AP World History Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards based on AP World History lecture notes, focusing on key terms and definitions from Units 1-9.

State

A territory that is politically organized under a single government.

Bureaucracy

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

Monotheistic

Believing in ONE god.

Polytheistic

The act of worshipping more than one god.

Filial Piety

The Confucian idea of honoring your elders, parents, and those superior to you.

Dar-al-Islam

Translates to “House of Islam”, refers to all the places in the world where Islam was the organizing principle faith of this time.

Sharia Law

Legal code based on Quran.

Absolutism

All political power under the monarch.

Mercantilism

A state-driven economic system that characterized imperial European states during this period: a country's power is based on wealth, goal is to export more than they were importing.

Joint-stock company

A limited liability business, often chartered by the state, that was funded by a group of private investors.

Cash cropping

A method of agriculture that focuses on growing crops, usually a single crop, primarily for export.

Nationalism

A sense of commonality among a people based on shared language, religion, social customs, and often linked with a desire for territory.

Steam Engine

A machine that converted fossil fuel into mechanical energy.

Meiji Restoration

A period of time where Japan sought to escape foreign domination by adopting much of the industrial practices that had made the west powerful.

Transnational corporations

A company that is established and controlled in one country but also establishes large operations in many other countries.

Rationalism

Reason, rather than emotion or any external authority, is the most reliable source of true knowledge.

Empiricism

The idea that true knowledge is gained through the senses, mainly through rigorous experimentation.

Popular Sovereignty

The power to govern was in the hands of the people.

Liberalism

An economic and political ideology that emphasized the protection of civil rights, representative government, the protection of private property, and economic freedom.

Scientific racism

The idea humans can be hierarchically ranked in distinct biological classes based on race.

Diplomacy

The act of making political agreements by means of dialogue and negotiation, not warfare.

Settler colonies

A colony in which an imperial power claims an already inhabited territory and sends its own people to set up an outpost of their own society.

Manifest destiny

Calling from God to possess all the territory from the Atlantic to Pacific oceans.

Export economies

Economies primarily focused on the export of raw materials or goods for distant markets.

Commodity

Any good that can be bought and sold on the market.

Indentured servitude

Describes an arrangement in which a laborer would sign a contract to work for a certain number of years, usually between three and seven, in exchange for free passage to their destination.

Ethnic enclave

A geographic area with a high concentration of people of the same ethnicity and culture within a foreign culture.

Nativism

A policy of protecting the interests of native born people over against the interests of immigrants.

Total war

A war which requires the mobilization of a country’s entire population, both military and civilian, in order to fight.

Pan-africanism

Aimed for the equality and unity of all black people across the world.

Facism

A political philosophy characterized by extreme nationalism, authoritarian leadership, and militaristic means to achieve its goals.

Blitzkrieg

Shock and awe strategy that aimed to eliminate the enemy with incredible speed.

Cold war

A state of hostility that exists between two states chiefly characterized by an ideological struggle rather than open warfare.

Metropole

Designated the territory of the imperial country in distinction from their colonial holdings during the ages of imperialism.