APWH Prologue Vocabulary

You got this!!

Hinduism

Began 1500 BCE. Polytheistic & monotheistic. Aryans from Himalaya Mountains/Pakistan/India brought scriptures called the Vedas. The beliefs include the cycle of life and death and the liberation of it, and the caste system which strictly organized society.

Judaism

Began around 2000-1800 BCE. Monotheistic religion, teachings of Abraham, a promise with their G-d, Old Testament.

Buddhism

Siddhartha Gautama was the founder and first Buddha. Beliefs included the idea of suffering people endured, meditation, Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, reflection, and refrain from excessive pleasures, and nirvana. Rejected the caste system and became a popular, monastic, and universalizing religion.

Confucius/Confucianism

Around 551 BCE, Confucius/K’ung Fu-tzu was born and lived around the same time as the Buddha. Followers wrote the Analects, which describes how people should behave, education, virtue, and respect for those with authority. Affected Chinese beliefs/values more than any other philosophy.

Daoism

A second response to the Warring States period. Focused on living in harmony with nature and internal reflection.

Christianity

Emerged from the Jewish community, Jesus, executed by the Romans, but his disciples spread his teachings (of believing in Jesus to have a better life after death) to everyone, a universalizing religion.

Islam

Muhammad, Qur’an and Sharia, Muslims, believed that Muhammad was the last in line of great prophets that included Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Five Pillars of Islam (Allah, pilgrimage to Mecca, etc.) Has two branches, Sunni (felt that the caliph could be selected among leaders in the Islamic community) and Shi’a (caliph should be a blood relative of Muhammad).

Dar al-Islam

The area which Islam had spread to and dominated. Southern Spain, North Africa, the Middle East, and India.

Shinto

Japanese set of beliefs centered on the veneration/respect of ancestors and nature spirits.

Roman Catholic Church

A branch of European Christianity in the west. Led by the pope (who is also the bishop of Rome) in Vatican City,

Orthodox Church

A branch of European Christianity in the east. The secondary of the church of political authority. Traditional.

Patriarchy

Dominated by males.

Civil Service Exam

Merit and Confucian based standardized tests in China.

Diaspora

The spread and traveling of a specific population from their original homeland.

Entrepôt

Coastal trading center.

Shogun

Japanese military general.

Daimyos

Japanese powerful landlords.

Agricultural revolution

(10,000 BCE) Humans began to plant crops and raise animals, causing a surplus of food to feed large populations. Began in the Middle East.

Monsoon winds

Seasonal/patterns in winds. These patterns helped people understand the wind and get to the Indian Ocean trade.

Teotihuacan

(AKA city of g-ds) Civilization in the Americas, located near modern-day Mexico City. Multicultural urban area, prospered through regional trade, large populations, featured grid streets, religious temples dedicated to the Sun and Moon. Influenced Aztecs.

Mayans

South of Teotihuacan, most influential classical civilization in Americas, developed complex written language, accurate calendar, and concept of zero.

Mississippian

A civilization in the Western Hemisphere. Its city of Cahokia was a major trade hub.

Toltecs

(900-1150 CE) A civilization in Mesoamerica. Adopted many Mayan practices, including a religion that was both polytheistic and animistic. Had a major influence on the later Aztecs.

Silk Roads

(130 BCE to 1453 CE) Land and sea routes in Eurasia that exchanged goods and ideas. Fostered development great cities. Transfer of silk, cultures, religions, technologies (paper, gunpowder, compass), and disease.

Indian Ocean Trade networks

Trade network from the coast of East Africa, Arabian Peninsula, to Asia. Brimming with porcelain, ivory, teakwood, spices, silk, culture, religion, ideas, and diseases.

Trans-Saharan trade routes

Trade routes across the Sahara, connection Africa to Mediterranean. Brimming with porcelain, ivory, teakwood, spices, silk, culture, religion, ideas, and diseases.

City-state

An independent state made up of a city and its surrounding territory.

Mauryan Empire

(322 BCE to 187 BCE) First period of unity in South Asia, reached its high point during the rule of Ashoka (he promoted prosperity and efficient tax systems and roads).

Gupta Empire

(320 CE to 550 CE) The Golden Age of India. A centralized, patriarchal government and advanced in medicine and math. Supported Hinduism.

Mandate of Heaven

Concept that “heaven”/universal force provided the justification for an emperor to rule or to not rule China. Displeasure in natural disasters (drought, famine, etc.) were a sign that the ruler lost the Mandate of Heaven.

Qin Dynasty

(221 BCE to 207 BCE) Established centralized control. Established Chinese script, system of weights/measures, and built canals and roads.

Han Dynasy

(206 BCE to 220 CE) Established centralized control. Golden Age of Chinese history. More peace, population growth, science and technology advanced (compass, paper, sternpost rudder). Extended trade from Chang’an (capital of the empire) to west to the Mediterranean Sea (spices, gems precious metals, tea, silk.)

Persian Empire

(AKA Achaemenid Empire) Included basically lands in eastern Mediterranean to western India. Strong centralized government, efficient bureaucracy, road networks, promoted trade, and ethnically/religiously diverse.

Greece

Was divided into 1,000 city-states. Geography made unifying Grecian region under one leader hard. Believed in many deities. Athens (Athenians advanced in architecture, the arts, philosophy, and democracy) and Sparta (Spartans had military and slaves) were two of the largest city-states.

Roman Empire

Civilization that dominated the Mediterranean, had innovative governance, and engineering achievements (aqueducts, roads). In 395 CE, divided into two, Rome was the capital in the west, and Constantinople (epic exchange hub, an entrepot) was the capital in the east.

Byzantine Empire

(AKA Eastern Roman Empire, the second Roman empire.) Extended through eastern half of Mediterranean. Justinian the Great (527-565) accomplished Hagia Sophia (magnificent church), Justinian Code (Roman law that is foundational of legal knowledge in Europe). Based in Constantinople.

Abbasid Caliphate

(750 to 1258 CE) Most influential rulers in Dar Islam, Islamic culture experienced a golden age, stable government, and trade prospered. Baghdad, a capital, thrived in this caliphate, center of learning, advanced in medicine, astronomy, math, and preserved Greek/Roman texts. Had a tax on non-Muslims called the jizya.

Sui dynasty

(581 to 618 CE) Short-lived, reconstituting a centralized government, and provided the foundation on which China became prosperous. Constructed the Grand Canal which fostered economic growth and helped unify the ethnic/cultural groups of China.

Tang Dynasty

(618 to 907 CE) extended China’s boundaries north into Mongolia, west into Central Asia, and south into Vietnam. Population grew, grew ripening rice, expanded the civil service exam and the empire’s bureaucracy, invented gunpowder and paper money, facilitated trade, second golden age of the Silk Roads.

Song Dynasty

(960 to 1279 CE) Continued golden age after Tang, meritocracy, leading manufacturer in the world, produced iron, steel, silk, porcelain, and had the largest cities in the world. Neo-Confucianism (blend of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism) became popular.

Ghana

(700 to 1240 CE) Kingdom that used trans-Saharan trade route to become wealthy with gold and salt.

Great Zimbabwe

(c. 1100 to c. 1490) In the southeast part of Africa, a kingdom arose and dominated the region. The decline of it is unclear.