World History Period Review Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts across all nine units of World History as outlined in the lecture transcript.

Imperial bureaucracy

A system of government employed by Chinese dynasties to maintain and justify their rule through a hierarchy of appointed officials.

Confucianism

Traditional Chinese belief system used by dynasties to maintain and justify their rule through specific social and ethical guidelines.

Sufism

A mystical form of Islam that influenced the spread of the faith into South and Southeast Asia.

Buddhist Monasticism

A religious practice involving monks and nuns that influenced the social and cultural structures of South and Southeast Asia.

Political fragmentation

A state in which power is decentralized among many local authorities rather than a single central government, as seen in Europe from c. 1200 to 1450.

Feudalism

A decentralised social and political system in Europe involving a hierarchy of reciprocal obligations between lords, vassals, and peasants.

Manorial system

An economic and social system in medieval Europe where peasants were dependent on their lord and his land.

Serfdom

A labor system in which peasants were legally bound to a lord's land and forced to perform labor or pay rent.

Silk Roads

A network of exchange across Eurasia that facilitated the growth of interregional trade in luxury goods.

Caravanserai

Inns located along the Silk Roads that encouraged the growth of trade by providing rest and safety for merchants and their animals.

Swahili city-states

Commercial centers along the East African coast that played a vital role in Indian Ocean trade networks.

Diasporic communities

Groups of people who lived outside their ancestral homelands, often establishing trade networks and facilitating cultural transfers.

Devshirme system

An Ottoman practice where Christian boys were recruited by force to serve the state, used to maintain centralized control over populations.

Protestant Reformation

A religious movement from 1450 to 1750 that challenged the Catholic Church and led to a split in Western Christianity.

Sikhism

A belief system that originated in South Asia during the period from 1450 to 1750, blending elements of existing religions.

Columbian Exchange

The global transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres after 1450.

Chattel slavery

A labor system in which individuals are legally treated as personal property that can be bought and sold.

Indentured servitude

A system where individuals contracted to work for a fixed number of years in exchange for transportation to a new colony or debt repayment.

Encomienda system

A Spanish system that granted the right to use the labor of local populations in exchange for protection and Christian education.

Mercantilism

An economic policy where rulers used strategies to control their economies and claim overseas empires to maximize state wealth.

Joint stock company

An association with investors granted exclusive rights by royal charter to finance exploration, trade, and colonization.

Triangular Trade

The Atlantic system involving the movement of goods, wealth, and labor, including enslaved people, between Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

Laissez faire capitalism

An economic theory by Adam Smith advocating for free markets and the abandonment of mercantilist policies.

Nation-state

A sovereign state whose citizens share a common culture, language, or heritage, emerging as a prominent political model after 1750.

Militarism

A cause of World War I involving the glorification of military power and the maintenance of a large standing army.

Total war

A conflict in which a government mobilizes its entire population and resources for the purpose of waging war.

Genocide

The deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group, such as the Armenian Genocide or the Holocaust.

Non-Alignment Movement

An international organization of states that did not want to be formally aligned with either the United States or the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Proxy wars

Conflicts during the Cold War where the superpowers used third parties as substitutes for fighting each other directly, such as the Korean or Vietnam Wars.

Green Revolution

A technological development in the mid-20th century that increased agricultural productivity through new seeds and chemical fertilizers.

Knowledge economy

An economy centered on the production and management of information and technology rather than traditional manufacturing.

Globalization

The process of increasing interconnectedness between nations, often involving the spread of popular culture and integrated economic policies.