SPS 101 Midterm 1 Keywords

Week 1
● Neolithic (Agricultural) Revolution: The agricultural revolution is the change in the food
production system of humans after the last ice age 12.000 years ago. The change in the
food production brought many changes with it. It caused the human’s the settle down
more and allowed for further development in the society, allowed the elderly and the
kids to help with the food production and allowed for humans to live longer and be
healthier.
● Neanderthals: Neanderthals are an extinct species of humans that lived in Eurasia from
400.000 BCE to 40.000 BCE. Neanderthals are the closest homo species to homo sapiens
and they are very similar to homo sapiens. The main difference between the homo
sapiens and Neanderthals are that Neanderthals are much bigger and stronger then
sapiens and much more adapt at living in cold but despite their big brains they were not
as smart as homo sapiens which might be the reason for their extinction.
● Denisovan: The Denisovan are an extinct type of humans that lived in Europe and Asia.
They migrated from Africa the same time as the other Homo species like the
neanderthals. They are similar to Homo sapiens and Neanderthals but are more primal
and lack the cognitive skills of the sapiens and the strength of the Neanderthals. The
discovery of the Denivosan species was thanks to a comparison of pinkie bone DNA
comparison of modern humans and neanderthals.
● Scavenging: Scavenge is the act of searching for and collecting anything usable from the
environment around us. This was one of the main ways the humans survived in the early
days of their existence. Scavenging and hunting was the primary activities of humans
that allowed them to feed themselves and survive in the nature. Scavenged materials
sometimes were turned into tools which allowed humans to be more efficient.
● The Out of Africa Hyptothesis: The out of Africa theory states that humans migrated
from Africa around 100.000 years ago. It follows the early expansion of humans ( Homo
erectus and homo neanderthals) in Africa, europe and asia. It proposes a single origin of
Homo sapien in the texonomic sense. It also implies that there were multiple dispersals
of modern humans from Africa.
● Paleolithic Age: Is another name for the stone age. It’s main feature is that it is the time
era that the stone tools were invented. The stone age’s importance is that it allowed for
the humans develop more as a species because of the advantages that using tools gave
us. This period is also proved that humans being able to walk on two feet and having
thumbs had importance on our development.
● Otzi: Otzi is a well preserved mummy of a man who lived between 3400 and 3100 bce.
The mummy was found in the Ötztal alps. He is the Europe’s oldest known mummy and
has allowed us to discover a lot of physical attributes and the lifestyles of early humans.
He has allowed for scientists to figure out the similarities between us and a human living
in the copper age.
● Göbeklitepe: Göbeklitepe is an archeological site in the southeastern region of turkey. It
is believed to be a settlement built by hunter gatherer socities and it’s importance lies in
that fact. Before göbeklitepe historians thought that only farming societies built
 settlements and set up permanent living arrangments but the existance of göbeklitepe
proved othervise.
● Hominids: Hominids are members of the great apes familia who are thought to be
predecessors of the homo familia. They are extinct at this time but have served as great
evidence to the evolution theory. They are our closest ancestors when looked at
animals.
● Neolithic age: It’s the end of the period known as the stone age. The people in the
Neolithic age were still using stone tools but they enhanced their stone tools to work
better with them. There is also strong evidence in the usage of metallurgy in this time
period. The main feature of this feature that sets it apart from the earlier stone age is
that agriculture was invented in the Neolithic age.
● Modernity: Modernity refers to a particular era in human history. It is an era
characterised by scientific thought (rather than metaphysical or supernatural belief),
individualism, a focus on industrialisation and technical development and a rejection of
some traditional values. Some sociologists believe we are still in the modern era, some
think we are in a different form of modernity (late modernity) and others believe we are
now in a new era which they call postmodernity.
● BCE: Bce is the term that is used to define the time before the common era. The
common era is one of the notation systems used by the modern calendar used by the
majority of the world. It is an alternative to the way that Christians separate the history
to two parts starting from the christ’s birth. BCE is a more scientific way to talk about the
period of time before Jesus’s birth or the common era.
● Ice-Age Affluence: Ice is affluence is the relative richness of the ice age people because
of the abundance of game and wild edible plants. Suprisingly during the ice age people
were better nourished then most other people during history. The reason is that bact
then there weren’t as much competition and the animals were much largen in size
meaning that one hunt could feed more people. The daily calorie intake was averaged at
about 3000 calories.
● Çatalhöyük: Çatalhöyük is the first agricultural residences known to man kind. It is
located in the modern city known as Konya. It is one of the most important settlements
in the world because before the discovery of Göbeklitepe it was known as the first
settlement known and even know it is the first proper settlement that utilized
agriculture. It’s unique architecture and way of city planning tells a lot about the way
humans used to live in those times.
● Bipedalism: It’s a form of movement using only the two rear limbs or legs. It’s one of the
most important ability that human’s possess. The ability bipedality allowed us to better
utilize tools and reach higher places to aquire more food and have a better viewpoint.
Humans are one of the small group of animals that possess the ability to walk on their
hind legs. Bipedalism also has the disadvanteges of losing stability and speed.
● Ice Age: The Ice age is a period of time with colder global temperatures that are capable
of lasting hundreds or millions of years. Ice ages impacted the whole planet and changed
the way living beings behave in a fundamental level. The latest Ice age helped humans
develop as a species and humans came out as a dominant specie after the last Ice age
● Bronze Age: The bronze age is the first time that humans started to work with metal.
Bronze tools replaced earlier tools made out of stone and increased the efficiency of
humans and allowed for faster innovation. It changed the scale of power between
settlers and bandits which required the settlers to innovate to stay alive.
● Harrappa: The harrappan cities represent the future of town planning as they are mostly
known for their advanced way of building cities. The harrappan cities were divided into
two parts called the upper and the lower towns which also showed that the society was
divided and were not equal.
● Indus Valley: The Indus valley civilization was an ancient civilization is located in
between Pakistan and india. The region is known for it’s fertility and the amount of food
it had. It housed many civilizations in it’s lands in many different times and was always a
part of human development. The high point for the Indus valley was when agriculture
was invented and fertility became a very important must when picking a settlement
location.
● Uneven Development: Refers to the unequal distribution of people, resources, and
wealth that is a fundamental characteristic of human geography. Uneven development is
evident at the global, regional, national, and urban scales. Development takes place at
different rates
● Division of labor: The division is labor is the reason that many states operate the way
they do in the current world. The division of labor came with the invention of agriculture
since with agriculture not everyone was needed to participate in the production of food
and could focus on other stuff like building and governing. The excess food from
agriculture was also collected and divided to those who worked in sectors other then
food production which were essentially early taxes.
● Specialization: Specialization came from the combination of division of labor and the
agricultural revolution. With the agricultural revolution not everyone was needed in the
food production so other people specilized in other sectors like building and governing
which allowed for more established states to be formed. The agricultural revolution also
allowed for excess food to be produced which allowed for people who were not in the
food producing sector to be supported .
● Modes of Subsistence/Modes of production:It is defined as the way a society is
organized to produce goods and services.(The way of production) It consists of two
major aspects: the forces of production and the relations of production. The forces of
production include all of the elements that are brought together in production—from
land, raw material, and fuel to human skill and labor to machinery, tools, and factories.
The relations of production include relationships among people and people’s
relationships to the forces of production through which decisions are made about what
to do with the results.

In Marxist theory, the mode of production concept was used to illustrate the historical
differences between different societies' economies. Marx and Engels saw hunter-
gatherers as the first form of what they called "primitive communism."Possessions were
generally held by the tribe until the advent of agriculture and other technological
advances.
● Surplus: Surplus means leftover or extra in English. This term is strongly connected to
specialization and division of labor. When humans invented agriculture and started living
in settlements food production increased a lot. Because of this people started to
specialize and work in fields other than food production. This allowed for specialization
and division of labor which established the foundations of modern states.
● Evolution: Evolution is the theory that all species are related and gradually change over
time. Evolution happens when some characteristic gives an individual advantages other
the others and that trait passes on to their offspring which is explained by the natural
selection theory. When looking at humans we think that humans have evolved from
humanoids known as hominids.
● Charles Darwin: Charles Darwin is an English scientist that is one of the founding fathers
of the modern evolution theory. Darwin shocked the English religion society by
suggesting that humans and many animals shared a common ancestor. His work helped
more people adopt and research the evolution theory and develop it. Although he didn’t
have any proof at the time to prove his theories, his theories are now mostly proven
with evidence.
● Homo erectus & Homo sapiens: Homo erectus were descendants of the homo Hailie’s
and the most important difference between the two species were their brain size’s and
homo erectus being able to stand upright hence the name. The brains of the homo
erectus were almost twice the size of homo hailie’s which made them a lot more
capable. The homo sapiens were the descendants of the erectus species and also had
larger brains then them. This showed that humans which were more evolved then their
older ancestors also had bigger brains.
● Anatomically modern humans: The term anatomically modern humans is used to differ
early homo sapiens that didn’t look like the humans of today. This term is used on homo
sapiens of 40,000 – 50,000 years which actually looked mostly identical to the humans of
today but didn’t function like one mostly because of the cognitive functions and the
structure of the brain.
● Domestication of animals and plants: Domestication of animals were set on the
principle that some animals preferred the steady supply of food and the protection that
the humans gave them in exchange of a ready supply of food and materials. The first
animals to be domesticated were probably dogs and they became man’s companions
since then. Selective breeding caused new breeds of animals and plants to surface which
were better suited for domestication and harvesting.
● River valley civilizations: River valleys were the best place for humans to settle through
the history because of many reasons such as floods, food and transportation. Periodic
floods that fed the soil beside them provided the river valley’s plenty of fertile lands to
produce food on. This gave a lot of advantages to civilizations that were near these
locations. They allowed for water transport later on so they allowed for easier trade.
● Mesopotamia: Mesopotamia is a historical region that is in between Tigris and
Euphrates rivers and starts in the south-eastern region of Anatolia. It is a flat and fertile
land so it allowed for many civilizations to be built on top of it. Many of the most
 advanced civilizations of their times were built on top of this region. It housed many
important civilizations such as Sumerians and Akkadians.
● Sumerians: The first people that lived in Mesopotamia that we have written evidence of
Sumerians. They are known for their innovations in language, governance, architecture
and many more. They are considered as the creators of modern civilizations as we
understand it. They controlled the region of Mesopotamia for 2000 years before they
collapsed and left their place to another civilization.
● City-states: Historians use the term city-states to define a self governing, independent
country that is contained within the borders of a single city which contains all of it’s
residents and farm lands alike in their borders. Most cities evolve from villages and when
one village grew most of the time nearby villages joined them to create an even bigger
city state.
● Hammurabi: is the 6th king of Babylon and is one of the most known kings of his era
because of his massive military campaigns and strict code known as the Hammurabi
code. He had a famous phrase that summarized his code: “An eye for an eye”. He also
established the presumption of innocence that meant a person is innocent until they are
proven guilty which is still a very big part of modern law. He conquered almost a quarter
of the world and carved his name into history.
● Mohenjo-daro: is an archaeological site in the province of Pakistan. It is one of the
largest Indus Valley Civilizations and one of the earliest major cities. It had a complex
religious structure with a lot of temples and religious figures that were recovered in the
archeological excavations that were made in the area. It was abandoned because of the
decline in the indus valley civilizations
● The Great Leap Forward: Human history took of 50.000 years ago,as Jared Diamond
defined as the Great Leap Forward. The earliest definite signs of this leap come from
East African sites with standardized stone tools and first preserved jewelry. similar
developments later happen in the Near East and Southeastern Europe with fully modern
skeletons of people named Cro-Magnons.Thereafter the garbage found in sites become
more and more interesting and leaves us with no doubt that we are dealing with modern
humans.
● The Overkill theory: The overkill theory explains why many mammals went extinct
during a time period of time. Many historians believe that it was because of the Humans
hunting habits during that time. One of the biggest reasons for this theory is that the
time period that these mammals went extinct was the same period that the human race
grew in size. The theory suggests that the human race killed out many mammals with
their advanced hunting technology that they developed in africa to the point of killing of
entire species of animals.
● Complex Society: Before human beings developed complex societies, they lived in
primitive societies. The historical consensus is that complex societies emerged from
primitive societies around 4000-2000 BCE in Egypt,Mesopotamia,Indus Valley and China.
According to traditional theories of how states emerged, the initial spark for the
development of complex societies was an agricultural surplus. This economic
specialization leads to divisions of labor. The economic transition from an agricultural
 economy to a division of labor is the most basic explanation of how societies go from
primitive to complex.
● Einkorn: Einkorn is a type of domasticated wheat. The reason that it is important is that
it is one of the first types of plant that is domesticated. The difference between einkorn
and the modern wheat is tat einkorn gave very little product during harvesting but lasted
much better during harsh weather and needed much less care. Einkorn was primarily
boiled in whole grains or was eaten as a porridge.
Week 3
● City: Cities are defined as large towns. Cities were mostly naturally formed because of a
town growing too much and sometimes the towns that were close by joining them.
Cities were important in the ancient times because they showed that humans could form
a more social and complex form of settlement.
● Civilization: A civilization is the stage of human and cultural development of organization
that is considered to be most advanced. A civilization contains a government, it’s own
culture, industry and social norms. They had their urban centers and their agricultural
storage and structures. They mostly have their own form of technology in the form of
writing and measuring standards.
● Power:In social science and politics, power is the capacity of an individual to influence
the conduct (behaviour) of others. The term "authority" is often used for power that is
perceived as legitimate by the social structure.
● Ziggurat: A ziggurat is a type of a massive structure built in the ancient Mesopotamia. It’s
formed like a pyramid with its top part cut off. The main reason that they were created
was religion but they served a much broader purpose than that. They had storage for
grains and food in them. They had schools built in them. They had social gathering
grounds and finally a astrological observatory on the top floor which showed how
advanced they were.
● Primary (pristine) states: Primary states are mostly defined by the way that they
advance. Primary states advance independently from their surroundings through their
large internal development processes rather than copying from exiting states. These
types of states were mostly the most influencal to human history.
● Social Contract Theory: Social contract theory is the view that a person’s moral and
political duties are dependent upon a contract or agreement constructed by an
organization or a person other than themselves to live in a form of society. In basic
terms it means that a person lives by rules that they didn’t create in order to participate
in a society.
● İntensive farming: Intensive farming is a term used to indicate that the input or output
of an agricultural land area is high. The term is used in this week’s unit to describe the
fact that farming techniques were getting more and more advanced and was used more
widely then other methods of gathering (i.e. fishing, gathering, hunting…) The reason
was probably that agriculture required less work and provided a more stable food
source.
● Hydraulic theory of state formation: The notion that early state systems of government
were formed because small scale farmers were willing to sacrifice some of their freedom
and earnings in order to be a part of a large scale irrigation system. This was proven
 wrong because states were formed where there was no need for a better watering
system or there was no proper agriculture.
● Voluntaristic theories of state origins: This theory states that in some point of time a lot
of people that lived closely gave up their freedom and individuality spontaneously and
willingly to form states that benefitted everyone. This theory is irrational in the fact that
in order for this to happen many people around the globe need to like the idea of giving
up a part of their freedom voluntarily in order to benefit the society as a whole.
● Coercive (conflict) Theory of state formation: This theory states that states were formed
because of territorial conflicts that formed unified lands in ownership of one person or in
basic terms states were formed because of conquest. This theory was proven wrong
because of the fact that there were many locations that formed into states that had
plenty of agricultural lands and resources so this theory is only true for places that had
limited resources.
● Scarcity theories of state origins: (Bunu bulamadım hiçbiryerde kafadan sallıyorum)
Scarcity theory states that people formed in to states to better use resources that were
not available widely in the area that they were living in. The formation of societies
allowed for people to use these resources more effectively and limit the usage of these
resources with rules that were needed to be obliged by everyone. This theory is proven
not to be true by the fact that states where formed where no resource that was widely
needed was scarce.
● Thomas Hobbes: Thomas Hobbes is a well known philosopher in England who lived in
the 1600’s. He is mostly known for conducting the social contract theory. He is also
known for writing the book “Leviathan” and his work on geometry, history and physics.
● Leviathan: Is a book written by Thomas Hobbes that explains the structure of society
and legitimate governments and theorizes about why they were formed. This book is
regarded as the first examples of social contraction theory. He has expanded the theory
in this book and expanded on the of how a state is formed and then evolved.
● Gilgamesh: Gilgamesh was a historical king of the Sumerian city state of Uruk. He is
considered as a major hero in the ancient Mesopotamian mythology and was considered
a god-king. The tale that he is most famous for, the Gilgamesh legend, is that he saved
the goddess Inanna from the manifestations that came from the underground world. He
lived in the ancient times in Mesopotamia.
● Kleptocracy: Kleptocracy is a government with corrupt leaders that use their power to
gain benefits for themselves and get richer of off their political powers. Many of these
government official used religion and mythology as an excuse to benefit from the people
that they governed and stayed in rule because of these false promises and religious
mongering.
● Reciprocal Economy: Reciprocal economy defines the fact that the trade is based on
barter and an exchange of goods rather than currency. This is the earliest form of trade
that was used in ancient civilizations before 5000 – 700 BCE (when money was
invented). This sort of trade caused many problems because there was no set price on
an item and the worth of an item could change from person to person so setting up an
trade was really difficult.
 ● Redistributive Economy: Redistributive economy defines the fact that a governing factor
collects all the wealth that the citizens produce in order to redistribute it according to
social status or job. This works like the modern paycheck system for a person that is
working for the government. A person works and earns money for the government and
government collects this money and pays back a portion of it back for your service. Using
the remaining money for reasons that they determine.
● Bronze Age Collapse: The bronze age ended suddenly in the 1200 BC all around the
world without a particular reason found by the historians. There are many theories
around this topic but none of them are final. This sudden collapse caused many cities
and trade routes to be abandoned. Literature to be lost and many other famines.
● Minoan Civilization: Minoa was a bronze age civilization that existed around the islands
of Crete and other Aegean islands. It represented the first advanced civilization in the
European region leaving behind massive structures for its time and a lot of artwork.
Minoa is known today for its large and elaborate palaces up to 4 stories high which had
intricate plumbing systems and many decorations. The most notable person from this
civilization is the King Minos with his famous tale.
● Oligarchy: Oligarchy is a power structure in which the power rests on a small group of
people that controls everything like religion, nobility, education, taxation, corporate and
political. Oligarchy has been around since governments and societies existed and has
relied on techniques like public pressure and oppression to exist. It causes a lot of
distance between the rulers and the people because a minority is ruling the country.
● Mycenaean civilization: The Mycenean civilization refers to a bronze age civilization on
mainland Greece which got it’s name from the inhabiting area. The Mycenean refers to
the city of Mycenae. This is the city where the famous legend odyssey and iliad are set.
Week 4:
● Animism: Animism is the religious belief that objects, places and creatures all possess a
distinct spiritual essence. Animalists treat every object as living beings and believe that
all spirits are connected together to create the world that we are living in. Although
most ancient societies had their own religion animalism was very common and had it’s
own distinctive way in many societies.
● Polytheism: polytheism is the worship or belief In multiple deities which are usually
assembled to form a society of their own. Many of these gods have their own duties and
their own personalities related to the duty that they have. They have their own lives and
gossips which affect the humans which they created. This one of the most common early
religions and was most popular in ancient Greece and Rome.
● Monotheism: Monotheism is the belief of one god. A narrower definition of
monotheism is that only one god is the all existing and all powerful god that we describe
with the word god and it created everything and everyone. It always existed and will
always exist. Monotheism was first popularized by Judaism and now it is the most
popular religious trend. Many of the worlds most believed in religions are monotheist
like Islam, Judaism and Christianity. It is one of the newest trends in religion and has only
been around for about 3000 years.
● The Axial Age: The axial age term was found by a German philosopher and is used to
describe the time between two ages of great empires, a pause for liberty of sorts. It was
 a peaceful age and nothing major that impacted humanity happened. Only small wars
were going on and this meant that life expectancy went up and the living standards of
plebs were much better.
● Orthodoxy: Orthodoxy is directly translated into the right opinion. It’s a type of
Christianity that believes in conforming to the Christian faith as represented in the
creeds of the early church. It derived from Christianity and separated in response to the
changes that were being made by the church.
● Heterodxy: Heterodoxy means a position that is not within the standards of orthodoxy.
● Heresy: Heresy is any belief of theory that varies strongly with established beliefs or
customs. In particular the accepted beliefs of a church or a religious organization. This
can be exemplified in the ancient Rome with the upcoming of Jesus and Christianity.
Christianity was a heresy to the already established Jewish culture that was present in
the Roman society.
● Salvation Religion:
● Totemism: Totemism is a system of belief in which humans have said to create a bond
with an animal or an object on a spiritual level. The entity that they have connected to is
thought to be interactable by a certain person within the given group that holds special
powers to communicate with that entity. Totemism was mainly adapted by center Asian
societies and was a more advanced way of Animism.
● Sage:
● Abrahamic Religions: The Abrahamic religions are a monotheist group that descended
from Judaism. It groups the religions that descended from Judaism like Christianity and
Islam. These religions were found on the basic monotheist principles that Judaism set.
The spread of Abrahamic Religions was due to the acceptance of Christianity in the
ancient Rome in 4th century and the acceptance of Islam by the Islamic Emirates in the
7th century.
● Cognitive Revolution (Harari): The cognitive revolution is a term that states the period
of time when the Sapiens gained the ability of more complex speech and creation of
fictional thoughts. This is the thing that set us apart from every other animal including
other human species. The ability to speak more complexly gave us the ability to gossip
which in turned improved trade and trust between individuals and the ability to create
fictional thoughts gave birth to religions and myths that bonded more people together.
● Evolutionary Theory of religion: Evolutionary theories about religion see religion as a
byproduct of the human religion and as a natural path that early humans took to ease
themselves in to the purpose of life as they became more intelligence. According to this
theory religion was an obvious outcome of the cognitive revolution and the ability to
think and speak about things that didn’t exit.
● Functionalist theory of Religion: The functionalist theory of religion states that religion
is a part of how society works and functions so that it exists. It believes that the sole
reason that religion exists is that there is a need for it. According to this theory religion is
a tool to make people obey rules and to have a functioning society with a moral code.
● Cultural systems theory of religion:
● Psychological theory of religion: This theory of religion focuses on the application of
psychological methods and interpretive frameworks of religious people to find how and
 why religion exits. It’s most common answer to this question is that religion exists
because humans need to believe in something to function. The relief that comes with
the belief of a god is the reason that we believe in a god.
● Emile Durkheim: Emile Durkheim is a French sociologist that focuses on the societies
ways of maintaining their integrity and coherence. He also worked on proving that
sociology was a legitimate science and that it should be treated as such. He worked on
defining societies and analyzed the depths of how they functioned as a whole and wrote
many books on the subject.
● Max Weber: Max Weber was a German sociologist, philosopher, jurist and a political
economics. He is one of the most important people that have worked in the areas of
social theory and social research. He is often credited as the founders of sociology with
Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx.
● The Gossip Theory: The gossip theory states that humans were able to form more
complex and large groups then other animals because of their ability to gossip. This trait
allowed for humans to talk more and form more between them. It also allowed for
humans in a specific group to know who to trust and who not to trust. This layed the
formation for the states and other complex human groups.
● Sungir: Sungir is an archeological site in Russia and is one of the earliest records of
modern Homo sapiens in Eurasia. In the remains there are burial sites and some housing.
There have been a few skeletons found there but there are no clear cultural remains.
● Nacirema: Nacirema is American spelled backwards and it is a term used in sociology
and anthropology to distance scientists and other people from the findings in order to
have more of a unbiased result. This method is used mostly when studying on or on the
history of the citizens of United States of America.
● Akhenaten: is an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty who ruled for 17 years.
He is most known for his abandonment of traditional Egyptian polytheism and
introducing worship centered on the Aten. Early writings about Aten suggests that it was
compared to stars and suns but the official language avoids calling aten a god trying to.
After his death most of his work was abandoned.
Week 5:

● Empire: An empire is an extensive group of states or countries that are ruled over by
a single governing unit. To be considered an empire it needs to be multi-ethnic or
multinational with a political or military dominion whose population is distinct from
the ruling class. Empires were first established when states began conquest on
nearby villages and states to begin forming mega-states.
● Han China: The Han dynasty was the second ruling dynasty of the imperial china. It
was the successor of the Qin dynasty. The Han China is considered to be the golden
age of Chinese history and to this day the major ethnic group in china calls
themselves Han’s. They made many reforms in politics, economics and sciences such
as the invention of modern concrete and paper money.
● Yellow and Yangtze Rivers: These rivers are the two great rivers that run through
most of china. These two rivers are the reason that china was able to be so advanced
because these two rivers created a fertile land all around mainland china. This is one
 of the reasons that rice (a plant which requires a lot of water to grow) was so
popular in china.
● Roman Empire: The Roman Empire is the post republican period of ancient Rome
consisting huge lands in the Mediterranean seas and in Europe North Africa and
West Asia. The Romans were ruled by emperors the most known being Julius Caesar.
They are known for their immense army, strong political and social class systems,
advanced systems and innovative techniques. They fought and won many battles
leaving them as a terrifying force that everyone was scared of. It collapsed because
of the division of the roman empire.
● The Silk Road: The silk road was a network of trade routes that connected the East
and the West and helped the spread of many different cultures. It was the center for
most economic, cultural, political and religious interactions between the countries
that used it.
● It started in mainland China and was a direct path to Europe but then it spiraled into
more countries and divided into many different sub routes. It allowed for goods that
were not available in Europe to be exported and set the basis for trade between
countries.
● Qin Dynasty: The Qin dynasty was the first dynasty of imperial china that formed the
İmperial China itself. The imperial china was formed by collecting all other small
Chinese states into one country. The Qin created a state unified by a centralized
political power and a large military supported by a stable but strong economy. The
Qin introduced a wide range of reforms such as standardized currency, weights and
measures that set the basis for a more advanced country.
● Senate: The senate is a council of elders in the Roman Republic that was consisted of
the elders of the wealthiest families of Roman Republic. Agriculture was an essential
economic activity in the Roman Republic so the families who controlled the land also
were the wealthiest countries since they were the ones ruling the republic next to
the king.
● Principate: Principate is the name given to the first period of the Roman Empire from
the beginning of the reign of Augustus to the end of the Crisis of the Third Century.
The reason of this naming is that Octavian set out the refashion the entire Roman
system of government. While he was a military dictator he called himself “princeps”
which meant the first among equals
● Equites: Equites are a class of Italian merchants and landowners second in wealth
and social status to the senatorial class. With the Augustus’s alignment with them
they were a capable and powerful ally that helped run the Roman Empire.
● Romanization: Romanization is the spread of the Latin language and the Roman way
of life. Roman’s used romanization to better be able to control the lands that they
conquered. They gave citizenships to people that were newly under their rule and
protected them from outside dangers. This allowed for people to easily join and
adapt at the Roman way of life. The Roman government did not force Romanization.
Many provinces chose to adapt the Roman way of life.
● Roman Republic: The Roman Republic is the ancient state which centered around
the city of Rome that began in the 500 BCE and lasted to around 750 BCE. These
 periods of the Roman history was very poorly documented. The Roman Empire
became a gigantic country with a lot in it’s borders which made it very difficult to
protect and rule. A lot of changes were made to the Roman Government systems
during this time but nothing helped since the collapse of the great republic.
● Augustus: Augustus was a Roman statesman and a military leader who became the
first emperor of the Roman Empire. His founded the Roman principiate which let to
him becoming one of the most memorable and controversial leaders of all time. His
real name was Gaius Octavius and is the grandnephew of Julius Caesar. He won a
battle against the assassins of Julius and found the Republic of Rome.
● Barbarism: Barbarism is the absence of culture and civilization. Barbarians were a
major threat to the Roman Empire because as the Roman Empire grew bigger it was
harder for them to defend their borders and the Barbarians used brute force to
break thought their defenses. The only reason that they weren’t able to defeat the
Roman Empire was that they fought each other as much as they fought Rome.
● Monopoly: It exists when a specific person or an enterprise is in the control of the
supply or trade in a commodity or service. In a monopoly,the supplier faces no
competition as he is the sole seller of goods.
● Pax Romana: Also known as Roman Peace, was a period of relative peace and
stability across the Roman Empire,lasting for over 200 years,beginning with the reign
of Augustus.Augustus was granted almost unlimited powers by the Roman Senate,
bringing reform to both the city and the provinces.Augustus’ and his successors aim
was to guarantee law,order and security within the empire though not meaning
without wars,conquest or revolts. During his reign he chose to aggressively add even
more territory with expansion and conquest in all directions, especially westward
and along the Rhine.
● The Silk Road: It was a famous land trade route that traversed Asia and connected
Eurasia in ancient times. It expanded China's foreign economic trade and made the
world know China. At the same time, it promoted the trade between China and other
countries in the world, and achieved mutual benefit and reciprocity, laying a good
foundation for future cooperation. In addition, silk also brought about the progress
of the world.
Week 6:

● The Middle Age: The Middle Ages, the medieval period of European history between
the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance (5th-15th
centuries), are sometimes referred to as the "Dark Ages.” During this period in
Europe, no scientific accomplishments had been made, no great art produced, no
great leaders born.
● Black Death: Also known as black plague was a devastating epidemic that spread in
Europe and Asia in the mid 1300’s,killing more than 20 million people in
Europe,almost one third of continents population. Many people believed that this
was God’s punishment and to win his forgiveness they decided to purge their
communities of heretics and other troublemakers – so, for example, many thousands
of Jews were massacred in 1348 and 1349.
 The Dark Ages:
● Feudalism: The basic government and society in Europe during the middle ages was
based around the feudal system. Small communities were formed around the local
lord and the manor. The lord owned the land (fief) and everything in it. He would
keep the peasants safe in return for their service. The lord, in return, would provide
the king with soldiers or taxes.
● Migration Period/ Barbarian Invasions: Also known as Völkerwanderung (wandering
of the people) was a period of human migration in Europe beginning with the
invasion of Europe by the Huns from Asia in 375 and ending either with the conquest
of Italy by the Lombards in 568, or at some point between 700 and 800. The plague
epidemics weakened the Roman Empire and its military so when the defense was
not enough against the many enemies of the Empire,it led to a migration period.This
period was essential in shaping the distribution of cultures in Europe and laying the
foundations of future nations. Most tribes found a fixed place to live and in doing so
formed the roots of the European States.
● Manorialism: Originated in late Roman Empire, also called seignorialism,is a political,
economic, and social system by which the peasants of medieval Europe were
rendered dependent on their land and on their lord.Its purpose was to organize
society and to create agricultural goods.
● Vassal: A vassal is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or
monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations
often included military support by knights in exchange for certain privileges, usually
including land held as a tenant or fief.
● Fief: an estate of land, especially one held on condition of feudal service; a fee. A fief
was the central element of feudalism. It consisted of heritable property or rights
granted by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal
allegiance and service, usually given by the personal ceremonies of homage and
fealty.
● Serfdom: In Medieval Europe,in which a tenant farmer was bound to an inherited
piece of land and to the will of his landlord.The vast majority of serfs in medieval
Europe obtained their subsistence by cultivating a plot of land that was owned by a
lord which was an essential difference from slaves who were bought and sold
without reference to a plot of land.The serf provided his own food and clothing from
his own productive efforts.A portion of the grain the serf grew had to be given to the
lord.
● Demesne: In the feudal system, it was all the land which was retained by a lord of the
manor for his own use and occupation or support, under his own management, as
distinguished from land led by him to serfs.
● Eurocentrism: It is a worldview centered on or biased towards Western civilization. The
exact scope of centrism varies from the entire Western world to only Europe or even just
Western Europe.
● Islamic Golden Age: The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic and
scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century
to the 14th century.This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the
 reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (786 to 809) with the inauguration of the
House of Wİsdom in Baghdad where scholars from various parts of the world with
different cultural backgrounds were mandated to gather and translate all of the
world's classical knowledge into the Arabic Language.
● Tang dynasty: The Tang Dynasty is considered a golden age of Chinese arts and
culture. In power from 618 to 906 A.D., Tang China attracted an international
reputation that spilled out of its cities and, through the practice of Buddhism, spread
its culture across much of Asia.
● Byzantium-Eastern Roman Empire:When the western half of the Roman Empire
crumbled and fell in 476 A.D., the eastern half survived for 1,000 more years,
spawning a rich tradition of art, literature and learning and serving as a military
buffer between Europe and Asia,which was called Byzantium. The Byzantine Empire
finally fell in 1453, after an Ottoman army stormed Constantinople during the reign
of Constantine XI.
● The Schism of 1054: The Great Schism of 1054 was the split between the Eastern and
Western Christian Churches. In 1054, relations between the Greek speaking Eastern
of the Byzantine empire and the Latin speaking Western traditions within the
Christian Church reached a terminal crisis. This crisis led to the separation between
the Eastern and Western churches and is referred to as the Great Schism of 1054. It
led to the development of the modern Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox
churches.
● Unfree labor: It means employment against will. A person is employed as unfree
labor under threat of destitution, detention, or violence to the workmen or their
families. The term unfree labor is also known as forced labor. Slavery, bonded labor
are examples of unfree labor.
● Land-labor ratio theory (Domar’s hypothesis): The Domar Serfdom Model is a mid-
to-late 20th century model that develops a hypothesis concerning the causes of
agricultural slavery or serfdom in historical societies. Domar argues that, landowners
devised institutions such as serfdom and slavery to ensure they could get labor to
work their land at a lower cost than would be the case in a non-coerced labor
market. This paper provides the first investigation of coerced labor under serfdom
using quantitative evidence and multivariate statistical approaches.
● Slave societies vs. slave owning societies: In "slave societies," the laws, the
economy, and even politics were structured around the institution of slavery
therefore in slave owning societies slavery was widespread but not central to the
economy or to social structures.
● Charlemagne (c.742-814): Also known as Karl and Charles the Great, was a medieval
emperor who ruled much of Western Europe from 768 to 814.In 771, Charlemagne
became king of the Franks.He embarked on a mission to unite all Germanic people
into one kingdom, and convert his subjects to Christianity.He spent much of his reign
engaged in warfare in order to accomplish his goals. In 800, Pope crowned
Charlemagne emperor of the Romans. In this role, he encouraged the Carolingian
Renaissance, a cultural and intellectual revival in Europe.
● Production Forces:It is a term used in political economy that refers to the physical
means and techniques of production to which laborers add value and transform
capital into products for sale.
● Relations of Production: Any social productive process involves a relationship
between those involved in the process,for example, bosses and workers, landowners
and farmhands, or serfs and feudal lords.
● Means of Production: The raw materials and means of labour (tools, machines, etc)
employed in the production process.
● Instruments of Labor: People operate on the subjects of labor using the instruments
of labor to create a product; or stated another way, labor acting on the means of
production creates a good.
● Labor Intensive Production: It means that the way that a good or service is produced
depends more heavily on labour than the other factors of production,
● Subject of Labor: Everything to which human labor is applied.
● Hireling: Someone who has been persuaded by an offer of money to do an
unpleasant or unpopular job.
● Corvee: Under the Roman Empire, certain classes of people owed personal services
to the state or to private proprietors.The feudal system of corvée - regular work that
vassals owed their lords - developed from this Roman tradition.
● Cyrillic Alphabet: The Cyrillic script is a writing system used for various alphabets
across Eurasia and is used as the national script in various Slavic-, Turkic- and
Persian-speaking countries in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central A:sia, and North
Asia.