AP World Unit 4 Vocabulary Terms

Primogeniture laws

Legal rules in Europe that gave the entire inheritance (land, wealth, and titles) to the eldest son, forcing younger sons to seek new opportunities like becoming explorers, missionaries, or settlers abroad.

Cartography

The science and practice of mapmaking, which improved significantly during the Age of Exploration and helped sailors navigate more accurately.

Maritime empires

Large states that expanded their power by controlling sea routes and overseas territories (examples: Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and British empires from 1450-1750).

Omani-European rivalry

A competition between Middle Eastern (Omani) merchants and European powers (especially the Portuguese) over control of trade in the Indian Ocean.

Astronomical chart

A map of the stars and constellations used by sailors to guide navigation when traveling across oceans.

Mercantilism

An economic policy where colonies existed to enrich the "mother country" by exporting raw materials and importing manufactured goods; wealth was measured in gold and silver.

Trading post empire

An empire based on small fortified outposts rather than large land areas, controlling trade routes and commerce (example: Portuguese forts along the Indian Ocean).

Manila

The Spanish colonial port city in the Philippines that became a major commercial hub, especially important for the silver trade linking the Americas and Asia.

Prince Henry the Navigator

A Portuguese prince who sponsored early voyages of exploration along Africa's coast and advanced navigation by funding mapmaking and maritime schools.

Galleons

Large, heavily armed Spanish ships used to transport goods (especially silver) across the Atlantic and Pacific.

Christopher Columbus

A Genoese explorer funded by Spain who crossed the Atlantic in 1492 and initiated lasting contact between Europe and the Americas.

Bartholomew Diaz

Portuguese explorer who sailed around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa in 1488, opening a sea route toward Asia.

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese explorer who sailed around Africa and reached India in 1498, establishing Portugal's first direct trade route to Asia.

Ferdinand Magellan

Portuguese explorer sailing for Spain; his expedition (1519-1522) was the first to circumnavigate the globe, though he was killed in the Philippines.

Northwest Passage

A sought-after but nonexistent sea route through North America that would connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; European explorers searched for it to reach Asia.

Jacques Cartier

French explorer who traveled along the St. Lawrence River in Canada, claiming territory for France.

Samuel de Champlain

French explorer who established Quebec in 1608 and helped expand French influence in North America.

John Cabot

English explorer who sailed to the coast of North America in 1497, giving England its first claims in the New World.

Henry Hudson

English explorer who sailed for both England and the Dutch; he explored present-day New York and the Hudson River, searching for the Northwest Passage.

Quebec

The first permanent French settlement in North America, founded in 1608.

New France

The French colonial empire in North America, centered around the St. Lawrence River, Great Lakes, and Mississippi Valley.

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, founded in Virginia in 1607.

Amsterdam

Capital of the Netherlands that became a major financial center in the 17th century, home to the Dutch East India Company and a hub of global trade.

Smallpox

A deadly European disease brought to the Americas during the Columbian Exchange that devastated Indigenous populations who had no immunity.

Horse

An animal introduced to the Americas by Europeans that transformed Native American life, especially in hunting and warfare on the Great Plains.

Conquistadores

Spanish conquerors, such as Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro, who defeated major American empires (Aztec, Inca) and claimed land for Spain.

Maize

A staple crop (corn) from the Americas that spread globally after 1492, boosting population growth in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Cacao

A plant native to the Americas (source of chocolate) that became a luxury crop in Europe after the Columbian Exchange.

Okra

A plant brought from Africa to the Americas via the slave trade, later becoming a key ingredient in foods like gumbo.

Rice

A staple crop brought by enslaved Africans to the Americas, where it became important in Southern colonies.

Sugarcane

A highly profitable crop grown on plantations in the Caribbean and Brazil using enslaved labor, central to the Atlantic economy.

Creole

A cultural and language blend that developed in the Americas among Europeans, Africans, and Indigenous peoples.

Gumbo

A food with West African origins that blended African, European, and Indigenous culinary traditions in the Americas.

Columbian Exchange

The global transfer of plants, animals, people, diseases, and ideas between the Old World and New World after 1492.

Transatlantic slave trade

The forced transport of Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas to work on plantations, central to the triangular trade system.

Engenhos

Portuguese sugar plantations in Brazil; literally means 'engines,' highlighting the brutal, intensive labor systems used there.

Cash crop

Crops grown primarily for sale rather than personal use (examples: sugar, tobacco, cotton).

African diaspora

The spread of African peoples and cultures across the Americas and Europe due to the slave trade, influencing music, food, language, and religion.

Asante Empire

A powerful West African state on the Gold Coast that grew wealthy and strong through participation in the Atlantic trade, especially gold and enslaved people.

Kingdom of the Kongo

Central African kingdom that became heavily involved in trade with the Portuguese, including the slave trade, which destabilized the state.

Ming Dynasty

Chinese dynasty (1368-1644) that reasserted Chinese traditions after Mongol rule, sponsored maritime expeditions (Zheng He), then later limited trade.

Aztec Empire

A powerful Mesoamerican empire centered in present-day Mexico; conquered by Hernán Cortés and Spanish conquistadores in the early 1500s.

Inca Empire

A vast empire in the Andes with advanced infrastructure (roads, terraces, mit'a labor system); conquered by Francisco Pizarro in the 1530s.

New Spain

The Spanish colonial empire established in the Americas after the conquest of the Aztec Empire, with Mexico City as its capital.

Mexico City

The capital of New Spain, built by the Spanish on the ruins of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire in Peru in the 1530s.

Atahualpa

The last Inca emperor, captured and executed by Francisco Pizarro during the Spanish conquest.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal, mediated by the Pope, that divided newly discovered lands in the Americas and Asia.

Hispaniola

The Caribbean island (modern-day Haiti and Dominican Republic) colonized by Spain; one of the first sites of European settlement in the New World.

Conquistadores

Spanish conquerors who claimed land and wealth in the Americas for Spain, often through force and alliances with local enemies of empires.

Silver

A key export from Spanish colonies in the Americas (especially Potosí in Peru); fueled global trade and Spain's wealth but also caused inflation.

Mercantilism

An economic system where colonies existed to benefit the mother country by providing raw materials and serving as markets for finished goods.

Colonies

Lands controlled by a foreign power; in the Americas, they provided resources, labor, and markets for European powers.

Indentured servitude

A labor system where people worked for a set period of time (often 4-7 years) in exchange for passage to the Americas.

Chattel slavery

A system where enslaved people were treated as property, bought and sold permanently with no rights.

Encomienda

A Spanish labor system where conquistadores were granted the right to extract tribute and labor from Indigenous people in return for 'protection' and Christian instruction.

Encomenderos

Spanish settlers and landholders who were granted control of Indigenous labor under the encomienda system.

Coercive labor system

A broad term for systems that forced people to work against their will, including slavery, serfdom, encomienda, and the mit'a system.

Hacienda system

A Spanish system of large estates in the Americas that used Indigenous or enslaved labor to produce agricultural goods for local use and trade.

Mit'a system

An Incan labor system adapted by the Spanish; Indigenous people were forced to provide labor (especially in mines) for a certain period each year.

Middle Passage

The brutal journey across the Atlantic that transported enslaved Africans to the Americas as part of the triangular trade.

Capital

Wealth in the form of money or assets used to invest in businesses and generate more wealth.

Commercial Revolution

A period of European economic expansion (16th-17th centuries) marked by trade growth, overseas colonies, new banking systems, and rising capitalism.

Price Revolution

A period of high inflation in Europe (16th century), mainly caused by the influx of silver and gold from the Americas.

Joint-stock companies

Businesses owned by shareholders who pooled resources for exploration and trade; reduced individual risk and increased investment.

Limited liability

The principle that investors could only lose the amount they invested in a company, encouraging greater participation in joint-stock companies.

East India Company

A British joint-stock company founded in 1600 that controlled trade (and eventually territory) in South and Southeast Asia.

Dutch East India Company (VOC)

A powerful Dutch joint-stock company founded in 1602 that dominated trade in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia.

Triangular trade

A three-part Atlantic trade system: European goods → Africa, enslaved Africans → Americas, raw materials (like sugar, tobacco, cotton) → Europe.

Monopoly

Exclusive control by one company or state over the production or trade of a particular good (example: Spanish monopoly on tobacco in the colonies).

Syncretism

The blending of different cultural, religious, or philosophical traditions into new forms (ex: African and Christian practices in the Americas).

Polygyny

A marriage practice in which one man has multiple wives; became more common in Africa due to the loss of men in the slave trade.

Creoles

People of European descent born in the Americas; often wealthy but socially below peninsulares (Europe-born elites).

Santería

A syncretic religion from Cuba blending West African Yoruba beliefs with Catholicism.

Vodun (Voodoo)

A syncretic religion from Haiti that mixes African spiritual traditions with Christianity.

Candomblé

A syncretic religion in Brazil combining African spiritual practices with Catholicism.

Virgin of Guadalupe

A Catholic apparition in Mexico that blended Indigenous and Spanish religious traditions; became a symbol of Mexican identity.

Viceroys

Spanish colonial administrators who governed regions in the Americas on behalf of the king.

Audiencias

Spanish royal courts in the Americas that reviewed the actions of viceroys and ensured loyalty to the crown.

Dahomey

A West African kingdom that became powerful by raiding for captives and selling them into the Atlantic slave trade.

Oyo

A West African Yoruba state that grew wealthy and powerful through participation in the slave trade and use of firearms.

Ndongo

Central African kingdom in present-day Angola that became a Portuguese colony; ruled at one point by Queen Ana Nzinga.

Matamba

A state in Central Africa allied with Queen Ana Nzinga, where she fled after conflicts with the Portuguese; later became her power base.

Black Sea

A key body of water in Eastern Europe, bordered by the Ottoman and Russian Empires, important for trade and conflict.

Steppe

Vast grasslands of Eurasia where nomadic peoples (like the Mongols and Cossacks) lived; later contested between Russia and other states.

Maratha Empire

A Hindu state in South Asia founded by a warrior group (the Marathas) that resisted Mughal rule and helped weaken the empire.

Mirs

Russian village communes that controlled farmland and distributed it among peasants; an important feature of rural society.

Ana Nzinga

Ruler of Ndongo and Matamba who resisted Portuguese colonization and the slave trade in Central Africa through diplomacy and warfare.

Yemelyan Pugachev

A Cossack leader who led a massive peasant rebellion against Catherine the Great in Russia (1770s).

Queen Nanny

Leader of the Maroons (communities of escaped enslaved people) in Jamaica who resisted British colonial control.

James II

King of England whose policies angered Parliament and Protestants; overthrown in the Glorious Revolution (1688).

William of Orange

Dutch noble who, with his wife Mary II, replaced James II as rulers of England in the Glorious Revolution.

Mary II

Protestant queen of England who ruled jointly with William of Orange after the Glorious Revolution.

Mohegan

A Native American tribe in New England that clashed with English settlers during the colonial period.

Pequot

A Native American tribe in New England that fought English colonists in the Pequot War (1636-1638).

Wampanoag

A Native American tribe in New England led by Metacom (King Philip) who resisted English expansion in Metacom's War.

Fronde

A series of French civil wars (1648-1653) in which nobles and peasants rebelled against royal authority; challenged but did not overthrow the monarchy.

Metacom's War (King Philip's War)

A conflict (1675-1678) in New England between Native Americans (led by Metacom/King Philip) and English colonists, resulting in heavy losses for Indigenous peoples.

Pugachev Rebellion

A massive peasant and Cossack revolt in Russia (1773-1775) led by Yemelyan Pugachev, which challenged Catherine the Great's authority.

Pueblo Revolt

A successful Indigenous uprising in 1680 against Spanish rule in New Mexico, temporarily expelling Spanish settlers.