Unit 3.2 Empires Expand AMSCO Vocabulary

Divine Right of Kings

A common claim from the middle ages that the right to rule was given by God; made the king political and religious authority; England’s king James I and France’s king Louis XIV used this to justify their rule

Justice of the Peace

In England, the Tudors (ruled 1485-1603) relied on this; officials selected by landed gentry (landowning gentry class) maintained peace in the countries of England; even settled some legal matters; carried out the monarch’s laws; their number and responsibility increased throughout the years of Tudor rule.

English Bill of Rights

In 1689, England’s rulers William and Mary signed this document; gave individual civil liberties like requiring the legal process before arresting and ddetainment; guaranteed protection against tyranny of monarchy by requiring the agreement of Parliament on matters of taxation and raising an army

Absolutism

Directed by one single source of power (the king); in contrast to England, the French government practiced this

Tax Farmers

Also called intendants; bureaucratic elites sent out to the provinces to execute the orders of the central government; oversaw the collection of various taxes in support of the royal governments

Louis XIV

Ruled 1643-1715; supported a theory of Divine Right; wanted absolute power and to expand French borders; his and his successors’ refusal to share power eventually weakened the French government

Boyars

The noble landowning class in the Russian Empire; stood at the top of the social pyramid

Serfdom

When peasants recieved a plot of land to work on and protection from a noble in exchange for being bound to that land and having very little freedom

Ivan IV

Russian Tsar that ruled from 1533-1547; the Boyars of Novogrod opposed his expansionist policies, so he punished them; wanted to keep an eye on the nobility, so he started a paramilitary force loyal to him called oprichnina (taken from lower-level bureaucrats and merchants to make sure they were loyal)

Romanov Dynasty

Took control of Russia in 1613 after a period of turmoil following Ivan’s death in 1584; autocratic control; 3 groups had conflict: the church (wanted to hold onto traditional values), boyars (wanted to gain and hold power), and members of the tsar’s royal family (also wanted power)

Janissaries

Most famous group of Christian boys who were subjects of the empire and were recruited by force to serve in the Ottoman government; were taken in exchange for their family’s religious freedom; developed from slavery in the empire; to ensure control over large areas, Ottoman sultans used a selection system called Devshirme to staff their military and government

Daimyo

Landholding aristocrats in Japan; Conflict between them put Japan in disarray; each had an army of warriors (samurai); wanted to conquer more territory and had the power to rule his fiefdoms, samurai had significant economic power because they were paid well; gunpowder helped a series of three of them gradually unify Japan

Period of Great Peace

Japan in the mid 19th century; Oda Nobunaga was armed with muskets purchased by Portuguese trades, he and his samurai took over Kyoto in 1568, he expanded his power to daimyo in the lands around Kyoto and forced them to submit, unified about a third of what is Japan today, his successor was Toyotomi Hideyoshi and he continued expanding the territory until he controlled most of Japan, the center of power shifted to the city of Edo (Tokyo) controlled by the daimyo Tokugawa Ieyasu (ruled 1600-1616) and was declared shogun (military ruler) in 1603, his successors continued to rule Japan into the mid 19th century

Tokugawa Shogunate

Hereditary dictatorship in Japan; set about reorganizing the governance of Japan in order to centralize control over what was essentially a feudal system; Japan was divided into 250 hans (territories), each of which was controlled by a daimyo who had his own army, but had to maintain residences in both his home territory and the capital, keeping the daimyo under control of the shogunate, reducing them to landlords rather than independent leaders

Zamindars

Paid government officials in the Mughal Empire that were in charge of specific duties like taxation, water supply, and construction; later, they were given land and allowed to keep a portion of taxes collected on that land; after Akbar, they began to keep more and more of the taxes for themselves to build personal armies

Asika the Great

Asila Mohammad I; came to power on 1493, claims his predecessor, Sunni ali, was not a faithful Muslim; promoted Islam throughout his leadership; Songhai became the largest kingdom in its day in West Africa; made Islam Songhai’s official religion in an attempt to unite the empire; legitimized his rule through Islam and bureaucracy

Taj Mahal

Mughal India promoted a number of architectural accomplishments, including one built by Shah Jahan (ruled 1628-1658) as a tomb for his wife; rulers also beautified Delhi and had forts built; craftspeople and builders combined the arts of Islam (calligraphy, illumination of manuscripts, and ceramics) with local arts to create structures with decorative geometric designs, all these accomplishments showed the power of the rulers