AP World History Terms - AP Exam

Ancestral Pueblo

Formerly known as the Anasazi, this people established a mixed agricultural and gathering/hunting society in the southwestern part of North America.

Apedemek

The lion god of classical Meroë; his popularity shows a turn away from Egyptian cultural influence.

Axum

Classical-era kingdom of East Africa, in present-day Eritrea and northern Ethiopia; flourished from 100 to 600 c.e.

Bantu expansion

Gradual migration of Bantu-speaking peoples from their homeland in what is now southern Nigeria and the Cameroons into most of eastern and southern Africa, a process that began around 3000 b.c.e. and continued for several millennia. The agricultural techniques and ironworking technology of Bantu-speaking farmers gave them an advantage over the gathering and hunting peoples they encountered.

Batwa

Forest-dwelling people of Central Africa who adopted some of the ways of their Bantu neighbors while retaining distinctive features of their own culture; also known as "Pygmies."

Cahokia

The dominant center of an important Mississippi valley mound-building culture, located near present-day St. Louis, Missouri; flourished from about 900 to 1250 c.e.

Chaco Phenomenon

Name given to a major process of settlement and societal organization that occurred in the period 860-1130 c.e. among the peoples of Chaco Canyon, in what is now northwestern New Mexico; the society formed is notable for its settlement in large pueblos and for the building of hundreds of miles of roads (the purpose of which is not known).

Chavín

Andean town that was the center of a large Peruvian religious movement from around 900 to 200 b.c.e.

Coptic Christianity

The Egyptian variety of Christianity, distinctive in its belief that Christ has only a single, divine nature.

Ezana

King of Axum in the early fourth century c.e. who established Christianity in his state.

Hopewell culture

Named from its most important site (in present-day Ohio), this is the most elaborate and widespread of the North American mound-building cultures; flourished from 200 b.c.e. to 400 c.e.

Jenne-jeno

Largest and most fully studied of the cities of the Niger Valley civilization.

Maya

The major classical civilization of Mesoamerica; flourished from 250 to 900 c.e.

Meroë

City in southern Nubia that was the center of Nubian civilization between 300 b.c.e. and 100 c.e.

Moche

An important regional civilization of Peru, governed by warrior-priests, flourished from around 100 to 800 c.e.

Mound Builders

Members of any of a number of cultures that developed east of the Mississippi River in what is now the United States and that are distinguished by their large earthen mounds, built during the period 2000 b.c.e. -1250 c.e.

Nazca

A civilization of southern coastal Peru, the Nazca became famous for their underground irrigation channels and their gigantic and mysterious lines in the desert in the form of monkeys, birds, spiders, and other designs.

Niger Valley civilization

Distinctive city-based civilization that flourished from about 300 b.c.e. to about 900 c.e. in the floodplain of the middle Niger and that included major cities like Jenne-jeno; the Niger Valley civilization is particularly noteworthy for its apparent lack of centralized state structures, having been organized instead in clusters of economically specialized settlements.

Pueblo

"Great house" of the Ancestral Pueblo people; a large, apartment building-like structure that could house hundreds of people.

"Semi-sedentary"

Term frequently used to describe the peoples of the eastern woodlands of the United States, Central America, the Amazon basin, and the Caribbean islands who combined partial reliance on agriculture with gathering and hunting.

Teotihuacán

The largest city of pre-Columbian America, with a population between 100,000 and 200,000; seemingly built to a plan in the Valley of Mexico, Teotihuacán flourished between 300 and 600 c.e., during which time it governed or influenced much of the surrounding region. The name Teotihuacán is an Aztec term meaning "city of the gods."

Tikal

Major Maya city, with a population of perhaps 50,000 people.

American web

A term used to describe the network of trade that linked parts of the pre-Columbian Americas; although less intense and complete than the Afro-Eurasian trade networks, this web nonetheless provided a means of exchange for luxury goods and ideas over large areas.

Black Death

The name given to the massive epidemic that swept Eurasia in the fourteenth century c.e.; it may have been bubonic plague, anthrax, or a collection of epidemic diseases.

Borobudur

The largest Buddhist monument ever built, Borobudur is a mountainous ten-level monument with an elaborate carving program, probably built in the ninth century c.e. by the Sailendras rulers of central Java; it is an outstanding example of cultural exchange and syncretism.

Bubonic Plague

A highly fatal disease transmitted by fleas; it devastated the Mediterranean world between 534 and 750 c.e. and again in the period 1346-1350 c.e.

Ghana, Mali, Songhay

A series of important states that developed in western and central Sudan in the period 500-1600 c.e. in response to the economic opportunities of trans-Saharan trade (especially control of gold production).

Great Zimbabwe

A powerful state in the African interior that apparently emerged from the growing trade in gold to the East African coast; flourished between 1250 and 1350 c.e.

Ibn Battuta

A famous Muslim traveler who visited much of the Islamic world in the fourteenth century and wrote a major account of what he saw.

Indian Ocean trading network

The world's largest sea-based system of communication and exchange before 1500 c.e., Indian Ocean commerce stretched from southern China to eastern Africa and included not only the exchange of luxury and bulk goods but also the exchange of ideas and crops.

Jie people

A nomadic people who controlled much of northern China in the third and fourth centuries; many converted to Buddhism.

Malaysians

Speakers of Austronesian languages from what is now Indonesia who became major traders in Southeast Asia and Madagascar.

monsoons

Alternating wind currents that blew eastward across the Indian Ocean in the summer and westward in the winter, facilitating trade.

oasis cities of Central Asia

Cities such as Merv, Samarkand, Khotan, and Dunhuang that became centers of trans-Eurasian trade.

pochteca

Professional merchants among the Aztecs.

Sailendras

A kingdom of central Java that flourished from the eighth century to the tenth century c.e.; noted for being deeply influenced by Indian culture.

Sand Roads

A term used to describe the routes of the trans-Sahara trade in Africa.

Silk Roads

Land-based trade routes that linked Eurasia.

Srivijaya

A Malay kingdom that dominated the Straits of Malacca between 670 and 1025 c.e.; noted for its creation of a native/Indian hybrid culture.

Sudan

From the Arabic term for "land of black people," a large region of West Africa that became part of a major exchange circuit.

Swahili civilization

An East African civilization that emerged in the eighth century c.e. from a blending of Bantu, Islamic, and other Indian Ocean trade elements.

third-wave civilizations

Civilizations that emerged between 500 and 1500 c.e. and were typified by intensifying trade networks.

trans-Saharan slave trade

A fairly small-scale trade that developed in the twelfth century c.e., exporting West African slaves captured in raids across the Sahara for sale mostly as household servants in Islamic North Africa; the difficulty of travel across the desert limited the scope of this trade.

Venice

An Italian city that by 1000 c.e. emerged as a major center of Mediterranean trade.

An Lushan

Foreign-born general who led a major revolt against the Tang dynasty in 755-763, perhaps provoking China's turn to xenophobia.

Bushido

The "way of the warrior," referring to the military virtues of the Japanese samurai, including bravery, loyalty, and an emphasis on death over surrender.

Chinese Buddhism

Buddhism was China's only large-scale cultural borrowing before the twentieth century; Buddhism entered China from India in the first and second centuries c.e. but only became popular in 300-800 c.e. through a series of cultural accommodations. At first supported by the state, Buddhism suffered persecution during the ninth century but continued to play a role in Chinese society.

Chu Nom

A variation of Chinese writing developed in Vietnam that became the basis for an independent national literature; "southern script."

Foot binding

Chinese practice of tightly wrapping girls' feet to keep them small, begun in the Tang dynasty; an emphasis on small size and delicacy was central to views of female beauty.

Hangul

A phonetic alphabet developed in Korea in the fifteenth century.

Hangzhou

China's capital during the Song dynasty, with a population of more than a million people.

Heian

Japan's second capital city (now known as Kyoto), modeled on the Chinese capital of Chang'an; also used to describe the period of Japanese history from 794 to 1192 c.e.

Jurchen

A nomadic people who established a state that included parts of northern China (1115-1234).

Kami

Sacred spirits of Japan, whether ancestors or natural phenomena; their worship much later came to be called Shinto.

Khitan

A nomadic people who established a state that included parts of northern China (907-1125).

Koryo

Korean dynasty (918-1392).

Kumsong

The capital of Korea in the medieval era, modeled on the Chinese capital of Chang'an.

Murasaki Shikibu

Perhaps Japan's greatest author, a woman active at the Heian court who is best known for The Tale of Genji, which she wrote around 1000 c.e.

Nara

Japan's first capital city, modeled on the Chinese capital of Chang'an.

Neo-Confucianism

A philosophy that emerged in Song-dynasty China; it revived Confucian thinking while adding in Buddhist and Daoist elements.

Pure Land Buddhism

A school of Buddhism that proved to be immensely popular in China; emphasized salvation by faith in the Amitabha Buddha.

Samurai

Members of Japan's warrior class, which developed as political power became increasingly decentralized.

Shotoku Taishi

Japanese statesman (572-622) who launched the drive to make Japan into a centralized bureaucratic state modeled on China; he is best known for the Seventeen Article Constitution, which lays out the principles of this reform.

Silla dynasty

The first ruling dynasty to bring a measure of political unity to the Korean peninsula (688-900).

Song dynasty economic revolution

A major economic quickening that took place in China under the Song dynasty (960-1279); marked by rapid population growth, urbanization, economic specialization, the development of an immense network of internal waterways, and a great increase in industrial production and innovation.

Sui dynasty

Ruling dynasty of China (581-618) that effectively reunited the country after several centuries of political fragmentation.

Tang dynasty

Ruling dynasty of China from 618 to 907; noted for its openness to foreign cultural influences.

Tanka

Highly stylized form of Japanese poetry that has been a favored means of expression for centuries.

Tribute system

Chinese method of dealing with foreign lands and peoples that assumed the subordination of all non-Chinese authorities and required the payment of tribute—produce of value from their countries—to the Chinese emperor (although the Chinese gifts given in return were often much more valuable).

Trung sisters

Two Vietnamese sisters who launched a major revolt against the Chinese presence in Vietnam in 39 c.e.; the rebellion was crushed and the sisters committed suicide, but they remained symbols of Vietnamese resistance to China for centuries.

Uighurs

Turkic empire of the steppes; flourished in the eighth century c.e.

Wendi, Emperor

Sui emperor (r. 581-604) who particularly patronized Buddhism.

Xiongnu

Major nomadic confederacy that was established ca. 200 b.c.e. and eventually reached from Manchuria to Central Asia.

Yi

Korean dynasty (1392-1910).

Aristotle and classical Greek learning

Some works of the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 b.c.e.) had always been known in Western Europe, but beginning in the eleventh century, medieval thought was increasingly shaped by a great recovery of Aristotle's works and a fascination with other Greek authors; this infusion of Greek rationalism into Europe's universities shaped intellectual development for several centuries.

Byzantine Empire

Term used by modern historians to refer to the surviving eastern Roman Empire during the medieval centuries; named after the ancient Greek city Byzantium, on the site of which the Roman emperor Constantine founded a new capital, Constantinople, in 330 c.e.

Caesaropapism

A political-religious system in which the secular ruler is also head of the religious establishment, as in the Byzantine Empire.

Charlemagne

Ruler of the Carolingian Empire (r. 768-814) who staged an imperial revival in Western Europe.

Christianity, Eastern Orthodox

Branch of Christianity that developed in the eastern part of the Roman Empire and gradually separated, mostly on matters of practice, from the branch of Christianity dominant in Western Europe; noted for the subordination of the Church to political authorities, a married clergy, the use of leavened bread in the Eucharist, and insistence on church councils as the ultimate authority in Christian belief and practice.

Christianity, Roman Catholic

Western European branch of Christianity that gradually defined itself as separate from Eastern Orthodoxy, with a major break in 1054 c.e. that has still not been healed; "Roman Catholic" was not commonly used until after the Protestant Reformation, but the term is just since, by the eleventh century, Western Christendom defined itself in centralized terms, with the bishop of Rome (the pope) as the ultimate authority in matters of doctrine.

Constantinople

New capital for the eastern half of the Roman Empire, established by Emperor Constantine in 330 c.e. on the site of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium; Constantinople's highly defensible and economically important site helped assure the city's cultural and strategic importance for many centuries.

Crusades

Modern term meaning "ventures of the cross," used to describe the "holy wars" waged by Western Christendom from 1095 until the end of the Middle Ages and beyond; Crusades could only be declared by the pope and were marked by participants swearing a vow and receiving an indulgence in return.

Cyril and Methodius

Ninth-century Byzantine missionaries to the Slavs whose development of Cyrillic script made it possible to write Slavic languages.

Cyrillic

Alphabet based on Greek letters that was developed by two Byzantine missionaries, Cyril and Methodius, to write Slavic languages.

European cities

Western Europe saw a major process of urbanization beginning in the eleventh century, with towns that created major trade networks and that were notable for the high degree of independence they often enjoyed.

Greek fire

Form of liquid fire that could be sprayed at the enemy; invented by the Byzantines and very important in their efforts to halt the Arab advance into Byzantine territory.

Guild

An association formed by people pursuing the same line of work that regulated their professions; it also provided a social and religious network for members.

Holy Roman Empire

Term invented in the twelfth century to describe the Germany-based empire founded by Otto I in 962 c.e.

"Hybrid civilization," the West as a

The distinctive path of Western Europe in the centuries following the fall of the western Roman Empire, leading to a society that included elements of ancient Rome, the practices of Germanic invaders who formed new states, Christianity, and elements of pre-Roman culture that still survived.

Iconoclasm

The destruction of holy images; a term most often used to describe the Byzantine state policy of image destruction from 726 to 843.

Indulgence

A remission of the penalty (penance) for confessed sin that could be granted only by a pope, at first to Crusaders and later for a variety of reasons.

Justinian

Byzantine emperor (r. 527-565 c.e.), noted for his short-lived reconquest of much of the former western Roman Empire and for his codification of Roman law.

Kievan Rus

State that emerged around the city of Kiev in the ninth century c.e.; a culturally diverse region that included Vikings as well as Finnic and Baltic peoples. The conversion of Vladimir, the grand prince of Kiev, to Orthodox Christianity in 988 had long-term implications for Russia.

Natural philosophy

The scientific study of nature, which developed, especially in Europe, in the later Middle Ages.

Otto I

King of Germany (r. 936-973) who built a consolidated German-northern Italian state and was crowned emperor in 962, creating what became known in time as the "Holy Roman Empire."

System of competing states

The distinctive organization of Western European political life that developed after the fall of the western Roman Empire in the fifth century c.e. in which the existence of many small, independent states encouraged military and economic competition.

Theodora

Byzantine empress (r. 528-548 c.e.), known for her influence in government and her focus on Christianity and women's rights.

Vikings

Scandinavian raiders who had an impact on much of Western Europe in the late eighth to eleventh centuries; their more peaceful cousins also founded colonies, including Newfoundland, Greenland, and Iceland.

Vladimir, prince of Kiev

Grand prince of Kiev (r. 978-1015 c.e.) whose conversion to Orthodox Christianity led to the incorporation of Russia into the sphere of Eastern Orthodoxy

Abbasid caliphate

Dynasty of caliphs who ruled an increasingly fragmented Islamic state (from 750 to 1258), eventually becoming little more than figureheads.