AP World History Terms and Concepts Flashcards

Flashcards based on frequently tested AP World History terms and concepts.

What is Dar al-Islam?

Areas where Muslims can practice their religion freely and Islamic law prevails.

What is filial piety?

A central virtue in Confucianism emphasizing love, respect, and support for parents and ancestors.

What is the Bhakti Movement?

A Hindu devotional movement emphasizing music, dance, poetry, and rituals to achieve direct union with the divine.

What is feudalism?

A system where knights/vassals protect a lord's land in exchange for land, which is farmed by peasants in exchange for taxes.

What is serfdom?

A type of labor where laborers work the land in return for protection but are bound to the land and their ruler.

What is foot binding?

A practice in 10th-century China where upper-class court dancers began applying painful bindings to young women as a way to stunt the growth of their feet and represented beauty and extravagance of the upper classes

What is Greco-Roman philosophy?

Philosophies based upon logic, empirical observation, and the nature of political power and hierarchy.

What is the Silk Road?

An ancient trade route connecting Asia with Europe, facilitating cultural, economic, and political exchange.

What is Indian Ocean Trade?

A maritime trading network that forged economic, social, and religious ties between lands and helped expand Islam.

What are diasporic communities?

Communities formed when merchants introduce their cultural traditions into the indigenous culture where they are selling goods

What are Inca Roads?

25,000 miles of roads connected the Inca Empire which allowed them to effectively maintain control, move armies, and facilitate trade across their territories.

Who was Marco Polo?

A European traveler who went to China in the 13th century and whose detailed accounts inspired future explorers.

What is the Bubonic Plague?

A devastating global epidemic of bubonic plague that struck Europe and Asia in the mid-1300s, killing ⅓ of Europe’s population.

What is mercantilism?

An economic theory that argues governments should regulate the economy and use beneficial trade to oust rival nations.

Who was Ivan (IV) The Terrible?

Russia’s first tsar who confirmed the power of the tsarist autocracy, expanded Russia, and established contacts with Western Europe

What is the Ming Dynasty?

A dynasty that expanded China’s trade and mercantile reputation and shaped distinctly Chinese culture.

What is the Qing Dynasty?

The final imperial dynasty of China known for cultural leaps and isolationism.

Who were the Manchu?

The people of Manchuria who started the Qing Dynasty in the 17th century.

What is the Ottoman Empire?

An Islamic superpower that controlled regions of the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North Africa for over 6 centuries.

What are the 95 Theses?

A legend that marks the igniting moment of the Protestant Reformation where Martin Luter nailed a piece of paper containing 95 revolutionary suggestions designed to correct the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church to the door of Castle Church.

What is the Atlantic Slave Trade?

The transportation, enslavement, and sale of African people by white slave traders to the Americas.

What is the United Fruit Company?

A US company that dominated the international fruit and banana trade in the early twentieth century.

What is a cash crop?

A crop grown for cash instead of subsistence.

What are Joint-Stock Companies?

Companies where businessmen, investors, and politicians invested in companies premised upon stock ownership in the 15th centruy.

What is the East India Company?

A company that became an active agent of British imperialism in India for almost two centuries.

What is the Pueblo Rebellion?

An organized revolt of Pueblo Indians against Spanish Rule in New Mexico in 1680.

Who was Montesquieu?

An influential lawyer, political thinker, and author who helped coin the term despot and celebrated republican visions of the separation of powers and constitutionalism. Helped to give intellectual breath into the lives of the American and French Revolutions

What is the American Revolution?

A revolution where American Colonists declared revolution against Great Britain due to taxation without representation, the Quartering Act, and violence inflicted upon colonists by British soldiers.

What is the French Revolution?

A revolution where the Third Estate stormed the Bastille and demanded reforms due to the French monarchy's increasingly absolute and despotic rule, King Louis XVI’s poor economic policies, an expanding maldistribution of wealth, and a series of ruinous crop failures.

What is A Vindication of the Rights of Women?

A work by Mary Wollstonecraft in 1792 that contains one of the earliest arguments for a feminist philosophy.

What is Social Darwinism?

A sociological theory that individuals, groups, and peoples are subject to the same Darwinian laws of natural selection as plants and animals.

What are Spheres of Influence?

Areas in which countries have some political and economic control but do not govern directly.

Who was Karl Marx?

A German philosopher whose works, like The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, inspired the foundation of many communist regimes and revolutionary movements.

What is Convict Labor?

A practice where criminals were forced into public service and manual labor, reminiscent of slavery used in Australia.

What is the Chinese Exclusion Act?

An act of 1882 that suspended Chinese immigration for ten years and declared Chinese immigrants ineligible for naturalization.

What is the Great Depression?

The collapse of the US stock market in 1929, which initiated a period of worldwide economic stagnation and depression.

What is Fascism?

A form of far-right, authoritarian hyper-nationalism characterized by dictatorial centralized power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.

What is the Paris Peace Conference?

An international meeting held in January 1919 at Versailles to establish peace after WWI and rebuild Europe.

What is The Holocaust?

A methodical plan orchestrated by Adolf Hitler during WWII to ensure German/Aryan supremacy, resulting in the death of 11 million people.

What is the Russian Revolution of 1917?

A revolution in 1917 that toppled the imperial government and placed the Bolsheviks in power.

What is Nationalism?

A strong feeling of pride and devotion toward one’s country.

What is the Spanish Civil War?

A conflict between right-wing Spanish military officers and left-leaning government forces, seen as a dress rehearsal for WWII.

What is the Indian National Congress?

A political party of India that advocated nonviolent noncooperation against the British government.

What is Decolonization?

The undoing of colonialism, where nations establish and maintain domination on overseas territories.

Who was Ho Chi Minh?

The Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader during the Vietnam War, who represented decolonization efforts.

What is the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?

Violent clashes between Jews and Arabs in Palestine after the UN voted to divide the British mandate.

What is the Military-Industrial Complex?

The intimacy between the defense industry and the nation’s military could potentially lead to some very serious and dangerous policy decisions on part of the US government and encourage war for more profit.

What is Pan-Africanism?

An intellectual movement built around the notion that all people of African descent have a shared history and destiny.

What is the Green Revolution?

A revolution in the technology of agriculture that altered how food was grown and produced across the world.

What is the World Health Organization?

A specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health.

What is the North American Free Trade Agreement?

An agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that created a trilateral trade in North America.

What is a Proxy War?

An armed conflict between two states or non-state actors who act on the instigation or on behalf of other parties that are not directly involved in the hostilities.