A guide to the language of history
History glossary
Understand the people, places and ideas behind the stories. Find a term, read its meaning, then explore it in context.
1–31 of 31 terms · I
Clear filtersIdeology
a system of ideas used to explain, justify, or organize power and society.
Imperial Academy
the official school in the Han capital that trained students in classical learning for government service.
Imperial Chamber Court
a high court created in 1495 to hear legal disputes within the empire.
Imperial Circles
regional groupings of imperial territories organised to coordinate shared duties.
Imperial Diet
an assembly where the emperor and representatives of the empire’s estates discussed common affairs.
Imperial estates
the princes, church territories and cities that held recognised rights and a place in the empire’s political system.
Imperialism
the policy or practice of extending power over other peoples, territories, or economies.
Indian Rebellion of 1857
a major uprising against East India Company rule in India that led to direct British Crown rule.
Indochinese Communist Party
the communist party founded in 1930 that organised anti-colonial revolution in French Indochina.
indulgence
a church grant connected to remission of penance, which became controversial when linked to money and reform.
Indus Valley
an ancient urban civilization in the Indus River region of modern Pakistan and northwest India.
Industrialisation
the shift from hand production to machine production, factories, fossil fuels, and large-scale industry.
inflation
A rise in prices that reduces what money can buy; extreme inflation weakened the Nationalist government during the later civil war.
Inkatha
the Zulu-based political movement, later party, led by Mangosuthu Buthelezi during the apartheid transition.
Institutes
Justinian's introductory legal textbook for students within the Corpus Juris Civilis.
insurgency
armed rebellion against a government or occupying power, often using irregular tactics.
Interceding
speaking or acting on someone else's behalf, often to a higher authority or deity.
interdict
a church sanction that suspended public worship or sacraments in a region.
Interred
buried, especially in a formal grave or tomb.
Interstate Commerce Commission
the federal agency then responsible for regulating transport between US states.
interstate travel
travel across the borders between US states.
Intolerable Acts
the colonial name for punitive British laws passed in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party.
Investiture
the ceremony or act that gave someone the symbols and rights of a public or church office.
Investiture Controversy
the medieval conflict over whether rulers or the Church controlled appointments to church offices.
Iron Curtain
the symbolic division between Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe and the West during the Cold War.
Irrigation
the controlled movement of water onto fields so crops can grow where rainfall is limited.
Ishtar Gate
a monumental blue-glazed gateway of ancient Babylon, now partly reconstructed in Berlin from excavated remains.
Islam
the monotheistic religion preached by Muhammad in seventh-century Arabia.
Islamophobia
hostility, prejudice, or discrimination directed at Muslims or people perceived as Muslim.
island hopping
the Allied Pacific strategy of capturing selected islands while bypassing others.
Iwo Jima
the volcanic island battle in 1945 that showed the cost of closing in on Japan.
