European, East Asian, and Gunpowder Empires Expand

Vocabulary terms covering the rise and expansion of land-based gunpowder empires, European political developments, and early Russian territorial growth between 1450 and 1750.

Gunpowder Empires

Large, multiethnic states in Southwest, Central, and South Asia that relied on firearms to conquer and control territories between 1450 and 1750, specifically including the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires.

Suleiman the Magnificent

Ruler of the Ottoman Empire at its height (1494–1566) who declared religious worship the happiest of all practices and personally led Ottoman armies to conquer Christian strongholds in Belgrade, Rhodes, and Hungary.

Armed trade

A practice during empire expansion where different empires traded with one another while keeping troops and armaments at the ready in case their right to trade was questioned.

1450

The year traditionally signifying the ending of the medieval period and the beginning of the early modern period.

Gutenberg printing press

A mid-1400s European invention whose introduction was followed by an increase in literacy across Europe.

New monarchies

European rulers in the 1500s—such as the Tudors in England, the Valois in France, and Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in Spain—who centralized power by controlling taxes, the military, and aspects of religion.

Ivan IV

The Russian ruler (ruled 1547–1584) known as Ivan the Terrible, who was crowned tsar in 1547 and expanded the Russian border eastward into lands held by the descendants of the Golden Horde.

Golden Horde

The Mongolian conquerors whose descendants held the khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia prior to their capture by Ivan IV.

Stroganovs

Major Russian landowners permitted by Ivan IV to hire Cossacks to fight local tribes and the Siberian khan in order to gain control of the Volga fur trade.

Cossacks

Bands of fierce peasant warriors hired by the Stroganovs to fight local tribes and the Siberian khan during Russia's eastward expansion.