HIST 1112-01 Feltman World History II Survey Exam 1

Primary Source

A source created during the time being studied, often by someone who witnessed or experienced the event.

Secondary Source

A later source that analyzes or explains the past using evidence from primary sources.

The Huns

Nomadic warriors who migrated into Europe and pressured the Roman Empire during late antiquity.

The Byzantine Empire

The Eastern Roman Empire, centered at Constantinople, that continued for nearly 1,000 years after the Western Roman Empire fell.

Constantinople

Capital of the Byzantine Empire and a major center of trade, Christianity, and culture between Europe and Asia.

The Crusades

A series of medieval Christian military campaigns, especially aimed at gaining or defending control of the Holy Land.

Saladin

Muslim leader who defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin and recaptured Jerusalem in 1187.

The Ottoman Empire

A powerful Muslim empire founded by the Ottoman Turks that expanded across southeastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Mongol Empire

The vast empire created by Genghis Khan and his successors, stretching across much of Asia and Eastern Europe.

Khubilai Khan

Grandson of Genghis Khan who founded China's Yuan Dynasty and ruled as its emperor.

Marco Polo

Venetian merchant and traveler whose accounts described his experiences in Asia under Mongol rule.

Book of the World's Marvels

A travel account associated with Marco Polo that described Asian lands, peoples, and customs to European readers.

The Silk Road

A network of trade routes connecting East Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

The Black Plague

The devastating 14th-century plague pandemic that killed millions in Europe, Asia, and North Africa.

Plague Doctors

Physicians who treated plague victims; later images often show protective clothing and long beak-like masks.

Blood Letting

A traditional medical practice of removing blood to treat illness, based on the belief that it could restore bodily balance.

Antisemitism

Hostility, prejudice, or discrimination against Jews; during the Black Death, Jews were falsely blamed for poisoning wells.

Yersinia Pestis

The bacterium that causes plague.

Pneumonic Plague

A form of plague that infects the lungs and can spread through respiratory droplets.

Septicemic Plague

A form of plague in which the infection enters the bloodstream and causes severe illness.

Flagellants

Religious groups who publicly whipped themselves as an act of repentance, especially during the Black Death.

Zheng He

Chinese admiral who led large Ming voyages across the Indian Ocean in the early 1400s.

The Fall of Constantinople (1453)

The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople under Mehmed II, ending the Byzantine Empire.

The Renaissance

A cultural movement beginning in Italy that revived interest in classical Greece and Rome and emphasized humanism, art, and learning.

The Vikings and Newfoundland

Norse sailors reached North America, including Newfoundland, centuries before Columbus; L'Anse aux Meadows is the best-known archaeological site.

Christopher Columbus

Italian-born explorer sailing for Spain whose 1492 voyage reached the Caribbean and opened sustained European contact with the Americas.

Ferdinand and Isabella

The Spanish monarchs who united their kingdoms through marriage, completed the Reconquista, and sponsored Columbus's voyage.

Tainos

Indigenous people of the Caribbean who Columbus encountered; they suffered greatly from European colonization, violence, disease, and forced labor.

Christo Ferens

A Latin phrase meaning 'Christ-bearer,' used by Columbus in connection with his Christian mission and identity.

Mehmed the Conquerer

Mehmed II, the Ottoman sultan who captured Constantinople in 1453.

Hispanola & San Salvador

San Salvador was the island where Columbus first landed in the Caribbean; Hispaniola became a major early center of Spanish colonization.

Conquistadors

Spanish conquerors who explored and conquered territories in the Americas.

Encomienda

A Spanish colonial labor system granting colonists control over Indigenous labor and tribute in exchange, officially, for protection and Christian instruction.

Encomenderos

Spanish colonists who received encomiendas and controlled Indigenous labor and tribute.

Columbian Exchange

The movement of plants, animals, diseases, people, and goods between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after 1492.

The Aztecs

Mesoamerican empire centered in central Mexico, known for its capital Tenochtitlan and powerful military and tribute system.

Huitzilopochtli, The Aztec Warrior God

Aztec deity associated with the sun, war, and the Mexica people; central to Aztec religious life.

Tenochtitlan

The Aztec capital built on an island in Lake Texcoco; one of the largest cities in the Americas before Spanish conquest.

Moctezuma

Aztec ruler who met Hernán Cortés during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.

Hernan Cortes

Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that defeated the Aztec Empire with Indigenous allies.

Sapa Inca

The title for the ruler of the Inca Empire, regarded as the empire's supreme political and religious authority.

Francisco Pizzaro

Spanish conquistador who led the conquest of the Inca Empire in the 1530s.

Atahualpa

Inca ruler captured by Francisco Pizarro during the Spanish conquest.

Machu Picchu

Inca site in the Andes of present-day Peru, probably built in the 15th century and associated with the Inca state.

Mestizos

People of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry in colonial Spanish America.

Racial Hierarchy

A colonial social system that ranked people according to ancestry, race, and birthplace, giving Europeans greater status and power.

The Atlantic System

A network linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas through trade, migration, slavery, and the movement of goods.

Jan Hus

Bohemian religious reformer who criticized problems in the Catholic Church and was executed for heresy in 1415.

St. Peter's Basilica

Major Catholic church in Rome whose construction became connected to the sale of indulgences and helped spark criticism from Martin Luther.

Johann Tetzel

Dominican friar who preached and promoted indulgences; his preaching became a major target of Luther's criticism.

Martin Luther

German monk and theologian whose criticism of indulgences helped launch the Protestant Reformation.

Sole fide

Latin for 'faith alone'; the Protestant belief that justification comes through faith rather than earning salvation through works.

Protestant

A Christian belonging to a tradition that emerged from the 16th-century Reformation and broke from Roman Catholic authority.

The Jews and their Lies

A 1543 antisemitic work by Martin Luther that expressed hostile views toward Jews and Judaism.

Charles V (Habsburg)

Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of Spain who faced the Protestant Reformation and religious conflicts across his territories.

Indulgences

Catholic grants related to the remission of temporal punishment for sin; their sale and promotion became a major Reformation controversy.

Ninety-Five Theses

Martin Luther's 1517 statements criticizing the abuse of indulgences and raising broader questions about Church authority and repentance.

The Peace of Augsburg (1555)

Agreement allowing rulers in the Holy Roman Empire to choose Catholicism or Lutheranism for their territories.

King Henry VIII

English king who broke with papal authority and established royal control over the Church of England.

The Anglican Church (Church of England)

The English church separated from papal authority under Henry VIII, with the monarch as its supreme governor.

John Calvin

Reformation theologian whose teachings emphasized God's sovereignty, predestination, and disciplined Christian communities.

The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572)

Mass killing of French Protestants, or Huguenots, beginning in Paris and spreading to other areas of France.

The Defenestration of Prague (1618)

Event in which Protestant nobles threw Catholic officials from a Prague castle window, helping trigger the Thirty Years' War.

The Treaty of Westphalia (1648)

Treaties that ended the Thirty Years' War and helped establish principles of state sovereignty in European diplomacy.

Abdication of Charles V

Charles V gave up his imperial and Spanish crowns in 1556, dividing his territories between his son Philip II and brother Ferdinand.

The Edict of Nantes (1598)

Law issued by Henry IV that granted French Protestants limited religious rights and helped reduce religious conflict.

King Henry IV of France

French king who converted to Catholicism and issued the Edict of Nantes to provide limited rights to Protestants.

The Battle of White Mountain

1620 battle in which Catholic Habsburg forces defeated Protestant Bohemian forces early in the Thirty Years' War.

The Sacking of Magdeburg

The brutal 1631 destruction of Magdeburg during the Thirty Years' War, including widespread killing and destruction.

The Fronde'

A series of French rebellions against royal authority during the minority of Louis XIV.

The "Sun King"

Nickname for Louis XIV, reflecting his image as the central figure around whom French political life revolved.

Louis XIV

French king who ruled for most of the late 17th and early 18th centuries and became a leading example of absolute monarchy.

Divine Right

The belief that monarchs receive their authority from God and therefore have a sacred basis for rule.

Mercantilism

Economic system emphasizing state control of trade, exports, colonies, and accumulation of wealth and precious metals.

Colbert

Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV's finance minister who promoted mercantilist policies, manufacturing, and state economic control.

Versailles

Louis XIV's palace that became the center of royal court life and a symbol of French monarchy and absolutism.

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes

Louis XIV's 1685 decision ending the religious protections previously given to French Protestants and increasing persecution and emigration.

Magna Carta—1215

English charter that limited some royal powers and became an important symbol in the development of constitutional government.

The Glorious Revolution

The 1688-1689 English overthrow of James II and transfer of the crown to William III and Mary II.

William III and Mary of Orange

Joint English monarchs who came to power after the Glorious Revolution and accepted limits on royal authority.

Scientific Revolution

Period of major changes in European ideas about nature, astronomy, physics, and scientific methods, especially during the 1500s and 1600s.

Gutenberg Printing Press

Movable-type printing technology developed in Europe by Johannes Gutenberg that greatly increased the spread of books and ideas.

Geocentric Model

Model of the universe placing Earth at or near the center, associated with ancient and medieval astronomy.

"Doubting Thomas"

A phrase referring to skepticism and the need for evidence; it became associated with the Scientific Revolution's challenge to accepting claims without proof.

Copernicus

Astronomer who proposed a heliocentric model placing the Sun at the center of the planetary system.

On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres

Copernicus's 1543 work presenting his heliocentric model of the universe.

Johannes Kepler

Astronomer who used mathematical analysis to show that planets move in elliptical orbits around the Sun.

Heliocentric Model

Model of the solar system placing the Sun at the center, with Earth and other planets orbiting it.

Rene Descartes

Philosopher and mathematician who emphasized systematic doubt and reason as tools for gaining knowledge.

Francis Bacon

English thinker who promoted observation and experimentation as important parts of scientific inquiry.

Galileo

Astronomer who used telescopic observations to support heliocentrism and challenge traditional astronomical ideas.

Issac Newton

English scientist who developed laws of motion and universal gravitation, helping unify the study of physics and astronomy.

Principia, 1687

Newton's major work explaining laws of motion and universal gravitation.

Salons

Gatherings, often hosted by women, where educated Europeans discussed literature, philosophy, science, and political ideas.

Philosophes

Enlightenment thinkers who used reason and criticism to examine society, government, religion, and human behavior.

Voltaire

French Enlightenment writer who criticized intolerance and defended freedom of thought and expression.

Adam Smith

Scottish Enlightenment thinker who argued that economic activity could be organized through competition and markets.

Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith's 1776 work explaining ideas about markets, labor, trade, and the division of labor.

John Locke

English philosopher who argued that people possess natural rights and that government depends on the consent of the governed.

Tabula Rasa

Locke's idea that the human mind begins as a 'blank slate' and is shaped by experience.