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| A fine, light slit deposited by wind and water. It constitutes the fertile soil of the Yellow River Valley in northern China. Because Ioess soils is not compacted, it can be worked with a simple digging stick, but it leaves the region vulnerable to devastating earthquakes. |
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| The dominent people in the earliest Chinese dyansty for which we have written records (1750-1027 BCE). Ancestor worship, divination by means of oracle bones, and the use of bronze vessels for ritual purposes were major elements in Shang culture. |
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| Techniques for ascertaining the future or the will of the gods by interpreting natural phenomena such as, in early China, the cracks on oracle bones or, in ancient Greece, the flight of birds through sectors of the sky. |
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| The people and dynasty took over the dominent position in northern China form Shang and created the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule. The Zhou era, (1027-771 BCE), was remembered in Chinese tradition as a time of prosperity and benevolent rule. In later Zhou period, (771-221 BCE), centralized control broke down, and warfare among many small states became frequent. |
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| Chinese religious and political idealogy developed by the Zhou, according to which it was prerogative of Heaven, the chief diety, to grant power to the ruler of China and to take away that power if the ruler failed to conduct himself justly and in the best interests of his subjects. |
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| In China, a political philosophy that emphasized the unruliness of human nature and justified state coercion and control. The Qin ruling class invoked it to validate the authorian nature of their regime and its profilgate expenditure of its subjects lives and labor. It was superseded in the Han era by a more benevolent Confucian doctrine of government moderation. |
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| Western name for th Chinese philosopher Kongzi (551-479 BCE). His doctrine of duty and public service had a great influence on subsequent Chinese thought and serve as a code of conduct for government officials. |
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| Chinese school of thought, originating in the Warfaring States Period with Laozi (604-531 BCE). Daoism offered an alternative to the Confucian emphasis on hierarchy and duty. Daoists believe the world is always changing and is devoid of absolute morality or meaning. They accept the world as they find it, avoid futile struggles, and deviate from the "Dao," or path, of nature. |
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| In Chinese belief, complementary factors that help to maintain the equilibrium of the world. Yin is associated with masculine, light, and active qualities; Yang with feminine, dark, and passive qualities. |
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| An Egyptian name of Nubia, the region alongside the Nile River south of Egypt, where an indigenous kingdom with its own distinctive institutions and cultural traditions arose beginning in the early 2nd millennium BCE. It was deeply influenced by Egyptian culture and at times under the control of Egypt, which coveted it's rich deposits of gold and luxury products from sub-Saharan Africa carried up to the Nile corridor. |
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| Capital of a flourishing kingdom in southern Nubia from the 4th century BCE to the 4th century BCE. In this period Nubian culture shows more independence from Egypt and the influence of the sub-Saharan desert. |
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| The first Mesoamerican civilization. Between 1200-400 BCE, the Olmec people of central Mexico cerated a vibrant civilization that included intensive agriculture, wide-ranging trade, ceremonial centers, and monumental construction. Olmec, great cultural influence on later Mesoamerican societies, passing on artistic styles, religious imagery, astronomical observations for construction of calendars, and a ritual ball game. |
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| The first major urban civilization in South American (900-250 BCE). Its capital, Chavín de Huántar, was located high in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Chavín became politically and economically dominant in a densely populated region that included two distinct ecological zones, the Peruvian coastal plain and the Andean foothills. |
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| A noofed animal indigenous to the Andes Mountains in South America. It was the only domesticated beast of burden in the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans. It provided meat and wool. The use of llamas to transport goods made possible specialized production and trade among people living in different ecological zones and fostered the integration of these zones by Chavín and later Andean states. |
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