____________________________, or the ability to walk on two feet, allowed early hominids to develop other skills such as tool making.

For the vast majority of human history (approximately 200,000 years) mankind survived by _________________________________________.

The Agricultural Revolution, through farming technology and animal domestication, began in ____________ and allowed humans to develop populated, sedentary societies.

____________________________ societies are peoples who live by herding animals and migrate according to the seasons and grazing patterns

Archeological evidence suggests that around 3000 and 2500 BCE,  ______________________, the first civilization developed in the Fertile Crescent.

The earliest evidence of written language, called _________________, was inscribed on clay tablets with dried reed instruments.

The oldest known written law code was composed by King ________________________.

Most early and classical civilizations were__________________________ , meaning that men dominated the public sphere and women were considered subordinate to men.

The earliest printed book, the ______________________________, is dated 868 CE.

The first book printed on the mechanized printing press was the _________________________.

______________________ was a devastating pandemic that began in Asia and spread to Europe in the 1340s, killing off a third to a half of the European population.

The period of cultural reawakening marking the end of the European  “Middle Ages” is known as the _________________________ .

The ____________________________________ was characterized by European exploration of the Atlantic Ocean and the so-called discovery of the Americas.

Many early civilizations were politically organized as a _________________________, characterized by an urban political and religious center and an interconnected agricultural society.

Ancient Mesopotamian civilization developed near and was dependent on the _________________ and _____________________  Rivers for irrigation and trade networks.

__________________________ developed along the Nile River and at times, was highly politically centralized under the rule of a king, called a pharaoh.

The Pharaoh _______________________ was one of the first examples of female rule in ancient civilizations.

__________________ civilization was centered in the ancient city of Meroë and traded regularly with Egypt.

The basic political and geographic unit in Classical Greece was called the _________________________ .

Modern democracy developed in the Greek city-state of ______________________ around 450 BCE.

King __________________________ of Persia attempted to conquer all of Greece, but was eventually defeated due to Athens’ superior naval ability.

Sparta stopped the spread of Athenian control of Greece in the ___________________________ Wars.

 Although he lived a short time and his empire was divided at his death, ___________________________ of Macedon spread Greek culture throughout the world.

 The civilization of Classical Rome formed the first _______________________, after the overthrow of the last tyrant king in 509 BCE.

________________________ became the first Roman emperor in 31 BCE.

Emperor Shihuangdi ended centuries of interstate warfare and united China for the first time as the _________________ Dynasty in 221 BCE.

The period in which the samurai class ruled feudal Japan was known as the ____________________.

______________________ was the first to unite small European kingdoms and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800 CE.

The eastern half of the Roman Empire, known as the ______________________ Empire, increased in religious and political importance after the fall of Rome.

The _____________________ sacked Rome in 410 CE, leading to the rapid demise of the Roman Empire.

The “Golden Age of China” happened under the _____________ and ____________ Dynasties (618–1279 CE)

The ______________, who conquered present-day India in 1526 CE, attempted to unify India’s Hindu majority and Muslim minority through tolerance.

The largest South American civilizations developed along the ______________ mountain range.

The ________________________ empire of Mesoamerica, based in the city of Tenochtitlan, conquered a vast area in order to collect tribute and human sacrifices to please their gods.

The ____________________ Empire grew powerful from its control over trans-Saharan trade routes in the 15th century.

The ________________ empire of South America controlled a population of around 10 million people along the Andes.

Temujin, better known as ____________________, united the Mongols and created the world’s largest contiguous land empire in the 13th century.

The Mongol dynasty in China begun by Kublai Khan was known as the ____________ Dynasty.

__________________ elites who rose to power under the Mongol Empire,  helped transform Russia into a unified state.

The nine religious wars throughout the Middle Ages known as ____________________ were intended to regain control of the Christian Holy Land from the Muslims.

In 1453, Turkic nomads seized Constantinople from the Byzantine Empire, establishing the ____________________________  Empire, which became the most powerful Islamic state by 1500.

Shihuangdi ruled China under the philosophy of ____________________, which emphasized the importance of a strong state for maintaining peace.

The belief in more than one god is known as __________________________.

_______________________________, one of the first monotheistic religions, developed in Persia and taught that the god Ahura Mazda represented the force of good in the world.

_______________________ is a religion developed around the teaching of Siddhartha Gautama who believed that enlightenment could be reached through moderation in all things.

Emperor _________________________ converted to Buddhism and was well-known for his peaceful edicts governing India.

___________________________ was an important Chinese philosopher whose collected wisdom was gathered in The Analects.

_____________________ is a philosophy originating in China which stresses balancing the forces of yin and yang and being at peace with nature.

The concept of __________________________ teaches obedience to one’s elders in order to maintain societal harmony.

The Roman emperor _________________________ converted to and legalized Christianity throughout the Empire.

____________________________ was an Athenian philosopher best known for his endless questioning of received wisdom who was put to death in 399 BCE for “corrupting the youth of Athens.”

The Greek philosopher____________________ believed that the best government mixed aspects of monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy.

The Christian religion spread through the teachings of ______________________, whose followers believed he was the son of God.

Hindu belief and practice emerged from a set of religious texts known as the ______________.

The priestly class in Hinduism were known as the ________________________ .

In Hinduism, one’s next incarnation depends on behavior in one’s present life, a belief known as ___________________.

In Buddhism, enlightenment is called  _______________________.

__________________ is the oldest Christian kingdom in Africa.

The ____________________ of Mesoamerica created a sophisticated hieroglyphic written language, a complex mathematical system, and monumental ceremonial pyramids at the height of their civilization.

____________________________ Buddhists believe that the Buddha was a divine being and pray to him for guidance.

__________________________ Christianity developed and spread from the city of Constantinople.

The _____________________________________  in 1054 CE was the split between Eastern and Western Christianity.

China is responsible for what are known as the “Four Great Inventions”: ____________________, ___________________, ____________________ and ________________________.

The second most widely practiced religion in the world, _____________ , arose around 600 C.E., under the leadership of the prophet Muhammad.

Belief, prayer, alms, pilgrimage, and fasting are collectively known as  _________________________________ .

According to Muslim beliefs, the ____________________ contains the revelations of Allah to Muhammad.

_________________, also known as the Destroyer, is one of the three primary deities in Hinduism.

After Muhammad’s death, Islam split into two factions: the ______________ and the ______________.

The _______________________ was a period from roughly the 8th century to the 15th century in which Muslims and Christians, despite intermittent warfare, lived relatively in peace together in the Iberian Peninsula.

The campaign led by Spanish kings in the 15th century to reestablish Christian control over the entire Iberian Peninsula was known as the ____________________.

___________________________ is the name given to a series of overland trade routes connecting Asia and Europe which operated between 200 BCE and 1400 CE.

Silk production was first invented over 5000 years ago by the _______________, who stringently guarded the technology to maintain an advantage in trade.

The _____________________ system, practiced in classical Rome, was a mutually beneficial relationship between elite patricians and common plebeians.

_________________ were the lower class, semi-enslaved population of Classical Greece.

The ____________________ was a material symbol of Roman civilization and could only be worn by male Roman citizens.

Hindu beliefs profoundly influenced the organization of Indian society into a static social hierarchy known as the ________________________.

______________ was a ritual in which wives would commit suicide upon the death of their husband in ancient and classical India.

The Classical Greek doctor ______________________ used rational thought to explain how the human body functioned and his theories about the four bodily humors were popular in Europe throughout the Middle Ages.

The migration of the ______________________ people throughout sub-Saharan Africa led to continuities in language and cultural practices among many African peoples.

Ancient civilizations of the Americas based the majority of their diet on __________________.

The most important sea trade route in the classical period was the ____________________ Ocean.

Chinese emperors ruled under the authority of the Mandate of _______________________ and could be overthrown if the populace believed that they had violated the mandate.

The  ____________________________ allowed trade via caravan over the Sahara and other deserts in the early centuries CE because of its ability to carry heavy burdens and go long periods without water.

The tributary kingdoms of __________________ and __________________ were heavily influenced by China, including in their written script, religion, and political philosophies.

______________________ was considered a mark of beauty for over one thousand years in China and severely constrained women’s mobility and ability to work.

Regional feudal lords in Japan were known as ________________________.

The construction of the _________________ was begun in the 2nd century BCE by Emperor Shihuangdhi to keep out nomadic invaders.

Originally not part of the nobility, the ________________ family of Florence, Italy, made so much money from Mediterranean trade that they held some of the most powerful political and religious positions in early modern Europe.

_________________________ is a hierarchical system in which, in return for allegiance, kings granted noble vassals the stewardship of land and serfs in Europe from 1000 -1400 CE.

Europeans adapted much of their learning and technology in the 13th-15th centuries from ____________ & ___________.

Baghdad, capital of the __________________ dynasty, represented the height of Islamic civilization around 800 CE.

____________________ is a set of laws based on Islamic teachings and customary practices.

Islamic empires allowed Christians and Jews the freedom of religion as long as they paid a tax called the _______________________.

____________________ was a prominent Italian merchant who traveled the Silk Road to China in the 14th century and wrote about his voyage.

___________________________ was the leader of a series of Chinese maritime expeditions that ended with his death in 1433 CE.

_________________________ was the first European kingdom to explore the Atlantic regularly  in the fifteenth-century in an attempt to find a new trade route to India.

Ferdinand and Isabel, also known as the _______________________________, funded Spanish exploration of the Atlantic Ocean in part to spread Christianity.

____________________________ is credited with discovering the Americas, but in reality believed he had landed in India.

 The ____________________________________________, issued by the Catholic Church in 1494, divided control of the entire globe between Spain and Portugal.