AP World History Unit 3: Empires Expand

Gunpowder

Invented within China during the 9th century, this substance was became the dominate military technology used to expand European and Asian empires by the 15th century.

Manchus

Northeast Asian peoples who defeated the Ming Dynasty and founded the Qing Dynasty in 1644, which was the last of China's imperial dynasties.

Mughal Empire

Muslim state (1526-1857) exercising dominion over most of India in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Ottoman Empire

Islamic state founded by Osman in northwestern Anatolia. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire was based at Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) from 1453-1922. It encompassed lands in the Middle East, North Africa, the Caucasus, and eastern Europe.

Safavid Empire

Iranian kingdom (1502-1722) established by Ismail Safavi, who declared Iran a Shi'ite state.

Songhai

a West African empire that conquered Mali and controlled trade from the 1400s to 1591

monumental architecture

architectural constructions of a greater-than-human scale, such as pyramids, temples, and tombs

Tax farming

A government's use of private collectors to collect taxes. Individuals or corporations contract with the government to collect a fixed amount for the government and are permitted to keep as profit everything they collect over that amount. (p. 334)

Devshirme

'Selection' in Turkish. The system by which boys from Christian communities were taken by the Ottoman state to serve as Janissaries.

Samuri

a member of a powerful military caste in feudal Japan, especially a member of the class of military retainers of the daimyos.

Divine Right

Belief that a rulers authority comes directly from god.

Temple of Cuzco

Incan sun temple and example of monumental architecture.

Taj Mahal

A beautiful tomb built by the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan to honor his wife.

Versailles

A palace built by Louis XIV outside of Paris; it was home to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette

Zamindar

a local official in Mogul India who received a plot of farmland for temporary use in return for collecting taxes for the central government

Protestant Reformation

A religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches.

Catholic Reformation

a 16th century movement in which the Roman Catholic Church sought to make changes in response to the Protestant Reformation

Sunni

A branch of Islam whose members acknowledge the first four caliphs as the rightful successors of Muhammad

Shia

the branch of Islam whose members acknowledge Ali and his descendants as the rightful successors of Muhammad

Sikhism

the doctrines of a monotheistic religion founded in northern India in the 16th century by Guru Nanak and combining elements of Hinduism and Islam

Ming Dynasty

A major dynasty that ruled China from the mid-fourteenth to the mid-seventeenth century. It was marked by a great expansion of Chinese commerce into East Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia

Sycretic

A religion that combines several traditions

Absolute Monarchy

A system of government in which the head of state is a hereditary position and the king or queen has almost complete power

Constitutional Monarchy

A King or Queen is the official head of state but power is limited by a constitution.

Renaissance

"rebirth"; following the Middle Ages, a movement that centered on the revival of interest in the classical learning of Greece and Rome

Scientific Revolution

A major change in European thought, starting in the mid-1500s, in which the study of the natural world began to be characterized by careful observation and the questioning of accepted beliefs.

Martin Luther

95 Thesis, posted in 1517, led to religious reform in Germany, denied papal power and absolutist rule. Claimed there were only 2 sacraments: baptism and communion.

Shogun

A general who ruled Japan in the emperor's name

Daimyo

A Japanese feudal lord who commanded a private army of samurai

Janissaries

Infantry, originally of slave origin, armed with firearms and constituting the elite of the Ottoman army from the fifteenth century until the corps was abolished in 1826.