Land-Based Empires and Gunpowder Empires

Vocabulary flashcards for key terms related to land-based and gunpowder empires, designed to aid in studying lecture notes.

Gunpowder Empires

Large, multiethnic states in Southwest, Central, and South Asia that relied on firearms to conquer and control territories between 1450-1750.

Year 1450

Refers to the ending of the medieval period and the beginning of the early modern period.

Cossacks

Fierce peasant warriors hired by major Russian landowners (the Stroganovs) to fight local tribes and the Siberian khan to expand east and control the fur trade.

Shamans

Religious leaders.

Ming Dynasty

Dynasty that overthrew China's Yuan Dynasty in 1368 and ruled until 1644.

Manchu (Qing Dynasty)

Seized power from the Ming Dynasty in 1644 and ruled until 1911.

Emperor Kangxi

One of China's longest-reigning emperors (ruled 1661-1722) who presided over a period of stability and expansion during the Qing Dynasty.

Emperor Qianlong

Important Qing ruler (ruled 1736-1796), a poet, who was also knowledgeable in art and calligraphy.

White Lotus Rebellion

Rebellion organized by peasants in response to high taxes and a desire to restore the Ming Dynasty (1796-1804).

Ghazi Ideal

A model for warrior life that blended the cooperative values of nomadic culture with the willingness to serve as a holy fighter for Islam.

Tamerlane (Timur)

Mongol-Turkic ruler of the late 14th century whose invasion of Central Asia and the Middle East set the stage for the rise of the Turkic empires.

Istanbul

Established as the capital of the Ottoman Empire after Mehmed II conquered Constantinople in 1453.

Suleiman I

Ottoman ruler from 1520-1566, during which the empire reached its peak.

Shah

Equivalent to king or emperor.

Shah Abbas I

Shah of Safavid Empire from 1588-1629, known as Abbas the Great, who presided over the empire at its height.

Trade Embargoes

Official bans on trade.

Babur

Descendant of Tamerlane who founded a 300-year dynasty in India in the 1520s.

Akbar

Grandson of Babur; achieved religious and political goals in Mughal Empire.

Castes (Jatis)

Are strict social groupings designated at birth.

Harem Politics

The efforts of wives and concubines of the sultan to promote their own children as likely heirs to the throne.

Aurangzeb

Son and successor of Shah Jahan; inherited an empire weakened by corruption.

Zand Dynasty

Dynasty that replaced the Safavid Dynasty in 1760.

Justices of the Peace

Officials selected by the landed gentry to maintain peace and carry out the monarch's laws.

English Bill of Rights

Assured individual civil liberties in England.

Absolutism

Directed by one source of power, the king, with complete authority.

Intendants

Royal officials sent to the provinces to execute the orders of the central government in France.

Tax Farmer

Royal officials that were sometimes called tax farmers because they oversaw the collection of various taxes in support of the royal governments

Boyars

The noble landowning class.

Serfs

Peasants who received a plot of land and protection from a noble; were bound to that land and had little personal freedom.

Sun King

Louis XIV who espoused to a theory of divine right and combined the lawmaking and justice system in his own person.

Peter the Great

Peter I who gained full control of the throne and eventually lost support of the Russian clergy because of his reforms.

Devshirme

A system that Ottoman sultans used to select staff for their military and their government.

Janissaries

Christian boys who were subjects of the Ottoman empire that were recruited by force to serve in the Ottoman government.

Shoguns

Military leaders who ruled Japan in the emperor's name from the 12th to the 15th centuries.

Daimyo

Landholding aristocrats in Japan.

Samurai

Warriors.

Hans

Territories.

Zamindars

Paid government officials in charge of specific duties; were given grants of land rather than salaries but were permitted to keep a portion of the taxes paid by local peasants.

Indulgences

System of granting absolution from the punishments for sin.

Simony

The selling of church offices.

The Council of Trent

The Catholic group that focused on reaffirming the rituals such as marriage and other sacraments improving the education of priests.

Peace of Westphalia

One of the three religious options of the countries and duchies in the Holy Roman Empire, this settlement allowed the countries and duchies much more autonomy than they previously had.

Shariah

A strict Islamic legal system that deals with all aspects of life, such as criminal justice, marital laws, and issues of inheritance.

Sikhism

A monotheistic faith that recognized the rights of other faiths to exist and became the fifth most popular religion in the world by the 21st century.

Francis Bacon

Developed an early scientific method called empiricism, which insisted upon the collection of data to back up a hypothesis.

Sir Isaac Newton

Insisted that the world was ordered and rational and that natural laws applied to the rational and orderly progress of governments and society.