Patterns in World History: Before 1200 and the Foundations of Civilization

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the major concepts and historical milestones from the Paleolithic era to the rise of global civilizations and major cultural traditions before 1200 C.E.

Hajj

The pilgrimage to Mecca, which has long been a central religious ritual and reflects the cosmopolitan character of Islam.

Paleolithic era

Also known as the Old Stone Age, it represents over $95$ percent of human history and is characterized by a gathering and hunting way of life.

Agricultural Revolution

The transition to an agricultural economy between $10,000$ and $2,000$ B.C.E. involving the deliberate cultivation of plants and the taming and breeding of animals.

Big history

An approach that integrates the human story into the larger frameworks of planetary and cosmic evolution, dating back over $13$ billion years.

Pastoral societies

Societies of herders or nomads who depend on domesticated animals and move seasonally to follow changing vegetation patterns.

Agricultural village societies

Settled communities that organized themselves via kinship groups or lineages and maintained a substantial degree of social and gender equality without formal kings or bureaucrats.

Chiefdoms

Societies where inherited positions of power and privilege introduced inequality, with leaders relying on generosity, ritual status, or charisma to lead.

Civilization

A distinctive type of society based in cities that serve as political capitals, cultural hubs, marketplaces for trade, and centers of manufacturing.

First Civilizations

The earliest urban societies that emerged in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and along the central coast of Peru between $3500$ and $3000$ B.C.E.

Confucianism

A Chinese cultural tradition established as official state ideology during the Han dynasty, later revivalized in modern China after the heyday of communism.

Daoism

A Chinese cultural tradition linked to the life of Laozi in the $6^{\text{th}}$ century B.C.E., which has experienced a revival in modern China.

Buddhism

A South Asian tradition founded by the Buddha ($566$-$486$ B.C.E.) that spread across Asia via the Silk Roads and sea routes, eventually largely disappearing within India.

Upanishads

Sacred Hindu texts compiled in the South Asian world between $800$ and $400$ B.C.E.

Sunni/Shia split

The emergence of a major division within Islam that occurred in the $7^{\text{th}}$ century C.E.

Sufi Islam

A mystical branch of the Islamic faith that began to take shape between $800$ and $1000$ C.E.

Epic of Gilgamesh

An ancient Mesopotamian poem dating to about $2000$ B.C.E. that characterizes urban life as a place of constant activity.

Lineages

Kinship groups that incorporated large numbers of people beyond the immediate family to organize village-based agricultural societies.

Dreamtime

The sophisticated oral traditions and stories characteristic of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia.