AP World History: Modern Review Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the nine units of AP World History: Modern (1200-Present), based on typical curriculum themes including trade networks, state-building, and global conflicts.

Neo-Confucianism

In China, combining rational thought with more abstract ideas of Daoism & Buddhism, focusing on ethics rather than the mysteries of God and nature.

Champa Rice

Fast-ripening and drought-resistant strain of rice from the Champa kingdom in Vietnam that expanded agricultural production in China.

Khanates

The states ruled by a khan; specifically, the four units into which Chinggis divided the Mongol Empire.

Pax Mongolica

The period of Mongolian peace and its impact on Eurasian history between the 1200-1300 centuries.

Sinification

The assimilation of Chinese traditions and practices in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.

Shogunate

The title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868.

Dar al-Islam

Literally meaning "House of Islam," it refers to the parts of the world where Islam is a dominant force.

Sultanate

A place where the Sultan claims to rule the territory but not the Islamic Faith, distinct from the religious authority of a Caliph.

Bhakti Movement

A religious movement that emphasized the importance of an emotional and personal relationship with God and rejected the more formal, ritualistic aspects of traditional Hinduism.

Chinampas

Small, stationary, artificial islands built on a freshwater lake for agricultural purposes by the Aztec peoples.

Tawantinsuyu

The Incan name for their empire, meaning "Realm of the Four Parts," covering territories in modern Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.

Quipu

Recording devices used by the Inka Empire, sometimes called "talking knots."

Mit'a

A mandatory public service system in the Inca Empire requiring all people below the age of 50 to serve for two months out of the year.

Hanseatic League

A confederation of guilds and market towns in Northern Europe during the early modern period from 1358 to 1800.

Feudalism

A social/political order in Europe where the monarch owned all the land and granted parcels known as fiefs to nobles in exchange for loyalty and military service.

Samarkand

A city in present-day Uzbekistan in the Zeravshan River valley that served as a stopping point on the Silk Roads and a center of Islamic scholarship.

Gunpowder Empires

Large land-based empires, most notably the Islamic Mughal, Safavid, and Ottoman Empires, that used firearms to expand and maintain power.

Devshirme

The Ottoman policy of taking boys from conquered Christian peoples to be trained as Muslim soldiers.

Zamindars

Local officials in Mughal India who received plots of farmland for temporary use in return for collecting taxes for the central government.

Sikhism

A monotheistic religion founded in northern India in the 16th century by Guru Nanak, combining elements of Hinduism and Islam.

Queue

The braided hairstyle that Manchurians forced the Chinese to adopt as a sign of submission to the Qing Dynasty.

Caravel

A compact ship of Portuguese origin featuring triangular sails and a sternpost rudder, capable of crossing oceans.

Columbian Exchange

The extensive movement of plants, animals, diseases, and peoples between the Old and New Worlds after 1492.

Mercantilism

An economic practice by which governments used their economies to augment state power at the expense of rival countries.

Castas

A social system in the Americas based on racial origins, with Europeans at the top and mixed races or enslaved people at the bottom.

Enlightenment

An 18th-century movement in European history devoted to the study and exploration of new ideas in science, politics, and philosophy based on reason.

Social Contract

An agreement between the ruled and their rulers defining the rights and duties of each side.

Meiji Restoration

An era in Japan beginning in 1868 that marked the end of the shogunate and the start of rapid industrialization and modernization.

Social Darwinism

The application of concepts of natural selection and "survival of the fittest" to human societies as a rationale for imperialism.

Economic Imperialism

A system where one country dominates the economy of another by exploiting its resources, such as in the case of "Banana Republics" in Central America.

Totalitarianism

A political system where the government has total control over the society and seeks to regulate all aspects of public and private life.

Proxy Wars

Conflicts where opposing powers (the US and USSR) used third parties as substitutes to fight for their interests, such as in Korea or Vietnam.

Glasnost

A Soviet policy of "openness" allowing for open discussion of political and social issues, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev.

Green Revolution

A mid-20th-century initiative that increased global crop production through fertilizers, pesticides, and high-yield crop varieties.

Knowledge Economy

An economic system in which the production of goods and services is based principally on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to scientific innovation.