Civilizations in Crisis: The Ottoman Empire, the Islamic Heartlands, and Qing China

Selim III

Ottoman sultan (1789-1807); attempted to improve administrative efficiency and build a new army and navy; assassinated by Janissaries.

Tanzimat Reforms

Western-style reforms within the Ottoman Empire between 1839 and 1876; included a European-influenced constitution in 1876.

Abdul Hamid

Ottoman sultan (1878-1908) who tried to return to despotic absolutism; nullified constitution and restricted civil liberties.

Ottoman Society for Union and Progress

Young Turks; intellectuals and political agitators seeking the return of the 1876 constitution; gained power through a coup in 1908.

Muhammad Ali

Controlled Egypt following the French withdrawal; began a modernization process based on Western models, but failed to greatly change Egypt; died in 1848.

Khedives

Descendants of Muhammad Ali and rulers of Egypt until 1952.

Suez Canal

Built to link the Mediterranean and Red seas; opened in 1869; British later occupied Egypt to safeguard their financial and strategic interests.

Kangxi

Qing ruler and Confucian scholar (1661-1722); promoted Sinification among the Manchus.

Compradors

Wealthy group of merchants under the Qing; specialized in the import-export trade on China's south coast.

Opium War

Fought between Britain and Qing China beginning in 1839 to protect the British trade in opium; British victory demonstrated Western superiority over China.

Taiping Rebellion

Massive rebellion in southern China in the 1850s and 1860s led by Hong Xinquan; sought to overthrow the Qing dynasty and Confucianism.

Cixi

Conservative dowager empress who dominated the last decades of the Qing dynasty.

Boxer Rebellion

Popular outburst aimed at expelling foreigners from China; put down by intervention of the Western powers.

Sun Yat-Sen

(1866-1925); Chinese revolutionary leader, of scholar-gentry background.

(1866-1925) Chinese nationalist leader who fought to end foreign domination. He formed the Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, which overthrew the Manchu Dynasty and established a republican form of government in its place. Also known as Sun Yixian. He attempted to create a liberal democratic political movement in China

Puyi

The last Emperor of Qing Dynasty, deposed in 1912.