AP World History Unit 1 (1200-1450) Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering major global civilizations, belief systems, and state-building methods from 1200 to 1450.

State

A territory that is politically organized under a single government.

Song Dynasty

The ruling dynasty of China from 960 to 1279 that maintained and justified its rule through Confucianism and an expanded imperial bureaucracy.

Neo-Confucianism

A revival of Confucian philosophy during the Song Dynasty that sought to rid Confucian thought of Buddhist influence.

Filial Piety

A central Confucian idea emphasizing the necessity and virtue of children obeying and honoring their parents, grandparents, and deceased ancestors.

Foot Binding

A social restriction and status symbol among elites in Song China where young girls' toes were broken and bound with cloth, limiting their mobility.

Imperial Bureaucracy

A government entity arranged in a hierarchical fashion that carries out the will of the emperor.

Civil Service Examination

A merit-based test heavily grounded in Confucian classics that men had to pass to secure bureaucratic jobs in imperial China.

Champa Rice

A fast-ripening, drought-resistant strain of rice introduced to China from the Champa Kingdom that allowed multiple harvests per year and led to significant population growth.

Grand Canal

A major transportation canal system expanded under the Song Dynasty that facilitated internal trade and communication across China.

Dar al-Islam

Meaning 'the house of Islam', it refers to regions where the Islamic faith served as the primary organizing principle of civilization.

Abbasid Caliphate

An ethnically Arab Islamic empire centered in Baghdad whose political power waned prior to 1200 as regional turkic empires emerged.

Seljuk Empire

An empire established in the 11th century by Central Asian turkic pastoralists who took over political dominance from the Abbasids.

Sharia

An Islamic legal code based on the Quran that served as the organizing principle for legal systems in Muslim empires.

House of Wisdom

A major library and center of scholarship in Baghdad established under the Abbasid Empire during the Golden Age of Islam.

Sufis

A mystical sect of Islam whose missionaries adapted to local beliefs and facilitated conversions across regions like South Asia.

Bhakti Movement

A Hindu movement that emerged in southern India emphasizing devotion to a single deity, mounting challenges to traditional social and gender hierarchies.

Vijayanagara Empire

A Hindu kingdom established in southern India in 1336 as a regional rival to the Muslim Delhi Sultanate.

Majapahit Kingdom

A Buddhist sea-based empire based in Java from 1293 to 1520 that maintained influence by controlling maritime trade routes.

Khmer Empire

A land-based empire in Southeast Asia that originated as a Hindu kingdom before transitioning to Buddhism, known for building Angkor Wat.

Aztec Empire

A Mesoamerican empire founded in 1345 by the Meshika people with its capital at Tenochtitlan, administered through a tribute system and human sacrifice.

Mita System

An Incan mandatory labor system that required conquered subjects to work on state projects like farming, mining, and construction.

Cahokia

A Mississippian culture settlement known for constructing massive human-built burial mounds up to 100 feet tall.

Swahili Civilization

A collection of independent East African coastal city-states organized around Indian Ocean trade with a culture blending Bantu and Arab influences.

Great Zimbabwe

A wealthy inland African state that flourished between 1250 and 1450 through gold trade while retaining indigenous shamanistic religious practices.

Feudalism

A European political and social order where lords granted land to vassals in exchange for military service.

Manorialism

A European economic system centered on self-sufficient agricultural manors owned by lords and worked by bound peasants.

Serfs

Peasants in feudal Europe who were legally bound to work the land of a lord's manor in exchange for protection.