Social Studies Vocabulary

Byzantine Empire

The society that developed in the eastern Roman Empire after the fall of Ancient Rome

Constantinople

The capital city of the Byzantine Empire

Orthodox Christianity

The official religion of the Byzantine Empire

Ottoman Empire

An Islamic Empire that conquered the Byzantine Empire and ruled the land from Eastern Europe to North Africa and Arabia.

Mughal Empire

An Islamic Empire that is known for constructing the Taj Mahal.

Ibn Battutah

Muslim traveler and writer, he visited Africa, India, China, and Spain.

Islamic Achievements

Astronomy, astrolabe, pharmacology, Hindu-Arabic numerals, and minarets.

Ghana, Mali, Songhai

The trading empires of West Africa.

Gold, salt, ivory and slaves

African trade items (4)

Slavery

Forced servitude

Prisoners of war, criminals or people who owed debt

3 reasons for slavery in the ancient world.

Timbuktu

The major trade city of West Africa.

Trans-Saharan slave trade

The trading of slaves across northern Africa

Silk Road

A network of trade routes that stretched across Asia from China to the Mediterranean Sea.

Silk

A fabric made from worm cocoons that is unique to China

Porcelain

A thin, beautiful type of pottery that is unique to China.

Mongols

A group of people from northern China that helped re-open the Silk Road and established the largest contiguous empire in history.

Kublai Khan

Mongol ruler, he completed the conquest of China and founded the Yuan dynasty.

Middle Ages (medieval)

The time period between the fall of Ancient Rome and the Renaissance; it occurred in Western Europe.

Feudalism

The system of obligations that governed the relationships between lords and vassals in medieval Europe.

Lord

A person of high rank who owned land but owed loyalty to his king.

Vassal

A person who promised to support a lord in exchange for land.

Land-based economy

Receiving land as a payment for goods/services

Manor

A large estate owned by a knight or lord.

Serf

A worker who was considered property of a manor.

Crusades

A long series of wars between Christians and Muslims for control of the Holy Land

Magna Carta

The first English document that stated the Monarch had to obey the law

Parliament

The legislative group in England

Marco Polo

Italian trader who traveled to China and later wrote about his trip and sparked a new interest in Asian goods

Renaissance

The period of rebirth of Greek and Roman ideas that followed Europe's Middle Ages

Humanism

The Renaissance belief in the importance of man

Money-based economy

Receiving money as payment for goods/services

Dante Alighieri

Italian Renaissance poet, he wrote The Divine Comedy in the Italian language

Niccolo Machiavelli

Italian Renaissance writer and politician who wrote The Prince

Leonardo da Vinci

Italian Renaissance artist, sculptor and inventor best known for The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper

Michelangelo

Italian Renaissance artist and sculptor best known for The David and the paintings in the Sistine Chapel

Johann Gutenberg

German printer, he developed a printing press that used movable type

William Shakespeare

An English Renaissance writer and playwright who is considered the greatest English writer of all time

Reformation

Reform movement against the Catholic Church

Martin Luther

 German priest credited for starting the Reformation by nailing the 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg

Indulgences

A legal document for purchase from the Catholic Church that forgives sins

Nepotism

Favoritism given to family in politics or business regardless of merit

Protestant

Any Christian who protested against the Catholic Church

Anglican Church (King Henry VIII)

A Protestant sect of Christianity known as The Church of England started by Henry VIII when the Pope refused to grant the king a divorce

Catholic Reformation

The effort to reform the Catholic Church from within; also called the Counter-Reformation

Exploration

The act of searching for the purpose of discovery of information or resources

Advances in navigation

Magnetic compass, advanced astrolabe, caravel, and maps

Christopher Columbus

The Italian born, Spanish sailor who permanently put the Americas on the map

Spanish Armada

A large fleet of Spanish ships that was defeated by England in 1588

Gold, glory, God, and land

Reasons for exploration (4)

Indigenous people

The original people of a region (ex: Native American groups)

Colombian exchange

The hemispheric transfer of fauna, flora, pathogens and cultures (animals, plants, diseases, etc.)

Merchantilism

Government control of economic activity

Enlightenment

 A period when reason was used to guide people's thoughts about society, politics, and philosophy

Tripartite government

A government consisting of 3 parts (legislative, executive, and judicial)

Legislative

The act of making laws

Executive

The act of enforcing laws

Judicial

The act of interpreting laws

Checks and balences

A part of a government system designed to stop the abuse of power

Natural Rights

 Life, liberty, property, and pursuit of happiness (God's laws)

Social contract

An agreement between a government and its people

Race-based slavery

 Forced servitude based on ethnicity

Middle Passage

A voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies

Trans-Atlantic slave trade

The exchange of enslaved Africans from Africa to the Western Hemisphere

Interdependence

A relationship in which each member is mutually dependent on the others

Colonization

To migrate to and settle in, for political and economic gains for the mother country

Joint-stock company

 A business formed by a group of people who make an investment and share in the profits and losses

Cost-benefit analysis

Studying the gains and losses to make an informed economic decision

Direct democracy

A system of government in which people rule themselves

Republic

A system of government in which people elect leaders/representatives to govern them

Civic duty

A citizen's role of participating in the government and outside community

Stable crops

Crops that are grown because they are always needed

Cash crops

Crops that are grown for profit

English bill of rights

A document that stated the English monarch could not make decisions without Parliamentary consent

Triangular trade

Trading networks in which goods and slaves moved among England, the American colonies and Africa

French and Indian War

 Known as the Seven Years War, it took place in North America and was a war in which the British fought the French and Native Americans

Proclamation Line

A law that banned English settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains

Primary source

An account of an event by someone who took part in or witnessed the event

Secondary source

An account of an event by someone who did not take part in or witness the event

No taxation without representation

A slogan used by the colonists to represent their lack of influence in Parliament

Stamp act

A law passed by Parliament that raised tax money by requiring colonists to pay for an official stamp whenever they bought paper items such as newspapers, licenses, and legal documents

Tea Act

A law passed by Parliament allowing the British East India Company to sell its low-cost tea directly to the colonies, undermining colonial tea merchants; this leads to the Boston Tea Party

Intolerable Acts

Laws passed by Parliament to punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party and to tighten government control of the colonies

Quartering Act

A law that required colonists to house British soldiers

Patriots

American colonists who fought for independence from Great Britain

Battles of Lexington and Concord

The first two battles of the Revolutionary War known as, “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World”

George Washington

The general of the Continental Army that led the U.S. to victory over the British

Declaration of Independance

The document written to declare the American colonies free from British rule

Thomas Jefferson

 The main author of the Declaration of Independence

July 4, 1776

The date of American Independence

Loyalists

Colonists who sided with Britain in the Revolutionary War (Tories)

Neutralists

Colonists who did not favor a side during the Revolutionary War

Battle of Saratoga

The turning point for the Americans during the Revolutionary War; this leads to the Americans receiving foreign support (notably France and Spain)

Battle of Yorktown

The last major battle of the Revolutionary War in which the British surrendered to the Americans

Treaty of Paris 1783

A peace agreement that ended the Revolutionary War in which Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States