Glossary of Terms

Pachacuti   Ruler of Inca society from 1438 to 1471; launched a series of military campaigns that gave Incas control of the region from Cuzco to the shores of Lake Titicaca. (p. 414)

Pacific Rim states   Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan; typified by rapid growth rates, expanding exports, and industrialization; either Chinese or strongly influenced by Confucian values; considerable reliance on government planning and direction, limitations on dissent and instability. (p. 913)

pahi   Double canoes used for long-distance voyaging; carried a platform between canoes for passengers or cargo. (p. 245)

Palmares   Kingdom of runaway slaves with a population of 8,000 to 10,000 people; located in Brazil during the 17th century; leadership was Angolan. (p. 659)

Paleolithic Age   The Old Stone Age ending in 12,000 b.c.e.; typified by use of crude stone tools and hunting and gathering for subsistence. (p. 9)

Panama Canal   An aspect of American intervention in Latin America; resulted from United States support for a Panamanian independence movement in return for a grant to exclusive rights to a canal across the Panama isthmus; provided short route from Atlantic to Pacific Ocean; completed 1914. (p. 778)

parliaments   Bodies representing privileged groups; institutionalized feudal principle that rulers should consult with their vassals; found in England, Spain, Germany, and France. (p. 381)

Parliamentary monarchy   Originated in England and Holland, 17th century, with kings partially checked by significantly legislative powers in parliaments. (p. 533)

partition of Poland   Three separate divisions of Polish territory among Russia, Prussia, and Austria in 1772, 1793, and 1795; eliminated Poland as independent state; part of expansion of Russian influence in Eastern Europe. (p. 574)

Pasteur, Louis   Discoverer of germs; discovery led to more conscientious sanitary regulation by the 1880s. (p. 710)

pastoral nomads   An intermediate form of ecological adaptation dependent on domesticated animal herds that feed on natural environment; typically more populous than shifting cultivation groups. (p. 82)

pastoralism   A nomadic agricultural life-style based on herding domesticated animals; tended to produce independent people capable of challenging sedentary agricultural societies. (p. 18)

patriarchal   [pAY trEE är k'l] Societies in which women defer to men; societies run by men and based on the assumption that men naturally directed political, economic, and cultural life. (p. 42)

Paul   One of the first Christian missionaries; moved away from insistence that adherents of the new religion follow Jewish law; use of Greek as language of Church. (p. 167)

Paulistas   Backwoodsmen from São Paulo in Brazil; penetrated Brazilian interior in search of precious metals during 17th century. (p. 599)

Pearl Harbor   American naval base in Hawaii; attack by Japanese on this facility in December 1941 crippled American fleet in the Pacific and caused entry of United States into World War II. (p. 854)

Pedro I, Dom   Son and successor of Dom João VI in Brazil; aided in the declaration of Brazilian independence from Portugal in 1822; became constitutional emperor of Brazil. (p. 759)

Peloponnesian War   War from 431 to 404 b.c.e. between Athens and Sparta for dominance in southern Greece; resulted in Spartan victory but failure to achieve political unification of Greece. (p.131)

peninsulares   People living in the New World Spanish colonies but born in Spain. (p. 601)

People's Democratic Republic of Korea   Northern half of Korea dominated by USSR; long headed by Kim Il-Sung; attacked south in 1950 and initiated Korean War; retained independence as a Communist state after the war. (p. 920)

People's Liberation Army   Chinese Communist army; administered much of country under People's Republic of China. (p. 1030)

People's Republic of China   Communist government of mainland China; proclaimed in 1949 following military success of Mao Zedong over forces of Chiang Kai-shek and the Guomindang. (p. 1029)

perestroika   [peruh stroi kuh] Policy of Mikhail Gorbachev calling for economic restructuring in the USSR in the late 1980s; more leeway for private ownership and decentralized control in industry and agriculture. (p. 907)

Pericles   Athenian political leader during 5th century b.c.e.; guided development of Athenian Empire; died during early stages of Peloponnesian War. (p. 130)

period of the Six Dynasties   Era from 220 to 589 c.e.; featured endless wars fought by the patchwork of regional kingdoms that followed the fall of the Han in China. (p. 423)

Perón, Juan D.   Military leader in Argentina who became dominant political figure after military coup in 1943; used position as Minister of Labor to appeal to working groups and the poor; became president in 1946; forced into exile in 1955; returned and won presidency in 1973. (p. 941)

Perry, Matthew   American commodore who visited Edo Bay with American fleet in 1853; insisted on opening ports to American trade on threat of naval bombardment; won rights for American trade with Japan in 1854. (p. 918)

Persian Gulf War   1991 war led by United States and various European and Middle Eastern allies, against Iraqi occupation of Kuweit. The war led to Iraqi withdrawal and a long confrontation with Iraq about armaments and political regime. (p. 1050)

Persian Wars   Two wars fought in early 5th century b.c.e. between Persian Empire and Greek city-states; Greek victories allowed Greek civilization to define identity separate from the Asian empire. (p. 132)

Peter I   Also known as Peter the Great; son of Alexis Romanov; ruled from 1689 to 1725; continued growth of absolutism and conquest; included more definite interest in changing selected aspects of economy and culture through imitation of Western European models. (p. 559)

Petrarch, Francesco   One of the major literary figures of the Western Renaissance; an Italian author and humanist. (p. 505)

Pharaoh   Title of kings of ancient Egypt (p. 39)

Philip II   Ruled Macedon from 359 to 336 b.c.e.; founder of centralized kingdom; later conquered rest of Greece, which was subjected to Macedonian authority. (p. 135)

Phoenicians   Seafaring civilization located on the shores of the eastern Mediterranean; established colonies throughout the Mediterranean. (p. 48)

Pinsker, Leon   European Zionist who believed that Jewish assimilation into Christian European nations was impossible; argued for return to Middle Eastern Holy Land. (p. 973)

Pisastratus   Athenian tyrant of the 6th century b.c.e.; gained popular support against traditional aristocratic councils of Athenian government. (p. 129)

Pizarro, Francisco   Led conquest of Inca Empire of Peru beginning in 1535; by 1540, most of Inca possessions fell to the Spanish. (p. 588)

Plassey   Battle in 1757 between troops of the British East India Company and an Indian army under Sir àjud-daula, ruler of Bengal; British victory resulted in control of northern India. (p. 731)

Plato   Greek philosopher; knowledge based on consideration of ideal forms outside the material world; proposed ideal form of government based on abstract principles in which philosophers ruled. (p. 139)

plebeians   Ordinary citizens; originally those Roman families that could not trace their relationship to one of the major Roman clans. (p. 153)

pochteca   [poKH tAY cä] Special merchant class in Aztec society; specialized in long-distance trade in luxury items. (p. 405)

polis   City-state form of government; typical of Greek political organization from 800 to 400 b.c.e. (pl. poleis). (p. 23)

Politburo   Executive committee of the Soviet Communist party; 20 members. (p. 896)

polyandry   [pol EE an drEE, pol EE an-] Marriage practice in which one woman had several husbands; recounted in Aryan epics. (p. 59)

polygamy   Marriage practice in which one husband had several wives; practiced in Aryan society. (p. 59)

Polynesia   Islands contained in a rough triangle whose points lie in Hawaii, New Zealand, and Easter Island. (p. 244)

pope   Bishop of Rome; head of the Christian Church in western Europe. (p. 265)

potter's wheel   A technological advance in pottery-making; invented c. 6000 b.c.e.; encouraged faster and higher-quality ceramic pottery production. (p. 30)

Popular Front   Combination of Socialist and Communist political parties in France; won election in 1936; unable to take strong measures of social reform because of continuing strength of conservatives; fell from power in 1938. (p. 870)

population revolution   Huge growth in population in Western Europe beginning about 1730; prelude to Industrial Revolution; population of France increased 50 percent, England and Prussia 100 percent. (p. 698)

positivism   French philosophy based on observation and scientific approach to problems of society; adopted by many Latin American liberals in the aftermath of independence. (p. 766)

Potosí   Mine located in upper Peru (modern Bolivia); largest of New World silver mines; produced 80 percent of all Peruvian silver. (p. 594)

Potsdam Conference   Meeting among leaders of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union just before the end of World War II in 1945; Allies agreed upon Soviet domination in Eastern Europe; Germany and Austria to be divided among victorious Allies. (p. 858)

pragmatists   Chinese Communist politicians such as Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, and Liu Shaoqui; determined to restore state direction and market incentives at the local level; opposed Great Leap Forward. (p. 1036)

Preclassic   Period in Americas from 2000 to 300 b.c.e. ; period of Olmec culture, also Monte Alban culture in Oaxaca. (p. 206)

Presidencies   Three districts that made up the bulk of the directly ruled British territories in India; capitals at Madras, Calcutta, and Bombay. (p. 733)

Prester John   Name given to a mythical Christian monarch whose kingdom had supposedly been cut off from Europe by the Muslim conquests; Chinggis Khan was originally believed to be this mythical ruler. (p. 487)

PRI   Party of the Institutionalized Revolution; dominant political party in Mexico; developed during the 1920s and 1930s; incorporated labor, peasant, military, and middle-class sectors; controlled other political organizations in Mexico. (p. 937)

primary products   Food or industrial crops for which there is a high demand in industrialized economies; prices of such products tend to fluctuate widely; typically the primary exports of Third World economies. (p. 1003)

Princely States   Domains of Indian princes allied with the British Raj; agents of East India Company were stationed at the rulers' courts to ensure compliance; made up over one-third of the British Indian Empire. (p. 733)

proletariat   Class of working people without access to producing property; typically manufacturing workers, paid laborers in agricultural economy, or urban poor; in Europe, product of economic changes of 16th and 17th centuries. (p. 528)

Protestantism   General wave of religious dissent against Catholic church; generally held to have begun with Martin Luther's attack on Catholic beliefs in 1517; included many varieties of religious belief. (p. 526)

proto-industrialization   Preliminary shift away from agricultural economy in Europe; workers become full- or part-time producers of textile and metal products, working at home but in a capitalist system in which materials, work orders, and ultimate sales depended on urban merchants; prelude to Industrial Revolution. (p. 699)

Ptolemies   One of the regional dynasties that followed the death of Alexander the Great; founded in Egypt. (p. 136)

Pugachev rebellion   During 1770s in reign of Catherine the Great; led by cossack Emelyan Pugachev, who claimed to be legitimate tsar; eventually crushed; typical of peasant unrest during the 18th century and thereafter. (p. 571)

puna   High valleys and steppes lying between the two major chains of the Andes mountains; site of South American agricultural origins, also only location of pastoralism in Americas. (p. 215)

Punic Wars   Fought between Rome and Carthage to establish dominance in the western Mediterranean; won by Rome after three separate conflicts. (p. 154)

pure land Buddhism   Emphasized salvationist aspects of Chinese Buddhism; popular among masses of Chinese society. (p. 429)

Puyi   Last emperor of China; deposed as emperor while still a small boy in 1912. (p. 802)

Pygmies   One of few pure hunting societies left in Africa following Bantu migration. (p. 231)

pyramids   Monumental architecture typical of Old Kingdom Egypt; used as burial sites for pharaohs. (p. 40)

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