World History and Asian Studies Review – Vocabulary Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards summarizing key people, places, events, and concepts from the lecture notes on world history and Asian studies.

Herodotus

Greek historian often called the “Father of History” for his systematic recording of past events.

Thucydides

Ancient Greek author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, regarded as the “Father of Scientific History.”

Neolithic Period

Prehistoric era marked by the shift from hunting-gathering to settled agriculture.

Paleolithic Period

Early phase of the Stone Age characterized by stone tool use and nomadic lifestyles.

Africa – “Cradle of Mankind”

Continent where the earliest human ancestors evolved.

Charles Darwin

Naturalist who proposed the Theory of Evolution by natural selection in On the Origin of Species.

Homo habilis

Early hominid credited with inventing the first stone tools.

Copper

First metal widely used for making tools and weapons.

Prehistory

Time before written records were kept.

Neanderthal Man

Extinct human species noted for heavy build, strong muscles, and tool use.

Mesopotamia

Region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, literally the “Land between Two Rivers.”

Sargon of Akkad

Founder of the Akkadian Empire, one of history’s earliest empires.

Assyrian Empire

Mesopotamian power famous for the first standing army and advanced metallurgy.

Fertile Crescent

Crescent-shaped swath of fertile land stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.

Sumerian Calendar

Earliest known calendar system, devised by the Sumerians.

Code of Hammurabi

Babylonian legal code consisting of 282 laws engraved on a stone stele.

Nebuchadnezzar II

Greatest Chaldean ruler; rebuilt Babylon and its Hanging Gardens.

“Cradle of Civilization” – Asia

Region where many of the world’s earliest civilizations arose.

Menes

Traditional founder of Egypt’s Old Kingdom who unified Upper and Lower Egypt.

Middle Kingdom of Egypt

Period (c. 2050–1650 BCE) regarded as Egypt’s “Golden Age.”

Great Pyramid of Giza

Largest pyramid, built for Pharaoh Cheops (Khufu).

Hatshepsut

First female pharaoh of Egypt; ruled during the 18th Dynasty.

Hyksos

Asiatic peoples expelled from Egypt at the start of the New Kingdom.

Sphinx

Limestone statue with a lion’s body and human head associated with Egypt’s Old Kingdom.

Pyramid of Hawara (Labyrinth)

Complex Middle Kingdom pyramid nicknamed the Labyrinth for its maze-like corridors.

Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV)

Pharaoh who instituted monotheistic worship of the sun disk Aton.

Thutmose III

Expansionist pharaoh nicknamed the “Napoleon of Egypt.”

Nectanebo II

Last native Egyptian-born pharaoh before Persian conquest.

Harappa

One of the principal cities of the Indus Valley Civilization.

Mohenjo-Daro

Major Indus city noted for advanced urban planning and drainage.

Xia Dynasty

Traditionally regarded as China’s first dynasty.

Dravidians

Original inhabitants of the Indus Valley before the Aryan migrations.

Yuan Dynasty

Chinese dynasty founded by Kublai Khan (Mongol rule).

Moksha

Hindu goal of liberation from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

Confucius

China’s most revered teacher and philosopher, founder of Confucianism.

Gupta Empire

Indian dynasty (c. 320–550 CE) known as the “Golden Age of India.”

Gunpowder

Explosive invented during China’s Tang and Song dynasties.

Mahavira

24th Tirthankara and traditional founder of Jainism.

Ahimsa

Principle of non-violence central to Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

Cyrus the Great

Founder of the Persian (Achaemenid) Empire.

Hittites

Anatolian people who pioneered the large-scale use of iron in warfare.

Phoenician Alphabet

Semitic script that became the ancestor of Greek and Latin alphabets.

Abraham

Patriarch revered as the Father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Satrapy

Province of the Persian Empire governed by a satrap.

Battle of Kadesh

Famous 1274 BCE clash between Hittites and Egyptians under Ramses II.

Ahura Mazda

Supreme deity of Zoroastrianism, embodying truth and light.

Tyre

Leading Phoenician city-state famed for purple dye and trade.

Solomon

Hebrew king who built the First Temple in Jerusalem.

Babylonian Exile

Period when many Hebrews were deported to Babylon after 586 BCE.

Draco

Athenian lawgiver who produced the city’s first written constitution, noted for harshness.

Augustus Caesar

Octavian; first Roman emperor, ushered in the Pax Romana.

Muhammad

Prophet and founder of Islam.

Hegira (Hijra)

Muhammad’s migration from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE; start of the Islamic calendar.

Rome – “City of Seven Hills”

Nickname referencing the seven hills on which ancient Rome was built.

King David

Second king of Israel; established Jerusalem as the capital.

Karim Al-Makhdum

Arab missionary credited with introducing Islam to the Sulu Archipelago, Philippines.

Alaric

Visigoth king who led the 410 CE sack of Rome.

Treaty of Verdun (843)

Agreement that divided Charlemagne’s empire among his grandsons.

Black Death

14th-century bubonic plague pandemic that killed about one-third of Europe’s population.

Pope Urban II

Pontiff who launched the First Crusade in 1095.

Humanism

Renaissance intellectual movement reviving Greco-Roman learning and focusing on human potential.

Nicolaus Copernicus

Polish astronomer who proposed the heliocentric model of the solar system.

95 Theses

Martin Luther’s 1517 list of grievances against Church practices, sparking the Reformation.

Feudalism

Medieval system where land was exchanged for military service and loyalty.

Francesco Petrarch

Italian scholar known as the “Father of Humanism.”

Recantation of Galileo

Formal withdrawal of heliocentric claims that the Church forced Galileo to sign in 1633.

Rationalism

Philosophical view, advanced by René Descartes, that reason is the chief source of knowledge.

Inductive Reasoning

Logical process of deriving general principles from specific observations; championed by Francis Bacon.

Thomas Jefferson

Principal author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (1776).

Fall of the Bastille

Storming of a Paris prison on 14 July 1789, symbolically beginning the French Revolution.

Gavrilo Princip

Bosnian Serb nationalist who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914.

League of Nations

International organization created after WWI to promote peace; forerunner of the UN.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Japanese strike on 7 December 1941 that drew the U.S. into WWII.

Cold War

Post-WWII geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Battle of Jutland

Largest naval engagement of World War I, fought in 1916.

Homer

Epic poet traditionally credited with writing the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Genghis Khan

Mongol leader who created a vast Eurasian empire in the 13th century.

Joan of Arc

French heroine who inspired resistance during the Hundred Years’ War and was later canonized.

Simon Bolívar

South American liberator of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

Dr. Li Wenliang

Chinese ophthalmologist who first raised alarms about COVID-19.

Joe Biden

46th and current President of the United States, inaugurated in 2021.

Russian Invasion of Ukraine (2022)

Full-scale military assault launched by Russia on 24 February 2022.

Karl Marx

German philosopher, author of Das Kapital and co-author of The Communist Manifesto.

Jawaharlal Nehru

First Prime Minister of independent India (1947-1964).

Communes (Great Leap Forward)

Large collective farms established in China during Mao Zedong’s 1958-61 campaign.

Anno Domini (AD)

Latin for “In the Year of Our Lord,” used to label years after the birth of Jesus.

Ramon Magsaysay Award

Prize dubbed the “Nobel Prize of Asia,” honoring leadership and public service.

Bourgeoisie

Marxist term for the capitalist class who own the means of production.

Ho Chi Minh

Leader of Vietnam’s independence movement and founder of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Ziggurat

Sumerian stepped temple tower dedicated to a city’s patron deity.

Kami

Spirits or deities revered in Japan’s Shinto religion.

Taj Mahal

Marble mausoleum in Agra built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal.

Hammurabi

Babylonian king famous for his comprehensive law code.

Brahman

In Hinduism, the universal world soul underlying all reality.

Seleucid Empire

Hellenistic state founded from a portion of Alexander the Great’s realm, covering Persia, Mesopotamia, and Syria.

Epic Literature

Long narrative poems such as the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, recounting heroic deeds.