Pre-AP World History: Historian Skills Vocab

Decade

a period of 10 years

Century

a period of 100 years, usually counted from a year ending in -00

Millennium

a period of 1,000 years

Era

a large division of time

Julian Calendar

Based on the founding of Rome. Created by Julius Caesar. Had 12 months, 365 days, and a leap year every 4 years. Lost a day about every 100 years.

Gregorian Calendar

revision of the Julian calendar by Pope Gregory XIII; currently used in most of the world. Loses a day about every 1,000 years.

AD/CE

Anno Domini "In the year of our Lord"/Common Era (can be used interchangeably); Dates that move forward from the birth of Jesus. Think of these dates as positive integers on a number line.

Ex: The larger the AC/CE date, the more recent it is. 2023 AD/CE is more recent than 1950 AD/CE.

BC/BCE

Before Christ, Before common era (can be used interchangeably); all dates that occurred before the birth of Jesus. These dates move backward from the birth of Jesus like negative integers on a number line.

Ex: The larger the BC/BCE date, the older it is: 3500 BC/BCE is older than 300 BC/BCE

Prehistory

the period of time before written records

Anthropology

The study of human culture and how it develops over time

Paleontology

The study of Fossils

Fossils

Plant or animal remains that have been preserved from an earlier time

Artifact

an object made by people in the past

Archaeology

The study of objects to learn about past human life

Primary Source

A firsthand account of an event; something that was written, created, or produced during a specific time period.

Primary Source Examples

Autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, emails, oral histories, letters, correspondences, interviews, eyewitnesses, first-hand newspaper and magazine accounts of events, legal cases, treaties, statistics, surveys, opinion polls, scientific data, transcripts, records of organizations and government agencies, original works of literature, religious texts (from the time period), art or music, cartoons, postcards, posters, maps, photographs, films, artifacts

Secondary Source

A secondhand account; written or created by people who were not part of a historical event

Secondary Source Examples

Textbooks, encyclopedias, scholarly articles by historians, biographies, newspaper or magazine articles about a previous time period/event

Bias

An unreasoned,emotional judgement about people or events

Some factors that can lead to historical bias

religion, race, gender, age, nationality (country of origin), politics, social class, relationship/family, position of authority