An economy and way of life centered on the raising of domesticated animals such as cattle, horses, sheep, or camels. This economy is an adaption to arid or semi-arid land, such as the steppes of Inner Eurasia, where farming is either limited or impossible. Pastoral nomadic communities typically move their herds or flocks seasonally in search of pas [..]

The land masses of Africa and Eurasia, together with adjacent islands, as a single spatial entity. The concept of Afroeurasia is useful in the study of both historical and contemporary social phenomena whose full geographical contexts overlap in one way or another the conventionally defined continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. See also Afro-Eura [..]

The intentional cultivation of domesticated plants and animals. Beginning about 12,000 years ago, the development of agriculture permitted unprecedented growth of human population and the ermgence of towns, cities, and the centralized state. Scholars generally agree that agricultural economies developed in several parts of Afroeurasia and the Ameri [..]

“Term coined in late nineteenth century that was associated with a prejudice against Jews and the political, social, and economic actions taken against them.” Jerry Bentley and Herb Ziegler, Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past, 3rd ed., vol. 2 (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006).

A privileged or ruling class, usually a small social minority. Often the hereditary nobility or major landowning class in a society. An “aristocrat” is a member of this upper class. Also “aristocratic,” as in “aristocratic government.” “Aristo” is from the Greek, meaning the “best.”

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The mutual transfer of goods or services not involving the exchange of money. Used as the common form of exchange before the invention of currency. The practice of bartering continues to one degree or another in all modern societies.

The ideological, political, and economic conflict and rivalry between the United States and its allies on one side and the Soviet Union and its supporters on the other side. Competition between the two alliances, which continued from the end of World War II in 1945 to the collapses of the Soviet Union in 1991, was carried on by strategies and tacti [..]

The fundamental laws, either written or unwritten, of a political body or state.

The study of the size, growth, density, growth and other characteristics of human populations. Diaspora The scattering of a people of distinct regional, ethnic, or religious identity from the original homeland to other parts of the world. A diaspora may result from either voluntary or forced migration. Examples include the Jewish diaspora and the d [..]