a way to learn about the world.

Social Studies

The study of the past with the help of written records

History

Beliefs, customs, and ways of living that groups of people share.

Culture

The study of the way in which people produce and exchange goods.

Economics

People or groups of people that have the authority to make and enforce laws

Government

The study of people, places, environments, and resources of an area. There are five themes: location, human environmental interaction, region, place and movement

Geography

Describes a place by it nearness to other areas (relative location) or by its longitude and latitude (absolute location)

Location

Describes a place in terms of the environment’s effects on humans who live there and how they effect the environment.

Human Environmental Interaction

Describes a place in terms of its shared characteristics.

Region

Describes a place in terms of its physical (land and climate) and human (culture and government) characteristics

Place

The transfer of people, places, goods, and ideas from one place to another.

Movement

Lines that run north and south and measure east and west of the Prime Meridian

Longitude

Lines that run east to west and measure north and south of the Equator

Latitude

0 degrees latitude

Equator

0 degrees longitude

Prime Meridian

This was the first permanent civilization

Mesopotamia

Pharaohs ruled this ancient civilization

Egypt

This ancient civilization’s social system was the caste system.

Indus Valley

This civilization had Dynasties rule them for centuries

Chinese

Founded a direct democracy

Ancient Greece

A government in which representatives, elected by the citizens of the country rule the country.

Democratic Republic

A government in which one individual, usually a military leader rules the country

Dictatorship

A government in which royalty, such as a King or Prince rules the country

Monarchy

A government in which small groups of individuals, often military rule the country.

Oligarchy

A government in which the Communist Party rules the country, with the goal of distributing wealth among its people.

Communism

The complete absence of a functioning government

Anarchy

An economy in which the government determines what people may own, buy, sell and trade; the government may even own all of the property and business itself.

Command Economy

An economy in which people may own, buy, sell, and trade goods and services based on the principle of supply and demand

Market Economy

An economy that mixes elements of market and command economies.

Mixed Economy

An economy in which there is no money, and people barter for all goods and services; this is only seen in very small isolated groups of indigenous people.

Traditional Economy

A particular system of faith and worship

Religion

Belief in one god

Monotheism

Belief in many gods

Polytheism

Monotheistic religion whose holy book is the Torah and its first followers were Ancient Hebrews

Judaism

Monotheistic religion based on the teachings of Mohammed

Islam

Religion based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama

Buddhism

The oldest religion in the world

Hinduism

Monotheistic religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ

Christianity

Period in European history traditionally dated from the fall of the Roman Empire to the dawn of the Renaissance.

Middle Ages

The revival of European art and literature under the influence of classical models in the 14 th -16 th centuries

Renaissance

Another word for farming

Agriculture

This is a group of countries or regions with different and varied language and cultural characteristics that are all ruled by one supreme government ; typically in history this supreme government took to the form of the monarchy. Ancient Rome and China are examples of this.

Empire

He inspired Columbus with his book about his travels to China

Marco Polo

Trade route from Western Europe to China/India.

Silk Road

The three G’s for Exploration

Gold, Glory, God

Created a school for navigation in Portugal

Prince Henry the Navigator

Sailed around the Southern tip of Africa and proved that a sea route to the Indian Ocean existed.

Bartolome Dias

Founded a direct sea route to India.

Vasco da Gama

This was to keep Spain and Portugal from going to war. Also known as the Line of Demarcation.

Treaty of Tordesillas

First to circumnavigate the globe, it was actually his crew

Ferdinand Magellan

Owned by the Netherlands, its purpose was to establish and control trade in Asia

Dutch East India Company

These companies had the power to mint money, trade and create armies in Asia.

East India Companies

Colonies are made for the benefit of the mother country

Mercantilism

A country or area under the full or partial political control of another country, typically a distant one, and occupied by settlers from that country

Colony

People native to an area

Indigenous People

He believed he reached Asia until the day he died. However, he actually sparked interest in exploring the Western Hemisphere

Christopher Columbus

Was not authorized to explore or conquer the Aztecs. He was successful because he made allies with the enemies of the Aztecs.

Hernan Cortes

He conquered the Incan Empire and had its leader held for ransom.

Francisco Pizarro

He was against the encomienda system. He pushed for equality and integration between the Spanish and Indigenous peoples of South America

Bartolome de las Casas

This was the ship voyage across the Atlantic Ocean for slaves

Middle Passage

The first successful English colony in North America

Jamestown

This colony in Roanoke disappeared.

Lost Colony

In Spain this economic system establish in the Spanish colonies of the New World, used the indigenous people of the Americas as slaves for free labor. In exchange, they were forced to learn Spanish and Christianity

Encomienda System

South Americans of European and South American descent

Mestizos

South Americans of European and African descent

Mulattos