AP World History Modern Unit 4 1450-1750 (Maritime Empires)

Charters

Documents granting the right to organize settlements in an area

Mercantilism

An economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and power by strictly regulating the economy to obtain large amounts of gold and silver by selling more goods than they bought and utilizing colonies

Prince Henry the Navigator

(1394-1460) Prince of Portugal who established an observatory and school of navigation at Sagres and directed voyages that spurred the growth of Portugal's colonial empire.

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)

It was perhaps the peak of Chinese civilization with 300 years of peace and prosperity. They improved the Grand Canal, made great porcelain, and under Yong Le encouraged exploration. They also built the Forbidden City in the capital of Beijing. After Yong Le rulers would reject exploration. The Ming would participate in the Global Silver Trade, starting in the mid-1500s, as an eager buyer of silver. However, they will be overthrown by the Manchu.

Portuguese Empire

took an early lead in European exploration (sponsored by Prince Henry); went East and established trading posts in West Africa, East Africa (Swahili City States) and India for spice trade

maritime

on or near the sea

Global Silver Trade

Silver trade between the Americas and Europe and onward to China from the 16th to 18th centuries. It had a profound effect on the world economy and silver trade could also be considered the beginning of the global economy.

Spanish Empire

Made up of territories and colonies in Europe, Africa, and Asia controlled from Spain. At its strongest, it was one of the biggest empires in world history according to how much land they had, and one of the 1st global empires. Royalty from the Castile and Aragon kingdoms ruled it. Christopher Columbus led the first Spanish exploration trip which led them to colonizing in the Americas.

plantation agriculture

Production system based on a large estate owned by an individual, family, or corporation and organized to produce a cash crop.

cash crop

a crop produced for its commercial value rather than for use by the grower.

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

The forced migration of between 12 - 15 million people from Africa to the Western Hemisphere from the middle of the 15th century to the end of the 19th century.

indigenous

native to a certain area

Encomienda System

It gave settlers the right to tax local Native Americans or to make them work. In exchange, these settlers were supposed to protect the Native American people (but generally exploited them) and convert them to Christianity. It was a form of coercive labor.

Tokugawa Shogunate

was a semi-feudal government of Japan in which one of the shoguns unified the country under his family's rule. They moved the capital to Edo, which now is called Tokyo. They isolated Japan from foreign influences. This family ruled from Edo 1868, when it was abolished during the Meiji Restoration.

Closed Country Edict

Was a document that restricted Japanese to only certain times when the Japanese could trade and intervene with the outside world

syncretic religion

Combines two religious traditions into something distinctly new, while containing traits of both (ex: voodoo, santeria)

Dutch East India Company

Government-chartered joint-stock company that controlled the spice trade in the East Indies.

British East India Company

set up trading posts in India in the 1600s, beginning the British economic interest there

joint-stock company

A business, often backed by a government charter, that sold shares to individuals to raise money for its trading enterprises and to spread the risks (and profits) among many investors.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.

Smallpox

A highly contagious viral disease characterized by fever, weakness, and skin eruption with pustules that form scabs; responsible for killing Native Americans.

coercive labor

Any labor system that involves force (slavery, serfdom, and encomienda)

Aztec Empire

Central American empire constructed by the Mexica and expanded greatly during the fifteenth century during the reigns of Itzcoatl and Motecuzoma I.

Inca Empire

Empire in Peru. conquered by Pizarro, who began an empire for the Spanish in 1535

Voodoo

syncretic belief system that combines traditional African religious beliefs with elements of Christianity.

Santeria

Cuban religion that combines Catholic and West African beliefs

Candomble

African religious ideas and practices in Brazil, particularly among the Yoruba people.

Maroon Societies

Communities formed by escaped slaves in the Caribbean, Latin American. and the United States.

Slave Rebellions

Slaves resisted by working slowly, damaging goods, or running away; one of the largest uprisngs in the US was the German Coast Rebellion of 1811 in Louisiana; Nat Turner led a revolt in Virginia in 1831; Southern slaveowners enforced strict slave codes severe punishments and made it illegal to help run-away slaves;

Caravel

A small, highly maneuverable three-masted ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish in the exploration of the Atlantic.

Kongo

Central African state that began trading with the Portuguese around 1500; although their kings, such as King Affonso I (r. 1506-1543), converted to Christianity, they nevertheless suffered from the slave trade.

Asante Kingdom

kingdom that emerged in the 1700s in present-day Ghana and was active in the slave trade

compass

an instrument containing a magnetized pointer that shows the direction of magnetic north and bearings from it.

Creoles

In colonial Spanish America, term used to describe someone of European descent born in the New World.

Mestizos and Mulattoes

People with mixed races between European and Latin American or African descent