AP World History Unit 1 KBAT Study Guide Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards generated from the AP World History Unit 1 KBAT Study Guide covering global developments from c. 1200 to c. 1450.

Song Dynasty

Chinese dynasty that used a centralized imperial bureaucracy and Confucian traditions to govern.

Confucianism

Ethical and political tradition emphasizing hierarchy, education, duty, and proper social relationships.

Imperial bureaucracy

A centralized administrative system staffed by government officials.

Meritocracy

A system in which advancement is based largely on ability or achievement rather than birth.

Civil Service Exam

Competitive examinations based heavily on Confucian learning used to select government officials.

Scholar-gentry

Educated elite class that often passed the civil service exams and served as officials.

Filial piety

Respect, obedience, and duty toward parents and elders.

Neo-Confucianism

A revival of Confucian thought that incorporated some Buddhist and Daoist ideas.

Buddhism

Religious tradition focused on overcoming suffering and the cycle of rebirth.

Theravada Buddhism

Branch of Buddhism emphasizing monastic discipline and individual enlightenment.

Mahayana Buddhism

Branch of Buddhism emphasizing bodhisattvas and the possibility of salvation for many people.

Tibetan Buddhism

Form of Buddhism associated with Tibet that combines Mahayana and Vajrayana practices.

Champa rice

Fast-ripening rice variety introduced from Vietnam that could grow in difficult conditions.

Grand Canal expansion

Expansion and use of China's major north-south canal network.

Steel and iron production

Large-scale manufacture of iron and steel for tools, weapons, and other goods.

Textiles and porcelain

High-demand Chinese manufactured goods produced for domestic use and export.

Commercialization

Growth of production and exchange for markets rather than only local subsistence.

Free peasant and artisanal labor

Farmers and craft workers who formed a major productive base of the Song economy.

Dar al-Islam

The broad cultural and political world in which Islam was influential.

Abbasid Caliphate

Major Islamic caliphate centered in Baghdad whose political unity weakened and fragmented.

Caliph

A ruler claiming leadership of the Muslim community, combining political and religious authority.

House of Wisdom

Center of scholarship and translation in Abbasid Baghdad.

Seljuk Empire

Turkic Muslim state that controlled important parts of the Middle East.

Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt

Muslim state ruled by former military slaves who took political control in Egypt.

Delhi Sultanates

Series of Muslim-ruled states based in northern India.

Merchants

Traders who carried goods, ideas, and religious beliefs across networks.

Missionaries

People who actively spread a religion to new populations.

Sufis

Muslim mystics who emphasized personal spiritual experience and often acted as missionaries.

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

Influential Muslim scholar associated with mathematics and astronomy.

A'ishah al-Ba'uniyyah

Prominent female Muslim Sufi writer and poet.

Advances in medicine

Improved medical study, hospitals, pharmacy, and professional standards in Islamic societies.

Greek philosophy preservation

Translation, preservation, and commentary on Greek moral and natural philosophy.

Muslim and Christian Spain

Iberian regions where Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities interacted.

Hinduism

Major South Asian religious tradition involving dharma, karma, reincarnation, and diverse deities and practices.

Bhakti movement

Hindu devotional movement emphasizing personal devotion to a deity.

Sufism

Mystical Islamic tradition emphasizing personal spiritual experience.

Buddhist monasticism

Religious communities of monks and nuns devoted to Buddhist study and practice.

Vijayanagara Empire

Powerful Hindu empire in southern India.

Srivijaya Empire

Maritime state centered in Sumatra that controlled important trade routes and had strong Buddhist connections.

Rajput kingdoms

Regional Hindu warrior kingdoms in South Asia.

Khmer Empire

Powerful mainland Southeast Asian empire centered at Angkor with Hindu and Buddhist influences.

Majapahit

Large maritime empire based on Java with Hindu-Buddhist traditions.

Sukhothai kingdom

Early Thai kingdom strongly associated with Theravada Buddhism.

Sinhala dynasties

Buddhist ruling dynasties in Sri Lanka.

Proselytizing

Actively attempting to convert people to a religion.

Qutub Minar

Monumental tower in Delhi associated with early Muslim rule.

Maya city-states

Independent Maya urban political centers rather than one unified empire.

Mexica (Aztec)

Mesoamerican empire centered on Tenochtitlan that expanded through conquest and tribute.

Inca

Large Andean empire with highly organized administration, roads, and labor obligations.

Chaco

Ancestral Puebloan cultural and political center in the present-day U.S. Southwest.

Mesa Verde

Ancestral Puebloan settlement region known for cliff dwellings.

Cahokia

Large Mississippian urban center near the Mississippi River.

Matrilineal society

A society in which descent or inheritance is traced through the mother's family line.

City-state

Independent city and surrounding territory functioning as a political state.

Human sacrifice

Ritual killing of people as a religious offering.

Chinampas

Raised agricultural fields built in shallow lake areas around Tenochtitlan.

Theocracy

Political system in which rulers claim authority closely tied to religion or divine power.

Mit'a system

Inca labor tax requiring subjects to work for the state for part of the year.

Terraced farming

Agriculture using stepped fields cut into hillsides or mountains.

Great Zimbabwe

Powerful inland southern African state known for stone architecture and trade connections.

Ethiopia

Christian kingdom in East Africa with long-standing religious and diplomatic connections beyond Africa.

Hausa kingdoms

West African city-states and kingdoms involved in regional and trans-Saharan commerce.

Indian Ocean Trade

Maritime trade network linking East Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

Trans-Saharan Trade

Overland trade across the Sahara using caravan routes.

Slave Trade

Trade in enslaved people across African and Afro-Eurasian networks.

Zanj Rebellion

Large revolt of enslaved East Africans in the Abbasid region in the ninth century.

Christianity

Dominant religious tradition in much of medieval Europe.

Investiture Controversy

Conflict over whether secular rulers or Church officials had the right to appoint bishops.

Hundred Years' War

Long series of wars between England and France in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Reconquista

Christian conquest of Muslim-ruled territories in the Iberian Peninsula.

Great Schism

Formal split between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches in 1054.

Crusades

Religiously motivated military campaigns involving Latin Christians, Muslims, and others.

Decentralized monarchies

Monarchies in which kings shared or competed for power with nobles, clergy, and local lords.

Feudalism

Political-military system based on reciprocal obligations between lords and vassals.

Manorial system

Economic and social system centered on self-sufficient agricultural estates called manors.

Estates General

Representative assembly in France composed of clergy, nobles, and commoners.

Manor

Large landed estate forming the basic economic unit of the manorial system.

Magna Carta

1215 English charter limiting certain powers of the king and recognizing rights of elites.

English Parliament

Representative institution that developed as monarchs consulted nobles and other groups.

Bourgeoisie

Urban middle class associated with merchants, business, and property.

Serfdom

Labor system in which peasants were legally tied to land and obligated to a lord.

Three-field system

Agricultural rotation system dividing land into three fields with one left fallow.

Burghers

Town-dwelling merchants and craftspeople, often members of an urban middle class.