world civ semester 2 study guide

food surplus

Food produced beyond immediate needs; it supported population growth, trade, and people working in specialized jobs instead of farming.

job specialization

When people focus on particular occupations, such as pottery, metalworking, or government, made possible by food surpluses.

Royal Road

A Persian Empire road system expanded under Darius I that improved communication, trade, and movement of officials and armies.

Spartan war training / tactics

Spartan boys entered the agoge, a strict military education and training system; Spartan hoplites fought in disciplined phalanx formations with shields and spears.

Birth of democracy

Athens developed direct democracy through reforms, especially those of Cleisthenes around 508–507 BCE; eligible male citizens participated, while women, enslaved people, and foreigners were excluded.

Who were Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle?

Socrates used questioning to examine beliefs; Plato was his student and founded the Academy; Aristotle studied under Plato and taught Alexander the Great, writing about logic, science, ethics, and politics.

Marathon

In 490 BCE, Athens and its allies defeated a larger Persian invasion force at Marathon during the First Persian invasion of Greece.

Persian Wars

A series of conflicts between Greek city-states and the Persian Empire, especially 499–449 BCE; Greek victories at Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea helped preserve Greek political independence.

How did Egypt's location benefit its civilization?

The Nile provided water, fertile soil, transportation, and predictable flooding; surrounding deserts and seas offered protection from invasion.

Egyptian pyramids built how + why?

Pyramids served mainly as royal tombs intended to support pharaohs in the afterlife. Workers organized by the state used quarried stone, ramps or other hauling methods, sledges, and careful planning; the exact construction methods remain debated.

Hatshepsut

A powerful female pharaoh of Egypt's 18th Dynasty who promoted trade, including an expedition to Punt, and commissioned major building projects.

What did ancient Egyptians believe about the afterlife and mummification?

They believed the dead could live on after death. Mummification preserved the body, while tomb goods and religious rituals helped prepare the deceased for the afterlife.

What were important Egyptian cultural practices?

They worshipped many gods, practiced elaborate burial rituals, used hieroglyphic writing, created monumental art and architecture, and relied on the Nile's agricultural cycle.

Rosetta stone

A stone inscribed with the same decree in Greek, Demotic, and hieroglyphic scripts; it helped scholars, especially Jean-François Champollion, decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Alexander the Great

King of Macedon who conquered the Persian Empire and created a vast empire reaching into northwest India; his conquests spread Greek culture and helped create the Hellenistic world.

Inca civilization

An Andean empire centered in present-day Peru, known for roads, terraces, stonework, quipu recordkeeping, and a highly organized state; its capital was Cusco.

Mayan civilization

Mesoamerican peoples who built city-states and developed sophisticated mathematics, astronomy, calendars, and hieroglyphic writing; they did not form one unified empire.

Aztec civilization

A powerful Mesoamerican empire centered on Tenochtitlan, known for tribute, agriculture including chinampas, extensive markets, and a polytheistic religion.

Why did Native American populations decline after European contact?

Epidemic diseases such as smallpox, warfare, forced labor, displacement, and disruption of food systems caused severe population losses; effects varied by region and community.

What major advancements did early humans make?

They developed stone tools, controlled fire, cooperated in groups, hunted and gathered, adapted to different environments, created art and language, and eventually developed agriculture and settled communities.

Ancient Greece contribute to the modern world?

Democracy, philosophy, historical writing, theater, the Olympic Games, geometry and mathematics, scientific reasoning, and influential art and architecture.