AP World Vocab: Pre-Modern Era c.1200-1450

⚫Religion

Sets of beliefs and customs that humans follow that explain and honor supernatural phenomena (life, after-life, gods, etc.)

🟢→🔴South Asian Caste System

social hierarchy which has determined the social and economic roles of followers of Hinduism.

⚫Urbanization

Process in which people in a particular society increasingly settle and live in cities and towns

⚫State

A political unit in which an organized government controls a defined territory and the people within it. can also refer to the government.

⚫Social Hierarchy

the arrangement of people in a given society into varying levels based on wealth, status, and/or power.

⚫Artisans

people who make goods the production of which require skill, such as pottery, textiles, or metal goods. (Blacksmiths, Potters, Weavers, etc.)

⚫ Empire

A state in which one government/cultural group rules over multiple cultural groups or previously independent peoples, usually in fairly large area, and ALWAYS involving the use of force for conquest and/or control. (Japan 1895-1945, Great Britain, etc.)

🟡→🔵 Mita

System of coerced labor used in the Incan Empire in which conquered people had to do periodic stints of work for the government on such projects as farm work on state owned farms (“sun farms”); road building; or military service.

🟢→🔴 Sharia

A set of law codes based both on the Qur’an (the “word of God”) and the Sunna and Hadiths (the examples and sayings of Muhammad), as well as earlier law codes (such as Persian laws.)

🟢→🔴 Sufis

The term given to Muslims (Sunnis or Shi’ites) who favor a more “mystical” connection with Allah over a focus on orthodoxy (“correct” following of Sharia or other “rules” of Islam)

🟢→🔴 Sunni & Shi’a Sects

Two main sects of Islam

🟢→🔴 Sunni

One of the two sects of Islam. they believed that Muhammad’s successor (caliph) should be the most worthy Muslim. The majority of Muslims follow the sect.

🟢→🔴 Shi’ites/Shi’a

One of the two sects of Islam. they believed that Muhammad’s successor should be his closest relative (Ali). This group still reveres Ali and his decedents, and give a higher role to religious authorities like Imams.

🟡 Abu’ Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta

Arab Muslim scholar, qadi (Sharia lad judge), and traveler from the 14th century whose travels for 30 years (1325-1355) took him to most regions of Africa and Eurasia

⚫Assimilation

When people of one cultural background adopt the culture of another, usually more dominant, cultural group

🟡Abbasid Caliphate

The empire which ruled the Muslim heartland of the Middle East and North Africa beginning in 750 CE

🟡Dar-al Islam

the “Home of Islam”. Term that refers to the wide area of Afro-Eurasia wherein Islam and Islamic civilization played a key role in the c.1200-1450 time period

🟡 Delhi Sultanate

State in northern India established in the 1200s by invading Turkic Muslims in the 1200s; this invasion marked a major expansion of Islam into south Asia. its ruling class as Muslim, but the majority of its population remained Hindu.

🟡Empire of Mali

Wealthy and powerful trade based empire which ruled much of West Africa in the c.1200-1450 time period. one of its kings, Mansa Musa gained a reputation as the worlds richest man in the 14th century. Its rulers and elites were Muslim, but most of the population continued following local animist beliefs.

🟡House of Wisdom

Name given to a major academic research center and library founded by the Abbasid caliph al-Mamum in Baghdad in 830 CE, which functioned as a center of intellectual life in the Muslim world into the Thirteenth Century

🟢→🔴Judaism

Ethnic religion that emerged among the Hebrews of the Middle East before 1000 BCE centered around worship of a single, all-powerful God.

🟡→🔵Mexica

A semi-nomadic people originally from northern Mexico who established the Aztec Empire in Mesoamerica in the 1300s

🟡Nasir al-Din Al-Tusi

Thirteenth Century Persian (Iranian) mathematician and astronomer, founder of the famous Maragha observatory in Persia (Iran) remembered for mapping the motion of stars and planets and developing trigonometry

🟡Ottoman Turks

An Islamic Turkic people who migrated to/invaded Anatolia (present-day Turkey) in the 1200s and 1300s, and who founded the Ottoman Empire there by the 1400s.

⚫Serfdom

A social system in which many people live as serfs, or a class of peasants bound to the land on which they love. they are not free to leave that land, and owe goods and labor to the lord/owner of that land. similar to slavery in that it is a system of coerced labor.

⚫Legitimacy

the claim made by rulers/governments that they have the “right” to rule — that they are “legitimate” governments

🟢→🔴Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity

the branch of Eastern Orthodox Christianity widely practiced in Ethiopia since c. 400 CE

🟡→🔴Ashkenazi Jews

name used by Jewish people who settled Northern and Eastern Europe by by c. 1200 CE

🟡Al-Andalus

the Arabic name for the Iberian peninsula (present day Portugal and Spain)

⚫Bureaucracy

a system in which a government employs literate professional civil servants to help administrator the state. these officials usually have high status. also known as a civil service.

⚫Feudalism

a form of decentralized government which rules a particular society give control authority over local areas to aristocrats in return for loyalty, military service and taxes or tribute. aristocrats usually then give protection and use of land to peasants/serfs in return for labor and crops. tends to develop where there is a lot of conflict for power.

🟡Dragon Kilns

A sloped kiln (oven for baking pottery, especially porcelain) developed in China by c.1200 CE

🟢→🔴Mahayana Buddhism

Sect of Buddhism developed by c.600 CE prevalent in East Asia. Belief in “bodhisattvas”, or multiple Buddahs-those who reach enlightenment but who “hang out” to help the rest of us reach enlightenment instead of enjoying Nirvana is a key trait of this sect.

⚫Commercialization

The process in which people transition from growing, making, or producing things to use themselves to growing, making, or producing things to sell.

⚫Infrastructure

BIG STUFF built (usually by governments) to make societies of many people function better (or to make those societies easier to rule)

🟡The Grand Canal

A canal designated to carry boat traffic constructed by c.1200 CE linking Northern and Southern China. It connected earlier canals.

🟡Champa Rice

A kind of fast-growing, drought-resistant rice introduced to China from Southeast Asia (present-day Vietnam) by 1200 CE.

🟢→🔴Confucianism

A belief system begun by Kung Fuze around 500 BCE, stressing ethical behavior and all people in society playing their proper roles in social hierarchy. Goal was social stability in a fair and just society.

🟢→🟠Mandate of Heaven

Form of religious legitimacy in China which claimed that dynasties (like the Song Dynasty) were “mandated”, or chosen, by the gods to serve as rulers

🟡Manorial System

A system in which aristocrats (or nobles) would give land and protection to free peasants or serfs living on their estates (or manors, the lands they owned) in return for labor and a share of the crops they produced.

🟡Song Dynasty

Ruling dynasty of the heartland of China from 960 to 1270 CE

🟡Heian Japan

Period of Japanese history in the centuries leading up to c.1200 (named for Heian-Kyo, or Kyoto, Japans capital city at the time)

⚫Cultural Diffusion

The spread of cultural elements (religions; belief systems; languages; technologies; customs; arts etc.) from a place or society of origin to new places and new societies of people

⚫Diasporic Communities

Smaller communities, usually within a longer city or society, of members of a distinct group which has migrated from their cultural homeland. Members of these communities often introduce their own cultures and in turn, are influenced by local cultures.

⚫Luxury Goods

High-priced goods NOT NESECARY for daily life, but generally purchased and used by elites (often a sign of their elite status.

⚫Diaspora

A migration in which people of a particular culture move away from their homeland and scatter to other parts of the world. (This can also mean that group of people who have scattered away.) this phenomenon happens often, but not always, because of poor conditions in that homeland.

⚫Syncretism

the blending of two or more cultural elements (religion; belief systems; art forms; languages; customs; etc.) to form a new cultural element.

🟡Srivijaya Empire

A predominantly Buddhist empire that flourished in present day Indonesia in the centuries leading up to c. 1200 CE, thanks in large part to its control of Indian Ocean trade in SE Asia.

🟡Swahili City States

A collection of city-states including Mombasa, A Zanzibar, and Kilna that developed along the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa in the c. 1200-1450 time period.

🟡Vijayanagara Empire

A Hindu empire that ruled much of Southern India during the 1200-1450 time period

🟡Samarkand

A wealthy and powerful Central Asian trade city during the 1200-1450 time period, located in modern day Uzbekistan

🟡Monsoon Winds

Seasonal winds in the Indian Ocean which blow generally northeast to southeast in the winter months and generally southwest to northeast in the summer months. merchants and sailors used these winds to travel around the Indian Ocean basin.

🟡Flying Money

The term used to refer to the paper money in circulation in Song Dynasty China and the parts of Asia during the c. 1200-1450 time period. Paper money was easier to use and transport than traditional coins, this promoting trade.

🟡Timbuktu

City in West Africa which grew wealthy via the trade in salt (from the Sahara desert) and gold (from costal west Africa), carried along the trans-Saharan trade routes by camel caravans!

🟡Caravanserai

The name given to inn and stable complexes built as a resting place for merchants and other travelers along the land-based trade routes of Asia and North Africa (especially along the Silk Roads)

🟡→🔴Dhows

A type of sturdy wooden boat equipped with a triangular lateen sail (which can enable sailors to track into the wind) in use in the Indian Ocean by c.1200 CE

⚫Historiography

the study of HOW and WHY historians research, construct, and present the story of the human past

🟡Kublai Khan

grandson of Chinggis Khan who served as “supreme khan” of the mongol empire from 1260-1294 and who established himself as the first emperor of China’s Yuan Dynasty following his conquest of the Song in 1279

🟡Bubonic Plague

A highly fatal disease which killed somewhere between a quarter and a third of the population of Eurasia between 1346 and 1350. An example of an epidemic disease spread along trade routes during the 1200-1450 time period.

🟡Khanate

The term for a state ruled over by a Mongol “khan”, or king.

🟡Ortogh/Ortoq

The name given to merchant associations set up and sponsored by the Mongol government to promote commerce along the Silk Road trade routes.

🟡Battle of Zhongdu (Siege of Beijing)

A military confrontation lasting from 1213 to 1215 which resulted in the Mongol defeat of the city of Beijing, and that city’s total destruction on the order of Chinggis Khan.