Unit 3 (Period 2: 1450-1750)

Land Based Empires

Absolutism

type of government stressing Divine Right and total control by a King

Divine Rights

the idea behind absolutism which says that God chose a specific king to rule

Edict of Nantes

issued by King Henry IV and allowed the Huguenots to practice their faith

Shah

the title a king takes in the Safavid Empire

Mughal Empire

Muslim empire ruling India from the 16th to 18th centuries

Ottoman Empire

Turkish empire in the Middle East and North Africa from 1453-1918

Ming Empire

a Chinese dynasty that ruled from 1368 to 1644, marking a period of cultural renaissance, economic prosperity, and restored Han Chinese rule after the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty.

Empiricism

the view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation

Janissaries

an elite core of eight thousand troops personally loyal to the sultan of the Ottoman Empire

Zamindars

Indian tax collectors who were assigned land from which they kept part of the revenue

Jizya

tax levied by Islamic stats on certain non-Muslim subjects (dhimmis) who were permanently residing in Muslim lands under Islamic law

Serfs

peasant agricultural laborers within the manorial system of feudalism

Cossacks

peasants recruited to migrate to newly seized lands in Russia and who combined agriculture with military conquests

Shi’ite

one of the sects of Islam whose members acknowledge the first four caliphs as the rightful successors of Muhammad

Sunni Ali

king of the Songhai Empire in sub-Saharan Africa that controlled Timbuktu in the 15th century

Imam

Person who leads prayer in a Muslim mosque

Sikhism

developed from Hinduism and may have been influenced by the Islamic mysticism known as Sufism

Heresy

an idea or belief that goes against accepted Christian belief

Inquisitions

tribunals for investigating and prosecuting charges of heresy

95 Theses

the list of grievances written by Martin Luther, which began the Reformation

Simony

buying or selling of something spiritual or closely connected with the spiritual

Indulgences

piece of paper someone could buy to be forgiven of sins

Jesuits

religious order founded in 1540 that opposed the spread of Protestantism

Henry VIII

King of England who created the Anglican Church so he could get a divorce from his wife and find another woman who could provide him with an heir

Emperor Kangxi

emperor of Qing dynasty, greatly expanded China's borders

Cardinal Richelieu

a French clergyman, nobleman, and statesman, serving as King Louis XIII's Chief Minister from 1624

Erasmus

Dutch humanist and theologian who was the leading Renaissance scholar of northern Europe

Zheng He

a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty

John Calvin

the founder of the Calvinist Church in Geneva Switzerland

Martin Luther

German monk who began Protestant Reformation with his written work, 95 Theses

Tamerlane

Timur the Lame, a Mongol Turkic ruler who invaded Central Asia and the Middle East setting the stage for the rise of the Turkic Empires