Unit 3: Land-Based Empires Vocabulary

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key rulers, administrative systems, religious movements, and cultural developments of early modern Land-Based Empires.

Absolutism

A type of government stressing Divine Right and total control by a king.

Akbar Style

A style of Indo-Islamic architecture conceived during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar.

Anglican Church

The Protestant Church created by King Henry VIII in England.

Anna Boleyn

The second wife of King Henry VIII.

Banners

Administrative divisions originally established in 1639 by the Qing dynasty into which all Manchu families were placed; they quickly evolved into the basis of Manchu military organization, with each required to raise and support a prescribed number of troops.

Canto

A song or ballad; a term adapted by Dante to mean one of the principal divisions of a long poem.

Cardinal Richelieu

A French clergyman, nobleman, and statesman who served as King Louis XIII's Chief Minister from 1624.

Castas

Strict social groupings designated at birth for Hindus, also referred to as jatis.

Catherine the Great

German queen who ruled in absolute over Russia after her husband died and doubled Russia's size due to her military experience.

Catholic Reformation

The Catholic Church's attempt to fix its own problems and combat the Protestant Reformation.

Charles I

King of England who was legally tried and executed for treason.

Charles V

Emperor of Spain, New Spain, Austria, the Holy Roman Empire, and Burgundy.

Cossacks

Peasants recruited to migrate to newly seized lands in Russia who combined agriculture with military conquests.

Council of Trent (1545-1563)

A council that corrected some of the worst of the Catholic Church's abuses and focused on reaffirming rituals such as marriage.

Czar

The Russian word for Emperor (derived from Caesar).

Daimyo

A powerful noble in early modern Japan.

Devshirme

A system (literally, 'collection') in the Ottoman Empire of training talented children to be administrators or members of the sultan's harem; originally meritocratic, by the seventeenth century it had degenerated into a hereditary caste.

Diet of Worms

An assembly of the estates of the empire called by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1521 where Martin Luther was put on trial and declared an outlaw.

Divine Right

The idea behind absolutism which asserts that God chose a specific king to rule.

Dyarchy

A system during the Qing dynasty in China in which all important national and provincial administrative positions were shared equally by Chinese and Manchus, consolidating both Manchu rule and assimilation.

Edict of Nantes

A decree issued by King Henry IV that allowed the Huguenots to practice their faith.

Emperor Kangxi

Emperor of the Qing dynasty who greatly expanded China's borders.

Emperor Qianlong

Qing Emperor who reigned from 1736 to 1795; when approached by Lord Macartney about liberalizing trade restrictions, he rejected the offer, stating Europe had nothing to offer China.

Empiricism

The view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation.

English Bill of Rights

An English document that creates a separation of powers by using Parliament to limit the monarch and grants more basic rights to the middle classes.

English Civil War (1642-1649)

A conflict fought between the English Parliament and royalty over political issues.

Erasmus

A Dutch humanist and theologian who was the leading Renaissance scholar of northern Europe.

Francis Xavier

A companion of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits who took vows of poverty and chastity at Montmartre, Paris in 1534; he led an extensive mission into Asia, primarily within the Portuguese Empire, and was influential in evangelization, particularly in India.

Ghazi

Muslim religious warriors.

Grand Vizier

The chief minister in the Ottoman Empire serving directly under the Great Sultan.

Gunpowder Empires

The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires, which relied heavily on gunpowder and firearms to expand their territory.

Gutenberg Printing Press

An invention that enabled books to be printed rather than handwritten, thereby increasing literacy.

Harem

The private living quarters of a ruler such as the sultan in the Ottoman Empire or the caliph of Baghdad, generally large and mostly inhabited by the extended family.

Henry VIII

King of England who established the Anglican Church to secure a divorce from his wife in order to find a partner who could provide him with an heir.

Heresy

An idea or belief that goes against accepted Christian belief.

Hidden Imam

A concept in Shi'ite teaching claiming that all appointed rulers are temporary fill-ins for the 12th descendant of Ali, who is expected to return as a messiah.

Imam

A person who leads prayer in a Muslim mosque.

Indulgences

A piece of paper sold by the church that a person could buy to be forgiven of sins.

Infidel

Someone who does not believe the way someone else does; an individual of no faith.

Inquisitions

Tribunals established for investigating and prosecuting charges of heresy.

Intendants

Royal officials in France dispatched to provinces to execute orders of the central government.

Isfahan

The capital city of Iran during the Safavid Empire under Shah Abbas I, established in 1598.

Ismail

An early Safavid military hero who conquered most of Persia and advanced into Iraq.

Istanbul

The new name given to Constantinople after it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire.

Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible)

An absolute king of Russia who first adopted the title 'Czar' and experienced two distinct periods of rule.

Janissaries

An elite military core of eight thousand troops personally loyal to the sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

Jesuits

A Catholic religious order founded in 1540 that actively opposed the spread of Protestantism.

John Calvin

The founder of the Calvinist Church based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Jizya

A tax levied by Islamic states on specific non-Muslim subjects (dhimmis) permanently residing in Muslim lands under Islamic law.

Justices of the Peace

Officials selected by the landed gentry to maintain peace across the counties of England and execute the monarch's laws.

Kabuki

A form of Japanese theater developed in the seventeenth century; originally considered disreputable, it transformed into a highly stylized art form.

Limited Monarchy

A system of government where a monarch rules alongside a Parliament that restricts royal power.

Louis XIV

French king widely regarded as the foremost model of Absolutism due to the vast control he exerted over his kingdom.

Macao

A Chinese trading port city operated under the Qing Dynasty and the Portuguese.

Manchuria

A region in northeast China that served as the homeland of the Manchus, who ruled China from 1644 to 1912.

Manchus

An ethnic minority in China after whom the region of Manchuria is named.

Mansabs

Land grants in India awarded in exchange for military or administrative service to the Mughal Empire.

Martin Luther

A German monk who initiated the Protestant Reformation through his written work, the Theses.

Tamerlane

Timur the Lame, a Mongol-Turkic ruler who invaded Central Asia and the Middle East, preparing the groundwork for the rise of the Turkic Empires.

Tax Farmers

A system in which the highest bidder received authorization to collect taxes and remit a portion back to the government.

Thirty Years' War

A conflict between Catholics and Protestants fought primarily in and around the Holy Roman Empire.

Tokugawa Ieyasu

The founder and initial shogun of Japan's Tokugawa shogunate, which governed Japan from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

Versailles

The royal palace of French King Louis XIV.

Witch Hunts

A historical period during which approximately 110,000 women were tried as witches across Western Europe.

Zamindars

Indian tax collectors assigned territories of land from which they retained a portion of the collected revenue.

Zheng He

A Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch active during China's early Ming dynasty.