Key Concepts in World History (c. 1200–Present)

Imperial

Relating to an empire; a political unit ruled by an emperor or monarch, often over multiple territories or cultures.

Bureaucracy

A system of managing government through departments run by appointed officials, crucial in maintaining state power.

Decentralized

Power distributed among local rulers or regions rather than concentrated in a central authority.

Artisanal

Goods made by skilled manual workers, often in small-scale workshops, important in pre-industrial economies.

Manufactured

Goods produced in larger quantities, sometimes with division of labor, but before full mechanization.

Song Dynasty

Chinese dynasty (960-1279) known for economic prosperity, strong bureaucracy, Neo-Confucianism, and technological innovation.

Confucianism

A Chinese ethical and philosophical system emphasizing hierarchy, filial piety, and order, key to imperial China.

Filial Piety

Respect for one's parents and ancestors; a key value in Confucianism and Chinese society.

Champa Rice

A fast-growing, drought-resistant rice variety from Vietnam that boosted agricultural productivity in China.

Porcelain

High-quality ceramic developed in China, widely traded on Silk Roads and a symbol of Chinese luxury goods.

Abbasid Caliphate

A major Islamic empire (750-1258) that oversaw a golden age of learning, culture, and trade centered in Baghdad.

Turkic

Relating to nomadic peoples of Central Asia, many of whom converted to Islam and played major roles in Islamic empires.

Sultanate

A state ruled by a sultan, such as the Delhi Sultanate in India, which spread Islam through conquest and culture.

House of Wisdom

An academic center in Baghdad where scholars from different cultures translated and preserved classical knowledge.

Zimbabwe

A powerful East African kingdom known for trade and large stone structures like Great Zimbabwe, involved in Indian Ocean trade.

Feudalism

A system where land was exchanged for military service and loyalty, dominant in medieval Europe and Japan.

Manorialism

The economic system of the feudal era; peasants worked land owned by a lord in exchange for protection.

Coerced Labor

Work performed under threat or force, including slavery, serfdom, and tribute labor systems.

Serfdom

A type of coerced labor in which peasants are tied to the land and serve a lord in exchange for protection.

Buddhism

A religion founded in India focused on ending suffering through the Eightfold Path and achieving enlightenment.

Mahayana

A branch of Buddhism emphasizing compassion and the role of bodhisattvas; spread widely in East Asia.

Theravada

The oldest form of Buddhism, focused on monastic life and meditation, dominant in Southeast Asia.

Hinduism

A major Indian religion emphasizing dharma (duty), karma, reincarnation, and a pantheon of gods.

Bhakti

A devotional movement within Hinduism emphasizing personal connection to a deity, transcending caste distinctions.

Monasticism

Religious practice of living apart from society in a monastery to focus on spiritual goals; found in Buddhism and Christianity.

Judaism

A monotheistic religion originating in the Middle East with the Torah as its foundational text.

Christianity

A monotheistic religion based on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, focused on salvation and eternal life.

Islam

A monotheistic religion founded by Muhammad, emphasizing the Five Pillars and the Quran.

Sufism

A mystical Islamic belief system focused on direct experience with God, often spread through missionary work.

Missionaries

Individuals sent to promote and spread their religion, often accompanying empires or trade networks.

Commercial

Related to trade and business; describes the growing interregional commerce during this period.

Camel Saddle

A seat used on camels that enabled more efficient long-distance travel across the Sahara and Silk Roads.

Caravan

A group of travelers (often merchants) journeying together for safety, commonly used in trans-Saharan and Silk Road trade.

Caravanserai

Roadside inns along trade routes like the Silk Roads where travelers and animals could rest and resupply.

Credit

A financial arrangement where merchants could buy goods and pay later, facilitating long-distance trade.

Textiles

Woven fabrics, often luxury goods like silk and cotton, that were major items of trade along interregional networks.

Khanates

The regional kingdoms of the Mongol Empire after its fragmentation (e.g., Yuan, Ilkhanate, Golden Horde, Chagatai).

Astrolabe

A navigational instrument used to determine latitude by measuring the stars; crucial to Indian Ocean navigation.

Compass

A navigational tool, first developed in China, that allowed sailors to determine direction, revolutionizing sea travel.

Diaspora

The dispersion of people from their original homeland; often refers to merchant communities spreading religion and culture.

Indigenous

Native peoples or cultures existing in a region prior to colonization or conquest.

Monsoon

Seasonal wind patterns that allowed sailors to travel efficiently across the Indian Ocean, facilitating trade.

Epidemic

A widespread outbreak of disease; epidemics like the Black Death had major demographic and economic effects.

Bills of Exchange

Paper notes promising future payment; an early form of credit that helped merchants conduct trade across distances.

Banking House

Institutions that developed to support long-distance trade, providing loans, credit, and currency exchange.

Silk Roads

A network of land-based trade routes connecting China, the Middle East, and Europe, facilitating the exchange of goods, culture, and disease.

Porcelain

High-quality Chinese ceramic traded across Eurasia, representing wealth and Chinese craftsmanship.

Uyghur Script

A writing system adopted by the Mongols for administrative purposes, reflecting cultural syncretism.

Arabic Numerals

A numerical system developed in India and adopted by Muslims, later spread to Europe, facilitating commerce and science.

City-State

An independent, self-governing city and its surrounding territory, common in places like East Africa and Southeast Asia.

Ming Dynasty

Chinese dynasty (1368-1644) that restored Han Chinese rule after the Mongols and emphasized traditional Confucian values.

Admiral Zheng He

A Chinese Muslim explorer who led massive maritime expeditions during the Ming Dynasty, projecting Chinese power.

Trans-Saharan

A trade route across the Sahara Desert connecting sub-Saharan Africa to the Mediterranean world, key to the spread of Islam and goods like gold and salt.

Mali

A wealthy West African empire known for its control of trans-Saharan trade routes and leaders like Mansa Musa.

Sub-Saharan

Refers to the region of Africa south of the Sahara Desert, with distinct cultures and trade networks.

Champa Rice

A fast-ripening rice imported from Vietnam, which greatly increased food production in China during this era.

Gunpowder

A Chinese invention that spread along trade routes and transformed warfare globally.

Urbanization

The growth of cities as centers of commerce, culture, and government, accelerated by trade networks.

Tax Farming

A system where governments outsourced tax collection to private individuals who kept a portion of the taxes, used by empires like the Ottomans.

Tribute

Payments made by one state or ruler to another, often to show submission or gain protection (e.g., Ming Dynasty's tributary system).

Protestant

A branch of Christianity that broke away from the Catholic Church during the Reformation, rejecting papal authority.

Catholic

Refers to the Roman Catholic Church, dominant in Europe before the Reformation and a central figure in religious conflicts.

Usury

The practice of charging interest on loans, historically condemned by the Catholic Church but eventually adopted in modern banking.

Indulgences

Payments to the Catholic Church to reduce punishment for sins, a major cause of the Protestant Reformation.

Sunni

The largest branch of Islam, believing that the community should select its leaders; often contrasted with Shi'a Islam.

Shi'a

A branch of Islam believing leadership should stay within the Prophet Muhammad's family, especially the line of Ali.

Sikhism

A syncretic religion founded in South Asia combining elements of Islam and Hinduism, emphasizing monotheism and equality.

Banners

Military units in the Qing dynasty made up of Manchu families, crucial in maintaining control over China.

Queue Hairstyle

A forced hairstyle for Han Chinese men under the Qing dynasty, symbolizing submission to Manchu rule.

Tsar

Title of the Russian emperor, derived from 'Caesar,' indicating imperial authority.

Boyar

Russian nobles who held land and power; often in conflict with centralizing tsars like Ivan the Terrible.

Cossack

Independent warriors on the frontiers of Russia and Central Asia, often serving the tsars in military roles.

Westernization

The adoption of Western European culture, technology, and institutions; seen in Peter the Great's reforms in Russia.

Hagia Sophia

A grand Byzantine church in Constantinople that was turned into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453.

Devshirme

A system where the Ottoman Empire took Christian boys from the Balkans to be trained as elite soldiers or administrators.

Janissary

Elite Ottoman soldiers, often recruited through the devshirme system, loyal to the sultan.

Millet

Religious communities in the Ottoman Empire that were allowed a degree of self-governance under Islamic law.

Alhambra Decree

1492 edict by Spain ordering the expulsion of Jews who refused to convert to Christianity.

Miniatures

Small, detailed paintings used in Islamic empires like the Safavids and Mughals to display imperial power.

Divine Faith

An attempted syncretic religion by Mughal emperor Akbar to unify his diverse empire, blending elements of multiple religions.

Taj Mahal

A mausoleum built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife; reflects Mughal architectural and artistic achievement.

Mausoleum

A grand tomb, often for royalty or nobility; the Taj Mahal is a famous example.

Zamindars

Local landowners in the Mughal Empire who collected taxes and governed in rural areas.

Marathas

Hindu warriors in India who challenged Mughal authority and contributed to the empire's decline.

Renaissance

A cultural revival in Europe emphasizing humanism, classical learning, and the arts, beginning in Italy in the 1300s.

Divine Right

A belief that monarchs rule by God's will, used to justify absolute monarchy in Europe.

Maritime

Related to the sea; maritime empires like Portugal, Spain, and England relied on sea-based exploration and trade.

Caravel

A small, fast, and maneuverable ship developed by the Portuguese, ideal for long voyages across the Atlantic and along African coasts.

Trading Post

A settlement or fort established primarily for trade; often used by European empires along African and Asian coasts.

Northwest Passage

A hypothesized sea route from Europe to Asia through North America; sought by explorers to find a faster route to Asian markets.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants, animals, people, technologies, and diseases between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia following European exploration.

Eastern Hemisphere

Includes Europe, Asia, and Africa; exchanged goods and technologies with the Americas during the Columbian Exchange.

Western Hemisphere

Includes the Americas; received new animals, diseases, and crops from Afro-Eurasia during the Columbian Exchange.

Smallpox

A deadly disease brought by Europeans to the Americas, which caused massive population decline among Indigenous peoples.

Plantations

Large-scale farms, especially in the Americas, that used coerced labor (enslaved Africans or indentured servants) to grow cash crops.

Tokugawa

A Japanese shogunate (1603-1868) that enforced isolation (sakoku), centralized power, and maintained peace for over two centuries.

Encomienda

A Spanish colonial labor system where Spanish settlers were granted control over Indigenous people for forced labor.

Hacienda

A large estate in Spanish America where Indigenous or enslaved people worked, similar to a plantation.

Indentured Servant

A laborer who agreed to work for a period of years in exchange for passage to the Americas; common before African slavery became dominant.

Chattel Slavery

A system where enslaved people were treated as property, passed from one generation to the next; central to the Atlantic economy.