AP World History Ginnochio: Chapter 7 and 8 Terms to Know

Politically decentralized societies

African societies organized around kinship or other forms of obligation and lacking the concentration of political power and authority associated with formal states

Bantu

A major African language family. Collective name of a large group of sub-Saharan African languages and of the peoples speaking these languages. Famous for migrations throughout central and southern Africa.

Animism

Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a discrete spirit and conscious life.

Maghrib

The Arabic word for western north Africa

Copts

Christian sect of Egypt

Sahel Grasslands

extended grassland belt at southern edge of Sahara- point of exchange between forests to the south and North Africa

Sudanic States

States trading with north Africa and mixing Islamic and indigenous ways

Juula

Malinke merchants; formed small partnerships to carry out trade throughout Mali empire; eventually spread throughout much of West Africa

Sundiata

Founder of the Mali empire, created the social classes/clans

Griots

Professional oral historians who served as keepers of traditions and advisors to kings within the Mali Empire

Timbuktu

Captial of Mali: trading city that became a center of wealth and learning

Songhay Empire

Successor to Mali, capital at Gao

Hausa

People of present-day Nigeria

Sharia

Islamic Law

Swahili

Bantu language with Arabic loanwords spoken in coastal regions of East Africa.

Yoruba and Benin

Similar area, city-states, metalworkers

Kongo

Kingdom, based on agriculture, formed on lower Congo River by late 15th century; capital at Mbanza Kongo; ruled by a hereditary monarchy.

Oba

ruler of Benin

Great Zimbabwe

A stone-walled enclosure found in Southeast Africa. Have been associated with trade, farming, and mining.

Toltecs

Powerful postclassic empire in central Mexico (900-1168 C.E.). It influenced much of Mesoamerica. Aztecs claimed ties to this earlier civilization. (p. 305)

Lake Texcoco

Lake where the capital city of the ancient Aztecs Tenochtitlan was built

Aztecs

Also known as Mexica, they created a powerful empire in central Mexico (1325-1521 C.E.). They forced defeated peoples to provide goods and labor as a tax. Tribute empire, highly militaristic

Tenochitlan (Mexico City)

Capital of the Aztec Empire

Who was the main Aztec god?

God of war and of the sun

Nezhualcoyotl is best known as a ________.

king who focused on monotheism and poetic philosophy

Chinampas

Floating islands on which the Aztecs and other mesoamerican groups farmed. Could yield 4 corn crops a year.

Pochteca

Special merchant class in Aztec society; specialized in long-distance trade in luxury items

Calpulli

Clans in Aztec society, later expanded to include residential groups that distributed land and provided labor and warriors. Consisted mostly of the middle class, but the heads of family participated in government.

Pipiltin

nobility in Aztec society

Flowery death

Death while taking prisoners for the sacrificial knife. It was a fitting end to a noble life and ensured eternity in the highest heaven. (A reward also promised to women who died in childbirth)

Were Aztec medics and physicians women?

Yes

Inca Empire

The vast and sophisticated Peruvian empire centered at the capital city of Cuzco that was at its peak from 1438 until 1532

Quechua

Incan language

Ayllus

in Incan society, a clan or community that worked together on projects required by the ruler

What is an Inca

A ruler of the Inca empire

Twantinsuyu

Word for Inca Empire; region from present-day Columbia to Chile and eastward to northern Argentina,

Split inheritance

Physical wealth and belongings go to the male descendants, the title and power of a ruler go to their successor

Why did the cult of ancestors create a cycle of expansion?

Each Inca had to secure land and wealth to ensure his own cult and place for eternity. Therefore he needed to expand.

Huacas

holy shrines; mountains, stones, caves, rivers, tombs, temples, etc; places of worship and prayer

Tambos

Way stations used by Incas as inns and storehouses; supply centers for Inca armies on move; relay points for system of runners used to carry messages

Mita

Andean labor system based on shared obligations to help kinsmen and work on behalf of the ruler and religious organizations.

Inca Socialism

A view created by Spanish authors to describe Inca society as a type of utopia; image of the Inca Empire as a carefully organized system in which every community collectively contributed to the whole.

Curacas

Local rulers, basically indirect rule. Sent their children to Cuzco for education

Yanas

A class of people within Inca society removed from their ayllus to serve permanently as servants, artisans, or workers for the inca or the Inca nobility.

Quipu

An arrangement of knotted strings on a cord, used by the Inca to record numerical information.

The three sisters

corn, beans, squash