AP World History Unit A Terms

Paleolithic Age

The Old Stone Age ending in 12,000 B.C.E.; typified by hunter-gatherer subsistence and evolving stone tools.

Neolithic Revolution

The transition from hunting-and-gathering to agriculture, with technological innovations and changes in social organization (about 8500–3500 B.C.E.).

Neolithic Age

The New Stone Age (roughly 8000–5000 B.C.E.) when sedentary agriculture began and plants/animals were domesticated.

Bronze Age

4000–3000 B.C.E.; rise in metalworking and plow use, development of wheeled vehicles and writing.

Civilization

Societies that rely on sedentary agriculture, produce food surpluses, and have nonfarming elites, plus merchant and manufacturing groups.

Mesopotamia

Literally 'between the rivers'; civilizations in the Tigris-Euphrates alluvial plain.

Cuneiform

A form of writing created by the Sumerians using a wedge-shaped stylus on clay tablets.

Ziggurats

Massive stepped towers associated with Mesopotamian temple complexes.

City-State

A political unit typical of Mesopotamia; hinterlands governed by an urban-based king.

Hammurabi’s Code

One of the earliest and most complete written legal codes proclaimed by Hammurabi; regulated social relations and family law.

Patriarchal

A social pattern in which men dominate political, economic, and cultural life.

Mandate of Heaven

Chinese idea from the Zhou that there could be only one legitimate ruler at a given time blessed by the gods; losing it means losing divine approval and the right to rule China.

Monotheism

The exclusive worship of a single god; a concept associated with Jewish tradition.

Confucianism

A Chinese philosophy emphasizing respect for patriarchal authority and family hierarchy to maintain social harmony.

Buddha

Founder of Buddhism; born in the 6th century B.C.E.; taught enlightenment comes from relinquishing (abandoning) desires.

Hellenism

Hellenistic culture blending Indian, Persian, Egyptian, and Greek influences created by Alexander the Great’s conquests in Afro-Eurasia.

Ashoka

Greatest Mauryan emperor; grandson of Chandragupta Maurya; expanded the empire, converted to Buddhism, and promoted its spread throughout his empire.

Scholar-gentry

Chinese class of noble landowners educated to hold government positions.

Roman republic

Roman government from c. 510 to 47 B.C.E.; featured an aristocratic Senate, magistrates, and popular assemblies.

Julius Caesar

Dictator of the Roman republic who effectively ended the republic and, with his successor Augustus, transformed it into an empire.

Constantine

Roman emperor from 312 to 337 C.E.; established Constantinople as a second capital; attempted to use religious force of Christianity to unify empire spiritually.

Polis

Greek city-state; form of government typical of Greek political organization from 800 to 400 B.C.E.

Axum

Kingdom in the Ethiopian highlands; converted to Christianity after trading with the Roman Empire.