| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Huang River | a river that flows from the Tibetan pleateau, across northern China, and into the Yellow Sea |
| North China Plain | in eastern China / fertile river valleys good for farming / for centuries Chinese have farmed here / good climate: melting snow, monsoon rains feed Yellow River / floods from Yellow River leave silt deposits & make land rich for farming |
| loess | fine grained fertile soildeposited by winds |
| levee | n. An embankment beside a river or stream or an arm of the sea, to prevent overflow. |
| erosion | condition in which the earth's surface is worn away by the action of water and wind |
| famine | a severe shortage of food (as through crop failure) resulting in violent hunger and starvation and death |
| steppe | Treeless plains, especially the high, flat expanses of northern Eurasia, which usually have little rain and are covered with coarse grass. They are good lands for nomads and their herds. Good for breeding horses: essential to mongol military. (326) |
| Gobi Desert | the dessert where the meeting of mongol leaders was held . a vast dessert that covers part of mongolia and china |
| dynasty | a sequence of powerful leaders in the same family |
| nobles | people who were born into wealthy powerful families |
| Shang Dynasty | the imperial dynasty ruling China from about the 18th to the 12th centuries BC |
| Fu Hao | A Chinese king's wife who led troops to war. Her tomb contained records of her time and life |
| Anyang | the ancient Chinese capital of the Shang Dynasty |
| oracle bones | animal bones carved with written characters which were used for telling the future |
| emperor | The supreme ruler of an empire, or group og states under ne goverment |
| Qinling Mountains | a mountain range in north-central China |
| 36 Provinces | Shihuanghi divided China into 36 political divisions |
| Xianyang | capital city of the Qin dynasty during the rule of the emperor Shihuangdi |
| Great Wall of China | a fortification 1,500 miles long built across northern China in the 3rd century BC, built in Qin dynasty by Shi Huangdi; prisinors worked on it, when died they were added as fill |
| clay army of Shihuangdi | 8,000 clay soliders, horses and chariots guarding the tomb of Shihuangdi, A clay army made by Shihuangdi to guard his tomb |
| Han Gaozu | a farmer-turned-genereal who in 206BC, overthrew the Qin Dynasty; founded Han Dynasty |
| Confucius | Chinese philosopher, administrator, and moralist. His social and moral teachings, collected in the Analects , tried to replace former religious observances |
| Confucianism | a code of conduct developed by Confucius, a great teacher. This code emphasized obligations of the people toward each other and toward their state. |
| Mandate of Heaven | natural passing between dynasties to purify political order, a belief that Zhou rulers had all power to rule over china and do anything |
| Han Dynasty | imperial dynasty that ruled China (most of the time) from 206 BC to 221 and expanded its boundaries and developed its bureaucracy |
| Wudi | chineese empire from 140-86 b.c; brought the han dynasty to its peak; expanded the chinese empire; made confusionism the state religion |
| Grand School | a school begun by Confucius scholars in China that trained students for government jobs |
| seismograph | a measuring instrument for detecting and measuring the intensity and direction and duration of movements of the ground (as an earthquake) |
| silk | a fabric made from the fine threads produced by certain insect larvae |
| peninsula | land surrounded by water on three sides |
| harbor | a sheltered port where ships can take on or discharge cargo |
| Mediterranean Sea | an inland sea that borders , Europe, Southwest Asia, and Africa |
| Crete | A large, Greek island that sepereates the Mediterranian and the Aegean Seas from each other. |
| Rhodes | a Greek island in the southeast Aegean Sea 10 miles off the Turkish coast |
| Attica | the territory of Athens in ancient Greece |
| Peloponnesus | the penninsula forming the southern part of the mainland greece |
| Phoenicia | a culture on the Western Shores of the Meditteranean Sea in what is now Lebanon and parts of Syria and Israel |
| polis | Greek city-state including the city and the land around it |
| acropolis | the citadel in ancient Greek towns |
| agora | a place of assembly for the people in ancient Greece |
| citizen | a native or naturalized member of a state or other political community |
| oligarchy | ruling power belongs to only a few people |
| monarchy | government under a single ruler |
| democracy | a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them |
| colony | a body of people who settle far from home but maintain ties with their homeland |
| Homer | ancient Greek epic poet who is believed to have written the Iliad and the Odyssey (circa 850 BC) |
| Athens | Powerful city in Ancient Greece that was a leader in arts, sciences, philosophy, democracy and architecture. |
| Sparta | Greek city-state that was ruled by an oligarchy, focused on military, used slaves for agriculture, discouraged the arts |
| Mount Olympus | The highest mt. in Greece, gods believed to live there |
| assembly | a group of persons gathered together for a common purpose |
| jury | a body of citizens sworn to give a true verdict according to the evidence presented in a court of law |
| philosophy | a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school |
| Pelponnesian Wars | Wars from 431 to 404 bc between Athens and Sparta for dominance in southern Greece; resulted in Spartan victory but failure to achieve political unifaction of Greece |
| Pericles | Athenian statesman whose leadership contributed to Athen's political and cultural supremacy in Greece |
| Socrates | philosopher who believed in an absolute right or wrong; asked students pointed questions to make them use their reason, later became Socratic method |
| Plato | student under Socrates, another Greek philosopher who taugh about human behavior, government, math, and astronomy |
| acropolis | the citadel in ancient Greek towns |
| Parthenon | the temple of Athena Parthenon on the Acropolis at Athens, completed c438 b.c. by Ictinus and Callicrates and decorated by Phidias: regarded as the finest Doric temple. |
| Alexander | King of Macedonia in northern Greece. Between 334 and 323 B.C.E. he conquered the Persian Empire, reached the Indus Valley, founded many Greek-style cities, and spread Greek culture across the Middle East. Later known as Alexander the Great. (p. 136) |
| Aristotle | A Greek Philosopher, taught Alexander the Great, started a famous school, studied with Plato |
| Macedonia | the ancient kingdom of Philip II and Alexander the Great in the southeastern Balkans that is now divided among modern Macedonia and Greece and Bulgaria |
| Alexandria | City in Egyptian the west edge of the Nile Delta, planned and named for Alexander- the Great |
| conclusion | the act of making up your mind about something |
| Rome | a city that was gaining power at the time of Athens and Sparta |
| Sicily | the island that was west of the "toe" of italy, had good farmland |
| Alps | europe's highest mountain range, iceman body found there |
| Apennine Mountains | backbone of italian peninsula, makes it diffficult to travel through Italy |
| Latium | a fertile plain, in rome, located on the west coast of central itlay. |
| Tiber river | river that runs through the Latium plain |
| Plebeians | Men who farmed, traded, and made things for a living in ancient rome |
| Patricians | a few people, members of the noble roman families |
| Livy | Roman historian, said the plebeians revolted in 494 B.C. |
| Representatives | people who were sent to act for a body of people |
| Senate | the oldest and most powerful branch of the roman republic (300) people |
| Tribunes | branch or roman republic, made sure plebians had rights |
| Twelve Tablets | a collection of laws on 12 wooden tablets |
| Fourm | center of life for rome ( a place ) |
| Carthage | located on th northern part of Africa, controlled land around mediterranean sea including Sicily |
| Punic Wars | the conflicts between Rome and Carthage, Rome won, gained land |
| Hannibal | Led his army from carthage to rome, rome defeated him |
| Scipio | 25 year old roman general elected as a consul, Roman general who commanded the invasion of Carthage in the second Punic War and defeated Hannibal at Zama (circa 237-183 BC) |
| Zama | the battle at which carthage surrendered, the battle in 202 BC in which Scipio decisively defeated Hannibal at the end of the second Punic War |
| Pax Romana | a period of peace in Rome started under Augustus' rule, lasted about 200 years |
| Julius Caeser | A military commander who became Dictator |
| Gaul | an ancient region of western Europe that included what is now northern Italy and France and Belgium and part of Germany and the Netherlands |
| Civil war | an armed war between groups inside one country |
| Cleopatra | 21 year old ruler of the egyptian govermentbased on Alexandria |
| Dictator | someone who has total control over an area |
| Augustus | made rome a strong empire, started the Pax Romana |
| Aqueducts | used to bring fresh water into the city |
| census | count of people in an empire |
| gladiators | for fun, fought animals or other romans |
| Colosseum | help about 50,000 people, acted like an arena for events |
| Panthenon | a temple, honored all of the roman gods |
| Judea | a region that was once know as Canaan |
| Christianity | a collection of books called the new testament, religon |
| New Testanment | Combined with the old testament make the bible, stories about Jesus' time and teachings |
| Bethlahem | a small town south of Jerusalem |
| Jesus | When mary was in bethlahem, this was her son |
| Nazareth | a tiny village in the northern hills of judea |
| Messiah | special leader sent by God to guide jews to set up god's rule on earth. |
| parables | simple stories that contain the message or truth |
| Apostles | 12 men Jesus had chosen to help Him in his teaching |
| Peter | an apostle who had fished for a living before joing Jesus |
| Bishop | regional church leaderof Rome |
| Pope | leading branch of christianity |
| Diocletian | came to power, rome split in two, powerful general |
| Palestine | Roman name for judea |
| Constantine | Re-united Rome under his rule, but foucused on the eastern side of the empire |
| Constantinople | a greek colony, became great empire |
| Byzantine empire | eastern half of empire that lived on for 1,000 more years |
| Eastern Orthodox Christianity | Thought that the pope could only speak for the church, |
| architecture | the science and planning and constructing buildings |
| Roman Catholicism | western part of rome's new type a christianity |
| Temperate Climate | Mild, Moderate in temperature |
| Deforestation | The process of clearing land of forests, often to make room for forests and cities |
| Eurasia | A large landmass that includes the continents of Europe and Asia |
| Ural Mountains | A mountain range in the W Russian Federation, extending N and S from the Arctic Ocean to near the Caspian Sea, forming a natural boundary between Europe and Asia |
| Caucasus Mountains | a mountain range in Caucasia, between the Black and Caspian seas, along the border between the Russian Federation, Georgia, and Azerbaijan |
| Carpathian Mountains | a mountain range in central Europe, extending from N Slovakia to central Romania |
| Alps Mountains | a mountain range in S Europe, extending from France through Switzerland and Italy into Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia |
| British Isles | a group of islands in W Europe |
| North Sea | an arm of the Atlantic between Great Britain and the European mainland |
| Seine River | a river in France, flowing NW through Paris to the English Channel |
| North European Plain | A large, fertile area that extends from the Atlantic ocean to the Ural Moutains |
| Pyrenees Mountains | A from of mountain wall between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe, seperates france and spain |
| Middle Ages | a period in European history between 500 A.D. and about the 1500's |
| feudalism | starting in Europe in 800 A.D., a system for organizing society based on land and service |
| lord | in the middle ages, a noble who owned and controlled all activities on his manor |
| fief | in the middle ages, a property given to a vassal in exchange for his loyalty |
| vassal | in the middle ages, a noble who usually was given a fief by his lord in exchange for his loyalty |
| serf | in the middle ages, a person who was bound to work on a noble's manor |
| guild | in the middle ages, an organazation of workers in a trade or craft that set standards and protected the interests of its members |
| manor | in the middle ages, a large self-sufficient, estate granted to a lord and worked by serfs |
| Knight | a noble who was trained to fight for the lord, often recieved a fief |
| Charlemagne | King of the France from 768 to 814, emperor of Rome from 800-814 |
| Magna Carta | A legal document written by english lords that stated certain rights and limited the power of the king |
| William the Conqueror | Norman King; In 1066 defeated Anglo-Saxons and became the forst Norman king of England |
| King John the First | King of England from 1199 to 1216; in 1215 he signed Magna Carta giving more rights to british nobles |
| Aachen | capital of Charlemagnes empire circa 800ad; a city in present day Germany |
| Normandy | A region in Northwestern France on the English Channel |
| England | Part of the United Kingdom on the Island of Great Britian |
| Monastary | a community in which monks led lives devoted to religion |
| Monk | a man who devotes his life to a religious group, often giving up all he owns |
| Convent | a religious community in which women (nuns) live and pray |
| Nun | a woman who devotes her life to religion; often living in a convent |
| Saint | a person considered by a religious group to be especially holy |
| Cathedral | a large or important Christian church |
| Benedict | an Italian monk; founder of the Benedictine order |
| St. Francis of Assisi | an Italian monk who founded the Fransican order and devoted hi lofe to serving the poor and sick |
| Crusades | any of the journeys and battles undertaken by European Christians between 1095 and 1270 to win control of the Holy Land (Palestine) from the Muslims |
| Chartres | a city in Northwestern France noted for its Cathedral |
| Plague | a terrible disease that spreads quickly and kills many people |
| Pope Urban II | Pope who called for the first Crusade to reclaim Jerusalem from the Muslims |
| Age of Faith | another name for the Middle Ages was given this name because life revolved around religion |
Combine with other sets
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