World History Lecture Review: 1200 to Present

Flashcards covering key vocabulary, empires, trade systems, and historical shifts from 1200 to the modern era based on the lecture notes.

Universalizing Religions

Faiths that seek to span the globe and appeal to all people, exemplified in the period of $1200$ to $1450$ by the spread of Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity.

Mongol Conquests

The historical turning point that brought an end to the Song dynasty and resulted in the sacking of Baghdad to destroy the Abbasids.

Delhi Sultanate

A state in modern-day India where a Muslim minority elite ruled over a Hindu majority, creating a long-lasting social dynamic of religious tension.

Neo-Confucianism

A belief system emphasizing filial piety and strict social roles focused on relationships such as subject to ruler and husband to wife.

Mandate of Heaven

The Confucian idea that a ruler has the right to lead as long as they are responsible for their people; a bad ruler can be said to lose this divine approval.

Hindu Caste System

A rigid social hierarchy consisting of $5$ levels: the Brahmin (priests), warriors, merchants, peasants, and the untouchables.

Chinampas

Floating gardens used for agriculture in the Aztec lands.

Terrace Farming

An agricultural innovation used by the Inca where steps were cut into the sides of mountains to increase farmable land.

House of Wisdom

An intellectual center located in Baghdad known for preserving Greco-Roman knowledge and contributing to the development of algebra.

Hangzhou

A major commercial center in Song Dynasty China characterized by flourishing commerce and the use of paper money.

Champa Rice

A drought-resistant crop that could be harvested $2$ times a year, leading to a significant population increase in China.

Caravanserai

Essentially a medieval truck stop where trade caravans could rest, stable their animals, and buy food.

Syncretism

The blending of different cultural traits, such as Swahili being a mix of indigenous African languages and Arabic.

Urdu

A syncretic language blending Arabic, Farsi, and Hindi, created by the Mughal Empire to unify their diverse population.

Serfdom

A forced labor system where the laborer belongs to the land and owes the lord labor; it largely ended in Europe due to labor shortages caused by the Black Death.

Gunpowder Empires

Land-based states that mastered the use of muskets and cannons to expand, including the Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal, Qing, and Russian empires.

Potosí

A mountain in Peru containing a massive silver mine that enriched the Spanish and eventually supplied most of the silver for Chinese luxury goods.

Mercantilism

An economic theory based on the idea that there is a fixed amount of wealth in the world, leading states to maximize exports, minimize imports, and accumulate gold and silver.

Casta System

A racially discriminatory social hierarchy in Latin America with Peninsulares at the top, followed by Creoles, and lower tiers for mixed or enslaved peoples.

Encomienda System

A forced labor system where Spanish noblemen were granted indigenous people to work for them in exchange for protection and Christianization.

Mita System

A labor tax system originally created by the Inca for public works, which was later adapted by the Spanish to force indigenous people to work in mines for $6$ months at a time.

Protestant Reformation

A religious movement kicked off by Martin Luther's opposition to the Catholic Church selling indulgences (forgiveness of sins).

Thirty Years' War

A massive conflict between Catholics and Protestants that wiped out about $rac{1}{3}$ of the German population and led to the foundations of religious tolerance.

The Enlightenment

A social movement prioritizing rational, empirical thinking and the idea of natural rights—specifically life, liberty, and property.

Haitian Revolution

The most successful slave revolt in history, which resulted in the elimination of slavery and the establishment of a republic.

M and M and M's

An acronym representing the connection between industrialization and imperialism: Means, Motive, Markets, and Materials.

Social Darwinism

A conservative justification for imperialism that misapplied biological concepts to claim European superiority based on technology and 'survival of the fittest'.

Tanzimat Reforms

Efforts by the Ottoman Empire to modernize and unify the state, which were often suppressed by conservatives worried about the rise of a new merchant class.

MAIN

An acronym for the causes of World War I: Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism.

Globalization

The modern era of flowering cultural exchange and extensive trade that followed the fall of the Soviet Union in $1991$.