World Exam

Feudalism

A political and social system based on land for service, where kings granted land to nobles in exchange for loyalty and military help. It was common in medieval Europe and tied to weak central governments.

Manorialism

An economic system centered on the manor, where peasants worked the lord’s land in exchange for protection. It supported feudal society and relied on local self-sufficiency.

Serfdom

A condition in which peasants were legally tied to the land and had to work for a lord. Serfs were not slaves, but they had very few freedoms.

Abbasid Caliphate

A major Islamic empire that ruled from Baghdad and helped spread Islamic culture, learning, and trade. It connected to the House of Wisdom and Dar al-Islam.

Dar al-Islam

The “house of Islam,” or the regions where Islamic rule, culture, or influence was dominant. It expanded through trade, conquest, and missionary activity.

Tribute System

A political system in which weaker states sent goods or payments to a stronger power in exchange for protection or trade. It was important in East Asia, especially China.

Delhi Sultanate

A Muslim kingdom in northern India that spread Islam and influenced Indian politics and culture. It helped connect India to the wider Islamic world.

Ottoman Empire

A large Islamic empire in Southwest Asia, North Africa, and southeastern Europe that controlled trade routes and ruled for centuries. It became one of the main gunpowder empires.

Seljuk Turkic Empire

A Turkic Muslim empire that helped spread Islam into Anatolia and influenced later states like the Ottoman Empire. It helped weaken Byzantine control in the region.

Srivijaya

A Buddhist trading empire in Southeast Asia that controlled sea routes and benefited from Indian Ocean trade. Its power came from commerce, not land conquest.

Angkor Wat

A massive temple complex in Cambodia built by the Khmer Empire. It shows the wealth and religious influence of Southeast Asian states.

Byzantine Empire

The eastern continuation of the Roman Empire, centered in Constantinople. It preserved Roman law and Greek Orthodox Christianity.

Yuan Dynasty

The Mongol dynasty that ruled China under Kublai Khan. It connected China more closely to Eurasian trade and Mongol rule.

Ming Dynasty

A Chinese dynasty that restored native Chinese rule after the Yuan and strengthened Confucian values. It is known for trade expansion, tribute relations, and voyages by Zheng He.

Bhakti Movement

A Hindu devotional movement that emphasized personal worship of gods over ritual and caste status. It spread in India alongside Islamic influence.

Khanate of the Golden Horde

A Mongol successor state in Russia and Central Asia. It helped spread Mongol influence and linked Russia to the larger Mongol Empire.

Neo-Confucianism

A revival of Confucian thought that blended moral philosophy with Buddhist and Daoist ideas. It became very important in Song and later Ming China.

Mita System

An Inca labor tax requiring communities to provide workers for state projects. It supported roads, agriculture, and imperial administration.

Champa Rice

A fast-ripening rice variety from Southeast Asia that increased food production. It helped support population growth in China.

Monasticism

A religious way of life focused on seclusion, prayer, and discipline. It was especially important in Christianity, Buddhism, and other traditions.

Sufism

A mystical form of Islam that emphasized a personal, emotional connection to God. It helped spread Islam through trade and missionary work.

Great Zimbabwe

A powerful African trading state known for stone architecture and control of trade in gold and ivory. It was connected to Swahili Coast trade networks.

Swahili Coast

A trading region along East Africa where African, Arab, and Indian influences mixed. It grew wealthy through Indian Ocean trade.

Griots

West African oral historians, storytellers, and musicians who preserved history and culture. They were important in empires like Mali.

Black Death/Plague

A devastating pandemic that killed millions in Eurasia and North Africa. It disrupted trade, labor systems, and social order.

Hanseatic League

A commercial alliance of North European cities that controlled trade in the Baltic and North Sea. It shows the rise of merchant capitalism in medieval Europe.

Caravanserai

Inns or rest stops along trade routes where merchants and animals could rest. They supported overland trade across the Silk Roads.

House of Wisdom

A major Abbasid center for learning in Baghdad where scholars translated and studied works from many cultures. It shows the intellectual achievements of the Islamic world.

Bills of Exchange

Written promises to pay later, used by merchants to reduce the risk of carrying large amounts of money. They made long-distance trade easier.

Flying Cash

An early Chinese paper money system that helped merchants avoid carrying heavy coins. It reflects economic growth and trade in Song China.

Junk Ships

Large Chinese ships used for trade and exploration. They were important in Indian Ocean commerce and Zheng He’s voyages.

Lateen Sail

A triangular sail that allowed ships to sail more efficiently against the wind. It helped expand Indian Ocean trade.

Astrolabe

A navigation tool used to measure latitude and help sailors find their position. It was crucial for long-distance maritime trade.

Zheng He

A Ming admiral who led giant voyages across the Indian Ocean to show Chinese power and build tribute ties. His expeditions reflected Ming confidence and trade reach.

Marco Polo

A Venetian traveler who wrote about his journey to Asia and the Mongol court. His account increased European interest in Asian trade.

Genghis Khan

The founder of the Mongol Empire who united Mongol tribes and built the largest contiguous land empire in history. His conquests reshaped Eurasian trade and politics.

Kublai Khan

A Mongol ruler who completed the conquest of China and founded the Yuan Dynasty. He strengthened Mongol control over East Asia.

Mansa Musa

The wealthy ruler of Mali famous for his pilgrimage to Mecca. His journey spread knowledge of West African wealth and Islam.

Ibn Battuta

A Moroccan Muslim traveler who recorded his journeys across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. His writings show the connectedness of the Islamic world.

Baghdad

The capital of the Abbasid Caliphate and a major center of trade, learning, and culture. It was one of the great cities of the medieval world.

Timbuktu

A major trading and learning center in West Africa, linked to trans-Saharan trade and Islamic scholarship. It became famous under Mali and Songhai.

Great Zimbabwe

A stone-built trading state in southern Africa that controlled regional commerce. Its wealth came from gold, cattle, and trade links.

Venice

A wealthy Italian city-state that grew rich through Mediterranean trade. It connected Europe to the Islamic world and Asian goods.

Constantinople

The capital of the Byzantine Empire, located between Europe and Asia. Its location made it a strategic trade and political center.

Chang’an

A major Chinese capital during earlier dynasties and a key Silk Roads hub. It symbolized Chinese power and cosmopolitan exchange.

Cairo

A major Islamic city in Egypt that served as a trade, political, and scholarly center. It linked the Mediterranean, Africa, and the Middle East.

Samarkand

A major Central Asian city on the Silk Roads known for trade and cultural exchange. It was important under Timur and earlier Mongol rule.

Gunpowder Empires

A term for the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires, which used gunpowder weapons to expand and centralize power. These states dominated Eurasia in the early modern era.

Ottoman Devshirme

A system where Christian boys from the Balkans were taken, converted to Islam, and trained for Ottoman service. It supplied loyal administrators and soldiers.

Janissaries

Elite Ottoman infantry soldiers recruited through the devshirme system. They became a powerful military force and helped strengthen Ottoman rule.

Safavid Empire

A Persian empire that made Shi’a Islam the official religion. It rivaled the Ottoman and Mughal empires and helped define the Islamic sectarian divide.

Mughal Zamindars

Local landholders and tax collectors in the Mughal Empire. They helped the empire govern rural areas and collect revenue.

Sikhism

A monotheistic religion founded in South Asia that blended ideas from Islam and Hinduism. It emerged in a diverse religious environment under Mughal rule.

Daimyo

Powerful Japanese landholding lords who controlled land and warriors. They were important in Japan’s feudal system before Tokugawa centralization.

Tokugawa Shogunate

The military government that ruled Japan and brought peace, order, and isolation. It limited foreign influence and strengthened central control.

Mercantilism

An economic theory that said a country should export more than it imports and accumulate wealth. European states used it to justify colonies and trade monopolies.

Joint-Stock Company

A business in which investors pooled money and shared profits and risks. It helped fund overseas expansion and imperialism.

British East India Company

A joint-stock company that gained political and economic power in India. It became a major tool of British imperial expansion.

Dutch East India Company

A powerful Dutch trading company that dominated Asian commerce. It used joint-stock financing and helped the Dutch build a trading empire.

Silver drain

The flow of silver from Europe to Asia, especially China, in exchange for luxury goods. It shows how global trade linked the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Counter-Reformation

The Catholic Church’s effort to respond to Protestantism and reform itself. It strengthened Catholic identity and missionary activity.

The Reformation

A religious movement that challenged the authority of the Catholic Church and led to Protestant churches. It fractured Christian unity in Europe.

The Little Ice Age

A period of cooler climate that reduced harvests and increased hardship. It contributed to social and economic stress in the early modern period.

Encomienda System

A Spanish system that gave colonists the right to demand labor and tribute from Indigenous people. It was part of Spanish colonization in the Americas.

Hacienda System

A large landed estate in Spanish America worked by laborers. It concentrated wealth and land in colonial societies.

Mestizo

A person of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in Spanish America. The term reflects the racial hierarchy created by colonization.

Chattel Slavery

A system in which enslaved people were treated as permanent property. It became central to plantation economies in the Americas.

Indentured Servitude

A labor system in which workers signed contracts to work for a set period in exchange for passage or debt repayment. It was used widely in European colonies.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and people between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. It transformed diets, populations, and economies worldwide.

Trading post empire

An empire that controlled key ports and trade routes rather than large territories. Portugal used this model in Asia and Africa.

Settler Colonies

Colonies where Europeans moved permanently and displaced local populations. They often relied on land seizure and Indigenous removal.

Sphere of influence

An area where a foreign power had special trading or political privileges without fully colonizing it. It was common in China and other weakened states.

Middle Passage

The forced ocean voyage that transported enslaved Africans to the Americas. It was one of the most brutal parts of the Atlantic slave trade.

Triangular Trade

A trade network linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas. It moved manufactured goods, enslaved people, and cash crops.

Casta System

A colonial racial hierarchy in Spanish America based on ancestry. It ranked people by mixtures of European, Indigenous, and African heritage.

Creoles

People of European ancestry born in the Americas. They often had high status but less power than peninsulares.

Peninsulares

Spaniards born in the Iberian Peninsula who held the highest positions in colonial society. They dominated colonial government and administration.

Vodun (Voodoo)

A religious tradition with West African roots that blended with Christianity in the Americas. It shows cultural survival among enslaved peoples.

Maroon Societies

Communities formed by escaped enslaved people, often in remote areas. They resisted plantation slavery and preserved African traditions.

Glorious Revolution

The 1688 English revolution that limited the monarchy and strengthened البرلمان/Parliament. It supported constitutional government.

Divine Right of Kings

The belief that monarchs received power from God and were accountable only to God. It was used to justify absolute rule.

Absolutism

A political system where monarchs held almost complete power over the state. It was common in early modern Europe.

yasak

A system of tribute and regulation used by Mongol rulers to control conquered peoples. It reflects how steppe empires organized rule over diverse subjects.

Mehmed II (Mehmed the Conqueror)

The Ottoman sultan who captured Constantinople in 1453. His victory marked a major turning point in Ottoman expansion.

Akbar the Great

A Mughal emperor known for expansion, strong administration, and religious tolerance. He helped unify a diverse empire.

Suleiman the Magnificent

An Ottoman sultan who expanded the empire and strengthened its legal and administrative systems. He represented the height of Ottoman power.

Qing Dynasty

The last imperial dynasty of China, ruled by the Manchus. It expanded China’s territory and maintained Confucian bureaucracy.

Ivan the Terrible

The first tsar of Russia, known for centralizing power and expanding Russian territory. His rule helped shape the Russian state.

Louis XIV

The French monarch who became the symbol of absolutism. He centralized authority and strengthened royal power.

Martin Luther

The German monk whose criticism of the Catholic Church launched the Protestant Reformation. His ideas challenged papal authority.

Tokugawa Ieyasu

The founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan. He unified Japan and established a long period of peace and control.

Christopher Columbus

An Italian explorer whose voyages opened sustained European contact with the Americas. His expeditions began a new era of global exchange and conquest.

Hernán Cortés

The Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire. He used alliances, weapons, and disease to defeat a powerful state.

Francisco Pizarro

The Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire. His victory helped Spain gain vast wealth in South America.

Istanbul

The new name for Constantinople after Ottoman conquest. It became the political and cultural center of the Ottoman Empire.

Tenochtitlán

The Aztec capital built on an island in Lake Texcoco. It was a major urban center before being destroyed by the Spanish.

Cusco

The capital of the Inca Empire in the Andes. It was the political and religious center of Inca rule.

Lisbon

The capital of Portugal and a major center of Atlantic trade. It became rich from exploration and overseas commerce.

Goa

A Portuguese port city in India that served as a key trading and missionary base. It helped Portugal control Indian Ocean commerce.

Macau

A Portuguese trading post in southern China. It connected European merchants to Chinese goods and Asian trade networks.