Land-Based Empires (c. 1450–1750 CE)

Vocabulary flashcards covering the formation, administration, military developments, and trade policies of major land-based empires between 1450 and 1750 CE.

Land-based empire

A government or state that holds sovereignty over a large amount of contiguous land.

Maritime empires

New empires that emerged during the circa 1450 CE to 1750 CE period which covered noncontiguous territory.

Hongwu

The general who established control amidst rebellions against the weakened Yuan dynasty and founded the Ming dynasty.

Golden Horde

The Mongol entity to which Russian princes historically paid tribute prior to its collapse of leadership in the fourteenth century.

Ivan the third

The Prince of Moscow who ended Russian tribute payments to the Mongol Golden Horde, consolidated power over neighboring city-states, and instituted reforms to curb boyar power.

Boyars

The traditional nobility in Russia whose political influence Ivan the third worked to curtail.

Oprychniki

A state police force established by Ivan the third that utilized terror to control his political opponents.

Janissaries

An elite Ottoman military force composed of Christian children taken as tribute, converted to Islam, and educated by the state to master gunpowder and artillery.

Cossacks

Russian peasants who were granted land in newly conquered territories in Siberia and the Caucasus in exchange for serving as gunpowder military units.

Khiselbash

Safavid military units that initially shunned firearms but later incorporated gunpowder technology following military defeats by the Ottomans.

Suleiman the Magnificent

The Ottoman ruler renowned for creating and enforcing an extensive codified system of law across the empire.

Daimyo

The regional nobility in Japan whose power, alliances, and marriages were strictly regulated by the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Alternate attendance

A Tokugawa policy requiring daimyo to spend half the year in Edo with the shogun and the rest in their homelands while their families remained as hostages in Edo.

Edo

The capital city of the Tokugawa Shogunate where daimyo were required to reside alongside their families during alternate attendance.

Jizya tax

A tax levied on non-Muslim subjects, such as Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire and Hindus in the Mughal Empire, in exchange for religious tolerance.

Millets

Autonomous religious communities formed by Christians and Jews within the Ottoman Empire that provided freedom from Muslim law after paying the Jizya tax.

Akbar

The Mughal emperor who abolished the Jizya tax on non-Muslim Hindu subjects to foster religious tolerance.

Russian Orthodoxy

The specific version of Eastern Orthodox Christianity that was officially promoted and enforced by the Russian Empire.

Ormuz

A key trade port controlled by the Safavid Empire that generated extensive revenue from Indian Ocean commerce.

Timbuktu

The conquered trading city that helped solidify Songhai dominance over the Empire of Mali.

Guangzhou

A major Chinese port city to which foreign trade with Europeans was strictly restricted by imperial authorities.

Nagasaki

The sole port city through which the Tokugawa Shogunate permitted tightly regulated trade with Europeans.

Saint Petersburg

The Baltic Sea port city founded by Tsar Peter the Great to secure direct trade connections and cultural exchanges with Western Europe.

Tsar Peter the Great

The Russian monarch who instituted broad westernization reforms across the military, government bureaucracy, education, and cultural dress.

Zheng He

The Ming-era admiral whose extensive naval expeditions across the Indian and Pacific Oceans were terminated by Confucian leaders.