50 terms

Terms	Definitions
Abraham	Founder of Judaism. The first of the great Biblical patriarchs, father of Isaac, and traditional founder of the ancient Hebrew nation: considered by Muslims an ancestor of the Arab peoples through his son Ishmael.
Sunni	A branch of Islam whose members acknowledge the first four caliphs as the rightful successors of Muhammad
Shi'ite	a member of the branch of Islam that regards Ali as the legitimate successor to Mohammed and rejects the first three caliphs
Five Pillars	beliefs that all Muslims needed to carry out: Faith, Prayer, Alms, Fasting, and Pilgrimage
Qu'ran	the sacred writings of Islam revealed by God to the prophet Muhammad during his life at Mecca and Medina
Muhammad	Founder of Islam, considered the greatest prophet in Islam
Caliphs	Successors to Muhammad as political and religious leaders of the Muslims
Abu Bakr	Companion of 1st muslim leader after Muhammad. Regarded by Sunni's as the 1st caliph and rightful succesor. The Shi'ah regard him as a traitor of Muhammad. Known as best interpretter of dreams following Muhammad's death.
Mecca	City in western Arabia; birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, and ritual center of the Islamic religion.
Yathrib	A city Muhammad and his followers visited after death threats to Muhammad (later named Medina)
Torah	(Judaism) the scroll of parchment on which the first five books of the Hebrew Scripture is written
Yom Kippur	Jewish Day of Atonement- fasting and reflecting on one's sins
Rosh Hashana	A Jewish high holy day that marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year.
Passover	was the feast for remebering that God brought his people out of slavery in Egypt
Islamic Empire	661 AD - 1000 AD spread islam and arab culture rapidly. conquered territory through warfare, during dark ages in europe there was cultural renaissance in middle east. mathematicians, scientists, authors, musicians, doctors, etc. all flourished during this time period.
Cordoba	capital of Muslim Spain, an economic center, hundreds of workshops, culture and learning flourished there
Persian Gulf	Body of water that lies southeast of Iraq and east of Saudi Arabia. Used as a trade route in the ancient Middle East
House of Wisdom	Combination library, academy, and translation center in Baghdad established in the 800s.
Jerusalem	Capital of Israel. A city in the Holy Land, regarded as sacred by Christians, Muslims, and Jews.
Suez Canal	a ship canal in northeastern Egypt linking the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea
Constantinople	the largest city and former capital of Turkey
Al Hakim	Fatimid caliph, wanted all Christians and Jews to covert, burned holy sepulcher in 1069, provokes crusades, occulation in 1021, Druze considered him to be divine
Pope Urban II	pope who called for the first crusade to reclaim Jerusalem from the Muslims
Saladin	(1137-1193) Powerful Muslim ruler during Third Crusade, defeated Christians at Hattin took Jerusalem
Mongols	which enemy withdrew 1st from modern day turkey fearing the growing ottoman military strength.
Ottomans	Turkic people who advanced from strongholds in Asia Minor during 1350s; conquered large part of Balkans; unified under Mehmed I; captured Constantinople in 1453; established empire from Balkans that included most of Arab world.
"Sick Man of Europe"	The Ottoman Empire's nickname by other European nations.
"Promised Land"	a wonderful place god told Abraham his nation would go to
Diaspora	The dispersion of the Jews outside Israel
Zionists	Jews who believed in a country of their own in Palestine
Balfour Declaration	British document that promised land in Palestine as homeland for Jews in exchange for Jews help in WWI
Mandate system	Allocation of former German colonies and Ottoman possessions to the Allies, to be administered under League of Nations supervision.
Palestine	Region in southwestern Asia that became the ancient home of the jews; the ancient Roman name for Judea;
Arab Nationalism	belief that all Arabs should ban together and form one large arab country. nasser (leader of egypt at the time) was major component and leader of this new arab country. power struggles soon began between countries.
Gamal Abdel Nasser	Arab leader, set out to modernize Egypt and end western domination, nationalized the Suez canal, led two wars against the Zionist state, remained a symbol of independence and pride, returned to socialism, nationalized banks and businesses, limited economic policies
Islamic revolution	1979 in Iran. When the Islamic people tried to get rid of all western things. They revolted and tried to get the shariah back.
Saddam Hussein	- Was a dictator in Iraq who tried to take over Iran and Kuwait violently in order to gain the land and the resources. He also refused to let the UN into Iraq in order to check if the country was secretly holding weapons of mass destruction.
Six Day War	1967, war begun by Israel as a pre-emptive strike against arab nations with Israel capturing west bank, gaza stripe, sinai pen. and golan hights
Yom Kippur War	1973 - Syria and Egypt vs. Israel. Syria and Egypt took Israel by surprise, but the Israeli army soon took control and eventually gained more land than they lost. This war led to the Camp David Accords.
West Bank	Place in Jordan that Israeli forces won, it had limited self-rule under Palestinian Authority
Gaza Strip	an area of eastern Mediterranean land seized by Israel in the Six-Day War
Gulf War	1991 a war fought between a coalition led by the United States and Iraq to free Kuwait from Iraqi invaders
Kuwait Oil Fires	Invadors set massive deposits of oil on fire as a revenge
Iraq War	War in which US successfully took down a dominating dictator and is currently helping them "get back on their feet".
OPEC	Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries: an organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the production and sale of petroleum
Edwin Drake	Drilled 1st oil well in the US, in PA in 1859
Internal combustion engine	An engine powered by fuel burned inside the engine
Cartel	When a group of large businesses band together to control a single industry.
Wealth transfer	Transfer of wealth to poorer middle east nations
Embargo	An order preventing trade

Flickr Creative Commons Images

Some images used in this set are licensed under the Creative Commons through Flickr.com. Click to see the original works with their full license.

• ""Sick Man of Europe"" image

This product uses the Flickr API but is not endorsed or certified by Flickr.