AP World History Unit 3: Land-Based Empires (1450–1750)

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key concepts, leaders, administrative practices, religious dynamics, and architecture of land-based empires from 1450 to 1750.

Gunpowder

A transformative military technology between 1450 and 1750 that fueled the expansion and military dominance of major land-based empires.

Banner System

A Manchu administrative and military structure created to govern a multiethnic empire (Chinese, Manchus, Mongols), organizing census tracking and military mobilization under designated banners.

Bannermen

Hereditary elite military forces and ethnic leaders who formed the new ruling nobility within the Manchu/Qing Empire.

Queue

A mandatory hairstyle imposed by the Manchu Qing rulers upon the Han Chinese population to enforce compliance and dynastic authority.

Sacred Edict

A series of moral and philosophical proclamations issued by Qing Emperor Kangxi instructing Chinese subjects to adhere strictly to Neo-Confucian values.

Imperial Exam

The traditional civil service examination used continuously from 1200 to 1900 in China, preserved by the Qing Dynasty to staff bureaucratic offices based on merit.

Hagia Sophia

A monumental structure in Constantinople originally built as a Christian church that was converted into a Muslim mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453.

Devshirme

An Ottoman administrative recruitment system that took Christian boys from Eastern Europe as a 'blood tax,' converted them to Islam, and trained them for military, religious, or civil roles.

Janissaries

An elite Ottoman infantry force comprised of troops trained through the Devshirme system, equipped with modern gunpowder weaponry, and directly loyal to the Sultan.

Tax Farming

A revenue-collection mechanism used by the Ottoman Empire in which the right to collect local taxes was auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Alhambra Decree

An edict issued by Spain in 1492 expelling Jewish residents, which prompted large numbers of Sephardic Jews to immigrate to the religiously tolerant Ottoman Empire.

Battle of Chaldiran (1514)

A military engagement in modern-day eastern Turkey caused by territorial expansion and religious rivalry between the Sunni Ottoman Empire and the Shi'a Safavid Empire.

Battle of Panipat (1526)

The decisive military conflict in which Babur defeated the Delhi Sultanate, resulting in the establishment of the Mughal Empire.

Babur

The founder of the Mughal Empire who traced his lineage back to both Genghis Khan and Tamerlane.

Akbar the Great

A Mughal emperor known for his policy of religious tolerance toward the Hindu majority and his efforts to synthesize various faith traditions.

Shah Ismail

The founder of the Safavid Empire who enforced Shi'a Islam as the state religion and displayed intolerance toward non-Shi'a groups.

Sikhism

A syncretic religion founded in the Mughal Empire by Guru Nanak, blending philosophical and spiritual elements of Hinduism and Islam.

Marathas

A coalition of Hindu warrior groups in South Asia that resisted and fought against the Muslim-ruled Mughal Empire.

Zamindars

Local Hindu princes and aristocratic landowners utilized by the Mughal administrative system to collect taxes across the empire.

Imperial Portraits

Portraits used by Manchu Qing rulers to visually project imperial prestige, personal authority, and legitimate status within the Chinese dynastic tradition.

Palace of Versailles

A grand royal residence 12 miles outside Paris expanded by King Louis XIV to centralize French bureaucratic governance and pacify the aristocracy by requiring their presence.

Forbidden City

A monumental imperial complex in Beijing that served as the exclusive residence for the Chinese emperor, imperial family, and court attendants.

Taj Mahal

A monumental mausoleum commissioned in 1631 by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to honor his deceased wife.

Miniatures

Small, intricate book paintings and illustrations commissioned by imperial rulers alongside large-scale monumental architecture.

Sunni/Shi'a Split

An Islamic schism regarding succession after the death of the Prophet Muhammad; Sunnis favored Abu Bakr as Caliph, while Shi'a advocated for Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, Ali.

Protestant Reformation

A religious movement beginning in 1517 that fractured Western European Catholic unity by questioning papal authority, promoting vernacular bibles, and challenging clerical traditions.

Flower Wars

Ritual warfare conducted by the Mexica (Aztecs) to capture human sacrificial victims in order to sustain the sun and legitimize royal authority.

Divine Right of Kings

A European political and religious doctrine asserting that a monarch's authority comes directly from the Christian God, making royal rule absolute and unquestionable.

Aurangzeb

A devoutly Muslim Mughal ruler who reversed earlier policies of religious tolerance by actively suppressing Hindus and Sikhs.

Salaried Samurai

Former Japanese warrior elites who were integrated into peacetime administrative roles and paid regular government stipends as state bureaucrats.