Unit 2 Vocab Terms AP World

Caesaropapism

A political-religious system in which the secular ruler is also heard of the religious establishment, as in the Byzantine Empire

Crusades

A term used to describe the “holy war”s waged by Western Christendom, especially against the forces of Islam in the eastern Mediterranean from 1095 to 1291 and on the Iberian Peninsula into the fifteenth century. Further Crusades were also conducted in non-Christian regions of Eastern Europe from about 1150 on. Crusades could be declared only by the pope; participants swore a vow and received in return an indulgence removing the penalty for confessed sins.

Eastern Orthodox Christianity

Branch of Christianity that developed in the eastern part of the Roman Empire and gradually separated, mostly on matters of practice, from the branch of Christianity dominant in Western Europe; noted for the subordination of the Church to political authorities, a married clergy, the use of leavened bread in the Eucharist, and a sharp rejection of the authority of Roman popes.

European Renaissance

A “rebirth” of classical learning that is most often associated with the cultural blossoming of Italy in the period 1350-1500 and that included not just a rediscovery of Greek and Roman learning but also major developments in art, as well as growing secularism in society. It spread to Northern Europe after 1400.

Kievan Rus

A culturally diverse civilization that emerged around the city of Kiev in the ninth century C.E. and adopted Christianity in the tenth, thus linking this emerging Russian state to the world of Eastern Orthodoxy.

Khublai Khan

Grandson of Chinggis Khan who ruled China from 1271 to 1294.

Khanate of the Golden Horde

The Russian name for the incorporation of Russia into the Mongol Empire in the mid-thirteenth century; known to the Mongols as the Kipchak Khanate.

Western Christendom

Western European branch of Christianity, also known as Roman Catholicism, that gradually defined itself as separate from Eastern Orthodoxy, with a major break occurring in 1054 CE; characterized by its relative independence from the state and its recognition of the authority of the pope.

Roman Catholic Church

Western European branch of Christianity that gradually defined itself as separate from Eastern Orthodoxy, with a major break occurring in 1054 CE that still has not been overcome. By the eleventh century, Western Christendom was centered on the pope as the ultimate authority in matters of doctrine. The Church struggled to remain independent of established political authorities.

Maya civilization

A major civilization of Meso America known for the most elaborate writing system in the Americas and other intellectual and artistic achievements; flourished from 250 to 900 CE

Mongol world war

Term used to describe half a century of military campaigns, massive killing, and empire building pursued by Chinggis Khan and his successors in Eurasia after 1209.

Ming dynasty

Chinese dynasty (1368-1644) that succeeded the Yuan dynasty of the Mongols; noted for its return to traditional Chinese ways and restoration of the land after the destructiveness of the Mongols.

Aztec Empire

Major state that developed in what is now Mexico in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; dominated by the semi-nomadic Mexica, who had migrated into the region from Norhern Mexico.

Inca Empire

The Western Hemisphere’s largest imperial state in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Built by a relatively small community of Quechua-speaking people (the Incas), the empire stretched some 2,500 miles along the Andes Mountains, which run nearly the entire length of the west coast of South America, and contained perhaps 10 million subjects.

Hulegu

Grandson of Chinggis Khan who became the first il-khan (subordinate Khan) of Persia

Safavid Empire

Major Turkic Empire established in Persia in the early sixteenth century and notable for this efforts to convert its people ot Shia Islam

Black Death (plague)

A massive pandemic that swept through Eur-asia in the early fourteenth century, spreading along the trade routes within and beyond the Mongol Empire and reaching the Middle East and Western Europe by 1347. Associated with a massive loss of life.

Zheng He

Great Chinese admiral who commanded a huge fleet of ships in a series of voyages int he Indian Ocean that began in 1405. Intended to enroll distant peoples and states in the Chinese tribute system, those voyages ended abruptly in 1433 and led to no lasting Chinese imperial presence in the region.