Glossary of Terms

nabobs   Name given to British representatives of the East India Company who went briefly to India to make fortunes through graft and exploitation. (p. 735)

Nadir Khan Afshar   Soldier-adventurer following fall of Safavid dynasty in 1722; proclaimed himself shah in 1736; established short-lived dynasty in reduced kingdom. (p. 626)

Nagasaki   Long a port open to Dutch traders; one of two Japanese cities on which the United States dropped atomic bombs in 1945; devastation of these cities caused Japanese surrender without invasion of home islands. (p. 856)

Nahuatl   [nä wät l] Language spoken by the Toltecs and Aztecs. (p. 210)

Nara   Along with Heian, capital of the Yamato emperors; patterned after ancient imperial centers of China; never fully populated. (p. 242)

Nasser, Gamal Abdul   Took power in Egypt following a military coup in 1952; enacted land reforms and used state resources to reduce unemployment; ousted Britain from the Suez Canal zone in 1956. (p. 1007)

Narmer   First pharaoh of Egyptian Old Kingdom; ruled c. 3100 b.c.e. (p. 39)

Natal   British colony in South Africa; developed after Boer trek north from Cape Colony; major commercial outpost at Durban. (p. 750)

National Liberation Front (FLN)   Radical nationalist movement in Algeria; launched sustained guerilla war against France in the 1950s; success of attacks led to independence of Algeria in 1958. (p. 984)

National Socialist party   Also known as the Nazi party; led by Adolf Hitler in Germany; picked up political support during the economic chaos of the Great Depression; advocated authoritarian state under a single leader, aggressive foreign policy to reverse humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles; took power in Germany in 1933. (p. 851)

nationalism   Political viewpoint with origins in Western Europe in the 19th century; often allied with one of other "isms"; urged importance of national unity; valued a collective identity based on culture, race, or ethnic origin. (p. 702)

Natufian complex   Preagricultural culture; located in present-day Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon; practiced the collection of naturally present barley and wheat to supplement game; typified by large settlement sites. (p. 15)

natural law   General principles of law applicable to all societies; a fundamental concept of the Roman legal system under the empire; related to Stoic ethical theory. (p. 160*)

Neanderthals   Species of genus Homo that disappeared at the end of the Paleolithic period. (p. 12)

négritude   Literary movement in Africa; attempted to combat racial stereotypes of African culture; celebrated the beauty of black skin and African physique; associated with origins of African nationalist movements. (p. 976)

Nehru, Jawaharlal   [nAY rU, nâr U] One of Gandhi's disciples; governed India after independence (1947); committed to program of social reform and economic development; preserved civil rights and democracy. (p. 1002)

neocolonial economy   Economy that results from continued dominance of the first- and second-world nations of the world's economy; ability of the first- and second-world nations to maintain economic colonialism without political colonialism. (p. 1003)

Neolithic Age   The New Stone Age between 8000 and 5000 b.c.e.; period in which adaptation of sedentary agriculture occurred; domestication of plants and animals accomplished. (p. 9)

Nestorians   A Christian sect found in Asia; tended to support Islamic invasions of this area in preference to Byzantine rule; cut off from Europe by Muslim invasions. (p. 488)

New Deal   President Franklin Roosevelt's precursor of the modern welfare state (1933–1939); programs to combat economic depression enacted a number of social insurance measures and used government spending to stimulate the economy; increased power of the state and the state's intervention in United States social and economic life. (p. 870)

New Economic Policy   Initiated by Lenin in 1921; state continued to set basic economic policies, but efforts were now combined with individual initiative; policy allowed food production to recover. (p. 892)

new feminism   New wave of women's rights agitation dating from 1949; emphasized more literal equality that would play down domestic roles and qualities for women; promoted specific reforms and redefinition of what it meant to be female. (p. 881)

New France   French colonies in North America; extended from St. Lawrence River along Great Lakes and down Mississippi River valley system. (p. 555)

New Spain   Spanish colonial possessions in Mesoamerica; included most of central Mexico; based on imperial system of Aztecs. (p. 588)

New Youth   Marxist periodical in China; did much to spread the ideas of Marx and Lenin among the politically active youth of China's coastal cities. (p. 1024)

Newton, Isaac   English scientist during the 17th century; author of Principia; drew the various astronomical and physical observations and wider theories together in a neat framework of natural laws; established principles of motion; defined forces of gravity. (p. 530)

Nezhualcoyotl   [nez wät l coiOt l] Leading Aztec king of the 15th century. (p. 404)

Nguyen   [ngI en, ngu yen] Rival Vietnamese dynasty that arose in southern Vietnam to challenge traditional dynasty of Trinh in north at Hanoi; kingdom centered on Red and Mekong rivers; capital at Hue. (p. 472)

Nguyen Anh   [ngI en, ngu yen än] Last surviving member of Nguyen dynasty following Tayson Rebellion in Vietnam; with French support retook southern Vietnam; drove Tayson from northern Vietnam by 1802; proclaimed himself emperor with capital at Hue. (p. 1038)

niche ecological adaptation   Human adaptation to an environment in such a way that there is minimal impact on the ecology; normally typical of hunting-and-gathering groups. (p. 84)

nirvana   The Buddhist state of enlightenment, a state of tranquility. (p. 181)

Nkrumah, Kwame   [uhn krU muh, uhng krU-] African nationalist during period of decolonization; responsible for creation of first independent, black African state of Ghana in 1957; established power through his own party, the Convention Peoples party (CPP). (p. 980)

Nobili, Robert di   Italian Jesuit missionary; worked in India during the early 1600s; introduced strategy to convert elites first; strategy later widely adopted by Jesuits in various parts of Asia; mission eventually failed. (p. 672)

Nobunaga   Japanese daimyo; first to make extensive use of firearms; in 1573 deposed last of Ashikaga shoguns; unified much of central Honshu under his command; killed in 1582. (p. 684)

Nok   Culture featuring highly developed art style flourishing between 500 b.c.e. and 200 c.e.; located in forests of central Nigeria. (p. 346)

nomads   Cattle- and sheep-herding societies normally found on the fringes of civilized societies; commonly referred to as "barbarian" by civilized societies. (p. 81)

Nonalignment   Policies of countries like India, 1950s—1980s, that sought to avoid taking sides in the cold war. (p. 862)

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)   Agreement that created an essentially free trade zone among Mexico, Canada, and the United States, in hopes of encouraging economic growth in all three nations; after difficult negotiations, went into effect January 1, 1994. (p. 937)

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)   Created in 1949 under United States leadership to group most of the Western European powers plus Canada in a defensive alliance against possible Soviet aggression. (p. 861)

Northern Renaissance   Cultural and intellectual movement of northern Europe; began later than Italian Renaissance c. 1450; centered in France, Low Countries, England, and Germany; featured greater emphasis on religion than Italian Renaissance. (p. 525)

nuclear families   Consisted of husband and wife, their children, and perhaps a grandmother or orphaned cousin; typical of Chinese peasantry. (p. 178)

Nur Jahan   Wife of Jahangir; amassed power in court and created faction of male relatives who dominated Mughal empire during later years of Jahangir's reign. (p. 632)

Nurhaci   Architect of Manchu unity; created distinctive Manchu banner armies; controlled most of Manchuria; adopted Chinese bureaucracy and court ceremonies in Manchuria; entered China and successfully captured Ming capital at Beijing. (p. 794)

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