• tribute payment that conquered peoples may be forced to pay their conquerors

• Trojan War in Greek epic poems and myths, a ten-year war between Mycenae and the city of Troy in Asia Minor

• troubadour a wandering poet or singer of medieval Europe

• Truman Doctrine United States policy, established in 1947, of trying to contain the spread of communism

• tsar title of the ruler of the Russian empire

• tsunami very large, damaging wave caused by an earthquake or very strong wind

• turnpike private road built by entrepreneurs who charged a toll to travelers who used it

• Tutsis the main minority group in Rwanda and Burundi

• Twenty-One Demands list of demands given to China by Japan in 1915 that would have made China a protectorate of Japan

• tyrant in ancient Greece, ruler who gained power by force

U

• U-boat German submarine

• ultimatum final set of demands

• ultranationalist extreme nationalist

• Umayyads members of the Sunni dynasty of caliphs that ruled a Muslim empire from 661 to 750

• United Nations international organization established after World War II with the goal of maintaining peace and cooperation in the international community

• universal manhood suffrage right of all adult men to vote

• untouchable in India, a member of the lowest caste

• urban renewal the process of fixing up the poor areas of a city

• urbanization movement of people from rural areas to cities

• utilitarianism idea that the goal of society should be to bring about the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people

• utopian idealistic or visionary, usually used to describe a perfect society

V

• V-E Day Victory in Europe Day, May 8, 1945, the day the Allies won WWII in Europe

• Valley of Mexico valley in Mexico in which the numerous Mesoamerican civilizations, including the Aztecs, arose

• vanguard group of elite leaders

• vassal in medieval Europe, a lord who was granted land in exchange for service and loyalty to a greater lord

• Vedas a collection of prayers, hymns, and other religious teachings developed in ancient India beginning around 1500 B.C.

• veneration special regard

• vernacular everyday language of ordinary people

• Versailles royal French residence and seat of government established by King Louis XIV

• veto block a government action

• viceroy representative who ruled one of Spain's provinces in the Americas in the king's name; one who governed in India in the name of the British monarch

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