WHAP Unit 1 Semester Vocabulary

Piety

Piety

the quality of being religious or reverent.

Merit

A system by which appointments and promotions in the civil service are based on competence rather than political favoritism. (Example: civil service examinations; based on Confucian education - no longer decided by family lineage)

Stimulus

Something that incites to action or exertion or quickens action, feeling, thought, etc.

Introspection

The inward study of a person's thoughts and feelings (example: journaling your thoughts and feelings.).

Dissent

To publicly disagree with an official opinion, decision, or set of beliefs (ex: Galileo).

Partition

The action or state of dividing or being divided into parts.

Monastic

A religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work.

Agrarian

Culture or community in which agriculture is the primary means of subsustence; an economy that relies heavily on agricultural production

Pastoral

Way of life in which people depend on herding of domesticated animals for food.

Divine Right

Asserted that kings derived their authority from God and could not therefore be held accountable for their actions by any earthly authority such as a parliament.

Decipher

to determine the meaning of (something obscure or illegible) to convert from code into plain text; decode.

Satraps

A governor of a province in the ancient empires of Iran. A satrap ruled over a province called a satrapy.

Intrigue

to cause curiosity, or in interest in something; fascinate.

Imperial

of or relating to an empire, emperor, or empress.

Rationalism

The belief that your life should be based on reason and logic, rather than emotions or religious beliefs.

Romanticism  

an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that emphasized emotion, imagination, and individuality as a reaction against the rationalism and order of the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution .

Provincialism 

ideas and behavior that are typical of places outside a country's capital city, and so may be seen as old-fashioned or simple

Philosophy 

a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, value, mind, and language.

Stupas 

an important form of Buddhist architecture - a place of burial or a receptacle for religious objects.

Terracotta Soldiers

an army of around 9,000 soldiers, 130 chariots, 520 horses and 150 cavalry entirely made of baked clay, or terracotta, done by the ancient emperor of China Qin Shi Huang.

Sui Dynasty

a short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 581 to 618. The re-unification of China proper under the Sui brought the Northern and Southern dynasties era to a close, ending a prolonged period of political division since the War of the Eight Princes. Constructed the Grand Canal of China.

Tang Dynasty

Engineering innovations include gunpowder, gas stoves, printing press, and air conditioning. Most powerful Chinese dynasty.

Song Dynasty

culturally the most brilliant era in later imperial Chinese history. A time of great social and economic change, the period in large measure shaped the intellectual and political climate of China down to the twentieth century.

China’s Economic Revolution

A major rise in prosperity that took place in China under the Song dynasty (960-1279), which was marked by rapid population growth, urbanization, economic specialization, the development of an immense network of internal waterways, and a great increase in industrial production and technological innovation.

Gunpowder

Gunpowder was invented in China in the ninth or tenth centuries, during the Song Dynasty, it increased weapon power, and helped others harm others and conquer their land.

Foot Binding

The Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls in order to change the shape and size of their feet; during the time it was practiced, bound feet were considered a status symbol and a mark of beauty.

Tribute system

a system of international relations in which one state, typically a smaller or weaker state, paid tribute to a more powerful state in exchange for protection or recognition

Hangul

A phonetic alphabet created in Korea in the fifteenth century, It helped Korea move toward greater cultural independence.

Bushido

The "way of the warrior;" a code of behavior of Japanese samurais that majorly stressed bravery, loyalty, and responsibility.

Daoism

The literal translation of the Dao is “the way.” According to Daoism, all life is interdependent, and human beings should exist in harmony with nature.

Dharma

The caste position and career determined by birth, good performance will lead to rebirth in a higher caste.

Samurai 

class of warriors in feudal Japan who pledged loyalty to a daimyo in return for land. Their job was initiBarbarian ally to protect the emperor.

Barbarian 

usually refers to a person who is uncivilized.

Epic

a word; a story; poetry in heroic verse. The elements that typically distinguish epics include superhuman deeds, fabulous adventures, highly stylized language, and a blending of lyrical and dramatic traditions,

5 Pillars of Islam

believing in only one god (Allah), fasting during the month of Ramadan, giving to the poor (charity), pilgrimage to Mecca, and praying 5 times a day in the direction of Mecca.

Haji

a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Mecca

city in western Arabia; birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, and ritual center of the Islamic religion.

Shia

Belived that the next leader should be a descendant of Muhammad.

Sunni

believed that the next leader should be elected,

Jizya 

a tax imposed on non-Muslims in the Islamic world, in order for non-Muslims to be able to practice their religions.

Muhammad

the founder of the Islam religion; to Muslims, he is the ultimate and final prophet

Monotheistic

Believing in only one G-d, the main three monotheistic religions are: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.

Ramadan

Islamic month of religious observance requiring fasting from dawn to sunset

Kaaba

A building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the most sacred sites in Islam. Al-Masjid al-Haram, the most sacred mosque in Islam, is built around the Kaaba.

Quran

the sacred writings of Islam revealed by Allah to the prophet Muhammad during his life at Mecca and Medina. Islam’s holy book.

Umma

The term given to the followers of Muhammad who fled with him to Medina in 622 CE, the Muslim community or people, considered to extend from Mauritania to Pakistan.

Sharia

“the correct path” in Arabic. In Islam, it refers to the divine counsel that Muslims follow to live moral lives and grow close to Allah.

Umayyad Caliphate

First hereditary dynasty of Muslim caliphs (661 to 750). From their capital at Damascus, the Umayyads ruled one of the largest empires in history that extended from Spain to India. Overthrown by the Abbasid Caliphate.

Abbasid Caliphate

Descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's uncle, al-Abbas, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate and ruled an Islamic empire from their capital in Baghdad from 750 to 1258.

Al-Andalus

the name given to the territory in the Iberian Peninsula (modern-day Spain and Portugal) that was ruled by Muslim dynasties from the 8th to the 15th centuries.

Sufi

a mystical Muslim group that believed they could draw closer to Allah through prayer, fasting, and a simple life

House of Wisdom 

An academic center for research and translation of foreign texts that was established in Baghdad by the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun.

Democracy

A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.

Sparta

a warrior society in ancient Greece that reached the height of its power after defeating rival city-state Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.)

Paleolithic Age

"Old Stone Age" Lasted from 2.5 million to 10,000 years ago; characterized by absence of agriculture and instead hunting/gathering society. Fire became widely used by humans.

Code of Hammurabi

A series of laws publicized at the order of King Hammurabi of Babylon. Not actually a code, but a number of laws that proclaim the king's commitment to social order.

Patriarchy

A society in which men hold power within the family, in governance, and/or in economics. Men had more control and power than women.

Hellenism

a period in history defined as the time between the death of Alexander the Great and the rise of Roman domination. During this time, Greek culture was dominant throughout the Mediterranean

Chinese Buddhism

follows Han Buddhism, a branch of Mahayana Buddhism that has intermingled with other Chinese belief systems for centuries. Han Buddhism was promoted by multiple emperors, especially during the Tang dynasty (618-907), which helped it spread across the countr

Hijra

The Migration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in A.D. 622, marking the founding of Islam.

Caliph

the civil and religious leader of a Muslim state considered to be a representative of Allah on earth.

Imams

religious leaders in the religion of Islam. They lead daily prayers, teach people about the Quran (the Muslim holy book) and the life of the Prophet Mohammed, officiate at weddings and funerals, and develop and oversee youth programs at their mosque.

Gabriel

According to Muslims, was an angel who told Muhammad he was a messenger of Allah.

Jerusalem

sacred to many religious traditions, including the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam which consider it a holy city. Was fought over by The Crusaders.

 Silk Road

a network of trade routes that were for centuries central to cultural interaction originally through regions of Eurasia connecting the East and West and stretching from the Korean peninsula and Japan to the Mediterranean Sea. Merchants on these roads primarily moved around luxury goods such as porcelain and silk.

Black Death

one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people and peaking in Europe in the years 1346-1353.

Swahili   

refers to the people who lived along the east African coast from Mogadishu to Sofala.

Peloponnesian Wa

a war fought in ancient Greece between Athens and Sparta—the two most powerful city-states in ancient Greece at the time (431 to 405 B.C.E.). This war shifted power from Athens to Sparta, making Sparta the most powerful city-state in the region.

Oracle Bones

parts of animal bone, used in divination ceremonies in ancient China.

 Diaspora

the movement, migration, or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland

 Constantinople 

it was the center of the Eastern Roman Empire or the Byzantine Empire and allowed the the Roman Empire to continue after it had ended in the West or in Rome.

 Caesaropapism

the idea of combining the power of secular government with the religious power, or of making secular authority superior to the spiritual authority of the Church; especially concerning the connection of the Church with government.

 Eastern Orthodox Christianity

Broke away from the Catholic church in 1054. Presently differs in that it has its services in Greek, the patriarch and bishops head the church as a group, and divorce is allowed along with the marriage of priests.

Crusades 

religious wars undertaken by Christians. Their goal was to capture Jerusalem from Muslims.

 Kievan Rus

State that emerged around the city of Kiev in the 9th century; a culturally diverse region that included vikings as well as Finnic and Baltic peoples.

Charlemagne

He United Europe under his rule, hope to avoid Rome’s fate and Established Christianity(Catholicism).

Feudalism 

a system in which people were given land and protection by people of higher rank, and worked and fought for them in return.

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a loose confederation of European states that lasted from 800, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as Roman Emperor, until 1806, when Francis II abdicated under pressure from Napoleon Bonaparte.

 Bhakti Movement

emphasized the importance of an emotional and personal relationship with G-d, and it rejected the more formal, ritualistic aspects of traditional Hinduism.

Egalitarian

belief in the equality of all people, especially in political, economic, or social life.

 Mansa Musa

King of the Mali empire in West Africa from 1312 the 1337, is known mostly for his fabulous pilgrimage to Mecca and for his promotion of unity and prosperity within Mali, also brought the attention of Muslim world to Mali. Also constructed the Great Mosque of Jenne during his time.