World History: Gunpowder Empires, Renaissance, and Reformation

Vocabulary flashcards covering the Ottoman, Qing, Mughal, and Safavid Empires, as well as the European Renaissance and Reformation based on lecture notes.

Byzantine Empire

An empire whose conquest in 1453 marked the greatest moment in Ottoman history, causing Greek immigrants to flee to Europe with ancient books.

Merit-based System

A system used for leadership selection that relied on tests to determine leaders instead of bloodlines.

Devshirme

An Ottoman system that created soldiers using Christian children.

Janissaries

Elite Ottoman soldiers who were trained to fight in the army.

Millet System

A successful way the Ottoman Empire governed that allowed communities to control their internal affairs, benefiting the Turks.

Manchurians

Cousins to the Mongols who invaded China and established the Qing Dynasty.

Queue and Kowtow

 Qing Dynasty cultural practices used as symbolism to show respect to the ruler, consisting of a specific hairstyle and kneeling.

Ghazi System

A system where Christian families were forced to give up boys to be trained to fight in the military.

Taj Mahal

A tomb built for a deceased wife by Shah Jahan, the creation of which led to near bankruptcy for the Mughal Empire.

Sikhism

A small, one-God religion created around 1500 as a blend of beliefs, which experienced toleration under Akbar before later Mughals became violent toward Sikhs.

Kandahar

A Silk Road city fought over by Persians and Mughals, leading to the destruction of the Silk Road.

Shia Islam

A special form of Islam practiced in the Safavid Empire of Persia/Iran.

Florence, Italy

The Italian city where the Renaissance bloomed after the plague killed $\frac{1}{3}$ of the population.

Gutenberg Printing Press

An invention from 1440 that revolutionized the spread of knowledge and allowed Martin Luther's 95 Theses to be printed and distributed across Germany.

Humanism

A Renaissance movement focused on logical thinking and learning independently, blending ancient philosophies and Christian ideas to lead to individualism.

Protestant Reformation

A movement to break away from the Catholic Church.

Martin Luther

A monk in Northern Germany who was troubled by corruption throughout the church and initiated the Protestant Reformation.

95 Theses

A long list of complaints against the Catholic Church written by Martin Luther.

Indulgences

Paper sold by the church that promised forgiveness of all sins and entry into heaven.

Council of Trent

A council created by Pope Paul III in 1545 to find and eliminate church corruption, which banned the selling of indulgences.

Jesuits

An elite group of Catholic priests in the Society of Jesus, founded by Ignatius Loyola, who built universities, converted non-Christians, and stopped the spread of Protestantism.