chinese dynsasty

Zhou Dynasty

ruled under wu wang, longest ruling dynasty in Chinese history, lasted eigth centires

Wu Wang

First ruler of ancient Chinese, established a feudal system

Feudalism

Find the people you like and send them to govern a certain area

Era of the Warring States

intense warfare, philosophical growth

Qin Dynasty

first imperial dynasty in China, created non-aristocratic officals ot oversee empire

Qin Shi Huangdi

began great wall of China, first offical emperor of China

Centralization

The process of bringing power, decisions, and control under one single leader, main office, or central group

Great Wall of China

used to protect empires from northern nomadic invaders, built by strong individuals rather than slaves

Han Dynasty

Period of stability, centralized gov, examinatoin of system devolped

Liu Bang

emperor of Han dynasty, born in peasent family → shows flexability of social classes in China

Wu Ti (Wudi)

required civil students to have formal training, created scholar bureaucrats, contributes to Han stability

Bureaucracy

One of the world’s first centralized, merit based bureaucratic states

Scholar-Bureaucrats

Elite and educated government officials who ran the day-to-day administartion of imperial China

Civil Service Examination

A modern competitive entrance test for government jobs

Yellow Turban Rebellion

A massive peasant uprising in China that started during the late Eastern Han dynasty

3 Kingdoms Period

China was in a state of chaos (Trojan war of Chian)

Silk Roads

Interconnect network of ancient trade routes bridging East and West

Ancestor Worship

Where the respect was paid to ancestors (however Chinese people mainly focus on this life rather than the afterlife)

Confucius

Solution used to fix the warring states, predominant philosophy, used by Wu Ti

The Analects

An ancient book of philosophy containing the recorded saying and teachings of Confucius

Confucianism

Supports loyalty to the state (father/son = emperor/subject relationship)

Filial piety

A virtue of respect, obedience, and care for one’s parents, elders, and ancestors

Legalism

if you want a functioning society you have to apply high pressure

Daoism/Taoism

people shoudl follow personal paths

Lao Tzu (Laozi)

created daoism, said you had to avoid useless struggle and follow path to peace and ease

Yin and Yang

balance of opposites, focused on finding eternal life (bend dont break)

Indo-Europeans

emerged near southern Russia, domesticated horses

Aryans

Came from central Asia to India

Vedic Hinduism

Ancient Hinduism

Sanskrit

An ancient Indo-Aryan language

Vedas

The oldest sacred scriptures of Hinduism

Upanishads

Philosophical and religious texts that form the concluding part of the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism

Indian Caste System

Herditary and static in ancient India, developed by Aryans

Untouchables (Dalits)

beggers and prositutes that can’t move up socail class ranks after death

Mauryan Empire

founded by Chandragupta Maurya to protect Indian territory, promoted trade and communication, unified Indian subcontinent

Chandragupta Maurya

first emperor of Maurya Empire, unified most of Indian subcontinent under a single centralized administartion

Ashoka

extended Mauryan territory, adopts Buddhism after being tyranical, improved trade

Gupta Empire

Gupta Empire ruled the northern Indian subcontirnent

Gupta Golden Age

A time of great peace, weath, and high achievement

Arabic Numerals

Created number 1-10

Hinduism

Eternal cosmic order, spiritual liberation, moving up status with death

Brahma

(Hinduism) god of creation

Vishnu

(Hinduism) the preserver and protecter of the universe

Shiva

(hinduism) destroyer of the universe

Reincarnation

Dying and coming back in a different form

Karma

good karma means you get to move up in life while bad karma causes you to move down in the next life

Moksha

Liberation or freedom from the cycle of death and rebirth

Syncretism

The blendign of different religious, cultural, or philosophical beliefs into a new, unified system