AP World History: Unit 1 A9-A13 Terminology

A9: Maya, Aztec, Inca

A9: Maya, Aztec, Inca

Indigenous

Inhabiting or existing in a land from the earliest times, before the arrival of colonists.

The Americas

North and South America - the Western hemisphere

City-state

A country the size of a city; the Maya created city-states; the Vatican is an example

Terrace Farming

Growing crops on hillsides by creating flat fields using retaining walls; like steps

Aqueduct

An artificial channel for conveying water from a source to a populated area using gravity

Pack Animal or Beast of Burden

An animal used for labor such as carrying loads or pulling a plow

Money Economy

An economy that makes use of a currency rather than bartering

Elite

A select group that is higher in status; nobles or aristocrats would comprise an elite class

Chinampas

Floating gardens; artificial islands built by Aztecs on Lake Texcoco to expand arable land

Tribute

Payment made periodically by one state or ruler to another, especially as a sign of dependence.

Bloodletting

With the Maya and Aztecs, a practice of giving blood as an offering to a god

Aristocrats

Nobles

Mita

Conscripted labor imposed by Inca on peoples of the empire to work fields, construct roads, or act as royal messengers on Incan roads

Conscripted Labor

Forced labor to work on public work projects

Khipu

Knotted strings used by Inca to record numerical accounts; not a written language

A10: Geography of Africa & Trans-Saharan Trade

Caravan

A group of people, especially traders or pilgrims, traveling together across a desert in Asia or North Africa.

Camel Saddle

Invented by the Tuareg Berbers, allowing people to ride a camel; this facilitated trans-Saharan trade

Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa south of the Sahara Desert

Sahel

A semiarid region of western and north-central Africa extending from Senegal eastward to Sudan. It forms a transitional zone between the Sahara Desert to the north and the belt of humid savannas to the south; suitable to pastoralism

Ibn Battuta

14th century Muslim traveler and chronicler from Morocco

Timbuktu

An important trading city that becomes center of Islamic scholarship in Mali Empire

A11: Mali & Ethiopia

No Additional Vocabulary from this Assignment

A12: Medieval Europe & Crusades

Coerced Labor

Labor that is performed by a person who is not free; can range from serfdom to slavery

Decentralized Power

When power is held at the local level, typically threatening central power

Feudalism

A political system that is decentralized in which great lords offer land (fiefs) to lesser lords in exchange for an oath of military loyalty (homage or fealty)

Fief

A parcel of land that is granted to a vassal from an overlord in exchange for loyalty and payment

Homage/Fealty

Loyalty a vassal owes to a greater lord

Manor

A self-reliant, rural estate in the Middle Ages ruled over by a lord and worked by serfs

Manorialism

The economic and social system of the Middle Ages in which the manor was the primary economic and social unit

Middle Ages, Medieval Period, Dark Ages

Period between Rome and the Renaissance in Western Europe: Feudalism (decentralized, fragmented power held by lords), manorialism (serfs on country estates of lords), powerful Church

Pagan

A derogatory term for a non-Christian, polytheistic and animistic person; describes Germanic peoples

Serf/serfdom

Peasant laborers who work on a lord's manor and may not leave; a form of coerced labor

Vassal

A lesser lord who owes allegiance to an overlord in exchange for land (a fief)

Crusades

A holy war promoted by Roman Catholic pope, calling on European knights and peoples to take Jerusalem and the "Holy Land" from Muslim forces

A13: Late Middle Ages: Rise of Towns & Trade and Black Death

Guild

An association of artisans or merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory with the key "privilege" being that only guild members are allowed to sell their goods or practice their skill within the city. Guilds would exercise controls on prices, hours of trading, numbers of apprentices.

Hanseatic League

A medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe; traders enjoyed toll privileges and protection in affiliated communities and their trade routes.

Black Death

A bubonic plague pathogen originating in China and moving eastward across the Silk Roads under Mongol rule reaching Europe in 1347 and killing many

Scapegoat

A person who is blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others.

Pogrom

An organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jewish people.