History – Glossary and Topic Vocabulary Document

General Glossary of Historical Terms

Please find below a bank of general historical terms with their associated definitions, these terms have been chosen as they are outlined within
the History Primary Curriculum as vocabulary that the children are expected to know by the time they leave their Primary education.

Key Term Definition

Anachronism An artefact that belongings to another time.
Chronological order Listing events in the order that they happened.
A period of time that is joined by cultural/historical factors. An
Era/period
example of an era is the Industrial era.
Year A unit of time equal to 365 days.
Decade A unit of time that is equal to ten years.
A unit of time that is equal one hundred years / one of the hundred-
Century
year periods into which human history is divided.
Millennium A unit of time that is equal to one thousand years.
Used to show that a year or century comes before the year 1 of the
B.C.E (Before the Common Era)/B.C (Before Christ) calendar used in much of the world, esp. in Europe and North and
South America.
Used when referring to a year after the birth of Jesus Christ when
C.E (The Common Era)
the Christian calendar starts counting years.
A.D (Anno Domini) Used when referring to a year after Jesus Christ was born.
 Groups of nations or peoples under the rule of one ruler or
Empire
government.
A society that has reached an advanced level, including; a system of
Civilisation government and laws, using a written language, and keeping written
records.
Parliament A group of people who make laws for a country.
Individuals of a low social status, including, smallholders and
Peasantry
agricultural labourers.
An immediate, first-hand account of a topic/event from someone
Primary source
who had a direct connection with it.
Are created after a topic/event by someone who did not have a
Secondary source
direct connection with it.
Accounts given by a person of events earlier in their life. Often, they
Oral history are taken by family members, either by audiotape, videotape or
transcriptions.

Relevant Topic Vocabulary

Please find below lists of geographical terms relevant to the topics being studied by Year Groups 1-6, the definitions for each of the word.
Year 1

Autumn Term – Treasure Island Spring Term – Time Travel Summer Term – A Day in the Life of…

Pirate The Gunpowder Plot was a All time before the

Similar words – A person who attacks and robs The Gunpowder
failed attempt to blow up Past moment of speaking
Piracy, buccaneering, ships at sea. Plot
freebooting. England's King James I or writing.
(1566-1625) and the

Steal Taking something that does
Similar words – not belong to you without
Theft, loot, pinch permission.
A large boat used for
Ship transporting people and goods
by sea.
The system of ropes or chains
employed to support a ship's
masts (standing rigging ) and
Rigging to control or set the yards and
sails ( running rigging ).
Parliament on November
5, 1605.
The capital of England and Things that exist or
London Present
the United Kingdom. are occurring now.
Where decisions and laws
are passed about the
United Kingdom. Things that are
common, the same or
Houses of
Similarities similar between two
Parliament
people, things or
events.
Was a member of a group
English Catholics who
Things that are
planned the failed
different between
Guy Fawkes Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Differences
two people, things or
events.
 The main body of a ship or
other vessel, including the
bottom, sides, and deck but
not the masts, superstructure,
rigging, engines, and other
Hull
fittings.
The bow is the forward part of
the hull of a ship or boat.
Bow
A person who betrays
someone or something,
such as a friend, cause, or
principle.
Traitor
The crime of betraying
one's country, especially
by attempting to kill or
Treason overthrow the sovereign
or government.
An artefact is
an ornament, tool, or
other object that is
Artefacts made by a human
being, especially one
that is historically or
culturally interesting.
A person or a group of
individuals from the
past that have made
important
Significant
contributions to
historical figure
society and are
therefore
remembered for their
work.

Jolly Roger is the traditional
English name for the flags
flown to identify a pirate ship
about to attack, during the
early 18th century.
Jolly Rogers
A tall upright post, spar, or
other structure on a ship or
Mast boat, in sailing vessels
generally carrying a sail or
sails.
An explosive consisting of
a powdered mixture of
saltpetre, sulphur, and
charcoal, now chiefly used
for quarry blasting and in
fuses and fireworks.
Gunpowder
The first Stuart to be king
of England and Ireland
King James I from 1603 to 1625 and
king of Scotland from 1567
to 1625.
Florence Nightingale
was the founder of
Florence modern nursing, she
Nightingale came to prominence
when nursing patients
in the Crimean War
and was responsible
for reforming nursing
practice and the way
in which hospitals
were organised and
run.
 A shelter or platform fixed at Robert Catesby was the
the masthead of a vessel as a leader of a group of
place for a lookout to stand. English Catholics who
planned the failed
Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

Crow’s nest Robert Catesby


Was a notorious English pirate
who operated around the
West Indies and the eastern
coast of the American
colonies.
Captain Blackbeard
A member of the Roman
Roman Catholic
Catholic Church.
A member or follower of
any of the Western
Christian Churches that
are separate from the
Protestant Roman Catholic Church in
accordance with the
principles of the
Reformation.
 Was an Irish pirate operating Was an English courtier
in the Caribbean, and one of and Member of
the most famous female Parliament who played a
pirates of all time. part in foiling the
Gunpowder Plot.
Sir Thomas
Anne Bonny
Knyvet

Was an English pirate captain A structure, typically of

operating in the Bahamas and two uprights and a
in Cuba during the early 18th crosspiece.
century.

Calico Jack Gallows

Year 2

Spring Term – Buildings (The Great Fire of

Autumn Term – The Earth; Our Home Summer Term – The Toymaker
London)

An act or process through which
something becomes different.
Change
"the change from a nomadic to
an agricultural society"
A term used to
The Stuart dynasty reigned
describe people who
in England and Scotland
lived in the United
The Stuarts from 1603 to 1714. Victorians
Kingdom during the
reign of Queen
Victoria.

An old, wooden
To find similarities between two The lane where the Great
puppet that’s
Compare or more things. Pudding Lane Fire of London began in Marionette
controlled by wires or
1666.
strings.

To find differences between two The main river running The Queen of the
or more things. through the city of London. United Kingdom
during the years of
1837 to 1901.
Contrast River Thames Queen Victoria
 A person or thing that gives rise
to an action, phenomenon, or
condition.
Cause
An English diarist who
recorded key events in
British history, including,
the Great Fire of London
and the Great Plague of
London.
If a person is affluent,
Samuel Pepys Affluent they are financially
“well off”.

Cause (something) to happen; The baker who owned the

bring about. bakery where the Great Fire
Effect Thomas Farrinor
of London started on 2nd
September 1666.

Smallholders and
Peasantry agricultural labourers of low
social status.
Poverty The state of being
extremely poor.

Sir Christopher Wren was an

English anatomist,
astronomer, geometer, and
mathematician-physicist, as
well as one of the most
highly acclaimed English
architects of his time. He
played in integral role in the
redevelopment of London
Sir Christopher following the Great Fire.
Wren

A famous landmark in
St Paul’s
London that was destroyed
Cathedral
during the Great Fire of
London, but later rebuilt as
 part of London’s
redevelopment.

Year 3

Autumn Term – Scavengers and Settlers Spring Term – Different Places, Similar Lives Summer Term – A to B

The later part of the The Cadbury family The penny-farthing, also known
Stone Age, when ground is a prominent as a high wheel, high wheeler
or polished stone British family of and ordinary, was the first
weapons and industrialists. The machine to be called a
implements prevailed. family is most "bicycle". It was popular in the
famous for founding 1870s and 1880s, with its large
the chocolate front wheel providing high
Neolithic The Cadbury Family Penny farthing
company, Cadburys. speeds and comfort.
 A prehistoric period that
followed the Stone Age
and preceded the Iron
Age, when weapons and
Bronze Age Change
tools were made of
bronze rather than
stone.
An act or process A horse and cart refers to a
through which light, simple, two-person
something becomes carriage of the late 18th, 19th
different. and early 20th centuries,
Horse and cart
drawn usually by one or
"the change from a sometimes by two horses.
nomadic to an
agricultural society"
 A prehistoric period To find similarities
when weapons and between two or
tools were made of more things.
Stone Age Compare
stone or of organic
materials such as bone,
wood, or horn.

A prehistoric period that To find differences

followed the Bronze between two or
Iron Age Contrast
Age, when weapons and more things.
tools came to be made
of iron.

A prehistoric stone or
metal implement with a
Celts bevelled cutting edge,
probably used as a tool
or weapon.
 A citizen or soldier of
Romans the ancient Roman
Republic or Empire.

The Anglo-Saxons were

a cultural group who
inhabited Great Britain
from the 5th century.
Anglo-Saxons They comprised people
from Germanic tribes
who migrated to the
island from continental
Europe.

Vikings were Norse

people primarily from
southern Scandinavia (in
present-day Denmark,
Norway and Sweden),
Vikings who from the late 8th to
late 11th centuries,
raided and traded from
their Northern
European homelands
across wide areas of
Europe, and explored
 westwards to Iceland,
Greenland, and Vinland.

A member of a nomadic
people who live chiefly
Hunter-gatherers by hunting and fishing,
and harvesting wild
food.

A nomad is a member of
a community without
Nomad/nomadic fixed habitation which
regularly moves to and
from the same areas.

An object made by a
human being, typically
Artefact
one of cultural or
historical interest.

An extensive group of
states or countries ruled
Empire over by a single
monarch, an oligarchy,
or a sovereign state.
 Skara Brae is a stone-
built Neolithic
settlement, located on
the Bay of Skaill on the
west coast of Mainland,
the largest island in the
Orkney archipelago of
Scotland. Consisting of
eight clustered houses,
it was occupied from
Skara Brae roughly 3180 BC to
about 2500 BC and is
Europe's most complete
Neolithic village.

Was a queen of the

British Celtic Iceni tribe
Boudica who led an uprising
against the occupying
forces of the Roman
Empire in AD 60 or 61.
 Gaius Julius Caesar,
better known by his
nomen gentilicium and
cognomen Julius Caesar,
was a Roman statesman
and military general
who played a critical
role in the events that
led to the demise of the
Julius Caesar
Roman Republic and the
rise of the Roman
Empire.
 Stonehenge is a
prehistoric monument
Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England,
two miles west of
Amesbury.
Year 4

Autumn Term – Made a Difference Spring Term – Island Life Summer Term – Young Entrepreneurs

An act or process
through which
something becomes
A woman seeking the A state or region
different.
The Suffragettes right to vote through Change Heptarchy consisting of seven
organized protest. autonomous regions.
"the change from a
nomadic to an
agricultural society"

Emmeline Pankhurst To find similarities

was a British political between two or more
activist. She is best things.
remembered for
organizing the UK
Sewing is the craft of
suffragette
fastening or attaching
movement and
Emmaline Pankhurst Compare Sewing objects using stitches
helping women win
made with a needle
the right to vote.
and thread
 Nelson Rolihlahla To find differences
Mandela was a South between two or more
African anti-apartheid things.
revolutionary,
political leader, and
philanthropist who
served as President of
South Africa from
A wage is monetary
1994 to 1999. He was
compensation (or
the country's first
remuneration,
black head of state
personnel expenses,
Nelson Mandela and the first elected Contrast Wages
labour) paid by an
in a fully
employer to an
representative
employee in exchange
democratic election.
for work done.

Make (something) on
John Cadbury John Cadbury was an Manufacture a large scale using
English proprietor and machinery.
 founder of Cadbury,
the chocolate
business based in
Birmingham, England.

Vincent Willem van

Gogh was a Dutch
post-impressionist
In marketing, a
painter who is among
product is an object
the most famous and
or system made
influential figures in
available for
the history of
Vincent van Gogh Product consumer use; it is
Western art.
anything that can be
offered to a market to
satisfy the desire or
need of a customer.
 Malala Yousafzai is a
Pakistani activist for
female education and
the youngest Nobel
Prize laureate.
Work, especially
Malala Yousafzai Labour
physical work.

Martin Luther King Jr.

was an American
Christian minister and
activist who became
the most visible
spokesperson and
leader in the Civil
Martin Luther King Rights Movement
from 1955 until his
assassination in 1968.
 The state of being
equal, especially in
equality
status, rights, or
opportunities.

Subject to harsh and

oppressed/oppression authoritarian
treatment.

The action or state of

setting someone or
segregation
something apart from
others.

Women's suffrage is
women’s suffrage the right of women to
vote in elections.
Year 5

Autumn Term – Moving People Spring Term – Earth as an Island Summer Term – What Price Progress

Pop art is an art

movement that emerged
in the United Kingdom and
the United States during
A person who moves
the mid- to late-1950s.
from one place to
The movement presented
another, especially in
Immigrant/migrant Pop Art a challenge to traditions of
order to find work or
fine art by including
better living
imagery from popular and
conditions.
mass culture, such as
advertising, comic books
and mundane mass- No History taught this term
produced cultural objects.

Roy Fox Lichtenstein was

an American pop artist.
Migration is the
During the 1960s, along
movement by people
with Andy Warhol, Jasper
Migrate/migration from one place to Roy Lichtenstein
Johns, and James
another, particularly
Rosenquist among others,
different countries.
he became a leading
figure in the new art
movement. His work
 defined the premise of
pop art through parody.

Andy Warhol was an

American artist, film
director, and producer
who was a leading figure
in the visual art movement
A place or situation known as pop art.
Refuge providing safety or Andy Warhol
shelter.
Year 6

Autumn Term – Ancient Civilisations Spring Term – Going Global Summer Term – Let’s Celebrate

The term civilization

basically means the level
of development at which
Things that historically
people live together
make up a societies
peacefully in
culture. These things
Ancient communities. Ancient
Cultural include food, language,
civilisation civilization refers
clothing, tools, music,
specifically to the first
arts, customs, beliefs, and
settled and stable
religion.
communities that became
the basis for later states,
nations, and empires. No History taught this term

The Maya civilization was

a Mesoamerican
civilization developed by How a society has
the Maya peoples, and typically made money,
Mayans/Mayas noted for its logosyllabic Economic includes elements such as
script—the most production, trade, jobs
sophisticated and highly etc…
developed writing system
in pre-Columbian
Americas—as well as for
 its art, architecture,
mathematics, calendar,
and astronomical system.

This could mean anything

as small as a fight
between two tribes or a
An ancient manuscript
Codex Military conflict as large as a
text in book form.
world war. Military
historians record military
history.

Astrology is the study of A religion is a set of beliefs

the movements of the that is held by a group of
planets, sun, moon, and people. Religious history
Astrology stars in the belief that Religious examines the religions of
these movements can different civilisations and
have an influence on their people – why they
believe in and why.
people's lives.

Social history, Branch

of history that
Historical vocabulary linked to coverage of
Social emphasises social structures
WWI and WWII and the interaction of
different groups in society.

Political history is the

Also known as the First
narrative and survey
World War I World War or the Great Political
of political events, ideas,
War, was a global war
movements, organs of
originating in Europe that
 lasted from 28 July 1914
to 11 November 1918.
World War II, also known
as the Second World War,
World War II
was a global war that
lasted from 1939 to 1945.
The Allies of World War II,
called the United Nations
from the 1 January 1942
declaration, were the
countries that together
opposed the Axis powers
Allies
during the Second World
War (1939–1945). The
Allies promoted the
alliance as a means to
control German, Japanese
and Italian aggression.
Germany, Italy, and Japan,
Axis which were allied before Democracy
and during World War II.
government, voters,
parties and leaders.
The term civilization
basically means the level
of development at which
Civilisation
people live together
peacefully in
communities.
Communism is a type of
government as well as an
economic system (a way of
creating and sharing
wealth). In
a Communist system,
individual people do not
Communism
own land, factories, or
machinery. Instead, the
government or the whole
community owns these
things. Everyone is
supposed to share the
wealth that they create.
Describes a form of
government. The word
comes from two Greek
words that mean “rule by
the people.” In
a democracy the people
have a say in how the
government is run. They do
 this by voting, though there
are usually rules about who
can vote. Democracies are
different from dictatorships.

A political and economic

The Blitz was a German
bombing campaign
against the United
Blitz
Kingdom in 1940 and
1941, during the Second
World War.
theory of social organisation
which advocates that the
means of production,
Socialism
distribution, and exchange
should be owned or
regulated by the community
as a whole.

A prolonged period of
conflict during which each
A person who campaigns
side seeks to gradually
War of attrition Activtist to bring about political or
wear down the other by a
social change.
series of small-scale
actions.

Trench warfare is a type of

land warfare using
occupied fighting lines
Trench warfare
largely comprising military
trenches, in which troops
are well-protected from
the enemy's small arms
fire and are substantially
sheltered from artillery.