World History vocabulary 52-75

52. Li Chengdong: during the Qing Dynasty he orchestrated three massacres in the city of Jaiding against Han who

refused to assimilate to Qing practices

53. Manchus: Federation of Northeast Asian peoples who founded the Qing Empire

54. Manila: Spanish commercial center of the Philippines that attracted merchants

55. Manumission: A grant of legal freedom to an individual slave; more common in Brazil, Spanish, and French than

in English colonies

56. Maratha Empire: Indian power that existed from 1674 to 1818 and ruled over a large area of the Indian

subcontinent; credited with ending Mughal rule in India

57. Maritime Empires: empires such as Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, France, and Holland that were based upon

sea travel

58. Maroon Wars: slaves in the Caribbean and former Spanish territories in the Americas fought to gain freedom

59. Matteo Ricci: a Jesuit missionary who was an expert in the Chinese language and an accomplished scholar of

the Confucian classics.

60. McCartney Missions: (1792-1793) the unsuccessful attempt by the British Empire to establish diplomatic

relations with the Qing Empire.

61. Mercantilism: European government policies of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries designed to

promote overseas trade between a country and its colonies and accumulate precious metals by requiring colonies

to trade only with their motherland country

62. Mestizos: the term used by Spanish authorities to describe someone of mixed Amerindian and European descent

63. Metacom’s War: also called King Philip’s war, English colonists used underhanded tactics to control Native

American lands

64. Middle Passage: the part of the Atlantic Circuit involving the transportation of enslaved Africans across the

Atlantic to the Americas

65. Ming Dynasty: (1368-1644) Empire based in China that Zhu Yuanzhang established after the overthrow of the

Yuan Empire. The Ming emperor Yongle sponsored the building of the Forbidden City and the voyages of Zheng

He. The later years of the Ming saw a slowdown in technological development and economic decline

66. Mit’a System: labor obligation in Peru that required a percentage of the adult male Amerindians to work for two

to four months each year in mines, farms, or textile factories

67. Monopolies: granted certain merchants or the government itself the exclusive right to trade

68. Mulatto: the term used in Spanish and Portuguese colonies to describe someone of mixed African and European

descent

69. New Amsterdam: Dutch settlement in the Hudson River Valley that is present day New York city

70. New France: French colony in North America along the St. Lawrence River

71. New Spain: colony established by Cortes after overthrowing the Aztecs in Mexico

72. Northwest Passage: a route through or around North America that would lead to East Asia and the trade there

73. Omani-European Rivalry: a trade rivalry between traders from Oman and European traders over the Indian

Ocean Trade Route that fueled Columbus’s search for a new route to India

74. Oyo: African empire that became rich by selling its captives to Europeans

75. Peninsulares: those who were born on the Iberian peninsula and stood at the top of the social pyramid in Latin

America