Unit A Terms List- AP world history

Paleolithic Age

The Old Stone Age ending in 12,000 B.C.E.; typified by use of evolving stone tools and hunting  and gathering for subsistence.

Neolithic Revolution

The succession of technological innovations and changes in human organization that led  to the development of agriculture, 8500-3500 B.C.E.

Neolithic Age

The New Stone Age between 8000 and 5000 B.C.E.; period in which adaptation of sedentary  agriculture occurred; domestication of plants and animals accomplished.

Bronze Age

From 4000 to 3000 B.C.E.; increased use of plow, metalworking; development of wheeled  vehicles, writing.

Civilization

Societies distinguished by reliance on sedentary agriculture, ability to produce food surpluses, and  existence of nonfarming elites, as well as merchant and manufacturing groups

Mesopotamia

Literally “between the rivers”; the civilizations that arose in the alluvial plain of the Tigris  Euphrates river valleys

Cuneiform

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

Ziggurats

Massive towers usually associated with Mesopotamian temple complexes

City-State

A form of political organizations typical of Mesopotamian civilizations; consisted of agricultural  hinterlands ruled by an urban-based king.

Hammurabi’s Code

This code was one of the earliest and most complete written legal codes, proclaimed by  Hammurabi, and was known from being strict towards social relations and family structures within this ancient  Indian civilization.

Patriarchal

All parts of society, political, economic, and cultural, are ran by men.

Mandate of Heaven

Created by the Zhou Dynasty, the mandate proposed that there could be only one  legitimate ruler of China at a given time, and that this ruler had the blessing of the gods. To “lose” the  Mandate of Heaven means that one has fallen out of the grace of the gods and is therefore unfit to rule China. 

Monotheism

The exclusive worship of a single god; introduced by the Jews into Western civilization

Confucianism

Major Chinese philosophy centered around respecting and obeying patriarchal authorities to  create harmony in society

Buddha

Creator of a major Indian and Asian religion; born in the 6th century B.C.E.; taught that enlightenment  could be achieved only by abandoning desires for earthly things

Hellenism

Hellenistic culture blending Indian, Persian, Egyptian, and Greek beliefs together as a result of  Alexander the Great’s conquests in Afro Eurasia

Ashoka

Greatest Mauryan ruler; grandson of Chandragupta Maurya; extended conquests of the dynasty;  converted to Buddhism and sponsored its spread throughout his empire

Scholar-gentry

Chinese class of noble landowners who were educated to hold positions in government

Roman republic

The balanced constitution of Rome from c. 510 to 47 B.C.E.; featured an aristocratic Senate,  a panel of magistrates, and several popular assemblies

Julius Caesar

Dictator of the Roman republic who effectively ended the republic and, with his successor  Augustus, transformed it into an empire

Constantine

Roman emperor from 312 to 337 C.E.; established second capital at Constantinople; attempted to  use religious force of Christianity to unify empire spiritually

Polis

state form of government typical of Greek political organization from 800 to 400 B.C.E.

Axum

A kingdom in the Ethiopian highlands; converted to Christianity after trading with the Roman Empire