WHAP Vocab Unit 3

Sovereignty

Power and ability of a state to govern itself

Constitutional state

Refers to a government with a monarch that has limited power and shares power with some of the people, recognizing the rights of certain people to express their voice through a representative assembly (ex. Great Britain after Glorious Revolution & Dutch Republic)

Absolutism

Political theory based on the "divine right of kings;" a leader claims full authority in running the government (ex. France & Russia)

Gentry

General term for a land-owner in Europe. Can sometimes refer to nobles or aristocrats (ex. boyars in Russia) OR a land-owning class just beneath the nobles, such as in England

Boyars

Russian landholding aristocrats; possessed less political power than their western European counterparts

Oprichnina

Policy used in Russia under Czar Ivan the Terrible to increase the power of the czar over the boyars; uses secret police to spy on nobles, confiscate their land, and publicly execute nobles accused of treason

Geocentric universe

Also known as "Ptolemaic universe" / model of the universe featuring the Earth as the center and spherical shells containing planets, the sun, moon, stars, etc. revolving in circular patterns around the Earth / this model is supported by the Catholic church and popular in Europe up until the Scientific Revolution

Heliocentric universe

Model of the universe proposed by Nicholas Copernicus in the 1540s which posits that the sun is the center of the universe and planets revolve around the sun / supported by evidence-based Scientific Revolution thinkers

Versailles

Luxurious palace built by King Louis XIV outside of Paris; Louis used the palace to entertain and distract his nobles by inviting them to witness palace ceremonies

Balance of power

Refers to the concept of one European nation wanting to protect itself from the dominance of other nations by increasing its own economic and military power

Protoindustrialization AKA "cottage industry" or "putting out system"

European system where entrepreneurs deliver raw materials to families in the countryside, who use the raw materials to make a product, which is then sold by the entrepreneur in a city

Devshirme

The system by which boys from Christian communities were taken by the Ottoman state to serve as in the military

Janissary

Christian boys who were taken prisoner by the Ottomans, made to convert to Islam, and serve in the military or other govt positions

Millet

System in which non-Muslims would submit to Ottoman rule and pay the jizya in return for the right to run their communities with their own religious rule

Harem

In an Islamic Empire, it refers to the part of a sultan's palace that houses his wives, children, and concubines / those in the harem are segregated from society at large

Mehmed the Conqueror

Ottoman ruler who conquers Constantinople in 1453

Suleyman the Magnificent

Ottoman ruler in the 1500s who builds up military, expands into the Middle East and Europe, and centralizes power

Wahhabi Movement

Conservative religious movement in Arabia during the time of the Ottoman Empire who reject scientific innovations and thinking

Zamindar

A local official in the Mughal Empire who received a plot of farmland for temporary use in return for collecting taxes for the central government; generally elite

Sikhism

Religion formed in South Asia by Guru Nanak in the 1500s; considered to be monotheistic and parts of the doctrine combine Hindu and Islamic elements

Akbar

Ruler of the Mughal Empire in the late 1500s who centralizes the government, conquers Hindu kingdoms, pursues religious tolerance, and promotes the divine faith religion

Shah Jahan

Mughal ruler who orders the construction of the Taj Mahal

Aurangzeb

Mughal ruler in the late 1600s who conquers parts of southern India and is not religiously tolerant

Bakufu

Term for the Japanese government in the 1600s, which is controlled by the military shoguns, rather than the traditional emperor

Shogun

Military ruler of Japan that also serves as political ruler

Daimyo

Japanese nobles or lords who were loyal to the shogun and control an army of samurai

Queue

Refers to the braid worn by the Manchus in China under the Qing dynasty; all males in China had to wear a queue

Shah Abbas I

Ruler of the Safavid Empire in the 1500s and 1600s who conquers land, engages in trade, and strengthens the military

Corroborate

To confirm or give support to a statement

Contradict

To go against or assert the opposite of a statement

Curb

To limit, restrain, or keep in check