World History Review

Flashcards for key vocabulary terms.

Confucianism

A system of philosophical and ethical teachings founded in China and influencing East Asia

Neo-Confucianism

A revival of Confucianism incorporating elements of Buddhism and Taoism.

Civil Service Exam

A merit-based system for selecting government officials based on knowledge of Confucianism.

Sinification

The spread and adoption of Chinese culture.

Theraveda Buddhism

An early form of Buddhism focused on individual enlightenment.

Mahayana Buddhism

A form of Buddhism emphasizing compassion and the role of bodhisattvas.

Champa Rice

A drought-resistant, fast-ripening rice variety from Vietnam that boosted agricultural production in China.

Seljuk Empire

A Turkish empire that controlled Persia and parts of Central Asia, playing a key role in the Islamic world.

Delhi Sultanate

A Muslim sultanate in India.

Sufis

Mystical practitioners of Islam

Millet System

A system used by the Ottomans whereby subjects were divided into religious communities, with each millet (nation) enjoying autonomous self-government under its religious leaders.

Bhakti Movement

A Hindu reform movement emphasizing devotion to a particular deity.

Hindu Rajputs

Members of a Hindu warrior caste.

Mita System

A labor system used by the Inca Empire.

Trans-Saharan Trade Route

A trade network across the Sahara Desert, connecting North Africa with sub-Saharan Africa.

Caravanserai

Roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey

Diaspora communities

Scattered populations with a common origin, often related to trade.

Swahili Coast

A region in East Africa with a mixed African and Arab culture, known for its trade.

Pax Mongolia

A period of relative peace and stability in Eurasia under Mongol rule.

Khanates

Regional Mongol empires that arose following the death of Genghis Khan.

Janissaries

Elite infantry units of the Ottoman army, often recruited from Christian boys through the devshirme system.

Devshirme

The Ottoman policy of taking boys from conquered Christian peoples to be trained as Muslim soldiers.

Protestant Reformation

A religious movement that challenged the authority of the Catholic Church.

Mercantilism

An economic policy focused on maximizing exports and accumulating wealth in the form of precious metals.

Joint Stock Companies

Businesses that raised capital by selling shares to investors.

Nationalism

A strong feeling of pride in and devotion to one's country.

Scientific Racism

The use of scientific theories to justify racist beliefs.

Social Darwinism

The application of Darwinian ideas of evolution to human societies.

Assimilation

The process by which a person or persons acquire the social and psychological characteristics of a group.

Berlin Conference

A meeting of European powers to regulate colonization and trade in Africa.

Sphere of Influence

A country or area in which another country has power to affect developments although it has no formal authority.

Opium Wars

Conflicts between China and Western powers over the opium trade.

Taiping Rebellion

A large-scale rebellion in China against the Qing dynasty.

Self-Strengthening Movement

A period of institutional reforms initiated during the late Qing dynasty following a series of military defeats and concessions to foreign powers

Boxer Rebellion

An anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China

Sepoy Mutiny

An uprising of Indian soldiers against British rule.

Penal Colony

A settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general populace by placing them in a remote location.

Nativism

The policy of protecting the interests of native-born inhabitants against those of immigrants.

Russian Revolution of 1905

A wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire

Bolsheviks

A political party that split from the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party

Communism

A political theory advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.

Young Turks

A Turkish nationalist reform party aiming to modernize and strengthen the declining Ottoman Empire.

Turkification

A cultural shift that occurred in the Ottoman Empire, promoting and attempting to enforce a more homogenous culture and identity

Armenian Genocide

The systematic destruction of the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire

Great Depression

The deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world

Totalitarianism

A political system in which the state recognizes no limits to its authority seeks to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible.

Fascism

A political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader

Collectivism

A political theory associated with communism

Holodomor

The artificial famine of 1932-1933 in Soviet Ukraine intended to destroy the Ukrainian nation as a political factor.

Holocaust

The systematic persecution and murder of Jews and other minority groups by the Nazi regime during World War II.

Cambodian Genocide

The systematic persecution and killing of Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge.

Balkanization

The fragmentation of a region into smaller, often hostile, states.

British East India Company

A British joint-stock company formed to pursue trade with the East Indies but that came to dominate India.

The Great Dying

Refers to the massive population collapse among indigenous peoples in the Americas following the arrival of Europeans.

Columbia Exchange

The widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the Americas, West Africa, and the Old World in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Chattel slavery

Traditional form of slaver where enslaved people are treated as property.

Syncretism

The merging of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought.

Indentured servitude

A labor system in which people paid for their passage to the New World by working for an employer for a fixed number of years.

Encomienda System

A labor system used by the Spanish in the Americas.

Hacienda System

A pattern of land ownership and labor relations in Spanish America

Renaissance

A period in European history, marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering much of the 15th and 16th centuries

Enlightenment

An intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century, the "Century of Philosophy".

John Locke

An English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the 'Father of Liberalism'

Natural Rights

Rights that all people are born with, according to John Locke.

Social Contract

An implicit agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits, for example by sacrificing some individual freedom for state protection.

Seperation of Power

The assignment of legislative, executive, and judicial powers to different groups of people

Adam Smith

A Scottish economist, philosopher and author as well as a moral philosopher, a pioneer of political economy and a key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment era.

Laissez Faire Capitalism

An economic system in which transactions between private parties are free from government intervention such as regulation, privileges, tariffs, and subsidies.

Abolitionism

A movement to end slavery and the slave trade.

Capitalism

An economic system characterized by private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit.

Liberalism

A political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed and equality before the law.

Socialism

A political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Zionism

A movement for the re-establishment and the development and protection of a Jewish nation in what is now Israel.

Textiles

A type of cloth or woven fabric.

Caudillos

A Spanish or Latin American military dictator.

Muhammad Ali

The Albanian Ottoman governor and the established de facto ruler of Egypt from 1805 to 1848