AP World Terms Final

pastoral society

Based on an alternative kind of food producing economy focused on the raising of livestock

paleolithic era

The long period during which human societies sustained themselves through gathering, hunting, and fishing without the practice of agriculture

chiefdom

A societal grouping governed by a chief who typically relies on generosity, ritual status, or charisma rather than force to win obedience from the people

patriarchy

A social system in which women have been made subordinate to men in the family and in society

hinduism

A religion based on the many beliefs, practices, sects, rituals, and philosophies in India

upanishads

Indian mystical and philosophical works, written between 800 and 400 B.C.E.

siddhartha gautama

The Indian prince (the Buddha) whose exposure to human suffering led him to develop a path to Enlightenment - the basis for Buddhism

Theravada Buddhism

The early form of Buddhism according to which the Buddha was a wise teacher but not divine. It focused on practices rather than beliefs

mahayana buddhism

Popular development of Buddhism which gives a much greater role to supernatural beings and to compassion

bhakti movement

Hindu movement that involved the intense adoration and identification with a particular deity through songs, prayers, and rituals

confucianism

Chinese philosophy advocating the moral example of superiors as the key element of social order

Han dynasty

Chinese rulers (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.) after the Qin dynasty collapsed, who established political and cultural patterns that lasted into the twentieth century

daoism

A Chinese philosophy/popular religion that advocates a simple and unpretentious way of living and alignment with the natural world

judaism

The monotheistic religion developed in the Middle East by the Hebrews, emphasizing a sole personal god (Yahweh) with concerns for social justice

Jesus of Nazareth

A Jewish teacher and messiah whose life, teachings, death, and resurrection, gave rise to the new religion of Christianity

Saint Paul

An early convert and missionary, and the first great popularizer of Christianity, especially to Gentile communities.

Muhammad Ibn Abdullah

The Prophet and founder of Islam who brought a radically monotheistic religion to Arabia and the world.

Quran

The holy text of Islam, which records the revelations given to the prophet Muhammad.

umma

The community of all believers in Islam, bound by common belief rather than territory, language, or tribe.

ulama

Islamic religious scholars, both Sunni and Shia, who shaped and transmitted the core teachings of Islamic civilization.

sufism

An understanding of the Islamic faith that saw the worldly success of Islamic civilization as a distraction and deviation from the purer spirituality of Muhammad's time

silk roads

Land-based trade routes that linked many regions of Eurasia

sea roads

The world's largest system of communication and exchange before 1500 C.E., centered in India, it stretched from China to Africa

sand roads

The routes of the trans-Saharan trade, which linked interior West Africa to the Mediterranean and North African world

song dynasty

Time (960-1279) during which an explosion of scholarship gave rise to Neo-Confucianism, and a revolution in agriculture and industrial production which made China the richest and most populated country on the planet.

china's economic revolution

A major rise in prosperity that was marked by rapid population growth, urbanization, industrialization, and a large network of internal waterways.

hangzhou

Capital during the Song dynasty with a population over one million

foot binding

Chinese practice prevalent in the Song dynasty. An emphasis on small size and delicacy was central to views of female beauty.

hangul

Korean phonetic alphabet that moved forward greater cultural independence from China.

chu nom

A variation of Chinese writing developed in Vietnam that became the basis for an independent national literature

bushido

"way of the warrior" The martial values of the Japanese samurai; bravery, loyalty, and death over surrender.

abbasid caliphate

An Arab dynasty (750-1258) that governed much of the Islamic world from its capital in Baghdad, overthrown by the Mongols.

Seljuk Turkic empire

Eleventh and twelfth century empire, centered in Persia (Iraq). Its rulers adopted the Muslim title sultan.

ottoman empire

Major Islamic state centered in Anatolia, and came to include the Balkans, parts of the Middle East, and much of North Africa (14th-20th cen.)

al-andulas

Arabic name for Spain, much of which was conquered by Arab and Berber forces between 711 and 718 C.E.

byzantine empire

The surviving eastern Roman Empire founded at the end of the third century. It survived until its conquest by Muslim forces in 1453.

constantinople

Highly defensible and economically important site of the new capital of the eastern half of the Roman Empire.

Caesaropapism

Political-religious system in the Byzantine Empire where the secular ruler is also head of the religious establishment

eastern orthodox christianity

Branch of Christianity noted for the subordination of the Church to political authorities, a married clergy, and a rejection of the authority of the Roman popes.

crusades

"holy wars" waged by Western Christendom mainly against the forces of Islam in the Eastern Mediterranean from 1095 to 1291. They continued in one form or another for several hundred years longer.

kievan rus

An emerging culturally diverse civilization that emerged in the ninth century, and adopted Eastern Orthodox Christianity in the tenth century.

western christendom

Based on Roman Catholicism, it is characterized by its relative independence from the state and its recognition of the authority of the pope.

roman catholic church

Western European branch of Christianity. By the eleventh century, most of Europe acknowledged the pope as the ultimate authority in matters of doctrine.

european renaissance

A "rebirth" of classical learning that is most often associated with the cultural blossoming of Italy in the period 1350-1500

maya civilization

Major Mesoamerican civilization that flourished from 250 to 900. They were known for their elaborate writing system and intellectual and artistic achievements.

aztec empire

Major state that developed in what is now Mexico in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It was dominated by the semi-nomadic Mexica, who had migrated from the north.

inca empire

Large (10 mill. subjects) Quechua-speaking empire that stretched some 2,500 miles along the Andes Mountains during the 15th and early 16th centuries.

srivijaya

Malay kingdom that dominated the critical choke point in Indian Ocean trade at the Straits of Malacca between 670 and 1025

angkor wat

Largest religious structure in the pre-modern world. A temple built in what is now Cambodia in the 12th century.

swahili civilization

Emerged in the eighth century as a set of commercial city-states linked into the Indian Ocean trading network.

great zimbabwe

Powerful state in the southern African interior that emerged from the growing trade in gold to the East African coast

zheng he

Chinese admiral who commanded a huge fleet in a series of voyages to the Indian Ocean.

arabian camel

Introduced to North Africa and the Sahara, it made trans-Saharan commerce possible by 300 to 400 C.E.

west african civilization

A series of important states (including: Ghana, Mali, Songhay, and Kanem) that developed in the region stretching from the Atlantic coast to Lake Chad.

ghana

An early and prominent state within West Africa. It flourished between 750 and 1076, and was later absorbed into the larger Kingdom of Mali.

mali

Prominent state in West Africa established in 1235. It monopolized the import of horses and metals. Its most famous ruler was Mansa Musa.

trans-saharan slave trade

A fairly small-scale commerce that flourished especially from 1100 to 1400 in Islamic North Africa.

timbuktu

A major commercial city in Western Africa, noted as a center of Islamic scholarship and education by the sixteenth century.

house of wisdom

An academic center for research and translation of foreign texts that was established in Baghdad in 830.

american web

A term used to describe the network of trade that linked parts of the pre-Columbian Americas.

chaco phenomenon

Major process of settlement and societal organization in a canyon in what is now N/W New Mexico from 860-1130 C.E.

pochteca

Professional merchants among the Aztecs who undertook large-scale trading expeditions in the fifteenth century.

Temujin (Chinggis Khan)

Powerful unifying Mongol leader- "Universal Ruler" (1162-1227)

mongol world war

Term used to describe half a century of military campaigns, massive killing, and empire building pursued by Chinggis Khan and his successors.

khubilai khan

Grandson of Chinggis Khan who ruled China from 1271 to 1294.

yuan dynasty (China)

Mongol dynasty initiated by Khubilai Khan that ruled China.

ming dynasty

Chinese dynasty noted for its return to traditional Chinese ways and restoration of the land after the destruction of the Mongols.

hulegu

Grandson of Chinggis Khan who became the first il-khan (subordinate khan) of Persia.

safavid empire

Major Turkic empire established in Persia in the sixteenth century, and notable for its efforts to convert its people to Shia Islam.

khanate of the golden horde

The Russian name for the incorporation of Russia into the Mongol Empire in the mid-thirteenth century; known to Mongols as the Kipchak Khanate.

black death

A massive pandemic that swept through Eurasia in the early fourteenth century, spreading along the trade routes within and beyond the Mongol Empire and reaching the Middle East and Western Europe by 1347.

qing expansion

Essentially created the borders of contemporary China during the 17th and 18th century.

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that conquered the Aztec Empire in modern Mexico.

great dying

Term used to describe the devastating demographic impact of European-borne epidemic diseases on the Americas

little ice age

A period of unusually cool temperatures from the 13th to 19th century, mostly in the Northern Hemisphere.

general crisis

Famines, uprisings, and wars in China, Europe, and North America, caused by especially cold winters in the mid. 17th cen.

columbian exchange

the huge network of transatlantic communication, migration, trade, and the transfer of diseases, plants, and animals.

mercantilism

Economic theory that helped fuel colonialism by encouraging exports and accumulating bullion.

mestizo

Term for a population that is the project of unions between Spanish men and Native American women.

mulattoes

Term commonly used for people of mixed African and European blood.

settler colonies

Imperial territories in which Europeans, in substantial numbers, established control - especially the British in North America.

russian empire

A Christian state centered on Moscow that emerged from centuries of Mongol rule in 1480.

yasak

Tribute the Russian rulers demanded from the native peoples of Siberia

mughal empire

Empire founded by Muslim Turkic-speaking peoples who invaded India and ruled from 1526-1707.

akbar

Most famous Mughal emperor who is noted for his religious tolerance and inclusion.

aurangzeb

Mughal emperor who unlike his predecessors' tolerance, attempted to impose Islamic supremacy.

devshirme

Ottoman Empires practice of taking and training young Christian boys to work in the government or become Janissary troops.

indian ocean commerical network

The huge web of commerce in premodern times between East Africa, India, and Southeast Asia.

trading post empire

Form of imperial dominance based on control of trade through military power rather than on control of peoples or territories.

phillipines (spanish)

An archipelago of colonized Pacific islands named in honor of the king of Spain.

manila

Capital of the colonial Philippines; the site of violent clashes between the Spanish and Chinese.

British East India Company

Private English company chartered around 1600 that gave it a monopoly on Indian Ocean trade.

dutch east india company

Private trading company chartered by the Netherlands around 1600, mainly focused on Indonesia

"silver drain"

Term often used to describe the siphoning of money from Europe to pay for the luxury products of the East

piece of eight

The standard Spanish silver coin used by merchants in North America, Europe, India, Russia, West Africa, and China.

potosí

City at the site of the world's largest silver mine in present-day Bolivia.

fur trade

A global industry in which French, British, and Dutch traders exported product from North America to Europe. A similar system operated under Russian control in Siberia.

"soft gold"

Nickname used in early modern period for animal furs, highly valued for their warmth and as symbols of elite status.

transatlantic slave system

Where an estimated 12.5 million people from African societies were shipped across the Atlantic as slaves, and approximately 1.8 million died en route.

african diaspora

The global spread of African peoples via the slave trade.