Ap world all vocab words - ap exam prep

all 350 vocab words from period 1 - period 4

Bantu Migrations

Movement of sub-Saharan peoples beginning about 2000 years ago from west Africa south and east across the continent, spreading their language, agricultural techniques, and knowledge of iron working.

Black Death

Plague pandemic in Europe between 1347 and 1351 that killed between 25% and 50% of the European population and that originated in China before spreading to Europe through fleas and rats carried by merchants and trade ships.

Champa Rice

Fast growing variety of a common staple crop in East Asia and Southeast Asia that originated in Vietnam before being sent to China as a tributary gift during the Song dynasty and that eventually fueled massive population growth in China during the Song dynasty.

Ibn Battuta

Medieval Arab traveler who described African societies and cultures in his travel records during the mid-14th century and who visited Islamic communities throughout the Middle East, the Indian Ocean, and Eastern Europe.

Inca Road

Transportation network constructed in South America during the Middle Ages consisting of two parallel highways with numerous cross connections.

Marco Polo

Venetian merchant and traveler who visited the court of Kublai Khan in China c. 1275 on his 17-year journey along the Silk Roads and who published an account of his travels on his return to Venice that fostered European interest in finding new routes to Asia.

Zheng He

Chinese Muslim admiral, explorer, and diplomat who extended the commercial influence of China throughout the Indian Ocean with a series of expeditions to the Persian Gulf and Red Sea during the early Ming dynasty between 1405 and 1433.

Cyril

Christian saint who, along with Methodius, worked as a missionary converting the Slavic populations of eastern Europe to the Eastern Orthodox Church and developed an alphabet for the Slavic languages that is still in use (Cyrillic).

Dar al-Islam

Region of the world in which Islam is a primary religious tradition.

Eastern Orthodoxy

Branch of Christianity that separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the Schism of 1053 as a result of the iconoclastic controversy over the use of images of religious figures during worship and that became the state religion of the Byzantine Empire and whose adherents are found mainly in the Balkans, the Middle East, and Russia.

Five Pillars of Faith

Basic practices of Islam that define the duties required of every Muslim, including the profession of faith, daily prayer, charitable giving to the poor, fasting during Ramadan, and a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Great Schism

Event in 1054 in which the pope and patriarch excommunicated each other, resulting in the final separation of the Eastern Orthodox Church from the Roman Catholic Church.

Hagia Sophia

Cathedral featuring a rectangular building with a massive central dome constructed in Constantinople during the reign of Justinian that is a masterpiece of Byzantine architecture and that became a mosque after the Ottoman Empire conquered the Byzantine Empire in 1453.

Hajj

One of the Five Pillars of Faith that requires Muslims to make a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca to worship at the Ka'ba at least once during their life, if finances and physical conditions allow.

Mecca

City located in the mountains of the Arabian peninsula along the Red Sea that is the birthplace of Muhammad, the chief destination of Islamic pilgrims, and the holiest city in Islam.

Muhammad

Founder and prophet of Islam who, according to Islamic tradition, received messages from God in 610 that became the Qur'an and eventually established a small kingdom in the Arabian peninsula centered on Mecca and Medina before his death in 632.

Neo-Confucianism

Religious and philosophical tradition that developed in China during the Tang and Song periods that combined Buddhist and Taoist teachings with the teachings of Confucius by scholars.

Pope

The bishop of Rome and head of the Christian Church in western Europe and who is considered by the Church to be the successor of St. Peter, the founder of the Christian Church.

Qur'an

Sacred scripture of Islam consisting of recitations of revelations from God received by Muhammad through the angel Gabriel beginning in 610 CE.

Ramadan

Islamic holy month of fasting commemorating Muhammad's period of prayer and fasting during which God revealed the Qur'an to him.

Roman Catholicism

Largest Christian denomination defined by its elaborate hierarchical structure of priests and bishops headed by the papacy and whose beliefs and practices include trinitarianism and the seven sacraments.

Shi'a

Theological division within Islam whose followers supported Ali in the early crisis over the succession of caliphs.

Sinification

Extensive adoption of Chinese culture including bureaucratic government, Neo-Confucianism, and artistic styles in other regions, particularly in Korea and Japan and to a lesser extent in Vietnam, during the Middle Ages.

Sufism

Mystical Islamic belief system in which Muslims seek to find the truth of divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of God whose missionaries spread Islam to central and southeast Asia during the Middle Ages.

Sunni

Theological division within Islam that supported the Umayyad dynasty in the early crisis over the succession of caliphs.

Abbasid Caliphate

Islamic dynasty that ruled the Muslim empire in the Middle East after overthrowing the Umayyad dynasty in 750 and ruled the empire until it was destroyed by the Mongols in 1258 and that saw a golden age of commerce, science, and literature.

Abu Bakr

One of Muhammad's earliest converts to Islam who succeeded Muhammad as caliph upon the prophet's death.

al-Andalus

Term for Spain after its 711 conquest by North African Muslims (the Moors) that experienced a golden age of economic prosperity and cultural achievement as a result of the interactions of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish scholars in the region during the Middle Ages.

Aztec

Mesoamerican Indians who built a large empire in central and southern Mexico in the 15th and early 16th centuries until their conquest by the Spanish in 1519 and whose empire featured a large capital city, Tenochtitlan, that was built on islands in Lake Texcoco.

Baghdad

Considered the richest city in the world for its roles on the Silk Roads and the Indian Ocean trade routes during the Abbasid Caliphate, it also served as that empire's capital and became an important center of Islamic science and literature under Harun al-Rashid.

Bakufu

Japanese feudal government led by a military dictator called a shogun between 1192 and 1867.

Byzantium

Eastern portion of the Roman Empire that survived the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, lasting until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in 1453 and that sought to maintain the culture and traditions of the Roman Empire and whose capital was Constantinople.

Caliphate

Lands ruled by Muslims between 632 CE and 1258 that were ruled by a leader known as the "successor to Muhammad" who held both political and religious power within the empire.

Charlemagne

Medieval king who established the feudal system in western Europe and who founded an empire that included modern-day France, Germany, and Italy c. 800 CE parts of which later became known as the Holy Roman Empire.

Crusades

Series of military expeditions beginning in the late 11th century that were launched by western European Christians to free the Holy Land from Muslim control.

Delhi Sultanate

Muslim kingdom in northern India from the 1200s to the 1500s established by Turkish Muslims that blended Hindu and Islamic cultures until it was conquered by the Mughal Empire.

Genghis Khan

Mongolian warrior-ruler who unified the Mongol tribes in 1206 and extended his empire across Asia, forming the largest contiguous empire in history before his death in 1227.

Great Zimbabwe

South African civilization that reached its height in the 14th and 15th centuries with a population of 15,000 to 20,000 in its capital city that traded cattle and gold for Indian and Chinese luxury goods with Swahili trade ports on the Indian Ocean.

Inca

South American Indians who built a large empire in the Andes beginning in the 1200s that stretched from modern-day Ecuador to central Chile with a capital at Cuzco until it was conquered by the Spanish in 1532.

Justinian Code

The "Body of Civil Law" of the Byzantines written by a namesake emperor between 529 and 565 CE who sponsored a complete revision of the Roman laws.

Khanates

Four regional successor states of the Mongol Empire that arose following the death of Genghis Khan including the Yuan Dynasty, the Il-Khanate, the Chagatai, and the Golden Horde.

Kublai Khan

Grandson of Genghis Khan who commanded the conquest of China and who became the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty.

Mali

West African trading state that flourished between the 13th and 17th centuries as a result of the salt-gold trade on the Trans-Saharan trade routes and that adopted Islam through contact with Arab merchants.

Mansa Musa

Emperor of the Mali under whom Mali reached the height of its power and influence and who is remembered for the splendor of his pilgrimage to Mecca showcasing the wealth of the Mali empire.

Maya

Mesoamerican Indians who built a collection of city-states in southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize between 250 CE and 900 CE when the civilization began to decline, possibly as a result of soil exhaustion and deforestation.

Ming Dynasty

Ruling family of China from 1368 to 1664 who overthrew the Yuan Dynasty under the leadership of Hongwu, who became the first Chinese emperor from this dynasty.

Shogun

Military leaders of the bakufu--the Japanese feudal system.

Song Dynasty

Line of Chinese rulers who reunified China in 960 after the collapse of the Tang dynasty and who ruled China until they were conquered by the Mongols in 1279 and who presided over a period of tremendous commercial and cultural prosperity and population growth.

Sui Dynasty

Short-lived line of Chinese rulers between 581 CE and 618 CE that reunified China after centuries of political division following the collapse of the Han dynasty and that restored major features of the Han dynasty including the bureaucracy, scholar gentry, and the construction of the Great Wall of China.

Swahili City-States

East African civilization that developed on the coast of the Indian Ocean c. 1000 CE as a series of independent trade ports that developed a common language and culture that blended Bantu and Arabic cultures.

Taika Reforms

Series of political changes that gave the Japanese emperor power over all of Japan through a system of government based on the Tang dynasty in China.

Tang Dynasty

Line of Chinese rulers who conquered China after a series of rebellions against the Sui and who ruled from 618 CE to 907 CE.

Tenochtitlan

Capital city of the Aztec Empire built around 1325 on islands in Lake Texcoco that relied on levees for flood control and chinampas for agricultural production.

Tamerlane (Timur)

Leader of the Turkic nomads who in the 1360s launched a brutal series of attacks in Persia, the Fertile Crescent, India and southern Russia but whose empire quickly disintegrated after his death.

Tribute System

Diplomatic practice of the Tang dynasty in China that emphasized mutual gift-giving between the Chinese and their neighboring peoples and that allowed China to spread its culture to nearby areas and that provided China a means of controlling lands that were often difficult to rule directly.

Venice

City-state on the Mediterranean Sea that dominated European trade with the Islamic empires of the Middle East during the Middle Ages, developing incredible wealth that later fueled the city's participation in the Renaissance.

Vikings

Scandinavian seafaring warriors who raided and colonized coastal areas of western Europe from the 9th to the 11th centuries using longships capable of deep ocean travel and who established colonies as far away as Iceland, Greenland, and North America.

Bill of Exchange

Financial instrument developed by Arab merchants in the Middle Ages that is used in international trade as a means of settling accounts.

Cahokia

Largest pre-Columbian North American urban center and primary cultural center of the Mississippian culture on the Mississippi River that consists of about 120 earthen mounds featuring governmental, religious, and residential areas and that was abandoned around 1350.

Caravanserai

Inns in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia used during the Middle Ages for sheltering merchants and travelers on the Silk Roads or Trans-Saharan trade routes that provided safe-havens and places to rest.

Guilds

Associations of craftsmen or merchants of a certain product in a city formed to protect their professional interests by setting wages, quality standards, and apprenticeship rules for their members that was common in European cities between the 11th and 16th centuries.

Hangzhou

Major city that became a major center of art and literature as a result of trade between Song China and the Indian Ocean after the completion of the Grand Canal and which served as the capital of China during the late Song dynasty.

Hanseatic League

Trading organization founded in the 12th century by north German towns and merchant communities to protect their mutual trading interests that came to dominate northern European commercial activity from the 13th century to the 15th century.

Manorialism

System that describes the economic relations between landlords and their peasants during the Middle Ages in which peasants paid rent to their landlord for access to farmland.

Malacca

City-state on the Malaysian peninsula that controlled nearby trade routes that became a large diasporic Islamic merchant community in the 15th century.

Mit'a

Mandatory public service in the Inca Empire in which all communities were required to participate and that was used to build roads and religious buildings in the empire until the Spanish conquered the Inca, adopted the practice, and dramatically intensified the labor requirement.

Porcelain

High-quality pottery developed in China during the Tang dynasty that became a major luxury good in interregional trade during the Middle Ages.

Three-Field System

Method of agricultural production developed in the 9th century in western Europe in which one third of the available farmland remained fallow (unplanted) each year in order to prevent soil exhaustion.

Timbuktu

Capital city of the Mali Empire in the sudanic region of sub-Saharan Africa that became an important center of Islamic learning with several mosques and universities under Mansa Musa and a major center of the trans-Saharan salt-for-gold trade.

Daimyo

Powerful landholding magnates in Japan who dominated the bakufu and were similar in status to the nobility in European feudalism.

Feudalism

Economic and social system used in Japan and Europe during the Middle Ages that was defined by the relationship between lords and vassals based on land ownership.

Footbinding

Chinese practice that began in the 10th century in which young girls feet were mutilated in order to make them appear smaller, creating pain and restricting women's movement to the household.

Samurai

Member of the Japanese warrior class in the bakufu, similar to knights in European feudalism.

Sati

Sanskrit word meaning "good woman" or "chaste wife" that refers to an Indian custom in which a surviving widow immolated herself on her husband's funeral pyre, a custom that became more common in India during the Middle Ages.

Serfdom

Coerced labor system used in medieval Europe and Japan as part of the feudal system in which in which a tenant farmer was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of his landlord, to whom he owed the majority of the crops he grew.

Theodora

Byzantine empress and wife of the emperor Justinian who became the most powerful woman in Byzantine history as an advisor to her husband.

Astrolabe

Early scientific and navigational device developed in the Islamic world during the Middle Ages that was used to determine a ship's location using celestial navigation and that spread to Europe through trade along the Mediterranean Sea.

Chinampa

A floating garden, or a small, stationary artificial island built in freshwater lakes by the Aztec for agricultural production.

Compass

Primary device used in navigation for direction-finding on the surface of the Earth that was developed in China during the Song Dynasty and that spread to the Middle East and Europe through Indian Ocean trade.

Dhows

Arab sailing vessels featuring lateen sails that were common on the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea during the Middle Ages and that strongly influenced later European ship designs.

Flying Cash

Chinese credit instrument developed c. 820 CE that is considered to be the first form of paper currency and that contributed to increased trade during the Tang and Song dynasties.

Grand Canal

Artificial waterway 1,100 miles in length that was built during the Sui dynasty and that links north and south China.

Gunpowder

Chemical that produces an explosive release of energy when burned that can be used to drive a projectile against a target that was developed first in China during the 9th century before being disseminated across Afro-Eurasia through the Mongol conquests and Silk Road trade.

Junk

Classic Chinese sailing vessels built to enormous proportions during the Ming dynasty and used for exploration of Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean by Zheng He.

Lateen Sail

Triangular sail used on Arab dhows during the Middle Ages that allowed ships to sail into the wind and that influenced later European ship designs.

Paper

Originially created by the Chinese in the 1st century, paper was spread by Muslim merchants traveling the Silk Road, and it was through Islamic culture in North Africa that paper arrived in medieval Europe.

Terracing

Method of growing crops on hillsides that features level areas used for planting built into the and that was common in China, Japan, and Southeast Asia during the Middle Ages.

Waru waru

Agricultural technique developed in the Andes by pre-Columbian civilizations, especially the Inca, that combined raised garden beds with irrigation channels to prevent soil erosion.

Amerindian Population Disaster

Death of up to 95% of the indigenous population of the Americas after 1500 that resulted from epidemic diseases introduced to the region by European explorers and colonists such as smallpox, bubonic plague, and influenza.

Bartolomeu Dias

Portuguese navigator and explorer who led the first European expedition to the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, opening a sea route to Asia from Europe through the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Columbian Exchange

Biological and ecological exchange that took place following Spanish establishment of colonies in the New World as people from Europe and Africa traveled to the New World and transferred plants, animals, germs, technologies, and ideas between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas.

Christopher Columbus

Master Italian navigator who made four voyages sponsored by Spain across the Atlantic Ocean beginning in 1492 in search of shorter sea route to India and China that opened the way for European exploration and colonization of the Americas.

Crop Rotation

Successive cultivation of different food plants on the same field in a specified order to prevent soil exhaustion that makes use of all available farmland in each planting season, unlike earlier agricultural systems that leave certain areas fallow each season to prevent soil exhaustion.

Henry the Navigator

Portuguese prince who founded a school for sailors and mapmakers and who directed a series of exploratory expeditions along the coast of west Africa during the 15th century, marking the beginning of the European Age of Exploration.

Little Ice Age

Decrease in global mean temperatures between the early 14th century through the mid-19th century that forced changes in agricultural practices worldwide and that followed the Medieval Warming Period.

Second Agricultural Revolution

Transformation of farming practices in the 18th century that increased crop yields through scientific and technological innovations including new machinery such as the seed drill, scientific selective breeding, and new systems of crop rotation.

Seed Drill

Invention developed by Jethro Tull that sewed grain in neat rows and precise depths and that dramatically increased crop yields over traditional practices of scattering grain seed by hand.

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese navigator and explorer whose 1497 voyage to India by way of the Cape of Good Hope established early Portuguese commercial access to the Indian Ocean.

95 Theses

Propositions for debate concerned with the Catholic Church's sale of indulgences posted by Martin Luther on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517, essentially launching the Protestant Reformation.

African Diaspora

Migration of Sub-Saharan African populations throughout the world beginning in the 16th century with the Atlantic slave trade when up to 12 million people were violently transported from Africa to the Americas as slaves.