History books, documentaries, museum labels and university seminars in English rely on a shared vocabulary: periods and eras, empires and dynasties, treaties and revolutions, primary sources and archives. This glossary explains the core terms of political, social and economic history, historiography, work with sources and basic archaeology, with natural Turkish equivalents and example sentences from lectures, essays and research. It is written for history students and for readers who want to follow history in English.
100 terms
9 topics
60 core terms
201 example sentences
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Periods and Eras
period
noun
Meaning
A length of time in history that historians treat as a unit because it has its own typical features, such as the Tudor period or the Tanzimat period.
Where you use it
The most neutral word for a slice of history. We say during, in or throughout a period, and describe it as early, late, formative or transitional. Period can also work like an adjective for things from a particular time: period costume, period furniture.
Examples
The Tanzimat period began with the Edict of Gülhane in 1839.
Very few written sources survive from this period.
Common phrases
the early modern period · during this period · a transitional period · the period under study · period costume
A long and distinct stage of history, usually marked by an important event, ruler or change, such as the Victorian era or the Cold War era.
Where you use it
Era sounds broader and more dramatic than period. We say the end of an era, the start of a new era, the postwar era. Age is similar but appears in fixed names: the Bronze Age, the Age of Discovery, the Age of Revolution.
Examples
The death of Queen Victoria in 1901 was seen as the end of an era.
Many factories built in the postwar era have since closed.
Common phrases
the end of an era · a new era · the postwar era · the Victorian era · usher in a new era
A period of one hundred years; in history, usually one of the numbered hundred-year blocks of the calendar, such as the sixteenth century.
Where you use it
Written as the 16th century or the sixteenth century, with the and an ordinal number. Before a noun it takes a hyphen: a sixteenth-century map. People also say the 1500s for the same years. Common phrases: in the early, mid- or late 16th century, at the turn of the century.
Examples
The mosque was built in the late sixteenth century.
This is a rare seventeenth-century copy of the text.
Usage note
Turkish 16. yüzyıl is not written 16. century in English; write the 16th century. Remember that the 1500s and the 16th century cover the same years, while the 15th century is the 1400s.
Common phrases
the turn of the century · the late 16th century · a sixteenth-century map · over the centuries · centuries-old
Short for 'before Christ': written after a year to show that it comes before the traditional starting point of the Western calendar, as in 500 BC.
Where you use it
Written after the number: 3200 BC, the 5th century BC. Years count backwards, so 500 BC is earlier than 400 BC. Many academic texts, museums and textbooks now prefer BCE (before the Common Era), which uses the same numbers.
Examples
Writing first appeared in Mesopotamia around 3200 BC.
Byzantium was founded by Greek colonists from Megara in the 7th century BC.
Usage note
There is no year 0: 1 BC is followed directly by AD 1. Remember this when you calculate how many years passed between two dates.
Common phrases
the 5th century BC · around 3000 BC · BC and AD · BCE and CE
Short for the Latin 'Anno Domini' ('in the year of the Lord'): used with years of the Western calendar counted from the traditional date of Christ's birth.
Where you use it
Traditionally written before the year (AD 476) but after a century (the 2nd century AD). It is usually left out for recent dates. Many scholars prefer the neutral CE (Common Era), which uses the same numbers and goes after the year: 476 CE.
Examples
The Western Roman Empire is traditionally said to have ended in AD 476.
Hadrian's Wall was built in the 2nd century AD.
Usage note
AD does not mean 'after death'. It is a Latin abbreviation, and the 'after death' explanation is a common mistake.
Common phrases
AD 476 · the 2nd century AD · BC and AD · BCE and CE
A complex society with cities, written records, organised government and specialised work, or the culture and way of life of a particular people or region.
Where you use it
Common in textbooks and museums: ancient civilizations, the Indus Valley civilization, the cradle of civilization. Modern historians use it with care, because older writing often ranked peoples as civilized or uncivilized.
Examples
Mesopotamia is often called the cradle of civilization.
The museum has opened a new gallery on the civilizations of ancient Anatolia.
Usage note
American English writes civilization; British English accepts both civilization and civilisation. Choose one spelling and keep it throughout a text.
Common phrases
ancient civilizations · the cradle of civilization · Western civilization · the rise of civilization
Belonging to the very distant past, especially to the period before the end of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century AD.
Where you use it
In history it often has a technical sense: ancient history, ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, the ancient world. In everyday English it can simply mean very old (an ancient tree). Older writing uses the ancients for Greek and Roman authors.
Examples
She teaches ancient history with a focus on Greek city-states.
Ancient Egyptian scribes recorded harvests and taxes on papyrus.
Usage note
Pronounced /ˈeɪnʃənt/, with the first syllable like 'ain'. Turkish speakers often say 'ançınt' because of the spelling.
Common phrases
ancient history · the ancient world · ancient Greece · ancient ruins · ancient civilizations
The period of European history between the end of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century and roughly the late fifteenth century.
Where you use it
Always plural with the and capitals: in the Middle Ages; it is often divided into the early, high and late Middle Ages. The adjective is medieval. Historians increasingly ask whether this European term fits other regions, so some simply give dates.
Examples
For most of the Middle Ages, reading and writing were skills of a small minority.
In the late Middle Ages, merchant cities such as Venice and Genoa controlled much of Mediterranean trade.
Usage note
Turkish textbooks usually date Orta Çağ from 375 (the Migration Period) to 1453 (the conquest of Constantinople), while English-language books often use about 500 to 1500. The singular the Middle Age is wrong.
Common phrases
in the Middle Ages · the late Middle Ages · the early Middle Ages · the High Middle Ages
The order in which events happened, or a list or table that sets out events and their dates in that order.
Where you use it
Historians establish, reconstruct or revise a chronology, and many books include one at the end. The adjective chronological appears in phrases such as in chronological order and a chronological framework.
Examples
The chronology of the early Ottoman rulers is uncertain in places, because the first chronicles were written much later.
Arrange the main events of the revolution in chronological order.
Common phrases
chronological order · establish a chronology · a detailed chronology · relative chronology
The cultural movement in Europe from about the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, starting in Italy, marked by renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman learning and art.
Where you use it
Written with a capital: the Renaissance, the Italian Renaissance, Renaissance art. The word means 'rebirth' in French. With a small r, a renaissance is any revival, as in a renaissance of interest in local history.
Examples
Florence was one of the main centres of the Renaissance.
The course compares Renaissance Italy with the Ottoman court of the same period.
Usage note
British English stresses the second syllable, /rɪˈneɪsns/; American English often stresses the first, /ˈrenəsɑːns/.
Common phrases
the Italian Renaissance · Renaissance art · Renaissance humanism · a Renaissance man
The European intellectual movement of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that stressed reason, science, individual rights and criticism of traditional authority.
Where you use it
Written as the Enlightenment with a capital E; also called the Age of Reason. Students discuss Enlightenment thinkers, ideas and values and their influence on revolutions and constitutions. Specialists also speak of the Scottish or the French Enlightenment.
Examples
Enlightenment ideas about natural rights influenced the American and French revolutions.
Voltaire and Montesquieu are among the best-known writers of the French Enlightenment.
Common phrases
the Enlightenment · Enlightenment thinkers · Enlightenment ideas · the Scottish Enlightenment · the Age of Reason
The long period of human history before writing was invented, known mainly through archaeology, fossils and other physical remains.
Where you use it
The end of prehistory differs from region to region, because writing appeared at different times; in Mesopotamia it was around 3200 BC. The adjective prehistoric is common: prehistoric tools, prehistoric settlements, prehistoric art.
Examples
Most of what we know about prehistory comes from stone tools and bones.
The museum's prehistoric collection includes finds from Çatalhöyük.
Common phrases
prehistoric tools · prehistoric settlements · human prehistory · prehistoric art
The period when people made tools and weapons mainly from bronze, an alloy of copper and tin; in the Near East roughly 3300 to 1200 BC.
Where you use it
Part of the three-age system (Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages); dates differ by region. It is divided into the Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age. The Late Bronze Age collapse around 1200 BC ended several states, including the Hittite kingdom.
Examples
Troy was an important city in the Late Bronze Age.
The Uluburun shipwreck, found off Kaş, carried about ten tons of copper ingots from the Late Bronze Age.
Usage note
Turkish uses both Tunç Çağı and Bronz Çağı; Tunç Çağı is the more traditional academic term.
Common phrases
the Late Bronze Age · the Early Bronze Age · the Bronze Age collapse · Bronze Age settlement
Relating to the New Stone Age, when people began farming, keeping animals and living in permanent villages, starting around 10,000 BC in the Near East.
Where you use it
Used as an adjective (Neolithic villages, Neolithic farmers) and as a noun (the Neolithic). The shift to farming is called the Neolithic Revolution. Earlier periods are the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) and the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age).
Examples
Çatalhöyük is a large Neolithic settlement on the Konya plain.
Neolithic farmers grew wheat, barley and lentils.
Usage note
Turkish textbooks often call this period Cilalı Taş Devri (Polished Stone Age); in English academic writing, use Neolithic.
Relating to the period of roughly 1500 to 1800, between the Middle Ages and the modern age, marked by printing, global exploration, new states and early capitalism.
Where you use it
Very common in course titles and book series: early modern Europe, early modern history, the early modern Ottoman Empire. The noun phrase is the early modern period. Historians increasingly apply it beyond Europe, to the Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal and Chinese states.
Examples
The course covers early modern Europe from the Reformation to the French Revolution.
Coffeehouses became an important part of early modern Istanbul in the sixteenth century.
Usage note
Turkish Yeni Çağ (1453–1789) largely overlaps with early modern but is not identical. In English, modern history usually means roughly 1800 onwards, so do not translate Yeni Çağ as the modern age.
Common phrases
the early modern period · early modern Europe · early modern history · early modern empires
The ancient past, especially the age of the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern civilizations before the Middle Ages; also an object surviving from that time.
Where you use it
Classical antiquity means ancient Greece and Rome; late antiquity is roughly the third to the seventh century AD, between the classical world and the Middle Ages. In the plural, antiquities are ancient objects, as in a museum's department of antiquities.
Examples
Ephesus was one of the largest cities of the eastern Mediterranean in antiquity.
Her book on late antiquity covers Anatolia from Constantine to the Arab conquests.
Usage note
Do not confuse antiquity (the ancient past) with antique (an old and valuable object, usually at least a hundred years old).
Common phrases
classical antiquity · late antiquity · in antiquity · Greek and Roman antiquity · the antiquities trade
Belonging to or typical of the Middle Ages, roughly the period from the fifth to the late fifteenth century.
Where you use it
Used before nouns: medieval history, a medieval castle, medieval Anatolia, medieval manuscripts. Historians use it neutrally, but in everyday English medieval can also mean cruel or hopelessly old-fashioned, a sense scholars avoid.
Examples
She specialises in medieval Anatolia and the Seljuk period.
The medieval walls of the city were partly restored in the 1990s.
Usage note
An older British spelling, mediaeval, is still sometimes seen. Both /ˌmediˈiːvl/ and /ˌmedˈiːvl/ are common pronunciations.
Common phrases
medieval history · medieval Europe · medieval manuscripts · a medieval castle · medieval studies
The sixteenth-century religious movement in Western Europe that challenged the authority and practices of the Catholic Church and led to the founding of Protestant churches.
Where you use it
Written as the Reformation with a capital R and usually dated from Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses of 1517. Historians also speak of the Catholic Reformation or Counter-Reformation, and of the English Reformation under Henry VIII.
Examples
The printing press helped Reformation ideas spread quickly across Germany.
The Reformation divided Western Christianity into Catholic and Protestant churches.
Common phrases
the Protestant Reformation · the Counter-Reformation · the English Reformation · Reformation Europe
A large state or group of territories and peoples ruled by a single supreme authority, often an emperor or sultan, and usually built through conquest.
Where you use it
Empires are founded, expand, rise and fall, decline, collapse or break up. Names take capitals: the Roman Empire, the Mughal Empire. The adjective is imperial (imperial capital, imperial army). Historians also speak of informal or commercial empires.
Examples
At its height, the Roman Empire stretched from Britain to Mesopotamia.
The course looks at how empires held together very different peoples.
Common phrases
the rise and fall of empires · build an empire · imperial capital · a multi-ethnic empire · the collapse of the empire
A series of rulers who come from the same family and pass power from one generation to the next, or the period during which such a family rules.
Where you use it
Dynasties are founded, come to power, rule and end or are overthrown. In Chinese history whole periods are named after them: the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). The adjective is dynastic: dynastic marriage, dynastic politics.
Examples
The Habsburg dynasty ruled parts of Central Europe for more than six centuries.
Dynastic marriages were a common way to secure alliances.
Usage note
Usually /ˈdɪnəsti/ in British English and /ˈdaɪnəsti/ in American English.
Common phrases
found a dynasty · the ruling dynasty · dynastic marriage · the end of the dynasty
The period during which a king, queen, emperor or sultan rules; as a verb, to rule as a monarch.
Where you use it
Very common in narrative history: during the reign of, in the reign of, a long or short reign, early in his reign. As a verb: she reigned for 63 years. Events are often dated by reign: in the third year of his reign.
Examples
Süleyman the Magnificent reigned from 1520 to 1566.
Many new roads and bridges were built during her reign.
Usage note
Reign, rain and rein are all pronounced /reɪn/; the g is silent. The idiom is free rein, not free reign.
Common phrases
during the reign of · a long reign · reign over · early in his reign · the reigning monarch
The policy or practice of a state taking control of other territories and peoples, settling or ruling them, and using their land and resources for its own benefit.
Where you use it
Most often used for European expansion from the fifteenth to the twentieth century. Historians study its economic, cultural and human effects. Related words are colony, colonial, colonist, colonize and postcolonial.
Examples
The seminar examines the economic effects of colonialism in West Africa.
Railways built in the age of colonialism were often designed to carry raw materials to the ports.
Usage note
Colonialism focuses on ruling and settling particular territories; imperialism is the wider idea of extending power and influence, which need not involve direct rule.
Common phrases
European colonialism · the legacy of colonialism · settler colonialism · resistance to colonialism
A system of government in which a king, queen, emperor or other hereditary ruler is head of state, or a country governed in this way.
Where you use it
Historians distinguish absolute monarchy, where the ruler holds almost unlimited power, from constitutional monarchy, where power is limited by law and parliament. Monarchies are established, restored or abolished; the ruler is a monarch.
Examples
France moved from absolute monarchy to a republic in only a few years.
The Ottoman constitution of 1876 introduced a short-lived constitutional monarchy.
Common phrases
absolute monarchy · constitutional monarchy · abolish the monarchy · hereditary monarchy · restore the monarchy
Supreme authority over a territory and its people, including the right to make laws and to govern without control from any outside power.
Where you use it
Used in diplomatic, legal and political history. States claim, assert, recognise, transfer or lose sovereignty. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) is often linked with the modern idea of state sovereignty, though historians debate how far it created it. Popular sovereignty means power belongs to the people.
Examples
Under the treaty, the empire recognised the new state's sovereignty.
Debates about popular sovereignty shaped many nineteenth-century constitutions.
Usage note
Pronounced /ˈsɒvrənti/; the g is silent. As a noun, sovereign also means a monarch: the sovereign.
Common phrases
national sovereignty · popular sovereignty · recognise sovereignty · claim sovereignty over · state sovereignty
A territory ruled by another, usually distant, state, or a settlement founded by people from another country who stay under its control.
Where you use it
Ancient Greek cities founded colonies around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea; modern European states ruled colonies in Asia, Africa and the Americas. Colonies are founded, governed, exploited and gain independence. A colonist is a settler.
Examples
Sinope was founded as a Greek colony on the Black Sea coast.
By 1914 most of Africa had been divided into European colonies.
Common phrases
a former colony · a British colony · found a colony · colonial rule · colonial administration
An independent state made up of a city and the land around it, with its own government, laws and army, such as ancient Athens or Renaissance Venice.
Where you use it
Used for Sumerian cities such as Ur and Uruk, the Greek polis, Phoenician cities and Italian states such as Florence and Venice. Usually written with a hyphen. Historians compare how city-states formed leagues, fought each other and were absorbed into larger empires.
Examples
Athens and Sparta were the most powerful Greek city-states of the fifth century BC.
Each Sumerian city-state had its own patron god and main temple.
Common phrases
Greek city-states · an independent city-state · Italian city-states · rival city-states
To give up the throne or another position of supreme power formally, either by choice or under pressure.
Where you use it
Kings and emperors abdicate the throne or abdicate in favour of a son or brother. The noun is abdication. It differs from being deposed or overthrown, where others take power away from the ruler.
Examples
Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 so that he could marry Wallis Simpson.
Under pressure from his generals, the tsar agreed to abdicate in March 1917.
Usage note
Ottoman hal edilmek is normally translated as be deposed, not abdicate, because the sultan was removed by others rather than giving up the throne himself.
Common phrases
abdicate the throne · abdicate in favour of · be forced to abdicate · the abdication crisis
A gradual loss of power, wealth, size or importance, as when an empire, city or industry becomes weaker over a long period.
Where you use it
Very common in narrative history: the decline of Rome, economic decline, a period of decline. It is also a verb: Trade declined after the war. Historians now often question decline stories and prefer words such as transformation or adaptation.
Examples
The port went into decline when the main trade routes moved to the Atlantic.
Many historians now question the old idea of a steady Ottoman decline after the sixteenth century.
Common phrases
the decline of Rome · economic decline · go into decline · a period of decline · rise and decline
The state founded in north-western Anatolia around 1300 by the dynasty of Osman, which grew into an empire across south-eastern Europe, western Asia and North Africa and lasted until 1922.
Where you use it
Written with capitals. The adjective Ottoman is used for its people, institutions and culture: Ottoman archives, Ottoman Turkish, the Ottoman court. Historians increasingly compare it with other early modern empires such as the Habsburg and Mughal states.
Examples
Istanbul was the capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1453 until its end.
She reads Ottoman Turkish and works on the empire's eighteenth-century trade.
Usage note
The English name Ottoman comes from Osman through its Arabic form Uthman and the Italian Ottomano. Turkish historians often say Osmanlı Devleti, while English uses the Ottoman Empire.
Common phrases
the Ottoman Empire · Ottoman Turkish · the Ottoman archives · the Ottoman court · Ottoman rule
The eastern part of the Roman Empire, with its capital at Constantinople, which survived the fall of the western half and lasted until the Ottoman conquest of 1453.
Where you use it
The adjective Byzantine describes its art, church, army and administration. In everyday English byzantine with a small b also means extremely complicated, as in byzantine rules. Many historians now also say the Eastern Roman Empire.
Examples
Hagia Sophia was the greatest church of the Byzantine Empire.
The Byzantine Empire lost much of central Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071.
Usage note
The name was popularised by later Western scholars; the Byzantines called themselves Romans (Rhomaioi), which is why Turkish sources called them Rum.
Common phrases
the Byzantine Empire · Byzantine art · the Byzantine emperor · Byzantine Constantinople
The policy or practice of a state extending its power over other territories and peoples, through conquest, colonies or economic and political influence.
Where you use it
Historians use new imperialism for the rapid European expansion of about 1870 to 1914, including the Scramble for Africa. Informal imperialism means control through trade, loans and treaties without direct rule. The adjective is imperialist.
Examples
The Berlin Conference of 1884–85 is often linked with the high point of European imperialism.
Historians debate whether trade or politics was the main force behind imperialism.
Common phrases
European imperialism · new imperialism · cultural imperialism · informal imperialism · the age of imperialism
The process by which colonies became independent states, especially in Asia and Africa in the decades after the Second World War.
Where you use it
Historians study its causes and pace, independence movements, and negotiations or wars with colonial powers. 1960 is sometimes called the Year of Africa, because 17 African states became independent. The word is also used for rethinking colonial ideas in culture and education.
Examples
Decolonization greatly increased the membership of the United Nations in the 1960s.
The course compares British and French approaches to decolonization.
Usage note
British English also spells it decolonisation.
Common phrases
the process of decolonization · postwar decolonization · decolonization in Africa · the era of decolonization
In medieval Europe, a person who held land from a lord in return for loyalty and service; more broadly, a ruler or state that accepts the authority of a stronger power.
Where you use it
Vassals swore loyalty to their lord and owed military service. Vassal state and tributary state describe states that kept their own rulers but paid tribute to a stronger empire and followed its lead. The relationship is called vassalage.
Examples
Wallachia was a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire for several centuries.
The vassal knelt and swore loyalty to his lord.
Common phrases
vassal state · a loyal vassal · lord and vassal · become a vassal of
The process by which a new ruler takes the place of the previous one, and the rules or customs that decide who has the right to the throne.
Where you use it
Historians discuss the line of succession, succession disputes and crises, and wars such as the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714). The verb is succeed: Süleyman succeeded his father in 1520. The new ruler is the successor.
Examples
In the seventeenth century, Ottoman succession shifted from father-to-son to the eldest male of the dynasty.
The king's death without an heir caused a succession crisis.
Usage note
Do not confuse succession (taking someone's place) with success, or with secession (a region leaving a state).
Common phrases
line of succession · succession crisis · war of succession · succession dispute · rules of succession
A formal written agreement between two or more states, for example to end a war, settle borders or create an alliance.
Where you use it
Treaties are negotiated, signed, ratified, and later honoured, violated or broken. They are usually named after the place of signing: the Treaty of Versailles (1919), the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699). Their contents are called terms or clauses.
Examples
The Treaty of Karlowitz was signed in 1699 after a long war with the Holy League.
Students compared the territorial terms of the two peace treaties.
Usage note
In Turkish a formal agreement between states is antlaşma, while an everyday agreement is anlaşma. Treaty always corresponds to antlaşma.
Common phrases
sign a treaty · peace treaty · ratify a treaty · the terms of the treaty · violate a treaty
The act of taking control of a country, city or people by military force, or a territory that has been taken in this way.
Where you use it
Common in the names of events: the Norman Conquest of England (1066), the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The verb is conquer and the person is a conqueror. Historians look both at the military campaign and at how conquered lands were later ruled.
Examples
After the Ottoman conquest of 1453, Constantinople became the new imperial capital.
The Norman Conquest brought major changes to landholding in England.
Usage note
English texts often call the events of 1453 the fall of Constantinople, seen from the Byzantine side, while Turkish texts say İstanbul'un Fethi. Both refer to the same event of 29 May 1453.
Common phrases
the Norman Conquest · military conquest · the conquest of · territorial conquest · lands acquired by conquest
A formal agreement between warring sides to stop fighting, usually while the terms of a final peace treaty are negotiated.
Where you use it
Usually signed by commanders or governments and often named after a place: the Armistice of Mudros (30 October 1918), the Armistice of Compiègne (11 November 1918). Armistice Day marks the end of fighting in the First World War.
Examples
The Armistice of Mudros ended the fighting between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies.
An armistice is not a peace treaty: the war is not yet formally over.
Usage note
A ceasefire is a halt in fighting that may be temporary or informal, an armistice is a formal agreement, and a truce is a short, often local pause. Turkish ateşkes can cover all three, so mütareke is the precise word for armistice.
Common phrases
sign an armistice · the terms of the armistice · Armistice Day · agree to an armistice
A formal agreement between states or groups to support each other, especially in war, or the group of states that make such an agreement.
Where you use it
States form, enter into, join or break alliances. Before 1914 Europe was divided into two blocs, the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente. Members are allies, and in both world wars the Allies (with a capital A) were one side.
Examples
The alliance between France and Russia worried German military planners.
Marriages were often arranged to seal a political alliance.
Common phrases
form an alliance · military alliance · the Triple Alliance · a defensive alliance · break an alliance
A military operation in which an army surrounds a town or fortress, cuts off its supplies and attacks it until the defenders surrender or the attackers give up.
Where you use it
Armies lay siege to a city; the city is under siege or besieged; a siege is lifted or broken, or the city falls. Famous examples include the sieges of Constantinople (1453) and Vienna (1683). Siege warfare changed greatly with cannon and new fortifications.
Examples
The second Ottoman siege of Vienna was lifted in September 1683.
The city held out under siege for almost two months.
Usage note
Spelling: siege, with i before e. The verb is besiege: The army besieged the city. Sieged is wrong.
Common phrases
lay siege to · under siege · lift the siege · siege warfare · a long siege
The long rivalry between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies, from the late 1940s until 1991, without a direct full-scale war between them.
Where you use it
Written with capitals. Historians discuss its origins, crises such as the Berlin Blockade and the Cuban Missile Crisis, the arms race, proxy wars and its end with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Phrases: the Cold War era, Cold War politics.
Examples
The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was one of the most dangerous moments of the Cold War.
Turkey joined NATO in 1952, in the early years of the Cold War.
Common phrases
the Cold War era · the end of the Cold War · Cold War politics · the arms race · Cold War tensions
A war in which most of the world's major powers take part and fighting spreads across several continents; in practice, the wars of 1914–1918 and 1939–1945.
Where you use it
British English usually says the First World War and the Second World War; American English often says World War I and World War II (WWI, WWII). The years between them are the interwar period. People at the time called the first one the Great War.
Examples
The Ottoman Empire entered the First World War in the autumn of 1914.
Both world wars changed the role of women in the workforce.
Usage note
Say the First World War or World War I (read 'World War One'), not 'the World War I'.
Common phrases
the First World War · the Second World War · World War II · the interwar period · the Great War
To take control of a territory and make it officially part of one's own state, often by force or without the agreement of the people living there.
Where you use it
States annex territories, regions or provinces; the noun is annexation. Historians distinguish annexation from occupation, where control is meant to be temporary. As a noun, annexe (British) or annex (American) means an extra building.
Examples
Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908.
Several neighbouring states refused to recognise the annexation.
Common phrases
annex territory · formally annex · the annexation of · be annexed by
A series of military operations carried out over a period of time in one area or with one main aim, such as capturing a city or defeating an enemy army.
Where you use it
Armies launch, lead and win or lose campaigns: Napoleon's Russian campaign of 1812, the Gallipoli campaign. A battle is a single fight; a campaign may include several battles, sieges and marches. The word is also used for political campaigns.
Examples
Napoleon's Russian campaign of 1812 ended in disaster.
Selim I's campaign of 1516–1517 brought Syria and Egypt under Ottoman rule.
Common phrases
military campaign · launch a campaign · the Russian campaign · the campaign season · the Gallipoli campaign
Information, images or ideas spread in an organised way to influence public opinion, often one-sided or misleading, especially by governments in war or political struggle.
Where you use it
Historians analyse wartime posters, films and newspapers as evidence of what governments wanted people to believe. Propaganda is produced, spread and used, and it is uncountable: a piece of propaganda. The word comes from a Catholic congregation founded in 1622.
Examples
First World War posters are a rich source for studying propaganda.
Both sides used radio for propaganda during the Second World War.
Common phrases
wartime propaganda · propaganda poster · state propaganda · a propaganda campaign · propaganda value
The sudden, often violent overthrow of a government or political system by its people, or any deep and rapid change in society, the economy or ideas.
Where you use it
Political revolutions break out, spread, succeed or fail: the French Revolution (1789), the revolutions of 1848. The word also describes long-term change: the Industrial Revolution, the Neolithic Revolution. Revolutionary is both an adjective and a noun for a supporter of revolution.
Examples
The French Revolution of 1789 abolished the privileges of the nobility.
Historians debate whether the changes in farming really amounted to a revolution.
Common phrases
the French Revolution · lead a revolution · a revolution breaks out · revolutionary ideas · the Industrial Revolution
An act of resistance in which a group of people rise up against those in power, usually in a particular region or city and often with few weapons.
Where you use it
Uprisings break out, spread, and are crushed, suppressed or put down. Revolt and rebellion are close synonyms; revolution usually means a deeper change of the whole system. The verb is rise up: The peasants rose up against the new tax.
Examples
The uprising spread quickly from the capital to the provinces.
Spartacus led a slave uprising against Rome in 73 BC.
Common phrases
an armed uprising · a popular uprising · crush an uprising · lead an uprising · a peasant uprising
A planned change to laws, institutions or practices meant to improve them, usually made step by step by those in power rather than through revolution.
Where you use it
Governments introduce, carry out, push through or resist reforms. Historians speak of administrative, military, land and educational reforms, reform movements and reformers. In Ottoman history the Tanzimat (1839–1876) is called a reform period.
Examples
The Tanzimat reforms reorganised taxation, the army and provincial government.
Reform of the army was the sultan's first priority.
Usage note
Do not confuse reform, a change meant to improve something, with the Reformation, the sixteenth-century religious movement in Europe.
Common phrases
introduce reforms · the Tanzimat reforms · land reform · military reform · a reform movement
The idea that people who share a language, culture or history form a nation, and that this nation should have its own state or govern itself.
Where you use it
A central topic in nineteenth- and twentieth-century history. Historians study the rise and spread of nationalism, nationalist movements and nation-building, and debate whether nations are ancient or largely modern creations. The adjective is nationalist.
Examples
Nationalism spread across Europe in the decades after the French Revolution.
The lecture examines how nationalism affected multi-ethnic empires in the nineteenth century.
Common phrases
the rise of nationalism · nationalist movement · economic nationalism · nation-building · romantic nationalism
The situation of a country that governs itself and is not ruled or controlled by another state.
Where you use it
Countries declare, gain, win or achieve independence, often after a war of independence or long negotiations. A declaration of independence announces it formally, and other states then recognise it. Independence Day is a national holiday in many countries.
Examples
The thirteen colonies declared their independence from Britain in 1776.
India gained independence in 1947 after decades of political struggle.
Common phrases
declare independence · gain independence · war of independence · declaration of independence · recognise independence
A sudden and usually illegal seizure of power by a small group, often army officers, who remove the existing government by force or the threat of force.
Where you use it
Short for French coup d'état. Coups are planned, staged, attempted or carried out, and they may fail. A military coup is led by the armed forces; a palace coup replaces a ruler from inside the court. Unlike a revolution, a coup usually involves few people.
Examples
Napoleon came to power in a coup in November 1799.
The palace coup replaced one ruler with another but left the system unchanged.
Usage note
Pronounced /kuː/, like coo: the p is silent. In coup d'état /ˌkuː deɪˈtɑː/ the final t is silent too.
Common phrases
military coup · stage a coup · a failed coup · palace coup · coup d'état
A system of government, or the group of people in power in a country for a certain period, often used for governments that are not democratic.
Where you use it
In modern English regime often sounds negative: an authoritarian regime, regime change. In history writing it can be neutral, as in the French phrase ancien régime, the political and social order of France before 1789.
Examples
The old regime in France began to collapse in the summer of 1789.
The new regime abolished the old titles and took over church land.
Usage note
Do not confuse regime with regimen (a plan for diet or medical treatment) or regiment (a military unit).
Common phrases
the old regime · ancien régime · authoritarian regime · regime change · the fall of the regime
A term for the social and political order of medieval Europe in which lords granted land to vassals in return for loyalty and military service, while peasants worked the land.
Where you use it
A standard textbook term, but many medieval historians now find it too simple, because arrangements varied greatly by time and place. Related words include fief, lord, vassal, manor and serf. Marxist historians use it more broadly for a stage of economic development.
Examples
Under feudalism, a knight held land from his lord in return for military service.
Some historians argue that the word feudalism hides more than it explains.
Usage note
The Ottoman timar system is sometimes compared with European feudalism, but historians usually stress the differences: timar land generally remained state property and was not simply passed down by inheritance.
Common phrases
European feudalism · the feudal system · feudal lord · the decline of feudalism
A person who lives in the countryside and farms a small piece of land with family labour, often paying rent, taxes or labour services to a landowner or the state.
Where you use it
A neutral technical term in history and social science for pre-industrial and agrarian societies: peasant households, peasant revolts, the peasantry (peasants as a class). In everyday modern English, calling someone a peasant can be an insult.
Examples
Most of the empire's population were peasants who paid taxes in cash and in kind.
The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 began as a protest against a new poll tax.
Usage note
Farmer and peasant are not exact synonyms. A farmer can be a modern commercial producer; peasant refers to small-scale rural producers in traditional societies.
A system in which people are legally owned by others, forced to work without pay and denied basic freedoms, or the condition of being enslaved.
Where you use it
Historians study ancient, medieval and modern forms of slavery, the transatlantic slave trade and abolition, the ending of slavery by law. Many writers now prefer enslaved people to slaves, to stress that slavery was imposed on people.
Examples
The British Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833.
Her research looks at slavery on the farming estates of the Roman countryside.
Common phrases
the abolition of slavery · the transatlantic slave trade · enslaved people · chattel slavery · the legacy of slavery
The highest social class in many societies, made up of noble families who usually held inherited titles, land and political influence.
Where you use it
Common in European social history. Close words are nobility (the titled class as a whole) and gentry (landowners just below the nobility in England). A member is an aristocrat, and the adjective is aristocratic. It can also mean government by a small privileged group.
Examples
Land was the main source of wealth for the eighteenth-century aristocracy.
The revolution abolished many of the privileges of the aristocracy.
Common phrases
the landed aristocracy · members of the aristocracy · aristocratic families · the old aristocracy
The growth of towns and cities, and the movement of a growing share of the population from the countryside into urban areas.
Where you use it
Social and economic historians measure urbanization with census data and link it to industrialization, migration, public health and housing. Phrases: rapid urbanization, the rate of urbanization, urban growth.
Examples
The 1851 census revealed how far urbanization had gone in England and Wales.
Rapid urbanization brought overcrowding and outbreaks of cholera.
Usage note
British English also spells it urbanisation.
Common phrases
rapid urbanization · the rate of urbanization · urban growth · urbanization and industrialization
The movement of people from one place to another to live, either within a country or across borders, alone or in large groups.
Where you use it
Historians study the causes and effects of migration: push and pull factors, forced migration, labour migration and the communities migrants build. Emigration is leaving a country and immigration is arriving in one.
Examples
Labour migration from Turkey to West Germany began on a large scale after 1961.
The migrations of late antiquity changed the map of Europe.
Usage note
The movements of peoples into the Roman world from the fourth century are called the Migration Period in English; Turkish textbooks call this Kavimler Göçü and usually date it from 375.
Common phrases
mass migration · forced migration · labour migration · rural-to-urban migration · the Migration Period
In medieval and early modern Europe, a peasant who was legally bound to a lord's land, owed labour and dues, and could not leave without permission.
Where you use it
The system is called serfdom. Serfs were not slaves: they usually could not be sold apart from the land and had some rights. Serfdom faded in Western Europe in the late Middle Ages but lasted in Russia until 1861.
Examples
Russian serfs were freed by the emancipation decree of 1861.
A serf owed several days of labour each week on the lord's land.
Usage note
Pronounced /sɜːf/, exactly like surf.
Common phrases
the abolition of serfdom · emancipation of the serfs · serf labour · serfs and lords
The ability to read and write, and the share of a population who have this ability, which historians use to study education and social change.
Where you use it
Historians estimate literacy rates from signatures in marriage registers, school data and censuses, and study how printing, religion and state schools raised them. Phrases: the literacy rate, mass literacy. The adjective is literate; illiterate means unable to read and write.
Examples
The alphabet reform of 1928 was intended to raise literacy in Turkey.
Literacy rates rose quickly once primary schooling became compulsory.
A group of people in a society who share a similar economic position, such as wealth, occupation or education, and often similar status and opportunities.
Where you use it
Social historians study the working, middle and upper classes, class conflict and class consciousness. Marxist historians made class central to explaining change. For pre-industrial societies, historians often prefer words such as estate, order or status group.
Examples
The Industrial Revolution created a new social class of factory workers.
Her research looks at how social class shaped access to education in the 1920s.
Common phrases
the working class · the middle class · class conflict · class consciousness · social mobility
The shift from hand production to machines, factories and new energy sources such as coal and steam, which began in Britain in the late eighteenth century.
Where you use it
Written with the and capitals. Historians discuss its causes, pace and social effects, and many speak of a second Industrial Revolution (steel, electricity, chemicals) from about 1870. It is a standard topic in economic and social history courses.
Examples
The Industrial Revolution turned Manchester into a crowded factory city.
Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in Britain rather than elsewhere?
Common phrases
the Industrial Revolution · the second Industrial Revolution · before the Industrial Revolution · the effects of the Industrial Revolution
A regular path by land, river or sea along which merchants carried goods between regions, such as the Silk Road or the spice routes of the Indian Ocean.
Where you use it
Historians study how trade routes shifted, who controlled them and how they spread goods, ideas, religions and diseases. Routes are opened, controlled, protected, blocked or diverted, and caravanserais and ports grew up along them.
Examples
After 1498, part of the spice trade moved to the sea route around Africa.
Seljuk caravanserais were built at regular intervals along the main trade routes of Anatolia.
Common phrases
major trade routes · control the trade routes · overland trade routes · maritime trade routes · along the trade route
An economic policy common in Europe from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century that tried to increase a state's wealth and power by exporting more than it imported and building up gold and silver.
Where you use it
Associated with tariffs, state-backed trading companies and colonies that supplied raw materials. Adam Smith criticised it in The Wealth of Nations (1776). Historians debate how far it was a coherent theory rather than a set of practices.
Examples
Under mercantilism, colonies were expected to buy manufactured goods only from the mother country.
Colbert's policies in France are a classic example of mercantilism.
Common phrases
European mercantilism · mercantilist policy · the age of mercantilism · mercantilist theory
The process by which an economy shifts from mainly farming and handicrafts to large-scale manufacturing in factories using machines.
Where you use it
Historians compare early and late industrialization, rapid or state-led industrialization, and its effects on cities, workers and the environment. It usually goes together with urbanization and railway building.
Examples
Rapid industrialization transformed Germany in the late nineteenth century.
In the 1930s the Turkish state tried to speed up industrialization by founding state factories.
Usage note
British English also spells it industrialisation.
Common phrases
rapid industrialization · state-led industrialization · late industrialization · the process of industrialization
An association of craftsmen or merchants in the same trade that set standards, controlled training and prices, and protected its members, especially in medieval and early modern towns.
Where you use it
Guild members rose from apprentice to journeyman to master. Historians study guild rules and how guilds lost power with industrialization. In Ottoman history the word is used for esnaf organisations and is linked with the Ahi tradition.
Examples
The weavers' guild set strict rules on the quality of cloth.
Ottoman guild leaders took part in setting official prices with the kadı.
Usage note
Pronounced /ɡɪld/, exactly like gild (to cover with gold); the u is silent.
The severe worldwide economic crisis that followed the Wall Street Crash of October 1929 and lasted through much of the 1930s, bringing mass unemployment and falling trade.
Where you use it
Written with capitals. Historians study its causes, its spread through trade and banking, and its political effects, including the rise of extremist movements and a larger role for the state in the economy, such as the New Deal in the United States.
Examples
Prices for Turkish exports such as tobacco fell sharply during the Great Depression.
Unemployment in the United States reached about a quarter of the workforce during the Great Depression.
Common phrases
the Great Depression · the Wall Street Crash · the effects of the Depression · the interwar economy
The network of overland and sea trade routes that linked China with Central Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean from ancient times to around the fifteenth century.
Where you use it
The name was coined in the nineteenth century by the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen. Historians stress that it was many routes, not one road, carrying silk, spices, paper, religions, technologies and diseases. Recent scholarship often says the Silk Roads.
Examples
Samarkand grew rich as a trading city on the Silk Road.
Paper-making spread west along the Silk Road.
Common phrases
along the Silk Road · Silk Road trade · Silk Road cities · the maritime Silk Road
Relating to farming, land and the people who work it, or describing a society or economy based mainly on agriculture.
Where you use it
Common in social and economic history: an agrarian society, agrarian economy, agrarian reform (redistributing land), agrarian unrest. Agricultural is the everyday word for farming activities; agrarian often adds the social and political side of land.
Examples
Until the 1950s Turkey was a largely agrarian society.
The new government promised agrarian reform and the breakup of large estates.
Common phrases
agrarian society · agrarian economy · agrarian reform · agrarian unrest · agrarian history
The study of past events, especially those of human societies, and the written account that historians produce from the evidence they find.
Where you use it
Used for the subject (study history, a history degree), for the past itself (in history, throughout history) and for a book or account (a history of the Ottoman Empire). Branches are named with adjectives: social, economic, political, military and cultural history.
Examples
She is writing a history of the silk trade in Bursa.
Throughout history, river valleys have attracted farmers and traders.
I'm taking a module on modern European history this term.
Usage note
Do not confuse historic (important, likely to be remembered: a historic victory) with historical (connected with the past or with history as a subject: historical documents).
Common phrases
economic history · social history · throughout history · make history · a history of
A person who studies and writes about the past, usually by examining sources, comparing evidence and offering an interpretation of events.
Where you use it
Used for academics and serious writers. Historians argue, suggest, debate and disagree; essays often say most historians agree that... You can name the field: a military historian, an art historian, an economic historian, a historian of medieval Anatolia.
Examples
Historians still disagree about the main causes of the war.
As an economic historian, he works mainly with tax registers and price lists.
Usage note
Both a historian and an historian appear in print; a historian is the standard modern form, especially in American English.
Common phrases
military historian · art historian · economic historian · historians argue · a leading historian
The writing of history, and especially the study of how historians have written about a subject over time, which sources they used and how their views changed.
Where you use it
A key word in university history. Students write a historiography essay or chapter that reviews the debate on a topic, and people speak of Marxist, nationalist or feminist historiography, or of the historiography of the French Revolution.
Examples
Your first chapter should review the historiography of the Tanzimat reforms.
Ottoman historiography changed a great deal as the archives became easier to use.
Common phrases
Ottoman historiography · Marxist historiography · review the historiography · a historiographical debate · national historiography
A particular explanation of what past events meant or why they happened, based on the evidence and on the historian's questions and point of view.
Where you use it
Historians offer, put forward, challenge and reject interpretations. Exam questions often ask students to compare interpretations or to assess how convincing one is. The verb is interpret: How should we interpret this letter?
Examples
Her interpretation of the reforms stresses local pressures rather than European influence.
Compare the two interpretations and explain which is better supported by the evidence.
Common phrases
a different interpretation · challenge an interpretation · competing interpretations · open to interpretation · the traditional interpretation
Information from sources, objects or data that helps show whether a claim about the past is true, or how likely it is.
Where you use it
Historians gather, weigh, assess and interpret evidence; evidence supports, suggests or contradicts a claim. Essays use phrases such as there is little evidence that, the evidence suggests and on the available evidence.
Examples
There is little evidence that the order was ever carried out.
Archaeological evidence suggests the town was abandoned around 1200 BC.
Usage note
Evidence is uncountable: say a piece of evidence or some evidence, never an evidence or evidences.
Common phrases
historical evidence · archaeological evidence · a piece of evidence · weigh the evidence · the evidence suggests
Something placed in the wrong period, such as an object, word or idea, or the mistake of judging the past by the standards and concepts of a later time.
Where you use it
Used both for factual slips, such as a clock in a play set in ancient Rome, and for errors of thinking, such as describing a medieval ruler as a nationalist. Tutors often write anachronistic in the margin of essays.
Examples
Calling the twelfth-century kingdom a 'nation-state' is an anachronism.
The film is full of anachronisms, from the costumes to the language.
Common phrases
an obvious anachronism · anachronistic language · avoid anachronism · a historical anachronism
Understanding of an event or situation that comes only after it has happened, when its results are already known.
Where you use it
Mostly in the phrases with hindsight and in hindsight. Historians warn against it, because people in the past did not know how things would turn out. Hindsight bias is the tendency to see past events as more predictable than they really were.
Examples
With hindsight, the crisis looks inevitable, but few people at the time expected it.
We have the benefit of hindsight; the ministers of 1914 did not.
Common phrases
with hindsight · in hindsight · the benefit of hindsight · hindsight bias
A moment or event that causes an important change in the direction of history, after which things develop differently.
Where you use it
Very common in essays and exam questions: To what extent was X a turning point? Historians describe events as marking or representing a turning point, and often debate whether a famous event really deserves the label.
Examples
To what extent was 1848 a turning point in European history?
Many historians see the battle as the turning point of the war.
Common phrases
a major turning point · mark a turning point · a turning point in history · the turning point of the war
The lasting effects, ideas, institutions or problems that a person, period, empire or event leaves behind for later generations.
Where you use it
Used for both positive and negative effects: the legacy of empire, the legacy of colonialism, a lasting legacy. Rulers and states leave or inherit a legacy, and essays assess or examine one.
Examples
Roman law left a lasting legacy in the legal systems of Europe.
The new republic inherited much of the administrative legacy of the empire.
Common phrases
a lasting legacy · leave a legacy · the legacy of empire · the legacy of colonialism · assess the legacy of
An approach to history that studies a small unit in great detail, such as one person, village, event or court case, to throw light on larger questions.
Where you use it
Developed by Italian historians in the 1970s and 1980s. A classic example is Carlo Ginzburg's The Cheese and the Worms (1976), about a sixteenth-century miller. Microhistories often rely on court records and other detailed archival sources.
Examples
Her microhistory of one Anatolian village draws on a single court register.
Microhistory asks what the life of one ordinary person can reveal about a whole society.
Common phrases
a microhistory of · a microhistorical approach · Italian microhistory · write a microhistory
The dividing of the past into named periods, such as antiquity and the Middle Ages, and the debate about where the boundaries between them should fall.
Where you use it
Historians discuss, question or propose a periodization. Every periodization reflects choices: what counts as a turning point, and from whose point of view. A traditional Turkish periodization uses İlk Çağ, Orta Çağ, Yeni Çağ and Yakın Çağ.
Examples
The traditional periodization of Ottoman history has been widely criticised.
Any periodization of world history is partly a matter of perspective.
Usage note
British English also spells it periodisation.
Common phrases
traditional periodization · question the periodization · a new periodization · the periodization of history
The re-examination of accepted views of the past in the light of new evidence or questions; the word can also mean distorting well-established facts for political ends.
Where you use it
In academic history revisionism is normal: each generation revises earlier interpretations, and a revisionist historian challenges an orthodox view. In public debate, however, the word often suggests denial or distortion, so check the context.
Examples
Revisionism in the 1960s changed how historians explained the origins of the war.
A revisionist account argues that the reforms began well before 1839.
Common phrases
historical revisionism · a revisionist historian · a revisionist interpretation · post-revisionism
The circumstances, ideas and events of the time in which something happened or was written, which help explain its meaning.
Where you use it
A basic idea in history teaching: put a source in context, the historical context, take a quotation out of context. Essays often begin by setting the context. The adjective is contextual, and to contextualise means to place something in its context.
Examples
To understand the speech, we need to look at its historical context.
The quotation is often used out of context.
Usage note
In archaeology, context has a technical meaning: a single layer or deposit recorded during excavation.
Common phrases
historical context · in context · out of context · set the context · the wider context
Evidence created at the time being studied or by people who witnessed it, such as letters, diaries, official records, photographs or objects.
Where you use it
A basic term in history teaching and research. Students analyse, use and cite primary sources, and essays are judged on how well they handle them. What counts as primary depends on the question: a 1950s textbook is a primary source for how history was taught in the 1950s.
Examples
Her thesis is based on primary sources from the Ottoman court records of Bursa.
For this assignment, use at least three primary sources and explain who produced each one.
Common phrases
analyse primary sources · a primary source document · rely on primary sources · published primary sources
A work that discusses or interprets the past using other evidence and was written after the events, such as a history book, journal article or biography.
Where you use it
Students read secondary sources to understand a debate before turning to primary material, and a literature review surveys them. Lecturers often warn against relying only on secondary sources or on general websites.
Examples
Start with two or three recent secondary sources to see where the debate stands.
The secondary sources give very different figures for the size of the army.
Common phrases
consult secondary sources · recent secondary sources · rely on secondary sources · secondary literature
A collection of historical records kept for long-term use, or the building or institution where such records are stored and made available to researchers.
Where you use it
Often plural: the national archives, the Ottoman archives. Researchers work in, visit or consult the archives, request files and order copies. As a verb, archive means to store records for the long term.
Examples
I spent three months in the Ottoman archives in Istanbul reading tax registers.
The family's letters were donated to the city archive in 1998.
Usage note
Stress the first syllable: /ˈɑːkaɪv/, and the ch sounds like k. The adjective is archival /ɑːˈkaɪvl/, as in archival research.
Common phrases
national archives · archival research · work in the archives · consult the archives · archive material
A book or document written by hand, especially one produced before printing became common; also an author's text before it is published.
Where you use it
Historians and librarians speak of medieval, Ottoman or illuminated manuscripts, manuscript collections and manuscript libraries. A text may survive in one manuscript or many, and scholars compare copies to establish it. Abbreviated MS, plural MSS.
Examples
The Süleymaniye Library holds tens of thousands of Ottoman manuscripts.
Only two manuscripts of the chronicle have survived.
A one-sided view that makes a source or a writer favour one person, group or explanation, so that the account is not fully balanced or complete.
Where you use it
A standard word in source analysis. Students are asked to detect, identify or allow for bias. Bias does not make a source useless: a biased source can tell us a lot about its author's views. The adjective is biased.
Examples
The chronicle was written for the sultan, so we must allow for some bias.
A biased source can still be useful if you ask the right questions.
Common phrases
allow for bias · detect bias · a biased account · political bias · bias in the sources
An official count of a population carried out by a state, usually recording details such as age, sex, household, occupation or property.
Where you use it
Censuses are taken or carried out, and historians use census returns or records as sources for social and economic history. Early counts were often made for tax or military purposes and might include only men or households.
Examples
The Ottoman census of 1831 counted only the male population.
Census records show how many households in the village owned land.
Usage note
Earlier Ottoman tahrir registers were land and tax surveys rather than population censuses in the modern sense; English-language studies call them tax registers or cadastral surveys.
Common phrases
take a census · census records · population census · census data · the first modern census
A written account of historical events arranged in the order in which they happened, usually composed during or soon after the period it describes.
Where you use it
Many medieval and Ottoman histories are chronicles: the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the chronicle of Aşıkpaşazade. The writer is a chronicler. As a verb, chronicle means to record events in detail: The book chronicles the life of the city.
Examples
Aşıkpaşazade's chronicle is one of the earliest Ottoman histories.
The chronicler clearly admired the sultan, so read his praise with care.
Usage note
The Ottoman vakanüvis was an official court historian; in English this is usually translated as court chronicler or official historian.
Common phrases
medieval chronicle · a contemporary chronicle · court chronicler · chronicle the events
The careful evaluation of a historical source to judge where it came from, who made it and why, and how reliable and useful it is for a particular question.
Where you use it
A core method that developed in nineteenth-century German scholarship. External criticism checks whether a source is authentic and when it was made; internal criticism examines its content, bias and accuracy. In teaching, source analysis and source evaluation are also common.
Examples
Good source criticism starts with a simple question: who wrote this, and why?
Source criticism showed that the letter was a later forgery.
The collection and study of people's spoken memories of the past, usually through recorded interviews, and the recordings that result.
Where you use it
Oral historians conduct, record and transcribe interviews with witnesses and keep them in an oral history archive. The method gives a voice to people who left few written records, but memories must be checked against other sources.
Examples
The oral history project recorded interviews with former tobacco workers.
Oral history helps us understand how ordinary families experienced migration.
Common phrases
an oral history project · oral history interview · oral history archive · record oral history
Words carved, cut or painted on stone, metal, a building or another hard surface, often to record a ruler's deeds, a law, a dedication or a burial.
Where you use it
Inscriptions are carved, discovered, read, deciphered and translated; their study is called epigraphy. Famous examples include the Orkhon inscriptions and the Rosetta Stone. On Ottoman buildings a foundation inscription (kitabe) gives the date and the patron.
Examples
The Orkhon inscriptions, carved in the eighth century, are among the earliest known texts in a Turkic language.
The inscription above the gate gives the date of construction as 1557.
Common phrases
a Latin inscription · carved inscription · foundation inscription · decipher an inscription · the Orkhon inscriptions
The origin of a document or object and the record of who has owned or kept it since it was made, used to judge whether it is genuine and lawfully held.
Where you use it
Archivists, curators and art historians research and document provenance. Objects without a clear provenance may have been looted or forged, so museums now check it closely. In archives, the principle of provenance keeps records grouped by the office that created them.
Examples
The museum returned the statue after provenance research showed it had been illegally excavated.
Always note the provenance of each document you photograph in the archive.
Common phrases
provenance research · a documented provenance · unknown provenance · the principle of provenance
A professional who collects, organises, preserves and describes the records in an archive and helps researchers find and use them.
Where you use it
Archivists catalogue collections, write finding aids, manage digitisation and decide what is kept. Historians often thank archivists in their acknowledgements, and asking the archivist is usually the fastest way to find the right file.
Examples
The archivist helped me find the missing volume of the register.
She trained as an archivist and now manages the university's special collections.
Usage note
Stress the first syllable, /ˈɑːkɪvɪst/, and note the short i in the middle, unlike archive /ˈɑːkaɪv/.
Common phrases
a professional archivist · ask the archivist · university archivist · archivists and librarians
The study of the human past through the material remains people left behind, such as buildings, tools, pottery, bones and traces in the soil.
Where you use it
Archaeologists survey, excavate, record and date sites and finds. Branches include prehistoric, classical, underwater and urban archaeology. The adjective is archaeological: archaeological evidence, an archaeological site.
Examples
Archaeology can tell us about people who left no written records.
She studied archaeology in Ankara and now works on Hittite sites.
Usage note
Archaeology is the standard spelling in academic writing on both sides of the Atlantic; archeology is also seen in American English.
An object made or shaped by people, such as a tool, coin, weapon or piece of jewellery, especially one studied for what it reveals about the past.
Where you use it
Used in archaeology, museums and history teaching. Artifacts are found, recovered, catalogued, dated and displayed. Archaeologists contrast them with ecofacts (natural remains such as seeds) and features (things that cannot be moved, such as walls or hearths).
Examples
More than two thousand artifacts were recovered from the shipwreck.
Each artifact is photographed and numbered before it leaves the trench.
Usage note
Spelled artifact in American English and usually artefact in British English. Both are correct; keep one spelling in a text.
Common phrases
ancient artifacts · recover artifacts · a museum artifact · cultural artifacts · date an artifact
The careful digging and recording of an archaeological site to uncover buildings, objects and other remains in the order in which they were buried.
Where you use it
Excavations are carried out, directed, funded and published, and archaeologists work in a trench. Digging destroys the layers as it goes, so detailed recording is essential. The verb is excavate, and the informal word is dig: on a dig.
Examples
Excavations at Troy began in the early 1870s under Heinrich Schliemann.
The excavation team works on the mound for eight weeks every summer.
Usage note
A rescue (or salvage) excavation is carried out quickly before a site is destroyed by construction, such as a dam or a metro line.
Common phrases
carry out an excavation · rescue excavation · excavation season · excavation team · excavation report
A place where evidence of past human activity has been found or preserved, such as the remains of a settlement, cemetery, temple or workshop.
Where you use it
Sites are discovered, surveyed, excavated, protected and opened to visitors; archaeologists often just say the site. Major sites may be UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as Ephesus, Çatalhöyük and Göbekli Tepe are.
Examples
Göbekli Tepe is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world.
Construction stopped when workers found an archaeological site under the road.
Usage note
Turkish sit alanı comes from French site but means a legally protected area; in English that is a protected site.
Common phrases
an important archaeological site · excavate a site · protect a site · site museum · World Heritage Site
A scientific method that estimates the age of organic material such as wood, bone or seeds by measuring how much radioactive carbon-14 is left in it.
Where you use it
Developed in the late 1940s, it works for material up to about 50,000 years old. Results come with a margin of error and must be calibrated; calibrated dates are often written cal BC. Samples are sent to a laboratory for dating.
Examples
Radiocarbon dating places the burnt grain between 7100 and 6900 BC.
We sent three charcoal samples to the lab for radiocarbon dating.
Usage note
It cannot date stone or metal directly, only organic material found with them.
Common phrases
radiocarbon dates · a radiocarbon sample · calibrated radiocarbon date · carbon-14 dating
The study of the layers of soil and debris at a site, based on the principle that lower layers were usually laid down before the ones above them.
Where you use it
Archaeologists record the stratigraphy of a trench in section drawings and use it to build a relative chronology. Each layer is a stratum (plural strata) or context. Pits, burrows and later building work can mix the layers.
Examples
The stratigraphy shows at least nine building phases on the mound.
Without clear stratigraphy, the coins are difficult to date.
Usage note
A Turkish höyük is called a mound or a tell in English; a tell is built up from many layers of settlement.
Common phrases
site stratigraphy · stratigraphic sequence · stratigraphic evidence · record the stratigraphy
The remaining parts of buildings or a town that has been destroyed or has fallen down over time.
Where you use it
Usually plural: the ruins of a city, Roman ruins. A building lies in ruins, falls into ruin or is left in ruins after a war. Tourists visit ruins; archaeologists usually prefer remains or the site. As a verb, ruin means to destroy or spoil.
Examples
The ruins of Ephesus attract large numbers of visitors every year.
By the nineteenth century the castle had fallen into ruin.
Common phrases
ancient ruins · the ruins of · lie in ruins · fall into ruin · Roman ruins
Ten questions from this glossary. Pick the right meaning for each term and see your score.
How to learn history vocabulary
Read real historical writing in English every week: a chapter of a survey book, a journal article abstract or a museum's online catalogue. Note how dates and periods are written: in the 1450s, in the late fifteenth century, in 500 BC, during the reign of.
Learn the verbs that go with each noun: a treaty is signed, ratified and broken; an empire rises, expands and declines; a ruler comes to the throne, reigns and abdicates; a historian consults the archives and cites sources.
Check how each author divides time. Turkish İlk Çağ, Orta Çağ, Yeni Çağ and Yakın Çağ do not match English antiquity, the Middle Ages, the early modern period and the modern period exactly, so look at the dates rather than only the names.
Separate events from interpretations in your own writing. Phrases such as historians argue, the evidence suggests and according to contemporary sources make an essay sound careful and academic.
Learn English and Turkish names for the same events and places side by side: the fall of Constantinople and İstanbul'un Fethi, the Migration Period and Kavimler Göçü, the Ottoman Empire and Osmanlı Devleti. This makes library catalogues and foreign scholarship much easier to search.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between history and historiography?
History is the past itself and the study of it: what happened and why. Historiography is the writing of history and, more often in English academic use, the study of how historians have written about a topic over time: which sources they used, which questions they asked and how their interpretations changed. A historiography essay therefore discusses historians and their arguments rather than retelling the events.
How do I write centuries and dates correctly in English?
Use the and an ordinal number: the 16th century or the sixteenth century, never 16. century. Before a noun, add a hyphen: a sixteenth-century mosque. The 1500s means the same years as the 16th century. BC goes after the year (500 BC) and AD traditionally goes before it (AD 476); many academic texts now use BCE and CE, which both go after the year. Decades take no apostrophe in careful writing: the 1920s.
What is the difference between a primary source and a secondary source?
A primary source was produced at the time you are studying or by someone who took part in or saw the events: a letter, a court record, a treaty text, a photograph, a coin. A secondary source is a later work that interprets the past using such evidence, such as a history book or a journal article. The same text can be either, depending on your question, so always explain why you treat a source as primary.
Do English and Turkish history books divide the past into the same periods?
Not exactly. Turkish textbooks traditionally use İlk Çağ (until 375), Orta Çağ (375 to 1453), Yeni Çağ (1453 to 1789) and Yakın Çağ (from 1789). English-language books usually speak of antiquity, the Middle Ages (about 500 to 1500), the early modern period (about 1500 to 1800) and the modern period, and many specialists use their own dates. When you translate, check the years an author gives instead of matching the labels automatically.
Should I say historic or historical?
Historical describes anything connected with the past or with the study of history: historical documents, historical research, a historical novel. Historic means important enough to be remembered as part of history: a historic victory, a historic building, a historic agreement. Turkish usually translates both as tarihi, so check whether the sentence is about the past in general or about something especially significant.
