Afrocentrism: A belief that people of African descent should interpret the world from an African perspective.
Apartheid: A system of enforced racial segregation and white supremacy that existed in South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s.
Cold War: Not really a "war" but an ongoing conflict between the United States and Soviet Union from the end of World War II to the fall of Communism in the early 1990s.
Colonnade: A long series of columns on either side of a walkway. Often, but not always, there is a roof over the columns.
Compound (n.): A number of separate dwellings surrounded by a protective wall.
Condescend: To treat somebody as though they are inferior.
Deify: To turn someone or something into a god.
Depose: To remove from power.
Eurocentrism: The idea that European culture provides the standard by which all others should be judged.
Figurine: A small sculpture, usually a depiction of a person or animal.
Interdependence: A situation in which people rely upon each other.
Neolithic Age: The New Stone Age, c. 10,000-c. 4000 B. C., which began with a dramatic increase in technology and agriculture.
Obelisk: A tall, freestanding column of stone.
Oral tradition: A body of stories and sayings and other cultural information passed down by word of mouth.
Paleoanthropology: The study of human origins.
Paleolithic Age: The Old Stone Age, c. 2,000,000-c. 10,000 B. C.
Racism: The belief that race is the primary factor determining peoples' abilities, and that one race is superior to others.
Regime: Government; usually used as a negative term.
Savanna: Grassland.
Staple: A commodity with widespread or constant appeal.
Stellae: Plural of stela, a large stone pillar, usually inscribed with a message commemorating a specific event.
Values: Beliefs about what is good and bad, important and unimportant.
About 10,000 B. C., as the last ice age was ending, the world entered the New Stone Age, or Neolithic Age (Nee-oh-LITH-ik). This was a period of dramatic progress in agriculture, toolmaking, and other areas that created the framework for the development of civilization in about 4000 b. c.
World History
