APWorld

State

An organized political community under one government (like a country, empire, nation, etc.).

Filial piety

The emphasis on children obeying and honoring their parents, grandparents, and deceased ancestors as a key principle in Confucianism.

Neo-Confucianism

A revival of Confucianism that helped legitimize the rule of the Song Dynasty.

Civil Service Exam

An examination based on Confucian classics that eligible men had to pass to be part of the imperial bureaucracy.

Champa Rice

A drought-resistant crop that matures early, significantly increasing food availability and supporting population growth in the Song Dynasty.

Mahayana Buddhism

A form of Buddhism that encourages broader participation and offers a way to achieve nirvana with help from bodhisattvas.

Thervada Buddhism

The original form of Buddhism focused on personal enlightenment and monastic life.

Sharia law

A legal code based on the Quran guiding many Islamic societies.

Vassals

Lesser lords in the feudal system who pledged loyalty to a lord in exchange for land.

Serfdom

An economic system where peasants are bound to the land they work in exchange for protection from a lord.

Manorialism

The economic structure that defined rural life in medieval Europe in which a lord's estate served as the basic unit of rural organization.

Networks of Exchange

Systems of trade routes and connections among different states and cultures.

Silk Roads

Ancient trade routes that linked the East and West, facilitating not only commerce but also cultural exchange.

Caravanserai

Inns or guesthouses along the Silk Road that provided shelter and safety for merchants.

Flying Cash

A system developed in China for making deposits and withdrawing money at different locations to simplify trade.

Diasporic Merchant Communities

Merchant communities established in various regions that contributed to cultural exchange and the spread of religions.

Zheng He

A Chinese explorer whose voyages expanded China's influence and facilitated the exchange of technology and culture.

Pax Mongolica

The period of peace established by the Mongols that allowed for safe trade across their empire.

Gunpowder

A significant technological transfer from China that traveled through trade routes to the West, impacting military technology.

Champa Rice

Fast-maturing rice introduced to China that lead to population growth.

Bubonic Plague

A deadly disease that spread along trade routes from China to Europe, significantly affecting populations.

Ottoman Empire

An empire that began its expansion in the 14th century, controlling much of Southwestern Europe and Anatolia, and used gunpowder weapons for military superiority.

Janissaries

Elite fighting force formed by the Ottomans by enslaving and converting Christian boys from the Balkans.

Safavid Empire

An empire that started expanding in the 16th century, relying on gunpowder weapons and a military made of enslaved Christians from the Caucasus.

Devshirme System

A practice used by the Ottomans to enslave Christian boys, convert them to Islam, and train them for elite positions.

Mughal Empire

An empire that started expanding in the 16th century under Babur, defeating the Delhi Sultanate with gunpowder weapons.

Safavid-Mughal Conflict

A series of wars fought over lands in modern Afghanistan, involving both territorial and religious disputes between Sunni Mughals and Shi'a Safavids.

Legitimize Power

The methods rulers use to establish their authority and make their rule widely accepted.

Consolidate Power

The process of transferring power from other groups to rulers to strengthen their control.

Bureaucracies

Systems including thousands of government officials who ensure laws are enforced throughout an empire.

Divine Right of Kings

The belief that monarchs are God’s representatives on Earth, used to legitimize their authority.

Zamindar System

A tax-collection system used by the Mughal Empire where elite landowners taxed peasants on behalf of the imperial government.

Tax-Farming

An Ottoman practice of selling the right to collect taxes from subjects to generate revenue.

Sikhism

A syncretic religion blending Hindu and Islamic doctrines, emphasizing equality and rejecting gender hierarchies and the caste system.

Shah Ismail

The Safavid leader who declared the Safavid Empire a Shi'a Islamic state and intensified the split between Sunni and Shi'a Islam.

Magnetic Compass

A nautical instrument that shows direction relative to the geographic cardinal directions, adopted from China.

Astrolabe

An ancient instrument used to make astronomical measurements, including the determination of latitude, adopted from Ancient Greece and the Arab world.

Lateen Sail

A triangular sail developed in the Arab world used to allow ships to navigate effectively by cutting through the wind.

Mercantilism

An economic theory that promotes governmental regulation of a nation's economy for augmenting state power at the expense of rival national powers.

Joint-Stock Companies

Businesses formed by a group of investors who share in the profits and risks of the venture, often chartered by states.

Voyages of Exploration

Expeditions undertaken by navigators to discover new trade routes and lands, significantly influenced by technological innovations.

Columbian Exchange

The widespread transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and cultures between the Old World and the New World following the voyages of Christopher Columbus.

Chattel Slavery

A system of slavery in which the enslaved person is owned as property, often characterized by race-based and hereditary conditions in the Americas.

Encomienda System

A Spanish labor system that rewarded conquerors with the labor of particular groups of conquered non-Christian people.

Cash Cropping

The agricultural practice of growing crops for sale and profit rather than for personal consumption or subsistence.

Casta System

A hierarchical social structure imposed by the Spanish colonizers in the Americas that categorized individuals based on race and ancestry.

The Fronde Rebellion

A series of civil wars in France during the 1640s, initiated by the nobility in response to the centralization of power and increased taxation by the monarchy.

Asante Empire

A West African state that emerged in the late 17th century, known for trading ivory, gold, and enslaved individuals with Europeans.

Atlantic System

A new trade network that emerged to facilitate the movement of goods, wealth, and laborers between Europe, Africa, and the Americas, chiefly involving the slave trade.

Indigenous Labor Systems

Traditional forms of labor utilized by Native American peoples, such as the Incan Mit’a, often repurposed for colonial economies.

Cultural Synthesis

The blending of different cultural elements into new forms, often seen in the development of creole languages and syncretic religions in the Americas.

Tokugawa Japan

A period of Japanese history during which the Tokugawa shogunate ruled from 1603 to 1868, noted for its isolationist policies and resistance to Western influence.

Enlightenment

An intellectual movement that applied new ways of understanding the natural and human world, using rationalist and empiricist approaches.

Natural Rights

Rights that all humans are born with, emphasized by Enlightenment thinkers.

Social Contract

The concept that encourages people to overthrow a tyrannical government, suggesting the legitimacy of a government's authority depends on a contract with its citizens.

Popular Sovereignty

The belief that the power to rule should belong to the people, a key idea in Enlightenment thought.

Democracy

A government system where all people can participate.

Liberalism

An ideology emphasizing the protection of civil rights, representative government, protection of private property, and free-market trade.

Nationalism

A sense of commonality among people based on shared language, culture, or customs, often linked to aspirations for self-governance.

Feminist Movement

A movement that began advocating for women's suffrage and equality, highlighted by activists like Olympe de Gouges.

American Revolution

A revolution sparked by discontent with British rule, leading to the establishment of a democratic-republic.

Haitian Revolution

The successful uprising of enslaved people in Haiti against French colonial rule, resulting in the first black government in the western hemisphere.

Industrial Revolution

A period of major industrialization that transformed production processes, labor specialization, and economic structures.

Transnational Business

A company established in one country but with operations controlled in others, exemplified by the Dutch East India Company.

Marxism

A theory developed by Karl Marx advocating for the working class to rise against the bourgeoisie, aiming for a classless society.

Tanzimat Reforms

A series of reforms in the Ottoman Empire that aimed at modernization and adoption of Western-style governance and infrastructure.

Nationalism

The belief of people sharing a common language, religion, or culture in their own greatness.

Social Darwinism

An ideology applying Darwin's theory of evolution to human societies, claiming that 'survival of the fittest' justified imperialist expansion.

Civilizing Mission

The belief that imperial nations had a duty to develop and convert colonized people.

Economic Imperialism

Extending control over another state primarily through economic means.

Export Economy

An economy structured around the export of commodities and natural resources.

Indentured Servitude

A semi-coerced labor system where workers sign contracts promising to work for a period in exchange for passage and work.

Convict Labor

A form of semi-coerced labor where convicts perform hard labor on imperial projects in penal colonies.

The Berlin Conference

A meeting in 1884-1885 where European powers divided Africa among themselves without African input.

Taiping Rebellion

A massive civil war in China from 1850 to 1864 that weakened the Qing dynasty and allowed foreign powers to increase their control.

The Xhosa Cattle Killing Movement

A desperate cultural and religious response by the Xhosa people, leading to mass cattle slaughter, believed to restore their fortunes against imperial invaders.

Ottoman Empire

A historical empire that collapsed after World War I, leading to new nation-states and rising nationalist movements.

Russian Revolution of 1917

The revolution led by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks that resulted in the establishment of the Soviet Union.

Total War

A war that involves the complete mobilization of resources and people, blurring the lines between civilian and military resources.

Militarism

The belief in building up armed forces to prepare for war, which played a key role in causing World War I.

The Treaty of Versailles

The peace treaty that ended World War I, imposing heavy reparations on Germany and redrawing national boundaries.

Great Depression

A severe global economic decline in the 1930s that affected economies worldwide and led to significant government intervention.

Five Year Plans

Economic goals implemented by Joseph Stalin to industrialize the Soviet Union and increase agricultural productivity.

Gavril Princip

The Serbian nationalist who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, sparking the outbreak of World War I.

Fascism

A far-right political philosophy characterized by authoritarian leadership and extreme nationalism, seen in regimes like Nazi Germany.

Holodomor

A man-made famine in Ukraine under Stalin's regime that resulted in millions of deaths and is considered a genocide against the Ukrainian people.

Lebensraum

The Nazi policy of territorial expansion in Eastern Europe to provide living space for the German population.

Propaganda

Biased information used by governments to influence public opinion and promote nationalism, especially during wartime.

Japanese Expansion

The aggressive territorial growth of Japan post-World War I, particularly evident in their invasion of Manchuria.

Armenian Genocide

The mass extermination of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I, resulting in the deaths of 600,000 to 1.5 million Armenians.

The Holocaust

The systematic genocide orchestrated by Nazi Germany that led to the deaths of 6 million Jews and millions of others deemed undesirable.

Cold War

A Cold War refers to hostility between two states usually due to an ideological struggle rather than open warfare.

Superpower

A nation with the ability to project its power and influence globally, particularly the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Marshall Plan

A U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe for economic recovery after World War II.

Decolonization

The process by which colonies gained independence from colonial powers, especially after World War II.

Non-Aligned Movement

A group of states that did not formally align with either the US or Soviet blocs during the Cold War, aimed at creating an independent path in world politics.

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance formed in 1949 between the US and several Western countries.

Warsaw Pact

A military alliance of communist nations in Eastern Europe organized in 1955 as a response to NATO.

Proxy War

A conflict in which two opposing countries or parties support combatants in a third country to indirectly confront each other.

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

A doctrine of military strategy where full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would result in the annihilation of both.