Unit 4 World History Vocab

Moluccas

An island chain in present-day Indonesia, which Europeans in the 1400s called the Spice Islands because it was the chief source of spices.

Cartographer

A person who makes maps.

Line of Demarcation

Line set by the Treaty of Tordesillas dividing the non-European world into two zones, one controlled y Spain and the other by Portugal.

Treaty of Tordesillas

Treaty signed between Spain and Portugal in 1494, which divided the non-European world between them.

Circumnavigation

To travel completely around the world.

Cape Town

The first permanent European settlement in Africa, established by the Dutch in 1652.

Mughal Empire

Muslim empire that ruled most of northern India from the mid-1500s to the mid-1700s; also known as the Mogul empire.

Goa

A coastal city seized in 1510 that became the commercial and military base of Portugal's India trade.

Malacca

City located on the Malay Peninsula near the strategic Straits of Malacca.

Outpost

A distant military station on a remote settlement.

Dutch East India Company

A trading company established with full sovereign powers by the Netherlands in 1602 to protect and expand its trade in Asia.

Sovereign

Having full, independent power.

Sepoy

Indian soldier who served in an army set up by the French or English trading companies.

Manchus

People originally from Manchuria, north of China, who conquered the Ming dynasty and ruled China as the Qing dynasty from the mid 1600s to the early 1900s.

Qing

Dynasty established by the Manchus in the mid-1600s that lasted until the early 1900s; China's last dynasty.

Tokugawa

Shoguns, descended from Tokugawa Ieyasu who were supreme military leaders; ruled Japan from 1603 through 1869; reunified Japan and reestablished order following a century of civil war and disturbance.

Nagasaki

Japanese city; on an island in its harbor, the Tokugawa shoguns in the 1600s permitted one or two Dutch ships to trade with Japan each year.

Conquistador

"Conqueror" in Spanish; a leader in the Spanish conquests of America, Mexico, and Peru in the sixteenth century.

Tenochtitlan

Capital city of the Aztec empire, on which modern-day Mexico City was built.

Alliance

Formal agreement between two or more nations or powers to cooperate and come to one another's defense.

Moctezuma

Last Aztec emperor, who mistakenly thought that the conquistador Cortes might be the god-king Quetzalcoatl.

Civil War

A war fought between groups of people in the same nation.

Viceroy

Representative of the king of Spain who rules colonies in his name.

Encomienda

The right, granted by Spanish monarchs to conquistadors, to demand labor or tribute from Native Americans in a particular area.

Peon

A worker forced to labor for a landlord to pay off a debt that is impossible to pay off in his or her lifetime, which is incurred by food, tool, or seeds the landlord has advanced to him or her.

Creole

In Spanish colonial America, an American-born descendant of Spanish settlers.

Mestizo

In Spanish colonial America, a person of Native American and European descent.

New France

French possessions in present-day Canada from the 1500s to 1763.

Pilgrim

English Protestants who rejected the Church of England.

French and Indian War

War between Britain and France in the Americas that happened from 1754 to 1763; it was part of a global war called the Seven Years' War.

Treaty of Paris

Treaty of 1763 that ended the Seven Years' War and resulted in British dominance of the Americas.

Plantation

An estate on which crops are cultivated.

Missionary

Someone sent to do religious work in a territory or foreign country.

Triangular Trade

Colonial trade routes among Europe and its colonies, the West Indies, and Africa in which goods were exchanged for enslaved people.

Middle Passage

The leg of the triangular trade route on which slaves were transported from Africa to the Americas.

Asante Kingdom

Kingdom that emerged in the 1700s in present-day Ghana and was active in the trade in enslaved people.

Monopoly

Complete control of a product or business by one person or a group.

Columbian Exchange

The global exchange of goods, ideas, plants and animals, and disease that began with Columbus' journey to the Americas.

Commercial Revolution

A period of European economic expansion, colonialism, and mercantilism which lasted from about the 1500s until the early 1700s. It included the growth of capitalism, banking, and investing.

Inflation

Economic cycle that involves a rapid rise in prices linked to a sharp increase in the amount of money available.

Price Revolution

Period in European history when inflation rose rapidly.

Capitalism

Economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated for profit.

Free Enterprise System

An economic system, also known as capitalism, in which private businesses are ale to compete with each other with little control by government. Products, prices, and services are driven by free market laws of supply and demand rather than government regulations.

Entrepreneur

Person who organized and manages his or her own business.

Mercantilism

Policy by which a nation sought to export more than it imported in order to build its supply of gold and silver.

Tariff

Tax on imports or exports.

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese explorer and navigator who was the first person to directly reach India by sailing around Africa.

Christopher Columbus

Italian explorer and navigator who was the first to discover America.

Ferdinand Magellan

Portuguese navigator who sailed west to reach the Moluccas.

Afonso de Albuquerque

Portuguese admiral who helped found Portugal's trade empire in the East. Built forts and churches.

Hernan Cortes

Spanish landowner in Cuba and conquistador who led an expedition to Mexico. Conquered the Aztec empire and capital Tenochititlan.

Jacques Cartier

Credited with naming Canada. Also recognized for exploration of the St. Lawrence River.