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100
Gaius Julius Caesar
Roman general that conquered Gaul between 58 and 51 BCE. It is one of the best sources of information about Celtic society. By the time the Roman invasion they periodically chose public officials. -
200
Roman Conquest
The conquest of Spain, southern Britain, France, and parts of Central Europe curtailed the evolution of Celtic society. They were largely assimilated to Roman ways and that is why the inhabitants of modern Spain and France speak languages that are descended from Latin. -
300
Meroë
Capital of a flourishing kingdom in southern Nubia from the fourth centry b.c.e. to the fourth century c.e. In this period, Nubian culture shows more independence from Egypt and the influence sub-Saharan Africa. -
356
Qin
It was the most innovative, located on the western edge of "the Central States." They commanded a nation of hardy farmers and employed them in large, well-trained armies. -
Oct 9, 600
Iron Metallurgy
Iron began to replace bronze as a primary metal for tools and weapons. Metalworkers in China were the first in the world to forge steel. -
Oct 9, 604
Daoism
Chinese school of thought, originating in the Warring States Period with Laozi. Daoism offered an alternative to the Confucian emphasis on hierarchy and duty. -
Oct 8, 1000
Celtic Europe
Celtic civilization originated in central Europe in the early part of the first millennium bce. They are people sharing common linguistic and cultural features. -
Oct 9, 1045
Mandate of Heaven
Chinese religoius and political ideology developed by the Zhou, according to which it was the prerogative of Heaven, the chief deity, to grant power to the ruler of China and to take away that power if the ruler failed to conduct himself justly and in the best interests of his subjects. -
Oct 12, 1045
Zhou
They overthrew the Shang and became the next dynasty. They created the concept of the Mandate of Heaven. -
Oct 8, 1200
Olmec
The first Mesoamerican civilization between 1200 and 400 BCE. They created a vibrant civilization that included intensive agriculture, wide-ranging trade, ceremonial centers, and monumental construction. It is located in present day Veracruz and Tabasco. -
Oct 13, 1532
New Kingdom
The New Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt. -
Shang
Little is known about how the Shang rose to dominance ca. 1750 B.C.E. since writeen documents only appear towards the end of the Shang rule. -
Hammurabi's Code
Reflects three social divisions:(1) the free, landowning class, which included royalty, high-ranking officials, warriors, priests, merchants, and some artisans and shopkeepers; (2) the class of dependent farmers and artisans, whose legal attachment to royal, temple, or private estates made them the primary rural work force; and (3) the class of slaves -
Early China
A more complex civilization evolved. Under the Shang and Zhou dynasties, , many of the elements of classical Chinese civilization emerged and spread across East Asia. -
Chavín
The first major urban civilization in South America. It was developed in the northern Andean highlands of Peru from 900 BC to 250 BC. They extended their influence to the coastal areas. -
Warring States
The second half of the Eastern Zhou era is conventionally called the Warring States Period (481-221 b.c.e.) because of the scale and intensity of rivalry and warfare between the states accelerated. -
Confucianism
Western nam for the Chinese philosopher Kongzi. His doctrine of duty and public service had great influence on subsequent Chinese thought and served as a code of conduct for government officials. -
Middle Kingdom
The Middle kingdom of Egypt is the period in the history of ancient Egypt between about 2000 BC and 1700 BC, stretching from the establishment of the Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Twelfth Dynasty, although some writers include the Thirteenth and Fourteenth dynasties in the Second Intermediate Period. -
Xia
It followed the tranquil masters of the Golden Age. Then, they were succeeded by the Shang. -
Cuneiform
The usual method of writing involved pressing the point of a sharpened reed into a moist clay tablet. Because the reed made wedge-shaped impressions, the early realistic pictures were increasingly stylized into a combination of strokes and wedges, a system known as cuneiform (Latin for “wedge-shaped”) writing. -
Old Kingdom
The Old Kingdom is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization. -
Mohenjo-Daro
Largest of the cities of the Indus Valley civilization. It was centrally located in the extensive floodplain of the Indus River in contemporary Pakistan. -
Harappa
Site of one of the great cities of the Indus Valley civlization of the third millenium b.c.e. It was located on the northwest frontier of the zone of cultivation and may have been a center for the acquisition of raw materials, such as metals and precious stones. -
Indus Valley
Civilization arose almost as early in South Asia as in Mesopotamia and Egypt. In the fertile floodplain of the Indus River, farming created the food surplus essential to urbanized society. -
Nubia
Thousand-mile stretch of the Nile Valley lying between Aswan and Khartoum and straddling the southern part of the modern nation of Egypt and the northern part of Sudan. For thousands of years it has served as a corridor for trade between tropical Africa and th Mediterranean. -
Egypt
No place exhibits the impact of the natural environment on the history and culture of a society better than ancient Egypt. Located at the intersection of Asia and Africa, Egypt was protected by surrounding barriers of desert and a harborless, marshy seacoast -
Hieroglyphics
A system of writing in which pictorial symbols represented sounds, syllables, or concepts. It was used for official and monumental inscriptions in ancient Egypt. -
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a time period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. -
Semites
Refers to a family of languages spoken in parts of western Asia and northern Afria. Possibly the descendants of nomads who had migrated into the Mesopotamian plain from the western desert. -
Sumerians
The people living in Mesopotamia at the start of the “historical period”—the period for which we have written evidence—were the Sumerians. They created the framework of civilization in Meso. -
Mesopotamia
The name Mesopotamia means “land between the rivers” in Greek, reflecting the centrality of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers to the way of life in this region. Civilization developed in the plain alongside and between the rivers. -
Agricultural Revolution
The change from food garthering to food production.
