AP World History: Modern Speed Review Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards summarizing key political structures, economic systems, and cultural developments from all nine units of AP World History: Modern ($$1200-\text{present}$$).

Champa Rice

Fast-ripening rice and drought-resistant strain from East Asia that led to increased food production during the Song China period ($1200-1450$).

Filial Piety

A Confucian concept in East Asia emphasizing duty and respect for one's parents and elders.

Grand Canal

A major internal waterway in China that facilitated trade and communication between northern and southern regions.

House of Wisdom

An academic center in Dar al-Islam that served as a hub for advancements in Algebra, medicine, and philosophy.

Mit’a System

A mandatory public service labor system used by the Incan Empire in the Americas for state-building projects.

Chinampa

An agricultural method used by the Aztec Empire involving small, rectangular areas of fertile land to grow crops on shallow lake beds.

Caravanserai

Roadside inns along the Silk Roads and Trans-Saharan trade routes where travelers could rest and recover.

Flying Cash

An early form of paper money or credit used during the period of the Silk Roads ($1200-1450$) to facilitate trade.

Khanates

The four regional Mongol kingdoms that arose following the death of Genghis Khan.

Devshirme

An Ottoman Empire policy where Christian boys were recruited by force to serve the state as soldiers (Janissaries) or bureaucrats.

Zamindars

Local tax collectors in the Mughal Empire who acted as intermediaries between the government and the people.

Encomiendas

A grant of land and labor by the Spanish Crown to settlers in the Americas, often resulting in the exploitation of Indigenous people.

Castas

A hierarchical racial classification system created by the Spanish in the Americas.

Columbian Exchange

The global exchange of plants, animals, and diseases (such as Potatoes, Sugar, and Smallpox) between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres in the Early Modern Period.

Social Contract

An Enlightenment-era political theory where individuals surrender some freedoms in exchange for state protection of natural rights.

Laissez-faire

An economic policy of capitalism, popularized by Adam Smith, advocating for minimal government interference in the market.

Meiji Restoration

A period of rapid modernization and industrialization in Japan from $1750-1900$ to counter Western influence.

Social Darwinism

The application of the concept of "survival of the fittest" to human societies, used as a rationale for imperialism from $1750-1900$.

Berlin Conference

An international meeting in $1884-1885$ that regulated European colonization and trade in Africa and divided the continent.

Total War

A conflict, such as WWI or WWII, in which governments mobilize their entire population and utilize all available national resources for the war effort.

Five Year Plans

Stalin's economic policies for the Soviet Union designed to modernize industrial and agricultural production through central planning.

Containment

The United States Cold War policy and Truman Doctrine goal of preventing the further spread of communism.

M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction)

A doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would result in the annihilation of both.

Perestroika

An economic restructuring policy in the Soviet Union introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev during the late Cold War.

Green Revolution

A set of research and technology initiatives (including GMOs and chemical fertilizers) after $1900$ that drastically increased global agricultural yields.

Knowledge Economies

Post-$1900$ economic systems where growth is dependent on the quantity, quality, and accessibility of information rather than manufacturing.