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AUDIO GLOSSARY
Full Audio Glossary Listing
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Abbasid Caliphate 
Second Muslim government headed by the caliph (religious leader) of the Muslim community; capital was Baghdad, 750 - 1258 CE.
Abd al-Rahman
Name borne by five princes of the Umayyad dynasty, amirs and caliphs of Cordoba.
Abusua
Matrilineal clan through which the maternal life force is passed on to children in the Akan (Ghanaian) belief system.
Aceh
Muslim kingdom in northern Sumatra in the seventeenth century.
Achaemenid
Persian empire of the seventh century BCE.
Afrikaners
Afrikaans-speaking descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa.
Afrocentrism
History from an Africa-centered perspective.
Akira Kurosawa
Japanese film director.
Aksum
Important trading kingdom dominant in Northeast Africa from fifth century BCE to tenth century CE.
akuaba
Akan (Ghanaian) wooden fertility figure in a human shape.
al-Andalus
Area of Muslim rule on the Iberian peninsula, 711 - 1492 CE.
al-Bakri
Eleventh-century Muslim geographer who described the kingdom of Ghana.
al-Harawi
Thirteenth-century Muslim pilgrim who wrote about his travels between Egypt and Iran.
al-Idrisi
Twelfth-century Muslim geographer who described the kingdom of Ghana.
Amaterasu
Shinto sun goddess.
Amerigo Vespucci
Genoan merchant and mariner who publicized his travels to South America, 1454-1512 CE.
Amon-Ra
Chief god of the ancient Egyptians.
Anasazi
Navajo word for "ancient ones": Native American group in Southwest prominent around 1200 BCE.
Andalusians
People who live in the Andalusia region of southern Spain, from the traditional name al-Andalus.
animism
The belief that personalized, supernatural beings (or souls) inhabit ordinary objects and govern their existence.
Anyang
Shang dynasty capital and site of major archaeological excavations.
Arawaks
Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean who migrated from South America centuries before Columbus.
ar-Rundi
Muslim poet and theologian who became the leading mystical thinker of North Africa in the fourteenth century.
Asante
Kingdom of the Asante people, which reached its height after 1700, was located in a gold-producing forest of what is modern-day Ghana.
Ashoka
Third-century BCE Mauryan king who converted to Buddhism and spread the religion throughout the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka.
Atahualpa
Last Inkan ruler.
Ataturk
Leader and first president of the Republic of Turkey who instituted secular reforms, 1881 - 1938.
Avicenna
Arabic name, Ibn Sina; Muslim philosopher and physician whose medical texts became standard for European doctors, 980 - 1037 CE.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
Religious leader who led the revolution against the Iranian shah in 1979.
ayllu
Communal organizations or lineages in Andean highlands, especially during the time of the Inka.
Babylonian
Relating to the city of Babylon, an early city-state in Mesopotamia which existed around 2300 BCE.
bana balute
Luba men trained to be state historians able to recite royal geneaologies from memory.
Bantu
Name of an African language group; ancestors of Bantu speakers migrated from the Niger-Congo rivers region to the east and south.
Benvenuto Cellini
Italian artist and musician, 1500 - 1571 CE.
Bodh Gaya
Birthplace of Buddhism.
Bodhi tree
The tree under which the Buddha reached enlightenment.
Boers
Farmers of Dutch heritage in South Africa.
bolshevism
Style of Marxist political action begun by V.I. Lenin, who led the second Russian Revolution in 1917.
Bonampak
Classic Mayan archeological site.
Brahman
Vedic sacred knowledge, and later the absolute power of the universe in Hindu belief.
bullionism
An economic theory that defines wealth by the amount of precious metals owned.
cacao
Mesoamerican food used now to make chocolate.
Cahokia
Mississippian urban civilization active from 900 to 1400 CE with large mounds in the shapes of animals like snakes.
caliphate of Cordoba
Muslim government based in the city of Cordoba on the Iberian peninsula.
campesinos
Subsistence farmers in Central or South America.
capoeira
Brazilian martial art developed by enslaved Africans in the 1500s.
Carolingian Empire
Territory controlled by Charlemagne and his sons.
cassava
Mesoamerican plant with roots rich in nutritious starch; also known as yucca, manioc, and tapioca.
Çatalhöyük
Early settlement in modern-day Turkey, circa 7000 BCE.
celadon
Chinese porcelain with a light green glaze.
Chang'an
Chinese capital city during the Han and Tang dynasties.
chattel slaves
Persons who are the property of another and provide slave labor from birth to death.
Chavin de Huantar
Early Andean city state from about 1000 to 100 BCE.
Chechens
People in Central Asia who are mostly Muslim and fought for independence from Russia after the breakup of the USSR.
Chi Wara
A legendary farming antelope who taught Bamana ancestors to farm and is honored with a ritual dance.
Chiang Kai-shek
General and leader of the Republic of China from 1925 - 1949 who then moved his government to the island of Taiwan; given name Jiang Jieshi, 1887 - 1975.
Chichén Itzá
Mayan palace archaeological site.
Chileans
People who live in Chile, a South American country on the Pacific coast.
Chinggis Khan
Mongol leader who created the Mongol empire, 1167 - 1227.
chinoiserie
Fashion for Chinese themes in western European decoration beginning in the late seventeenth century.
Choson dynasty
Korean dynasty, 1392 - 1910.
Choshu
One of the key domains in Japan which fought to restore imperial rule in Tokugawa Japan, leading to the Meiji Restoration.
cliometric
The use of econometric techniques to study history.
codex
Mesoamerican book that recorded information about astrology, religion, ritual, history, and law; very few pre-Hispanic codices survived the Spanish book burnings.
Constantine
Roman ruler who shifted the capital of the Empire to the east, converted to Christianity, and founded the Byzantine Empire.
Copan
Mayan palace archaeological site.
corvée
French word meaning labor service owed to the state.
Cuzco
Capital city of the Inka.
Daoism
Chinese religion that encourages spontaneity and the development of connections to the Dao, the force balancing the universe.
dar al-Islam
The realm of Islam.
Deng Xiaoping
Communist Party leader who re-established his power after Mao's death in 1976 and then enforced liberal economic reforms in China, 1904 - 1997.
devaraja
Cult of a god-king in southeast Asia derived from Hinduism.
dhoti
Indian clothing for men consisting of one piece of cloth wrapped between the legs and tucked in at the waist.
diaspora
The dispersal of peoples; translated from Greek as "scattering of seeds".
Domesday Book
Records of a survey of lands and peoples in the conquered British isles commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086 CE.
encomienda
Spanish royal grant of authority over the labor of Native Americans in the Spanish colonies; the encomienda holder was required to convert the Native Americans to Christianity.
ethnoarchaeology
Study of contemporary communities along with the archaeological sites that surround them.
ethnobotanist
Social scientist who studies historical and contemporary plant use.
ethnomusicology
Study of world music in its cultural contexts.
exaptation
An organism's utilization of a trait or structure for a purpose other than that for which it was originally selected.
exceptionalism
The belief that a country's history and destiny is unique.
Ezana
Aksum ruler who converted to Christianity in the fourth century CE.
Fatimid
Muslim dynasty in Egypt and North Africa, 909 - 1171 CE.
Fernand Braudel
Twentieth-century French historian who created the Annales school that analyzes large-scale social change over long periods of historical time.
Francisco Pizarro
Spanish conqueror of the Inka.
Frumentius
Fourth-century Christian bishop who converted the Ethiopian ruling class to Christianity.
fukoku kyohei
Japanese slogan during Meiji era, translated as "enrich the country, strengthen the military".
Funan
Southeast Asian state, first to sixth centuries CE.
futuwwa
Goals of Muslim youth to serve the community with good deeds and humility.
Gerardus Mercator
Mapmaker from Flanders who in 1569 created a true world navigational chart that bore lines of constant compass bearing.
glasnost
Political reforms begun by Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union.
Granada
Last area controlled by Muslims on the Iberian peninsula.
griot
French term used for oral historian in West Africa.
gynocentric
Woman-centered.
hadith
Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad.
Hagia Sophia
Church built by Constantius, the son of Constantine, in Constantinople in the early sixth century.
Haile Selassie
Ethiopian king, 1930 - 1974, who attempted to modernize his country; considered the Messiah by Rastafarians.
Hammurabi
Mesopotamian ruler from 1792 - 1750 BCE whose legal decisions constitute the first written laws in the world.
han'gul
Korean phonetic syllabary.
Hangzhou
Capital of the Southern Song dynasty from 1127 - 1279 on the southeastern coast of China.
Harappa
Earliest known culture in Indus valley, 2300 - 1500 BCE.
Harappan
Of or relating to early civilization in Indus valley.
Heian
Capital city of Japan, 794 - 1185 CE.
hejira
The Prophet Muhammad's flight to Medina from Mecca in 622 CE which marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar.
Hinduism
Dominant belief system in India with a diverse array of belief systems, practices, and scriptures; originated in ancient Vedic culture at least as far back as 2000 BCE.
Hispaniola
Island to the east of Cuba where Columbus founded a Spanish colony in 1493; present-day island of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Hongshan
Neolithic site in northern China.
Ibn Jubayr
Twelfth-century Muslim traveler and chronicler of the Crusades.
Ibn Khaldun
North African Muslim historian, 1332 - 1406.
Ibo
People living in southeastern Nigeria since at least the ninth century CE; their language is also known as Ibo or Igbo.
Igbo-Ukwu
Ancient archaeological complex in modern-day Nigeria with sites related to ancestors of the modern Ibo.
Imam
Muslim religious leader.
Islam
Literally "submission" in Arabic; religion of Muslims that calls on believers to submit to the laws of Allah as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, 570 - 632 CE.
Jainism
Influenced by the Vedic traditions and texts, Jains strive for an intense ethical life to gain release from reincarnation.
jeliw
Manding (West African) name for bards (griots or storyteller-historians) whose positions were inherited.
Jenne Jeno
Ancient city in sub-Saharan Africa active around 250 BCE.
Jiangxi
Province in China south of the Yangzi River.
jihad
Muslim term for either internal struggle against sin or a holy war against infidels.
Joseph Mobutu
Led a coup d'état in 1965 and then ruled Zaire as the president for life until 1997.
Jurchen
People who inhabited areas of present-day Manchuria and founded a state in northern China; their Jin dynasty ruled from 1115 - 1224.
Ka'aba
Holy site for Muslims in Mecca.
kami
Spirits dwelling in animate and inaminate places and things in Japanese Shinto belief.
kanga
Informal piece of cotton clothing common in East Africa.
Karakorum
Capital of the Mongol empire.
kente
Cloth made of handwoven strips sewn together, possibly as early as the twelfth century; designs symbolize virtues and proverbs in what is now Ghana.
khadi
Home spun cotton cloth promoted by Gandhi for use in Indian clothing to reduce Indian dependence on British textiles.
Khoikhoi
Pastoral peoples of southern Africa who interacted with early Dutch settlers in the seventeenth century.
Khoisan
Family of languages spoken in southern and eastern Africa, notable for their use of click sounds.
Khoisan people
Khoisan-speaking people who today are settled mostly in modern South Africa.
Khotan
Place along the Silk Road in Central Asia; also the name of the local people and culture.
Kievan Rus
Earliest Russian government, 882 - 1169 CE.
Kilwa
Island and port city along the east coast of Africa, near modern-day Tanzania.
Kingston
Capital of Jamaica.
Koryo dynasty
Korean dynasty, 918 - 1392 CE.
Kubilai
Grandson of Chinggis Khan who founded the Yuan dynasty in China.
kuraka
Provincial officials in Andean political systems.
Kwame Nkrumah
First president of the independent nation of Ghana.
Kyûshû
Most south and westerly of the four main Japanese islands.
Lascaux
Cave in France notable for Palaeolithic paintings and engravings on the walls.
Leni Riefenstahl
German film director.
Linda Schele
American archaeologist and epigrapher who specialized in Mayan archaeology.
Lothal
Ancient trading port in South Asia active in the second millenium BCE.
Lu Xun
Revolutionary Chinese author who satirized Chinese traditional society, 1881-1936.
lukasa
Hand-sized memory board carved in wood and often studded with beads and pins or covered with geometric designs that record important historical events for the Luba in southeastern Congo.
Macchu Picchu
Sacred city of the Inka.
Malacca
City-state in southeast Asia at the center of sea trade routes around 1500.
Mali
Second great empire in western Sudan, 1240 - 1500 CE.
Manchus
People from Manchuria, northeast of China, who conquered China in the seventeenth century and ruled as the Qing dynasty from 1644 - 1911.
mandala
From early Indian cosmology, a sacred diagram of the cosmos composed of concentric circles or rectangles.
Mande
Niger-Congo language group in West Africa associated with formation of the Mali Empire.
Manichaeism
Religion based on the teachings of the Persian Mani, who envisioned the duality of good and evil, circa 216 - 276 CE.
Mansa Musa
Fourteenth-century Malian king who travelled to Mecca for a hajj.
Mao Zedong
Communist Chinese leader who helped establish the People's Republic of China in 1949; ruled China from 1949 - 1960 and from 1966 - 1976, lived 1893 - 1976.
Maori
Indigenous people in New Zealand.
Mapuche
Indigenous people of the southern regions of South America.
Marcus Garvey
Jamaican who founded the United Negro Improvement Association in 1916 to help blacks in the Americas move back to Africa, 1887 - 1940.
Marquês de Pombal
Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, eighteenth-century Portuguese chief minister who organized the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Americas.
Massasoit
The title of Ousamequin, leader of the Pokanoket and the Wampanoag tribes, who negotiated a treaty with the Pilgrims for their alliance against the Narragansett in 1622.
Mauryan
South Asian dynasty, 322 - 183 BCE.
Mehrgarh
Archaeological site of early agricultural settlement in South Asia, on the Kachi Plain of modern Pakistan.
Meiji Restoration
Political program that followed the destruction of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868, in which a collection of young leaders set Japan on the path of centralization, industrialization, and imperialism.
Mencius
Chinese philosopher who taught that human's innate morality is corrupted by society, circa 372 - 289 BCE.
mercantilism
European economic policies of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries that restricted colonial trade to keep control of indigenous monetary systems.
merikani
Printed cotton cloth used to make kanga garments for women in Zanzibar, probably introduced by American traders and made from handkerchiefs sewn together.
Meroitic
Relating to the Meroe kingdom under Nubian control.
Mesopotamia
Area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; Sumer and Akkad were the two earliest societies established in that area.
mestizo
Term used by Spanish colonial administrators to describe someone of mixed Native American and European heritage.
metageography
Set of spatial structures through which people order their knowledge of the world.
Mfecane
Literally "the crushing" in Zulu; the events in southern Africa following Shaka Zulu's rise to power, which was in part possible because of destabilization caused by European encroachment.
Mikhail Gorbachev
The last leader of the USSR whose liberalization programs led to the collapse of communist rule in the USSR and Eastern Europe, born 1931.
Minamata
Japanese city whose citizens were affected by mercury poisoning in the 1950s, leading the Japanese government in the 1960s to close down a chemical plant that had been dumping mercury in the sea.
Minas Gerais
Brazilian state that experienced a series of mining booms beginning with gold in the late seventeenth century and continuing with iron ore in the nineteenth century.
mit'a
The Inka's communal labor requirements based on shared obligations to kinship groups and royal projects.
mnemonic
Strategy or tool to aid memory.
Mogadishu
Port city along the east coast of Africa.
Mohandas Gandhi
Leader of Indian independence movement and advocate of nonviolent civil disobedience in the face of unjust laws, 1869 - 1948.
Mohenjo-Daro
Best-documented ancient city in Indus valley, 2300 - 1500 BCE.
Mombasa
Port city along the east coast of Africa.
Monophysite
Christians of the fifth to seventh centuries who taught that Jesus was solely divine and did not have two natures, the human and the divine.
Moses Maimonides
Jewish philosopher and physician born in Cordoba and exiled to Cairo where he advised Saladin, 1135 - 1204.
Mozambique
Modern country in southern Africa.
Mughal Empire
Muslim state that controlled most of the Indian subcontinent from 1526 - 1857 CE.
Muhammad
In Islam, the prophet who received the last revelation from God.
Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab
Eighteenth-century Muslim religious leader who preached a fundamentalist approach to his followers in the Arabian peninsula.
neolithic
Describing the time period from 8000 BCE to 3000 BCE when humans formed settled agricultural communities.
Nestorian Christianity
Eastern form of Christianity that spread to China in the seventh century.
Ngugi wa'Thiongo
East African writer.
Nilotic
Group of East African languages and peoples originating in the Nile region of sub-Saharan northeast Africa.
Nnamdi Azikiwe
First president of Nigeria, 1904 - 1996.
Olmec
Mother civilization of Mesoamerican cultures, 1200 - 800 BCE.
Ousmane Sembene
West African filmmaker.
Pachacuti
Inkan ruler, 1438 - 1471 CE.
Palembang
First capital of Srivijaya in the eleventh century.
Palenque
Mayan palace archaeological site.
Panhellenic
Literally "all Greek"; of or relating to all of Greece or the area where ancient Greek culture dominated.
Patrice Lumumba
Pan-Africanist and first prime minister of the independent Congo in 1960; he was killed in January 1961 by troops loyal to his opponent Joseph Mobutu.
Pax Mongolica
The peace created by the extension of Mongol rule across Eurasia.
Pedro de Cieza de Leon
Spanish conquistador who wrote Chronicles of the Inkas, 1540 CE.
perestroika
Economic reforms begun by Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the USSR.
Pierre de Coubertin
French citizen who re-established the Olympic games in 1896.
Plaza de Mayo
Public square in Buenos Aires where Argentinian mothers protested against the government jailing or killing their children without due process.
Popul Vuh
Sacred book of the Maya.
Potosi
Andean city where the Spanish required Native Americans to mine silver for global trade; one of the largest world cities in the sixteenth century.
Prince Vladimir
Ruler of Kievan Russia; converted to Christianity in 988 CE when he married the sister of the Byzantine emperor.
Ptolemaic
Map with ancient Greek perspective.
Ptolemy
Ancient Greek geographer.
pyrotechnology
Any technology that uses fire, such as metallurgy or pottery making.
Qidan
An ethnic group inhabiting the northeast of China who established the Liao state in the tenth century.
Qin
State in northwest China that unified China for the first time during the Qin dynasty, 221 - 210 BCE.
Qing
Chinese dynasty, 1688 - 1911 CE.
Quanzhou
Port in southern China.
Quiche
Dialect of Mayan language.
quipus
Knotted cords used by the Inka to keep government records.
Rabindranath Tagore
Indian political leader, philosopher, and poet who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913.
Raj
Period of British rule of the Indian subcontinent, 1857 - 1947.
Rastafarianism
Religion developed in Jamaica that promotes the belief that Ras Tafari (Haile Selassie) is the Messiah and that Africa (especially Ethiopia) is the promised land.
reggae
Jamaican music style influenced by African musical traditions.
Safavid Empire
Iranian kingdom established by Ismail Safavi, who declared Iran (Persia) a Shi'ite state, 1502 - 1722.
sahel
Arabic word meaning "shore" and referring to the dry area between the Sahara and the forests or grasslands south of it.
Saint Domingue
French Caribbean colony that produced sugar and considerable revenue for France; it later became the independent nation of Haiti.
Samarqand
Trade city along the Silk Road in Central Asia.
Sapa Inka
The sole ruler of the Inka, believed to be a descendant of the sun god and his representative on earth; his cult became the center of the Inkan state religion.
sari
Indian clothing for women consisting of one long piece of cloth wrapped around the body and over the shoulder.
sarong
Clothing for men and women in Southeast Asia consisting of one piece of cloth wrapped around the waist.
Sassanian
Last Persian empire before the expansion of Arab peoples, 224 - 642 CE.
Sassanid
Persian government, 224 - 651 CE.
satyagraha
Political philosophy of Gandhi that stressed nonviolent resistance.
Satyajit Ray
Indian film director.
sedentism
System of settled human groups living in a permanent settlement.
Sejong
Fifteenth-century Korean ruler who ordered the creation of a written script for the Korean language.
shaman
Priest who channels spirits for his or her religious community.
Shang
First Chinese dynasty, eighteenth to eleventh centuries BCE .
shari'a
Muslim law.
shaykh
Title for an Arab tribal leader.
Shi'ite
Muslims who believe that their leader should be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
Shi'ite Safavids
The Safavids made Shi'ia the state religion of Persia.
Shinto
Literally "Way of the Gods"; indigenous religion of Japan.
shoen
Manors or estates of nobility during and after Japanese Heian period.
shogun
Japanese military ruler of Japan, circa 1200 - 1868.
shogunate
Government of the shogun.
Siddhartha
The given name of the Buddha.
Silla
State that unified the Korean peninsula for the first time in 668 CE and ruled as the Silla dynasty until the tenth century.
Sima Qian
Chinese historian of the Han dynasty.
Simon Bolivar
Leader of independence movement in South America, 1783 - 1830.
ska
Jamaican music style that influenced reggae.
small metropole
City with less than one million residents.
Song
Chinese dynasty, 960 - 1279 CE.
Songhay
Last of the three great empires in the western Sudan from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries.
Sotho
Bantu-speaking peoples of southern Africa who fought against European settlement and colonization.
Srivijaya
Empire in Southeast Asia that controlled trade from the fifth to fifteenth century CE.
Sufis
Muslim mystics.
Sufism
Mystical approach to Islam.
Sumer
Ancient city-state in Mesopotamia which saw the invention of cuneiform writing about 3500 BCE.
Sumerian
From Sumer, the earliest Mesopotamian society.
Sunjata
Founder of the Malian empire in the thirteenth century; protagonist of epic tales performed by griots.
Sunni
The Muslim majority who believe that the community should select its own leadership instead of only looking to direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.
swadeshi
Term derived from "swadesh," used to name the boycott of foreign-made goods led by Mohandas Gandhi in British-controlled India.
swadesh
Literally "of our own country".
Swahili
East African people who speak Swahili, the Bantu language that draws upon borrowed Arabic words as well as words from other languages spoken by mariners in the Indian Ocean.
Tainos
Native Americans who met Ponce de Leon when he and his crew arrived in Puerto Rico.
Taklamakan Desert
Forbidding desert in Central Asia around which the Silk Roads took northern and southern routes.
tarikhs
Arabic word for "historical chronicles".
Tashkent
Trade city along the Silk Road in Central Asia.
Tehran
Capital of Iran.
Temujin
Birth name of Chinggis Khan.
Teotihuacan
Mesoamerican city preceding the Mayan city-states.
Tienanmen
Chinese public square created in front of the old palace of the Qing dynasty; location of 1989 protests by workers and students for more political participation that were stopped by Chinese military action.
Tikal
Mayan palace archaeological site.
Tokugawa Shogunate
Last shogunate in Japan, 1600 - 1868 CE.
Toledo
City of the Iberian peninsula under Muslim rule which became the first city taken by Christians in the Reconquista.
Toltec
Mesoamerican civilization based on the Olmec.
Toussaint L'Ouverture
Leader of the Haitian Revolution to free the peoples of the Caribbean colony Saint Domingue from French rule, 1743 - 1803.
Treaty of Tordesillas
Agreement between the monarchs of Spain and Portugal to divide the world between them by drawing a line through the Atlantic Ocean, 1494.
Tripitaka
Collected sacred texts of Buddhism.
Tuaregs
Nomadic tribal group who guided much of the trade in the Sahara.
Turkic Uighur
People and culture in Central Asia.
Umayyad
First Muslim dynasty, 661 - 750 CE; capital was Damascus.
Upanishads
Hindu sacred texts about meditation and spiritual debates.
Uruguay
South American country.
Urumchi
Central Asian city and site of archaeological excavations of Caucasian mummies.
Usman dan Fodio
Founder of the Sokoto caliphate in West Africa in the early nineteenth century.
Vedas
Hindu sacred texts of orally transmitted hymns from about 2000 BCE.
vernacularization
Translating texts into the language or dialect used in an area.
Voortrekkers
Dutch descendants who moved away from the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa when it was under British control.
Wahhabis
Followers of nineteenth-century Muslim religious reformer Ibn al-Wahhab.
Wampanoags
Native American tribe from New England.
Wanka
Ethnic group subject to the Inkas.
Wole Soyinke
Nigerian Nobel Prize winner for literature.
wuwei
Daoist term used to translate concept of nirvana into Chinese.
Xhosa
Bantu-speaking peoples of southern Africa who fought against European settlement and colonization.
Xuanzang
Chinese Buddhist pilgrim and translator of Indian texts into Chinese, 600 - 664 CE.
Xunzi
Chinese philosopher who taught that men are born evil and must be taught how to live ethically, sometimes through punishments, 312 - 235 BCE (Warring States period).
Yangzi River
Major river in China that flows throught the middle of the country to the Pacific Ocean.
Yasa
Mongol law codes.
Yoruba
One of the main ethnic groups in modern-day Nigeria.
Zambezi River
2750 kilometer-long river that starts in southern Africa and empties into the Indian Ocean.
Zanzibar
Island off the coast of Tanzania controlled by the Omani of the southern Arabian coast.
zeitgeist
German phrase meaning "the spirit of the times".
Zhang Qian
Han dynasty Chinese explorer dispatched by the emperor on a diplomatic mission to the western steppes in 138 BCE.
Zheng He
Ming dynasty admiral who led seven voyages to the Indian Ocean ports from 1405 - 1433 CE.
Zoroaster
Also known as Zarathustra; founder of Zoroastrianism, lived in Persia during the sixth century BCE.
Zoroastrianism
Persian belief system that combines aspects of monotheism and dualism; strongly influenced Judaism and Manichaeism.
Zulus
Bantu-speaking people of southern Africa who fought against European settlement and colonization.
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