unit 1 ap world history vocab

song dynasty

an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, ending the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period

hanagzhou

capital during the Song Dynasty; was described by many as a great and luxurious place was said to have specialized markets, luxurious inns, prostitutes, and more

filial piety

a central virtue that emphasizes love, respect, and support for one's parents and ancestors

mandate of heaven

the belief that the Chinese emperor had a divine right to rule given him by the god or divine force known as Heaven or Sky

grand canal

1100-mile waterway linking the Yellow and the Yangzi Rivers. It was begun in the Han period and completed during the Sui Empire

neo-confucianism

a revival of Confucian teachings during the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty and a subsequent synthesis of Confucianism with aspects of Buddhism and Taoism

china’s economic revolution

rapid population growth, economic speculation, increase in industrial production and innovations in Song dynasty

heian japan

a time period when Japan was most closely connected to and influenced by Chinese culture

textile

a type of cloth or woven fabric

champa rice

a quick-maturing, drought resistant rice that can allow two harvests, of sixty days each in one growing season; a tribute gift from champa to china

dar al-islam

the name given to everywhere in the world that is under the rule of Islamic law

hinduism

a polytheistic religion that believes in Brahma, the creator god, and his various incarnations including Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi

christianity

monotheistic religion originated in the Middle East; teaches the belief in one God and the importance of following the teachings of Jesus Christ.

monasticism

a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work

confucianism

a philosophical tradition based on the teaching of Confucius, was and still is an important part of Chinese philosophy and Chinese culture.

theravada buddhism

the “way of the elders,” is the sole surviving sect among those that arose after the Buddha’s death.

mahayana buddhism

“Great Vehicle” tradition, which arose in the 4th century, is now the largest Buddhist sect in the world.

tibetan buddhism

a form of Mahayana Buddhism, the Vajrayana (“diamond”) vehicle is known for its swift and powerful methods for achieving awakening.

sufism

mystical Islamic belief and practice in which Muslims seek to find the truth of divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of God.

sikhism

a monotheistic religion founded in the 15th century in the Punjab region of India; central belief is the existence of one eternal God, who is the same for all people and all religions.

seljuk empire

ruling military family of the Oğuz (Ghuzz) Turkic tribes that invaded southwestern Asia in the 11th century and eventually founded an empire that included Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and most of Iran; their advance marked the beginning of Turkic power in the Middle East.

mamluk sultanate of egypt

a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz (western Arabia) from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries.

delhi sultanate

a muslim kingdom that ruled parts of India from the 13th to the 16th centuries.

abbasid caliphate

second of the two great dynasties of the Muslim empire of the caliphate. It overthrew the Umayyad caliphate in 750 ce and reigned as the Abbasid caliphate until it was destroyed by the Mongol invasion in 1258.

house of wisdom

major abbasid public academy and intellectual center in Baghdad or to a large private library belonging to the abbasid caliphs during the islamic golden age

nasir-al-din al-tusi

a persian mathematician and cosmologist he provided a model for the movement of the planets inspired the copernican model of the solar system.

a’ishah al-ba’uniyyah

sufi master and poet. She is almost the only medieval female Islamic mystic to have recorded her own views in writing.

bhakti movement

the hindu devotional movement that flourished in the medieval and early modern era, emphasizing music, dance, poetry, and rituals as means by which to achieve direct union with the divine.

srivijaya empire

a indonesian hindu empire based on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important center for trade between China and India as well as for the expansion of Buddhism from the 8th to the 12th century.

ankor wat

an enormous Buddhist temple complex located in northern Cambodia; it was originally built in the first half of the 12th century as a Hindu temple; spread across more than 400 acres, Angkor Wat is said to be the largest religious monument in the world.

khmer empire

a powerful state in south east asia, formed by people of the same name, lasting from 802 CE to 1431 CE; at its peak, the empire covered much of what today is Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and southern Vietnam

maya

an indigenous people of Mexico and Central America who have continuously inhabited the lands comprising modern-day Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco, and Chiapas in Mexico and southward through Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras.

mexica

seminomadic people of northern Mexico who by 1325 had established themselves on a small island in Lake Texcoco, where they built their capital city, Tenochtitlan; was the central architects of the Aztec Empire.

inca

a member of the small group of Quechuan people living in the Cuzco valley in Peru who established hegemony over their neighbors to create the great Inca empire that lasted from about 1100 until the Spanish conquest in the early 1530s. significance: built roads, major society of South America.

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

great zimbabwe

a powerful sate 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.

mali

a strong empire of Western African. With its trading cities of timbuktu and gao, it had many mosques and universities; was ruled by two great rulers, Sundiata and Mansa Musa; They upheld a strong gold-salt trade.

timbuktu

great city of west africa; intellectual and spiritual capital and a center for the propagation of Islam throughout Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries.

axum

a town of northern ethiopia; from the first to the eighth century A.D. it was the capital of an empire that controlled much of northern ethiopia'; a civilization that developed on the western interior of Africa, south of the Saharan desert.

feudalism

the king or monarch owned all the land in a country, and he granted parcels of land, known as fiefs, to nobles in exchange for their loyalty and military service. the nobles, in turn, granted smaller parcels of land to vassals in exchange for their service or labor.

manorial system

system of economic and political relations between landlords and their peasant laborers during the middle ages; involved a hierarchy of reciprocal obligations that exchanged labor for access to land.

peasant

a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership; the poorest people in the medieval era and lived primarily in the country or small villagesa pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership

artisan

a worker in a skilled trade, esp. one that involves making things by hand.

serfdom

condition in medieval europe in which a tenant farmer was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of his landlord; the vast majority of serfs in medieval Europe obtained their subsistence by cultivating a plot of land that was owned by a lord.

continuity

things that stay the same, relatively unchanged, over time. this can include long-standing traditions, cultural values, or political systems that endure despite changes that may occur in other areas.

bureaucracy

an administrative group of non-elected officials charged with implementing policies created by the other branches of government; civil service; and the permanent, professional branches of government administration.

aristocracy

a form of government in which power is held by the nobility