World History Vocabulary Terms

END OF COURSE PREPARATION

AGRARIAN

Related to agriculture or farming.

URBAN

Big cities.

RURAL

Small town, rustic, outside the city. Country.

ARABLE LAND

Land used for growing crops. Good farm land.

SUBSISTENT AGRICULTURE

Hand to mouth farming or producing only enough food

for your existence. *The poorest of nations lives like this. In contrast, the USA

is a commercial farming power.

CULTURAL DIFFUSION

The spreading of ideas from one culture to

another culture.

Good example? The Silk Road was used to trade, but the religion of Buddhism was spread from India to China.

PATRON

A person that supports the arts (painters & sculptors)

financially.*Good Example – The De Medici’s were patrons of Leonardo

da Vinci and Michelangelo during the Renaissance.

FEUDALISM

Political and social system of medieval Europe.It is very hierarchical.

OLIGARCHY

Rule by a few men.

Good Examples:Sparta – ruled by 2 kings

and 5 EphorsRome – 1st and 2nd Triumvirate – Each

Triumvirate had 3 men that were ruling the Roman

Empire.

EMANCIPATE OR LIBERATE

To set free. Example: Some Great liberators would include Lincoln,

and Simon Bolivar.

FASCISM

A dictator led government based on extreme nationalism and the

glorification of the leader. Minority rights are not a priority.

Good Example: Hitler was the fascist dictator of Germany during World War II.

TOTALITARIANISMTHIS INCLUDES: TOTALITARIAN DICTATORS, OR A

TOTALITARIAN GOVERNMENTS.

An absolute dictator or a government where all decisions are

made by the government. They have total power.

The most infamous totalitarian dictators – Mussolini and Hitler, Stalin and Mao.

ALLIANCE SYSTEM

An agreement or relationship between two or more parties/countries.

Entangling alliances were a key cause of World War I.

SECULAR

Worldly or nonreligious in nature.

EXAMPLE – a king would be a secular authority.

INTIFADA

Uprising, revolt, rebellion. Palestinians had an intifada

against Israel in the Holy Land.

SUFFRAGE

The right to vote.

SHARIAH

Islamic law.

MONARCHY

A king or a queen.