Unit 1: The Global Tapestry, 1200-1450 Vocabulary

Comprehensive vocabulary list flashcards for AP World History Unit 1: The Global Tapestry (1200-1450).

Abbasid Caliphate

Dynasty of the Muslim empire of the caliphate that followed the Umayyad Caliphate; destroyed by the Mongol invasion in 1258.

Bantu Migrations

The spread of Bantu-speaking peoples from their homeland in what is now southern Nigeria to most of Africa.

Bhakti Movement

Hindu devotional movement that flourished in the early modern era, emphasizing music, dance, poetry, and rituals as means by which to achieve direct union with the divine.

Caste System

A rigid social system in India that gives every Indian a particular place in the social hierarchy from birth.

Champa Rice

A quick-maturing, very resistant rice that could be harvested twice in one growing season.

Civil Service Exam

A system of testing designed to select the most studious and learned candidates for appointment as bureaucrats in the Chinese government.

Crusades

A series of Christian holy wars conducted against nonbelievers.

Delhi Sultanate

A Muslim kingdom that ruled parts of India from the 13th to the 16th centuries and was an Islamic state on the outside of the Caliphate system.

Diaspora

Any movement of the citizens of a population sharing the same ethnic descent.

Ethiopia

Christian-led African kingdom that emerged in the 12th century; known for their rock hewn churches.

Feudalism

A land system in which a king owned all the land and granted tracks to nobles in exchange for military loyalty, and nobles granted parts of their land to vassals or serfs who worked the land.

Filial Piety

A Confucian virtue of respect, obedience, and care for one's parents and elderly family members.

Grand Canal

An over 1,000 mile-long transportation waterway that allowed China to be the most populous trading area in the world during the Song Dynasty.

Great Zimbabwe

A powerful state in the African interior that emerged from the growing trade in gold to the East African coast.

Hausa Kingdoms

A group of small, independent city-states in northern central Africa.

House of Wisdom

An academic center for research and translation of foreign texts that was established in Baghdad by the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun.

Imperial Bureaucracy

Large organization in China in which appointed officials carried out the policies of the empire.

Inca Empire

Largest imperial state in the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries. The empire spanned almost the entire coast of western South America.

Indian Ocean Maritime System

A trade route across the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.

Kowtow

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

Majapahit Kingdom

Buddhist Kingdom from 1293-1520 based in Java that gained power by controlling sea routes.

Mali

Trading empire that flourished in western Africa from the 13th to the 16th century and was known for its wealth.

Mamluks

Enslaved soldiers from the Abbasid era.

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

Persian mathematician; one of the most celebrated Islamic scholars.

Neo-Confucianism

The revival of Confucian teachings during the Tang and Song dynasties and a subsequent synthesis of Confucianism with aspects of Buddhism and Daoism.

Scholar Gentry

Confucian educated social class that became the most influential social class of China.

Song Dynasty

A Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 960 to 1279 that preceded the Yuan Dynasty.

Srivijaya Empire

A Hindu sea-based empire based on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia which was an important trade center.

Sufis

A mystical Muslim group that had successful missionaries. They believed they could become closer to God through prayer, fasting, and a simple life.

Swahili

Blended language that combined Bantu and Arabic languages and is still spoken today.

Syncretism

The blending of elements from more than one religion into a distinct system of worship.

Tang Dynasty

Chinese imperial dynasty which preceded the Song; one of the greatest periods of peace and prosperity in Chinese history, and it is remembered for its cultural achievements and its strong and centralized government.

Trans-Saharan Trade Routes

Networks of exchange that transformed West Africa by connecting it to the larger parts of the world.

Vijayanagara Empire

An empire in southern India between 1336 and 1646; founded by the brothers Harihara and Bukka Raya in 1336 to protect the people in the southern region from the Muslim states, or sultanates, in the north.

Angkor Wat

Temple complex of the Khmer Empire.

Cahokia

Ancient settlement of southern Indians in North America.

Carpa nan

Massive Inca roadway system.

Chinampas

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

Estates-general

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

Fiefs

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

Foot binding

Used to make women's feet stay small.

Great schism

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

Jizya

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

Magna carta

Agreement imposed on King John to limit his power.

Mit’a system

A mandatory public labor service in the Inca Empire where citizens paid taxes through rotational work instead of money to build roads, bridges, and farms.

Serfs

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

Sinification

Assimilation or spread of Chinese culture.

Tenochtitlan

Capital of the Aztec Empire.

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.

Tributary system

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