AP World History Unit 1 (1200-1450) Vocabulary Flashcards
Definition and Concept of the State (c. 1200–1450)
Definition of a State in AP World History:
A state is defined as a territory that is politically organized under a single central government.
Examples in modern terms include entire sovereign nations such as the United States or Japan, rather than sub-national administrative divisions like Ohio or Delaware.
The central thematic focus for the period covering is examining how major global civilizations constructed, maintained, and justified their states.
State Building and Governance in Song China (960–1279 CE)
Chronological Framework and Governance:
The Song Dynasty governed China from .
Song rulers utilized two primary mechanisms to maintain and justify their political rule: cultural philosophical systems and administrative institutions.
Cultural Justification through Neo-Confucianism:
The Song Dynasty carried over and expanded a revival of Confucian philosophy originally initiated during the preceding Tang Dynasty.
Neo-Confucianism:
Represents the revived and altered form of traditional Confucian thought.
A primary objective of Neo-Confucians was to purge Confucianism of foreign spiritual influences, specifically Buddhism, which had heavily influenced Chinese thought in prior centuries.
Social Hierarchy and Order:
Confucianism asserts that human society is inherently hierarchical, requiring prescribed roles and proper behavioral orders to achieve societal harmony.
Strict subjection expectations:
Citizens defer to state authority.
Women defer to men.
Juniors defer to elders.
Children defer to parents.
Harmony requires reciprocal responsibilities: those in subordinate positions must show deference, while those in superior positions must care for those below them.
Filial Piety:
A foundational concept emphasizing the absolute duty and virtue of children to obey, honor, and respect their parents, grandparents, and deceased ancestors.
Served as a powerful cultural tool to unify and structure Chinese social organization.
Subordination and Treatment of Women:
Neo-Confucian revival led to a substantial decline in the legal rights and social standing of women compared to prior dynasties.
Legal Restrictions: A married woman's property rights transferred entirely to her husband; widowed or divorced women were legally restricted from remarrying.
Social Restrictions: Access to formal education was severely restricted.
Foot Binding: Practiced among elite social classes, involving the breaking and binding of young girls' foot bones with cloth. This rendered women unable to walk normally, functioning as an elite status symbol signifying that a husband possessed enough wealth to support a non-working wife.
Administrative Expansion of the Imperial Bureaucracy:
Bureaucracy Defined: A hierarchical government organization that executes and enforces the policies and dictates of the emperor.
Civil Service Examination System:
Employment and advancement in the administrative bureaucracy required passing rigorous examinations based on classic Confucian texts.
Established a meritocracy where governmental roles were assigned to individuals demonstrating high intellectual qualification rather than aristocratic birth or nepotism.
While theoretically open to men of all social classes, in practice only wealthy families possessed the financial resources to allow sons to study full-time without working.
Influence of Chinese Traditions on Neighboring States:
Neighboring East Asian states rising in prominence—including Korea, Japan, and Vietnam—were heavily shaped by Chinese political and cultural models due to geographic proximity and diplomatic contact.
Korea adopted China's civil service exam framework to select bureaucratic officials and adopted Chinese forms of Buddhism.
Buddhism in Song China:
Originated in India and spread into China long before the Song era.
Core teachings rest on the Four Noble Truths:
Life is inherently filled with suffering.
Suffering is caused by human craving and desire.
Suffering ceases when human craving ceases.
Craving is ended by following the Eightfold Path.
Shares foundational beliefs with Hinduism, including reincarnation (cycle of rebirth) and the ultimate goal of achieving Nirvana (dissolution into universal oneness).
Major Sects and Transformations:
Theravada Buddhism: Prevalent in Sri Lanka; restricted core practice primarily to monastic communities of monks, holding that laypeople were too attached to worldly concerns to achieve Nirvana in their current lifetime.
Mahayana Buddhism: Prevalent in East Asia; adapted to allow broad popular participation. Emphasized bodhisattvas—enlightened individuals who delayed final Nirvana to assist others in attaining enlightenment.
Economic Prosperity and Technological Innovations:
Inherited economic strength and initial population growth from the preceding Sui and Tang dynasties.
China's population doubled between the and centuries.
Commercialization: Transition toward mass commercial production where Chinese artisans and manufacturing workshops produced goods far exceeding local consumption, distributing surpluses through domestic markets and Eurasian trade networks.
Key manufacturing exports: High-grade porcelain and silk.
Agricultural Innovation (Champa Rice):
Introduced to China from the Champa Kingdom in Southeast Asia.
Attributes: Early-maturing, drought-resistant, capable of producing multiple harvests per year.
Drastically increased the national food supply, fueling rapid population growth.
Infrastructure: Expansion of the Grand Canal created an interconnected internal transportation network that optimized trade, grain distribution, and administrative communication across various regions of China.
Developments in Dar al-Islam (c. 1200–1450)
Definition of Dar al-Islam:
Translates literally to the "House of Islam," encompassing all regions where the Islamic faith served as the core institutional and social foundation of civilization.
Religious Landscape in the Islamic World:
Monotheistic Foundations: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all originated in the Middle East and shared monotheistic theology (belief in one God).
Judaism: Ethnic monotheistic religion centered on the Torah and the Hebrew Bible.
Christianity: Originated as an outgrowth of Judaism, centered on the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Islam: Founded by the Prophet Muhammad, recognized by followers as the final prophet in the line of divine messengers stretching through Jewish and Christian traditions. Teaches that salvation is attained through righteous action, including prayer, almsgiving, and fasting.
Political Shift from Arab to Turkic Dominance:
Prior to , the region was unified politically under the Abbasid Caliphate, headquartered in Baghdad and led by ethnic Arabs.
By , central Abbasid authority fragmented, giving rise to new political entities led by ethnic Turkic peoples rather than Arabs.
The Seljuk Empire:
Established in the century by Central Asian Turkic pastoral nomads.
Originally hired as mercenary forces by the Abbasids for military expansion and internal security.
Recognizing Abbasid internal vulnerability, the Seljuks seized political power, establishing their own empire.
While the Abbasid caliph remained as a nominal religious figurehead, real political and military authority transferred to the Seljuks.
The remnants of the Abbasid empire were eventually completely destroyed when the Mongols sacked Baghdad in .
Governance Commonalities:
Turkic states were heavily militarized in administration.
Retained Sharia law—a unified legal code derived directly from the Quran—as the organizing foundation for judicial systems.
Intellectual Innovations and Scholarly Transfer:
Dar al-Islam and Song China served as the dual global centers of wealth, technology, and scholarly learning.
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi: Prominent Muslim polymath who made fundamental breakthroughs in mathematics, including the development of trigonometry as an independent field.
Preservation of Classical Philosophy:
Muslim scholars translated, preserved, and wrote extensive commentaries on ancient Greek philosophical texts by figures such as Plato and Aristotle.
House of Wisdom: Established in Baghdad during the Abbasid Golden Age as a major central library and translation institution.
These preserved Arabic translations and commentaries were later retransmitted to Western Europe, laying the intellectual foundation for the European Renaissance in the century.
Mechanisms of Islamic Expansion:
Military Conquest: Demonstrated by the expansion of the Seljuk Empire, the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt, and the Delhi Sultanate in India.
Merchant Networks: Trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean trade routes facilitated merchant movement. West African rulers, such as those of the Empire of Mali, converted to Islam to strengthen trade integration with Dar al-Islam.
Sufi Missionaries: Sufism emphasized personal mystical experience and demonstrated flexibility in blending with local customs, driving widespread conversions across South and Southeast Asia.
State Building in South and Southeast Asia
Religious Dynamics:
Three major religions competed across the region: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.
South Asia (India):
Buddhism experienced significant decline in its native region, becoming restricted largely to northern monastic communities in Nepal and Tibet by .
Hinduism remained the dominant religion among the general population.
Islam became established in Northern India via the Delhi Sultanate, forming the faith of political ruling elites.
The Bhakti Movement:
Emerging in Southern India, this Hindu reform movement emphasized emotional devotion to a single specific Hindu deity over traditional polytheistic complexity.
Appealed to ordinary people by challenging rigid social caste structures and traditional gender hierarchies.
State Building in South Asia:
Delhi Sultanate: Turkic-Islamic state ruling Northern India; faced constant difficulty imposing Islamic rule or achieving widespread conversion among the majority Hindu population.
Rajput Kingdoms: A decentralized network of warring, rival Hindu principalities in Northern India that successfully resisted complete conquest by the Delhi Sultanate.
Vijayanagara Empire ():
Powerful Hindu empire established in Southern India.
Founded by two brothers sent by the Delhi Sultanate to enforce northern rule; both were former Hindus forced to convert to Islam who, upon arriving in the south, renounced Islam, reconverted to Hinduism, and led a Southern Hindu state.
State Building in Southeast Asia:
Majapahit Kingdom ():
Island-based Buddhist kingdom based on Java.
Maintained regional dominance not purely through naval conquest, but by controlling key maritime trade routes.
Declined when China threw its trade backing to Majapahit's commercial rival, the Sultanate of Malacca.
Khmer Empire:
Powerful land-based state in mainland Southeast Asia.
Initially established as a Hindu state before its rulers converted to Buddhism.
Angkor Wat: Monumental temple complex initially built for Hindu worship; later modified to incorporate Buddhist imagery without eliminating original Hindu features, illustrating religious continuity and syncretism over time.
State Building in the Americas
Mesoamerica - The Aztec Empire (Mexica):
Founded in by the Mexica people; established a Triple Alliance with two neighboring states in to embark on rapid territorial expansion.
Tenochtitlan: Capital city, serving as the largest urban center in the Americas prior to European arrival.
Administrative System:
Utilized a highly decentralized tribute system.
Conquered regions were left politically autonomous in exchange for mandatory tribute payments, including food, animals, building materials, and physical labor.
Religious Role of Sacrifice: Captured soldiers and slaves from tribute regions were used as primary human sacrifice victims, which formed a central element of Aztec state religious rituals.
Andean Region - The Inca Empire:
Established in the early along the Andean mountain range, absorbing earlier local cultures and languages.
Administrative System:
Highly centralized governance compared to the Aztecs.
Developed an elaborate imperial bureaucracy with regional officials enforcing direct royal control.
The Mita System:
A compulsory state labor service required of all conquered populations.
Subjects provided physical labor on state-managed agricultural lands, mining operations, military campaigns, and infrastructure projects (such as extensive road building).
North America - Mississippian Culture:
The first major agrarian, mound-building civilization in North America, located in the fertile Mississippi River Valley.
Political Structure: Hierarchical network where large administrative towns held political authority over smaller satellite agricultural villages.
Cahokia: Major urban center featuring approximately artificial earthen burial mounds, the largest of which stood nearly tall.
State Building and Culture in Africa
East Africa - Swahili Civilization:
Consisted of autonomous, commercial city-states stretched along the East African coastline.
Tied closely to Indian Ocean maritime trade.
Social Hierarchy: Highly stratified societies where merchant elites held dominance over commoners.
Swahili Language: A hybrid language blending indigenous African Bantu grammar and vocabulary with Arabic terms, resulting from trade interaction with Arab merchants.
Islamization: Rapidly adopted Islam through trade contact, fully integrating the region into international Islamic commercial networks.
West Africa:
Centralized Empires (Ghana, Mali, Songhai):
Powerful states funded by Trans-Saharan trade in gold and salt.
Rulers and elite administrative figures converted to Islam to facilitate diplomatic and commercial ties, while the majority rural population maintained indigenous beliefs.
Hausa Kingdoms:
A network of decentralized city-states linked by shared culture and language.
Functioned as prominent trade brokers in the Trans-Saharan overland commerce.
Southern Africa - Great Zimbabwe:
Capital constructed between , featuring stone architecture spanning nearly and a population of approximately 18,000$.\n - **Economic Evolution:** Transitioned from reliance on cattle herding and agriculture to immense wealth generated by controlling regional gold exports.\n - **Religious Distinction:** Unlike coastal and West African states, Great Zimbabwe's leaders and citizens never converted to Islam, retaining traditional indigenous shamanistic beliefs.\n\n- **Northeast Africa - Kingdom of Ethiopia:**\n - Prospered through active trade connections spanning the Red Sea, Mediterranean, and Arabian Peninsula.\n - **Religious Identity:** Represented a major Christian kingdom surrounded by predominantly Islamic and indigenous states.\n - **Social Organization:** Maintained a rigid political hierarchy headed by a powerful monarch.\n\n# Political and Social Systems in Europe (c. 1200–1450)\n\n- **Religious Landscape:**\n - **Eastern Orthodoxy:**\n - Practiced in the declining Byzantine Empire.\n - Adopted by the Kievan Rus in 988\text{ CE}, unifying the East Slavic peoples and integrating them into broader trade networks.\n - **Roman Catholicism:**\n - Served as the primary unifying cultural and political institution across fragmented Western Europe.\n - Governed by a strict hierarchy of popes, bishops, and priests that exerted vast control over political and social life.\n - **Religious Minorities:**\n - Muslim principalities held power on the Iberian Peninsula starting in the 8\text{th} century.\n - Jewish communities lived in urban pockets throughout Europe, participating heavily in trade, though frequently targeted by virulent waves of anti-Semitism.\n\n- **Feudalism and Manorialism in Western Europe:**\n - **Political Fragmentation:** Europe lacked centralized empires, remaining politically fractured into small states.\n - **Feudalism (Political/Social Structure):**\n - A decentralized system of land grants and mutual military obligations.\n - Monarchs and higher-ranking lords granted land holdings to lesser lords (vassals) in exchange for sworn military loyalty and armed knights.\n - **Manorialism (Economic Structure):**\n - Self-sufficient agricultural economic system centered on the lord's manor house and surrounding land.\n - **Serfdom:** Peasant laborers (serfs) were legally tied to the manor land. While not chattel property (they could not be individually bought or sold), they could not leave the land or change occupations without the lord's permission, receiving physical protection in exchange for mandatory labor and crop payments.\n\n- **Centralization Trends:**\n - Starting around 1000\text{ CE}$$, European monarchs slowly began expanding direct administrative control, laying the groundwork for centralized national states at the expense of local feudal nobility.