AP World Unit 1 Vocab

Neo-confucianism

When the Song dynasty revived Confucianism from older Chinese Dynasties

Champa Rice

A Vietnamese drought resistant and fast-growing rice brought to China that brought agricultural advancement

Song Dynasty

960-1279 C.E. “Golden Age” of China. Very influential, confucianist. Many innovations.

Filial Piety

Respect for one’s parents, elders, and ancestors. East Asian.

Bureaucracy

The process of splitting government into multiple departments/bureaus, each of which specialized to handle specific areas of government. (health, military, etc)

Buddhism

Find peace by ending suffering. Desires = suffering. Live life in the moment and accept change. End goal is to reach enlightenment.

Ibn Battuta

A Moroccan traveler who traveled all over the world for 30 years. It started by going on the Hajj and went from there. He documented every place he came across and traveled around the Mediterranean, Africa, India, China, and the Middle East.

Dar-al Islam

The Muslim-ruled regions of the world.

Sufism

Focusing on a personal spiritual relationship with a deity rather than worshiping scriptures.

Qu’ran

The religious scripture of Islam

Sunni/Shi’a

Two branches of Islam. Disagreed over whether leaders of Islam should be blood-related to Muhammad or not.

Shi’a

Believed Islamic leaders should only be descended from Muhammad. (minority)

Caliphate

An Islamic Kingdom run by a successor to Muhammad (not necessarily by blood)

Abbasid

A caliphate that ruled from ~750 - ~1200 C.E. 3rd Caliphate. Ended with fragmentation in 1200.

Baghdad

Capital of Abbasid Caliphate?

Sultanate

A Kingdom run by a sultan.

House of Wisdom

A huge library in Baghdad. Scholars from all over the world would come and study there, and in part leave their own books, improving the immense library even further.

Turkic Tribes

This group arrived in Islam ~1000, and after the fragmentation of the Abbasid Caliphate, took power, forming the Ottoman Empire.

Vijayanagara Empire

A Hindu kingdom in Southern India from 1336-1646 C.E.

Founded by two Hindu-born Islamic missionaries who converted to Hindu once again in the South.

This kingdom was eventually overthrown by a group of Muslim kingdoms.

Delhi Sultanate

An Islamic kingdom in Northern India 13-16 century. Taxed non-Muslims.

Srivijaya Empire

A Hindu empire built on Sumatra (670-1025) that taxed ships coming through the Strait of Malacca.

Bhakti Movement

Instead of studying texts or doing rituals, develop an attachment to a particular deity, Hindu.

Khmer Empire

A land-based kingdom in Cambodia that built an amazing huge Hindu temple system, and later when the kings converted to Buddhism, they built more Buddhist stuff in that area without destroying the Hindu things!

Mexica

A tribe that formed the Aztec Empire.

Chinampas

Artificial islands built for farming in water, built by the Aztecs.

Quipu

A series of knotted strings, each knot had a different meaning. This was for Incan recordkeeping, since they had no written language.

Mit’a

Incan system of taxation. Incans taxed in labor rather than in goods.

Mississippian Culture

AKA “mound builders”, building mounds has significant cultural and religious significance to them. Agricultural and developed society.

Cahokia

Capital city of Mississippian Culture

Mansa Musa

The rich king of Mali, he was Islamic and famous for his pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) on which he flaunted a LOT of gold.

Hajj

Pilgrimage to Mecca

Trans-Saharan Trade

Trade across the Sahara Desert.

Great Zimbabwe (empire)

An empire in East Africa, with houses of stone. Gold trade, Indian ocean trade. Renowned for huge famous wall.

Great Zimbabwe (wall)

A huge 30 ft tall wall, 15 ft thick, surrounding the capital. It still stands today.

Timbuktu

The famed capital of Mali, a renowned scholar location and it’s very very rich.

Swahili

A language and a culture, a combination of local Bantu tribes and Arabic.

Feudalism

The system of social and political order in medieval Europe. King owns all the land, and gives some of it away in exchange for military protection. These nobles give away portions of their land too, for military protection, for food, for wealth, etc. But in this age, land is power.

Manor System

The economic system of medieval Europe. People leave big cities because of frequent invasions, and instead set up small self-sustaining villages (or manors). People who live in these communities often never leave for anything their whole lives.

Crusades

Religious wars and invasions by Europe on more Eastern cities. “God appointed” wars that targeted Islam, Jews, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Black Death

Pandemic of the bubonic plague that killed ~1/3 of Europe’s population between 1347 and 1351. Spread via fleas on rats from Asia, and marked transition from Middle Ages to Early Modern period.

100 Years’ War

A huge and long war between France and England, it drains both of their resources badly and kills a lot of people with little point to it. France ultimately wins, but is severely weakened.

Byzantine Empire

Seen as an extension of the Roman empire that just lived on after the empire’s collapse. Capital was Constantinople. Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Impressive and strong empire.

Marco Polo

A famed traveler who traveled all over the world. He traveled the entire length of the silk roads.