APWH All Lists

Inca [Inca-credible mountains]

A large Andean empire in South America known for its sophisticated road system and centralized government before Spanish conquest.

Igbo [Igbo go independent]

A society in present-day Nigeria that was notable for its lack of centralized statehood and its village-based organization.

Songhai [Songhai sings trade]

A West African empire that controlled key trade routes across the Sahara, flourishing on gold and salt trade.

Ming [Ming mends China]

A Chinese dynasty that restored Han Chinese rule after the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty, known for its naval expeditions and porcelain.

Mughal [Mughal meets India]

An Islamic Turkic empire that conquered much of India, known for its syncretic culture and architectural achievements like the Taj Mahal.

Iroquois [Iroquois is together]

A confederacy of Native American tribes in North America, known for its political and social organization before European arrival.

Aztec [Aztec eats hearts]

A Mesoamerican empire centered around Tenochtitlan, known for its elaborate religious practices and tribute system.

Safavid [Safavid is Shia]

An Iranian kingdom that established Shia Islam as the state religion, often in conflict with the neighboring Ottoman Empire.

Zheng He [Zheng He's huge boats]

A Chinese Muslim admiral who led massive naval expeditions sponsored by the Ming dynasty across the Indian Ocean.

Timur [Timur the Terror]

A Turco-Mongol conqueror who created a vast empire across Central Asia, known for his brutal campaigns.

Mansa Musa [Mansa Musa's gold parade]

The ruler of the Mali Empire known for his immense wealth and famous pilgrimage to Mecca which highlighted the wealth of West Africa.

Ibn Battuta [Ibn Battuta travelled a lot-a]

A Moroccan Muslim scholar and traveler who journeyed across Afro-Eurasia, documenting his extensive travels.

Marco Polo [Marco Polo's Venetian travels]

A Venetian merchant and traveler whose account of his time in Yuan Dynasty China inspired European interest in Asian trade.

Indian Ocean Trade Network [Indian Ocean connects coasts]

A vast sea-based trade network linking East Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and China through maritime routes.

Sand Road [Sand Road crosses desert]

Another name for the Trans-Saharan trade routes across North Africa, primarily for gold, salt, and slaves.

Trans-Saharan Slave Trade [Slaves across the Sahara]

The movement of enslaved people from Sub-Saharan Africa across the Sahara desert to North Africa and the Middle East.

Srivijaya (in relation to the Indian Ocean Trade) [Srivijaya rules waves]

A maritime empire based in Sumatra that controlled key chokepoints in the Indian Ocean trade, benefiting from taxing passing ships.

Borobudur [Borobudur's big stupa]

A massive Buddhist temple complex in Java, Indonesia, reflecting Buddhist influence spread via trade routes.

Angkor Wat [Angkor Wat's big temple]

A vast temple complex in Cambodia, initially Hindu and later Buddhist, representing the power of the Khmer Empire.

Great Zimbabwe [Great Zimbabwe's stone walls]

A powerful kingdom in Southern Africa known for its impressive stone architecture and control of regional gold trade.

Swahili [Swahili mixes cultures]

A language and culture that emerged along the East African coast, blending Bantu languages with Arabic influences due to trade.

Caesaropapism [Caesar is Pope too]

A political system in which the head of the state is also the head of the church, notably practiced in the Byzantine Empire.

Iconoclasm [Iconoclasm smashes statues]

A religious controversy in the Byzantine Empire regarding the veneration of religious images (icons), leading to their destruction by some.

Kievan Rus [Kievan Rus starts Russia]

A loose federation of East Slavic tribes centered around Kiev, credited as the precursor state to modern Russia and Ukraine.

Charlemagne [Charlemagne is Holy Roman]

A Frankish king who built a large empire in Western Europe and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope.

Crusades [Crusades fight holy wars]

A series of religious wars sanctioned by the Catholic Church, primarily aimed at reclaiming the Holy Land from Muslim rule.

Nestorian Christianity [Nestorians went East]

A branch of Christianity that emphasized the disunion of Christ's human and divine natures, spreading widely into Asia via trade routes.

Coptic Christianity [Copts in Egypt]

A branch of Christianity centered in Egypt, distinct from both Eastern Orthodox and Catholicism.

Eastern Orthodox Christianity [Orthodox split East]

The branch of Christianity that developed in the Byzantine Empire, formally splitting from the Roman Catholic Church in 1054.

Emperor Justinian [Justinian's law and Hagia Sophia]

A Byzantine emperor known for his legal reforms (Justinian's Code) and building projects, including the Hagia Sophia.

Serfdom [Serfs are tied down]

A labor system in which peasants were tied to the land and worked for a lord in exchange for protection, common in medieval Europe.

Song Dynasty [Song's smart inventions]

A Chinese dynasty known for its economic prosperity, technological innovations (like gunpowder and compass), and cultural achievements.

Neo-Confucianism [Neo-Confucianism's new thinking]

A blend of Confucianism with Buddhist and Daoist elements that became the dominant ideology in China during the Song dynasty and beyond.

Footbinding [Footbinding breaks feet]

A painful practice in China, primarily for women, involving the tight wrapping of feet to prevent growth, seen as a sign of beauty and status.

Silk Road [Silk Road trades goods]

An ancient network of trade routes connecting East Asia and Europe, primarily for luxury goods like silk.

Chinese Tribute System [China makes you bow]

A system where neighboring states acknowledged China's superiority by offering tribute in exchange for trading privileges and protection.

Uighurs [Uighurs are in the West]

A Turkic ethnic group primarily living in the Xinjiang region of China, historically significant along the Silk Road.

Silla Dynasty [Silla unites Korea]

A kingdom that eventually unified much of the Korean peninsula.

Trung Sisters [Trung Sisters fight Han]

Vietnamese heroines who led a rebellion against Chinese (Han Dynasty) rule.

Samurai [Samurai serves lord]

The military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan, known for their code of honor (Bushido).

Moveable Type [Moveable Type moves letters]

A printing technology that uses individual characters that can be rearranged, significantly increasing the speed of printing.

Muhammad [Muhammad is prophet]

The founder of Islam, believed by Muslims to be the last prophet of God.

Polytheistic [Polytheistic has many gods]

The belief in or worship of more than one god.

Daoism [Daoism follows the Way]

A philosophical and religious tradition originating in China emphasizing harmony with the Dao ("the Way"), nature, and simplicity.

Legalism [Legalism is strict law]

A philosophical system in ancient China advocating strict laws and harsh punishments to maintain order and control.

Confucius [Confucius teaches respect]

A Chinese philosopher and teacher whose ideas about social harmony, ethics, and good governance became the basis of Confucianism.

Monotheism [Monotheism has one god]

The belief in the existence of only one god.

Reincarnation [Reincarnation comes back]

The religious concept that a soul, after death, can begin life in a new body.

Upanishads [Upanishads are Hindu texts]

A collection of philosophical texts considered to be the foundational scriptures of Hinduism.

Buddha [Buddha finds enlightenment]

Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, who achieved enlightenment and taught the path to liberation from suffering.

Analects [Analects is Confucius' words]

A collection of sayings and ideas attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius and his contemporaries.

Cyrus the Great [Cyrus is Persian founder]

The founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, known for his benevolent rule and respect for local customs.

King Philip II [Philip II of Macedon plans]

The king of Macedon and father of Alexander the Great, who built up the Macedonian army and planned to invade Persia.

Ashoka [Ashoka turns Buddhist]

An emperor of the Mauryan Dynasty in India who converted to Buddhism after a brutal war and promoted peace and dhamma.

Socrates [Socrates asks questions]

A classical Greek philosopher known for his Socratic method of questioning; a foundational figure in Western philosophy.

Shi Huangdi [Shi Huangdi unifies China]

The founder of the Qin Dynasty and the first emperor of unified China, known for legalism and massive projects like the Great Wall.

Persian War (significance) [Persian War saves Greece]

A series of conflicts between the Greek city-states and the Persian Empire that preserved Greek independence and culture.

Democracy – what is it, when and where did it begin [Democracy lets people rule]

A system of government where power is vested in the people and exercised directly or through elected representatives; originated in ancient Athens, Greece, around the 5th century BCE.

Patricians [Patricians are rich Romans]

The aristocratic upper class in ancient Rome.

Plebeians [Plebeians are common Romans]

The common people of ancient Rome, including farmers, artisans, and merchants.

Scholar Gentry (China) [Gentry studies and rules]

A social class in China composed of individuals who passed civil service exams and held government positions, often combining intellectual pursuits with landowning.

Dynasty [Dynasty is ruling family]

A sequence of rulers from the same family, typically in the context of a country or empire.

Bantu [Bantu moves around Africa]

A large group of ethnic groups in sub-Saharan Africa united by related languages; their migrations spread agriculture, language, and ironworking techniques across the continent.

United Nations [Peace talk central]

An international organization founded in 1945 to promote peace, security, and cooperation after WWII.

Marshall Plan [Money to rebuild Europe]

U.S. program that gave billions to help Western Europe recover after WWII and resist communism.

Nikita Khrushchev [Bold Soviet boss]

Soviet leader during the Cold War who pushed de-Stalinization and challenged the U.S. in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Iron Curtain [Divide of democracy vs. communism]

A term for the political barrier separating Western (democratic) and Eastern (communist) Europe during the Cold War.

NATO [Team Democracy]

A military alliance formed in 1949 between the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe to defend against Soviet aggression.

Warsaw Pact [Soviet squad]

A 1955 military alliance of the USSR and its Eastern European allies to counter NATO.

Berlin Wall [Concrete Cold War]

A wall built in 1961 by East Germany to stop citizens from fleeing to democratic West Berlin; symbol of Cold War division.

Berlin Airlift [Planes beat the blockade]

A 1948–49 U.S. and Allied operation that flew supplies into West Berlin after the Soviets blocked access.

Perestroika [Soviet system shake-up]

Gorbachev’s 1980s reform policy to restructure the Soviet economy and government.

Cuban Missile Crisis [Nukes near the U.S.]

A tense 1962 standoff where the U.S. and USSR nearly went to war over Soviet missiles in Cuba.

Revere [Respect to the max]

To deeply admire or honor someone or something.

Contagion [Catchy and dangerous]

The spread of disease, emotion, or influence from one person to another.

Tenet [Core belief alert]

A principle or belief held to be true by a group.

Individualistic [Me over we]

Focused on personal independence and self-reliance.

Sentiment [Feelings fuel]

An emotion or opinion often tied to nostalgia or values.

Adherents [Stuck to a cause]

Followers or supporters of a belief or leader.

Covenant [Sacred promise]

A binding agreement or contract, often with religious meaning.

Pivotal [Turning point!]

Something crucial that can change the outcome or direction of events.

Upheaval [Chaos and change]

Sudden disruption or major change, often politically or socially.

Sovereignty [Power to rule yourself]

Supreme authority or self-governance over a region or people.

Ecclesiastical [Church-related stuff]

Relating to the Christian church or clergy.

Papacy [Pope’s power place]

The office or authority of the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church.

Coerced [Forced against will]

Persuaded or pressured into doing something through force or threats.

Plunder [Loot and run]

To steal goods, usually during war or chaos.

Isolationist [Loner nation]

A policy of avoiding involvement in foreign affairs.

Spurred [Kick-started into action]

Stimulated or encouraged something to happen.

Imposition [Forced upon]

Something unwanted or burdensome that is put on someone.

Seldom [Rarely happens]

Not often; infrequently.

Contention [Fight for it]

A heated disagreement or competition for something.

Prosperous [Rolling in success]

Wealthy or thriving, especially economically.

Championed [Fought for the cause]

Actively supported or defended something.

Rationale [Reason behind it]

The logic or reasoning for a belief or action.

Ceded [Gave it up]

Surrendered territory or rights, often after conflict.

Mitigate [Make it less bad]

To reduce the severity or impact of something.

Egalitarian [Equality for all]

Promoting equal rights and opportunities.

Impoverished [Poverty-stricken]

Extremely poor or lacking resources.

Prerogative [Your rightful call]

A special right or privilege.