History Key Vocabulary

• 17th century: one hundred years from January 1st 1601 to December 31st 1700
• 1960s: a decade that began on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969
• 20th century: the period between January 1, 1901 and December 31, 2000, inclusive
• 21st century: the period between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2100, inclusive
• Acropolis: an ancient citadel usually on a hill
• Adolescence: the period following the onset of puberty during which a young person develops from child into an adult
• Aeroplane: powered flying machine with fixed wings
• Age of majority: the age at which children were usually regarded as full adults
• Aircraft: flying machine
• Amulet: an object to protect its owner from harm or danger
• Anglo-Saxon chronicle: a book written by Anglo- Saxon monks to record the events of each year
• Antarctica: continent surrounding the Earth’s South Pole
• Archaeologist: someone who digs up remains of old societies
• Ard: an iron plough used in Iron Age times
• Artefact: an object left as evidence of life in an earlier time
• Asia: continent joined to North-east Europe to the north, and Eastern Europe and the Middle East to the west
• Astronaut: explorer who travels into space
• Australia: continent off the south-east of South- east Asia, with the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Southern Ocean to the south, and the Indian Ocean to the west
• Autobiography: a story of one’s own life and achievements
• Aviation: the world of aircraft and air travel
• Barrow mound: a burial mound used in Bronze Age times
• Base 20: a maths system based on 20, not 10 like we use
• BC(E): Before Christ/Before Common Era
• Beacon: a signal light for sending messages, often on high ground so it can be clearly seen
• Biography: a story of someone’s life and achievements
• Book of the Dead: a book of magic spells
• Boudicca: Queen of the Iceni tribe
• Bronze: 90% copper and 10% tin
• Bronze Age: a period of history from around 2000 bce until the start of the Iron Age around 800 bce
• Burh (burgh): a well-defended Saxon town
• Cabin: room or space on an aircraft or ship
• Catholics: members of the Catholic Church. Followers believe that their sins will be cleansed through faith and good works. They venerate Mary the mother of Jesus as well as Jesus himself. Priests cannot marry. Church buildings are generally ornate.
• Cavalry: Roman soldiers on horseback
• Celtic: the name often given to tribes that lived in Europe and beyond in Iron Age times
• Celts: Iron Age people
• Centurion: the army leader of a group of soldiers
• Century: a period of one hundred years
• Childhood: the early stage of life, before puberty; the age span ranging from birth to adolescence
• Christianity: a religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ
• Christians: people who follow the Christian religion. Catholics and Protestants are different branches of Christianity.
• Chronological order: in order of time, from earliest to most recent
• Cockpit: small space where the pilot(s) of an aeroplane sit
• Codex: the Mayan book
• Comedy, satire, tragedy: types of theatre plays
• Conscientious objector: someone who refuses to fight in a war
• Conscription: being made to join the armed forces to fight in a war
• Conspirators: people who are plotting together
• Corinthian, Doric and ionic: types of architecture
• Creation myth: a story which explains the beginning of the world
• Curator: a keeper of a museum
• Danelaw: part of north and east England under the law of the Vikings, where they lived and ruled
• Decade: a period of ten years
• Democracy: ruled by the people
• Dictatorship: ruled by one person
• Different types of schools: charity, grammar, dame, public, board, church
• Document: a piece of writing
• Domestication: keeping animals such as cattle, rather than having them completely wild
• Effigy: a model or sculpture of a specific person. They are often burnt as an act of protest
• Elevators: hinged areas on the horizontal stabilisers at the tail end of an aeroplane, used to control the aeroplane’s angle of flight and lift on its wings
• Emigration: the act of going to live in another country
• Engine: machine that provides power
• Evacuation: when children leave an area that might be dangerous and go somewhere safer to live
• Exhibit: an item displayed in a museum
• Explorer: person who travels long distances to unfamiliar places to find out about them, or in search of land, trade routes and goods, treasure, knowledge, adventure or glory
• Extended family: usually several relatives of different generations living in the same household
• Flight: journey through the air
• Flint and flint knapping: chipping flint into a usable shape
• Fluid ounce (fl oz): a unit of volume, equivalent to about 28 ml
• Flying machine: machine that can fly through the air
• Forum: the central area of the Roman town
• Fuselage: body of an aircraft
• Gladiator: a person trained to fight purely as a means for Roman entertainment
• Glider: light unpowered aircraft with wings
• Grandparent: the parents of your mother or father
• Growing up: to grow in size, age and experience
• Gunpowder: chemical that explodes if set light to inside a container
• Hawaii: islands off the west coast of the USA
• Hellenistic: the period of history dominated by Macedonia, of which the most famous ruler was Alexander the Great
• Hero: a person admired for their courage, achievements or noble qualities
• Hieroglyphics: a type of writing using pictures and symbols
• Hill fort: a fortified settlement from Iron Age times
• Historical period: particular time marked by events that happened, people that lived, or things that were important
• Hoard: a large collection of artefacts discovered in one place; items buried and left, possibly for safekeeping
• Homo sapiens: the type of human being that we are today
• Hoplite: the main type of soldier who fought on foot in Ancient Greece
• Hot air balloon: large bag filled with hot air or gases that can carry passengers through the air in a basket
• Houses of Parliament: buildings in London, where the government meets
• Imperial measures: a system of measurement from 1824, standardising units used in the British Empire
• Hunter gatherer: a person who hunts and forages for food
• Illuminated letter: an illustrated image or letter to start a paragraph or page in a medieval book
• In the past: the time before now
• Infant mortality rate: the statistics of children dying in their first year of life
• Infantry: Roman foot soldiers
• Insula: a stone building containing flats lived in by the poor
• Interpretation: one person’s view of an event in history
• Invasion: attacking and conquering another country
• Iron: a chemical element, hardened by the process of ‘smelting’
• Iron Age: a period of history from around 800 bceuntil the invasion of the Romans in 43 ce
• Jet: aircraft with powerful jet engines
• Landing gear: wheels and other parts that bear the weight of an aeroplane
• Legacy: something left behind that helps us remember someone or something
• Legion: a large group of Roman soldiers like an army
• Legislation: law(s)
• Local: the surrounding area, or a person who lives there
• Longship: a Viking warship
• Maltings: building used in the brewing process, to prepare barley
• Martyr: someone who dies for what they believe in
• Megaliths, henges, barrows, stone circles: Stone Age monuments
• Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age): a period of history from around 9500 bce until around 4000 bce
• Millennium: the start of a new 1,000 year period of history, e.g. the year 2000
• Missionary: a person who goes to a different country to spread a religion, usually Christianity
• Model town: a carefully planned town, with good living conditions
• Modern: relating to the present time; the latest equipment or knowledge
• Monarch: a king or queen
• Monastery: a building where a religious community (usually monks) lives
• Monk: a man who devotes himself to religion
• Mummy/mummification: a dead body that has been especially preserved/the process of making a mummy
• Museum: a building that houses collections of interesting or important objects
• Neanderthal: an early species of human being
• Neolithic (new Stone Age): a period of history from around 4000 bce until around 2000 bce
• New Zealand: islands to the south-east of Australia, in the Pacific Ocean
• Nomad: a person with no fixed home who travels around searching for food
• Norse: to do with the Vikings (‘Norsemen’, from the North)
• Now, nowadays: in the present time
• Old: advanced in years
• Older: more advanced in years
• Olympic Games: a games event that brings people from different city states together in peace for sports
• Oral tradition: remembering things by telling stories, not writing them down
• Ounce (oz): unit of mass, about 28g
• Pacific Ocean: the world’s largest ocean, between Russia, Asia, Australia to the west, and North and South America to the east
• Pagan: someone who believes in lots of different gods
• Palaeolithic (early Stone Age): a period of history from early humans until around 9500 bce
• Pankration: a vicious sport played in Ancient Greece
• Papyrus: a plant from the banks of the Nile used to make paper, boats, sandals, baskets and rope
• Parliament: a group of people that can pass laws to govern the UK
• Period labels: these include Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Middle Ages, early modern, the Industrial Revolution, Victorian
• Pharaoh: the supreme ruler of all of Ancient Egypt, considered a god
• Philanthropist: someone who helps others, often with money, and often secretly with no return.
• Pint (pt): 20 fluid ounces, about 568ml
• Plot: a secret plan to do something against the law, or harmful to others
• Poor law: laws passed by Parliament, which set up rules and regulations for helping poor people
• Pound (lb): 16 ounces, about 454g
• Printing press: a machine for making books mechanically
• Propeller: turning part with blades that power an aeroplane
• Protestants: members of the Protestant Church. Followers believe that their sins will be cleansed through faith in Jesus. Priests can marry. The Protestant churches came about because some people PROTESTED about the way things were done in the Catholic Church and wanted change e.g. they wanted to able to read the Bible and hear services in their own language and not in Latin. Church buildings are generally plainer.
• Psalter: a medieval prayer book
• Pyramids: monuments providing tombs for pharaohs
• Rain forest: an area of forest that contains many tall trees, has high temperatures and lots of rain
• Rationing: when people are only allowed to buy a fixed amount of certain foods
• Reconstructed village: a modern copy of a village from Anglo-Saxon times
• Replica: a copy of an original
• Roman Catholic Church: branch of Christianity led by the Pope. Followers believe that sins will be cleansed through faith and good works, and venerate Mary, the mother of Jesus. Priests cannot marry
• Roman villa: a large stone house owned by the wealthier
• Roundhouse: a circular dwelling
• Rudder: hinged area on the vertical stabilisers on an aeroplane, used to steer the aeroplane
• Sacrifice: an offering to keep the gods happy
• Saddle quern: a stone for grinding corn around 9500 bce.
• Saga: a story or myth told by Vikings to remember the lives of earlier famous Viking people
• Sarcophagus: a large stone coffin for a mummy
• Scandinavia: where the Vikings came from: Norway, Sweden and Denmark
• Scarabs: amulets, often in the form of beetles
• Significant: important or remarkable.
• Social media: websites and applications such as Facebook or Twitter that allow people to share content with many people
• Spartans: tough warriors living in Greek city of Sparta
• Sphinx: a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a pharaoh
• Spindles and whorls: instruments used to make clothes
• Stadium: a place of entertainment in a Roman town, often including a circus
• State Opening: a ceremony to mark the start of a new parliamentary year
• Stelae: stones or wooden posts which have writing on
• Stuart period: when Britain was ruled by the House of Stuart: in England and Wales, 1603–1714; in Scotland, from 1371
• Territory: land claimed as a possession by a ruler or nation
• Texting: a way of sending a message by phone
• The Pope: the leader of the Roman Catholic Church
• Timeline: a linear representation of events to show the order in which they occurred
• Today: the present day
• Torch: an item of jewellery
• Total war: everyone is involved in the war, not just fighters
• Trade: buying or selling goods or services
• Trade directories: published
• Treason: the act of plotting or carrying out a crime against one’s ruler or nation
• Tribes: names given to the groupings in Britain
• Triremes: a Greek warship
• Tweeting: posting a message on a social media site
• Tyrants: people who seized control of a place and ruled as they wished
• U-boat: German submarine
• Vinland: a Viking name for part of North America (on the tip of modern Newfoundland)
• Vintage: denoting something from the past of high quality
• Wattle and daub: material for constructing walls on roundhouses
• Workhouse: a special building where poor people who want help from the government could go to get accommodation and employment
• World Wide Web: all of the websites that are linked together on the internet
• Year: a period of 365 days
• Younger: less advanced in years