AP World Units 1-4 Exam Review

Fertile Crescent?

A geographical area of fertile land in the Middle East stretching in a broad semicircle from the Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates

Irrigation ditches?

Channels created to re-route water from one source to farmland

Shariah?

a law code drawn up by Muslim scholars after Muhammad's death; it provided believers with a set of practical laws to regulate their daily lives

Muhammad?

Founder of Islam

Caliph?

A supreme political and religious leader in a Muslim government

Sunni?

A branch of Islam whose members acknowledge the first four caliphs as the rightful successors of Muhammad

Shiite

a member of the branch of Islam that regards Ali as the legitimate successor to Mohammed and rejects the first three caliphs

Geometric design?

basis of Islamic art

Abbasid Caliphate?

(750-1258 CE) The caliphate, after the Umayyads, who focused more on administration than conquering. Had a bureaucracy that any Muslim could be a part of.

Dar-al-Islam?

an Arabic term that means the "house of Islam" and that refers to lands under Islamic rule

Il Khanate?

Mongol empire that ruled over Iran (Persia) & the Middle East

Ottoman Empire?

A Muslim empire based in Turkey that lasted from the 1300's to 1922.

Monsoons?

seasonal wind patterns that cause wet and dry seasons

Upanishads & Bhagavad-Gita?

sacred literary works for Hindus

Siddhartha Gautama?

The prince who is said to have founded Buddhism.

Delhi Sultanate?

(1206-1526 CE) The successors of Mahmud of Ghazni mounted more campaigns, but directed their goals to creating this empire.

Mahmud of Ghazni?

ruler of an Afghan dynasty; invaded northern India during the 11th century.

Timur Lenk?

Mongolian ruler of Samarkand who led his nomadic hordes to conquer an area from Turkey to Mongolia (1336-1405)

Angkor Watt?

considered one of the greatest architectural achievements of Southeast Asia.

The Anasazi?

A Native American who lived in what is now southern Colorado and Utah and northern Arizona and New Mexico and who built cliff dwellings

Cahokia?

an ancient settlement of southern Indians, located near present day St. Louis, it served as a trading center for 40,000 at its peak in A.D. 1200.

Kivas?

underground ceremonial chambers at the center of Anasazi communities

Pueblos?

Above ground houses made of a heavy clay called adobe.

Altars?

tables or other raised surfaces that are used for religious or spiritual purposes

Pok a Tok?

a Mayan ball game that had religious significance

Stelae?

large memorial pillars to commemorate triumphs and events in the lives of Mesoamerican rulers.

Tattoos?

designs marked on the body by injecting dye under the skin (political elites in Meso and South America pre Columbian era)

Khipu?

cords of knotted strings used during the Inca empire for keeping accounts and recording events

Terraces?

steplike ledges cut into mountains to make land suitable for farming

Mit'a System?

government compulsory labor in South America

Orejones?

the big eared people, 11 noble lineages of the Incan empire who believed to be the descendants of the sun god

The Aztecs?

Also known as Mexica, they created a powerful empire in central Mexico (1325-1521 C.E.). They forced defeated peoples to provide goods and labor as a tax.

Quetzalcoatl?

Aztec nature god, feathered serpent, his disappearance and promised return coincided with the arrival of Cortes

Obsidian Knife?

Aztec tool used to remove the hearts of sacrificial victims during religious ceremonies

Tenochtitlan?

Capital of the Aztec Empire, located on an island in Lake Texcoco. Its population was about 150,000 on the eve of Spanish conquest. Mexico City was constructed on its ruins.

The Inca?

Largest and most powerful Andean empire. Controlled the Pacific coast of South America from Ecuador to Chile from its capital of Cuzco.

Sun at Cusco?

Incan architectural achievement

Llamas and Alpacas?

Animals, domesticated by the Inca, used for carrying goods, wool, meat,

Mesoamerica?

A geographic region in the western hemisphere that was home of the Mayan and Aztec civilizations.

Natural Boundaries?

boundaries that follow a feature of the landscape

Plague?

a disease that spreads quickly and kills many people

Yangtze?

Longest river in China

Steppe?

A large area of flat unforested grassland in southeastern Europe or Siberia.

Yurts?

movable tents Mongols lived in

The Yasa?

unified Mongol law code, created by Temujin

Jagadai Khanate?

Central Asian Power led by Timur. Mongol Empire-Central Asia.

Temujin?

birth name of the Mongol leader better known as Chinggis Khan (1162-1227)

Subcontinent?

A large landmass that is smaller than a continent (South Asia as an example)

Patriarchal?

relating to a society in which men hold the greatest legal and moral authority

Bantu?

The people who spread throughout Africa spreading agriculture, language, and iron.

Mogadishu,Mombasa,& Zanzibar?

Swahili trading states of East Africa

Caravan?

A group of traders traveling together

Caravanserai?

an inn with a central courtyard for travelers in the desert regions of Asia or North Africa.

Ghana?

First known kingdom in sub-Saharan West Africa between the sixth and thirteenth centuries C.E. Also the modern West African country once known as the Gold Coast. gold and salt trade.

Mali?

Empire created by indigenous Muslims in western Sudan of West Africa from the thirteenth to fifteenth century. It was famous for its role in the trans-Saharan gold trade.

Mansa Musa?

Emperor of the kingdom of Mali in Africa. He made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca and established trade routes to the Middle East.

Timbuktu?

Mali trading city that became a center of wealth and learning

Hemispheric trading zone?

Interregional trade due to the Dar-al Islam

Khmer Empire?

a powerful empire that lasted roughly from the 9th to the 15th centuries in what is now Cambodia

Champa Rice?

a quick-maturing, drought resistant rice that can allow two harvests, of sixty days each in one growing season.

Chinampa?

Raised fields constructed along lake shores in Mesoamerica to increase agricultural yields.

Waru Waru?

agricultural techniques of south america; combines raised beds with irrigation channels to prevent erosion

Terracing?

creating flat platforms in the hillside that provide a level planting surface, which reduces soil runoff from the slope.

Urbanization?

An increase in the percentage and in the number of people living in urban settlements.

Little Ice Age?

A century-long period of cool climate that began in the 1590s. Its ill effects on agriculture in northern Europe were notable.

Merv, Nishapur, Bukhara, & Samarkand?

trade centers under Islamic rule with revived Silk Roads

Tartars?

The European name for the Mongol forces that invaded eastern Europe.

Seljuk Turks?

nomadic Turks from Asia who conquered Baghdad in 1055 and allowed the caliph to remain only as a religious leader. they governed strictly

Yi Song-gye?

Founded the Yi Dynasty

Il Khanate?

Mongol empire that ruled over Iran (Persia) & the Middle East

Helegu?

Grandson of Chinggis Khan (ca. 1217-1265) who became the first il-khan (subordinate khan) of Persia.

Khanates?

Four regional Mongol kingdoms that arose following the death of Chinggis Khan.

Janissary

a soldier in the elite guard of the Ottoman Turks

Sultan?

Muslim ruler

Mughal Empire?

Muslim state (1526-1857) exercising dominion over most of India in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Axum?

The Christian state in Africa that developed its own branch of Christianity, Coptic Christianity, because it was cut off from other Christians due to a large Muslim presence in Africa.

The Ethiopian Kingdom?

A Christian kingdom that developed in the highlands of eastern Africa under the dynasty of King Lalaibela; retained Christianity in the face of Muslim expansion in Africa

Great Zimbabwe?

A powerful state in the African interior that apparently emerged from the growing trade in gold to the East African coast; flourished between 1250 and 1350 C.E.

Ayutthaya Kingdom?

the new Thai kingdom and the capital as Bangkok, which is still the capital

Huitzilopochtli?

Aztec tribal patron god; central figure of cult of human sacrifice and warfare; identified with old sun god

Manor?

A large estate, often including farms and a village, ruled by a lord.

Castles?

A protective home built by lords to withstand an enemy attack.

Feudal Relationships?

enabled lords to increase their military strength, which was the principle reason for vassalage

lords to knights, knights/vassals to serfs

Lateen Sail/Dhow Ships?

Triangular sail that was developed in Indian Ocean trade that allowed a ship to sail against the wind.

Queen Isabella?

Queen of spain who gave colombus the ships and sailors to sail to the new world

Astrolab?

An instrument used by sailors to determine their location by observing the position of the stars and planets

Caravel?

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

Encomienda?

A grant of land made by Spain to a settler in the Americas, including the right to use Native Americans as laborers on it

Treaty of Tordesillas?

A 1494 agreement between Portugal and Spain, declaring that newly discovered lands to the west of an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean would belong to Spain and newly discovered lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal.

Bartholomeu Dias?

Portuguese explorer who in 1488 was the first European to get round the Cape of Good Hope (thus establishing a sea route from the Atlantic to Asia) (1450-1500)

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.

Vasco de Gama?

A Portugese sailor who was the first European to sail around southern Africa to the Indian Ocean

Hernando Cortez?

Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico (1485-1547)

Francisco Pizzaro?

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Incas

The Columbian Exchange?

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

Woodblock Printing?

a form of printing in which an entire page is carved into a block of wood

Qing Dynasty?

(1644-1911 CE), the last imperial dynasty of China which was overthrown by revolutionaries; was ruled by the Manchu people: began to isolate themselves from Western culture,

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. This family ruled from Edo 1868, when it was abolished during the Meiji Restoration.

The African Diaspora?

The separation of Africans from their homeland through centuries of forced removal to serve as slaves in the Americas and elsewhere.