AP World History: AP Vocab (#1 and #2)

a process in which agricultural land could lose its fertility unless it was left fallow or it was fertilized

continual eating of grasses or their roots without allowing them to regrow

objects made by people in the past

the first modern humans who appeared in East Africa between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago; were hunter-gatherers who migrated from place to place due to climate changes and the movements of animals

the period of history that began 2.5 million years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago and is often called the Stone Age because of the stone tools and weapons used in the period

a set of dramatic changes in how people lived based on the development of agriculture

the belief and worship of only one deity

the period of history between 3300 and 2300 BCE when people replaced stone tools and weapons for much stronger cooper and bronze ones

a large society with cities and powerful states

large civilizations with heavy influences on successor civilizations in languages, religious beliefs, and economic practices (ex: Southwest Asia, Mesopotamia, Nile River Valley, Huang He River Valley, Indus River Valley, Mesoamerica, and Anean Mountains)

one of the first cities on the west bank of the Jordan River where the oldest evidence of human evidence dating back to 9000 BCE was found

one of the oldest cities in the world founded in 7500 BCE along a dried up river with well-preserved remains that allow scientists to understand people and their lives a long time ago

a nomadic person who survived by hunting animals and forging for seeds, nuts, fruits, and edible roots and often migrated from place to place because of population density, climate changes, or new sources of food and water

the practice of rising crops or livestock on a continual and controlled basis

an amount of something left over when requirements have been met or an excess of production or supply over demand

the process to tame a wild animal

a way of life in which people move large herds of animals from pasture to pasture

the process in which a surplus of food or goods allows people to focus on limited and specialized tasks

a type of cloth or woven fabric

science of the study of metals that allowed people to replace stone tools and weapons with copper and bronze tools and weapons

a new metal that humans found in a pure state in the ground that was melted with tin to make bronze which was used in tools and weapons

a strong metal that was a mixture of tin and copper and was used in weapons and tools in the period from 3300 to 2300 BCE

a group of several related families that might include from 20 to 40 people who were often self-sufficient but had to migrate frequently because of their large number

larger groups of kinship groups

a large group of multiple calls that were often led by chiefs

word that means dominated by men

people who made objects people needed

people who buy and sell goods for a living

a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy depending how much wealth in the form of jewelry or other coveted items they have

a special group of people who conduct elaborate religious ceremonies

two rivers in Southwest Asia that flowed south from modern-day Turkey through Iraq into the Persian Gulf and surrounded the area that became known as Mesopotamia

ancient civilization found in the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that was rich in fertile soil from the flooding of the rivers

the area that overlaps the Mesopotamian but also included the area to west, along the Mediterranean coast

a Phoenician colony on the coast of North Africa that became a significant outpost in the region

northern African desert

southern African desert

the river that begins in the interior of Africa and flows north to empty into the Mediterranean Sea and has rich fertile soil from the flooding of the river

creation of desert-like conditions

clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to the quality of the land

worshipping of many gods

a rectangular stepped tower, sometimes surmounted by a temple

the study of objects Earth's atmosphere

predicting the future by studying movements of stars and planets

people who lived in the region of Canaan that founded by Abraham whose monotheistic religion came from the Old Testament that experienced periods of enslavement

the founded of Canaan and the ancestor of Jews, Christians, and Muslims

a Hebrew leader who led the Hebrews out of Egypt in 1300 BCE and introduced the Ten Commandments, a code of conduct that became very influential in areas dominated by Christianity

a code of conduct that became very influential in areas dominated by Christianity that was given to the Hebrew people by Moses

the spreading the Jewish heritage and ideas throughout the Mediterranean world and the Middle East

rulers who hold religious and political power

the sun god whom the pharaoh Akhenaton tried to urge Egyptians to only worship

the process founded by the Egyptians to preserve bodies by removing internal organs, drying the body with salts, packing the insides, and wrapping it with chemically treated cloth

individuals who wrote records, histories, and mythes

the world's first writing system which consisted of marks carved onto wet clay tablets

the oldest written story that told the story of a Sumerian king and allowed historians to know something about the people who lived in Mesopotamia

a system of symbols or letters that represented the sounds of speech

An ancient Egyptian writing system in which pictures were used to represent ideas and sounds

a type of plant that grew along the Nile River and was used for a type of paper

a paper book that Egyptians put in the coffins of dead pharaohs that had the story of the dead person

the first civilization and the name of the people who lived in the civilization that was found in Mesopotamia, founded the first writing system, and had a polytheistic religion

a major city that emerged in Sumer about 5,500 years ago that one of the first big cities to emerge in the world and probably the largest city in the world at its height.

large towns that conquered the surrounding countryside and often competed with each other

rulers of large territories

a group of states or territories controlled by one ruler

the group of people who occupied parts of present-day

a period in Egyptian history that lasted from about 2660 BCE to 2160 BCE and included the creation of a strong central government with the pharaoh as the ruler and the building of the pyramids but was ended by internal fighting against the pharaoh and a drought

a period in Egyptian history that lasted from 2040 BCE to 1786 BCE after Mentuhotep united Egypt under a central government in Thebes in which many temples to the gods and irrigations projects were built and expansion occurred in Egypt,but was ended by an invasion from the Hyksos, pastoral nomads from modern Syria

a period in Egyptian history that lasted from 1570 to 1070 BCE after the Egyptians were able to overthrow the Hyksos in which Akhenaton, a pharaoh who tried to make Egyptian religion monotheistic, and Ramses the Great, a military pharaoh who expanded Egyptian territory to unprecedented size, ruled, but was ended by failed wars, repeated invasions, and internal revoltuions

pastoral nomads from modern-day Syria who ended the period of the Middle Kingdom in Egypt with their superior technology such as horse-drawn chariots and greatly improved bows and arrows

groups of invaders who invaded Egypt because of their military advantage with their iron tools and weapons

the Egyptian kingdom that gained its political and cultural independence from Egypt in 1000 BCE, even conquering Egypt before being overthrown by the Assyrians in 663 BCE; became an important state economically because of its trading with different empires, its exports of iron ore, and and its main city, Meroe which was an important trade center

a Christian civilization in present day Ethiopia that had grew rich because of its agricultural economy and tributes from conquered land; defeated the Kushites in 240 CE but began declining around 600 CE

the Babylonians' most powerful king who conquered all of Mesopotamia, abolished local governments, reorganized the tax structure, and created the set of law code called the Code of Hammurabi

the king of Egypt who united Lower Egypt to the north and Upper Egypt further south in 3100 BCE and established his captain city of Memphis at the southern end of the Nile Delta

king or queen of Egypt who were descended from the gods and thus had religious and political power

pharaoh of Egypt who tried to make Egyptian religion monotheistic by calling of the worship of Aten, the sun god

power pharaoh of Egypt during the New Kingdom who expanded the empire into Southwest Asia, erected more temples and states, and made peace with the invading Hittites

human specialization caused by a surplus in food that makes use of differences in ability, fosters learning by doing, improves efficiancy, and saves time