AP World History Unit 1: A Global Tapestry (c. 1200 - c. 1450)

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering state-building, cultural traditions, economic systems, and regional networks in East Asia, Dar al-Islam, South/Southeast Asia, the Americas, Africa, and Europe from c. 1200 to c. 1450 CE.

Civil Service Examinations

State exams grounded in Neo-Confucian classics that enabled social mobility and created a meritocratic class of scholar-gentry administrators in Song China.

Scholar-Gentry (Shi)

A meritocratic class of educated, landowning administrators who passed state civil service exams and managed governance between local communities and the central imperial state in Song China.

Neo-Confucianism

A syncretic resurgence blending Confucian social ethics with Daoist cosmology and Buddhist spiritual metaphysics, emphasizing rational thought, moral self-cultivation, and state harmony.

Filial Piety (Xiao)

The core Confucian duty of family members to subordinate their personal desires to the male head of household and ancestors, serving as a foundational virtue for societal stability and obedience to rulers.

Foot-Binding

A cultural practice among elite women in Song urban centers that served as an aristocratic status symbol while restricting female physical mobility and reinforcing patriarchal gender hierarchies.

Three Obediences (San Cong)

A Confucian doctrine requiring a woman to yield lifelong deference to male authority figures: her father in youth, her husband in marriage, and her son in widowhood.

Southern Song Dynasty

The era of Song rule (960–1279 CE) after losing northern territories, marked by the relocation of the capital south to Hangzhou and the development of a coastal maritime commercial revolution.

Champa Rice

A fast-ripening, drought-resistant rice strain imported from Vietnam that allowed double-cropping in China, triggering an agricultural surplus and massive population boom.

Flying Cash

An early paper currency system introduced in Song China that facilitated trade and economic commercialization alongside mass production of iron, steel, porcelain, and textiles.

Theravada Buddhism

An older branch of Buddhism dominant in Sri Lanka and mainland Southeast Asia that focuses on strict monastic adherence to historical teachings and individual enlightenment (Arhat).

Mahayana Buddhism

A syncretic branch of Buddhism that offers universal salvation accessible to laypeople, centered on Bodhisattvas who postpone nirvana to assist others.

Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana)

An esoteric branch of Buddhism dominant in Tibet and the Himalayan region that utilizes mystical rituals guided by spiritual Lamas and combines Mahayana principles with indigenous Bon animism.

Li and Qi

Neo-Confucian metaphysical concepts where Li represents the universal organizing principle governing nature and human ethics, and Qi represents the physical vital energy shaping material form.

House of Wisdom

An intellectual institution in Abbasid Baghdad where scholars translated classical Greek, Persian, and Indian texts into Arabic, making advances in algebra, optics, and medicine.

Sufism

The mystical branch of Islam prioritizing direct, personal spiritual connection over external legal rituals, which spread Islam across Afro-Eurasia by adapting to local traditions.

Sunni Islam

The majority branch of Islam (88%) holding that the Caliph should be a political and military leader selected by the community, serving without special spiritual powers.

Shi'a Islam

The branch of Islam (9%) holding that religious and political leadership (Imamate) belongs exclusively to direct descendants of Muhammad's family line starting with Ali.

Mamluk Sultanate

A political entity in Egypt established by a class of military slaves who seized power during the political fragmentation of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Delhi Sultanate

An Islamic realm in northern India that defended South Asia against Mongol invasions, imposed the Jizya tax on non-Muslims, and integrated Islamic and Indian cultures.

Al-Andalus

Islamic Spain, centered at Córdoba, which served as a major European center for intellectual exchange, advanced agriculture, and cross-cultural contact among Muslims, Jews, and Christians.

Vijayanagara Empire

A prominent Hindu empire in Southern India (1336–1646) that fostered regional trade, built monumental temple architecture, and defended against northern Islamic sultanates.

Srivijaya Empire

A Sumatra-based maritime empire that established a commercial monopoly in Southeast Asia by using naval forces to control and tax maritime shipping through the Strait of Malacca.

Majapahit Kingdom

A Java-based maritime empire that succeeded Srivijaya, exercising authority through a widespread tributary network and naval power across Southeast Asian trade lanes.

Bhakti Movement

A Hindu devotional movement stressing intense personal devotion to a specific deity (such as Vishnu or Shiva), which broadened spiritual salvation across caste barriers.

Brahman and Atman

Core Hindu philosophical concepts denoting the universal spirit or ultimate reality (Brahman) and the individual soul (Atman).

Mexica (Aztec) Tribute System

A tributary hegemony in Mesoamerica where conquered city-states delivered regular luxury goods, cacao, warrior costumes, and agricultural provisions directly to Tenochtitlan.

Chinampas

Artificial floating gardens constructed in shallow lake beds by the Mexica to supply agricultural produce for Tenochtitlan.

Inca Imperial Bureaucracy

A centralized Andean state mechanism that administered vast territories via the Carapa Ñan road network, Mita compulsory public labor, and Quipu accounting.

Quipu

An Andean record-keeping system made of suspended, color-coded, knotted cords using a decimal positional format to track census, agricultural, and tribute statistics without an alphabetic script.

Mita System

A mandatory public service labor obligation in the Inca Empire requiring local communities to construct roads, fortresses, agricultural terraces, and state temples.

Quipucamayocs

Specialized administrative officials in the Inca Empire trained to record, read, and maintain Quipu records for imperial planning and resource allocation.

Mali Empire

A West African empire that monopolized the trans-Saharan trade in gold and salt, establishing commercial centers and Islamic learning hubs like Timbuktu.

Mansa Musa

The ruler of Mali whose 14th-century pilgrimage to Mecca highlighted Mali's gold wealth, devalued currency in Cairo, and brought Islamic scholars to West Africa.

Great Zimbabwe

A Southern African kingdom connected to Indian Ocean trade networks, known for its monumental unmortared stone wall structures.

Solomonic Ethiopia

A Christian highland kingdom in East Africa that preserved a distinct Christian tradition amidst surrounding regional Islamic trade networks.

Feudalism

A decentralized political network in medieval Europe structured around reciprocal obligations, where monarchs granted land (fiefs) to noble lords and knights in exchange for military service and fealty.

Manorialism

An economic system in medieval Europe centered on self-sufficient agricultural estates owned by lords and cultivated by bound peasants (serfs).

Magna Carta

A charter signed in 1215 CE by King John of England under pressure from feudal barons that placed legal boundaries on monarchical power and established due process.