Unit 3 Key Terms: Land-Based Empires and Religious Transformations

Indulgences

A piece of paper sold by the Catholic Church that Christians could purchase to reduce time in purgatory—a place where Catholics believed they would go after death.

Jesuits

An order of Roman Catholic priests who aimed to support the Church and counter the growth of the Protestant Reformation through involved missionary work.

Sultan

A term describing the Sunni Muslim leader of the Ottoman Empire.

Shah

A term describing the Shi'a Muslim leader of the Safavid Empire; borrowed from the original Persian empire that existed two millennia prior in the same area.

Mughal Empire

A religiously tolerant Islamic empire that ruled over the Indian subcontinent, which had a majority Hindu population.

Manchus

A group of people living in Northern China who took control of the Chinese government following the fall of the Ming dynasty; were considered foreigners within China before their rise to power and were not allowed to intermarry with the Chinese during the Qing dynasty's rule.

Qing Dynasty

The last imperial dynasty of China that conquered the previous Ming empire and was ruled by the Manchu people.

Safavid Empire

A Shi'a Muslim empire and one of the Gunpowder Empires that conquered the Persian region and oversaw the Golden Era of modern-day Iran; used its strong military to partake in religious and political conflicts with foreign powers, the largest of which was the Ottoman Empire.

Ottoman Empire

A mostly religiously tolerant Sunni Muslim empire and one of the Gunpowder Empires that conquered the Christian Byzantine Empire; used the Janissaries, an elite military class composed mainly of forced Christian converts from the Devshirme system, to bolster its military strength.

Devshirme

A system utilized by the Ottoman Empire in which conquered Christians were required to give up twenty percent of their children to the government, who would then be converted to Islam and either served as slaves or trained for government and military service.

Gunpowder Empire

A term used to describe the Mughal Empire, the Safavid Empire, and the Ottoman Empire due to their monopolization of the manufacture of guns and artillery in their areas.

Protestant Reformation

A theological movement based on critiques to Church practices and challenges to the Pope's authority; facilitated the translation of Bibles from Latin to local languages and reduced the influence of the Catholic Church over many Christians' religious lives.

Martin Luther

A German Christian monk who publicly outlined his frustrations with current Church practice, one of which was the sale of indulgences, through his 95 Theses; led the Protestant Reformation.

Counter-Reformation

Reformations made by the Catholic Church that included setting stricter standards for piety among priests, educating Church officials more, and restricting heretics.

King Henry VIII

King of England who renounced the Roman Catholic Church because the Pope did not annul his marriage, declaring himself head of religious affairs in England and creating the Anglican Church.

Ignatius Loyola

Founder of the Society of Jesuits