Ways of the World: A Global History

Flashcards of key vocabulary terms from 'Ways of the World: A Global History'

Paleolithic Era

Also called the Old Stone Age, it spans over 95% of human history and is characterized by hunting and gathering societies.

Agricultural Revolution

A fundamental transformation in human history, marked by the deliberate cultivation of plants and domestication of animals, leading to settled villages and growing populations.

Pastoral Societies

Societies that rely on animals for farming and are mobile, following changing patterns of vegetation.

Village-based Agricultural Societies

Farming villages with no kings or aristocrats, that maintain substantial social and gender equality.

Chiefdoms

A form of social organization with inherited positions of power and privilege, where chiefs rely on generosity, ritual status, or charisma to govern.

Civilizations

Societies based in cities and governed by states, characterized by occupational specialization, social inequality, and patriarchal systems.

Brahman

Key idea in Hinduism, referring to the World Soul as the ultimate reality.

Atman

The individual human soul.

Moksha

The ultimate goal in Hinduism: union of atman with Brahman.

Samsara

Reincarnation/rebirth; central to the process of moksha.

Karma

Determined by your actions which affect samsara.

Buddha

The man who had awakened; the enlightened one.

Cure for suffering

The Eightfold Path; modestmoral life and meditation.

Nirvana

Extinguishing of individual identity.

Theravada Buddhism

The Teaching of the Elders; early version of Buddhism.

Mahayana Buddhism

Version of Buddhism that made enlightenment accessible to those beyond monks and ascetics.

Bodhisattvas

Fully enlightened beings who postpone their own final liberation in order to assist a suffering humanity.

Confucius

Educated, ambitious aristocrat whose ideas had enormous impact on China and the rest of East Asia.

Confucianism

The answer to disorder can be solved with moral behavior and focuses on familial piety.

Daoism

Associated with the legendary Laozi; urges withdrawal into the world of nature.

Dao

The way of nature, the underlying principle that governs all natural phenomena.

Monotheistic Faiths

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Jesus of Nazareth

The founder and wisdom teacher of Christianity.

Saint Paul

The inclusive message and exclusive monotheism was started by this saint.

Ulama

Group of learned scholars in the Islamic faith.

Sufism

Islam's mystical dimension.

Caravanseri

Guesthouses along the Silk Road.

Song Dynasty

Connected many economies and governments and regarded as China's golden age.

Confucianism in Korea

Negative impact on Korean women, especially after 1300, and filial piety replaced more flexible Korean customs.

Hangul

Phonetic Korean alphabet.

Chu nom

Variation of Chinese writing developed in Vietnam.

Samurai

Local authorities who developed their own military forces in Japan.

Shinto

The way of the kami (sacred spirits); native belief system of Japan.

Seljuk Turkic Empire and Ottoman Empire

Sultans claimed the title 'caliph'.

Vijayanagar

Empire who sustained peaceful Muslim-Hindu encounters.

Religious Reversal

Muslims offered choice or conversion or exile; 200,000 Jews expelled.

Caesaropapism

Religious/political doctrine of the Eastern Orthodox church; emperor was head of both the state and the church.

Schism

Roman Catholic church split from Greek Orthodox church in 1054 with mutual excommunication.

Rus

Expansion around 1200 for Orthodoxy was among this population.

Feudalism

Hierarchical, decentralized society.

Serfdom

Peasant laborers in services to the lord of the manor.

Estates

Representative institutions (parliaments) that embodied the three great estates of the realm.

Crusades

Wars at God's command, authorized by the pope, for which participants received an indulgence.

Renaissance

Turn to greater naturalism in art.

Quipus

Knotted cords that recorded population data in the Inca empire.

Mita

Labor service that almost everyone had to perform for the Inca state.

Gender Parallelism

When women and men operated in 'separate but equivalent spheres'.

Kumsong

City modeled after Chang'an.

Zheng He

Engaged distant peoples in the Chinese tribute system.

Ortughs

Chinese term for associates of merchants.

Ortughs

Associations of merchants.

Ortughs

Associations of merchants (state-approved).

Ortughs

State-approved associations of merchants.

Temujin

He was recognized as Chinggis Khan (“supreme leader”) in 1206.

Ortughs

Associations of merchants used by the Mongol Empire.

Yuan

Imperial title claimed to be unifying.

Khanate of the Golden Horde

Russian name for the Kipchak Khanate.

Indulgence

System that granted release from sins.

Mercantilism

Imperial trade theory.

Mestizo

Colonial American mixed-race population.

Peninsulares

Elite Spanish women in colonial Mexico.

Peter the Great

Established Russian tsar.

Jizya

Religious tax for non-Muslims in Mughal India.

Devshirme

Ottoman policy that forced boys to convert to Islam.

Foreign Devils

This describes how the Chinese saw Dutch traders.

Wave of Japanese Merchants

Term for the time when Japanese merchants moved into Southeast Asia.

Silver Drain

Chinese term for shipping silver to China.

Potosi

Site if brutal mine in S. America.

Daimyo

Japanese term for feudal lords.

Trade Goods

These are what the British received from the Indians from Fur Trade.

Cosmopolitan Port Cities

Name given to globalized cities in Africa.

Maroon Societies

Those who escaped slavery and formed free communities (e.g. Palmares).

Signares

Term for slave women in West Africa, who married European traders.

Soft Gold

Mundane name given to valuable Siberian fur.

Martin Luther

Posted the Ninety-Five Theses, asking for debate about ecclesiastical abuses.

Council of Trent

Council clarified Catholic doctrines and practices.

Accommodation

Jesuits' policy of respecting Chinese culture.

Kaozheng

Scholarly Chinese trend.

Mirabai

One of the best liked bhakti poets.

Wahhabi Islam

Developed in the Arabian Peninsula in mid-eighteenth century.

On the Revolution of Heavenly Spheres

Book by Copernicus that promoted the view that the earth and the planets revolved around the sun.

Immanuel Kant

Defined Enlightenment as a 'daring to know.

Crusade Movement

Wars at God’s command, authorized by the pope, for which participants received an indulgence.

Caudillos

American name from 1876-1911 for strong man dictators. Dictator Porfirio Diaz overthrown in the Mexican.

Saint Domingue

New name for Haitians.

Napoleon Bonaparte

French ruler that gained power in 1799 that created a state that kept equality but got rid of liberty.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Enlightenment who argued for immersion in nature rather than book learning.

Enlightened Religion

Embraced faith by science.

French Revolution for Women

Term for those who want to have liberty and equality included for women.

Seneca Falls

In 1848 started a transatlantic organized conference of feminism.

New Zealand

Country in 1893 to allow women’s suffrage.

Enlightenment Thought

Used against women to cause harm for life by the side effects of education.

Maternal Feminism

Name for women’s rights for the roles in life as mothers.

Deng Xiaoping

Led China after Mao.

Lenin

New name for the Soviet Union after 1921.

Bolsheviks

Party that dominated Russia.

Marshal Plan

American plan after WW2 to distribute wealth.

The New Deal Program

After great depression the name for social programs from President Franklin Roosevelt.

Comiteron

Name for the communist countries.

Freikorps

Party based social tensions.