Exam #1 - International Relations

Ming China

The Ming dynasty ruled China from 1368 to 1644, marked by extensive trade, cultural exchange, and centralized imperial power.

Yongle

was the third emperor of the Ming dynasty, known for his expeditions and the construction of the Forbidden City.

Zheng He

Zheng He was a Ming dynasty explorer and diplomat who led expeditions to Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Africa, promoting trade and cultural exchange.

Ma Huan

was a Chinese Muslim and explorer during the Ming dynasty, known for accompanying Zheng He on his voyages, documenting his travels and observations.

“The Country of the Ku-Li [Calicut]

was a coastal city in present-day India, significant for its spice trade and as a prominent trading hub during Zheng He's voyages.

Castille

was a historical kingdom in Spain, known for its role in the Spanish Reconquista and exploration during the Age of Discovery.

Christopher Colombus

was an european explorer known for completing voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, opening the way for the widespread European exploration of the Americas; supported by Isabella I and Ferdinand.

Isabella I

Isabella I was Queen of Castile from 1474 to 1504, best known for unifying Spain through her marriage to Ferdinand II of Aragon and for sponsoring Christopher Columbus's voyages to the Americas.

Reconquista

The Reconquista was the centuries-long Christian campaign to retake the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule, ending in 1492 with the fall of Granada under Isabella I and Ferdinand II.

Spanish Inquisition

as a court set up in 1478 by Spain's rulers to make sure people truly followed the Catholic faith, often punishing those suspected of secretly keeping their old religion.

Portuguese Empire

a global trading and colonial network established starting in the 1400s, built on exploration of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, and known for pioneering routes like Vasco da Gama's sea passage to India.

Vasco de Gama

a Portuguese explorer who in 1498 became the first European to reach India by sea, opening a direct trade route between Europe and Asia.

Aztec Empire

a powerful Mesoamerican civilization centered in present-day Mexico, known for its capital city Tenochtitlan, advanced engineering, and eventual conquest by Spanish forces led by Hernán Cortés in 1521.

Motecuhzoma

Aztec emperor who ruled Tenochtitlan when Hernán Cortés and the Spanish arrived, and whose capture and death in 1520 marked a turning point in the fall of the Aztec Empire.

Hernan Cortes

a Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that conquered the Aztec Empire, capturing Tenochtitlan in 1521 and claiming the region for Spain.

Bartholomeu Dias

a Portuguese explorer who in 1488 became the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa (the Cape of Good Hope), opening the sea route toward Asia.

Ferdinand Magellan

a Portuguese explorer who led the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe, though he died in the Philippines in 1521 before its completion in 1522.

treaty of tordesillas

(1494) divided newly discovered lands between Spain and Portugal along a meridian line.

calicut

a major trading port on India's Malabar Coast, famous as the destination Vasco da Gama reached in 1498, marking the start of direct European trade with Asia.

Flower Wars

ritualized battles fought by the Aztec Empire against neighboring city-states, primarily to capture prisoners for religious sacrifice rather than to conquer territory.

tlaxcala

an Aztec rival that allied with Hernán Cortés, providing troops that helped defeat the Aztec Empire.

technoctitlan

the capital of the Aztec Empire conquered by Hernán Cortés in 1521.

Holy Roman Empire

a loose federation of Central European territories under an emperor, lasting from 800 to 1806.

Charles V

Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain in the 16th century, ruling a vast empire that included territories in Europe and the Americas.

Martin Luther

a German monk whose 1517 posting of the Ninety-Five Theses challenging Catholic Church practices sparked the Protestant Reformation.

Peasants War

a revolt by German peasants against harsh feudal treatment, influenced by Reformation ideas, and crushed by the nobility.

Peace of Westphalia

a set of treaties signed in 1648 that ended the Thirty Years' War, establishing the principle of state sovereignty and reshaping the political map of Europe.

Peace of Augsburg

a 1555 agreement that allowed rulers within the Holy Roman Empire to choose Catholicism or Lutheranism as their territory's official religion.

Act of Abjuration

a 1581 declaration by the Dutch provinces formally renouncing allegiance to King Philip II of Spain, asserting their independence.

Duke of Alva

a Spanish general sent to suppress the Dutch Revolt, known for his harsh military rule and the brutal tribunal called the "Council of Blood."

Eighty-Years War

the Dutch struggle for independence from Spanish rule, ending with Spain's recognition of the Dutch Republic in the Peace of Westphalia.

Afonso I

king of the Kongo Kingdom in the early 1500s who converted to Christianity and worked to modernize his kingdom through ties with Portugal, while also struggling against the growing Portuguese slave trade.

Francis Xavier

a Spanish Jesuit missionary who traveled through Asia in the 16th century, spreading Catholicism to India, Japan, and other regions.

Society of Jesus (Jesuits)

a Catholic religious order founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola, known for its missionary work, education, and role in the Counter-Reformation.

Sāo Jorge de Mina

a Portuguese trading fort built in 1482 on the coast of present-day Ghana, serving as a major hub for gold and later the slave trade.

Angola

a region in southwestern Africa that became a major center of Portuguese colonization and the transatlantic slave trade starting in the 16th century.

Kingdom of Kongo

a powerful Central African state that formed strong political and religious ties with Portugal in the late 1400s, later strained by the growing demands of the slave trade.

Protestant and Counter Reformations

hallenged Catholic authority and created new denominations, while the Counter-Reformation was the Church's response, reforming itself and reasserting influence through the Council of Trent and the Jesuits.

Tokugawa Shogunate

a feudal military government that ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868, enforcing strict social order and a policy of near-total isolation from the outside world.

Tokugawa Ieyasu

the Japanese warlord who unified Japan and founded the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1603, establishing over 250 years of feudal rule.

Hans Staden

a German soldier and gunner captured by the Tupinambá people in Brazil in the 16th century, whose written account of his captivity became a famous source on indigenous life and practices.

The Veritable History and Description of a Country

Han Staden’s 16th-century memoir detailing his captivity among the Tupinambá people in Brazil, offering a firsthand account of their customs and rituals.

Diega de Landa

a Spanish Franciscan friar in colonial Yucatán known for both destroying Maya religious texts and artifacts and for later writing an important account of Maya culture and language

Amerigo Vespucci

an Italian explorer whose voyages to the Americas in the late 1490s and early 1500s helped establish that the lands were a separate continent, leading to the Americas being named after him.

Brazil Sugar

refers to the sugar industry that Portugal developed in colonial Brazil starting in the 16th century, built on plantation slavery and becoming one of the era's most profitable and brutal colonial economies.

Tupi

indigenous people of coastal Brazil, encountered by early Portuguese colonizers, known for their distinct language and culture, much of which was documented by European chroniclers.

Maya

indigenous Mesoamerican civilization known for advanced achievements in writing, astronomy, and architecture, whose culture persisted through Spanish colonization despite the destruction of many of their texts.

The Yucatan before and after the Conquest

refers to Diego de Landa's account contrasting traditional Maya civilization—its religion, writing, and social structure—with the profound disruption and cultural loss brought by Spanish colonization.

Mexican Inquisition

a colonial tribunal established by Spain in 1571 to enforce Catholic orthodoxy in New Spain, targeting heresy, blasphemy, and religious dissent among settlers and, less directly, indigenous populations.