AP World History Study Guide: Unit 1-9 Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the AP World History study guide, Units 1-9 (c. 1200 to present).

Song Dynasty

Chinese dynasty (960-1279) known for its great wealth, political stability, artistic innovations, manufacturing capability and commercialization.

Meritocracy

A system in which promotion is based on individual ability or achievement rather than noble birth or wealth; China's bureaucracy expanded through this.

Grand Canal

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

Tributes

An arrangement to gain income in which other states had to pay money or provide goods to honor the Chinese emperor.

Neo-Confucianism

Evolved in China between 770 and 840. It was a syncretic system, combining rational thought with the more abstract ideas of Daoism and Buddhism.

Daimyo

Landowning aristocrats in Japan who battled for control of the land in the absence of a centralized government.

Shogun

Military ruler installed by the Minamoto clan in Japan in 1192. Japan suffered from regional rivalries among aristocrats for the following four centuries.

Dar al-Islam

A term used to describe the Islamic world.

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

Islamic scholar who laid the groundwork for making trigonometry a separate subject.

‘A’ishah al-Ba’uniyyah

A prolific female Muslim writer before the 20th century, known for works describing her journey toward mystical illumination.

House of Wisdom

A major intellectual center during the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad. Key institution for translation and preservation of Greek texts.

Chola Dynasty

A South Indian kingdom that reigned for more than 400 years (850-1267).

Delhi Sultanate

An Islamic empire that reigned for 300 years, from the 13th through the 16th centuries in Northern India.

Bhakti Movement

Began in the 12th century, focused on developing a strong attachment to a particular deity rather than performing rituals or studying texts.

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.

Majapahit Kingdom

A Buddhist kingdom based on Java that held onto its power by controlling sea routes.

Khmer Empire

An empire situated near the Mekong River, known for its complex irrigation and drainage systems that led to economic prosperity.

Mississippian Culture

The first large-scale civilization in North America, characterized by a rigid class structure and a matrilineal society.

Maya City-States

City-states ruled by a king who claimed to be a descendant of a god (divine right) that linked science and religion through astronomy.

Aztecs

Originally hunter-gatherers who migrated to central Mexico and developed a tributary system and theocracy, worshipping hundreds of deities.

Inca

An empire split into four provinces, known as the 'people of the sun,' and subject to the mit’a system, mandatory public service.

Bantu Migrations

Migrations of Bantu-speaking people outward from west-central Africa, heavily shaping the development of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Zimbabwe

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

Ethiopia

Flourished by trading goods obtained from India, Arabia, the Roman Empire, and the interior of Africa; Christianity spread into this region.

Griots

Storytellers; 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.

Manorial System

Provided economic self-sufficiency and defense and produced everything that people living on it required, limiting the need for trade and contact with outsiders.

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.

Great Schism

The division of the Christian Church in 1054 into two branches: Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox.

Bourgeoisie

The middle class, including shopkeepers, craftspeople, merchants, and small landholders.

Humanism

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

Mit'a System

Mandatory public service used by the Incas.

Mamluk Empire

Example of a new state that arose on land once controlled by the Abbasid Caliphate.

Song Dynasty

Example of the revival of a former empire, based on the Han Dynasty.

Flying Cash

A system of credit developed by China.

Genghis Khan

Mongolian leader who created new trade channels and had a policy of religious tolerance throughout the empire.

Golden Horde

Mongolian army led by Batu Khan that conquered Russian kingdoms and forced them to pay tributes.

Diasporic Communities

Communities formed as a natural result of waiting for favorable winds for travel, these merchants interacted with the surrounding cultures and peoples of the region.

Swahili City-States

Thriving city-states that created wealth on the east coast of Africa due to the Indian Ocean trade.

Trans-Saharan Trade

Trans-Saharan trade brought considerable wealth to the societies of West Africa, particularly the kingdoms of Ghana and Mali.

Al-Andalus

During Muslim rule in Spain, it was a vibrant, tolerant society that preserved classical Greek learning.

Mansa Musa

Political and religious leader from Mali.

Gunpowder Empires

Large, multiethnic states in Southwest, Central, and South Asia that relied on firearms to conquer and control territories; included the Russian, Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires.

Divine Right of Kings

The claim that the right to rule was given to a king by God.

Boyars

The noble landowning class in Russia.

Winter Palace

Built in St. Petersburg in a European style to show Peter’s admiration of western Europe and its rulers.

Askia the Great

Made Islam Songhai’s official religion in an attempt to unite his empire and create an efficient bureaucracy.

Indulgences

Granted a person absolution from the punishments for sin.

Simony

The selling of church offices.

95 Theses

Challenged the Church by nailing his 95 Theses, to a church door.

Huguenots

Calvin's followers in France.

Jesuits

A religious order founded in 1540 that opposed the spread of Protestantism.

Council of Trent

Corrected some of the worst of the Church’s abuses and concentrated on reaffirming the rituals and improving the education of priests.

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.

Empiricism

An early scientific method, which insisted upon the collection of data to back up a hypothesis.

Janissaries

Slave soldiers used by the Ottomans to offset the power of troops who had more loyalty to their tribe or local governor than to the sultan.

Encomendia

A system used by the Spanish to gain access to gold and other resources of the Americas.

Mercantilism

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

Commercial Revolution

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

Price Revolution

The high rate of inflation, or general rise in prices in the l6th and early l7th century.

Zionism

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

Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite

French slogan summarized in the slogan liberté, égalité, et fraternité (liberty, equality, and fraternity).

Reign of Terror

A period during which the government executed thousands of opponents of the revolution, including the king and queen began.

Realpolitik

Prussian leader Otto von Bismarck, who like Cavour favored realpolitik, used nationalist feelings to engineer three wars to bring about German unification

Spinning Jenny

Invented by James Hargreaves in the 1760s, allowed a weaver to spin more than one thread at a time.

Water Frame

Patented by Richard Arkwright in 1769, used waterpower to drive the spinning wheel.

Interchangeable Parts

In 1798. inventor Eli Whitney created a system of interchangeable parts for manufacturing firearms for the U.S. military.

Bessemer Process

Mass production of steel, an alloy of iron and carbon, became possible with the introduction of the Bessemer Process

Electric Telegraph

Invented in 1832, the electric telegraph transformed communications. Instead of taking days, weeks, or even months, news could travel instantaneously.

Boer Wars

The British and Afrikaners fought over land. This conflict came to a boil in the Boer Wars.

Spheres of Influence

Areas within China over which European nations had exclusive trading rights and access to natural resources.

Monroe Doctrine

Issued in 1823, which stated that European nations should not intervene in the affairs of the countries in the Western Hemisphere.

Manifest Destiny

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

Roosevelt Corollary

Stated that if countries in Latin America demonstrated “instability,” the United States would intervene.

Indian Removal Act

After Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Cherokee and other Southeast Native American tribes were forced to relocate to what is now Oklahoma.

Ghost Dance

A Native American resistance movement, known as the Ghost Dance, resulted in the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, marking the end of the Indian Wars and a loss for the Natives.

Spanish-American War

Transferred control of the Philippines from Spain to the United States.

Technological Developments

Agricultural Products and Raw Materials Under control of imperialist powers, subsistence farmers abandoned their traditional ways and grew cash crops instead Railroad technology opened colonial markets more broadly.

Electric Telegraph Technology

Invented in 1832, the electric telegraph transformed communications.News could travel instantaneously.

Economy & The Resulting Consequences

Commodity Imperial States Origin of Commodity Consequences Palm Oil All Industrialized countries in Europe Sub-Saharan Africa European states created and controlled a monocrop economy; populations saw no profitNative European powers met native resistance with brutal retaliation; Imperial states created railroads + transport

Chinese immigrant & enclaves of Southeast Asia & The USA

The Chinese who migrated to Southeast Asia thrived under colonial rule.Chinese immigrants first came to the United States in large numbers during the height of the California gold rush.

Colonial Legacy

South Africa’s system of apartheid, instituted in 1948, enforced the segregation of people based on race. The apartheid system in South Africa.

Land reform

Throughout Latin America, leaders saw the concentration of land ownership as a barrier to progress. Hence, as countries freed themselves from colonialism, they considered land reform In Venezuela, the government redistributed some five million acres of land.

Nonviolent Resistance & Tactics

The most prominent of African American civil rights leaders in the United States through - Court decisions -Boycott of public buses in Montgomery, Alabama - Massive marches

Economic liberalization

This opening up of a country’s economy.

Knowledge economy

When Countries undertook a new kind of economy in the late 1900s revolutions in information.

Multinational corporation

Company legally incorporated in one country but that makes or sells goods or services in one or more other countries.

Short Answer Question 1

Explain the significance of the Song Dynasty's economic innovations (e.g., Flying Cash) and their impact on global trade.

Short Answer Question 2

Compare and contrast the political systems of the Aztecs and Incas, focusing on their methods of control and governance.

Short Answer Question 3

Analyze the causes and effects of the Bantu Migrations on the cultural and environmental landscape of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Short Answer Question 4

Evaluate the role of the Indian Ocean trade in the development of Swahili city-states and the Srivijaya Empire.

Short Answer Question 5

Discuss the impact of the Columbian Exchange on both the Americas and Europe, considering both positive and negative consequences.

Short Answer Question 6

Assess the extent to which the Protestant Reformation challenged the authority of the Catholic Church and reshaped European society.

Short Answer Question 7

Explain how environmental factors contributed to the decline of Great Zimbabwe.

Short Answer Question 8

Analyze the effects of diasporic communities on trade during the time period 1200-1450 CE.