AP World Unit 1 Exam Vocab

Pure Land School of Buddhism

• One of the most popular forms of Buddhism in China

• Repeating the name of Amitabha (the earlier Buddha) was enough to ensure rebirth in the Pure Land

• Salvation by faith without study/meditation

• Highly popular Chinese version of Buddhism

An Lushan Rebellion

• A Confucian attack on Buddhism

• Letter sent to the Tang Emperor, full of hatred

• One of the main reasons Buddhism lost state support in the latter years of the Tang Dynasty

  • People wanted to go back to earlier, traditional religious periods when Buddhism wasn’t as common

Ulama

• Learned scholars, serving as judges, interpreters, administrators, prayer leaders, reciters of the Quran

• Preservers & teachers of the sharia

• Subject to criticism for corruption, undue submission to state authority

• Made Islam a distinct civilization by uniting Islamic people

Madrassas

• Formal colleges offering more advanced instruction in Quran

• Mostly informal teachings, involved text memorization

• Conservative - worked to establish Islamic learning

Sufis

• Teachers attracting disciplines that wanted to learn devotional practices & personal transformation

• Devotional teachings & living ways attracted followers to Islam

The hajj

• Grand pilgrimmage to Mecca (kings to peasants)

• Men & women came together to rehearse faith

• Majority of Islam community through Muslim

Baghdad (pg 438)

House of Wisdom

Neo-Confucianism

• Effort to revive Confucian while incorporating some ideas from Buddhism & Daoism

• Apart of Golden Age of Song Dynastry

• United people & culture norms

Censorate

• Agency that exercise surveillance over rest of government

• Check on character & competence of public officials

• Overlooked 6 major ministries

Hangzhou (Song capital)

• Home to more than a million people

• Dynasty’s center: economic, political, social

• Attracted foreigners & prosperity

Foot binding

• Tradition for Chinese women & daughters

• Bound feet so tightly bones broke

• Part of women beauty standards: delicacy

• Distinguish women from “barbarian” counterparts

“middle kingdom”

• China known as “middle kingdom” - center of world

• Superior to “barbarian” people beyond borders

kowtow

• Foreigners seeking access to China needed to perform this

• Series of ritual bowing & presenting tribute

• Chinese emperor allow foreigners to trade in Chinese markets, provide wealthy gifts/bestows

Xiongnu

• Early nomadic confederacy established ~ same time as Han Dynasty

• Raids into northern China, forcing Chinese emperor to see them as equal and and give “gifts” that promised China protection

Sultanate of Delhi

• Powerful Islamic empire in Delhi

• After establishment in 1206, Turkic role became systemic

• Small numbers allowed penetration of Indian society

Sufis

• “Holy men” helping develop “popular Islam” in India not differing much from devotional Hinduism

• - Facilitate conversion

• Accommodated local gods

Kabir

• famous Indian poet

• Spiritual teachings bridged Hinduism & Islam

Sikhism

• Distinct religion emerging in India

• Blend Islam w/ Hindu concepts

• Guru Namak founded

Timbuktu

• Ancient west African city

• Major centers of higher education

• Attracted Muslims from around the world, promote Islamic religion

Mexica

• Contributed to the Aztec state

• Semi-nomadic group from northern Mexico

• Established themselves on Texcoco

• Built capital city of Tenochtitlan

• Marriage alliance, mercanaries w/ Aztec people

• Own military forces

• Triple Alliance & Aztec politics

Triple Alliance

• Alliance between Mexica (Tenochtitlan), Texcoco, & Tlacopan

• Launched military conquest

• Aztec

• Tributary empire having local rulers in place

Tenochtitlan

• Mexica’s capital city

• Canals, dikes, etc for trade

• Floating gardens surrounded the city

• Vast marketplaces

Chinampas, aka “floating gardens”

• Artificially made pieces of arable land surrounding Tenochtitlan

• Made of swamplands

Huitzilopochtli

• Aztec patrol deity associated with the sun, central to all life

• Lose energy in battle against enroaching darkness

• Needs human blood for replenishing

Quechua

• Language of Inca people

• Efforts at cultural integration required leaders of the conquered to learn it

Gender Parallelism

• System both Aztec & Inca’s practiced

• Each gender operate separately

• Separate roles between genders (considered equal & complementary)

Yuan Dynasty

• Mongol-led (Khubilai Kahn) dynasty of China

• First time China was ruled by foreign power

• Built/rose when Mongol empire conquered China

Khubilai Khan

• Grandson of Chinggi Khan & China’s mongol ruler

• Improved roads, built canals, etc

Hulegu

• Mongol leader & grandson of Genghis Khan

• Led Mongol army capturing Baghdad

• Destroyed Abbasid Caliphate

• Ended Islam’s Golden Age

Khutulun

• Only daughter of Chinggis Khan

• Challenged any man who wanted to marry her to wrestler match

• Women enjoyed higher social status

Kipchak Khanate/ Golden Horde

• Northwestern division of Mongol Empire, rule over Russia

• Exploited Russia economically through collection of heavy tribute

• Russian princes were main tax collectors

  • Grew powerful & wealthy

  • Led resistance that overthrew Mongol Rule

Monsoon winds

• Made Indian Ocean commerce possible

• Alternating wind currents blowing predictably eastward during summer & west during winter

• Merchants used them to travel safely & quickly

• New technologies to ride the winds

Swahili language

• Bantu-based tongue

• Grammatically African, written in Arabic script

• Spoken along the Swahili coast

Great Zimbabwe

• Powerful state connected to gold trade in Swahili coast & wealth in cattle herds

• Resources & labor power to construct huge stone enclosures

• People kept African religion, didn’t adopt Islam

• Part of Indian Ocean Trade: gold, cattle, ivory

Jenne-Jeno

• Urban cluster emerging by early centuries of Common Era in Sudanic West Africa

• Crucial point on Niger River

• Without central ruler or king/state in early centuries

  • Decentralized, functioned as clusters

Camel caravans

• Up to 5,000 camels & hundreds of people traveling long distances in Trans-Saharan trade

• Link West Africa w/ ppl to North

• Carrying goods, merchants, slaves, ideas, religions possible

Dar al Islam

• Parts of the world where Muslims are in majority

• Rules practice Islam

• Spread through surrounding regions

Caliph

• Religious & political leader of muslim community w/n Dar-al Islam

• Successors of prophet Muhammad

Civil Service Exams

• Exams to promote prospective gov officials

• Passable only through merit

• Only talented iindividuals allowed to move up the ladder

Hindu Devotional Cults

• Popular after Buddhism’s decline after Turkish invasions into India

• People grouped together, promised salvation

Angkor

• Capital city of Khmer Empire in Cambodia

• Rulers adopted Hinduism & Buddhism from India

Mansa Musa

• King/ruler of the Mali Empire

• Rich from taxing gold & salt

• Muslim

Trans Saharan Trade

• Extensive trade network from 1200 to 1450 across Sahara Desert

• Linked West Africa to Mediterranean Sea & Indian Ocean

Bantu

• Region in Eastern Africa where populations speaking Eastern bantu languages settled

• Grew following migrations from West-Central Africa

Swahili

• Coast of East Africa

• Define people who were African by language/phenotype

• Islamic by culture & religious views

Zanj Revolt

• 14 year rebellion of enslaved African (Zanj) workers against the Abbasid Caliphate

• Labored under difficult conditions

Feudalism

• Political & economic system, ruler provide allotted land to lower status

• Individuals provide loyalty/military service

• Susceptible to fragmentation

Black Death

• Global plague/pandemic struck Europe/Asia in 1300s

• Caused by bacteria

• Killed half the population

The Crusades

• Series of religiously motivated campaign led by Western European Christians

• Reclaim holy land

• Cultural exchange between Europeans & Middle East

• New trade routes

Mita

• System of labor

• Every family contributed crops to nobles & participated in military service/other tasks

• Part of the Inca economy & religious life

Quipus

• Knotted cords used to record data

• Inca used it for writing before Spanish arrived

Champa Rice

• Strain of rice from Vietnam getting to Song Dynasty through Southeast Asian trade

• Yielded double the food in same time

• Drought-resistant

Islamic Agricultural Revolution

• Islamic world home to extensive knowledge & technology related to agriculture

• Knowledge spread across the Abbasid Islamic Empire