AP World History Flashcards

Key vocabulary terms and definitions from AP World History lecture notes.

Significance of the Song Dynasty

Under the Song Dynasty (960-1279), China enjoyed great wealth, political stability, and artistic and intellectual innovations.

The Grand Canal

An efficient waterway transportation system that enabled China to become the most populous trading area in the world.

Gunpowder

Technology of gunpowder and guns spread from China to all parts of Eurasia via traders on the Silk Roads.

Daimyo

Landowning aristocrats, battled for control of the land, while the majority of people worked as rice farmers.

Shogun

Military ruler.

Advances in mathematics

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi laid the groundwork for making trigonometry a separate subject.

‘A’ishah al-Ba’uniyyah

May be the most prolific female Muslim writer before the 20th century. Many of her works describe her journey toward mystical illumination.

Advances in medicine

Medical advances and hospital care improved in cities such as Cairo, while doctors and pharmacists studied for examinations for licenses that would allow them to practice.

Chola Dynasty

The first kingdom, reigned over southern India for more than 400 years (850—1267).

Delhi Sultanate

Reigned for 300 years, from the l3th through the l6th centuries bringing Islam into India.

The Bhakti Movement

Some Hindus began to draw upon traditional teachings about the importance of emotion in their spiritual life. Rather than emphasize performing rituals or studying texts, they concentrated on developing a strong attachment to a particular deity.

The Srivijaya Empire

A Hindu kingdom based on Sumatra that built up its navy and prospered by charging fees for ships that traveled between India and China.

The Majapahit Kingdom

Based on Java had 98 tributaries at its height and held onto its power by controlling sea routes, and was Buddhist.

The Mississippian Culture

First large-scale civilization in North America that started in Mississippi River Valley and had a rigid class structure and a matrilineal society.

The Maya City-States

Each ruled by a king and consisting of a city and its surrounding territory. Each Mayan king claimed to be a descendant of a god (divine right).

The Aztecs

Originally hunter-gatherers who migrated to central Mexico from the north in the 1200s. They built a network of aqueducts and a pyramid that rose 150 fcet into the air and developed a tributary system.

The Inca

Split into four provinces, each with its own bureaucracy. Instead of a tributary system, they were subject to the mit’a system, mandatory public service.

Political Structures in Inland Africa

Communities formed kin-based networks, where families governed themselves.

Zimbabwe

Built its prosperity on a mixture of agriculture, grazing, trade, and, above all, gold. It had rich gold fields.

Griots

Storytellers, who were the conduits of history for a community.

Feudalism

Provided some security for peasants, equipment for warriors, and land to those who worked for a lord.

The manorial system

Provided economic self-sufficiency and defense.

The Estates-General

A body that advised the king which included representatives from each of the three legal classes, or estates, in France: the clergy, nobility, and commoners.

The Great Schism

A split that broke the Christian Church into two branches: Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox.

The Crusades

A series of European military campaigns in the Middle East (1095 - l200s.).

Bourgeoisie

Included shopkeepers, craftspeople, merchants, and small landholders.

The Renaissance

A period characterized by a revival of interest in classical Greek and Roman literature, culture, art, and civic virtue.

Humanism

The focus on individuals rather than God. Humanists sought education and reform.

Emergence of New States

States arise on land once controlled by another empire.

Revival of Former Empires

New leadership continues or rebuilds a previous empire with some innovations.

Synthesis of Different Traditions

A state adapts foreign ideas to local conditions.

Expansion in Scope

An existing state expands its influence through conquest, trade, or other means

Zionism

The desire of Jews to reestablish an independent homeland where their ancestors had lived in the Middle East.

Gunpowder Empires

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

Justices of the peace

Officials selected by the landed gentry to maintain peace in the counties of England.

Absolute

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

Boyars

The noble landowning class.

Indulgences

Granted a person absolution from the punishments for sin.

Simony

The selling of church offices.

Lutheranism

A German monk named Martin Luther concluded that several traditional Church practices violated biblical teachings and challenged the Church by nailing his 95 Theses, to a church door.

Calvinism

John Calvin authored The Institutes of the Christian Religion and helped reform the religious community in Geneva, Switzerland where The elect, those predestined to go to heaven, ran the community, which was based on plain living, simple church buildings, and governance by the elders of the church.

Jesuits

Society of Jesus, a religious order founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola, also opposed the spread of Protestantism. The Jesuits undertook missionary activity throughout the Spanish Empire as well as in Japan and India.

Peace of Augsburg

Allowed each German state to choose whether its ruler would be Catholic or Lutheran.

Edict of Nantes

Allowed the Huguenots to practice their faith and provided religious toleration in France.

Peace of Westphalia

Allowed each area of the Holy Roman Empire to select one of three religious options: Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, or Calvinism.

Empiricism

Insisted upon the collection of data to back up a hypothesis.

Encomenderos

Compelled indigenous people to work for them in exchange for food and shelter

Commercial Revolution

A transformation to a trade-based economy using gold and silver .

Mercantilism

An economic system that increased government control of the economy through high tariffs and the establishment of colonies.

Zionism

The desire of Jews to reestablish an independent homeland where their ancestors had lived in the Middle East.

Liberté, égalité, et fraternité

Liberty, equality, and fraternity.

Water Frame

Waterpower was used to drive the spinning wheel.

Spinning Jenny

A weaver was allowed to spin more than one thread at a time.

Monopoly

Control of a specific business and elimination of all competition.

Social Darwinism

Adapted Darwin’s theory of biological evolution to society.

Berlin Conference

A meeting where Europeans established colonial borders that were merely artificial lines that meant little to the people who lived within them.

Manifest Destiny

A natural and inevitable right to expand to the Pacific Ocean.

Culture System

A system that forced farmers to choose between growing cash crops for export or performing corvée labor, compulsory unpaid work.

Total war

A strategy, that meant that a nation’s domestic population, in addition to its military, was committed to winning the war.

Great Leap Forward

Peasant lands were organized into communes, large agricultural communities where the state held the land, not private owners.

Green Revolution

In the mid-20th century, scientists developed new varieties of wheat, rice, and other grains that had higher yields and greater resistance to pests, diseases, and drought.

Genetic engineering

Manipulating a cell or organism to change its basic characteristics.

Economic liberalization

This opening up of a country’s economy.

Human rights

Has basic freedoms that every person has, such as freedom from slavery and freedom to express opinions.

Fair trade

A system that ensures the person who provided the good or service receives a reasonable payment for it.

Sustainable development

Business ventures that allow people and companies to make a profit without preventing future generations from meeting their own needs.