Studied by 10 people
Duma
Russian parliament, established after the revolution of 1905.
Tenochtitlan
Capital city of the Aztec Empire, later Mexico City.
Holocaust
German attempt in World War II to exterminate the Jews of Europe.
Sunni
“Traditionalists” the most popular branch of Islam; they believe in the legitimacy of the early caliphs, compared with the opposite belief that only a descendant of Ali can lead.
Antisemitism
Term coined in the late 19th century that was associated with a prejudice against Jews and the political, social, and economic actions taken against them.
Devshirme
Ottoman requirement that the Christians in the Balkans provide young boys to be slaves of the Sultan.
Proletariat
Urban working class in the modern industrial society.
Quran
Islamic holy book that is believed to contain the divine revelations of Allah as presented to Muhammad.
Enlightenment
18th Century philosophical movement that began in France; its emphasis was on the preeminence of reason rather than faith or tradition; it spread concepts from the Scientific Revolution.
Encomienda
System that gave the Spanish settlers the right to compel the indigenous peoples of the Americas to work in the mines or fields.
Social Darwinism
19th century philosophy, championed by thinkers such as Herbert Spencer, that attempted to apply Darwinism “survival of the fittest” to the social and political realm.
Truman Doctrine
U.S. policy instituted in 1947 in which the United States would follow an interventionist foreign policy to contain communism.
Vernacular
The langauge of the people; Martin Luther translated the Bible from the Latin of the Catholic church into German.
Chinampas
Agricultural gardens used by Mexica (Aztec) into which fertile muck from lake bottoms was dredged and built up into small plots.
Absolutism
Political philosophy that stressed the divine right theory of kingship; the French king, Louis XIV, was the classic example.
Ming
Chinese Dynasty (1368-1644) founded by Hongwu and known for its cultural brilliance.
Protestant Reformation
16th century European movement during which Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and others broken away from the Catholic Church.
Golden Horde
Mongol tribe that controlled Russia from the 13th to the 15th century.
Indentured Labor
Labor source for plantations;wealthy planters would pay the laboring poor to sell a portion of their working lives, usually seven years, in exchange for passage.
Yuan
Chinese Dynasty (1279-1368) that was founded by the Mongol ruler Khubilai Khan.
Voltaire
Pen name of French philosophe Freancois Marie Arouet.
Shogun
Japanese military leader who ruled in place of the emperor.
Fascism
Political ideology and mass movement that was prominent in many parts of Europe between 1919 and 1945; it sought to regenerate the social, political, and cultural life of societies; especially in contrast to liberal democracy and socialism; it began in Italy and it reached its peak with Hitler in Germany.
Oceania
Term referring to the Pacific Ocean basin and its lands.
Diaspora
People who have settled far from their original homeland but who still share some measure of ethnic identity.
Astrolabe
Navigational instrument for determining latitude.
Apartheid
South African system of “separateness” that was implemented in 1948 and that maintained the black majority in a position of political, social, and economic subordination.
Conquistadores
Spanish adventurers such as Cortes and Pizarro who conquered Central and South America in the 16th century.
Deism
An Enlightenment view that accepted the existence of a god but denied the supernatural aspects of Christianity, they felt that the universe was an orderly realm maintained by rational and natural laws.
NATO
Treaty Organization that was founded by the United States in 1949 as a regional military alliance against Soviet expansionism.
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
Regional accord established in 1993 between the United States, Canada, and Mexico; it formed the world’s second largest free-trade zone.
Peninsulares
Latin American officials from Spain or Portugal.
Sepoys
Indian troops who served the British.
Taino
A Caribbean tribe who were the first indigenous peoples from the Americas to come into contact with Christopher Columbus.
Temur-i lang
“Timur the Lame” known in English as Tamerlane, who conquered an empire ranging from the Black Sea to Samarkand.
Triangular Trade
Trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas that featured finished products from Europe, slaves from Africa, and American products bound for Europe.
Viet Minh
North Vietnamese nationalist communists under Ho Chi Minh.
World Health Organization (WHO)
United Nations organization designed to deal with global health issues.
Kamikaze
A Japanese term meaning “divine wind” that is related to the storms that destroyed the Mongol invasion fleets; the term in symbolic of Japanese isolation and was alter taken by suicide pilots in World War II.
Mughals
Islamic dynasty that ruled India from the 16th through 18th century; the construction of the Taj Mahal is representative of their splendor; with the exception of the Enlightened reign of Akbar, the increasing conflict between Hindus and Muslims was another of their legacies.
Mali
West African kingdom founded in the 13th century by Sundiata; it reached its peak during the reign of Mansa Musa.
Bourgeoisie
Middle class in modern industrial society.
Bantu
African people who originally lived in the area of present day Nigeria; around 2000 B.C.E. they began a centuries-long migration that took them to most of Sub-Saharan Africa,they were very influential, especially linguistically.
Blitzkrieg
German style of rapid attack through the use of armor and air power that was used in Poland, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and France in 1939-1940.
Dar-al-Islam
The “House of Islam” a term for the Islamic World.
Imperialism
Term associated with the European powers and their conquest and colonization of African and Asian societies, mainly from the 16th through 19th centuries.
Joint-Stock Companies
Early forerunner of the modern corporation; individuals who invested in trading or exploring ventures could make huge profits while limiting their risk.
Quipu
Incan mnemonic aid comprised of different-colored strings and knots that served to record events in the absence of written text.
Maroons
Runaway African slaves.
Reconstruction
System implemented in the American south (1867-1977) that was designed to bring the Confederate states back into the union and also extend civil rights to freed slaves.
Ottoman Empire
Powerful Turkish empire that lasted from the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 until 1918 and reached its peak during the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
An organization began in 1960 by oil-producing states originally for purely economic reasons but that later had more political influence.
Monotheism
Belief in only one god, a rare concept in the ancient world.
Decolonization
Process by which former colonies achieved their independence, as with the newly emerging African nations in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Warsaw Pact
A military alliance formed by the Soviet bloc nations in 1955 in response to rearmament of West Germany and its inclusion in NATO.
Temujin
Mongol conqueror who later took the name Chinggis Khan “universal ruler”.
Third Rome
Concept that a new power would rise up to carry the legacy of Roman greatness after the decline of the second Rome, Constantinople; Moscow was referred to by this name.
Soviets
Russian elected councils that originated as strike committees during the 1905 St. Petersburg disorders; they represented a form of local self-government that went on to become the primary unit of government in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The term was also used during the Cold War to designate the Soviet Union.
Suleyman
Ottoman Turkish ruler known as the Magnificent; who was the most powerful and wealthy ruler of the 16th century.
Meiji Restoration
Restoration of imperial rule under Emperor Meiji in 1868 by a coalition led by Fukuzawa Yukichi and Ito Hirobumi; the restoration enacted western reforms to strengthen Japan.
Black Hand
Pre-WWI secret Serbian society; one of its members, Gavrilo Princip, assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and provided the spark for the outbreak of WWI.
East India Company
British Joint-Stock company that grew to be a state within a state in India; it possessed its own armed forces.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
Document from the French Revolution (1789) that was influenced by the American Declaration of Independence and in turn influenced many other revolutionary movements.
Spanish Inquisition
Institution organized in 1487 by Fernando and Isabel of Spain to detect heresy and the secret practice of Judaism or Islam.
Maori
Indigenous people of New Zealand.
Silk Roads
Ancient trade routes that extended from the Mediterranean in the west to China in the east.
Samurai
A Japanese warrior.
Shia
Islamic minority in opposition to the Sunni majority; their belief is that leadership should reside in the line descended from Ali.
Containment
Concept associated with the United States and specifically with the Truman Doctrine during the Cold War that revolved around the notion that the United States would contain the spread of communism.
Marshall Plan
U.S. plan, officially called the European Recovery Program, that offered financial and other economic aid to all European states that had suffered from WWII, including Soviet bloc states.
Wind Wheels
Prevailing wind patterns in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans north and south of the equator; their discovery made sailing much quicker and safer.
Serfs
Peasants who, though not chattel slaves, were tied to the land and who owed obligations to the lords on whose lands they worked.
Monroe Doctrine
American doctrine issued in 1823 that warned Europeans to keep their hands off Latin America and that expressed growing American imperialistic views regarding Latin America.
Strategic Arms Limitations Talk (SALT)
Agreement in 1872 between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Mandate System
System that developed in the wake of World War I when the former colonies ended up mandates under European control, a thinly veiled attempt at continuing imperialism.
Catholic Reformation
16th century Catholic attempts to cure internal ills and confront Protestantism; it was inspired by the reforms of the Council of Trent and the actions of the Jesuits.
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
Japanese plan for consolidating east and southeast Asia under their control during WWII.
Tokugawa
Last shogunate in Japanese history, this founder is notable for unifying Japan.
Safavid
Later Persian Empire (1501-1722) that was founded by Shah Ismail and that later became the center of Shiism; the empire reached its peak under Shah Abbas the Great and was centered on the capital of Isfahan.
United Nations
Successor to the League of Nations, an association of sovereign nations that attempts to find solutions to global problems.
Socialism
Political and social theory of social organization based on the collective ownership of the means of production; its origins were in the early 19th century, and it differs from communism for a desire for slow or moderate change compared with the communist call for revolution.
League of Nations
Forerunner of the UN, the dream of American president Woodrow Wilson, although its potential was severely limited by the refusal of the United States to join.
Balfour Declaration
British declaration from 1917 that supported the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
Appeasement
British and French policy in the 1930’s that tried to maintain peace in Europe in the face of German aggression by making concessions.
Daimyo
Powerful territorial lords in early modern Japan.
Berlin Conference
Meeting organized by German chancellor Otto von Bismarck in 1884-1885 that provided the justification of European colonization of Africa.
Communism
Philosophy and movement that began in the middle of the 19th century with the work of Karl Marx; it has the same general goals as socialism, but it includes the belief that violent revolution is necessary to destroy the bourgeoisie world and institute a new world run by and for the proletariat.
World Trade Organization (WTO)
An organization that was created in 1995 with more than 120 nations and whose goal is to loosen barriers to free trade.
Home Front
Term made popular in WWI and WWII for the civilian efforts that was symbolic of the greater demands of total war.
Incan Empire
Powerful South American empire that would reach its peak in the 15th century during the reigns of Pachacuti and Topa.
Paris Peace Accords
Agreement reached in 1973 that marked the end of the United States role in the Vietnam War.
Taiping Rebellion
Conflict in Qing China led by Hong Xiuquan, during which 20-30 million people were killed; this conflict was symbolic of the decline of China during the 19th century.
Hajj
Pilgrimage to Mecca.
Ghazi
Islamic religious warriors.
Aztec Empire
Central American empire constructed by the Mexica and expanded greatly during the 15th century during the reigns of Itzcoatl and Motecuzoma I.
Bolshevik
Russian communist party headed by Lenin.
Reconquista
Crusade, ending in 1492, to drive the Islamic forces out of Spain.
Qing
Chinese Dynasty (1644-1911) that reached its peak during the reigns of Kangxi and Qianlong.
Iroquois
Eastern American Indian confederation made up of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca tribes.
Capitalism
An economic system with origins in early modern Europe in which private parties make their goods and services available on a free market.
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Flashcard (186)