Unit 1 AP World History

Song Dynasty

(960-1279 CE) The Chinese dynasty that placed much more emphasis on civil administration, industry, education, and arts other than military. Leading example of diversity and innovation during the 13th century.

Confucianism

Chinese philosophy that emphasized a system of ethics, education, and statesmanship taught by Confucius and his disciples, stressing love for humanity, ancestor worship, reverence for parents, and harmony in thought and conduct.

Imperial Bureaucracy

Division of an empire into organized provinces to make it easier to control.

Filial Piety

A virtue of respect for one's parents, elders, and ancestors.

Neo-Confucianism

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

Buddhism

Founded by Siddartha Gutama in South Asia, spread by the Silk Roads to the East and SE Asia. Core beliefs centered on the 4 Noble Truths. Split into different sects as it diffused out of South Asia.

Heian Japan

The era in Japanese history from 794-1185 CE, arts and writing flourished during this time. Emulated Chinese traditions.

Theravada Buddhism

The oldest of the 2 major branches of Buddhism. Practiced mainly in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, and Cambodia, its beliefs are relatively conservative, holding close to the original teachings of the Buddha.

Mahayana Buddhism

Focused on the spiritual growth for all beings and service. Strongest in China and Korea. Also known as popular Buddhism, it allows people more ways to reach enlightenment and bodhisattvas can help you reach enlightenment.

Tibetan Buddhism

Buddhist doctrine that includes elements from India that are not Buddhist and elements of preexisting shamanism, a tradition of Buddhism that teaches that people can use special techniques to harness spiritual energy and can achieve nirvana in a single lifetime.

Champa Rice

A quick-maturing, drought resistant rice that can allow two harvests, of sixty days each in one growing season. Originally from the Champa Region (modern day Vietnam).

Grand Canal

Built in 7th century during Sui Dynasty; designed to link the original centers of Chinese civilization on the north China plain with the Yangtze river basin to the south; strengthened China's internal cohesion and economic development.

Steel and Iron Production

A key element during the Song Economic Revolution; helped popularize mass production and new production methods.

Textile Industry

Industries primarily concerned with the design or manufacture of clothing as well as the distribution and use of textiles.

Porcelain

A thin, beautiful pottery invented in China; one of China's major exports.

Islam

A religion based on the teachings of the prophet Mohammed which stresses belief in one god (Allah), a body of law written in the Quran, and the 5 Pillars. Followers are called Muslims.

Judaism

A religion with a belief in one god. It originated with Abraham and the Hebrew people.

Yahweh

Responsible for the world and everything within it.

Christianity

A monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior.

Turks/Turkic Peoples

Central Asian nomads related to the Xiongnu peoples that pressured Han China, organized as tribes that constantly fought each other, most converted to Islam, and sought to trade with settled people.

Abbasid Caliphate

One of the 1st of the Islamic Caliphates, established by rulers who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphs, started in 750 CE, flourished for two centuries, but slowly went into decline with the rise to power of the Turkish army it had created, the Mamluks, and was overthrown in the 13th century by the Mongols.

Seljuck Turks

Muslims who started conquering parts of the Middle East in the 11th century and eventually extended their power almost as far as China, with leaders called Sultans.

Mamluks

Under the Islamic system of military slavery, Turkic military slaves who formed an important part of the armed forces of the Abbasid Caliphate of the ninth and tenth centuries and eventually founded their own state, ruling Egypt and Syria from 1250 to 1517.

Delhi Sultanates

Beginning in 1206, 5 dynasties ruled over the city of Delhi in India, introduced and spread the Islamic religion throughout the region, and eventually conquered and incorporated the majority of the Indian subcontinent.

Dar al-Islam

An Arabic term that means the 'house of Islam' and refers to lands under Islamic rule.

Sufis

A mystical Muslim group that believed they could draw closer to God through prayer, fasting, and simple life.

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

One of the most celebrated Islamic scholars, a Persian mathematician and cosmologist who contributed to astronomy, law, logic, ethics, math, philosophy, and medicine, and inspired the Copernican model of the solar system.

House of Wisdom

A large Islamic-based library and learning center that focused on the conversion of Greek and Roman classics and Indian learning into Arabic and preserved knowledge.

Hinduism

A religion and philosophy developed in ancient India, characterized by a belief in reincarnation and a supreme being who takes many forms.

Bhakti Movement

A Hindu movement beginning in the 12th century that sought to emphasize the idea of devotion to God and emotion instead of studying text and performing rituals, leading to greater importance and recognition of women in society.

Monasticism

A way of life in which men and women withdraw from the rest of the world in order to devote themselves to their faith.

Rajput Kingdoms

Several different kingdoms in Northern India/Pakistan before the time of the British, emphasizing wealth and warrior-like honor.

Khmer Empire

The most powerful and longest-lasting kingdom on the mainland of southwest Asia, centering in what is today Cambodia.

Sukhothai Kingdom

The first Thai kingdom.

Sinhalese

A member of a people originally from northern India, now forming the majority of the population of Sri Lanka.

Mayan Civilization

Pre-Columbian civilization of the Yucatán Peninsula that reached its peak in the 9th century CE and produced magnificent ceremonial cities with pyramids, a sophisticated mathematical and calendar system, hieroglyphic writing, and fine sculpture, painting, and ceramics.

Incas

A Native American people who built a notable civilization in western South America in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, centered in present-day Peru.

Chaco Canyon

An urban center established by Anasazi located in southern New Mexico, known for its walled city with three-story adobe houses and community religious functions in large circular chambers called kivas.

Mesa Verde

The largest complex of Anasazi cliff-dwellings in the United States Southwest, built between about CE 1150 and CE 1300.

Cahokia

Mississippian settlement near present-day East St. Louis, home to as many as 25,000 Native Americans.

Great Zimbabwe

A powerful state in the African interior that emerged from the growing trade in gold to the East African coast, flourishing between 1250 and 1350 C.E.

Hausa Kingdoms

A kingdom divided into 7 states connected through kinship, blood, or ethnic ties, benefiting economically from the trans-Saharan trade network.

Ethiopia/Axum

Christian state in modern day Ethiopia that prospered by trading goods obtained from India, Arabia, the Roman Empire, and the interior of Africa.

Decentralization

Degree to which decision-making authority is given to lower levels in an organization's hierarchy.

Feudalism

The dominant social/political system in medieval Europe, where nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were tenants of the nobles.

Manorial System

Self-sufficient economic structure that is the relationship between the Lord and the peasants or serfs who produced all necessary goods to keep the manor running.

Coerced Labor

A system where the workers were forced to work based on threats, pressure, or intimidation.

Serfdom

Feudal system involving the use of serfs to work the land in return for protection against barbarian invasions.