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Civilzations Vocab
Types of government, economy, religion, etc. Also includes ancient civilizations
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Democracy | Government where the people have the supreme power. The government can only act by and with the consent of the people. |
| Republic | System of government where people choose the leaders who represent them |
| Monarchy | When a leader of a country rules by birthright, passed down through the generations of a family. |
| Dictatorship | a ruler or a group that holds power by force, usually relies on military support to stay in power |
| Traditional Economy | Economy where people produce what they need to survive. They try to produce only what they need for themselves. (hunting, gathering, fishing, etc.) |
| Free Market Economy | Where individuals buy and sell goods and services in order to make money. A surplus is produced in order to make a profit. what is produced is based on what the consumers will buy. |
| Command Economy | The government controls what goods are produced, how they are produced, and what they will cost. The government owns all factories, lands, and stores. |
| Mixed Economy | Individuals make some economic decisions and the government makes others. |
| Monotheism | the worship of only one God |
| Polytheism | the worship of more than one god |
| Animism | the worship of spirits in nature, the belief in the sacredness of things such as plants, animals, etc. |
| Social Mobility | the ability/ opportunity to change ones social status. (If born poor, you can become rich) |
| Matriarchal | A society where history is traced through the mother. The women in the family are looked upon with importance. |
| Patriarchal | A society where history is traced through the father. Men are considered the leaders of a family. |
| Folkways | Stories that are passed down through the generations about a given group of people. These stories reflect the culture of the people. |
| Ethnocentrism | Judging another race/culture by the standards of your own |
| Racism | The belief that a particular race or group of people is naturally superior to another. |
| Culture | How one makes up their entire way of life |
| Cultural Diffusion | The blending or mixing of cultures. |
| History | Record of events since people first developed writing, about 5,000 years ago |
| Prehistory | Period of time before people kept written records. |
| Civilization | Highly organized society with complex institutions and attitudes that link a large number of people together. |
| Anthropologist | A scientist who studies the skeletal remains of early humanlike creatures and people to determine how they looked, how long they lived, and other physical characteristics. |
| Hominids | Human beings and earlier human-like creatures. |
| Archaeologists | Scientists who excavate ancient settlements and study artifacts. |
| Artifacts | Human-made material objects, for example, a tool, a weapon, or a coin. |
| Radiocarbon Dating | A Technique that allows the age of organic matter to be identified by measuring the rate of decay of radiocarbon atoms. |
| Glaciers | Large, slow moving masses of snow and ice. |
| Ice Age | Time when Earth had extremely cold weather. |
| Agriculture | Raising crops and livestock for food. |
| Nomads | Wanderers who travel from place to place in search of food. |
| Domestication | To tame animals, such as the dog. |
| Neolithic Revolution | The Shift from food gathering to food production in prehistoric times |
| Division of Labor | Characteristic of civilizations in which different people perform different jobs. |
| Irrigation | Method of transporting water for crops based on the use of ditches and canals. |
| Artisans | Skilled craft workers. |
| Oasis | Place in the desert where water allows plant and animal life. |
| Silt | Fertile soil carried as sediment in river water. |
| Hieroglyphics | Method of Egyptian writing that used pictures or symbols to indicate words or sounds. |
| Papyrus | Writing material made by the ancient Egyptians out of plant stems. |
| Kingdom | Term for monarchy, a form of government headed by a king or queen. |
| Pharaoh | Egyptian ruler's title. |
| Dynasty | Family of rulers whose right to rule is hereditary. |
| Empire | Form of government that unites different territories and peoples under one ruler. |
| Caravans | Groups of people traveling together for safety over long distances |
| Scribes | Clerks who read or wrote for those who could not do so themselves. |
| Mummification | Preservation process that involved treating a corpse with various chemicals. |
| City-state | Form of government that consisted of a town or city and the surrounding land it controlled. |
| Cuneiform | Sumerian method of writing using a stylus to make combinations of wedge shapes. |
| Arch | Curved structure over an opening |
| Ziggurats | Sumerian temples built in layers, each one smaller than the one below. |
| Cavalry | Military units of soldiers on horses. |
| Barter | Exchange of one commodity or service for another |
| Ethical Monotheism | Hebrew for of monotheism or belief in one god, that emphasizes proper conduct. |
| Theocracy | System of government where the political leader is also the religious leader |
| Menes | The King of Upper Egypt who united all of Egypt into one kingdom. His rule marked the beginning of the Old Kingdom. Accomplishments include gaining new territory, regulation of irrigation, encouragement of trade and increasing prosperity. |
| Hyksos | A Nomadic people who migrated to Egypt and took after the fall of the Middle Kingdom. |
| Hatshepsut | First recorded female pharaoh of Egypt who maintained the security of Egypt and had temples and public buildings built. |
| Amenhotep IV | A pharaoh who attempted to change Egypt to a monotheistic kingdom. He moved the capital from Thebes to Akhetaton. |
| Tutkankhamen | Atkenaton's son who moved the capital from Akhetaton to Memphis and brought Egypt back to a polytheistic faith. |
| Ramses II | A powerful pharaoh who fought many wars against the Hittites and ordered the construction of many temples and monuments. |
| Sargon | Greatest Akkadian king that ruled Mesopotamia from about 2350 BC to 2300 BC. |
| Hammurabi | A Babylonian leader best known for his code of laws. |
| Nebuchadnezzar | Ruler of the Chaldeans who rebuilt Babylon and created the Hanging Gardens, on e of the Seven Wonders of the World. |
| Cyrus the Great, Darius I, Xerxes | Persian rulers who captured Babylon and took over the Fertile Crescent. They ruled the largest Empire up until that time in history. |
| Zoroaster | A religious reformer who believed that people had to choose between good and evil and that lying was very bad. |
| Abraham | The leader of the hebrew people who lead them toward Egypt. |
| Moses | A Hebrew leader who was given the 10 Commandment who led them out of Egypt to Canaan. |
| Saul | The first king of Israel |
| David | Saul's successor who made Jerusalem the capital of Israel |
| Solomon | David's son who built a great temple. |
| Hittites | War-like people, famous for iron-weapons and laws that were less brutal than Hammurabi's Code. |
| Assyrians | A Semitic-speaking people who were famous for their strong cavalry, use of battering rams, effective government, canal construction and the Epic of Gilgamesh |
| Chaldeans | ruled my Nebuchadnezzar, were famous forthe Hanging Gardens of Babylon and astronomy |
| Persians | had an empire that spanned Africa, Europe and Asia, founding place of zoroastrianism |
| Phoenicians | trade-centered society known for the alphabet, lumber, purple dye, glassblowing, and gold and silver |
| Lydians | first civilization to EVER use coined money |
| Hebrews | ancestors of modern day Jews who made an exodus from Egypt to Canaan |
| Torah | Jewish religious text, contained the first five books of the Old Testament |
| monsoons | seasonal wind named for the direction in which it blows or the season in which it occurs |
| citadel | strong central fortress |
| Vedas | the prayers and hymns of the Hindu religion |
| Sanskrit | the ancient Indian written language |
| Brahmins | priests in the Hindu religion |
| raja | prince who ruled an Indian city-state |
| upanishads | the philosophical explanations of the Vedas |
| epics | long poems describing heroes and great event |
| Mahabharata | epic poem based on the themes of the upanishads, about a civil war in northern India |
| Ramayana | epic that tells the story of two heroic figures, Rama and Sita |
| Bhagavad Gita | the last 18 chapters of the Mahabharata stresing the idea of proper conduct for one's status |
| caste system | form of social organization consisting of four classes which originated in India |
| monism | Hindu belief that God and human beings are one |
| maya | the illusory world of the senses |
| reincarnation | Hindu belief in the transmigration or rebirth of the soul |
| dharma | Hindu belief in fulfillment of moral duty so that the soul and progress towards dilverance from punishment in the next life |
| karma | Hindu belief that the present condition of a person's life reflects what that person did during a previous life |
| yoga | Hindu religious practice of physical and mental discipline that harmonizes the body with the soul |
| nirvana | a perfect peace, part of Buddhist belief, which releases the soul of the endless cycle of reincarnation |
| polygyny | marriage of a man to more than one wife |
| suttee | Indian ritual in which a widow commits suicide after the death of her husband |
| stupa | dome-shaped shrine that held objects associated with the Buddha |
| Indo-Ayrans | people who inhabited the Indian subcontinent |
| Enlightened One | Siddhartha Gautama - the Buddha |
| Chandragupta Maurya | the emperor of hte Mauyrian Empire, organized and army of 700,000 soldiers and conquered all of northwestern India, developed a uniform system of weights and measures, paranoid of being assassinated |
| Asoka | grandson of Chandragupta, took over all of India excluding the southern tip, became a Buddhist (causing many others to convert), supported religious toleration, forbade animal sacrifices |
| Guptas | dynasty after the Mauryians, not as big as Mauryian empire, preferred Hinduism but supported Buddhism, it was a "golden age" under their reign |
| Aryabhata | first guy to solve quadratic equations |
| Susruta | Indian doctor who brought about the idea of sanitation |
| loess | extrodinarily fertile yellow soil |
| oracle bones | bones used by Chines priests that were used to predict the future |
| calligraphy | artistic form of writing used by the Chinese |
| Mandate of Heaven | the right to rule claimed to have been granted to ancient Chinese rulers by God |
| autocracy | form of government in which the ruler holds total power |
| civil service system | administers the day to day business of government, the workers chosen through an examination |
| the Analects | collection of Confuscian writings |
| the Five Classics | the five most important works of Chinese literature - the Book of Poetry, History, Divination, the Spring and Autumn Annals, Book of Right |
| acupuncture | Chinese medical practice involves the insertion of needles to enable the life force energy too move properly |
| Shang dynasty | the first dynasty, had a complex bureaucracy, were based mainly on agriculture, had a 12 month 365 day calendar, one of the first people to have awritten language, animistic |
| Zhou dynasty | believed the Mandate of Heaven, used copper coins as money, first to use iron, didn't have a centralized government (which turned out to become their downfall) |
| Qin dynasty | founded by Shi Huangdi, had the first strong central government in China, standardized weights, measures, writing and money, started the Great Wall of China, oppressed their people (couldn't think for themselves) |
| Han dynasty | longest ruler was Wu Di, who embraced the civil service system, established the Pax Sinica (Chinese peace), the Chinese population grew to 60 million people during this time |
| Lao Zi | founded Daoism/Taoism, which stated that people shouldn't strive for power and instead live quiet lives |
| Confuscianism | founded by Confuscious, focused on respect and other moral standards as well as your role of society, government should be "virtuous and honest" |
| Liu Bang | started the Han dynasty |
Created by:
knicolej
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