Geography - GED Social Studies

Hernan Cortes and the Spanish conquistadors are responsible for overthrowing the Aztec Empire in the early part of the sixteenth century. If you did not know this you might have made a reasonable guess because the name Hernan Cortes sounds Spanish. The Spanish were the first to arrive in the New World en masse and overthrew the great Aztec and Incan Empires with their advanced technology and merciless military tactics. The Mayan Empire died out several hundred years before the arrival of the Spanish. The Portuguese Empire persisted for a long time during the European Age of Colonialism. The Mughal Empire existed in India before the arrival of the British. The Mongolian Empire conquered massive swathes of Europe and Asia before eventually succumbing to the difficulties of administering such a vast empire.

The major civilizations of early settled human history arose in the land of Mesopotamia (literally "the land between two rivers"). This land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers is often called The Fertile Crescent because it was an extremely abundant source of food and agricultural land for the early civilizations, like the Babylonians and Sumerians.

Jonas Salk invented the world’s first polio vaccine in 1953. Prior to the invention of this vaccine polio had crippled and killed millions of people throughout human history.

The Industrial Revolution is generally considered to have begun in England and shortly thereafter in Northern and Western Europe towards the end of the eighteenth century. The pace of change dramatically accelerated in the nineteenth century. The Industrial Revolution was a period of massive economic and social upheaval in Europe and the United States. On the back of new technologies, in particular the creation of the factory system, a whole new labor system arose, and both the working and middle classes grew in number.

The Industrial Revolution began in England towards the end of the eighteenth century and eventually spread to Europe and the United States. It was the primary reason why England was able to dominate so effectively the economic stage during the nineteenth century.

Population density refers to the number of people living in a certain area of land. A country with a high population density has a large number of people living in a relatively small amount of land. Although the populations of the U.S.A., China, and Brazil are all higher than the population of Bangladesh, the land area of Bangladesh is much smaller, so it has the highest population density.

Bourgeoise is a French term, also widely used in the English language to refer to the Middle Class. It has its origins around the time of the Industrial Revolution, and it is often used in a demeaning fashion to suggest certain materialistic or superficial social values.

A refugee is someone who has either been forced to leave or else has fled some disaster—famine, poverty, genocide, religious warfare, etc. A refugee leaves his or her own country and heads for a willing country believed to be safer. Different countries around the world have widely varied practices when it comes to accepting refugees. The diaspora is the name given to a community of displaced people, e.g. the Jewish Diaspora.

Confucianism is a philosophy that arose in China 2500 years ago. It is also sometimes called a religion. Confucianism’s primary tenets are a deep respect for ancestors and an obedience to legal tradition and order.

The House of Plantagenet is an important ruling family in English history. They ruled over England from the mid-twelfth century until about the mid-fifteenth century. Notable Plantagenet monarchs include King Henry II, Richard the Lionheart, and King John (the man who was King when the Magna Carta was signed). They were also in power when the Hundred Years’ War was waged against France.

Throughout history, particularly in the twentieth century, there have been numerous attempts by governments to deliberately plan and carry out the complete extermination of ethnic, religious, or cultural groups. Most famous of these is the Holocaust, when Nazi Germany attempted to wipe out the Jewish population of Europe (as well as Gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally disabled, and communists). Other famous genocides include the Armenian Genocide, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Cambodian Genocide.

The Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in 1928 by most of the powerful nations of the world at the time. Signed between World War One and World War Two, it was meant to prevent a future outbreak of world war. Considering that World War Two broke out a decade later, and that Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931, it can hardly be seen as a success, yet it was an important step in the history of civilization, because it was the first major attempt to renounce warfare as a means of foreign policy.

The term, "Apartheid," refers to a period in South African history when the government actively promoted and sponsored discrimination and segregation on the basis of race. It ended in 1990.

The Crusades is the name given to a series of military campaigns waged by the nations of Western Europe between 1095 and 1487 C.E. The primary goal was to retake Jerusalem and the Holy Land for Christianity from the Islamic Empires that held sway there at the time, but some crusades were declared against heretic Christians in Europe.

The Hundred Years’ War was a series of conflicts waged between England and France from 1337 to 1453. The war was primarily fought for control of the Kingdom of France and ended with English finances exhausted, with civil war brewing as the majority of France remained outside of English control.

An armistice is a temporary halt in conflict during a war; it is often followed by the signing of a peace treaty, but when two sides cannot reach agreement it may simply be a temporary break before the fighting resumes. The policy of allowing an enemy or a rival to achieve certain gains in the hope that they will then be appeased is called "appeasement." A smaller state or nation that is dependent on a larger state for protection is called a "satellite state." A vote by the people to directly decide the outcome of an issue is called either a "plebiscite" or a "referendum."

The term, "Bourgeoise," refers to the Middle class. It has its origins in the French Revolution. The term carries connotations suggesting that the members of this class are unusually materialistic or obsessed with money.

The Nile River in East Africa is the longest river in the world; it runs through what is otherwise a relatively dry and barren environment. As such, its importance to early agricultural civilizations cannot be overstated. The civilization of Ancient Egypt sprang up along the banks of the Nile River.

The Code of Hammurabi is one of the earliest known examples of written law in the ancient world. It was written, supposedly, by the Babylonian King, Hammurabi.

The religion of Christianity emerged relatively quickly following the death of Christ. It spread around the Roman Empire at rapid pace, and within a few hundred years was adopted, by the Emperor Constantine, as the official religion of the Roman Empire.