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| first agricultural revolution, describing the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture, as first adopted by various independent prehistoric human societies, in various locations. |
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| a historical region in the Middle East incorporating the Levant, Mesopotamia and, according to some, Ancient Egypt. |
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| Swahili (also called Kiswahili; see below for derivation) is a Bantu language widely spoken in East Africa. Swahili is the mother tongue of the Swahili people who inhabit a 1500 km stretch of the East African coast from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique. |
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| Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta |
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| Moroccan Berber Sunni Islamic scholar and jurisprudent from the Maliki Madhhab (a school of Fiqh, or Sunni Islamic law), and at times a Qadi or judge. However, he is best known as an extensive traveler or explorer, whose account documents his travels and side-excursions over a period of almost thirty years, covering some 73,000 miles (117,000 km). These journeys covered almost the entirety of the known Islamic world, extending also to present-day Pakistan, India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and China, a distance readily surpassing that of his predecessor, near-contemporary and traveler Marco Polo. |
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| Manorialism / Seigneurialism |
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| the organization of rural economy and society in medieval western and parts of central Europe, characterised by the vesting of legal and economic power in a lord supported economically from his own direct landholding and from the obligatory contributions of a legally subject part of the peasant population under his jurisdiction. These obligations could be payable in labour (the French term corvée is conventionally applied), produce ("in kind") or rarely money. |
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| ) is a form of Confucianism that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty. The term should not be mistaken for New Confucianism which is an effort to apply Confucianism to the 21st century.Neo-Confucianism was a response by the Confucians to the dominance of the Taoists and Buddhists. Neo-Confucians such as Zhu Xi (Chu Hsi) recognized that the Confucian system of the time did not include a thorough-going metaphysical system and so devised one. |
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| Samurai (侍? or, more rarely, 士) |
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| term for the military nobility in pre-industrial Japan. The word 'samurai' is derived from the archaic Japanese verb 'samorau', changed to 'saburau' , meaning 'to serve'; a samurai is the servant of a lord. |
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| Communities of nomadic people move from place to place, rather than settling down in one location. Many cultures have been traditionally nomadic, but nomadic behaviour is increasingly rare in industrialised countries. There are three kinds of nomads, hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads, and peripatetic nomads. Nomadic hunter-gatherers have by far the longest-lived subsistence method in human history, following seasonally available wild plants and game. Pastoralists raise herds and move with them so as not to deplete pasture beyond recovery in any one area. Peripatetic nomads are more common in industrialised nations travelling from place to place offering a trade wherever they go. |
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| step 1/5 of 5 pillars of faith |
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1. Shahada (affirmation)
The duty to recite the creed:
"There is nothing worthy of worship save Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God" |
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| step 2/5 of 5 pillars of faith |
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2. Salat (prayer)
The duty to worship the One God in prayer five times each day |
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| step 3/5 of 5 pillars of faith |
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3. Zakat (almsgiving)
The duty to distribute alms and to help the needy |
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| step 4/5 of 5 pillars of faith |
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4. Siyam (fasting)
The duty to keep the Fast of Ramadan |
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| step 5/5 of 5 pillars of faith |
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5. Hajj (pilgrimage)
The duty to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime |
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