• apostle leader or teacher of a new faith or movement

• appeasement policy of giving in to an aggressor's demands in order to keep the peace

• apprentice a young person learning a trade from a master

• aqueduct in ancient Rome, underground or bridgelike stone structure that carried water from the hills into the cities

• archaeology the study of people and cultures through their material remains

• archipelago chain of islands

• aristocracy government headed by a privileged minority or upper class

• armada fleet of ships

• armistice agreement to end fighting in a war

• artifact an object made by human beings

• artificial satellite man-made object that orbits a larger body in space

• artisan a skilled craftsperson

• Asante kingdom kingdom that emerged in the 1700s in present-day Ghana and was active in the slave trade

• Asia Minor the Turkish peninsula between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea

• assassination murder of a public figure, usually for political reasons

• assembly line production method that breaks down a complex job into a series of smaller tasks

• assimilate absorb or adopt another culture

• atheism belief that there is no god

• Athens a city-state in ancient Greece

• atman in Hindu belief, a person's essential self

• atrocity horrible act committed against innocent people

• autocrat ruler who has complete authority

• autocratic having unlimited power

• autonomy self-rule

• Axis powers group of countries led by Germany, Italy, and Japan that fought the Allies in World War II

• Axum trading center, and powerful ancient kingdom in northern present-day Ethiopia

• ayllu in the Inca empire, a close-knit village

B

• Baghdad capital city of present-day Iraq; capital of the Muslim empire during Islam's golden age

• balance of power distribution of military and economic power that prevents any one nation from becoming too strong

• balance of trade difference between how much a country imports and how much it exports

• Balfour Declaration statement issued by the British government in 1917 supporting the establishment of a homeland for Jews in Palestine

• Balkan Peninsula triangular arm of land that juts from southeastern Europe into the Mediterranean

• Bangladesh nation east of India that was formerly part of Pakistan

• Bantu root language of West Africa on which some early African migration patterns are based

• baroque ornate style of art and architecture popular in the 1600s and 1700s

• barter economy economic system in which one set of goods or services is exchanged for another

• Bastille fortress in Paris used as a prison; French Revolution began when Parisians stormed it in 1789

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