Alchemy: A semiscientific discipline that holds that through the application of certain chemical processes, ordinary metals can be turned into gold.
Ancestor: An earlier person in one's line of parentage, usually more distant in time than a grandparent.
Annals: Historical records.
Bamboo: A type of plant, plentiful in East Asia, that has hollow stems and is useful for making a variety of objects.
Barbarian: A negative term used to describe someone as uncivilized.
Bronze Age: A phase in the development of a civilization characterized by the use of bronze, which is a mixture of copper and tin. The Bronze Age usually is described as following the Stone Age and preceding the Iron Age.
Bureaucracy: A network of officials who run a government.
Character: In written language, a symbol such as a letter of the alphabet or a hieroglyph.
Civil war: A military conflict that occurs when a group of citizens within a nation attempts to break away from the rule of the government.
Concubine: A woman whose role toward a man is like that of a wife's, but without the social and legal status of a wife.
Consort: Wife.
Contemporary: Someone who lives at the same time as another person.
Cowries: Bright shells that come from a type of ocean creature.
Crop rotation: A process of changing crops on a given plot of ground from year to year in order to preserve the soil.
Cuisine: Style of preparing food.
Currency: Money.
Democracy: A form of government in which the people, usually through elected representatives, rule.
Descendant: Someone who is related to an earlier person, or ancestor.
Disciple: A close follower of a teacher.
Divination: The study of physical material in order to discover what the future holds.
Eclipse: In astronomy, an event that occurs when one heavenly body blocks another from view.
Eunuch: A man who has been castrated, thus making him incapable of sex or sexual desire.
Feudal system: A form of political and economic organization in which peasants are subject to a noble, who owns most or all of the land that they till.
Glaze: To paint pottery, which is then baked in an extremely hot oven called a kiln.
Hierarchy: A system of classification according to grade or rank.
Ideogram: A written symbol that stands for an idea or name.
Industry: Manufacturing activity; can sometimes be used broadly to describe an entire branch of business, such as "the movie industry."
Industrialization: A process of transforming a country from an agricultural to a manufacturing economy.
Infantry: Foot soldiers.
Inflation: A situation in which too much currency is in use by the population, resulting in a rise in prices.
Iron Age: A phase in the development of a civilization that usually followed the Bronze Age and was characterized by the use of iron tools.
Jade: A greenish gemstone, particularly valued in East Asia, that acquires a high shine when polished.
Mandate: Permission or authority to rule.
Mint: To produce currency.
Monopoly: Total control over something, usually an industry.
Noble: A ruler within a kingdom who has an inherited title and lands but who is less powerful than the king or queen.
Nova: A star that suddenly grows extremely bright before fading.
Novel: An extended, usually book-length, work of fiction.
Octave: A system of eight notes that forms the basis of a musical scale.
Omen: A message from the gods, usually regarding the future.
Opium: A drug derived from poppy plants that is similar to heroin, though it is usually smoked rather than injected.
Peasant: A farmer who works a small plot of land.
Police state: A type of strict and repressive government control that is maintained through a secret police force rather than a public justice system.
Republic: A form of government, led by a president or a prime minister rather than a monarch or a dictator, that is usually but not always democratic in character.
Ritual: A type of religious ceremony that is governed by very specific rules.
Standardize: To bring things, such as units of measure, into a common system by setting standards for them.
Stone Age: A period in the development of a civilization characterized by the use of stone tools; it was usually followed by the Bronze Age.
Totalitarianism: A political system in which the government exerts total, or neartotal, control.
Tyrant: An extremely cruel leader.
Usurper: Someone who seizes power.
(hwahng-HAY) or Yellow River in the plains of northern China. There followed the first of many dynasties who gave their names to phases of Chinese history: the Hsia or Xia (SHAH).
The Hsia Dynasty, which supposedly began about 2200 B. C., is so shrouded in myth and mystery that scholars tend to treat it more as a part of legend than of history—much like the Israelites' account of their origins in the Book of Genesis. According to Chinese legends, the Hsia ruled for nearly 450 years, until the rise of a cruel leader named Chieh (CHAY), who oppressed his people so badly that they revolted against him. This ushered in the era of the Shang (SHAHNG), China's first historic dynasty.
World History
