Vocab APWH

Gutenberg Printing Press

An invention that increased the speed and efficiency of printing, made literature and information more accessible, and helped spread ideas to many.

Gunpowder Empires

Large multiethnic states in Southwest, Central, and South Asia that relied on firearms to conquer and control territories.

Shah

Leader of the Safavids; another word for King or Emperor.

Ghazi ideal

A model for warrior life that blended cooperative values of nomadic culture with the willingness to serve as a holy fighter for Islam.

Castes

Strict social grouping assigned at birth.

Divine right of kings

A claim that the right to rule was given by God, showing the king as both political and religious authority.

Justices of the peace

Officials selected to maintain peace within the counties of England, settle legal matters, and carry out the monarch's laws.

English Bill of Rights

Document that assured an individual's civil liberties and guaranteed protection against tyranny of the monarchy.

Devshirme

A selection system in the Ottoman Empire to staff their military and government.

Janissaries

Christian boys in the Ottoman Empire who formed elite forces in the empire's army.

Daimyo

Landholding aristocrats from Japan.

Edo

A city in Tokyo ruled by the Daimyo, 'Tokugawa Ieyasu'.

Period of Great Peace (Japan)

Otherwise known as the 'Edo Period,' marked peace and stability in Japan caused by the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Tax farming

A system in which the government sells the right to collect taxes to private individuals who keep whatever taxes they collect.

Tributes

Payments of goods, resources, or labor to show respect, submission, or allegiance.

Zamindars (Mughal Empire)

Paid government officials responsible for specific duties such as taxation, construction, and the water supply.

Boyars (Russia)

The noble landowning class of Russia, at the top of the social pyramid of the Empire.

Indulgences

Granted a person absolution from the punishments of sin.

Simony

The selling of church offices.

Counter-Reformation

The response to the Protestant Reformation, aiming to fix and change the church for better and stop the spread of Protestantism.

Inquisition

A practice used to root out and punish nonbelievers of Christ, sometimes allowing the use of torture.

Jesuits

'Society of Jesus' founded to oppose the spread of Protestantism.

Elect (Protestantism)

A group of people predestined by God for salvation.

Predestined

The idea that God has already determined the fate of individuals, including who will be saved.

Shariah

Islamic law derived from the Quran and Hadith, governing various aspects of a Muslim's life.

Empiricism

The belief that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience and evidence.