Unit 1 Vocab

AP world

Song Dynasty

A Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 960 to 1279.

Grand Canal

An economically vital series of waterways that linked the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers.

Champa Rice

Quick-maturing, drought resistant crop that could allow for two harvests per growing season.

Tributary System

The form for conducting diplomatic and trade relations with China before the fall of the Ch'ing dynasty in 1911.

Kowtow

The act of deep respect shown by kneeling and bowing so low as to have one's head touching the ground.

Scholar Gentry

Used to describe members of China's landowning families, reflecting their wealth from the land and the privilege that they derived as government officials.

Foot Binding

Used to make women's feet stay small.

Zen Buddhism

Enlightenment is achieved through the profound realization that one is already an enlightened being.

Filial Piety

Central virtue that emphasizes love, respect, and support for one's parents and ancestors.

Neo- Confucianism

Revival of Confucian teaching during the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty and a subsequent study of Confucianism with aspects of Buddhism and Taoism.

Sinification

Assimilation or spread of Chinese culture.

House of Wisdom

Center of learning, transfer knowledge throughout Afro-Eurasia.

Hijab

Head cover worn by Muslim women.

Swahili

Bantu-speaking people of the East African coast, living in towns and villages.

Battle of Tours

Rare defeat for Islamic military.

People of the Book

A non-Muslim living under the protection of a Muslim state.

Delhi Sultanate

Muslim kingdom that ruled parts of India from the 13th to 16th centuries.

Jizya

Yearly tax against non-Muslim residents of an Islamic country.

Proselytize

To recruit or convert to a new faith.

Caste System

Set of rigid social categories that determine a person's position in society.

Qutub Minar

Highest stone tower in India.

Bhakti Movement

Movement in southern India that focused on developing a strong attachment to a deity.

Angkor Wat

Temple complex of the Khmer Empire.

Cahokia

Ancient settlement of southern Indians.

Matrilineal Society

Kinship system in which ancestral decent is traced through maternal instead of paternal lines.

City-State

Political system consisting of an independent city.

Tenochtitlan

Capital of the Aztec Empire

Great Pyramid

Large, stone monument used as a burial place for a king.

Chinampas

Raised field constructed along lake shores in Mesoamerica to increase agricultural yields.

Theocracy

System of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god.

Pochteca

Professional merchants in the Aztec Empire whose wealth often elevated them to elite status.

Mit’a System

Recruiting workers for particularly difficult and dangerous chores that free laborers would not accept.

Carpa Nan

Massive Inca roadway system

Trans-Saharan Trade

Exchange of goods across the largest desert

Hausa kingdoms

Formed seven city-states with no central authority benefited from trans-Saharan trade.

Sundiata

First ruler of the Mali Empire

Indian Ocean trade

Connected East Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia.

Great Zimbabwe

Houses out of stone, trade center, and capital of a large state

Zanj Rebellion

Enslaved East Africans on sugar plantations in Mesopotamia.

Griots/Griottes

Stories, histories, epics, and other transmitted by professional singers and storytellers well known in Africa.

Indian Ocean Slave trade

Traded East Africa to Southwest Asia, due to a strong demand in the Middle East for enslaved workers.

Feudalism

Lords gave lands to vassals in exchange for military service and loyalty.

Fiefs

Farmed by peasants who were allowed to live on the land in exchange for taxes.

Serfs

Could keep a portion of their harvests, but they sent the majority of their earnings to their lord.

Three- Field system

Crop rotation in which a field is planted with one set of crops one year, a different set in the next year, and then left fallow in the third year.

Estates General

Meeting of the three estates in France: Clergy, Nobility, and Commoners.

Magna Carta

Agreement imposed on King John to limit his power.

Great Schism

Separation of the Catholic church of the West from the Orthodox churches of the East.

First Crusade

Launched in 1095 by the Catholic pope against the forces of Islam in the holy land.

Fourth Crusade

Venetians convincing Crusaders to attack rivals of Venice rather than going to the Holy Land.