Historical Vocabulary and Civilizations

Comprehensive vocabulary list of historical terminology, governmental systems, and major world civilizations including their specific timelines and characteristics.

B.C.E.

Before Common Era

C.E.

Common Era

Abdicate

Renounce the throne

Accession

Joining something

Aesthetic

A society's guiding principles

Agrarian

Relating to farming or agriculture

Amenities

Non essential comforts or convenience

Anarchy

Absence of government

Animism

The belief that all things in nature have spirits

Antiquity

The ancient past or times

Appeasement

Accepting demands in order to avoid conflict

Aristocracy

A government or social class in which power is held with the small, privileged elite

Asceticism

A life style of self discipline and restraint

Assimilate

To fully absorb or adopt

Authoritarian

A government in which there is strict obedience to authority

Autocracy

A government in which the power to rule is in the hands of a single individual

Barbarian

A person believed to be uncivilized, or lacking in culture

Bureaucracy

A system of managing government through departments run by appointed officials

City-State

An independent state that is a single city and the surrounding land

Civic

Relating to a city or a citizen

Classical

$600\text{ BCE}-600\text{ CE}$ Period defined by a rise of massive centralized empires and the birth of major religions

Colonial

The state has direct political and economic control over a foreign territory (British and the colonies)

Commerce

Large scale exchange of goods and services

Communal

Shared by all members of a community

Concubine

A woman who lives with a man but has lower status than his wife or wives

Conscription

A mandatory draft into military services

Cosmopolitan

A person, city, or society that is diverse and engaged with the broader world

Coup

Overthrow of government usually by military forces

Demographic

Relating to the structure of populations

Despot

A dictator with absolute power

Diaspora

A great leaving of people (migration)

Dissent

Oppose an idea

Dissident

A person opposed to established ideas or beliefs, especially in politics or religion

Domesticate

To train a wild animal to be useful to humans

Dynasty

A powerful family or group of rulers that maintains its position or power for some time

Edict

An order issued by someone in authority

Egalitarian

Promoting equal rights for all people

Elite

Small, powerful, top of the pyramid

Emigrate

To leave one country or region and settle in another (opposite of immigrate)

Epic

A long, great story

Ethnocentric

Believing in the superiority of one's own ethnic and cultural group, and having a corresponding disdain for all other groups

Feudalism

A system of government based on landowners and tenants

Genocide

The deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.

Gentry

Wealthy landowning class

Guild

An organization of people in the same craft or trade

Hierarchy

Tiers of people and classes

Hominids

A species on the human branch of the evolutionary tree; a member of the family Hominidae, including Homo sapiens and their ancestors

Homogeneous

Of a similar kind

Ideology

Beliefs or values

Imperialism

A policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries politically, socially, and economically

Indigenous

Native to an area, it's first people

Infrastructure

The basic framework of a building or a system

Lineage

Ancestry or heritage

Linguistic

Relating to a language

Manifest

$19\text{th}$ century American belief of entitlement

Maritime

Relating to the ocean or sea

Marital

Relating to marriage

Matrilineal

Tracing ancestry through the female line

Mercenary

A professional soldier hired by a foreign army

Monarchy

A government ruled by a king or queen (England)

Monopoly

A market in which there are many buyers but only one seller.

Monotheism

A religion with only $1$ god

Mystical

Religion seeking direct contact with the divine

Nation-State

A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality

Neo

new, recent

Neolithic

When humans transitioned from nomadic hunting and gathering, and settled agriculture instead

Nomadic

A wandering lifestyle, usually following a herd as a food source

Oligarchy

A government ruled by a few powerful people

Pantheon

A group of gods; a group of people so accomplished in a skill or field that they seem like gods

Papacy

Office of the Pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church

Parliamentary System

A system of government in which the chief executive is the leader whose party holds the most seats in the legislature after an election or whose party forms a major part of the ruling coalition

Pastoral

Relating to a rural area

Patriarchal

A society ruled by men

Patrilineal

Tracking ancestry through the male line

Patronage

Granting favors or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support

Peasant

Someone of low status

Pharaoh

Head of Egyptian government

Piety

Religious devotion

Polity

A form of government

Polygamy

The practice of have multiple spouses

Polytheism

Belief in many gods

Proselytize

To convert someone to a belief or cause

Provincial

Being narrow minded

Regent

Someone who rules for a child until the child is old enough to rule

Republic

A form of government in which citizens choose their leaders by voting

Rhetoric

The art of using language effectively and persuasively

Sedentary

Doing or requiring a lot of sitting

Serf

A person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord

Sharia

Body of Islamic law that includes interpretation of the Quran and applies Islamic principles to everyday life

Sinification

Extensive adoption of Chinese culture in other regions; typical of Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

State

An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government with control over its internal and foreign affairs

Steppe

Sparse, dry, treeless grassland, usually found near a desert

Stratification

A structured ranking of entire groups of people that perpetuates unequal economic rewards and power in a society (caste system)

Sub-Saharan

The region of Africa under or south of the Sahara Desert

Subordinate

Below in rank or position

Succession

Who takes over, usually in ruling after someone leaves

Syncretism

The unification or blending of opposing people, ideas, or practices, frequently in the realm of religion

Textiles

Cloth or fabrics

Theocracy

A government controlled by religious leaders

Theology

The study of religion