AP World Period 1

Units 1-2

Song Dynasty (960-1279)

dynasty that replaced the Tang in 960 and ruled for more than three centuries. Was the leading example of diversity and innovation in Afro-Eurasia and the Americas during the 13th century.

imperial bureaucracy

a vast organization in which appointed officials carried out the empire's policies.

meritocracy

officials obtained their positions by demonstrating their merit on civil service exams (one of Emperor Song Taizu's great achievements).

Grand Canal

an inexpensive and efficient internal waterway transportation system that extended over 30,000 miles.

Champa rice

a fast-ripening and drought-resistant strain of rice from the Champa Kingdom in present-day Vietnam.

proto-industrialization

a set of economic changes in which people in rural areas made more goods than they could sell.

artisans

skilled craftworkers

scholar gentry

Chinese class of well-educated men who were educated in Confucian philosophy and became the most influential class in China.

foot binding

Chinese practice of tightly wrapping girls' feet to keep them small; begun in the Tang dynasty; an emphasis on small size and delicacy was central to views of female beauty (banned in 1912).

woodblock printing

a type of printing in which text is carved into a block of wood and the block is then coated with ink and pressed on the page.

Buddhism

belief system based on the teachings of Buddha. Came to China from India via the Silk Road. Its popularity became widespread during the Tang Dynasty. Belief in the Four Noble Truths.

Thervada Buddhism

form of Buddhism focused on personal spiritual growth through silent meditation and self-discipline. It became strongest in Southeast Asia.

Mahayana Buddhism

form of Buddhism focused on the spiritual growth for all beings and service. It became the strongest in China and Korea.

Tibetan Buddhism

form of Buddhism focused on chanting. It became strongest in Tibet.

syncretic

combining several religious traditions

Chan Buddhism/Zen Buddhism

formed when Buddhist doctrines combined with elements of Daoist traditions; emphasized direct experience and meditation as opposed to formal learning based on studying scripture

filial piety

the duty of family members to subordinate their needs and desires to those of the male head of the family and to the ruler.

Neo-Confucianism

A new incarnation of Confucianism that evolved in China between 770 and 840. Was a syncretic system, combining rational thought with mor abstract ideas of Daoism and Buddhism. Emphasized ethics rather than the mysteries of God and nature.

Heian Period (794-1185)

a period where Japan emulated Chinese traditions in politics, art, and literature.

nuclear families

a family made up of just parents and their children.

polygyny

the practice of having more than one wife at the same time.

Muhammad

the Arab prophet who founded Islam (570-632)

House of Wisdom

a renowned center of learning in Baghdad that many scholars traveled to study at.

Mamluks

enslaved, ethnic Turks from Central Asia who served as soldiers and bureaucrats in the Islamic world.

Mamluk Sultanate (1250-1517)

sultanate established by Mamluks who seized control of Egypt's government; prospered by facilitating trade in cotton and sugar between the Islamic world and Europe.

Seljuk Turks

nomadic invaders from central Asia who were also Muslims. Starting in the 11th century, they began conquering parts of the Middle East, eventually extending their power almost as far east as Western China.

Crusaders

Christian warriors sent to regain the Holy Land (Jerusalem) from the Muslims that controlled it.

Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258)

led by the Arabs and Persians, but later the Islamic states were shaped by Turkic people who descended from people in Central Asia.

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201-1274)

one of the most celebrated Islamic scholars; contributed to astronomy, law, logic, ethics, mathematics, philosophy, and medicine. He studied the relationship between the lengths of the sides of a triangle and the angles, which laid the groundwork for trigonometry.

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406)

widely acknowledged for his historical accounts and is widely acknowledged as a founder of the fields of historiography and sociology.

A'ishah al-Ba'uniyyah (1460-1507)

most prolific female Muslim writer before the 20th century.

Sufis

mystical Muslim group that emphasized introspection to grasp truths that they believed could not be understood through learning.

al-Andalus

a Muslim-ruled region in what is now Spain; became a center of learning.

Chola Dynasty (850-1267)

the first kingdom in Southern India; reigned for more than 400 years.

Vijayanagara Empire (1336-1646)

the second kingdom in Southern India; began when two brother, Harihara and Bukka, arrived from the Delhi Sultanate. They established their own Hundi kingdom after leaving the region controlled by the Delhi Sultanate.

Rajput Kingdoms

set of Hindu kingdoms in India that arose after the fall of the Gupta dynasty; led by the leaders of numerous clans that were often at war with each other.

Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526)

north-central Indian empire from the 13th to 16th centuries; brought Islam to India. They lost power to the Mughals in 1526.

proselytize

actively seek converts

Qutub Minar

gigantic leaning tower that is the tallest structure in India today that combines common Hindu temples with domes common in Islamic mosques.

Urdu

a new language that developed among Muslims of South Asia; melded the grammatical pattern of Hindi and the vocabulary of Arabic and some elements of Farsi. Today, it is the official language of Pakistan.

Bhakti Movement

started in southern India; movement that focused on developing a strong attachment to a particular deity. Especially appealing to many believers because it did not discriminate against women or people of low social status.

Srivijaya Empire (670-1025)

a Buddhist kingdom based on Sumatra. It built up its navy and prospered by charging fees for ships traveling between India & China.

Majapahit Kingdom (1293-1520)

based on Java, had 98 tributaries. Sustained its power by controlling sea routes and was a Hindu kingdom (but with strong Buddhist influences).

Sinhala Dynasties

dynasties in Sri Lanka that were rooted from early immigrants from north India that became centers of Buddhism after the 3rd century B.C.E. with many monasteries and priests who often advised monarchs.

Khmer Empire (802-1431)

also known as the Angkor Kingdom; was situated near the Mekong River. Did not depend on maritime prowess for its power.

Sukhothai Kingdom

kingdom from Thailand that forced the Khmer's out in 1431.

Mississippian Civilization

the first large-scale civilization in North America that emerged in the 700s or 800s in what is now the eastern United States in the Mississippi River Valley.

Cahokia

largest of the earth mounds that the Mississippians built; located in southern Illinois.

matrilineal society

social standing was determined by the woman's side of the family.

city-state

the main form of Mayan government; each ruled by a king and consisting of a city and its surrounding territory.

human sacrifices

how Mayans use their captives during religious ceremonies.

when the kings die, they become one with their ancestor-god.

what happens when Mayan kings die?

Mayans incorporated the concept of zero in their number system, developed a complex writing system, and learned to make rubber out of liquid collected from rubber plants. Mayan science and religion was linked through astronomy. Based on the calendar, priests decided when to celebrate religious ceremonies and when to go to war. As a result, keeping a precise calendar was very important.

what did the Mayans do in religion, science, and tech?

Mexicas

another name for the Aztecs

Tenochtitlan

capital of the Aztec Empire, located on an island in Lake Texcoco. Its population was about 150,000 on the eve of Spanish conquest. Mexico City was constructed on its ruins.

the Aztecs developed a tribute system that insured their dominance. They grouped their city-states into provinces. The Aztec government was a theocracy, and the top was known as the Great Speaker. The Aztecs worshipped an ever-evolving pantheon of hundreds of deities.

what did the Aztecs do in government, economy, and society?

theocracy

government run by religious leaders

Incan Empire

a Mesoamerican civilization in the Andes Mountains in South America that by the end of the 1400s was the largest empire in the Americas including much of what is now Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Chile; conquered by Pizarro

Pachacuti

Inca ruler (1438-1471); began the military campaigns that marked the creation of an Inca empire.

mit'a system

Incan system for payment of taxes with labor

Temple of the Sun

Inca Religious center located at Cuzco

Inca rulers were considered to be Inti's representative on earth. Dead rulers were mummified and continued to "rule" as they had in life and were thought to retain ownership of their servants, possessions, and property.

what did the Incas do in religion and achievements?

animism

the belief that elements of the physical world could have supernatural powers.

quipi

a system of knotted strings used to record numerical information for trade and engineering and for recording messages to be carried throughout the empire.

Carpa Nan

the Inca massive roadway system, consisting of 25,000 miles of road built using captive labor that connected Cuzco with the outlying parts of the empire.

kin-based networks

families governed themselves

chief

male head of the network

Hausa Kingdoms

1 kingdom divided into 7 states that were connected through kinship, blood, or ethnic ties; had no main central authority but rather ruled each state separate from one another; mainly benefited economically from the trans-Saharan trade network.

trans-Saharan trade

a network of trading routes across the great desert.

Ghana

kingdom founded during the 5th century, nestled between the Sahara and the tropical rainforests of the West African coast.

Mali

the most powerful of the trading societies that replaced the Ghanaian state.

Sundiata

founder of the Mali empire; the "Lion Prince"

Mansa Musa

ruler of Mali (r. 1312-1337). His extravagant pilgrimage through Egypt to Mecca in 1324-1325 established the empire's reputation for wealth in the Mediterranean world.

Zimbabwe

one of the most powerful of all the East African kingdoms between the 12th and 15th centuries. Built its prosperity on a mixture of agriculture, grazing, trade, and, above all, gold.

Indian Ocean trade

connected to Europe, Africa, and China.; world's richest maritime trading network and an area of rapid Muslim expansion.

Swahili

a Bantu language with Arabic words, spoken along the east African coast

Great Zimbabwe

a massive wall of stone that surrounded the capital city

Indian Ocean slave trade

East Africa -> Middle East & India, similar conditions to the Atlantic Slave Trade, cultural diffusion

Zanj Rebellion (869-883)

a series of revolts by slaves working on sugar plantations in Mesopotamia.

feudalism

decentralized political organization based on a system of exchanges of land for loyalty.

manors

large fiefs or estates

manorial system

provided economic self-sufficiency and defense; produced everything that people living on it required, limiting the need for trade or contact with outsiders.

serfs

workers who were tied to the land on which they lived

three-field system

crops were rotated through three fields

lay investiture controversy

a dispute over whether a secular leader could invest bishops with the symbols of office.

Magna Carta

document that King John was forced to sign in 1215 stating that the king must respect certain rights, such as the right to a jury trial before a noble could be sentenced to prison.

English Parliament

the legislature of the Kingdom of England (est. 1265)

Hundred Years War (1337-1453)

series of campaigns over control of the throne of France, involving English and French royal families and French noble families.

Great Schism

the Christian Church in Europe divided into two branches: the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

Roman Catholic Church

the most powerful institution in a Europe divided into hundreds of small political states.

primogeniture

right of inheritance belongs exclusively to the eldest son

Crusades

A series of European military campaigns in the Middle East between 1095 and the 1200s.

First Crusade (1096-1099)

the European army conquered Jerusalem in July 1099.

Fourth Crusade (1202-1204)

Venice had a contract to transport Crusaders to the Middle East. However, Venice was not paid all it was due, so the Venetians persuaded the Crusader debtors first to sack Zara, and then Constantinople. They never made it to the Holy Land.

Marco Polo

Italian explorer who wrote about his travels to Central Asia and China.

bourgeoisie (burghers)

the middle class, including merchants, industrialists, and professional people, of Western Europe.

Little Ice Age

a five-century long cooling period of the climate.

antisemitism

anti-Jewish sentiment

Renaissance

a period character by a revival of interest in classical Greek and Roman literature, art, culture, and civic virtue.

humanism

focus on individuals rather than God