DBQ 1 prep section 1

Gunpowder Empires

Large land-based states (Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal) that used firearms and centralized bureaucracies to conquer and control territory.

Ottoman Empire

Sunni Muslim land empire that expanded using gunpowder weapons, devshirme recruitment, and elite Janissary infantry.

Safavid Empire

Shi’a Muslim empire in Persia whose religious identity led to frequent conflict with the neighboring Ottoman Empire.

Mughal Empire

Muslim empire ruling a mostly Hindu population in India, maintained through gunpowder artillery and zamindar tax collection.

Akbar

Mughal ruler who promoted religious tolerance, repealed the jizya tax, and integrated Hindus into imperial administration.

Aurangzeb

Mughal ruler who reversed policies of tolerance, reinstated the jizya, and drained state resources through military campaigns.

Maritime Empire

Sea-based empire built on naval technology, long-distance trade, and overseas colonies.

Portuguese Empire

Maritime trading-post empire that dominated Indian Ocean trade networks through armed coastal forts and the cartaz licensing system.

Spanish Empire

Transoceanic empire across the Americas and the Philippines funded by silver extraction and coerced labor systems like the mita.

Conquistadors

Spanish conquerors such as Cortés and Pizarro who toppled Indigenous empires using steel weapons, alliances, and disease.

Columbian Exchange

The global transfer of crops, animals, populations, and pathogens between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres after 1492.

Disease in the Americas

Afro-Eurasian pathogens like smallpox devastated Indigenous populations lacking biological immunity, facilitating colonization.

Mercantilism

Economic policy where nations maximized wealth and bullion by strictly controlling trade and exploiting colonial resources.

Joint-Stock Companies

Private ventures that pooled investor capital and shared risk to finance and monopolize overseas commercial expansion.

Silver Trade

Global network that moved American silver across the Atlantic to Europe and across the Pacific via the Manila Galleons to Asia.

China and Silver

Chinese tax reforms mandating payment in silver made China the primary global destination for American and Japanese silver.

Potosí

Major Andean silver-mining city that utilized coerced Indigenous labor to supply the bulk of the world's silver.