WHAP Unit 4 Vocab

Acceptance of Jews in Ottoman

•  The Ottoman Empire, especially under Sultan Bayezid II, offered refuge to Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal in the late 15th century. Significance: This created a diverse population within the empire and brought important skills (trade, finance) to major cities like Istanbul and Salonika, contrasting with religious persecution in parts of Europe.

Ana Nzinga’s resistance

• Ruler of the Ndongo and Matamba kingdoms in south-central Africa in the 17th century. She spent decades resisting Portuguese colonization and the slave trade, strategically forming alliances and leading her forces in warfare. Significance: She is a powerful symbol of African resistance against European encroachment and the slave trade.

Asante

• A powerful and highly centralized kingdom that emerged in West Africa (modern-day Ghana) during the 17th century. Its wealth came primarily from gold mining and the trade of enslaved people. Significance: A major force in the Gold Coast, it was an example of a sophisticated, centralized African state that actively participated in—and was shaped by—the Atlantic trade system.

Astronomical charts

•  Maps of the stars and constellations. Significance: Along with the compass and astrolabe, these were crucial navigational tools that allowed European sailors to determine their location at sea with greater accuracy, making long-distance maritime exploration and trade possible.

Atahualpa

•  The last Sapa Inca (emperor) of the Inca Empire, defeated and executed by Francisco Pizarro in 1533. Significance: His capture and death marked the fall of the Inca Empire to the Spanish, despite the Spanish being vastly outnumbered.

Atlantic system

• A complex system of trade and travel spanning the Atlantic Ocean, involving the movement of goods, wealth, labor (enslaved Africans), and cultures among Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Significance: It was the largest integrated system of the period, responsible for the vast movement of people (mainly forced migration through the Middle Passage) and the rise of European maritime empires.

Aztec Empire

• A large and powerful Mesoamerican empire based in Tenochtitlan (modern-day Mexico City), overthrown by Hernán Cortés and his allies in 1521. Significance: Its immense wealth and sophisticated political/social structure made its conquest a key event, providing the Spanish with vast new territories and resources (gold and silver).

Bartolomé de las Casas

• A Spanish Dominican friar and historian who became one of the first critics of the brutal mistreatment of indigenous people in the Americas by Spanish encomenderos. Significance: His writings, such as A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, helped inspire the New Laws of 1542, which limited the encomienda system, and provided a moral critique of colonial practices.

Capitalism

•  An economic system characterized by private ownership of the means of production, the goal of profit, and the operation of markets driven by supply and demand. Significance: The vast wealth generated by the Atlantic system and new financial tools (like joint-stock companies) led to the development of early global capitalism, primarily centered in Western Europe.

Caravel

•  A small, highly maneuverable sailing ship developed by the Portuguese in the 15th century. It featured a lateen (triangular) sail. Significance: Its speed and ability to sail against the wind made it essential for the long-distance voyages of exploration by the Portuguese and Spanish.

Carrack

• A large, three- or four-masted sailing ship developed in 15th-century Europe. It had a mix of square and lateen sails. Significance: It was ideal for long-distance trade, offering high cargo capacity and sturdiness for intercontinental travel, used by Columbus and others.

Casta System

• A rigid social hierarchy in Spanish America, based on race and racial mixing, established to maintain control and privilege for those born in Spain (peninsulares) and their descendants born in the Americas (criollos). Significance: It defined the political, economic, and social standing of individuals based on their perceived racial purity and parentage (e.g., mestizo, mulatto), institutionalizing racial inequality.

Charter Companies

• Businesses granted special privileges by European monarchs, often a monopoly on trade in a specific geographic area. Examples include the British East India Company. Significance: They became key tools for European powers to fund and manage overseas trade, exploration, and colonization without the crown bearing all the risk.

Chattel slavery

• A system where enslaved people are treated as personal property that can be bought, sold, and inherited. This system was race-based and perpetual. Significance: This became the dominant form of labor in the plantation economies of the Americas (especially the Caribbean and Brazil), driving the massive forced migration of the Middle Passage.

Christopher Columbus

 An Italian explorer funded by Spain who made four voyages across the Atlantic, beginning in 1492, landing in the Caribbean. Significance: His voyages are traditionally credited with initiating the sustained contact between the "Old World" (Europe, Africa, Asia) and the "New World" (the Americas), starting the Columbian Exchange and the age of European colonization.

Columbian Exchange

• The massive, intercontinental exchange of plants, animals, diseases, technologies, and cultures between the Americas and the rest of the world following 1492. Significance: It fundamentally reshaped global populations (both positively through new foods like potatoes and negatively through the Great Dying) and global agricultural practices.

Compass

• A navigational instrument that uses a magnetic needle to indicate the direction of magnetic north. Significance: Along with the astrolabe and improved cartography, this Chinese invention was crucial for determining direction at sea, enabling European sailors to navigate the globe.

Conquistadors

•  Spanish soldiers and explorers, such as Cortés and Pizarro, who led the conquests of the Americas in the 16th century. Significance: They were instrumental in the violent destruction of the Aztec and Inca Empires, establishing Spanish colonial rule and securing vast mineral wealth.

Cossack Revolts

•  Rebellions led by the _________ (fierce, independent warriors/farmers living on the Russian frontier) against the expanding authority of the Russian Tsardom, particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries (e.g., Pugachev's Rebellion). Significance: These revolts demonstrated the difficulties the Tsardom faced in controlling its vast, diverse territory and the resistance of marginalized groups to state centralization and serfdom.

Creole

•  In Spanish America, a person of full Spanish descent who was born in the Americas. Significance: They formed the dominant landowning and professional class in the colonies, second only to the peninsulares in the Casta System. Their secondary status relative to the peninsulares would eventually fuel independence movements.

Encomienda systems

•  A Spanish labor system where a colonist was granted responsibility over a specified number of native laborers, whom he could force to work in exchange for protection and conversion to Christianity. Significance: This system, established in the early 16th century, was a primary means of extracting labor and resources from the Americas and was often characterized by extreme brutality, leading to high indigenous mortality.

Expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal

•  Decrees forcing all practicing Jews to convert to Catholicism or leave the Iberian Peninsula. Significance: This event enriched the financial and cultural life of places that accepted them (like the Ottoman Empire and parts of Holland) and was a major example of religious intolerance and state-enforced uniformity in Europe.

Fluyt

• A Dutch sailing vessel, optimized for cargo transport, developed in the late 16th century. It was cheaper to build and required a smaller crew. Significance: It was a major factor in the rise of the Dutch as the dominant commercial shipping power of the 17th century, enabling them to transport huge quantities of goods efficiently.

Fransisco Pizzaro

•  Spanish conquistador who led the conquest of the Inca Empire beginning in 1532. Significance: Responsible for the destruction of the Inca Empire and the seizure of its vast silver and gold wealth, especially the discovery of the Potosí silver mine.

Fronde

•  A series of civil wars (1648–1653) in France, sparked by the French nobility and Parliament against the increasing centralization of royal power under Cardinal Mazarin (acting for the young King Louis XIV). Significance: The failure of the Fronde discredited the nobility and solidified Louis XIV's commitment to absolute monarchy, laying the foundation for his long reign as the "Sun King."

Gender and family restructuring in Africa

The severe demographic imbalance caused by the slave trade (which disproportionately removed men) led to African societies making changes to gender roles and marriage practices. Significance: In some regions, this resulted in polygyny (men having multiple wives) becoming more common, and women taking on traditionally male roles in agriculture or trade.

Gold coast

• A region of West Africa (modern-day Ghana) famous for its plentiful gold resources, which were traded with North Africa and later with Europeans. Significance: It was the epicenter of European trade in West Africa, first for gold and later as a major departure point for the Atlantic slave trade, leading to the rise of powerful states like the Asante.

Great Dying

• The catastrophic demographic collapse of indigenous populations in the Americas, primarily due to exposure to Eurasian diseases (like smallpox and measles) brought by Europeans, against which they had no immunity. Significance: The mortality rate (up to 90% in some areas) created a severe labor shortage, which the Europeans sought to fill through the implementation of chattel slavery imported from Africa.

Henry the Navigator

• A Portuguese prince (1394–1460) who was not an explorer himself but sponsored many of the early Portuguese voyages of exploration along the coast of Africa. Significance: His patronage and establishment of a school for navigation were critical to Portugal’s early lead in maritime exploration and the establishment of its trading post empire.

Hernan Cortes

•  Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that conquered the Aztec Empire in 1521. Significance: His victory gave Spain control over a vast, wealthy territory (New Spain/Mexico), securing immense gold and silver reserves for the Spanish crown.

Inca mit’a labor system

•  A system of required public service labor in the Inca Empire, where people worked on state projects like building roads or mining for a set period. Significance: The Spanish adapted (co-opted) this pre-existing system, particularly at the Potosí silver mine, turning it into a coercive, deadly labor system to extract silver for the Spanish crown.

Indentured Servitude

•  A labor system where an individual signs a contract to work for a fixed number of years (usually 4–7) in exchange for passage to the New World, food, and shelter. Significance: It was a primary source of labor for early British colonies in North America before chattel slavery became the dominant system.

Indian Ocean Asian merchants

• Swahili Arabs, Omanis, Gujaratis, Javanese: Powerful and established traders who maintained their trading networks in the Indian Ocean. Significance: Despite the arrival of heavily armed European powers like the Portuguese, these merchants continued to dominate trade flows in the Indian Ocean, forcing Europeans to participate in the established system rather than control it completely.

Iroquois Confederacy

• A powerful alliance of five (later six) distinct Native American nations in the New York State region. Significance: They were a crucial and powerful political and military force that played a strategic role, often pitting the competing French and British colonies against one another in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Joint-stock Companies

• Businesses where investors pool their capital (money) to finance large-scale projects, such as voyages or colonies, and share both the profits and the losses. Significance: This financial innovation minimized risk for individual investors and was essential to funding large colonial and trading ventures (like the British East India Company and the Virginia Company).

Kangxi

•  One of the greatest emperors of the Qing Dynasty (ruled 1661–1722). He oversaw a period of stability, prosperity, and massive territorial expansion into Central Asia (Tibet, Mongolia). Significance: He solidified Qing rule over China, maintained Chinese cultural institutions, and supervised a vast, efficient imperial system.

Kingdom of the Kongo

• A major Bantu kingdom in central Africa (modern-day Angola and DRC). It established early contact with the Portuguese in the late 15th century. Significance: Initially a diplomatic partner with Portugal, it was later undermined by the insatiable Portuguese demand for enslaved people, leading to its eventual decline and decentralization.

Lateen sail

• A triangular sail developed in the Indian Ocean, mounted at an angle to the mast. Significance: This design allowed ships to sail effectively against the wind (tacking), a revolutionary feature adopted by European vessels like the caravel, making oceanic exploration possible.

Manchus

•  A semi-nomadic people from Manchuria (northeast China) who successfully invaded China and established the Qing Dynasty in 1644, overthrowing the Ming. Significance: They ruled China until 1912, forming the largest imperial dynasty in Chinese history, preserving Chinese culture while simultaneously imposing some Manchurian customs.

Maratha Conflict with Mughals

• A protracted struggle in the late 17th and early 18th centuries between the Hindu ________ Empire and the Muslim _______ Empire in India. Significance: The rising Maratha power severely weakened the already declining Mughal state, fragmenting central authority and making the region vulnerable to later British expansion.

Maroon societies in the Caribbean and Brazil

Communities of runaway enslaved people who successfully established independent, self-governing settlements, often in remote, mountainous, or swampy areas. Significance: They represent a form of direct resistance to chattel slavery and often posed a military threat to colonial authorities, sometimes forcing them to sign peace treaties (e.g., in Jamaica).

Mercantilism

• The prevailing economic theory in Europe during the 16th to 18th centuries. It held that a nation's wealth was finite (measured by the amount of silver and gold it possessed), and a state should maximize its wealth by exporting more than it imports and by establishing colonies to provide raw materials and closed markets. Significance: It was the primary driver of the establishment of colonies and led to numerous trade wars between European powers.

Mestizo

• A term used in the Casta System for a person of mixed European and Indigenous American descent. Significance: They formed a growing, intermediary social group in the Spanish colonies, above pure indigenous peoples and enslaved Africans, but below creoles and peninsulares.

Metacom’s War (King Philip’s War)

• A major conflict (1675–1678) between the indigenous inhabitants of southern New England, led by the Wampanoag leader _______ (called King Philip by the English), and the English colonists. Significance: It was the last major effort by Native Americans to drive the English out of New England. The defeat resulted in the virtual disappearance of Native American independence in the region.

Ming China

• The Chinese dynasty that ruled from 1368 to 1644, characterized by massive state projects (Great Wall), internal stability, and cultural flourishing. Significance: It oversaw the integration of the global silver trade (due to a silver-based tax system) and famously launched massive maritime voyages (Zheng He) before adopting a policy of increased isolation.

Moctezuma II

• The last emperor of the Aztec Empire before its ultimate collapse. He was taken captive by Hernán Cortés in 1520. Significance: His hesitation and ultimate failure to repel the Spanish invasion led to the downfall of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan.

Moroccan Conflict with Songhai Empire

• In 1591, the Sultan of Morocco launched an invasion of the powerful Songhai Empire (West Africa), seeking to control the lucrative Trans-Saharan gold trade. Significance: The Moroccans, despite using muskets and cannon, defeated the Songhai, but the victory was short-lived. The conflict destroyed the Songhai Empire, causing political fragmentation in West Africa and shifting trade routes towards the Atlantic coast.

New France

• The area colonized by France in North America, centered primarily around the St. Lawrence River (Quebec) and the Great Lakes, extending down the Mississippi River (Louisiana). Significance: Unlike the British, the French focused more on fur trade and established cooperative (though often tense) relationships with Native Americans, leading to a smaller, less demographically dense colony.

North American Slave Resistance

• Various forms of resistance by enslaved people in British North America, ranging from subtle acts (breaking tools, feigning illness) to overt, large-scale revolts (e.g., the Stono Rebellion of 1739). Significance: This resistance constantly challenged the institution of slavery and forced colonial authorities to enact harsher, more restrictive slave codes.

Ottoman Timars

• A system where the Ottoman Sultan granted land revenues to individuals, usually military cavalry, in exchange for their service as soldiers and administrators. Significance: This provided a basis for the Ottoman military's powerful cavalry and ensured local administration and taxation, though the system declined and became corrupt as the centralized state weakened.

Plantation System

• An agricultural system, dominant in the Americas (especially the Caribbean and Brazil), focused on large-scale production of a single cash crop (sugar, tobacco, cotton) using a highly efficient, labor-intensive method. Significance: Its immense labor demands led directly to the establishment and massive scale of chattel slavery in the Americas.

Potosi Mine

•  The largest and most famous silver mine in the world, located in the Andes Mountains (modern-day Bolivia). Discovered in 1545. Significance: Its staggering output of silver, mined primarily through the brutal Inca mit’a system, fueled the Spanish economy, funded its wars, and became a crucial commodity in the emerging global trade network (especially in China).

Pueblo Revolts (1680)

• An uprising of the Native people against the Spanish colonizers in New Mexico. The revolt was successful in driving the Spanish completely out of the region for over a decade. Significance: It was one of the most successful and longest-lasting indigenous revolts against European colonization in North America, highlighting the resistance to forced assimilation and religious conversion.

Qing Dynasty

• The last imperial dynasty of China, founded by the Manchus in 1644 after they overthrew the Ming. Significance: They expanded China's territory significantly, maintained political stability, and managed the Chinese economy through a time of massive population growth.

Restrictive policies against Han Chinese in Qing China

•  Policies enacted by the Manchu rulers to maintain their separate identity and political control over the majority Han population. Examples include forcing Han men to wear the queue (manchu hairstyle) and limiting Han entry into certain government positions. Significance: These policies were forms of ethnic-based discrimination and state control, though the Manchus also adopted many Han cultural elements to solidify their rule.

Russian Boyars

• The old noble, land-owning class in Russia who held high positions in government and the military. Significance: They clashed with the increasing authority of the Tsars, especially Ivan IV ("the Terrible") and later Peter the Great, who sought to centralize power and modernize the state, often at the boyars' expense.

The Middle Passage

The brutal voyage across the Atlantic that forcibly transported enslaved Africans to the Americas. It was the middle leg of the Triangle Trade. Significance: Characterized by horrific conditions, disease, and high mortality rates, it was the central process by which 10–12 million people were brought to the Americas, establishing race-based chattel slavery.

Tokugawa Japan

• The period (1603–1868) when Japan was ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate. Significance: The Shogunate imposed a policy of strict isolationism (limiting European contact to the port of Nagasaki), suppressed Christianity, and maintained internal stability and peace, freezing Japan’s social structure for over two centuries.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

• An agreement mediated by the Pope that divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between the two major maritime powers: Portugal and Spain. Spain received lands to the west of a line (most of the Americas), and Portugal received lands to the east (Brazil and all of the trade routes to Africa and India). Significance: This treaty established the political and cultural geography of South America (the reason Brazil speaks Portuguese) and accelerated both nations' colonial endeavors.

Triangle Trade

•  A three-way pattern of commerce in the Atlantic: European goods (e.g., textiles, guns, rum) went to Africa; enslaved Africans went to the Americas (the Middle Passage); and American raw materials (e.g., sugar, tobacco, silver) went to Europe. Significance: This vast, interconnected network was the economic backbone of the Atlantic system, driving wealth to Europe while sustaining the horrors of the slave trade.