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Shang Dynasty

(1766-1122 BCE) The Chinese dynasty that rose to power due to bronze metalurgy, war chariots, and a vast network of walled towns whose recognized this dynasty as the superior.

Zhou Dynasty

A decentralized Chinese dynasty in China because of the massive size, and whose emperor was the first to claim to be a link between heaven and earth. Iron metallurgy increased in this dynasty.

Mandate of Heaven

The Chinese belief that the emperor claimed to be the "son of heaven" and therefore has the right to rule.

Ancestor Veneration

The practice of praying to your ancestors. Found especially in China.

Period of Warring States

The period in Chinese history (403-221 BCE) in which many different states emerged and were fighting for control of China.

Olmecs

An early peopl who settled in modern day Mexico and who traded in jade and obsidian and erected colossal heads carved from rocks.

Maya

They settled in the Yucatan Peninsula, not far from the Olmecs. A very cultural and intellectual people who used astronomy to create and very accurate calendar.

Zoroastrianism

A religion that developed in early Persia and stressed the fight between the forces of good and the forces of evil and how eventually the forces of good would prevail.

Confucius

(551-479 BCE) A Chinese philosopher known also as Kong Fuzi and created one of the most influential philosophies in Chinese history.

Analects

The book that Kong Fuzi wrote and that stresses the values and ideas of Confucianism.

Ren

An attitude of kindness and benevolence or a sense of humanity for Confucianism.

Li

Called for individuals to behave in conventionally appropriate fashion in Confucianism.

Filial Piety

Concept is stressed in Confucianism. Reflected the high significance of the family in Chinese history.

Daoism

A religion in China which emphasizes the removal from society and to become one with nature.

Legalism

A Chinese philosophy that was devoted to strengthen and expand the state through increased agricultural work and military service.

Qin Dynasty

(221-207 BCE) The first centralized dynasty of China that used Legalism as its base of belief.

Qin Shihuangdi

(r.221-210 BCE) The first emperor of the Qin Dynasty who believed strongly in Legalism and sought to strengthen the centralized China through public works.

Han Dynasty

(202 BCE-220 CE) This dynasty continued the centralization of the Qin Dynasty, but focused on Confucianism and education instead of Legalim.

Mauryan Empire

(321-185 BCE) This was the first centralized empire of India whose founder was Chandragupta Maurya.

Ashoka

(r.268-232 BCE) The Mauryan emperor who can be compared to Constantine and who promoted Buddhism throught his empire.

Gupta Empire

(320-550 CE) The decentralized empire that emerged after the Mauryan Empire, and whose founder is Chandra Gupta.

Guilds

Economic groups that functioned as jati by controling prices, output, workers, and competition for a specific product.

Siddhartha

The founder of the religion Buddhism who believed that all life was suffering. Also known as the Buddha.

Four Noble Truths

All life invoves suffering; desire is the cause of suffering; elimination of desire brings an end to suffering; a disciplined life conducted life brings the elimination of desire.

Noble Eightfold Path

Calls for individuals to lead balanced and moderate lives, rejecting both the devotion to luxury and the regimes of extreme asceticism. (Buddhist Belief).

Nirvana

The state of englightenment for Buddhists.

Dharma

The basic doctrine shared by Buddhists of all sects.

Mahayana Buddhism

Also known as popular Buddhism, is allows people more ways to reach enlightenment and boddhisatvas can help you reach enlightenment.

Boddhisatva

A enlightened being who put off nirvana to come back and help others become enlightened.

Bhagavad Gita

A book in popular Hinduism that was a response to Buddhism and made reaching moksha way easier.

Minoans

The Mediterranean society that formed on the island of Crete and who were a big maritime society.

Polis

Greek word for "city-state"

Sparta

A powerful Greek miliary polis that was often at war with Athens. Used slaves known as helots to provide agricultural labor.

Athens

A democratic Greek polis who accomplished many cultural achievements, and who were constantly at war with Sparta.

Pericles

An Athenian leader who transformed Athens into a community of scientists, philosophers, poets, dramatists, artists, and architects and who was a big promoter of democracy.

Persian Wars

A series of wars between the Greeks (mainly Athens) and the Persians in which the Greeks were usually victorious.

Peloponnesian War

(431-404 BCE) The war between Athens and Sparta that in which Sparta won, but left Greece as a whole weak and ready to fall to its neighbors to the north.

Alexander the Great

The conquerer from Macedon who conquered Greece, Egypt, parts of Anatolia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, Bactria, and the very tips of northeast India.

Antigonid Empire

The empire in Greece after the breakup of Alexander's empire.

Ptolemaic Empire

The empire in the Egyptian area after the breakup of Alexander's empire.

Seleucid Empire

The empire in Syria, Persia, and Bactria after the breakup of Alexander's empire.

Socrates

(470-399 BCE) An Athenian philosopher who thought that human beings could lead honest lives and that honor was far more important than wealth, fame, or other superficial attributes.

Plato

(430-347 BCE) Was a disciple of Socrates whose cornerstone of thought was his theory of Forms, in which there was another world of perfection.

Aristotle

(384-322 BCE) Believed, unlike his teacher Plato, that philosophers could rely on their senses to provide accurate information about the world.

Roman Republic

This establishment consisted of the Senate with two consuls who were elected by an assembly dominated by hereditary aristocrats known as patricians.

Patricians

The wealthy, hereditary aristocrats during the Roman era.

Pleibians

The common people during the Roman era.

Punic Wars

Wars between the Romans and Carthaginians that marked Rome as the preeminent power in the eastern as well as the western Mediterranean.

Julius Caesar

The general during the Roman Republic who took over after the civil war and established Rome as an empire.

Augustus

Leader of the Roman Empire who disguised it as a republic, and under who the Roman Empire came to be at its greatest extent.

Pax Romana

A time in history when the Roman Empire was at peace and promoted safe trade.

Constantine

Emperor of the Roman Empire who moved the capital to Constantinople. He eventually converted to Christianity as well.

Monsoon

Major winds in the Indian Ocean that blew into India for half the year, and blew away from India for the other half. Helped facilitate trade in the Indian Ocean.

Diocletian

Roman emperor who divided the empire into a West and an East section.

The Great Schism

The seperation of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church (1054 CE)

Pope

The head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Byzantine Emperor

The head of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire.

Justinian's Code

Roman law that was modified by revising old and not needed laws. Named after the Byzantine Emperor Justinian.

Council of Nicaea

(325 CE) A council called by Constantine to agree upon correct Christian doctrine and settle some disputes of the time.

Muhammad

The last prophet believed by Muslims who talked to the Archangel Gabriel and whose life teachings is compiled in the Hadith.

Hadith

The compiled work of the life and teachings of Muhammad.

Quran

The holy book of Muslims.

Torah

The first five books of Jewish Scripture, which they believe are by Moses, are called this

Bible

The holy book of Christians.

Umma

The term for all Muslims as a community.

Hijra

Muhammad's move to Medina. Start of the Islamic calendar (632 CE)

Five Pillars

The basic tenets of Islam: Allah is the only god and Muhammad is his prophet; pray to Allah five times a day facing Mecca; fast during the month of Ramadan; pay alms for the relief of the weak and the poor; take a hajj to Mecca

Hajj

The pilgrimage to Mecca required to take by Muslims

Jihad

The Muslim word for "struggle" especially when trying to follow the will of Allah.

Sharia

Islamic law; a combination of the Quran and the Hadith.

Umayyad Caliphate

(661-750 CE) The Islamic caliphate that established a capital at Damascus, conquered North Africa, the Iberian Pennisula, Southwest Asia, and Persia, and had a bureaucracy with only Arab Muslims able to be a part of it.

Jizya

The tax on people in the Umayyad Caliphate who did not convert to Islam.

Abbasid Caliphate

(750-1258 CE) The caliphate, after the Umayyads, who focused more on administration than conquering. Had a bureaucracy that any Mulim could be a part of.

Sufi

The branch of Islam that believes in a more mystical connection with Allah.

Sui Dynasty

(589-618 CE) The Chinese dynasty that was like the Qin Dynasty in imposing tight political discipline; this dynasty built the Grand Canal which helped transport the rice in the south to the north.

Tang Dynasty

(618-907 CE) The Chinese dynasty that was much like the Han, who used Confucianism. This dynasty had the equal-field system, a bureaucracy based on merit, and a Confucian education system.

Song Dynasty

(960-1279 CE) The Chinese dynasty that placed much more emphasis on civil administration, industry, education, and arts other than military.

Neo-Confucianism

The Confucian response to Buddhism by taking Confucian and Buddhist beliefs and combining them into this. However, it is still very much Confucian in belief.

Silla Dynasty

The dynasty in Korea that rallied to prevent Chinese domination in the seventh century CE.

Harsha

(r.606-648 CE) He restored centralized rule in northern India after the collapse of the Gupta. He can be compared to Charlemagne.

Mahmud of Ghazni

Islamic leader who ruled parts of Iran and India between the years 997-1030. Islamic presence in India was quite new at the time. Unaccustomed to ruling a non-Muslim population, he destroyed various Hindu and Buddhist temples. His raids into India are often portrayed as being motivated by money.

Delhi Sultanate

(1206-1526 CE) The successors of Mahmud of Ghazni mounted more campaigns, but directed their goals to creating this empire.

Junks

Chinese ships, particularly from the 1400s, are often called these. It was a sturdy Chinese ship design and the largest of its kind were treasures ships that could carry a thousand tons of cargo.

Dhows

Large ships favored by Indian, Persian, and Arab sailors that could carry up to four hundred tons of cargo.

Axum

The Christian state in Africa that developed its own branch of Christianity, Coptic Christianity, because it was cut off from other Christians due to a large Muslim presence in Africa.

Battle of Tours

(732 CE) European victory over Muslims. It halted Muslim movement into Western Europe.

Charlemagne

(768-814 CE) Crowned king in 800 CE by the pope; can be compared to Harsha; brought back unified rule to Europe only during his life; used the missi dominici to check up on imperial officials.

Battle of Hastings

(1066 CE) The Norman invasion of England; this was the largest battle.

Serfs

People who gave their land to a lord and offered their servitude in return for protection from the lord.

Pope Gregory I

This pope strongly emphasized the sacrament of penance and encouraged confession for the remission of sins which made people more dependent on the church for salvation.

Mongols

People from Central Asia when united ended up creating the largest single land empire in history.

Genghis Khan

Also known as Temujin; he united the Mongol tribes into an unstoppable fighting force; created largest single land empire in history.

Khubilai Khan

Reigned in China after establishing the Yuan Dynasty; he actively promoted Buddhism; descendant of Chinggis Khan.

Yuan Dynasty

(1279-1368 CE) The dynasty with Mongol rule in China; centralized with bureaucracy but structure is different: Mongols on top-\>Persian bureaucrats-\>Chinese bureuacrats.

Battle of Manzikert

(1071 CE) Saljuq Turks defeat Byzantine armies in this battle in Anatolia; shows the declining power of Byzantium.

Tamerlane

He is very much like Ghengis Khan; a military leader who conquered the lands of Persia; his empire was decentralized with tribal leaders.

1453

The year that Constantinople was sacked by the Ottoman Turks and meant that Byzantium had collapsed. Hint: __53

Ghana

The kingdom in West Africa that prospered because of trans-Saharan trade especially in gold; this kingdom was around at the time of Muslim control in North Africa.

Mali

The kingdom in West Africa that followed the Kingdom of Ghana; its wealth is also based on trans-Saharan trade; this kingdom encouraged the spread of Islam.

Mansa Musa

Ruler of Mali (r.1312-1337 CE) who made a hajj to Mecca; on the way there, he spread enormous amounts of gold showing the wealth of Mali; on the way back, he brought back education and Islamic culture.