Upgrade to remove ads
Only $35.99/year

History 101 Test 1 Study Guide

Terms in this set (77)

Natural Selection
The process where by organisms that are adaptive to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.
Paleolithic
Old Stone Age; refers to the period during which time humans and their hominid ancestors used stone tools.
Homo Sapien
Wise man; evolved in East Africa about 200 thousand years ago and they are anatomically the same as humans today
Material Culture
Refers to the physical objects that people create create; such as stone tools, clothes, and artwork.
The Eurasian Advantage
Homo sapiens who settled in Eurasia lived near a greater number of plants and animals that were suitable for domestication.
Neolithic
New Stone Age; refers to the period of time when sedentary agriculture and animal husbandry emerged between around 9000 and 3000 BCE.
Patriarchy
The rule of fathers and dominance of men in society.
Husbandry (domestication)
Refers to the cultivation of crops and selective breeding of animals.
Catalhuyuk
An ancient farming town in modern day Turkey that was continuously inhabited for 2000 years.
Mesopotamia
Land between the rivers . The two rivers that the Greeks referred to were the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
Sumerian City States
Emerged in Mesopotamia around 4000 BCE; they are world's first true cities. The people who lived in these cities traded with each other and shared a common culture, but they were NOT UNITED- they competed for resources, they waged war on each other and life was hard in Mesopotamia.
Social Stratification
Refers to the unequal structures of class and status in any civilized society.
Kings, nobles, and priests
Free commoners
clients
Slaves
Ziggurat
A large temple located at the physical and cultural center of Sumerian cities.
Polytheism
The belief and worship of multiple deities, usually a pantheon(Group) of gods and goddesses with their own rituals and often associated with nature.
Bronze Age
(3100-1200BCE) Refers to humankinds earliest civilized era reflecting the importance of bronze.
Sargon of Akkad
Akkad is a region above Samaria, Sargon of Akkad conquered the Samarian city states and created the world's first empire.
Cuneiform
A writing system developed by the ancient Sumerians around 3000 BCE. They consisted of wedge shaped marks on clay tablets.
The Code of Hammurabi
Comprehensive set of laws regulating social, political, and economic issues.
Pharaoh Menes
(3000 BCE) United upper and lower Egypt into one kingdom. Created a unifies kingdom along the banks of the Nile River.
Logograms
Signs or characters representing a word or phrase.
To be a scribe you would need to memorize thousands of these different characters.
Maat
Ancient Egypt's concept of moral law and justice personified as a Goddess.
Egyptian Calendar
Divided the day into 24 hours and created a solar calendar based on 365 day, as well as a leap year every fourth year.
Indus Valley Civilization
Emerged after 3000 BCE and developed along the banks of the Indus River Valley in South Asia.
The Indus valley people were constructing elaborate cities complete with drainage systems, public baths, store houses, and religious buildings.
*Writing, government, bronze tools, monuments
Mohenjo-Daro
Planned Indus Valley city noted for its central well, marketplace, bath, and sewer system.
Did not have walls surrounding the city-this suggested warfare was not frequent.
Monsoon
Weather pattern characterized by the seasonal reversing of wind direction(South Asia near Indian Ocean). Results in a 4 month period of very heavy rainfall then a dry period.
Mesoamerica
(Middle America)
mountainous terrain with hot and humid lowlands.
no large mammals for domestication.
civilization DID NOT emerge along the banks of a navigable river like the Nile or Indus.
The Olmecs
First group of civilized people who emerged from agricultural towns in Southern Mexico around 1400 BCE and established a model of civilization.
Mesoamerican Ball Game
A sport involving a heavy rubber ball that was played across ancient Mexico.
Had sacred ritual associations and was in the cities center.
El Nino
(Weather pattern) periodic reversal of ocean currents affecting rainfall and the availability of fish.
Some years it rains a lot, other years its quite dry.
Altiplato
Plato region in South America , situated in the Andes Mountains of modern day Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru.
*Where South Americas first civilizations emerged.
Sleeping Sickness
Parasitic disease transmitted by flies; fatal to both humans and animals. If left untreated can cause death. Prevented animals husbandry south of the Sahel region.
Nok Culture
Appeared in West Africa around 1000BCE.
Farmed millet and black eyed peas.
They had sophisticated material culture that included terra-Cota sculptures and iron smelting.
Did not develop writing system or build large monumental structures.
*Culture disappeared around 500CE-Unknown reason
Shang Dynasty
China's first dynasty to leave written records.
Strong social stratification
Polytheistic religion
Concerns for defense of the Northern border from nomadic peoples.
The Shang ruler was a priest king known as the sun of heaven.
Bronze Age civilization.
Oracle Bones
Pieces of oxen or turtle used for divination during the Shang Dynasty.
The bones had questions written on them.
Priests would place in fire and depending on how the bones cracked that would supply the answer to the question.
Zhou Dynasty
Overthrew the Shang Dynasty and developed an enduring justification for why they had the right to overthrow the Shang Dynasty.
Mandate of Heaven
Chinese belief developed by Zhou rulers that heaven or cosmic forces entrusts or withdraws a dynasty's right to govern.
Dynastic cycle
Political theory in Chinese history that says every dynasty goes through a cycle of gaining and losing the Mandate of Heaven.
*Belief that all dynasties will collapse eventually.
Warring States Period
Time when China lacked a strong dynasty. (475-221 BCE) Conflict between all clans wanted to come together as one.
Rival states in China competed for dominance.
*This period is notable for producing China's great classical thinkers/ philosophers.
Confucius
A Chinese philosopher who lived in the 6th century(500 BCE), lived around the time of Laozi. Taught that humans are basically good, virtuous, but their virtue had to be cultivated through education, rituals, and respect for hierarchy. Confucius advocated respect for the most educated members of society, he saw scholars as pillars of society.
*Confucius believed social harmony flowed from mutual, but unequal respect or "Xiao"(Finial piety).
Filial piety
Respect for ones parents, elders, and ancestors.
Daoism
(The Way) Chinese religious tradition founded by Laozi, who taught that human effort and desire caused disharmony and separated human beings from the Dao.
Legalism
Chinese philosophy which views human beings as naturally selfish, lazy, and disobedient.
If this is the case, only strong centralized government can keep order with harsh laws applied to every person regardless of social class.
Aryans
Herders or pastoralists
People from Caucasus, Central Asia (migrated around 1500 BCE) settled in Northern India.
Spoke Indo-European Language - Sanskrit
Settled down to farm in Indus and Ganges River Valleys.
Came from a place and a language grouping that would produce many other well known languages.
Rig Veda
A collection of sacred hymns composed by Aryan priests about ritual sacrifice to their gods.
Form a part of the Hindu tradition.
1000BCE:Vedic priests focused on sacrificing to their gods.
500BCE: Vedic priests wanted to know about the meaning of life, stressing knowledge of reality rather than ritual or sacrifice. In other words, Indian religion went from sacrifice to meditation.
Upanishads
Collection of written texts by nameless sages(wise person) that questioned the power of ritual sacrifice.
emphasized ethical living
introduced new concepts about the relationship between the universe and the individual soul.
Karma (Action)
Relationship of the soul
Interested in the question of "what is the point of doing good?"
Action, both good and bad that attaches to one's soul (Atman- individual soul).
Dharma (Sacred duty)
Sacred duty relative to one's position.
Samsara (Reincarnation)
The transmigration of one's soul; reincarnation.
Four Noble Truths
1. To live is to suffer.
2. Desire causes human suffering.
3. To end your suffering and desire.
4.Eightfold path can help eliminate desire.
Eightfold path
Can end your desire and lead you to enlightenment.
Set of Buddhist practices leading to the sensation of suffering or end of suffering, the achievement of enlightenment, and liberation from Samsara.
Open to any social class.
Ashoka
King of the Mauryan Empire, ruled in India during the 3rd century BCE and after a terrible war early in his life Ashoka embraced Buddhism and promoted its non-violent ideals across India.
Stupas
Are Buddhist relic mounds, inside these mounds are objects thought to have belonged to the Buddha.
Phoenician Alphabet
1000 BCE: a major technological breakthrough.
Developed using single characters to represent consonant sounds.
Zoroastrianism
Persian religion founded by Zoroaster(prophet), with a comprehensive notion of heaven, hell, demons, angels, and a final showdown between good and evil(apocalypse).
Ethical monotheism
Worship of one god who expects humans to obey moral laws.
*God sends prophets to teach the moral laws.
*Apocalypse-there is a beginning and a end.
*God rewards good behavior and punishes band behavior.
Cyrus the Great
A Persian king who conquered Asia minor and Mesopotamia(550BC)
Ruled from his capital city Persepolis in the Arian Plateau.
*Cyrus developed affective new techniques to administer and hold his vast empire.
The Royal Road
Ancient highway in the Persian empire built to facilitate the rapid movement of goods, messages, and soldiers.
Satraps
Governors of faraway provinces in the Persian empire.
Had broad powers to collect taxes, administer justice, and maintain the roads on behalf of the king.
Egypt, Asia minor, Mesopotamia- would rule in the kings name.
Messiah
A person anointed by God to be a liberator or savior to a certain group of people.
Divine plan
Idea that God controls human history and is guiding all events towards a final point or apocalypse.
Panhellenic
A sense of cultural identity that all Greeks felt in common with each other.
Polis
The Greek word for city state and its the fundamental political unit in ancient Greece.
Hoplite Phalanx
The basic unit of Greek warfare, in which infantry are fighting side by side (shield by shield).
Sparta
intensely warlike oligarchy. Derived its wealth from peasants called helots and spartan warriors had to be able to defend their poleis and keep the helots in line who did all the agricultural work.
Spartan women had freedoms.
Military state with a emphasis on military fitness that began at birth.
Athens
Was largest poleis in Greece; major business center, had a democratic government, and an economy that depended on trade.
Citizens had to trace their lineage back to Athens multiple generations; citizenship closed to outsiders.
Persian Wars
A series of military conflicts between 499-479 BCE between the Greek city-states and Persian Empire.
*outcome- Greeks win
Sophists
Greeks who preached the importance of rhetoric for any who lives in a democracy. They believe truth is not objective, its relative.
Philosophers
(Lovers of Wisdom) Interested in what's true, knowledge, virtue. Wanted to understand the nature of reality.
Socratic Method
A teaching style developed by Socrates that uses cross examination(questions and answers) in the form of dialogue.
Greek rationalism
Emphasized human reasoning or Logos as a means to attain knowledge as oppose to the Mythos.
Wanted to explain the natural world without reference to the supernatural.
Greek humanism
Focused on the human experience rather than emphasizing the importance of religion.
Axial Age
Important time in history lasting from around 500 BCE to the beginning of the Christian Era in which critical intellectual and cultural ideas arose in India, Iran, East Asia, and the Mediterranean World.
Alexander, Egypt
City founded by Alexander the Great, it acquired the world's largest library.
City of scholars
Half a million people lived in Alexandria at the time of Christ.
Massive port, light house.
Hellenization
The spread of Greek ideas and culture across the kingdoms that Alexander's generals ruled.
Koine
Name for a common Greek dialect used in Hellenistic Kingdoms.
International language-becomes widely used.
Seleucid dynasty
Large kingdom created by one of Alexander's generals name Seleucid. (Included Persia, Mesopotamia, parts of Asia Minor).
Spread Greek cultural
Epicureanism
All materials composed of atoms.
You don't have to fear death.
Hellenistic school of philosophy founded by an Athenian philosopher who taught gods couldn't influence us.
Only material things
The point of life is to have friends, have virtue.
Other sets by this creator