AP World - UNIT 1

Song Dynasty

Golden age of China, used a bureaucracy and the civil service exam to maintain a centralized government

Civil Service Exam

Testing based on confucianism to recruit government officials, allowed for social mobility.

Champa Rice

Fast ripening, drought resistant rice from Vietnam, caused a population explosion.

Filial Piety

Confucian core belief of honoring and obeying one’s parents and ancestors,

Grand Canal

Massive waterway connecting North and South China; made China the most commercialized economy.

Neo-Confucianism

A blend of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism; reinforced social hierarchies and patriarchy (like foot binding)

Abbasid Caliphate

Islamic empire that fragmented but remained culturally unified through trade and the Arabic language.

House of Wisdom

Library/university in Baghdad; center for preserving Greek/Indian knowledge.

Sufism

Mystical branch of Islam; helped spread Islam because it was flexible and blended with local traditions.

Delhi Sultanate

Islamic government in North India, introduced Islam to a mostly Hindu population.

Mamluk Sultanate

Slave soldiers who took control of Egypt and established their own empire.

Vijayanagara Empire

Major Hindu empire in Southern India that resisted Islamic expansion.

Srivijaya Empire:

Maritime empire in Southeast Asia got rich by taxing trade through the Strait of Malacca.

Bhakti Movement

Hindu movement focused on an emotional, personal connection to a single god; similar to Sufism.

Khmer Empire

Powerful state in modern Cambodia known for massive Hindu turned Buddhist temples.

Mexica (Aztec) Tribute System

conquered people paid the Aztecs in goods (food, humans) rather than being ruled directly.

Inca Mit’a System

Mandatory public labor tax (building roads/temples) used to unify the vast empire.

Chinampas

Aztec “floating gardens” used to feed a massive urban population

Mali Empire

Wealthy West African kingdom that controlled the Gold Salt trade, led by Mansa Musa

Great Zimbabwe

City state in Southeast Africa known for stone walls, built wealth on Indian Ocean gold trade

Ethiopia

A unique kingdom in East Africa that remained Christian despite the spread of Islam

Feudalism

Decentralized social system, land was exchanged for military service (Lords → Knights → Serfs)

Manorial System

Economic side of feudalism, self-sufficient estates where Serfs worked for protection

Serfdom

Labor system where peasants were legally tied to the land (not property, but not free)