AP World History Unit 1 Review

Flashcards of key vocabulary terms from AP World History Unit 1.

State

A territory that is politically organized under a single government.

Song Dynasty

The dynasty in charge of China during the period circa 1200-1450.

Confucianism

A philosophy that defined Chinese culture from its earliest days that emphasizes hierarchy, filial piety, and submission to authority.

Neo-Confucianism

A revival of Confucianism during the Song dynasty that sought to rid Confucian thought of the influences of Buddhism.

Filial Piety

The necessity and virtue of children obeying and honoring their parents, grandparents, and deceased ancestors.

Imperial Bureaucracy

A government entity arranged in a hierarchical fashion that carries out the will of the emperor.

Civil Service Examination

An examination based on Confucian classes that eligible men had to pass in order to get a job in the bureaucracy.

Four Noble Truths

The central teachings of Buddhism: life is suffering, we suffer because we crave, we cease suffering when we cease craving, and to cease craving, live a moral life according to the Eightfold Path.

Reincarnation

The cycle of death and rebirth shared by Buddhism and Hinduism.

Nirvana

In Buddhism, the state of dissolving into the oneness of the universe.

Theravada Buddhism

The form of Buddhism practiced in Sri Lanka that confined the practice of Buddhism to monks in monasteries.

Mahayana Buddhism

The branch of Buddhism practiced in East Asia that encouraged a broader participation in Buddhist practices.

Champa Rice

A strand of rice introduced to China from the Champa Kingdom that matured early, resisted drought, and could be harvested multiple times a year.

Dar al-Islam

The house of Islam; all the places in the world where the Islamic faith was the organizing principle of civilizations.

Abbasid Caliphate

The Muslim empire whose center of power was located in Baghdad. It was ethnically Arab.

Sharia Law

A legal code based on the Quran.

Sufis

A new sect of Islam which emphasized mystical experience and was far more open to adapting itself to local beliefs.

Bhakti Movement

A movement that began in Southern India as an innovation on traditional polytheistic Hinduism that emphasized devotion to one of the Hindu gods.

Delhi Sultanate

An Islamic empire that established Islam as the religion of the elite in South Asia and then spread throughout Southeast Asia.

Rajput Kingdom

A collection of rival and warring Hindu kingdoms that had existed before Muslim rule in Northern India.

Vijayanagara Empire

A major Hindu kingdom that rose up in the South of India as a counterpoint to Muslim rule in the North, established in 1336.

Aztec Empire

An empire founded in 1345 by the Mexica people in Mesoamerica.

Tribute States

States conquered by the Aztecs that were required to provide labor and regular contributions of goods.

Inca Empire

An empire born in the early fourteen hundreds that stretched nearly across the entire Andean Mountain Range.

Mita System

A requirement the Incas had of the people they conquered to provide labor on state projects.

Mississippian Culture

The first large scale civilization in North America that grew up around the Mississippi River Valley.

Swahili Civilization

A series of cities organized around commerce and trading along the East African coast.

Great Zimbabwe

A powerful African state that grew thanks to trade, their economic bread and butter being farming and cattle herding but shifted mainly to gold exports.

Feudalism

A system whereby powerful lords and kings gained allegiance from lesser lords and kings.

Manorialism

A system where all major aspects of life such as the European society and economics were organized according to a manor.

Serfs

Working peasants who were bound to the land of those powerful landowners and they lived there and they worked there in exchange for the Lord's protection.