AP World History Unit 1 Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering major political, social, and economic developments in Unit 1 of AP World History (c. 1200–1450).

Imperial Bureaucracy (Song China)

A centralized administrative system in Song China where government officials were selected through merit-based civil service examinations.

Proto-Industrialization

An economic transition in Song China where fewer farmers were needed, enabling more people to work as artisans or urban laborers.

Grand Canal

A major waterway network in China that significantly increased domestic trade and transport during the Song Dynasty.

Champa Rice

A fast-ripening, drought-resistant agricultural crop in Song China that increased food production and made farming more efficient.

Filial Piety

A central Confucian virtue emphasizing deep respect, duty, and obedience toward one's parents and elders within the five basic relationships.

Scholar Gentry

The elite social class in Song China positioned directly below the emperor, consisting of landowners educated in Confucian philosophy.

Neo-Confucianism

A revived philosophical tradition in Song China that combined Confucian ideas with aspects of Daoism and Buddhism as a response to the spread of Buddhism.

Sinification

The cultural assimilation of Chinese traditions, language, and governance; adapted by Vietnam in its writing system, though Vietnam resisted full cultural absorption.

Tributary System

An imperial diplomatic framework where surrounding foreign states (such as Japan and Korea) paid tribute to China to avert invasion and secure trade access.

Dynastic Cycle

The cyclical historical pattern in imperial China governing the rise, decline, collapse, and replacement of ruling dynasties.

Dar-al Islam

A term meaning 'everything Islam touches,' describing the widespread Islamic world spanning Southwest Asia (Middle East) and beyond between 1200 and 1450.

Mamluk Sultanate

A Muslim state established across North Africa by enslaved Turkish soldiers working in Egypt who seized control following the collapse of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Seljuk Turks

Central Asian Muslim nomads who seized parts of Central Asia and the Middle East (including Baghdad) from the 11th to 14th centuries and faced European Crusaders.

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

A prominent Islamic scholar during the golden age who created the mathematical foundation and groundwork for trigonometry.

A'ishah al-Ba'uniyyah

The most prolific female Muslim writer and poet of the classical Islamic era.

Sufism

A minority mystical branch of Islam whose followers emphasized personal spiritual devotion and helped spread the faith along maritime and overland trade routes.

Bhakti Movement

A devotional Hindu reform movement that emerged among lower castes, emphasizing intense personal attachment and love for a particular deity.

Chinampas

Floating agricultural islands built in shallow lake beds by the Aztecs to produce essential food crops and sustain the population of Tenochtitlan.

Tenochtitlan

The island capital city of the Aztec (Mexica) Empire, which dominated the Valley of Mexico by 1434 through military conquest and tribute collections.

Mit'a System

A mandatory labor tribute system implemented by the centralized Inca Empire where subjects performed forced public labor as a form of state taxation.

Carpa Nan

An extensive 25,000-mile road and bridge network constructed by the Inca to connect their four administrative provinces centered around Lake Titicaca.

Quipu

An Inca record-keeping device consisting of knotted colored strings used for census tracking, financial counting, calendars, and storytelling.

Waru Waru

An advanced Andean agricultural system using alternating raised agricultural beds and water-filled trenches to manage water runoff and prevent frost damage.

Bantu Migrations

The centuries-long movement of Bantu-speaking peoples across sub-Saharan Africa, diffusing their agricultural techniques, iron metallurgy, and language.

Stateless Societies

African political groups lacking a centralized imperial government, formal bureaucratic hierarchy, standing army, or organized tax collection systems.

Great Zimbabwe

A large, fortified, non-Islamic South African kingdom enclosed by massive stone walls that grew wealthy by controlling the regional gold trade along the Indian Ocean coast.

Mansa Musa

A celebrated emperor of Mali renowned as the richest individual in history, whose Islamic pilgrimage highlighted West Africa's vast gold wealth to Eurasia.

Manorialism

An isolated, self-sufficient economic system in medieval Europe where serfs performed agricultural labor on a noble's estate in exchange for physical protection.

Feudalism

A decentralized socio-political system based on mutual obligations where a monarch granted land to nobles (vassals), who hired knights for defense, supported by peasant labor.

Black Death

A catastrophic plague outbreak that struck Europe around 1300, sharply reducing the labor force, undermining feudal manors, and precipitating peasant rebellions.

Guilds

Medieval trade and merchant associations organized in urban areas to regulate prices, maintain product quality standards, and manage working conditions.