The Code of Hammurabi – it is one of the oldest monuments in the sphere of legislation. It is a black basalt pillar on which cuneiform inscriptions on the classic Babylonian dialect of Akkadian are located, which include two hundred eighty-two articles from various areas of law. The Code of Hammurabi was created by the king of Babylon Hammurabi, who reigned in round 1793-1750 years BC and made Babylon the biggest cultural, economic and political center of Asia Minor of those times. The Code of Hammurabi – is one of the most important sources of the ancient Babylonian law and of the ancient world in general. "Code" reveals many issues related to the social and economic situation of ancient Mesopotamia.
Axum Kingdom
Axum Kingdom – was the Ethiopian state that existed in II - XI centuries on the territories of modern Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen and Arabia. Advantageous position on the trade routes from India and East Africa to the Mediterranean resulted in rapid economic development of the Kingdom. Byzantium, at its end, sought to subdue Axum by preaching Christianity which starting from the VI century became the state religion in this realm.
Mansa Musa
Mansa Musa – was the most famous Mansa (supreme ruler) of the medieval state of Mali, who was in power in the years 1307/12-1332/37. During his reign Mali had the largest size throughout its history, significantly increased its territory and reached the peak of its cultural development. The most important reason for the spread of fame of Mansa outside of Mali was the Hajj committed by him in 1324 – Musa procession through Cairo, camel caravans and enormous number of slaves, and luxury surrounding the king glorified the monarch many generations ahead. He is considered to be the most rich individual ever living on Earth.
Edict of Milan
Edict of Milan marked the victory of Christianity over paganism and the beginning of the Christianization of the Roman Empire. It is the letter which dates back to year 313 when emperors Constantine and Licinius proclaimed religious toleration in the Roman Empire. The Edict of Milan was an important step towards making Christianity the official religion of the empire. Direct text of the edict is lost for us, but Lactantius cited it in his work "On the death of the persecutors”.
Zheng He
Zheng He – was a Chinese admiral, diplomat, and traveler. In 1405, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty – Yongle, who wanted to bring China out of isolation, appointed Zheng He as a commander of the expedition fleet to the territories of the South Seas and of the Indian Ocean. Under Zheng He`s subordination there were 62 large sailing ship with the soldiers and a crew of 27 thousand people. Zheng He's fleet reached the Malabar coast of India and visited the largest trade port of the time – the city of Calicut, some sailors even visited sacred Muslim city – Mecca. During his life (1371—1433), they visited 56 different countries and major cities in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. Chinese ship reached the shores of Arabia and East Africa. And Zheng He himself was conveying message from the emperor, established trade, was encouraging the exchange of embassies with China.
Neolithic Revolution
Neolithic Revolution was the transition of humanity`s existence from hunting and gathering to living by means of agriculture. This transition began in the Mesolithic Age and ended in Neolithic. Thanks to agriculture and animal husbandry today lives the mankind. Till now we eat bread “invented” during Neolithic Revolution. The term “Neolithic Revolution” was introduced in 1949 by English archaeologist Gordon Childe. Currently, the Neolithic Revolution is considered as one of the three major revolutionary changes in the economy — along with industrial and technological revolution.
Tenochtitlan
Tenochtitlan was the capital of the Aztec state, located in place of modern Mexico City. It was founded in approximately 1325 on the island, in the middle of the salt lake Texcoco, near the earlier settlement of Tlatelolco. By the era of the Spanish conquest both towns had merged into one huge island capital (about 1000 hectares) with a population of about 100 thousand people. At the central square there was a main Aztec temple built in honor of the gods Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli (over 30 m in height), around which rulers' palaces were located. In 1521, after a three-month siege of the troops Cortes, Tenochtitlan fell. Fires and marauding almost completely destroyed the Aztec capital. It is noticeable, that before the Spanish conquest the city was better organized and larger than any European city of those times.
Olmecs
Olmecs – are probably the most ancient culture of present-day Mexico. The word “Olmec” is of Aztec origin and means “rubber people”. The Aztecs called them in such a manner because of the area where rubber was produced and where Olmecs lived. Ancient Olmec civilization dates back to the 2nd millennium BC and ceased to exist in 1st BC.
Aryans
Aryans – is self- designation of historic peoples of Ancient Iran and Ancient India (II-I millennium BC), who spoke Aryan languages of Indo-European family of languages. The study of ancient languages and archaic Aryan cultures suggest that the ancient Aryans were originally one people that separated in the beginning of II millennium BC. Word “Aryan” in the writings of European historians of the XIX century was mistakenly used as a self-designation of all ancient Indo-Europeans. Of particular prominence it was during the Nazi Germany, which ideologues often used it in the racial way, and even took one of the Aryan symbols – the swastika.
Greek City States
In ancient Greece a large, unified state didn`t establish. The gradual development of tribal communities led to the creation on their basis of several hundred small independent city-states, including settlement (city) and adjacent areas of land. Every city-state had its laws, unique governmental system, although common features inherited from the tribal system also preserved and were shared among city states. Land was seen as joint property of a Greek city state.
Grand Central
Grand Central Station in New York (Grand Central) – is the oldest and famous railway station of American metropolis. By number of platforms (44) and lines (67) it is superior to any other station in the world. It was the first railway station of the old New York. Grand Central has a status of the National Historic Landmark of the U.S.. In our time, Grand Central is not only an important element of the transport system of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas, but also one of the most popular tourist attractions in America.
Eastern Orthodoxy
Eastern Orthodoxy – is a religious organization formed by adherents of Orthodoxy. It was formed in 4 century in the Byzantine Empire and constituted together with Romans Catholic Church all-Christian church until separation of churches. Unlike the Catholic Church that was formed as a centralized non-state organization subordinated to one hierarch – the Pope Eastern Orthodoxy originally appeared in the role of government organization headed by the Byzantine emperor himself, who was in authority to appoint and dismiss the church hierarchy. Later Eastern Orthodoxy was an efficient instrument of autocracy in the enslavement of the peoples of Russia and later Russian Empire by Russian tsars.
Bipedalism
Bipedalism – is a method of locomotion (movement) on a hard surface using two rear limbs (legs). Bipedal way of movement is a characteristic of the archosaurs and their descendants – birds and some mammals, including humans. According to the widespread hypothesis the transition of human ancestors to bipedalism and non-use of forelimbs when exercising locomotor functions were linked to the need to carry food and cubs, showing signal gestures, scaring away predators, throwing rocks and sticks, and so on, however it is not absolutely clear what exactly made archosaurs and their descendents switch to bipedalism. And the compelling reason of switching to the orthograde (hence, bipedalism) locomotion is still not found.
Feudalism
Feudalism – is the type of social relations based on a conditional private (feudal) form of land ownership and on operation of the peasant producers personally dependent from feudal owner. Feudal exploitation was carried out by gratuitous acquisition of feudal peasant labor (or of the products of labor) as a feudal rent. Feudal state existed mainly in the form of monarchy. With the development of feudalism elements of capitalist relations evolved. The process of the so-called “primary accumulation of capital” has accelerated the preparation of the material conditions for the transition to capitalism, which affirmed in the result of revolutions.
Pax Mongolica
Pax Mongolica – is a term adopted in the European historiography to refer to the impact of the Mongol conquest at the social, cultural and economic aspects of life of the peoples of Eurasia conquered by the Mongol Empire in the XIII and XIV centuries. Also it is so called the impact on world trade and communication during a period of relative peace that followed the Mongol conquest. Conquests of Genghis Khan and of his successors facilitated contacts between the Western and Eastern worlds in the vast area from South-East Asia to Eastern Europe. The decline of Pax Mongolica was marked by the political fragmentation of the Mongol empire and by the outbreak of plague that spread through trade routes to most of the world.
Din-i-Ilahi
Din-i-Ilahi – is a syncretic religious doctrine created by Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great in an attempt to unify Hinduism, Islam and some elements of other religions of the Mughal Empire – Christianity, Jainism and Zoroastrianism. Akbar was hoping that he created the religion that would eliminate religious division between the subjects of his monarchy. New religious movement spread only in court circles and faded away with the death of the Emperor. Din-i-Ilahi enriched the Muslim world of India with translations of “Ramayana”, “Mahabharata” and the New Testament.
Columbian Exchange
Columbian Exchange was a displacement of a large number of plants and animals, technology and cultural achievements, as well as groups of people (including forced relocation of slaves) from the Old World into the New, and vice versa as a result of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492. This exchange also led to the spread of diseases which led to thousands of deaths.
Millet system
Millet – in Muslim states – a group of people of the same faith, having autonomous administrative institutions (courts, schools, hospitals, etc.) located in a specially designated place/city quarter. In XV-XX centuries, the term was widely used in the Ottoman Empire for the classification of its people along confessional lines. The notion was given its birth in the XV-XVII centuries, after the fall of Byzantium and the transformation of Constantinople into the new capital of the Ottoman Empire, was composed of many nations.
Civil service Exam
Civil service Exam – was an integral part of the Confucian system of education, ensuring access of the local elites to the state bureaucracy. System of Civil service Exam existed (with interruptions) for about 1300 years from its creation in 605 (Sui Dynasty) and until 1905 (end of Qing Dynasty). Starting from the XVI century, representatives of the Chinese bureaucratic class, generated by means of such an examination system became known to Europeans as "mandarins". What is remarkable that the first identical to the civil service exam in the world outside of China was conducted in Berlin in 1693.
Treaty of Tordesillas
Treaty of Tordesillas – is the agreement between Spain and Portugal on the division of spheres of influence in the world which was signed June 7, 1494 in the town of Tordesillas (Castile). Demarcation line passing through the poles and crossing the Atlantic Ocean, at the insistence of the Portuguese side was moved from a line dividing world a year earlier in the bull “Inter caetera” issued by Pope Alexander VI 1100 miles to West. Treaty of Tordesillas was an evidence of the uncontested might of Spain and Portugal.
Karma
Karma – is one of the central concepts of Indian philosophy, explaining the doctrine of rebirth and samsara (the stream of life, stream of consciousness). Historically it ascends to Vedic period. It is included almost in all philosophical systems of Hinduism. Karma is a concept that is used to explain the phenomena of space and moral causality. In fact, Karma expresses total deeds done by any living creature for all embodied life, and their consequences, which determine the nature of the current existence and future re-birth.
Renaissance
Renaissance – was a period of revival of classical antiquity, the emergence of new approach to life, which was seen as akin to an approach of life in antiquity and was opposite to the medieval attitude to life with its detachment from the world which seemed to be sinful. It was one of the greatest cultural epochs in the development of West and Central Europe, it was an era of reappraisal of values of Middle Ages and appeal to the cultural heritage of classical antiquity as to an absolute ethical and aesthetic ideal, as "revival" of it.
Akbar
Muslim Sultan Akbar – was one of the greatest rulers of the XVI century: the ruler of the Mughal Empire, ruthless commander and sage, illiterate leader and a generous patron of poets. He was the third Sultan of Mughal Empire, grandson of the founder of the Mughal dynasty in India – Babur. Akbar strengthened the power of the Mughal dynasty through conquest and expansion of the boundaries of the state. By the end of his reign in 1605 the Mughal Empire covered most of North and Central India. He Implemented a number of large state, military, and religious reform. during his reign culture and art of India reached their zenith.
Aztec Human Sacrifice
Aztec Human Sacrifice – was a part of a religious cult of the ancient Aztec people inhabited the territory of modern Mexico before the beginning of the XVI century. Practice of sacrifice was widespread and was conducted in order to appease the gods. Both humans and animals were sacrificed. Sacrifice of people was more significant, since it was staged mainly on holidays and during the war and entertaining games when sacrifice of animals was a daily procedure (for example, everyday sacrifice of birds after sunrise or dogs in honor of the winter solstice).
Bantu
Bantu – is a general name for more than four hundred ethnic groups living throughout sub-Saharan Africa, which share common traditions and language. Currently, the total number of representatives of ethnic Bantu population of about 200 million people is engaged mainly in agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest members of the Bantu peoples are: Shona, Rwanda, Zulus, Congo, Makua, Xhosa, Rundi, Chokwe. From a linguistic point of view, the Bantu languages, though distributed at the vast areas of Africa, are relatively close to each other.
Logographic Writing
Logographic writing is considered to be the earliest writing system. A plurality of first civilizations in India, China, Central America and in the Middle East used this kind of writing. The main difference of logograms from other writing systems is that graphemes (writing symbols) are not directly related to pronunciation. Advantage in this case is that the person does not need to understand the pronunciation or the language spoken by the writer.
Reformation
Reformation – was a social movement in Western and Central Europe in the XVI century. It had basically feudal character and took the form of the struggle against the Catholic Church. Reformation took its inception with the social activity against Catholic Church of Martin Luther in Germany in 1517. Ideologues of Reformation denied the necessity of the Catholic Church, its hierarchy and the clergy in general, rejected Catholic Sacred Tradition, denied the right of the Church to land and wealth, etc. Reformation ushered in Protestantism.
Confucius
Confucius – was a great Chinese thinker. Political and ethical views of Confucius are set forth in the book “The Analects”, compiled by his disciples. In II BC Confucianism was recognized as the official ideology in China and began to play the role of a state religion. An important concept of ethical and political doctrine of Confucius is a set of ethical and social relations between people, based on piety and respect for elders and devotion to sovereign and state, etc. Confucius` thoughts and ideas gave birth to the new religion which currently along with Taoism is an official religious doctrine of the PRC.
Legalism
Legalism – was one of the six major philosophic currents of China during the Warring States era. The basis of the doctrine was the absolute supremacy of the legal law in the life of the state and society. And the creator of laws could only be the ruler. The main idea of the school was the equality of all before the law and before the Son of Heaven, the consequence of which was the idea of distribution of titles not because of family bonds but by real merit, according to which any commoner had the right to rise to the rank of first minister. Legalists were famous tfor their ruthlessness and extremely harsh laws when they were incumbent during Qi and Qin Dynasties.
Silk Road
Silk Road – in Ancient Times and Middle Ages was the caravan road from China to Central and Western Asia and was opened in the II BC. The Silk Road played a major role in the development of economic and cultural relations of the peoples of Asia Minor, Central Asia and China, for example, it served as a medium in the distribution of various innovations, including arts (dance, music, visual arts, architecture), religion (Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Manichaeism), technology (the actual production of silk and gunpowder, paper, etc.).
Works Cited
In the course of answering the questions articles of electronic Encyclopedia Britannica were used. Available at http://www.britannica.com/
