Unit 4 VOCAB AP World History

Primogeniture Laws

• Where the eldest son inherits the entirety of their parents’ estate, titles, and property.

Religious minorities

• Groups within a society that hold beliefs or practices different from the majority.

Astronomical chart

• Any map of the stars and galaxies. 

Mercantilism

• Countries set policies designed to sell as many goods as they could to other countries.

Galleons

• Heavily armed Spanish ships made stops in the Philippines.

New France

• The French colony in North America.

Columbian Exchange

• Links that connected the Eastern and Western Hemispheres → Led to the spread of ideas, diseases, foods, and animals.

Engenhos

• A word meaning “engines” in Portuguese; As sugar plantations processed so much sugar, they were referred to as such.

Transatlantic Slave Trade

• A specific part of the Triangular Trade Route; forced, violent, and brutal transports of enslaved Africans from Africa to the Americas

Creole People/Culture

• A mixed colonial ancestry (Often French, Spanish, African, and/or native American) 

Creole Language

• A mixture of different languages (develops)

Gumbo

• An African dish, popular in the southern United States, has roots in African cooking.

Indentured servitude

• Arrangements through which servants contracted to work for a specified period of years in exchange for passage. 

Chattel Slavery

• A system in which individuals are considered property to be bought and sold.

Encomienda

• A system established in the early 1500s to gain access to gold and other resources of the Americas

Encomenderos

• Another term for landowners.

Coercive Labor System

Tied with the encomenderos whom promised labor in exchange for food and shelter was notorious for its brutality and harsh living conditions.

Hacienda System

Where the Spanish crown often granted land to conquistadores as a reward for their efforts (Arose when landowners developed agriculture on their lands)

Silver

• A key element of this topic, for which caused economic fortunes and/or economic failures.

Mit’a System

• A Incan system of labor obligation, in which young men were required to devote a certain amount of labor to public works projects, into a coerced labor system.

Middle Passage

• The grueling journey across the Atlantic. (Not to get confused with a passage)

Commercial Revolution

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

Joint-stock companies

• Owned by investors who bought stock or shares in them.

Price Revolution

• The high rate of inflation, or general rise in prices, in the 16th and early 17th century.

Limited Liability

• The principle that an investor was not responsible for a company’s debts or other liabilities beyond the amount of an investment.

British East India Company

• A powerful charted company, originally formed in 16th century for trade.

Dutch East India Company

• A powerful 17th century trading company, considered on of the world’s first multination corporations.

Dahomey & Oyo

• African Societies that conducted slave raids.

Polygyny

• The taking of more than one wife and forced women to assume duties that had traditionally been men’s jobs.

Viceroys

• A ruler exercising authority in a colony

Audiencias

Royal Courts

Codex

A type of book

Virgin of Guadalupe

•  A Catholic figure, also known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, who is the Patroness (A female patron) of the Americas.

Maroons

• People of African descent who escaped from slavery in the Americas and established independent communities.

Glorious Revolution

• To overthrow James II, as he attempted to establish an absolute Catholic monarchy.

Gloucester County Rebellion

• First recorded slave revolt in the US

Prince Henry the Navigator (Explorer)

Became the first European monarch to sponsor seafaring expeditions, to search for an all-water route to East as well as for African gold. Under him, Portugal began importing enslaved Africans by sea, replacing the overland slave trade.

Christopher Columbus (Explorer)

An Italian Explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed for Spanish-based voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs. (Exploitation of the Americas)

Bartholomew Diaz (Explorer)

Sailed around the southern tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, in 1488, into waters his crew did not know. Diaz feared a mutiny if he

Vasco Da Gama (Explorer)

Sailed farther east than Diaz, landing in India in 1498. There, he claimed territory as part of Portugal’s empire. The Portuguese ports in India were a key step in expanding Portugal’s trade in the Indian Ocean and with points farther east.

Zheng He (Explorer)

Led seven major maritime expeditions known as the “treasure voyages” during the Ming Dynasty. He also greatly enhanced China’s diplomatic and trade relationships with several nations along the Indian Ocean Trade Routes.

Ferdinand Magellan (Explorer)

Became the first to circumnavigate the globe when the government sponsored the voyage.

Jacques Cartier (Explorer)

A French explorer sailed from the Atlantic Ocean into the St. Lawrence River at today’s northern U.S. border. He did not find a new route to Asia, but he did claim part of what is now Canada for France.

Samuel de Champlain (Explorer)

(explored 1609 - 1616) Realized there were valuable goods and rich resources available in the Americas, so there was no need to go beyond to Asia.

John Cabot (Explorer)

Took to America to look for a northwest passage. He claimed lands from Newfoundland south to the Chesapeake Bay.

Henry Hudson (Explorer)

Explored the East Coast of North America. Among other feats, he sailed up what became known as the Hudson River to see if it led to Asia. Disappointed in finding no northwest passage. However, continued to search for such a route.

Francisco Pizarro and Hernán Cortés (Spanish Soldiers)

Known as the conquistadores, they brought smallpox with them when traveling to the New World. They infected these populations within the New World, causing devastating results.

Atahualpa (Ruler)

The last ruler of the Inca Empire who won a civil war against his brother Huascar to become emperor. Had to pay a massive ransom, often described as, “A room filled gold”, to the Spanish conquistador Franciso Pizarro, as he desired immense wealth.

Bernardino de Sahagun (Priest)

Began compiling the Florentine Codex, one of the most widely cited sources about Aztec life before conquest. (A codex is a type of book.)

Louis XIV (Ruler)

A failed uprising in France in the mid-1600s convinced Louis XIV that he must keep power from the common people and the nobility.