AP World History Master Study Guide Flashcards

A comprehensive collection of vocabulary flashcards covering major global developments, empires, and economic systems from 1200 CE to the present.

Champa Rice

A drought-resistant, fast-ripening crop from Vietnam that led to a population explosion in Song China, doubling the population from $50$ million to over $100$ million.

Civil Service Exam System

A meritocratic system in Song China based on Confucian classics used to recruit the scholar-gentry class and reduce the power of the hereditary aristocracy.

Mit'a System

A reciprocal labor tax in the Inca Empire where communities provided labor for state projects, such as building roads and terraces, in exchange for state protection.

Quipu

A system of knotted strings used by the Inca for record-keeping, including census data, tribute, and labor tracking, in the absence of a written language.

Pax Mongolica

A period of 'Mongol Peace' that enabled safe travel and trade across Eurasia, facilitating the transfer of technologies like gunpowder and printing from East to West.

Caravanserai

Rest stops located approximately every $100$ miles along the Silk Roads that provided lodging and stabling for merchants and their animals.

Devshirme System

An Ottoman 'blood tax' where Christian boys from the Balkans were converted to Islam and trained as elite soldiers (Janissaries) or bureaucrats loyal only to the Sultan.

Millet System

An administrative strategy in the Ottoman Empire that allowed autonomous religious communities to govern themselves under their own laws while staying loyal to the state.

Sakoku

The 'closed country' policy of Tokugawa Japan that expelled most foreigners and restricted trade to maintain social order and prevent Christian influence.

Columbian Exchange

The global transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and ideas between the Eastern and Western hemispheres following Columbus's voyage in $1492$.

Mercantilism

An economic theory emphasizing that colonies exist to enrich the mother country by providing raw materials and serving as captive markets for manufactured goods.

Casta System

A racial hierarchy in Spanish American colonies that categorized people based on their ancestry, with Peninsulares at the top and enslaved Africans and Indios at the bottom.

Social Contract

An Enlightenment concept where government authority is derived from the consent of the governed rather than divine right.

Laissez-faire Capitalism

An economic ideology promoted by Adam Smith that advocates for a free market with minimal government intervention, guided by an 'invisible hand'.

Berlin Conference

An $1884$--$1885$ meeting where European powers divided Africa into colonies without any African representation, based on the 'Principle of Effective Occupation'.

Social Darwinism

A pseudoscience that misapplied biological 'survival of the fittest' concepts to justify European imperialism and racial hierarchies.

Meiji Restoration

A period of rapid state-led industrialization and modernization in Japan beginning in $1868$ that abolished feudalism and created a unified national state.

Total War

A conflict in which a nation mobilizes its entire economy and civilian population for the war effort, as seen in World War I and World War II.

Totalitarianism

A political system, such as Stalin's Soviet Union or Hitler's Germany, characterized by one-party rule, secret police, state-controlled media, and extreme censorship.

Proxy Wars

Conflicts during the Cold War, like those in Korea and Vietnam, where superpowers supported opposing sides instead of fighting each other directly.

Glasnost

A policy of 'openness' introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the $1980s$ that allowed for more political transparency and criticism of the Soviet government.

Green Revolution

A mid-to-late $20$th-century agricultural movement that used hybrid seeds and synthetic fertilizers to increase crop yields and reduce global famine.

Neoliberalism

A dominant economic ideology since the $1980s$ favoring free-market policies, deregulation, privatization of state industries, and reduced government spending.

Special Economic Zones (SEZs)

Designated areas in China, established under Deng Xiaoping, that apply market-oriented rules to attract foreign investment and drive manufacturing.

Satyagraha

A philosophy of nonviolent resistance or 'truth-force' developed by Mahatma Gandhi to challenge British colonial rule in India.