Appendix A
absolute monarchs Type of government that arose in Europe during the seventeenth century in which the monarch controlled nation-state for the greater benefit of the people.
alphabet script Written communication in which symbols represent speech, sounds, and/or letters.
animism Belief that life is produced by a spiritual force that is separate from matter; Sometimes includes the belief in the existence of spirits and demons which inhabit particular objects.
anti-Semitism Hostility and discrimination toward the Jewish people.
apartheid Legal and institutional separation of black and whites that existed in South Africa during most of the twentieth century.
authoritarianism Enforcement of unquestioning obedience to authority without individual freedom; dictatorships characterize this type of rule.
B.C.E. Newer historical term which replaces B.C. and stands for Before the Common Era.
bureaucracy Administrative system based on nonelected officials, policies, and procedures.
C.E. Newer historical term which replaces A.D. and stands for Common Era.
caste system System in which people obtain their rank in the society from their birth parents; change of rank or class in this system is very difficult.
city-state Form of political organization in which a city-based ruler controls the surrounding countryside.
civilization Society that has developed systematic agriculture to produce a food surplus in addition to an elite and merchant class.
colonization New settlement of people linked to the parent country through trade and government control.
Columbian Exchange Exchange of goods, plants, animals, and also diseases that happened after Columbus’ initial discovery between the Europe and the Americas.
communism Economic theory which advocates the ownership of property by the community as a whole.
conservative Policies that support tradition and stability; during the early nineteenthcentury, conservatives believed in obedience to political authority and the importance of organized religion.
coup d’état French term used to designate a sudden, violent, and forcible overthrow of a government by a small group of people with military or political authority.
cultural diffusion Exchange of culture between societies.
culture Ideas, customs, language, and skills of a society that are transmitted through time.
cuneiform Wedge-shaped writing produced on clay tablets developed by the Sumerians.
democracy Government by the people; directly or by elected representatives.
détente Lessening of tensions between nations due to treaties or trade agreements.
dynasty Family of rulers who pass on the right to rule within the family.
empire Government that controls several different territories and people.
empiricism Belief that sensory experience through observations and experiments is the only source of human knowledge.
enlightened monarchs Rulers who used the principles of the Enlightenment during their rule while also maintaining their absolute powers.
enlightenment Intellectual movement centered in Europe during the eighteenth century that featured the application of scientific methods to the study of society; belief that rational laws and reason can describe society.
environmentalism Use of policies to solve environmental problems such as pollution,shortage of natural resources, and population growth.
epic poem Long poem that details the deeds of heroes.
fascism Government led by dictator that glorifies the state above the individual.
feudalism Economic, political, and social system in which land, worked by peasants who are bound to it, is held by a lord in exchange for military service to an overlord.
filial piety Duty of family members to lower their needs and desires to those of the male head of the family or ruler.
globalization Interconnectedness of the nations of the world in communication, commerce, culture, and politics.
Green Revolution Development of better types of rice, corn, and other grains that have better yields per acre than traditional crops.
gunpowder empires Empires formed by unifying different regions through conquestbased on the superior use of firearms.
hominids Humans or humanlike creatures that walk upright.
humanism System of thought with man at the center; man is the sum of all things.
iconoclasm Policies that oppose the religious use of images and advocate the destruction of such images.
ideographic script Written script in which a graphic symbol represents an idea, concept, or object without expressing that sound that forms its name.
imperialism Extension of political and cultural power over many different regions.
Industrial Revolution Technological revolution starting in England in the mid-seventeenthcentury in which newly invented machines were used in production leading to population, agricultural, and commercial growth.
Inquisition General tribunal used to discover and confront heresy in the Roman Catholic Church during the late Middle Ages.
liberalism Intellectual movement based on the ideas of the Enlightenment with several loosely assembled tenets; people were to be free as possible from governmentrestraint; government was to be used to protect the civil liberties of the people; emphasis on the use of representative assemblies in which voting and office should be limited to men of property; the rule of constitutions.
Marxism Intellectual movement developed by Karl Marx in the nineteenth century in which history was defined as a class struggle between groups without power and groups controlling the means of production.
mercantilism Economic policy that many European governments pursued during the eighteenth and nineteenth century; nation was to export more valuable goods than they imported; theoretically the pursuit of this policy makes a nation rich and powerful by keeping the economic resources in the country.
Middle Passage Voyages of African slaves from Africa to the Americas that occurred from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries.
migration Movement of people from one region to another.
militarism Dependence on military strength to obtain political objectives.
modernism Artistic and literary movement during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in which artists intentionally moved away from all previous artisticstyles.
monotheism Religious worship of a single god.
nationalism Belief that a nation should be made of people who have a common language, traditions, religions, and customs.
Neolithic Revolution Period of time in which systematic agriculture and the domestication of animals occurred; varies from 8000 to 5000 B.C.E. depending on region.
nomads Herding societies that move from place to place in search of better pastureland.
Old Regime Social system of eighteenth century France that consisted of three estates: clergy, nobility, and middle/lower class.
oligarchy Government ruled by an elite and powerful few.
Pax Mongolia Period of time in which transregional trade and commerce was renewed under the watch of Mongolian armies.
Pax Romana Period of 200 years of relative peace in Roman history.
polis Greek city-state which included the city and the surrounding countryside which it controlled and used for farming.
polytheistic Religious worship of many different gods.
realism Artistic movement of the mid-nineteenth century that sought to portray life as it really was.
Reformation Religious movement of the sixteenth century originating with Martin Luther; demanded the reform of the Roman Catholic Church; resulted in the division of the Church.
Renaissance Cultural and political movement that began in Italy during the fifteenth century; development of literature and art that were more secular than that of the Middle Ages.
republic Government in which leader acquires consent of the governed through voting.
rogue nation Nation that acts outside the boundaries of international law and diplomacy.
Romanticism Artistic and literary movement of nineteenth century Europe; belief that emotion is key to understanding human experience.
satellite state Small state that is economically and/or politically dependent on a larger more powerful state; they adjust their policies based on the desires of the larger state.
Scientific Revolution Intellectual movement of seventeenth century Europe that used empiricism to develop wider scientific and theoretical generalizations.
secularism Intellectual movement that rejects the use of religion or religious consideration.
Silk Road Trading routes that connected European, Indian, and Chinese civilizationstransmitting goods and ideas.
socialism Political movement that started in Europe during the nineteenth century; wanted the state to control the means of production to create equality in society.
sultanate Region ruled by the authority and office of a strictly Islamic monarch.
terrorism Use of force or threats to demoralize or intimidate in order to obtain political objectives.
theocrat Ruler who claims to have the sanction of a god or gods in directing a government; claims have a powerful effect if the religion is culturally important.
Ptolemaic system Belief advanced by the second century Greek mathematician that Earth was a fixed point and the celestial bodies orbited around it.
total war Warfare that involves the mobilization of an entire nation including its civilian population.
triangular trade network Network that emerged during sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries; manufactured goods were traded in Africa for slaves; slaves were shipped to the Americas where they were exchanged for sugar, tobacco, and raw cotton; those products were shipped to Europe to be made into finished goods which went back to the colonies or to Africa to begin the trading network again.
Westernization Process in which a nation adopts the culture and institutions that typify the West.
Zionism Movement that argued that the Jewish people must return to the region of Palestine.