Unit 1 AP World History Vocab

Paleolithic Era

A period in time where human societies sustained themselves through gathering, hunting, and fishing without the practice of agriculture

Agricultural revolution

The domestication of plants and animals, which led to both farming and pastoral societies

Pastoral Societies

A food-producing economy focused on the raising of livestock, in the Afro-Eurasian world where settled agriculture was difficult or impossible

Patriarchy

A social system where men hold the primary power

Matriarchy

a social system where women hold primary power

Hinduism

A religion based on the many beliefs, rituals, and philosophies in India

Upanishads

Indian mystical and philosophical works written between 800 and 400 b.c.e.

Siddhartha Gautama

The Indian prince whose exposure to human suffering led him to develop a path to Enlightenment

Buddha

“the awakened one” or “the enlightened one”, a wise teacher

Theravada Buddhism

The early form of Buddhism where the Buddha was a wise teacher but not divine

Mahayana buddhism

The popular development of Buddhism which gives a much greater role to supernatural beings and to compassion

Bhakti Movement

“worship,” this Hindu movement involved the intense adoration of and identification with a particular deity through songs, prayers, and rituals.

Confucianism

The Chinese philosophy by Confucius, advocating the moral example of superiors as the key element of social order

Han dynasty

The Chinese dynasty that emerged after the Qin dynasty collapsed, establishing political and cultural patterns

Daoism

A Chinese philosophy that advocates a simple and modest way of living and alignment with the natural world, founded by Laozi.

Judaism

The monotheistic religion developed in the Middle East by the Hebrews, emphasizing a single God, Yahweh, with concerns for social justice

Jesus of Nazareth

A peasant/artisan “wisdom teacher” and Jewish mystic, whose life, teachings, death, and resurrection gave rise to the new religion of Christianity.

Saint Paul

An early convert, missionary and the first great popularizer of Christianity, especially to Gentile communities

Perpetua

Christian martyr from an upper-class Roman family in Carthage. Her refusal to renounce her faith made her an inspiration for other early Christians

Umma

The community of all believers in Islam, bound by common belief

ulma

Islamic religious scholars who shaped and transmitted the core teachings of Islamic civilization

sharia

Islamic law, dealing with political, economic, social, and religious life

madrassas

Formal colleges for higher instruction in the teachings of Islam and secular subjects

Sufism

By renouncing the material world and wanted to tame the ego and achieve spiritual union with Allah.

Silk Roads

Land-based trade routes that linked many regions of Eurasia. Named after the silk traded along these routes

Sea Roads

The world’s largest sea-based system of communication and exchange before 1500 c.e.

Sand Roads

The routes of the trans-Saharan trade, linked interior West Africa to the Mediterranean and North African world

Tribute System

Practices that required a show of subordination from all non-Chinese authorities and the payment of tribute to the Chinese emperor. In return, China would grant trading rights to foreigners and offer gifts even more valuable than the tribute itself.

Hangul

A phonetic alphabet developed in Korea in the fifteenth century in a move toward greater cultural independence from China

foot binding

The Chinese practice of tightly wrapping girls’ feet to keep them small; small size and delicacy was the view of female beauty.

China’s economic revolution

A major rise in prosperity during the Song dynasty; rapid population growth, urbanization, economic specialization, the development of an immense network of internal waterways, and a great increase in industrial production and technological innovation.

Hangzhou

China’s capital during the Song dynasty

Song Dynasty

The Chinese dynasty that rose to power after the Tang dynasty. During this dynasty, an explosion of scholarship gave rise to Neo-Confucianism, and a revolution in agricultural and industrial production made China the richest and most populated country on the planet

Bushido

The “way of the warrior,” referring to the martial values of the Japanese samurai, including bravery, loyalty, and an emphasis on death over surrender.

Chu Nom

A variation of Chinese writing developed in Vietnam that became the basis for an independent national literature; “southern script.”

Srivijaya

A Malay kingdom that dominated the critical choke point in Indian Ocean trade at the Strait of Melaka between 670 and 1025 c.e.; absorbed various cultural influences from India

Madjapahit

A significant Southeast Asian state that assimilated Hindu religious ideas. It was located on the island of Java and was at the peak of its power in the fourteenth century

Angkor Wat

The largest religious structure in the premodern world, this temple was built by the powerful Angkor kingdom; It was later used by Buddhists

Abbasid Caliphate

An Arab dynasty of caliphs who governed much of the Islamic world from its capital in Baghdad; became fragmented until overthrown by Mongols

Seljuk Turkic Empire

An Islamic empire of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, centered in Persia and present-day Iraq; used sultan (ruler)

Ottoman Empire

Major Islamic state centered on Anatolia; lasted from the fourteenth to the early twentieth century

Constantinople

New capital for the eastern half of the Roman Empire; Constantinople was highly defensible and economically important ensuring the city’s cultural and strategic importance for centuries

Jizya

Special tax paid by dhimmis (protected non-muslims) in Muslim-ruled territory in return for freedom to practice their own religion

al-Andalus

Arabic name for Spain

Swahili civilization

An East African civilization that emerged as a set of commercial city-states linked into the Indian Ocean trading network; Combining African Bantu and Islamic cultural patterns

West African civilization

Important states that developed in the region stretching from the Atlantic coast to Lake Chad in response to the economic opportunities of trans-Saharan trade (especially control of gold production)

Mali

A prominent state within West African civilization; it was established in 1235 c.e. and flourished for several centuries. It monopolized the import of horses and metals in the trans-Sharan trade; it was a large-scale producer of gold; Mansa Musa pilgramige

trans-Saharan slave trade

A fairly small-scale commerce in enslaved people that flourished from exporting enslaved West Africans across the Sahara for sale in Islamic North Africa.

Timbuktu

A major commercial city of West African civilization and a noted center of Islamic scholarship and education by the sixteenth century.

Byzantine Empire

A main center of Christendom during the medieval centuries, the it was continuation ofthe eastern portion of the Roman Empire.

Ottoman seizure of Constantinople

The city of Constantinople fell to the army of the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II “the Conqueror” in 1453, an event that marked the end of Christian Byzantium

Kievan Rus

A culturally diverse Russian civilization that adopted Eastern Orthodox Christianity in the tenth

Eastern Orthodox Christianity

Branch of Christianity that developed in the eastern part of the Roman Empire and gradually separated from the branch of Christianity dominant in Western Europe; noted for a sharp rejection of the authority of Roman popes

Western Christendom

Western European branch of Christianity, aka Roman Catholicism; characterized by its relative independence from the state and its recognition of the authority of the pope.

Feudalism

A highly fragmented and decentralized society where the power was held by the landowning warrior elite.

Roman Catholic Church

A Western European branch of Christianity. Western Christendom was centered on the pope as the ultimate authority in matters of doctrine but, the Church struggled to remain independent of established political authorities.

European Renaissance

A “rebirth” of classical learning that is most often associated with the cultural blossoming of Italy and Northern Europe in the period 1350–1500 that had major developments in art, as well as growing secularism in society.

Maya Civilization

A major civilization of Mesoamerica known for the most elaborate writing system in the Americas and other intellectual and artistic achievements

Aztec Empire

Major state that developed in what is now Mexico in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; dominated by the semi-nomadic Mexica, who had migrated into the region from northern Mexico

Inca Empire

The Western Hemisphere’s largest imperial state in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.