AP World History: Modern Practice Flashcards

A collection of vocabulary flashcards based on lecture notes covering classical civilization collapse, major world religions, global trade, the Silk Road, and modern world revolutions.

Siddhartha Gautama

A young Hindu prince who lived in Nepal from $563-483\,BCE$; he rejected wealth and worldly possessions to become the Buddha (Enlightened One).

4 Noble Truths

The core Buddhist beliefs: ($1$) all life is suffering, ($2$) suffering is caused by desire, ($3$) one can be freed of desire, ($4$) one is freed of desire by following a prescribed path.

Mahayana Buddhism

A branch of Buddhism involving great ritual and spiritual comfort; it is more complex than other branches but achieved a greater spread.

Theravada Buddhism

A branch of Buddhism emphasizing meditation, simplicity, and nirvana as the renunciation of consciousness and self.

Analects

A collection of the thoughts and sayings of Confucius, used as a guide to restore political and social order in China.

Brahma

The one supreme force in Hinduism who is believed to have created everything; the goal of the believer is to merge with this force.

Islam

A monotheistic religion where Allah presented words through the prophet Muhammad, which were recorded in the Qur’an; salvation is won through submission to God.

Abbasid Dynasty

An Islamic Empire from $750-1258\,CE$ with a capital in Baghdad; it was a center for arts and sciences, including the House of Wisdom library.

Feudalism

A hierarchical social system of the Middle Ages featuring a King, Nobles with power over sections of the kingdom, Vassals with fiefs or manors, and Peasants/Serfs who worked the land.

Magna Carta

A document signed by King John in the $13th$ century that reinstated noble rights and laid the foundation for the English Parliament.

Spanish Inquisition

A movement by Queen Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon to unite Spain under a single monarchy and force residents to convert to Christianity.

Neo-Confucianism

A philosophy incorporating Buddhist ideas about the soul, filial piety, maintenance of proper roles, and loyalty to superiors.

Foot Binding

A Song Dynasty practice of binding women’s feet after birth to keep them small, justifying the subordination of women.

Delhi Sultanate

An Islamic invader kingdom in Delhi that resulted in a clash between monotheism and Hinduism's polytheism in Northern India.

Angkor Wat

A prominent Hindu temple crafted within the Khmer Empire located in modern-day Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand.

Hausa Kingdoms

A series of state system kingdoms off the Niger River that achieved stability and religious influence through the trade of salt and leather.

Encomienda System

A hierarchical colonial society implemented by the Spanish in the New World, categorized by Peninsulares, Creoles, Mestizos, Mulattos, and Native Americans.

Hanseatic League

A trade alliance formed in $1358$ through northern Europe to drive toward nationhood and increase social mobility.

Scholasticism

The growth of education and founding of universities for men to study philosophy, law, and medicine, often drawing on Greek and Muslim ideas.

Thomas Aquinas

A Christian theologian ($1225-1274$) who advanced thought by arguing that faith and reason are not in conflict.

Genghis Khan

The leader who unified the Mongolian tribes in the early $1200s$ to expand their authority, eventually invading China in $1234$.

Song Dynasty

A Chinese dynasty ($960-1279$) that utilized a merit-based bureaucratic system, gunpowder, and the magnetic compass.

Bubonic Plague

A pandemic that started in Asia in the $14th$ century and killed approximately $\frac{1}{3}$ of the population in England.

Humanism

A Renaissance focus on personal accomplishment, happiness, and life on earth instead of solely living for the goal of salvation.

Indulgences

Papers that the faithful could purchase from the Catholic Church to reduce time in purgatory, a practice criticized during the Reformation.

Martin Luther

A German monk who published 95 Theses attacking church practices and proposed that salvation is given directly through God rather than the church.

Council of Trent

A counter-reformation assembly that reinstated pope authority, punished heretics, and reestablished Latin as the only language in worship.

Copernican Revolution

The discovery by Nicolaus Copernicus that the earth and other celestial bodies revolve around the sun.

Elizabethan Age

The period from $1558-1603$ in England characterized by expansion, exploration, and colonization in the New World.

Habeas Corpus Act

An English law that prevents people from being arrested without due process.

Edict of Nantes

A $1598$ decree issued by Henry IV of France that created an environment of tolerance between Catholics and Protestants.

Janissaries

Elite warriors in the Ottoman Empire who were originally enslaved Christian children converted to Islam.

Suleiman I

An Ottoman leader whose reign from $1520-1566$ marked a golden age of military power and arts.

Taj Mahal

A beautiful mausoleum at Agra built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife.

National Seclusion Policy

A $1635$ Japanese policy that prohibited Japanese from traveling abroad and restricted most foreigners to protect domestic culture.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A $1494$ agreement between Spain and Portugal to split newly colonized lands between them.

Astrolabe

A navigation device that measured the distance between the sun and stars on the horizon to determine latitude.

Middle Passage

The brutal transatlantic ocean voyage from Africa to the Americas that carried enslaved people; approximately $20\%$ of those on the trip perished.

Columbian Exchange

The transatlantic transfer of animals, plants, diseases, people, technology, and ideas among Europe, the Americas, and Africa.

Mercantilism

An economic theory that a nation's power depends on creating a favorable balance of trade through intense colonialism.

Social Contract

The Enlightenment theory that governments are formed to meet social and economic needs rather than by divine decree.

Adam Smith

An Enlightenment thinker who proposed that an \"invisible hand\" would regulate the economy in a free market system (Capitalism).

Estates-General

A French governing body infrequently called by kings, composed of three estates: Clergy, Noble families, and the general population.

Declaration of the Rights of Man

A $1789$ document adopted by the French National Assembly that established a constitutional monarchy and listed fundamental rights.

Committee of Public Safety

An enforcer group during the French Revolution led by Maximilien Robespierre that executed those perceived as anti-revolution.

Napoleonic Codes

A series of laws established by Napoleon Bonaparte that recognized the equality of men.

Simón Bolívar

A leader who established a national congress in Venezuela and won independence for Gran Colombia (Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela).

Treaty of Cordoba

The $1821$ agreement where Spain recognized that its control of Latin America was ending, resulting in Mexican independence.

Neocolonialism

A system where independent nations are still controlled by external powers for economic and political interests.

Marxism

A social and economic theory founded by Karl Marx stating the working class should take over means of production for equal resource distribution.

Sepoy Mutiny

An $1857$ rebellion by Indian soldiers against British rule due to perceived religious disrespect regarding Muslim and Hindu beliefs.

Meiji Restoration

An era of Japanese westernization in the late $19th$ century that abolished the samurai class and built modern infrastructure like railways.

Suez Canal

An Egyptian infrastructure project completed in $1869$ that connected the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean.

Berlin Conference

An $1884$ meeting of European powers to discuss land claims in Africa, leading to the colonization of almost the entire continent.

Triple Alliance

An alliance formed in the $1880s$ between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy to protect against France.

Schlieffen Plan

Germany’s military strategy at the start of WWI involving a planned attack on France through neutral Belgium.

Zimmermann Telegram

A secret message from Germany to Mexico proposing an alliance against the US in exchange for the return of lost Mexican territory.

Treaty of Versailles

The $1919$ peace settlement that officially ended WWI and required Germany to pay heavy war reparations.

Bolsheviks

A socialist party led by Vladimir Lenin that took power in Russia in $1917$, later forming the Soviet Union.

Five-Year Plans

Totalitarian economic policies instituted by Joseph Stalin to take over private farms for state-owned collectivization.

Fascism

A political structure used by leaders like Mussolini and Hitler that destroys individual will in favor of the people through extreme nationalism.

Munich Conference of 1938

A meeting where Hitler was given the Sudetenland in an act of appeasement to stop his further expansion.

Marshall Plan

A US initiative to rebuild the economies of Western Europe after the destruction of WWII.

Safavids

A Shi’ite Muslim dynasty that ruled in Persia (Iran and parts of Iraq) from the $16th-18th$ centuries.

Devshirme

A system in the Ottoman Empire where boys from Christian communities were taken to serve as Janissaries.

Jizya

A tax paid by non-Muslims (Christians and Jews) living in Muslim communities to allow them to continue practicing their own faith.

Millet System

An Ottoman system where subjects were organized into religious communities that enjoyed autonomous self-government under religious leaders.

Tax Farming

An Ottoman tax-collection system where the government hired private individuals to collect taxes to fund territorial expansion.

Divine Right

The belief that monarchs are God’s representatives on earth and are answerable only to God.