AP World History Key Terms Chapter 1
Term / Definitionhunting and gathering / means of obtaining food by humans before the mastery of sedentary agriculture; normally typical of tribal social organization
civilization / Latin term for “city”; political structures, writing, cities, monuments, & food surpluses characterize civilizations
Paleolithic / “Old stone age”; simple tool use – rocks & sticks for hunting and warfare; spread of human species over the Earth’s surface; longest span of time within human existence
Neolithic / “New stone age”; invention of agriculture; began in the Middle East and spread to other centers (India, north Africa, China); people used polished stone and farmed
nomads / People with no permanent home; roam from place to place searching for pasture lands
"savages" / a.k.a. “barbarians”; points to long-held belief that there is a distinction between “civilized” and “savage”/inferior peoples
culture / A way of life built up by a group and passed on from generation to generation.
Homo sapiens / Displaced “Homo erectus” during the later portion of the Paleolithic period; most recent development within the human species
Neanderthals / Extinct species of human; identified in early ice-age Europe
Band / Social organization of hunter-gather societies; associations of families not exceeding 25-60 people
Agrarian Revolution / Moved the human species toward elaborate social and cultural structures; provided food surpluses and supported permanent settlements
Natufian complex / N/A
matrilocal / Societal system; husband and wife live near or with the wife’s family
matrilineal / Tracing ancestral descent through the mother’s family
Pastoralism / The farming/raising of domesticated animals
Huanghe (Yellow) River Basin / Earliest Chinese civilizations developed here; Considerably isolated; utilized carefully regulated irrigation; some trade with India and the Middle east
Jericho / N/A
Çatal Hüyük / Neolithic village in southern Turkey; has produced substantial historic anthropological data regarding the political, economic, and cultural dynamics of the Neolithic period
Bronze Age / 4000-1500 BCE; technological advancements in the use of bronze metalwork; developed in the Middle East; metal tools and weapons
Domestication / The practice of purposeful use of animals (pigs, sheep, cattle) to support the agrarian lifestyle; served as the basis for nomadic herding societies
Social differentiation / The stratification of social classes
Mesopotamia / “land between two rivers”; credited as first civilization; civilization which seemingly formed from “scratch” with no examples to imitate; Sumerians were most responsible for the progress and accomplishments
Slash and burn agriculture / System of agriculture; involves cutting the forestation of an area, burning it for the purposes of using the ashes as fertilizer for the deforested area
Babylonians / 1800-1600 BCE; One of the Amorite kingdoms in Mesopotamia; developed an empire centralized at the city-state of Babylon; Hammurabi; collapsed due to foreign invasion
Ideographs / Type of written communication; symbols are used to represent concepts; typical of Chinese writing
Hammurabi / Babylonian emperor; best known for his code of laws which standardized a legal system
Harappa / Large city along the Indus River; sophisticated grid-pattern used to construct the city; houses had running water; Harappan writing has yet to be deciphered
Shang Dynasty / Along the Huanghe River valley; Noted for construction of massive tombs and palaces; terra-cotta army
Indo-Europeans / Large numbers invaded/migrated into the Indus River Valley civilizations
Judaism / Provided the clearly developed monotheistic religion; served as a key basis for the development of both Christianity and Islam as major world religions
monotheism / The belief in one God
Phoenicians / Developed the first “alphabet” with 22 characters
Revised Summer 2011 AP World History Key Terms Chapter 1