Chapter 2 Vocab Flashcards
Rivers that flow south from modern-day Turkey through what is now Iraq to empty into the Persian Gulf
Tigris and Euphrates
Area between two rivers - larger area, Fertile Crescent, overlaps with Mesopotamia, along the Mediterranean Coast
Mesopotamia/Fertile Crescent
A Phoenician colony on the coast of North Africa, a significant outpost in the region
Carthage
A desert in Southern Africa
Kalahari
Begins in the interior of Africa and flows North to empty into the Mediterranean Sea (Biggest River)
Nile River
The creation of desert-like conditions
Desertification
Civilization that developed near water and became the core and foundation of later civilizations in the region
Indus River Valley
Caused the gradual decline and eventual disappearance of the Harappan and Mohenjo-Daro civilizations, so much tree loss that the deforestation caused the soil to erode
Environmental Degradation
The action of clearing a wide area of trees
Deforestation
Major River in China (Birthplace of Chinese Civilizations)
Huang He/Yellow River
Another major river in China that stretches 4,000 miles across Central China (Longest River to flow entirely within one country)
Chiang Jiang River
A type of Fertile soil that is yellow in color
Loess
Historical region and cultural area that is in the middle of America
Mesoamerica
Corn, first important plants to be grown by indigenous people
Maize
Islands that early people would live on
Oceania and Polynesia
The assignment of different parts of a manufacturing process or task to different people in order to improve efficiency
Division of Labor
A system by which one thing is exchanged for another
Barter
worship of many gods
Polytheistic
temples and altars in large stepped pyramids
Ziggurats
The study of objects outside Earth’s atmosphere
Astronomy
Predicting the future by studying movements of stars and planets
Astrology
They lived in the region of Canaan - present-day Israel (Kingdom of Israel)
Hebrews/Israelites/Jews
“a father of many nations” - father that lead them back to Egypt
Abraham
A prophet who receives then Ten Commandments from God and helps the people
Moses
The ten rules given to Moses by God that dictate how humans should live and interact with one another
Ten Commandments
belief in the existence of one God
Monotheism
The dispersion of Israelites or Jews out of their ancient ancestral homeland and their subsequent settlement of other parts
Jewish Diaspora
Kings and queens who hold both religious and political power
Theocrats
Removing the body’s internal organs, drying the body with salts, and packing its insides and wrapping it with chemically treated cloth
Mummification
indo-european speaking peoples originally from Central Asia
Aryans
A language that was commonly used among people
Hindi
A collection of Aryan religious hyms, poems, and songs
Vedas/Vedic Age
The ancient Chinese believed that the spirits of their ancestors could speak to gods for them, they made offspring to try to win over the favor of the gods
Ancestor Veneration
A separate class of people who were skilled at cuneiform, were charged first with record-keeping and later with the writing of history and myths
Scribes
The oldest written story on the Earth based on the “adventures” of a real Sumerian King named Gilgamesh
The Epic of Gilgamesh
The world’s first writing system
Cuneiform
A system of symbols (letters) that represent the sounds of speech, as an alternative to Cuneiform
Alphabetic Script
picture-writing to communicate with other (like the alphabet)
Hieroglyphics
paper book that Egyptians put in the coffins of dead pharaohs and some nobles: each version of the book was different since it told the story of the dead person
Book for the Dead
sacred language that was used to create stories passed through generations
Sanskirt
the interaction of both traditions come to fruition in the Upanishads, a collection of religious thought that illuminated several new religious concepts - bhrama, dhama stuff
Upanishads
originated in Southern China, they introduced agriculture to the New Guinea
Austronesian Speakers
men dominated civilizations rather than woman
Patriarchal
a system of political organization in which a vassal served a lord and received protection and land in return
Feudalism
Sumerians migrated into Mesopotamia, settling with people who already lived there; overtime they created the civilization of Sumer
Sumer/Sumerians
a city in Sumer that was the largest city with a popular of 50,000
Uruk
each Sumerian city/the land they controlled formed a city-state, which were independent with their own government
City-states
Invaders who built a new city capital called Babylon, so they become known as Babylonians
Babylonians
a large territory that included diverse social groups
Empire
they occupied parts of present-day Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, developed a wide trade network across the Med. Sea
Phoenicians
A nomadic pastoralism group from modern Syria that invaded the middle Kingdom
Hyksos
An invader group who had a military advantage over the Egyptians because they were starting to use iron tools and weapons
Hitties
Was conquered by the civilization of Axum, remained dependent on Egypt, civilization
Kush
Another civilization that was founded on the plateau of present-day Ethiopia
Axum
Indigenous peoples of the Indian Subcontinent
Dravidians
Established by Dravidians, two sophisticated urban centers in the Indus valley
Harappan & Mohenjo Daro
human settlement, along the coast of Peru and it existed from 1000 to 200 B.C.E
Chavin Civilization
Chilean dependency in the eastern Pacific Ocean, famous for its giant stone statues
Easter Island
of or relating to the people who have been in a region from the earliest time
Aboriginals
the core/foundation of the advanced civilizations, their lifestyle influenced all the later civilizations, east and central Mexico, 200 to 400 B.C.E
Olmec Civilization
the Babylonian’s most powerful king
Hammurabi
a set of laws created by Hammurabi - very extreme, supposedly “equal”… a little too equal
Code of Hammurabi
A king who united two kingdoms, a turning point in Egyptian history
King Menes
the king or queen leading the government (term did not come into use until the New Kingdom)
Pharaoh
A pharaoh who tried to change Egypt’s religion
Akhenaton
A powerful pharaoh who took the throne and remained in power for a very long time; expanded the empire to Southwest Asia
Ramses the Great
lasted about 400 years, a Kingdom in China that we do not know much about
Xia Dynasty
a leader overthrew Xia Dynasty, creating the Shang Dynasty which ruled for the next 600 years, decently successful
Shang Dynasty
the idea that a just ruler’s power was bestowed by the gods
Mandate of Heaven
When the king was killed, the Shang Dynasty ended, and Wu established the Zhou Dynasty in its place, ruled for 900 years
Zhou Dynasty
