AP WHAP Unit 4

Mercantilism

An economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and power by strictly regulating the economy to obtain large amounts of gold and silver by selling more goods than they bought and utilizing colonies

Prince Henry the Navigator

(1394-1460) Prince of Portugal who established an observatory and school of navigation at Sagres and directed voyages that spurred the growth of Portugal's colonial empire.

Triangular Trade

Trading System between Europe, Africa, and the colonies; European purchased slaves in Africa and sold them to colonies, new materials from colonies went to Europe while European finished products were sold in the colonies.

Portuguese Empire

took an early lead in European exploration (sponsored by Prince Henry); went East and established trading posts in West Africa, East Africa (Swahili City States) and India for spice trade

Middle Passage

A voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies

Silver Trade

Silver trade between the Americas and Europe and onward to China from the 16th to 18th centuries. It had a profound effect on the world economy and silver trade could also be considered the beginning of the global economy.

Spanish Empire

Made up of territories and colonies in Europe, Africa, and Asia controlled from Spain. At its strongest, it was one of the biggest empires in world history according to how much land they had, and one of the 1st global empires. Royalty from the Castile and Aragon kingdoms ruled it. Christopher Columbus led the first Spanish exploration trip which led them to colonizing in the Americas.

East India Companies

British, French, and Dutch trading companies that obtained government monopolies of trade to India and Asia.

cash crop

a crop produced for its commercial value rather than for use by the grower. For example tobacco.

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

The forced migration of between 12 - 15 million people from Africa to the Western Hemisphere from the middle of the 15th century to the end of the 19th century.

Tokugawa Shogunate

was a semi-feudal government of Japan in which one of the shoguns unified the country under his family's rule. They moved the capital to Edo, which now is called Tokyo. They isolated Japan from foreign influences. This family ruled from Edo 1868, when it was abolished during the Meiji Restoration.

Zheng He

An imperial eunuch and Muslim, entrusted by the Ming emperor Yongle with a series of state voyages that took his gigantic ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa.

British East India Company

set up trading posts in India in the 1600s enabling British economic and political interest there.

Plantation Economy

This referred to the inefficient, slave-centered economy of the South where all land was used to grow large amounts of cash crops for export.

Indentured servitude

A worker bound by a voluntary agreement to work for a specified period of years often in return for free passage to an overseas destination. Before 1800 most were Europeans; after 1800 most indentured laborers were Asians.

Joint-stock company

A business, often backed by a government charter, that sold shares to individuals to raise money for its trading enterprises and to spread the risks (and profits) among many investors.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.

Encomienda System

It gave settlers the right to tax local Native Americans or to make them work. In exchange, these settlers were supposed to protect the Native American people (but generally exploited them) and convert them to Christianity. It was a form of coercive labor.

coercive labor

Any labor system that involves force (slavery, serfdom, and encomienda)

Daimyo

(in feudal Japan) one of the great lords who were vassals of the shogun

Peninsulare

a Spanish-born Spaniard residing in the New World or the Spanish East Indies

Mestizos

A person of mixed Native American and European ancestry

Maroon Societies

Communities formed by escaped slaves in the Caribbean, Latin American. and the United States.

Mulattos

Persons of mixed European and African ancestry

Commercial Revolution

A dramatic change in the economy of Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. It is characterized by an increase in towns and trade, the use of banks and credit, and the establishment of guilds to regulate quality and price.

Caravel

A small, highly maneuverable three-masted ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish in the exploration of the Atlantic.

Louis XIV

(1638-1715) Known as the Sun King, he was an absolute monarch that completely controlled France. One of his greatest accomplishments was the building of the palace at Versailles.

Phillip II

King of Spain, 1556 - 1598; married to Queen Mary I of England;he was the most powerful monarch in Europe until 1588; controlled Spain, the Netherlands, the Spanish colonies in the New World, Portugal, Brazil, parts of Africa, parts of India, and the East Indies.

Creoles

In colonial Spanish America, term used to describe someone of European descent born in the New World.

Versailles

A palace built for Louis XIV near the town of Versailles, southwest of Paris. It was built around a chateau belonging to Louis XIII, which was transformed by additions in the grand French classical style

Aztecs

From their capital city, Tenochtitlan, this empire emerged as the dominant force in central Mexico, developing an intricate social, political, religious and commercial organization that brought many of the region's city-states under their control by the 15th century

Incas

A Native American people who built a notable civilization in western South America in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The center of their empire was in present-day Peru. Francisco Pizarro of Spain conquered the empire.

Ming Dynasty

It was perhaps the peak of Chinese civilization with 300 years of peace and prosperity. They improved the Grand Canal, made great porcelain, and under Yong Le encouraged exploration. They also built the Forbidden City in the capital of Beijing. After Yong Le rulers would reject exploration. The Ming would participate in the Global Silver Trade, starting in the mid-1500s, as an eager buyer of silver. However, they will be overthrown by the Manchu.

Conquistadors

Early-sixteenth-century Spanish adventurers who conquered Mexico, Central America, and Peru. (Examples Cortez, Pizarro, Francisco.)

Hernan Cortes

a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire

Francisco Pizzaro

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca's

Japan's Closed Country policy

As a result of Europeans entering and converting thousands to Christianity, the Shogun expelled or eliminated European entrance to the country

Bartoleme de Las Casas

a Spanish priest who became famous for trying to defend the Native Indians, and improve their treatment; he encouraged Europeans to import African slaves.

Treaty of Tordesillas

Set the Line of Demarcation which was a boundary established in 1493 to define Spanish and Portuguese possessions in the Americas.