APWH Exam Review 3 Flashcards
1
Q
guild
A
In medieval Europe, an association of men (rarely women), such as merchants, artisans, or professors, who worked in a particular trade and created an organized institution to promote their economic and political interests.
2
Q
Gujarat
A
Region of western India famous for trade and manufacturing.
3
Q
gunpowder
A
The formula, brought to China in the 400s or 500s, was first used to make fumigators to keep away insect pests and evil spirits. In later centuries it was used to make explosives and grenades and to propel cannonballs, shot, and bullets.
4
Q
Guomindang
A
Nationalist political party founded on democratic principles by Sun Yat-sen in 1912. After 1925, the party was headed by Chiang Kai-shek, who turned it into an increasingly authoritarian movement.
5
Q
Gupta Empire
A
Powerful Indian state based, like its Mauryan predecessor, in the Ganges Valley. It controlled most of the Indian subcontinent through a combination of military force and its prestige as a center of sophisticated culture.
6
Q
Habsburg
A
A powerful European family that provided many Holy Roman Emperors, founded the Austrian (later Austro-Hungarian) Empire, and ruled sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain.
7
Q
hadith
A
A tradition relating the words or deeds of the Prophet Muhammad; next to the Quran, the most important basis for Islamic law.
8
Q
Hammurabi
A
Amorite ruler of Babylon (r. 1792-1750 B.C.E.). He conquered many city-states in southern and northern Mesopotamia and is best known for a code of laws, inscribed on a black stone pillar, illustrating the principles to be used in legal cases.
9
Q
Han
A
A term used to designate (1) the ethnic Chinese people who originated in the Yellow River Valley and spread throughout regions of China suitable for agriculture and (2) the dynasty of emperors who ruled from 206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E.
10
Q
Hanseatic League
A
An economic and defensive alliance of the free towns in northern Germany, founded about 1241 and most powerful in the fourteenth century.
11
Q
Harappa
A
Site of one of the great cities of the Indus Valley civilization of the third millennium B.C.E. It was located on the northwest frontier of the zone of cultivation, and may have been a center for the acquisition of raw materials.
12
Q
Hatshepsut
A
Queen of Egypt (1473-1458 B.C.E.). Dispatched a naval expedition down the Red Sea to Punt (possibly Somalia), the faraway source of myrrh. There is evidence of opposition to a woman as ruler, and after her death her name was frequently expunged.
13
Q
Hebrew Bible
A
A collection of sacred books containing diverse materials concerning the origins, experiences, beliefs, and practices of the early Hebrew people. Most of the extant text was compiled by members of the priestly class in the fifth century B.C.E.
14
Q
Hellenistic Age
A
Greek culture spread across western Asia and northeastern Africa after the conquests of Alexander the Great. The period ended with the fall of the last major Hellenistic kingdom to Rome, but Greek cultural influence persisted until the spread of Islam.
15
Q
Helsinki Accords
A
Political and human rights agreement signed in Helsinki, Finland in 1975 by the Soviet Union and western European countries.
16
Q
Henry the Navigator
A
(1394-1460) Portuguese prince who promoted the study of navigation and directed voyages of exploration down the western coast of Africa.
17
Q
Hernan Cortes
A
Spanish explorer and conquistador who led the conquest of Aztec Mexico in 1519-1521 for Spain.
18
Q
Herodotus
A
Greek Historian, considered the father of History. He came from a Greek community in Anatolia and traveled extensively, collecting information in western Asia and the Mediterranean lands.
19
Q
The Mahdi
A
Last imam in a series of twelve descendants of Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali, whom Shi’ites consider divinely appointed leaders of the Muslim community. In occlusion since ca. 873, he is expected to return as an apocolyptic messiah at the end of time.
20
Q
hieroglyphics
A
System of writing in which pictorial symbols represented sounds, syllables, or concepts. Used for official and monumental inscriptions in ancient Egypt.
21
Q
Hinduism
A
Term for a wide variety of beliefs and ritual practices that have developed in the Indian subcontinent since antiquity. It has roots in ancient Vedic, Buddhist, and south Indian religious concepts and practices.
22
Q
Hiroshima
A
City in Japan, the first to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, on August 6, 1945. The bombing hastened the end of World War II.
23
Q
Hittites
A
A people from central Anatolia who established an empire in Anatolia and Syria in the Late Bronze Age. With wealth from the trade in metals and military power based on chariot forces, they vied with New Kingdom Egypt over Syria.
24
Q
Holocaust
A
Nazis’ program during World War II to kill people they considered undesirable. Some 6 million Jews perished during the Holocaust, along with millions of Poles, Gypsies, Communists, Socialists, and others.
25
Holy Roman Empire
Loose federation of mostly German states and principalities, headed by an emperor who had little control over the hundreds of princes who elected him. It lasted from 962 to 1806.
26
hoplite
Heavily armored Greek infantryman of the Archaic and Classical periods who fought in the close-packed phalanx formation. Hoplite armies-militias composed of middle- and upper-class citizens supplying their own equipment. Famously defeated superior numbers of opponents by fighting as a unit.
27
horse collar
Harnessing method that increased the efficiency of horses by shifting the point of traction from the animal's neck to the shoulders; its adoption favors the spread of horse-drawn plows and vehicles.
28
House of Burgesses
Elected assembly in colonial Virginia, created in 1618.
29
Humanists
European scholars, writers, and teachers associated with the study of the humanities (grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, languages, and moral philosophy), influential in the fifteenth century and later.
30
Humanism
a worldview and a moral philosophy that considers humans to be of primary importance. It is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality. A major component of the Italian Renaissance.
31
Hundred Years War
Series of campaigns over control of the throne of France, involving English and French royal families and French noble families.
32
Ibn Battuta
Moroccan Muslim scholar, the most widely traveled individual of his time. He wrote a detailed account of his visits to Islamic lands from China to Spain and the western Sudan.
33
Ibn Khaldun
Arab historian. He developed an influential theory on the rise and fall of states. Born in Tunis, he spent his later years in Cairo as a teacher and judge. In 1400 he was sent to Damascus to negotiate the surrender of the city.
34
Inca
Largest and most powerful Andean empire. Controlled the Pacific coast of South America from Ecuador to Chile from its capital of Cuzco.
35
Indian Civil Service
The elite professional class of officials who administered the government of British India. Originally composed exclusively of well-educated British men, it gradually added qualified Indians.
36
Indian National Congress
A movement and political party founded in 1885 to demand greater Indian participation in government. Its membership was middle class, and its demands were modest until World War I. Led after 1920 by Mohandas K. Gandhi, appealing to the poor.
37
Indian Ocean
This area possessed the biggest network of sea-based trade in the postclassical period prior to the rise of Atlantic-based trade.
38
indulgence
The forgiveness of the punishment due for past sins, granted by the Catholic Church authorities as a reward for a pious act. Martin Luther's protest against the sale of these is often seen as touching off the Protestant Reformation.
39
Industrial Revolution
The transformation of the economy, the environment, and living conditions, occurring first in England in the eighteenth century, that resulted from the use of steam engines, the mechanization of manufacturing in factories, transit, and communications
40
investiture
controversy Dispute between the popes and the Holy Roman Emperors over who held ultimate authority over bishops in imperial lands.
41
iron curtain
Winston Churchill's term for the Cold War division between the Soviet-dominated East and the U.S.-dominated West.
42
Iroquois Confederacy
An alliance of five northeastern Amerindian peoples (after 1722 six) that made decisions on military and diplomatic issues through a council of representatives. Allied first with the Dutch and later with the English, it dominated W. New England.
43
Islam
Religion expounded by the Prophet Muhammad (570-632 C.E.) on the basis of his reception of divine revelations, which were collected after his death into the Quran.
44
Israel
A Jewish state on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, both in antiquity and again founded in 1948 after centuries of Jewish diaspora.
45
Jacobins
Radical republicans during the French Revolution. They were led by Maximilien Robespierre from 1793 to 1794.
46
James Watt
invented the condenser and other improvements that made the steam engine a practical source of power for industry and transportation. The watt, an electrical measurement, is named after him.
47
Janissaries
Infantry, originally of slave origin, armed with firearms and constituting the elite of the Ottoman army from the fifteenth century until the corps was abolished in 1826.
48
Nehru
Indian statesman. He succeeded Mohandas K. Gandhi as leader of the Indian National Congress. He negotiated the end of British colonial rule in India and became India's first prime minister (1947-1964).
49
Jesuits
Members of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic order founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1534. They played an important part in the Catholic Reformation and helped create conduits of trade and knowledge between Asia and Europe.
50
Jesus
A Jew from Galilee in northern Israel who sought to reform Jewish beliefs and practices. He was executed as a revolutionary by the Romans. He is the basis of the world's largest religion.
51
Joesph Stalin
Ruled the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953. Ruled with an iron fist, using Five-Year Plans to increase industrial production and terror to crush opposition.
52
joint-stock company
A business, often backed by a government charter, that sold shares to individuals to raise money for its trading enterprises and to spread the risks (and profits) among many investors.
53
Jose Morelos
Mexican priest and former student of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, he led the forces fighting for Mexican independence until he was captured and executed in 1814.
54
Josiah Wedgwood
English industrialist whose pottery works were the first to produce fine-quality pottery by industrial methods.
55
Juan Peron
President of Argentina (1946-1955, 1973-1974). As a military officer, he championed the rights of labor. Aided by his wife Eva Duarte Peron, he was elected president in 1946. He built up Argentinean industry, became very popular among the urban poor.
56
junk
A very large flatbottom sailing ship produced in the Tang and Song Empires, specially designed for long-distance commercial travel.
57
kamikaze
The 'divine wind,' which the Japanese credited with blowing Mongol invaders away from their shores in 1281.
58
Karl Marx
German journalist and philosopher, founder of the Marxist branch of socialism. He is known for two books: The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (Vols. I-III, 1867-1894).
59
karma
In Indian tradition, the residue of deeds performed in past and present lives that adheres to a 'spirit' and determines what form it will assume in its next life cycle. Used in India to make people happy with their lot in life.
60
keiretsu
Japanese business groups after the post-WWII dismantling of the zaibatsu. They are Alliances of corporations each often centered around a bank. They dominate the post-WWII Japanese economy.
61
khipu
System of knotted colored cords used by preliterate Andean peoples to transmit information. These knots are interesting because the Inca are notable for being a relatively sophisticated empire and civilization, but they had no written language (very unusual). Some have gone so far as to suggest that these knots were themselves a language, but this probably isn't true.
62
Khubilai Khan
Last of the Mongol Great Khans (r. 1260-1294). Ruled the Mongol Empire from China and was the founder of the Yuan Empire in China after finishing off the Song Dynasty.
63
Kievan Russia
Government established at Kiev in Ukraine around 879 CE by Scandinavian adventurers asserting authority over a mostly Slavic farming population.
64
King Leopold II
King of Belgium (r. 1865-1909). He was active in encouraging the exploration of Central Africa and became the infamous ruler of the Congo Free State (to 1908).
65
Korean War
Conflict that began with North Korea's invasion of South Korea and came to involve the United Nations (primarily the United States) allying with South Korea and the People's Republic of China allying with North Korea.
66
labor union
An organization of workers in a particular industry or trade, created to defend the interests of members through strikes or negotiations with employers.
67
laissez faire
The idea that government should refrain from interfering in economic affairs. The classic exposition of laissez-faire principles is Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (1776).
68
lama
In Tibetan Buddhism, a teacher.
69
League of Nations
International organization founded in 1919 to promote world peace and cooperation but greatly weakened by the refusal of the United States to join. It proved ineffectual in stopping aggression by Italy, Japan, and Germany in the 1930s.
70
Legalism
In China, a political philosophy that emphasized the unruliness of human nature and justified state coercion and control. The Qin ruling class invoked it to validate the authoritarian nature of their regime.
71
liberalism
A political ideology that emphasizes rule of law, representative democracy, rights of citizens, and the protection of private property. This ideology, derived from the Enlightenment, was especially popular among the property-owning middle classes.
72
Little Ice Age
A century-long period of cool climate that began in the 1590s. Its ill effects on agriculture in northern Europe were notable.
73
loess
Fine yellowish light silt deposited by wind and water. It constitutes the fertile soil of the Yellow River Valley in northern China. Because of the tiny needle-like shape of its particles, it can be easily shaped and used for underground structures (but vulnerable to earthquake)
74
Long March
The 6,000-mile (9,600-kilometer) flight of Chinese Communists from southeastern to northwestern China. The Communists, led by Mao Zedong, were pursued by the Chinese army under orders from Chiang Kai-shek.
75
ma'at
Egyptian term for the concept of divinely created and maintained order in the universe. Reflecting the ancient Egyptians' belief in an essentially beneficent world, the divine ruler was the earthly guarantor of this order.
76
Macartney Mission
The unsuccessful attempt by the British Empire to establish diplomatic relations with the Qing Empire in 1793.
77
Mahabharata
A vast epic chronicling the events leading up to a cataclysmic battle between related kinship groups in early India. It includes the Bhagavad-Gita, the most important work of Indian sacred literature. Mahayana Buddhism,Branch of Buddhism followed in China, Japan, and Central Asia. The focus is on reverence for Buddha and for bodhisattvas, enlightened persons who have postponed nirvana to help others attain enlightenment.
78
Malay
A designation for peoples originating in south China and Southeast Asia who settled the Malaysian Peninsula, Indonesia, and the Philippines, then spread eastward across the islands of the Pacific Ocean and west to Madagascar. (p. 190)
79
Mali
Empire created by indigenous Muslims in western Sudan of West Africa from the thirteenth to fifteenth century. It was famous for its role in the trans-Saharan gold trade.
80
Mamluks
Under the Islamic system of military slavery, Turkic military slaves who formed an important part of the armed forces of the Abbasid Caliphate of the ninth and tenth centuries. Mamluks eventually founded their own state, ruling Egypt and Syria (1250-1517)
81
Manchuria
Region of Northeast Asia North of Korea.
82
Manchus
Northeast Asian peoples who defeated the Ming Dynasty and founded the Qing Dynasty in 1644, which was the last of China's imperial dynasties.
83
Mandate of Heaven
Chinese religious and political ideology developed by the Zhou, was the prerogative of Heaven, the chief deity, to grant power to the ruler of China.
84
Mandate System
Allocation of former German colonies and Ottoman possessions to the victorious powers after World War I, to be administered under League of Nations supervision. Used especially in reference to the Western European possession of the Middle East after WWI.
85
manor
In medieval Europe, a large, self-sufficient landholding consisting of the lord's residence (manor house), outbuildings, peasant village, and surrounding land.
86
Mansa Musa
Ruler of Mali (r. 1312-1337). His extravagant pilgrimage through Egypt to Mecca in 1324-1325 established the empire's reputation for wealth in the Mediterranean world.
87
manumission
A grant of legal freedom to an individual slave.
88
Mao Zedong
Leader of the Chinese Communist Party (1927-1976). He led the Communists on the Long March (1934-1935) and rebuilt the Communist Party and Red Army during the Japanese occupation of China (1937-1945).
89
mass deportation
Removal of entire peoples used as terror tactic by Assyrian and Persian Empires.
90
mass production
The manufacture of many identical products by the division of labor into many small
91
Mauryan Empire
The first state to unify most of the Indian subcontinent. It was founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 324 B.C.E. and survived until 184 B.C.E. From its capital at Pataliputra in the Ganges Valley it grew wealthy from taxes.
92
Max Planck
German physicist who developed quantum theory and was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1918.
93
Maximillien Robespierre
Young provincial lawyer who led the most radical phases of the French Revolution. His execution ended the Reign of Terror. See Jacobins.
94
Maya
Mesoamerican civilization concentrated in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and in Guatemala and Honduras but never unified into a single empire. Major contributions were in mathematics, astronomy, and development of the calendar.
95
Mecca
City in western Arabia; birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, and ritual center of the Islamic religion.
96
mechanization
The application of machinery to manufacturing and other activities. Among the first processes to be mechanized were the spinning of cotton thread and the weaving of cloth in late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century England. (p. 603)
97
medieval
Literally 'middle age,' a term that historians of Europe use for the period between roughly 500 and 1400, signifying the period between Greco-Roman antiquity and the Renaissance.
98
Medina
City in western Arabia to which the Prophet Muhammad and his followers emigrated in 622 to escape persecution in Mecca.
99
Meiji Restoration
The political program that followed the destruction of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868, in which a collection of young leaders set Japan on the path of centralization, industrialization, and imperialism.
100
Memphis
The capital of Old Kingdom Egypt, near the head of the Nile Delta. Early rulers were interred in the nearby pyramids.
101
mercantilism
European government policies of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries designed to promote overseas trade between a country and its colonies and accumulate precious metals by requiring colonies to trade only with their motherland country
102
Nubians
The people in Eastern Africa south of Egypt who were rivals of the ancient Egyptians and known for their flourishing kingdom between the 400s BC and the 400s CE. They speak their own language and were known by the Egyptians for their darker skin.
103
mestizo
The term used by Spanish authorities to describe someone of mixed native American and European descent.
104
Middle Passage
The part of the Great Circuit involving the transportation of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas.
105
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
Mexican priest who led the first stage of the Mexican independence war in 1810. He was captured and executed in 1811.
106
Mikhail Gorbachev
Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His liberalization effort improved relations with the West, but he lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in Eastern Europe.
107
Ming
Chinese dynasty that followed the overthrow of the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty in China. Among other things, the emperor Yongle sponsored the building of the Forbidden City and the voyages of Zheng He. It was mostly a time of vibrant economic productivity. It is regarded as the last great Chinese dynasty (1368-1644). In 1644 they fall to Manchurian (Qing Dynasty) from the North who who rule China until the Nationalist revolution in 1911.
108
Minoan
Prosperous civilization on the Aegean island of Crete in the second millennium B.C.E. Exerted powerful cultural influences on the early Greeks.
109
mita
Andean labor system based on shared obligations to help kinsmen and work on behalf of the ruler and religious organizations.
110
Montezuma II
The last Aztec emperor. Here he is on vacation at the beach, just days before being captured and killed by Cortés in 1520.
111
modernization
The process of reforming political, military, economic, social, and cultural traditions in imitation of the early success of Western societies, often with regard for accommodating local traditions in non-Western societies.
112
Mohandas Gandhi
Leader of the Indian independence movement and advocate of nonviolent resistance. After being educated as a lawyer in England, he returned to India and became leader of the Indian National Congress in 1920.
113
Mohenjo-Daro
Largest city of the Indus Valley civilization. It was centrally located in the extensive floodplain of the Indus River. Little is known about the political institutions of Indus Valley communities, but the large-scale implies central planning.
114
moksha
The Hindu concept of the spirit's 'liberation' from the endless cycle of rebirths.
115
monasticism
Living in a religious community apart from secular society and adhering to a rule stipulating chastity, obedience, and poverty. (Primary Centers of Learning in Medieval Europe)
116
Mongols
A people of this name is mentioned as early as the records of the Tang Empire, living as nomads in northern Eurasia. After 1206 they established an enormous empire under Genghis Khan, linking western and eastern Eurasia.
117
monotheism
Belief in a single divine entity. The Israelite worship of Yahweh developed into an exclusive belief in one god, and this concept passed into Christianity and Islam.
118
monsoon
These strong and predictable winds have long been ridden across the open sea by sailors, and the large amounts of rainfall that they deposit on parts of India, Southeast Asia, and China allow for the cultivation of several crops a year.
119
movable type
Type in which each individual character is cast on a separate piece of metal. It replaced woodblock printing, allowing for the arrangement of individual letters and other characters on a page. Invented in Korea 13th Century.
120
Mughal Empire
Muslim state (1526-1857) exercising dominion over most of India in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
121
Muhammad
Arab prophet; founder of religion of Islam.
122
Muhammad Ali
Leader of Egyptian modernization in the early nineteenth century. He ruled Egypt as an Ottoman governor, but had imperial ambitions. His descendants ruled Egypt until overthrown in 1952.
123
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Indian Muslim politician who founded the state of Pakistan. A lawyer by training, he joined the All-India Muslim League in 1913. As leader of the League from the 1920s on, he negotiated with the British/INC for Muslim Political Rights
124
mulatto
The term used in Spanish and Portuguese colonies to describe someone of mixed African and European descent.
125
Muscovy
The Russian feudal duchy that emerged as a local power gradually during the era of Mongol domination. The Muscovite princes convinced their Mongol Tatar overlords to let them collect all the tribute gold from the other Russian princes on behalf of the Mongols. This caused Moscow to become the power center of Russian society and eventually they rebelled against Mongol domination.The Muscovite dynasty ruled without interruption from 1276 to 1598.
126
Muslim
An adherent of the Islamic religion.
127
Mycenae
Site of a fortified palace complex in southern Greece that controlled a Late Bronze Age kingdom. In Homer's epic poems Mycenae was the base of King Agamemnon, who commanded the Greeks besieging Troy.
128
Napoleon Bonaparte
Overthrew the French revolutionary government (The Directory) in 1799 and became emperor of France in 1804. Failed to defeat Great Britain and abdicated in 1814. Returned to power briefly in 1815 but was defeated and died in exile.
129
Nasir al-Din Tusi
Persian mathematician and cosmologist whose academy near Tabriz provided the model for the movement of the planets that helped to inspire the Copernican model of the solar system.
130
National Assembly
French Revolutionary assembly (1789-1791). Called first as the Estates General, the three estates came together and demanded radical change. It passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789. nationalism,Political ideology that stresses people's membership in a nation-a community defined by a common culture and history as well as by territory. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, nationalism was a force for unity in western Europe
131
NATO
Organization formed in 1949 as a military alliance of western European and North American states against the Soviet Union and its east European allies. (See also Warsaw Pact.)
132
Neo-Assyrian Empire
A major Mesopotamian empire between 934-608 BCE. They used force and terror and exploited the wealth and labor of their subjects. They were an iron-age resurgence of a previous bronze age empire.
133
Neolithic
The period of the Stone Age associated with the ancient Agricultural Revolution. It follows the Paleolithic period.
134
New Economic Policy
Policy proclaimed by Vladimir Lenin in 1924 to encourage the revival of the Soviet economy by allowing small private business and farming using markets instead of communist state ownership. His idea was that the Soviet state would just control "the commanding heights" of the economy like major industry, while allowing ordinary citizens to operate business and property ownership as normal. Joseph Stalin ended this in 1928 and replaced it with greater state ownership, collectivization, and a series of Five-Year Plans.
135
New Imperialism
Historians' term for the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century wave of conquests by European powers, the United States, and Japan, which were followed by the development and exploitation of the newly conquered territories.
136
nomad
A person who lives a way of life, forced by a scarcity of resources, in which groups of people continually migrate to find pastures and water.
137
nonaligned
During the Cold War, countries who did not want to support either side sometimes declared themselves to be.
138
Nongovernmental Organizations
Nonprofit international organizations devoted to investigating human rights abuses and providing humanitarian relief. Two NGOs won the Nobel Peace Prize in the 1990s: International Campaign to Ban Landmines (1997) and Doctors Without Borders (1999).
139
nuclear nonproliferation
Goal of international efforts to prevent countries other than the five declared nuclear powers (United States, Russia, Britain, France, and China) from obtaining nuclear weapons. The first Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed in 1968.
140
Olmec
The first Mesoamerican civilization. Between ca. 1200 and 400 B.C.E., these people of central Mexico created a vibrant civilization that included intensive agriculture, wide-ranging trade, ceremonial centers, and monumental construction.
141
Opium Wars
Wars between Britain and the Qing Empire (mind 1800s), caused by the Qing government's refusal to let Britain import Opium. China lost and Britain and most other European powers were able to develop a strong trade presence throughout China against their wishes.
142
Otto von Bismarck
Chancellor of Prussia from 1862 until 1871, when he became chancellor of Germany. A conservative nationalist, he led Prussia to victory against Austria (1866) and France (1870) and was responsible for the creation of the German Empire
143
Ottomans
Turkish empire based in Anatolia. Arrived in the same wave of Turkish migrations as the Seljuks.
144
Paleolithic
The period of the Stone Age associated with the evolution of humans. It predates the Neolithic period.
145
Panama Canal
Ship canal cut across the isthmus of Panama by United States, it opened in 1915.
146
papacy
The central administration of the Roman Catholic Church, of which the pope is the head. (pp. 258, 445)
147
papyrus
A reed that grows along the banks of the Nile River in Egypt. From it was produced a coarse, paperlike writing medium used by the Egyptians and many other peoples in the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East.
148
Parthians
Iranian ruling dynasty between ca. 250 B.C.E. and 226 C.E.
149
Apostle Paul
A Jew from the Greek city of Tarsus in Anatolia, he initially persecuted the followers of Jesus but, according to Christian belief, after receiving a revelation on the road to Syrian Damascus, he became arguably the most significant figure in the spread of Christianity and the shaping of its doctrine.
150
pax romana
The period of stability and prosperity that Roman rule brought to the lands of the Roman Empire in the first two centuries C.E. The movement of people and trade goods along Roman roads and safe seas allowed for the spread of cuture/ideas.
151
Pearl Harbor
Naval base in Hawaii attacked by Japanese aircraft on December 7, 1941. The sinking of much of the U.S. Pacific Fleet brought the United States into World War II.
152
Peloponnesian War
War between Athens and Spartan Alliances. The war was largely a consequence of Athenian imperialism in the Aegean region. It went on for over 20 years. Ultimately, Sparta prevailed but both were weakened sufficient to be soon conquered by Macedonians, later leading to the Hellenistic Empire and Alexander the Great.
153
Perestroika
Russian term for the political and economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Its literal meaning is "restructuring", referring to the restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system.
154
Pericles
Aristocratic leader who guided the Athenian state through the transformation to full participatory democracy for all male citizens.
155
Persepolis
A complex of palaces, reception halls, and treasury buildings erected by the Persian kings Darius I and Xerxes in the Persian homelan
156
Persian Wars
Conflicts between Greek city-states and the Persian Empire in the 400s BCE. Essentially Perisa--biggest empire in the world at the time--invaded Greece twice with an overwhelming force and lost both times. It contributed heavily to the rise of Athens as a mini-empire and the "golden age" of Athenian culture.
157
Peter the Great
(1672-1725) Russian tsar (r. 1689-1725). He enthusiastically introduced Western languages and technologies to the Russian elite, moving the capital from Moscow to his new city of St. Petersburg.
158
pilgrimage
Journey to a sacred shrine by Christians seeking to show their piety, fulfill vows, or gain absolution for sins. Other religions also have pilgrimage traditions, such as the Muslim journey to Mecca.
159
Pilgrims
Group of English Protestant dissenters who established Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts in 1620 to seek religious freedom after having lived briefly in the Netherlands.
160
postmodernism
Post-World War II intellectual movement and cultural attitude focusing on cultural pluralism and release from the confines and ideology of Western high culture.
161
printing press
A mechanical device for transferring text or graphics from a woodblock or type to paper using ink. Presses using movable type first appeared in Europe in about 1450.
162
Protestant Reformation
Religious reform movement within the Latin Christian Church beginning in 1519. It spit the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the 'protesters' forming several new Christian denominations, including the Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican Churches, among many others.
163
proxy wars
During the Cold War, local or regional wars in which the superpowers armed, trained, and financed the combatants.
164
Puritans
English Protestant dissenters who believed that God predestined souls to heaven or hell before birth. They founded Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629.
165
Qin
A people and state in the Wei Valley of eastern China that conquered rival states and created the first short-lived Chinese empire (221-206 B.C.E.). Their ruler, Shi Huangdi, standardized many features of Chinese society and enslaved his subjects.
166
Qing Empire
Empire established in China by Manchus who overthrew the Ming Empire in 1644. At various times they also controlled Manchuria, Mongolia, Turkestan, and Tibet. The last emperor of this dynasty was overthrown in 1911 by nationalists.
167
Quran
Book composed of divine revelations made to the Prophet Muhammad between ca. 610 and his death in 632; the sacred text of the religion of Islam.
168
railroads
Networks of iron (later steel) rails on which steam (later electric or diesel) locomotives pulled long trains at high speeds. The first were built in England in the 1830s. Success caused the construction of these to boom lasting into the 20th Century
169
Rajputs
Members of a mainly Hindu warrior caste from northwest India. The Mughal emperors drew most of their Hindu officials from this caste, and Akbar I married a Rajput princess.
170
Ramesses II
A long-lived ruler of New Kingdom Egypt (r. 1290-1224 B.C.E.). He reached an accommodation with the Hittites of Anatolia after a military standoff. He built on a grand scale throughout Egypt.
171
Reconquista
Beginning in the eleventh century, military campaigns by various Iberian Christian states to recapture territory taken by Muslims. In 1492 the last Muslim ruler was defeated, and Spain and Portugal emerged as united kingdoms.
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Italian Renaissance
A period of intense artistic and intellectual activity, said to be a 'rebirth' of Greco-Roman culture. From roughly the mid-fourteenth to mid-fifteenth century followed by this movement spreading into the Northern Europe during 1400-1600
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Revolutions of 1848
Democratic and nationalist revolutions that swept across Europe during a time after the Congress of Vienna when conservative monarchs were trying to maintain their power. The monarchy in France was overthrown. In Germany, Austria, Italy, and Hungary the revolutions failed.
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Richard Arkwright
English inventor and entrepreneur who became the wealthiest and most successful textile manufacturer of the first Industrial Revolution. He invented the water frame, a machine that, with minimal human supervision, could spin several threads at once.
175
Roman Principate
A term used to characterize Roman government in the first three centuries C.E., based on the ambiguous title princeps ('first citizen') adopted by Augustus to conceal his military dictatorship.
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Roman Republic
The period from 507 to 31 B.C.E., during which Rome was largely governed by the aristocratic Roman Senate. (p. 148)
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Roman Senate
A council whose members were the heads of wealthy, landowning families. Originally an advisory body to the early kings, in the era of the Roman Republic the Senate effectively governed the Roman state and the growing empire.
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Romanization
The process by which the Latin language and Roman culture became dominant in the western provinces of the Roman Empire. Romans did not seek to Romanize them, but the subjugated people pursued it.
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Royal African Company
A trading company chartered by the English government in 1672 to conduct its merchants' trade on the Atlantic coast of Africa. (p. 507)
180
Saddam Hussein
President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. Waged war on Iran in 1980-1988. In 1990 he ordered an invasion of Kuwait but was defeated by United States and its allies in the Gulf War (1991). Defeated by US led invasion in 2003.
181
Safavid Empire
Turkish-ruled Iranian kingdom (1502-1722) established by Ismail Safavi, who declared Iran a Shi'ite state.
182
Sahel
Belt south of the Sahara where it transitions into savanna across central Africa. It means literally 'coastland' in Arabic.
183
Salvador Allende
The first Marxist politician elected president in the Americas. He was elected president of Chile in 1970 and overthrown by a US-backed military coup in 1973.
184
samurai
Literally 'those who serve,' the hereditary military elite in Feudal Japan as well as during the Tokugawa Shogunate.
185
Sandinistas
Members of a leftist coalition that overthrew the Nicaraguan dictatorship of Anastasia Somoza in 1979 and attempted to install a socialist economy. The United States financed armed opposition by the Contras. They lost national elections in 1990.
186
Sasanid Empire
The last of pre-Islamic Persian Empire, from 224 to 651 CE. One of the two main powers in Western Asia and Europe alongside the Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire for a period of more than 400 years
187
scholasticism
A philosophical and theological system, associated with Thomas Aquinas, devised to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy and Roman Catholic theology in the thirteenth century.
188
Scientific Revolution
The intellectual movement in Europe, initially associated with planetary motion and other aspects of physics, that by the seventeenth century had laid the groundwork for modern science.
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scramble for Africa
Sudden wave of conquests in Africa by European powers in the 1880s and 1890s. Britain obtained most of eastern Africa, France most of northwestern Africa. Other countries (Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, and Spain) acquired lesser amounts.
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Semitic
Family of related languages long spoken across parts of western Asia and northern Africa. In antiquity these languages included Hebrew, Aramaic, and Phoenician. The most widespread modern member of the this language family is Arabic.
191
Separate Spheres
Nineteenth-century idea in Western societies that men and women, especially of the middle class, should have different roles in society: women as wives, mothers, and homemakers; men as breadwinners and participants in business and politics
192
sepoy
A soldier in South Asia, especially in the service of the British.
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Sepoy Mutiny
The revolt against the British by many different groups across India 1857 but led particularly by some of the disgruntled Indian soldiers working for the British. It caused the British government to take over more direct control of India from the British East India Company.
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Serbia
The Ottoman province in the Balkans that rose up against Janissary control in the early 1800s. Terrorists from here triggered WWI. After World War II it became the central province of Yugoslavia.
195
serf
In medieval Europe, an agricultural laborer legally bound to a lord's property and obligated to perform set services for the lord. In Russia some of them worked as artisans and in factories; in Russia it was not abolished until 1861.
196
Shah Abbas I
Shah of Iran (r. 1587-1629). The most illustrious ruler of the Safavid Empire, he moved the imperial capital to Isfahan in 1598, where he erected many palaces, mosques, and public buildings. (p. 533)
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shamanism
The practice of identifying special individuals (shamans) who will interact with spirits for the benefit of the community. Characteristic of the Korean kingdoms of the early medieval period and of early societies of Central Asia. (p. 292)
198
Shang
The dominant people in the earliest Chinese dynasty for which we have written records (ca. 1750-1027 B.C.E.). Ancestor worship, divination by means of oracle bones, and the use of bronze vessels for ritual purposes were major elements of this culture.
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Shi Huangdi
Founder of the short-lived Qin dynasty and creator of the Chinese Empire (r. 221-210 B.C.E.). He is remembered for his ruthless conquests of rival states and standardization.
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Shi'a
Branch of Islam believing that God vests leadership of the community in a descendant of Muhammad's son-in-law Ali. Mainly found in Iran and a small part of Iraq. It is the state religion of Iran. A member of this group is called a Shi'ite.
