AP World History Vocab 3

Enlightment

A period of philosophical developments in the 17th and 18th stemming from the Scientific Revolution and the humanism of the Renaissance. Intellectuals of this era began emphasizing reason over tradition, individualism over community values, and freedom and individual rights over the power of monarchs and church leaders.

Empirieist

Belief that knowledge comes from sensed experience, a leading philosophy of the scientific method (basing conclusions on observations on data)

Natural Rights

John Locke argued that people have these rights to life, liberty, and property.

Social Contract

Thomas Hobbes argued that human's natural state is chaos and conflict, so people give up some rights to a government in return for law and order.

Nationalism

A feeling of intense loyalty to others who share one's language and culture or country

Suffrage

The ability to vote

Abolitionism

The movement to end the Atlantic slave trade and free all enslaved people, which gained many followers in the 18th century.

Liberalism

19th century beliefs in natural rights, freedom, and laissez-faire capitalism

Republic

A political system where people elect officials.

American Declerstion of Independence

Expressed the philosophy behind the colonist fight against British rule and announced the separation of 13 colonies from Great Britain.

The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

Adopted in 1789 during the French Revolution, declaring basic human rights

Bolivars “Letter from Jamaica”

Written by Simon Bolivar in 1815, criticizing Spanish colonization and arguing for Latin American independence.

Industrial Revolution

The global transition from making goods manually to using machines

Urbanization

The population shift from rural to urban areas

Capital

Wealth in the form of property or money owned by a business or individual.

Specialization of Labor

Workers perform much more specific tasks in order to increase the efficiency of production, requiring less skill of workers

Steam engine

18th century invention; an engine that uses the expansion or rapid condensation of steam to generate power. Used in 1st phase of Industrial Revolution

Internal combustion engine

An engine in which the combustion of fuel with air creates hot gasses which do work such as noving a piston while they expand. This engine was developed in the 19th century and replaced the steam engine and has been used to power automobiles and airplanes.

Fossil fuels revolution

The shift towards human reliance on fossil fuels as a result of industrialization (such as coal for steam engine, petroleum for internal combustion engine)

Second Industrial Revolution

This was a phase of rapid industrialization from the late 19th to early 20th century, also known as the technological revolution. It was marked by advancements in steel production, electricity and petroleum use

Steamships

A ship that is powered by a steam engine; greatly reduced travel time and increased amount of goods that could be transported across rivers and oceans.

Telegraph

Communication system for transmitting messages through code, within seconds; invented in the 2nd phase of the industrial revolution.

Meiji Era

A period of modernizing, westernizing, and industrializing in Japan, developed in an attempt to strengthen Japan's role in the global stage.

Free trade policies

Trade policies that minimize government involvement and taxation and emphasize capitalist principles

Adam Smith

A philosopher and author who wrote The Wealth of Nations. Known as the father of laissez-faire capitalism and advocated for free trade policies.

Laissez -faire capitalism

Meaning "Hands off" in French, advocates for an economy based in the laws of supply and demand, with minimal intervention from the government

Transactional businesses

A business that operates in more than one country.

Labor unions

Organizations of workers who advocate for more rights and better working conditions

Karl Marx

German scholar and writer known as the father of Communism.

Socialism

A system where the means of production are communally owned and wealth is redistributed to promote equality and eliminate social classes

Communism

An extreme form of Socialism which calls for a revolution to achieve Socialist ideals

Imperialism

When a powerful country exerts its power/control over other places through diplomacy or military force

Social Darwinism

Unscientifically applied Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection to humans. It argued that certain people became powerful in society because they were racially superior, and was used as a justification for imperialism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Civilizing Mission

The idea that more "advanced" countries had the duty to modernize "inferior" societies and was used as a reason for imperialism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Diplomacy

When countries negotiate treaties or agreements, often through coercion/ manipulation to gain control over other countries

Economic imperialism

A practice in which powerful imperial countries exert economic control over colonies through trade and economic policies for their own benefit rather than for the benefit of native populations in the colony

Indentured servitude

A worker bound by a voluntary agreement (though often gained through coercion and deception) to work for a specified period of years often in return for free passage to an overseas destination. This form of coerced labor became dominant in the 19th century.

Indentured servants, largely from India, China and Japan, replaced enslaved laborers after the abolition of slavery.

Ethnic enclave

Areas of high concentration of immigrants/ethnic groups in a neighborhood/area

Metropole

The homeland, central territory or the state exercising power over a colonial empire.

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