US History Vocab Quiz

Social-gentry

The Chinese class of well-educated men from whom many bureacrats were chosen

Filial Piety

In Confucian thought, one of the virtues to be cultivated, a love and respect for one’s parents and ancestors

Bureaucracy

A system of managing government through departments run by appointed officials

Meritocracy

System in which promotion is based on individual ability or achievement

Syncretic

Combining several religious traditions

Bushido

The Feudal Japanese code of honor among the warrior class

Aristocracy

A government in which power is in the hands of a hereditary ruling class or nobility

Sultan

Military and political leader with absolute authority over a Muslim country

Sufis

Muslim mystics who seek communion with God through meditation, fasting, and other rituals

Shariah

Islamic code of law

Proseleytize

To persuade someone to convert to a faith, belief, or cause

Theocracy

A government controlled by religious leaders

Quipu

An arrangement of knotted strings on a cord, used by the Inca to record numerical information

Waru Waru

Agricultural techniques used by Incas combine raised beds with irrigation channels

Chinampas

Floating farming islands made by the Aztecs

Animism

The belief that bodies of water, animals, trees, and other natural objects have spirits

Swahili

A Bantu language with Arabic words, spoken along the east African coast

Axum

Trading center, and powerful ancient kingdom in northern present-day Ethiopia

Magna Carta

(1215) Forced limits on the power of the king of England and required the king to respect certian rights

Manor

A large estate, often including farms and a village, ruled by a lord

Feudalism

A political system in which nobles are granted the use of lands that legally belongs to their king, in exchange for their loyalty, military service, and protection of the people who live on the land

Serfs

Workers who were tied to the land on which they lived

Crusades

A series of holy wars from 1096-1270 AD undertaken by European Christians to free the Holy Land from Muslim rule.

Renaissance

“Rebirth," following the Middle Ages, a movement that centered on the revival of interest in the classical learning of Greece and Rome

Antisemitism

Prejudice, hatred, or discrimination against Jews

Little Ice Age

A century-long period of cool climate that began in the 1590s. Its ill effects on agriculture in northern Europe were notable

Chivalry

Code of conduct for knights emphasizing honor, loyalty. and protection of the weak during the Middle Ages

Secular

Non-religious

Reconquista

Beginning in the 11th century, military campaigns by various Iberian Christian states to recapture territory taken by Muslims. In 1492 the last Muslim ruler was defeated, and Spain and Portugal emerged as united kingdoms

Nomadic

Wandering from place to place living off the land