AP World History Unit 1 Review

Vocabulary practice flashcards generated from the AP World History Unit 1 lecture transcript.

State

A territory that is politically organized under a single government.

Song Dynasty

The Chinese dynasty in power from 960 to 1279 that maintained and justified its rule through Neo-Confucianism and an imperial bureaucracy.

Neo-Confucianism

A revival of Confucian thought carried over from the Tang Dynasty into the Song Dynasty that sought to remove Buddhist influence and emphasized social hierarchy.

Filial Piety

A core Confucian belief emphasizing the necessity and virtue of children obeying and honoring their parents, grandparents, and deceased ancestors.

Foot Binding

A status symbol practice among elite circles in Song China where young girls' toes were bent under their feet and bound with cloth, restricting their ability to walk.

Imperial Bureaucracy

A government entity arranged in a hierarchical fashion that carries out the will of the emperor.

Civil Service Examination

A test heavily based on Confucian classics taken by eligible men in Song China to secure bureaucratic jobs based on merit.

Theravada Buddhism

A branch of Buddhism in Sri Lanka that confined practice mostly to monks in monasteries striving for enlightenment independently.

Mahayana Buddhism

A branch of Buddhism in East Asia that encouraged broader participation and venerated Bodhisattvas who helped others attain enlightenment.

Commercialization

An economic process in Song China where manufacturers and artisans produced more goods than they consumed to sell in domestic and Eurasian markets.

Champa Rice

A fast-ripening, drought-resistant strain of rice introduced from the Champa Kingdom that allowed multiple harvests per year and sparked major population growth in China.

Grand Canal

A major Chinese waterway expanded during the Song Dynasty that facilitated trade and communication across different regions.

Dar al-Islam

Meaning 'the house of Islam,' it refers to all regions where the Islamic faith served as the organizing principle of society.

Abbasid Caliphate

An ethnically Arab Islamic empire centered in Baghdad that began to fragment and lose political control leading up to 1200.

Seljuk Empire

A Turkic empire established in the 11th century in Central Asia that took military and political control over former Abbasid territories.

Sharia Law

An Islamic legal code derived from the Quran that served as the organizing legal system in Muslim empires.

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

A Muslim scholar who made significant mathematical advancements and created the discipline of trigonometry.

House of Wisdom

A major library and center of scholarship in Baghdad established under the Abbasid Empire where ancient Greek and Roman works were translated into Arabic.

Sufis

Members of a mystical sect of Islam who adapted their teachings to local cultures, facilitating widespread conversions in regions like South Asia.

Bhakti Movement

A Hindu movement starting in southern India that focused on devotion to a single Hindu deity and challenged traditional social and gender hierarchies.

Delhi Sultanate

A Muslim empire in northern India that struggled to impose complete Islamic rule over the majority Hindu population.

Vijayanagara Empire

A southern Indian Hindu empire founded in 1336 by former emissaries of the Delhi Sultanate who reverted from Islam back to Hinduism.

Majapahit Kingdom

A Buddhist, sea-based kingdom located in Java from 1293 to 1520 that held power by controlling maritime trade routes.

Angkor Wat

A massive architectural structure built by the Khmer Empire as a Hindu temple that later incorporated Buddhist features.

Tribute System

An administrative system used by the Aztec Empire requiring conquered peoples to deliver regular shipments of goods and labor.

Mita System

A mandatory public service labor system employed by the Inca Empire that required conquered subjects to work on state projects.

Cahokia

A major settlement of the Mississippian culture featuring a complex of human-made burial mounds, including one nearly 100 feet tall.

Swahili Civilization

A collection of commercial East African city-states that grew wealthy through Indian Ocean trade and synthesized African Bantu and Arabic into the Swahili language.

Great Zimbabwe

A wealthy East African interior state that grew powerful through agriculture, gold exports, and cattle herding, while retaining its native shamanistic religion.

Feudalism

A political and social system in medieval Europe where higher lords granted land to lesser lords (vassals) in exchange for military service.

Manorialism

An economic system in medieval Europe centered on self-sufficient estates owned by lords and worked by tied peasants.

Serfs

Peasants in medieval Europe who were legally bound to work a lord's manor land in exchange for protection.