AP World History Unit One (Slide notes)

Ziggurats

Massive temple complexes controlled by a powerful priesthood who made up the bureaucracy that controlled the government in Mesopotamia.

Cuneiform

The first written language, developed in Mesopotamia to record religious decrees, legal decrees, and quantities of goods.

Hammurabi's Code

One of the first written legal codes in history, containing 282 specific criminal and civil laws.

Pharaoh

The king in Egyptian stable theocracy, seen as the embodiment of the god Amon Ra.

Corvee

A service tax paid by Egyptians to the government by working to build public places.

Fields of Food

The name for the good afterlife in Egyptian religion, determined through judgment rituals.

Ma'at

The divine way of the gods in Egyptian society.

Cyrus II (Cyrus the Great)

King who united Persia in 522 BCE and began the Achaemenid Empire.

Satraps

Governors in Persia who oversaw 20 decentralized provinces and enforced laws, taxes, and military quotas.

Darius

Persian king who recentralized the nation after civil wars using a national currency and standard weights/measures.

Royal Road

Completed in the 5th century, linking Persian government and trade centers throughout the land.

Zoroastrianism

Monotheistic Persian faith founded in 600 BCE by Zoroaster centered on the supreme deity Ahura Mazda.

Immortals

A group of 10,000 soldiers that represented the military power of Persia.

Sparta

Greek military city-state governed as a semi-democratic oligarchy with a self-sufficient agricultural economy.

Athens

Greek city-state organized as a direct democracy with an open trade economy across the Aegean and Mediterranean.

Classical Age

Period between 480 and 350 BCE in Greece marked by high intellectual and artistic activity.

Patricians

Upper-class Romans who controlled the economy and fought for control, causing corruption.

Julius Caesar

Overthrew the Roman Republic in 49 BCE and established a dictatorship, leading to civil war.

Pax Romana

A long period of peace and stability in the Roman Empire lasting from 31 BCE to 180 CE.

Mohenjo Daro and Harappa

Advanced urban centers in the Indus River Valley.

Indo-Aryans

Central Asians who migrated into the Indus River Valley/India from 1800 to 1500 BCE.

Vedas

Sacred texts written in the 15th century recording Aryan stories of the gods.

Trimurti

The Hindu trinity consisting of Brahma (Creator), Vishnu (Preserver), and Shiva (Destroyer).

Atman

The human soul in Hinduism, whose ultimate goal is to merge with Brahma through reincarnation.

Moksha

State of eternal peace achieved once all karma is gone in Hinduism.

Four Noble Truths

Core Buddhist teachings realized by Siddhartha Gautama that lead to the elimination of suffering via the Eightfold Path.

Loess

Rich desert silt brought by the Huang He (Yellow) River flowing out of the Gobi desert.

Shang Dynasty

Chinese dynasty (1600–1046 BCE) that introduced written language, ancestor worship, and bronze/chariot warfare.

Mandate of Heaven

Chinese political-religious doctrine first adopted under Zhou King Wen.

Shanghdi

The main sky god in ancient polytheistic Chinese religion who ruled peoples' destinies.

Analects

Book containing the collected teachings and moral principles of Confucius.

Five Filial Relationships

Confucian social hierarchy consisting of Ruler/Subject, Parent/Child, Husband/Wife, Sibling/Sibling, and Friend/Friend.

Laozi

5th century BCE founder of Daoism who authored the Tao Te Ching. Yin and Yang

Ur

Sumerian city-state created in 3800 BCE focused on the patron god Nanna.

Abraham

Leader who led the Hebrews out of Mesopotamia toward Haran, Turkey, and Canaan.

First Covenant

God's command to Abraham upon reaching the Promised Land to sacrifice his son Isaac.

Second Covenant

The Ten Commandments received by Moses after leading the Hebrews out of Egyptian bondage during the Exodus.

Torah

Jewish sacred text containing religious laws, forming the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.

Essenes

Jewish group that believed a Messiah would arrive to save them from Roman rule.

Council of Nicaea

327 CE council that established the Roman Catholic Church as the official Christian church.

Kaaba

Ancient temple in Mecca created to hold symbols of diverse faiths, later converted to Islam.

Muhammad

Prophet born in Mecca who received the Recitation of Allah from the Angel Gabriel in 610 CE.

Five Pillars

Core Islamic practices including Confession of Faith, Daily Prayer, Charity, Fasting during Ramadan, and Pilgrimage to Mecca.

Hadith

Recorded traditions and statements of Muhammad revered by Muslims for guidance.

Sharia

Code of moral, ethical, and legal ideas drawn directly from the Qur'an.

Champa Rice

Fast-growing crop introduced to Song China that allowed multiple harvests per year and drove population growth.

Shen Kuo

Song Dynasty scholar who was the first to measure the magnetic tilt of the Earth's poles.

Celadon

Highly valued pottery style produced in Korea's Koryo Dynasty and demanded in China.

Angkor Wat

Massive temple complex built by the Khmer Empire dedicated to Hindu and Buddhist traditions.

Heian Period

Japanese era (794–1185) dominated by the Fujiwara family, characterized by courtly art and literature.

Bushido

Code of conduct for Japanese samurai drawing on Buddhist, Confucian, Zen, and Shinto ideals.

Minamoto no Yoriomo

Military leader who appointed himself Shogun and established the Kamakura Shogunates.

Daimyos

Japanese regional military governors who appointed samurai knights to oversee peasant classes.

Francis Xavier

The first Christian missionary to visit Japan in 1549.

Battle of Manzikert

1070 battle where Seljuk Turks defeated Byzantine armies and took Anatolia.

Kings Crusade

The 3rd Crusade fought between Saladin, Phillip II of France, Frederick I Barbarossa, and Richard I of England.

Osman I

Founder who created the Ottoman Empire in 1299.

Millet System

Ottoman legal framework allowing religious minorities representation under their own laws.

Sultan Mehmed II

Ottoman ruler who captured Constantinople in 1453, ending the Byzantine Empire.

Mansa Musa

Malian ruler (1280–1337) famous for extensive charity, building mosques, and establishing Timbuktu as an Islamic center.

Askia Muhammad

Ruler who fortified Songhai, established Timbuktu as a trade center, and founded the University of Sanlore.

Swahili

Language and culture created from the blending of Islamic and Bantu cultures along East Africa.

Charlemagne

Frankish king crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in 800, initiating the Carolingian Renaissance.

William the Conqueror

Duke of Normandy who invaded England in 1066, defeated King Harold I, and ordered the Domesday Book census.

Magna Carta

1215 English document limiting the king's power, establishing Parliament, and protecting rights for freemen.

Iconoclast Controversies

Religious disputes sparked in 730 when Byzantine Emperor Leo III ordered the destruction of church icons.

Great Schism

1054 formal split between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches following mutual excommunications.

Humanism

Italian Renaissance philosophy emphasizing individual human worth, critical thinking, and facts over dogma.

Medici

Wealthy Italian banking family who sponsored Renaissance artists like Donatello and Michelangelo.

Niccolò Machiavelli

Renaissance author who wrote "The Prince" as a response to political shifts in Florence.

Olmec Society

Ancient Mesoamerican civilization (1500–400 BCE) famous for carving giant stone heads to mark territory.

Zapotec

Society that grew in the Oaxaca Valley of Southwestern Mexico, ruled as an absolute monarchy backed by a jaguar spirit, which built Monte Alban.

Monte Alban

One of the earliest cities in the Americas, built by the Zapotec.

Mayan Civilization

Empire on the Yucatán peninsula (200 to 900 CE) consisting of independent city-states, accurate calendars, pyramid temples, and sacbeobs. Sacbeobs

Aztec Empire (Mexica)

Empire lasting from 1248 to 1521, ruled from Tenochtitlan after forming the Aztec Triple Alliance in 1428.

Aztec Triple Alliance

Alliance formed in 1428 between Tenochtitlán, Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan creating an empire from the Caribbean to the Pacific.

Itzcoatl

Prince from Tenochtitlan whose 1492 struggle for the throne led to the creation of the alliance between city-states.

Huitzilopochtli

Aztec sun/war god and principal deity, believed to be directly embodied by Aztec rulers.

Quetzalcoatl

Aztec god of civilization and learning who protected priests.

Pochteca

Aztec long-distance merchants who traded for rubber, gold, obsidian, and cocoa.

Great Pyramid

Pyramid located at the center of Tenochtitlan built to honor Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc.

Chinampas

Floating gardens built on rafts in Lake Texcoco by the Aztecs.

Three Sisters

Primary crops of Aztec agriculture consisting of beans, corn, and squash.

Moctezuma II

The last Aztec king (1503-1520), assassinated during the Spanish Conquest.

Hernan Cortes

Spanish conqueror who arrived in 1519 dressed as Quetzalcoatl, kidnapped Moctezuma, and defeated the Aztecs.

New Spain

Name given to the former Aztec territory under Spanish control for 300 years after conquest.

Chavin

Andean culture (900-200 BCE) in Peru controlled by priest-kings who ruled a communal society.

Nazca Lines

Massive earth carvings created by the Nazca culture in Southern Peru as a nature-based religion and possible astronomical tracker.

Moche

Andean civilization (100-800 CE) based on conquest, human sacrifice, coastal-mountain trade, and rule by priestly military leaders.

Ai Apaec

Priestly military leader deity/protector of the Moche civilization.

Cusco

City in the Peruvian Andes where the Incan Empire began; believed to be the birthplace of Inti and cosmic center of the universe.

Manco Capac and Mama Occlo

Legendary founders of the Incan Empire sent by the sun god Inti.

Pachacuti-Cusi Yupanqui

Leader who expanded the Incan Empire in 1438 by conquering the Chancas and earned the title Sapa Inca.

Sapa Inca

Title given to the divine leader/emperor of the Inca, considered the son of Inti and a god on earth.

Inti Raymi

Nine-day Feast of the Sun held annually in Cusco around the southern winter solstice.

Cranial Deformation

Practice among Incan nobles of binding infant heads to make them elongated and conical to denote status.

Councils of the Realm

Administrative councils in the Inca Empire made up of 4 nobles from each of the four provinces.

Qhapaq Ñan

The extensive royal road system connecting all segments of the Incan Empire to Cusco.

Three Incan Principles

Do not steal, Do not lie, Do not be lazy.