• nonalignment political and diplomatic independence from both Cold War powers

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization a military alliance between several North Atlantic states to safeguard them from the presumed threat of the Soviet Union's communist bloc; countries from other regions later joined the alliance

• Northern Ireland the northern portion of the island of Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom that has had a long religious conflict

• Nubia ancient kingdom in northeastern Africa, also called Kush

• nuclear family family unit consisting of parents and children

• Nuremberg Germany city where Hitler staged Nazi rallies in the 1930s, and where Nazi war crimes trials were held after WWII

• Nuremberg Laws laws approved by the Nazi Party in 1935, depriving Jews of German citizenship and taking some rights away from them

O

• occupied territories areas controlled by a nation that are part of another entity; Palestinians use this term for certain lands Israel gained after the 1967 war.

• Old Stone Age the era of prehistory that lasted from 2 million B.C. to about 9000 B.C.

• Olduvai Gorge a gorge in Tanzania in which many hominid remains have been found

• oligarchy government in which ruling power belongs to a few people

• Olmecs the earliest American civilization, located along the Gulf Coast of Mexico from about 1500 B.C. to 400 B.C.

• one-child policy a Chinese government policy limiting urban families to a single

• Open Door Policy American approach to China around 1900, favoring open trade relations between China and other nations

• Opium War war between Great Britain and China over restrictions to foreign trade

• oracle bone in Shang China, animal bone or turtle shell used by priests to predict the future

• Organization of American States a group formed in 1948 to promote democracy, economic cooperation, and human rights in the Americas

• ostracism practice used in ancient Greece to banish or send away a public figure who threatened democracy

• Ottomans Turkish-speaking nomadic people who migrated from Central Asia into northwestern Asia Minor

• outpost a distant military station or a remote settlement

• outsourcing the practice of sending work to companies in the developing world in order to save money or increase efficiency

• overproduction condition in which production of goods exceeds the demand for them

• Oyo empire Yoruba empire that arose in the 1600s in presentday Nigeria and dominated its neighbors for a hundred years

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