Ch. 1 Early World History

Paleolithic

The “Old Stone Age,” approximately 1,000,000–10,000 BCE; characterized by stone, wood, and bone tools and nomadic hunting and gathering.

Homo sapiens sapiens

The human species that replaced Homo sapiens Neanderthals as the dominant hominid around 100,000 BCE.

Mesolithic

The “Middle Stone Age,” approximately 10,000–6,000 BCE; a transitional period from nomadic life toward permanent settlements.

Neolithic

The “New Stone Age,” approximately 6,000–3,000 BCE; characterized by farming, animal husbandry, population growth, and larger settlements.

Bronze Age

Approximately 3000–1000 BCE; the period when people developed bronze technology and writing, and early civilizations emerged.

Iron Age

The final stage of ancient development when people began forging tools from iron; it also saw the growth of large empires.

Mesopotamia

The region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers where some of the earliest civilizations developed.

Fertile Crescent

A fertile region of the ancient Near East that included Mesopotamia and surrounding areas.

Sumerians

People who established the first organized society between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers around 4000 BCE.

Uruk

A Sumerian city that was the largest city in the world around 3000 BCE.

Sumerian city-states

Independent cities such as Ur, Nippur, Shuruppak, and Lagash that had their own governments, militaries, courts, and religions.

King Sargon

Ruler of Akkad who conquered Sumeria around 2370 BCE and established the first empire.

Akkadians

A Semitic-speaking population that settled in Kish and later ruled Sumeria under Sargon's dynasty.

Babylonians

A people who became the dominant power in Mesopotamia after a series of wars with neighboring cities.

King Hammurabi

Babylonian ruler from 1792–1750 BCE who codified the legal system known as Hammurabi's Law.

Hammurabi's Law

A written legal code associated with King Hammurabi that established punishments and legal precedents.

Mesopotamian society

A society involving arranged marriages, dowries, slavery, social classes, and opportunities for some women to work outside the home.

Mesopotamian government

City-state governments led by monarchs, with temples and governments controlling large areas of land and herds.

Mesopotamian religion

Polytheistic religion in which people worshipped many gods and goddesses, often associated with particular cities.

Marduk

A Mesopotamian patron god associated with Ur, water, vegetation, and white magic.

Ziggurat

The primary Mesopotamian religious building, served by priests and priestesses.

Mesopotamian afterlife

A dark and dismal netherworld where the dead needed food and drink; ghosts could haunt people who neglected the dead.

Mesopotamian art

Art that included large stone statues, relief carvings, bronze objects, paintings, statuary, and furniture for tombs.

Enheduanna

Daughter of King Sargon who was a princess, poet, and priestess; her writings are among the first attributed to a specific author.

Cuneiform

The Mesopotamian writing system that used thousands of wedge-shaped symbols to form words and sentences.

Sexagesimal

A Mesopotamian mathematical system based on 60 rather than 10.

Legacy of sexagesimal

The number 60 survives in modern measurements such as 60 seconds per minute, 60 minutes per hour, and 360 degrees in a circle.

Chattel slavery

A form of slavery in which slaves could be bought and sold as objects and had little legal protection.

Debt slavery

A form of slavery in which people worked to repay debts and could be freed after the debt was paid.

Nile Valley

The region surrounding the Nile River, whose annual floods deposited rich topsoil and supported farming and transportation.

Old Kingdom

Egyptian period from approximately 2700–2200 BCE, known for pyramid construction and complex government.

Great Pyramid

The pyramid begun by King Khufu as his tomb during Egypt's Old Kingdom.

King Khufu

Also called Cheops; Fourth Dynasty Egyptian king who began construction of the Great Pyramid.

Middle Kingdom

Egyptian period from approximately 2200–1786 BCE, marked by political and economic conflicts and later reconstruction of centralized government.

Amunemhut I

Ruler who reconstructed Egyptian government during the Middle Kingdom and emphasized the welfare of the population.

Hyksos

Asiatic migrants from the Levant who invaded and controlled eastern Egypt around 1648 BCE.

Hyksos military technology

The Hyksos introduced composite and recurved bows and war chariots to Egypt.

New Kingdom

Egyptian period from approximately 1630–1075 BCE characterized by military expansion, wealth, and territorial growth.

Ramses II

Egyptian pharaoh under whom Egypt gained large territories in Africa and the Levant and reached the peak of international power.

Ramses III

Pharaoh whose reign faced invasions, drought, famine, and warfare that contributed to internal conflict and eventual collapse.

King Tutankhamen

A child pharaoh who ruled from 1334–1325 BCE and became famous after Howard Carter discovered his largely untouched tomb in 1922.

Howard Carter

The archaeologist who unearthed King Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922.

Hieroglyphics

Egyptian writing system in which symbols could represent consonantal sounds, word meanings, or categories.

Egyptian religion

A polytheistic religion involving many gods and goddesses whose worship varied by city.

Amun

The Egyptian chief deity and creator of life in the sky, on earth, in the seas, and in the underworld.

Horus

Egyptian sky god and protector of Egypt; the pharaoh was considered his living embodiment.

Akenaten

Egyptian ruler who attempted to replace traditional polytheism with monotheism centered on Aten.

Aten

The Egyptian sun god that Akenaten attempted to establish as the sole deity.

Egyptian afterlife

Egyptian belief in an afterlife filled with dangers, requiring preparation and protection.

Book of the Dead

A collection of protective spells buried with deceased Egyptians to help them in the afterlife.

Mummification

The Egyptian practice of preserving dead bodies and providing them with goods for the afterlife.

Egyptian women

Women were mainly responsible for home and children but could own property, divorce, and receive legal protection.

Egyptian slavery

Slavery involving African and Asian populations; it increased during the New Kingdom, and some slaves were eventually freed or assimilated.

Indus River

A major river around which the Indus or Harappan civilization developed.

Indus/Harappan civilization

The first civilization in India, emerging in the Indus Valley after 2600 BCE and existing approximately 2300–1700 BCE.

Harappan cities

Cities with complex sewer and drainage systems, fired-brick buildings, agriculture, livestock, trade, and raised citadels.

Harappan trade

The Harappans traded with Mesopotamia while practicing agriculture and raising livestock.

Harappan religion and art

Known from limited artifacts such as small stone and bronze figurines and stories connected to later Indian religious traditions.

Manu

A figure in an Indian flood story who was warned by Vishnu of a coming flood and survived in an ark.

Vedic Aryans

Sem-inomadic Indo-European-speaking warriors who invaded India in tribal groups and were ruled by chieftains called rajas.

Vedas

A collection of 1,028 religious hymns preserved through memorization and later written down as the Rig-Veda.

Raja

A chieftain who ruled an Aryan tribe.

Aryan society

A patrilineal and highly stratified society organized into strict castes, or varnas.

Varna

A social caste in Aryan society.

Brahman

The priestly caste of Aryan society, including priests, scholars, and teachers.

Kshatriya

The Aryan caste of rulers, warriors, and administrators.

Vaishya

The Aryan caste of agriculturalists and merchants.

Shudra

The Aryan caste of laborers and service providers.

Upanishads

A collection of written works that form the basis of modern Hindu traditions.

Indra

A leading Aryan deity associated with war.

Agni

A leading Aryan deity associated with fire.

Yellow River

The northernmost of China's four great rivers; its region supported crops and early agricultural settlements.

Early Chinese civilization

Communities along the Yellow River that practiced farming, domesticated animals, hunted, and lived in walled towns.

Shang Dynasty

A Chinese dynasty associated with bronze-working, kings, warfare, religious ceremonies, and the development of written records.

Shang religion

A belief system centered on a supreme deity accessed through dead ancestors.

Shang writing

An early Chinese writing system appearing on bronze vessels and animal bones used in religious ceremonies.

Western Zhou Dynasty

The dynasty that conquered the Shang and ruled according to the idea of heavenly mandate.

Mandate of Heaven

The Zhou belief that their right to rule came from Heaven and was justified by the Shang's corruption.

Zhou society

A patrilineal social hierarchy consisting of kings/lords, soldiers/bureaucrats, peasants, and serfs.

Eastern Zhou Dynasty

A period marked by the transition from bronze to steel-working, expanding city-states, professional soldiers, and larger bureaucracies.

Qin Shi Huang Di

The First Emperor of Qin who unified the empire, standardized coins, weights, and measures, and began construction of the Great Wall.

Chinese writing

Writing developed during the Shang Dynasty using approximately 3,000 symbols representing words or ideas.

Chinese two souls

The belief that a person has two souls, po (life) and hun (spiritual), which separate from the body after death.

Po

The life soul in Chinese belief that separates from the body after death and gradually decays.

Hun

The spiritual soul in Chinese belief that can become angry if neglected by later generations.

Olmec

An ancient civilization in southern Mexico that flourished approximately 1500–400 BCE and developed cities, pyramids, writing, calendars, and giant stone heads.

Olmec

An advanced Mesoamerican society that did not develop metal technology but created cities, pyramids, writing, calendars, and monumental art.

Olmec religion

The Olmec practiced human sacrifice and other religious traditions.

Maya

A Mesoamerican civilization that developed after the Olmec and expanded their technologies, writing, trade, agriculture, irrigation, and architecture.

Maya technology

The Maya developed irrigation, terraced food production, paper, books, writing, art, and trade.

Maya architecture

Maya cities and pyramids were made primarily from limestone cut with quartz.

Maya collapse

The Maya civilization collapsed around 900 CE, likely because of internal fighting, disrupted trade, and drought.

River valley civilizations

Civilizations that developed near rivers because rivers provided fertile soil, water, transportation, and resources.

Tigris River

The shorter one of the two major rivers of Mesopotamia around which Sumerian civilization developed.

Euphrates River

The longer one of the two major rivers of Mesopotamia around which Sumerian civilization developed.

Nile River

The Egyptian river whose annual flooding deposited fertile soil and supported transportation and agriculture.

Indus River civilization

The early Indian civilization characterized by planned cities, drainage systems, agriculture, livestock, and trade.

Yellow River civilization

Early Chinese civilization characterized by farming, domesticated animals, walled towns, and ancestor worship.

Ancient civilizations

The early complex societies discussed in the chapter, including Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Indus, Chinese, Olmec, and Maya civilizations.