Vocabulary

Chapter 1 Vocabulary

  • Archaeologist: an expert who studies the past by examining objects that people have left behind.
  • Historian: an expert who studies and records the past.
  • Geographer: an expert who studies and creates maps of Earth’s natural and human-made features.
  • Artifact: an object made or used by people in the past.
  • Prehistoric: before written history.
  • Ritual: relating to a ceremony, such as a religious ceremony.

Chapter 2 Vocabulary 

  • Migrate To move from one geographic region to another
  • Anthropologist A scientist who studies human development and culture
  • Hominids An early ancestor of Humans
  • CapabilityAbility or skill
  • SkeletonThe bones that make up the body of a person or animal
  • TraitA special feature or characteristic
  • IntelligenceA strong mental ability to reason and gain knowledge
  • Community A group of people who live in the same area and are united by common interests
  • Contribute To give, along with others, to a common cause

Chapter 3:

  • Agriculture: the business of farming; growing crops and raising animals.
  • Catal Hoyuk: a Neolithic town discovered in central Turkey
  • Domesticate: to train a wild animal to be useful to humans
  • Fertile Crescent: an arc-shaped region in southwest Asia, with rich soil
  • Neolithic Age: the later part of the Stone Age, called the New Stone Age, lasted from around 8000 B.C.E. to 3000 B.C.E
  • Nomad: One who moves from place to place with no permanent home
  • Paleolithic Age:  .the first period of the Stone Age called the Old Stone Age. From about 2 million years ago to around 8000 B.C.E.
  • Resource: something that can be used to fulfill a need
  • Trade: the business of buying and selling or exchanging items

Chapter 4: The Rise of Sumerian City-States

  • Mesopotamia: in ancient times, the geographic area located between the Tigris and Euphrates River
  • Tigris River: one of the two largest rivers in Southwest Asia that flow from the mountains in Turkey to the Persian Gulf
  • Euphrates: one of the two largest rivers in Southwest Asia that flow from mountains in Turkey to the Persian Gulf
  • Sumer: an area in southern Mesopotamia, where cities first appeared
  • Irrigation: a means of supplying land with water
  • Levee: a wall of earth built to prevent a river from flooding its banks
  • Silt: fine particles of rock
  • City-state: an early city that was like a small, independent country with its own laws and government

Chapter 5: Ancient Sumer

  • Civilization: A society marked by developed arts, sciences, government, and social structure
  • Social structure: The way a civilization is organized
  • Technology: The use of tools and other inventions for practical purposes
  • Merchant: A person who makes money by selling goods
  • Artisan: A craftsperson
  • Scribe: A person who writes
  • Ziggurat: An ancient Mesopotamian temple tower with outside staircases and shrine at the top
  • Culture: A characteristic of civilization that includes the beliefs and behaviors of a society or a group of people
  • Cuneiform: Writing that uses wedge-shaped characters
  • Pictograph: A symbol that stands for an object

DOC: ch 5 illustrated dictionary

Chapter 6: Mesopotamian Empires

  • empire:  A large territory in which several groups of people are ruled by a single leader or government
  • Tribute: Wealth sent from one country or ruler to another as sign that the other is superior
  • Economy: The way a region or country uses resources to produce and sell or trade goods and services to meet people’s needs and wants
    Capital: A city that is the center of government
  • Code of Laws: A collection of written laws and rules
  • Siege: A military blockade and attack on a city to force it to surrender
  • Invader: Someone who forces entry into a place where they are unwanted
  • Unify: To join together

Doc: ch6 illustrated dictionary

Chapter 7-8: 

Chapter 7-8:

  • Nile River: The longest river in the world, flowing through eastern Africa to a delta in northeast Egypt
  • Egypt: A nation in northeast Africa, first settled around 3100 B.C.E.
  • Kush: A society along the Nile River, south of Egypt, from about 2000 B.C.E. to 350 C.E.
  • Mediterranean Sea: A body of water north of Africa
  • Pharaoh: A ruler of ancient Egypt
  • Hatshepsut: The first woman Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt
  • Ramses II: An ancient Egyptian pharaoh, known as “Ramses the Great”; skilled as a military leader; and responsible for building many monuments, including the temple at Abu Simbel.
  • Treaty: A written agreement by which two or more states agree to peaceful relations
  • Period: a length of time
  • Accomplish: to complete something successfully
  • Structure: something that has been built
  • Authority: the government or controlling power
  • Reign: the period of time someone rules, usually royalty

Doc: ch 7-8 illustrated dictionary

Chapter 9: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt

  • Social Pyramid: A pyramid outline showing the positions of social classes according to their status in a society
  • Social Class: A group in a society that is ranked by factors such as wealth, property, and rights.
  • Status: Importance
  • Noble: Of high birth or rank
  • Peasant: A person who does farmwork for wealthy landowners.
  • Afterlife: An existence after death.
  • Hieroglyph: A symbol used in hieroglyphics, a system of writing developed around 3000 B.C. E.
  • Supreme: The highest ruling level
  • Occupy: To take up or fill
  • Rigid: Stiff; unable to bend
  • Role: A position based on socially expected behavior
  • Neutral: Not taking sides or getting involved in disagreements

Doc: ch 9 illustrated dictionary

World Religions Vocabulary:

DOC: World Religions Vocabulary

PDF: World Religions Vocabulary

Chapter 20:

EQ: What do Shang artifacts reveal about this Civilization?

  • Anyang: Location where ruins were found from the Shang dynasties, China’s first civilization
  • Shang Dynasty: One of the first Chinese dynasties, ruled from 1700 to 1122 B.C.E.
  • Clan: A large group of family members and friends.
  • Bronze: A strong metal alloy made from copper.
  • Military: Relating to the Army.
  • Ancestor Worship: Honoring of ancestors through rituals, such as offering food to the spirits of the dead.
  • Oracle bone: A piece of bone or shell heated and cracked by holy men to seek advice from a king’s ancestors.

Chapter 21

Three Chinese Philosophies 

  • Zhou Dynasty: A line of rulers in China, from about 1045 to 256 B.C.E.
  • Mandate of Heaven: A power or law believed to be granted by a god
  • Feudalism: A system of government based on landowners and tenants
  • Confucianism: A Chinese philosophy that emphasizes proper behavior
  • Civil servant: A person who works for a government
  • Daoism: A Chinese Philosophy that emphasizes living in harmony with nature
  • Yin and Yang: The Daoist concept of opposing forces of nature
  • Legalism: A Chinese philosophy that emphasizes strict obedience to laws

Doc: ch21 illustrated dictionary

Chapter 24

  • Silk Road: A network of trade routes that stretched for more than four thousand miles across Asia
  • Trade route: A network of roads along which traders traveled
  • Caravan: A group of people traveling together.
  • Cultural diffusion: the spreading of cultural traits, such as goods and ideas, from one culture to another, or within one culture
  • Dominated: To have control or power over something
  • Linked: to connect two or more people or things
  • Acquire: To come into possession of something
  • Oxygen: A gas in the air that people and animals need to breathe to live
  • Occurs: To take place

Chapter 25

Geography and the Settlement of Greece

  • Peninsula: A body of land that is surrounded on three sides by water
  • Aegean Sea: An arm of the Mediterranean Sea, east of Greece
  • Colony: A settlement under control of a usually distant country
  • Consulting: To get an opinion and information from someone
  • Participate: To take part in something, such as a game or activity

Chapter 26

The Rise of Democracy

  • Monarchy: A government in which the ruling power is in the hands of one person
  • Aristocrat: A member of the most powerful class in ancient Greek society.
  • Oligarchy: A government in which the ruling power is in the hands of a few people.
  • Tyranny: A government in which absolute ruling power is held by a person who is not a lawful king.
  • Democracy: A government in which power is held by the people, who exercise power directly or through elected representative.
  • Citizen: A person who has certain rights and duties in a city-state or nation.
  • Assembly: A group of citizens, in an ancient Greek democracy, with the power to pass laws.