AP World Vocab

Neo-Confucianism

A revival of Confucian ideas during the Song Dynasty that blended Confucian beliefs with ideas from Buddhism and Daoism. It emphasized order, family, and proper behavior.

Censorate

A Chinese government agency that monitored officials and reported corruption or abuse of power to the emperor.

Hangzhou (Song capital)

The southern capital of the Song Dynasty, known for trade, wealth, canals, and large population.

Foot binding

The Chinese practice of tightly wrapping girls’ feet to keep them small, seen as a sign of beauty and status.

“Middle Kingdom”

China’s belief that it was the center of civilization and superior to surrounding lands.

Kowtow

A ritual of kneeling and bowing deeply to show respect and submission, especially to the Chinese emperor.

Xiongnu

Nomadic people from Central Asia who often threatened northern China and influenced the building of the Great Wall.

Sultanate of Delhi

A Muslim state that ruled much of northern India from the 1200s to the 1500s.

Sufis

Muslim mystics who focused on personal spiritual connection with God and helped spread Islam through teaching and tolerance.

Kabir

An Indian poet and religious teacher who criticized both Hinduism and Islam and promoted unity and devotion to one God.

Sikhism

A religion founded in India by Guru Nanak that blended elements of Hinduism and Islam and taught equality and devotion to one God.

Timbuktu

A major West African trading city and center of Islamic learning in the Mali Empire.

Mexica

The people commonly called the Aztecs who built a powerful empire in central Mexico.

Triple Alliance

The alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan that formed the Aztec Empire.

Tenochtitlan

The capital city of the Aztec Empire, built on an island in Lake Texcoco.

Chinampas (“floating gardens”)

Artificial farming islands built by the Aztecs to grow crops in shallow lake water.

Huitzilopochtli

The Aztec sun and war god, heavily honored through rituals and sacrifices.

Quechua

The main language of the Inca Empire.

Gender Parallelism

In Inca society, the idea that men and women had separate but equally important roles.

Yuan Dynasty

The Chinese dynasty established by the Mongols under Khubilai Khan.

Khubilai Khan

Grandson of Genghis Khan who conquered China and founded the Yuan Dynasty.

Hulegu

Mongol leader who conquered Baghdad and founded the Ilkhanate in Persia.

Khutulun

A Mongol princess known for wrestling skills and refusing marriage unless a man could defeat her.

Kipchak Khanate / Golden Horde

The Mongol state that ruled Russia and parts of Eastern Europe.

Monsoon winds

Seasonal wind patterns in the Indian Ocean that helped sailors travel for trade.

Swahili language

A Bantu-based language mixed with Arabic, developed through East African trade.

Great Zimbabwe

A powerful trading kingdom in southern Africa known for its massive stone structures.

Jenne-Jeno

An early West African city and trading center in the Niger River region.

Camel caravans

Groups of camels used to transport goods across deserts, especially the Sahara.

Encomienda and Repartimiento

Spanish labor systems that forced Indigenous people in the Americas to work for colonizers.

Peninsulares, Creoles, & Mestizos

Social classes in Latin America—Peninsulares were born in Spain, Creoles were Spanish descendants born in the Americas, and Mestizos were of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry.

Tupac Amaru Revolt

An Indigenous uprising in Peru against Spanish rule in the late 1700s.

Middle Passage

The forced voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas.

Cowrie shells

Small shells used as currency in parts of Africa and Asia.

Kingdom of Dahomey

A West African kingdom that became wealthy through participation in the slave trade.

Queen Nzinga

A ruler of Ndongo and Matamba in Central Africa who resisted Portuguese control and the slave trade.

British East India Company

An English trading company that gained political and economic control over parts of India.

Dutch East India Company

A Dutch trading company that controlled trade in Southeast Asia, especially spices.

Potosi, Bolivia

A Spanish silver mining center in the Andes that used forced labor and enriched Spain.

Gunpowder empires

Large empires like the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal that used gunpowder weapons to expand and rule.

Janissaries

Elite Ottoman infantry soldiers, often taken as boys through devshirme and trained for military service.

Sati

The Hindu practice where a widow burned herself on her husband’s funeral pyre.

Jizya

A tax paid by non-Muslims living under Muslim rule.

Devshirme

Ottoman system of collecting Christian boys to train as soldiers or government officials.

Soft gold

Fur, especially from Siberia, is valued as a major trade in Russia.

Qing Dynasty

The dynasty established by the Manchus that ruled China from 1644 to 1912.

Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689)

An agreement between Russia and Qing China that set borders and allowed trade.

Declaration of Independence

The 1776 document in which the American colonies declared freedom from Britain.

Creoles

People of European ancestry born in the colonies, especially in Latin America.

Miguel Hidalgo and Jose Morelos

Mexican priests and leaders who fought for Mexican independence from Spain.

Simon Bolivar

South American revolutionary leader who helped free Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia from Spain.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

A French Revolution document declaring equality, liberty, and natural rights.

Olympe de Gouges

French activist who argued women should have the same rights as men.

Napoleon Bonaparte

French military leader who became emperor and spread revolutionary ideas across Europe.

Toussaint Louverture

Leader of the Haitian Revolution who fought to end slavery in Saint-Domingue.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines

Haitian revolutionary who declared Haiti independent after Toussaint.

“Independence debt”

Money Haiti was forced to pay France after independence as compensation for lost “property,” including enslaved people.

Seneca Falls

The 1848 women’s rights convention in the United States.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

A major leader of the women’s suffrage movement and organizer of Seneca Falls.

National American Woman Suffrage Association

A major U.S. group that fought for women’s voting rights.

Kartini

Indonesian feminist who advocated for women’s education and rights.

Huda Sharawi

Egyptian feminist who fought for women’s rights and education.

Steam Engine

A machine powered by steam that drove factories, trains, and ships during industrialization.

Second Industrial Revolution

Late 1800s period of rapid industrial growth involving steel, electricity, oil, and chemicals.

Middle Class

Social group between workers and the wealthy, including business owners, managers, and professionals.

Robert Owen

A social reformer who believed factory workers deserved better living and working conditions.

Karl Marx

Thinker who argued class struggle would lead workers to overthrow capitalism and create communism.

Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party

Marxist political party in Russia that later split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.

The Crimean War (1854–1856)

A war where Russia fought the Ottoman Empire and its allies, weakening Russia.

Caudillos

Military strongmen who ruled many Latin American countries after independence.

Mexican Revolution of 1910

A major uprising against dictatorship and inequality in Mexico.

King Leopold of Belgium

Belgian king who brutally controlled the Congo for personal profit.

Taiping Uprising

Massive rebellion in China against the Qing Dynasty led by Hong Xiuquan.

Opium Wars

Wars between Britain and China caused by British opium trade and Chinese resistance.

Self-Strengthening

Qing effort to modernize China’s military and industry using Western technology.

Boxer Uprising

Anti-foreign rebellion in China against Western influence and missionaries.

Hundred Days of Reform

Short attempt by Qing leaders to modernize China’s government and education.

Bolsheviks

Radical Marxist group led by Lenin that took control of Russia in 1917.

Vladimir Lenin

Leader of the Bolsheviks and founder of the Soviet Union.

Guomindang

Chinese Nationalist Party led by Sun Yat-sen and later Chiang Kai-shek.

Mao Zedong

Communist leader who founded the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

Stalin and Mao

Communist leaders of the Soviet Union and China known for authoritarian rule and major economic campaigns.

Zhenotdel

Soviet government department created to improve women’s rights and equality.

Collectivization

Stalin’s policy of forcing peasants to farm on large state-controlled farms.

Five-Year Plans

Soviet economic plans focused on rapid industrial growth.

Great Leap Forward

Mao’s campaign to rapidly industrialize China through communes; it caused widespread famine.

Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

Mao’s movement to remove “old ideas” and enforce communist ideology in China.

Terror / Great Purges

Stalin’s campaigns of arrests, executions, and fear against suspected enemies.

Rape of Nanjing

Japanese massacre and atrocities committed in the Chinese city of Nanjing during WWII.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Japanese cities where the U.S. dropped atomic bombs in 1945.

Rosie the Riveter

Symbol of women working industrial jobs during World War II.

The Holocaust

Nazi Germany’s genocide of six million Jews and millions of others during WWII.

United Nations

International organization created after WWII to promote peace and cooperation.

Indian National Congress

Major political group that led India’s independence movement.

Mohandas Gandhi

Indian leader who used nonviolent resistance against British rule.

Satyagraha

Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience.

Muslim League

Political group that supported the creation of Pakistan for Muslims in India.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Leader of the Muslim League and first governor-general of Pakistan.

Deng Xiaoping

Chinese leader who introduced market-based economic reforms after Mao.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Last leader of the Soviet Union who introduced reforms.